Price Drops - UK Passengers

[Marmaduke]

I know that booking conditions differ for US cruisers but has any one in the UK managed to get a new lower price from Princess after they have paid the final balance? We booked and paid the full amount last week as it was less than 90 days before the start of the cruise and have just notice that the price has dropped even further. Just wondered if it was worth telephoning my TA.

[Pia1913]

I know that booking conditions differ for US cruisers but has any one in the UK managed to get a new lower price from Princess after they have paid the final balance? We booked and paid the full amount last week as it was less than 90 days before the start of the cruise and have just notice that the price has dropped even further. Just wondered if it was worth telephoning my TA.

 

I'm not UK, but it always pays to ask. Good luck.:)

[kevey]

Hi Marmaduke.

 

We recently paid final balance of our cruise to Northern Europe on Caribbean Princess in May and then noticed price drop of £190 pp plus increase in on board credit from $150 pp to $240 pp - called Princess and they agreed to honour both the price drop and extra on board credit. There was still 96 days to go however, therefore not sure if in your case being under 90 days makes a difference.

 

As they say " You don't ask, you don't get", so call them up and see what they say.

[magandy]

I know that booking conditions differ for US cruisers but has any one in the UK managed to get a new lower price from Princess after they have paid the final balance? We booked and paid the full amount last week as it was less than 90 days before the start of the cruise and have just notice that the price has dropped even further. Just wondered if it was worth telephoning my TA.

 

Hi Marmaduke

I have had reductions but never after the 90 days, that's not to say that you might.

 

Yesterday I looked at the new deals being offered and on the cruise that we have booked, the actual price on the category of cabin had reduced a bit but we would of lost the obc and we would of been worse off.

 

As Pia said, it is always worth a phone call, but check the deal.

[Bogof1]

You cannot lose by contacting TA. Sometimes you may get on board credit as a goodwill gesture, they can only say no....go for it ...but quickly lol

[Marmaduke]

Thanks everyone for your replies and encouragement. My TA phoned Princess but they would not offer a reduction because it was less than 90 days.

[mrsgoggins]

Yesterday I looked at the new deals being offered and on the cruise that we have booked, the actual price on the category of cabin had reduced a bit but we would of lost the obc and we would of been worse off.

 

 

Same here, except as well as loss of the OBC the cost of cabin had gone up slightly as part of the 'Deal' price! And I only booked a month ago without a 'deal', LOL

Edited March 6, 2015 by mrsgoggins

[BJS]

Thanks everyone for your replies and encouragement. My TA phoned Princess but they would not offer a reduction because it was less than 90 days.

 

Maybe your TA can do a "re-book". It will depend on the promo, if any, that you have if it is worth it to you.

 

I just found a big price drop for Mini-Suite guarantee after final payment. We were booked in an part obstructed ocean view. I called TA and she was able to get us switched for $400 more.:) If we had originally booked a mini-suite it would have been $1,400 more.

 

We had to be re-booked so we lost a specialty dinner and a couple of our reserved shore excursions had gone up $20. TA also got Princess to lower the new rate another $100 pp which made up for the $100/pp OBC we lost. For us it was worth the loss.

 

Years ago when we booked directly with Princess on several cruises we did a "re-book" after final payment and got refunds to our credit card.

[Feebarn]

If the price drop is more than the deposit, you can just rebook altogether - we just did this moving from Royal to Caribbean for a TA. We lost our FCC depost and the OBC that went with it. But, we got a window suite for less than a balcony and were still a couple of hundred pounds ahead.

 

The only wee hiccup was our flight that we booked through Princess via Virgin, we had paid to prebook seats and they cancelled and rebooked the air. We were able to sort it all out without extra cost, but it was a minor irritant.

[Colo Cruiser]

Thats too bad they said no. :(

[snoodqueen]

My usual experience with asking for something from Princess is usually 'no'. I'm booked on a coastal and prices have dropped quite a bit since we booked. The price we paid at the time for the cheapest balcony is more than what most of the other balconies and even some mini-suites are going for right now - still plenty of choices available. It's past final payment but no harm in asking, right? I asked if we could get OBC to cover the difference. No! Could we be moved to a higher balcony category instead since we've already paid more than what Princess would get at their new prices? No! Could we pay to upgrade? No! Could we rebook without penalty? No! Could we get a bottle of wine? No!

 

We like our cabin location and will enjoy where we are but I wish Princess had been a little bit more flexible. Telling us we couldn't pay the difference in price to upgrade seemed a bit weird. Oh well, at least we'll be on the ship and that's the best part.:)

[majortom10]

My usual experience with asking for something from Princess is usually 'no'. I'm booked on a coastal and prices have dropped quite a bit since we booked. The price we paid at the time for the cheapest balcony is more than what most of the other balconies and even some mini-suites are going for right now - still plenty of choices available. It's past final payment but no harm in asking, right? I asked if we could get OBC to cover the difference. No! Could we be moved to a higher balcony category instead since we've already paid more than what Princess would get at their new prices? No! Could we pay to upgrade? No! Could we rebook without penalty? No! Could we get a bottle of wine? No!

 

We like our cabin location and will enjoy where we are but I wish Princess had been a little bit more flexible. Telling us we couldn't pay the difference in price to upgrade seemed a bit weird. Oh well, at least we'll be on the ship and that's the best part.:)

 

The difference is if you book with Princess and your cruise goes down or OBC goes up BEFORE final payment they will honour the new prices. Try that with Cunard or P&O even before final payment and they will say NO tough only think you can do is cancel lose deposit and rebook.

[manunia]

i believe that it is not about how many days left before booked cruise. countdown of days after final payment is used to see how much will be lost if booking is cancelled

 

if a new price is quoted as for New Booking Only, the only one way to get it is to cancel previous booking and make a new one

 

i've had the same experience with Celebrity when an aqua balcony became less than the inside cabin i booked initially

[Pia1913]

My usual experience with asking for something from Princess is usually 'no'. I'm booked on a coastal and prices have dropped quite a bit since we booked. The price we paid at the time for the cheapest balcony is more than what most of the other balconies and even some mini-suites are going for right now - still plenty of choices available. It's past final payment but no harm in asking, right? I asked if we could get OBC to cover the difference. No! Could we be moved to a higher balcony category instead since we've already paid more than what Princess would get at their new prices? No! Could we pay to upgrade? No! Could we rebook without penalty? No! Could we get a bottle of wine? No!

 

We like our cabin location and will enjoy where we are but I wish Princess had been a little bit more flexible. Telling us we couldn't pay the difference in price to upgrade seemed a bit weird. Oh well, at least we'll be on the ship and that's the best part.:)

 

And this is where a good TA could have helped. Not just any; a good one.

[Tony1878]

I received a reminder this week that my final payment was due on the 16th, I phoned Princess today with the intention of paying the balance, but I checked the current price for the same category cabin etc before I did.

The price had gone down quite a bit, but I didn't want the hassle of cancelling and re-booking, the procedure is a bit different for us UK cruisers, we have to pay a percentage of the final fee depending on how many days before departure.

Anyway, long story short, I thought I would try, nothing ventured nothing gained.

Princess honoured the reduction, but took away my on board spend, the price worked out approx. £560 cheaper ($842 at today's rate in the UK), there was a £10pp ($15) transfer fee

I lost $400 on board spend, so my net saving was over $400.

I still have the same cabin and I am over $400 up.

Thank you everyone for posting your tips etc, it pays to ask, the worse that can happen is that they say no.

[snoodqueen]

Pia - I have a TA and he got the same answers from several different Princess reps. That's why I thought I would call and just ask them. No harm in asking! Surprisingly they did not tell me to go through my TA instead of calling them. They were very polite about it and gave their reasons but it was still no, no, no. I did this same cruise last fall and the price I paid then was $100 more than this one so I am getting a fairly good price comparatively. I just would have liked to hear one 'yes, we can do something' in the conversation. Oh well - I'll be on the ship and enjoying every minute, no matter what I paid. :)