Is It Me, or Is Princess' Pricing......

[Screwbit]

lower than the competition??? We have sailed Princess 4x, RCCL 4x, and Celebrity twice. We just returned from the Sapphire two weeks ago, and did an open future booking onboard, as we usually do. I'm looking at sending wife, daughter, and daughter-in-law to the Eastern Carib. next October/early November. Plan on booking, as usual, a mini-suite for the extra room (especially for three women ;-) ). In looking at options, nobody is even close to Caribbean Princess in rates. I've looked at HAL, Carnival, NCL, RCCL- nobody is within $500. total on what I'm being quoted (forget about the onboard credit). We all know what's happened with RC's pricing, but Carnival ??? NCL??? Am I missing something?? Curious as to what fellow CC'ers are experiencing.

[roohound]

My experience with Princess is they always have the lowest prices for the cabin type and itinerary I want. Don't know if I just get lucky, but I'm very happy :)

[HMcruiser]

I found that HAL usually starts discounting later than Princess (I don't know about the other lines), so you may find as good a price on HAL but you'd have to risk waiting a couple of months.

[Kaylas Mom]

That was certainly the case for me. I wanted to book RCCI next summer for the Baltics and waiting months until RCCI put their dates/prices up (Princess had had theirs up much earlier) Anyway, I was sorry I waited -- for the two balcony cabins we wanted, RCCI was over $3,500 more than comparable Princess cabins. Luckily I still got great cabins on Princess.

[GottoCruise]

Princess's 'hook' with FCC credits, Elite benefits (OK free laundry and Internet are nice), and better rates (we try to book Mini-suites) is getting 'old' ......(I think we've been cruising too long? :D )

 

Reasons for 'disenchantment'?? -

(New) Huge ships docking at inconvenient "freighter" Piers

Charging for bus transportation into town :eek:

Shortened time at Ports

Less days at Sea (cruises too Port intensive)

More & More 'mechanical' problems seem to 'pop up' lately

ie. Sapphire, Sun, Star, Dawn etc. etc.

A comfortable bed ?? - Promises, promises!

Itineraries - same old, same old!

 

OK - folks - don't 'flame' me -

 

True, so far I can't find anything better out there.....seems it's the way of all "mid-price' cruiselines... (wish I could afford Seabourn or similar) :rolleyes:

 

I yearn for smaller ships with Exotic Itineraries, longer cruises & sea days in-between Ports....

(by Exotic I don't mean Australia/New Zealand!!)

 

Sometimes 'pricing' be dammed - I want a better experience!!!!

[roohound]

Sometimes 'pricing' be dammed - I want a better experience!!!!

 

 

No flames from me, but I think you summed it up well..if you want different and exotic, you may very well have to pay for it.

 

Meanwhile, I'm happy to enjoy my $900 minisuites LOL If I want different or grow tired of itineraries (which I am when it comes to Princess' Caribbean routes), I'll move on to another line and expect to pay more.

[critterchick]

Sometimes you're comparing apples and oranges, though. The Baltics are less expensive on Princess than on RCCL, but the cruises are also 10-nights instead of 12 and leave from Copenhagen, which could be more expensive than sailing from Harwich because of higher airfare. That's an itinerary on our "must do before we die" list. On a per night basis, the Junior Suite on RCI and the mini on Princess are almost identical. Also, a JS on a Radiance-class ship is (IMHO) a lot nicer than a minisuite on a Grand class.

 

The Star transatlantic is more than the Jewel - 3 nights longer and more ports. But a mini on the Star is $3300+, while a Grand Suite on Jewel is $2600 and a JS is $2100.

[whiterose]

[Reasons for 'disenchantment'?? -

(New) Huge ships docking at inconvenient "freighter" Piers

Charging for bus transportation into town :eek:

Shortened time at Ports

Less days at Sea (cruises too Port intensive)

Itineraries - same old, same old!

 

I yearn for smaller ships with Exotic Itineraries, longer cruises & sea days in-between Ports....

(by Exotic I don't mean Australia/New Zealand!!)

 

I have to agree with Renee's comments. Our recent Golden Transaltantic was very nice but we will not sail on that ship again - too big and impersonal, Container ports are not attractive and they all look alike - hard to tell if you're in Dublin or Rotterdam etc. It's nice to be able to just walk into town from the ship.

We love the Elite benefits and will stick with Princess for a while if they come up with longer and more interesting exotic itineraries.

[phaelon56]

I'm going on my second cruise in early November on the CB - first was also on Princess. Its' conceivable that I may want to try a smaller ship after crusing onthe CB but I'll wait and see. Reports I've been reading are so wildly varied that I can only wait for my own experience and keep a totally open mind.

 

But as a new cruiser the prices I get on "specials" from Princess are pretty darn compelling. Under $1,000 pp for a seven day cruise with a mini-suite? I've yet to see anything on the other mainstream mass market lines that is any cheaper when one figures room size, amenities etc.

 

Celebrity on the surface appears to be the same but when I get the type of room I want the price jumps up. I can understand how an experienced cruiser would get bored with the same old ports but for me the ports visited are more or less an afterthought. It's the on-board experience I'm after and hopefully a chance to do some decent scuba diving on one day during the trip.

 

I got an email from Radisson about a "special" on a seven day Caribbean itinerary. Even with a "buy one and second passenger travels free" special it was still a total cost of over $2,800 per person. As much as I know I'd enjoy the higher service level and the better food quality I just can't justify it.

 

I'd ratehr take that extra money and do an extra cruise on Princess or better yet - some other kind of a land based vacation. If I took the extra $3,600 it would cost me for two people to take Seven Seas instead of Princess I could have a very nice seven day vacation in any number of European cities or South American cities (yes I am including airfare).

[calikak]

I yearn for smaller ships with Exotic Itineraries, longer cruises & sea days in-between Ports....

 

Sounds like you'd enjoy the Tahitian or Pacific! There's actually some really interesting itineraries on Pacific, and we're pretty excited about our Tahiti to Hawaii cruise on the Tahitian next year. :)

[GottoCruise]

I yearn for smaller ships with Exotic Itineraries, longer cruises & sea days in-between Ports....

 

Sounds like you'd enjoy the Tahitian or Pacific! There's actually some really interesting itineraries on Pacific, and we're pretty excited about our Tahiti to Hawaii cruise on the Tahitian next year. :)

 

Hi Beth - I've our travel time in 2006 all booked - (as usual I'm way ahead of myself.)...as for 2007, we've 'done' the Tahitian (no new itineraries in the works!) - Princess has given away the Pacific for the entire 2007 season - (We had 4 - count 'em - 4 - cruises cancelled ! :eek: I was thrilled with 2007 as planned on the Pacific Princess - but there is nothing comparable replacing those itineraries!....what/where is Princess marketing going from here? ) :confused: There isn't one itinerary on any ship that has any new Ports for us! and cruising just for the sake of a crusing experience doesn't 'cut it' on those huge ships! So where's a girl to go? :D Guess I'm "cruised out"....:o

[MaryPoppinz]

I got an email from Radisson about a "special" on a seven day Caribbean itinerary. Even with a "buy one and second passenger travels free" special it was still a total cost of over $2,800 per person. As much as I know I'd enjoy the higher service level and the better food quality I just can't justify it.

 

It's really difficult to compare Radisson and Princess for a lot of reasons, but not the least of these are that Radisson is ALL-inclusive, including the minibar set up in your cabin, alcohol at dinner, and tipping. I don't drink, so this wouldn't be a big deal for me, but it does make it difficult to compare prices.

[phaelon56]

It's really difficult to compare Radisson and Princess for a lot of reasons, but not the least of these are that Radisson is ALL-inclusive, including the minibar set up in your cabin, alcohol at dinner, and tipping. I don't drink, so this wouldn't be a big deal for me, but it does make it difficult to compare prices.

 

We don't drink alcohol, have no more than one or two soft drinks per day and perhaps a "mocktail" in the afternoon when we're on the ship. Figuring high at $12 per day per person including tips for that... and another $10 - $15 each for the auto-tipping - we're still not much over $200 per week per person (on my last Princess cruise it was more like $190 if I recall correctly and we gave the room steward an extra $50).

 

My reference point for comparisons is what it will cost ME based on my traveling style and Princess still comes out to at least 50% less if I book specials.

[bdjam]

It’s been suggested in a number of the “complaint” threads that lower prices might equate with a lower quality experience. It doesn’t seem possible for Princess to continue to offer high quality cruise experiences when the prices are so low. Theoretically, the price for sending the same sized ship on the same cruise should be equivalent for any cruise line. So how does Princess offer such low fares? Staffs stretched thin, on-board revenue earning items and events, food that is less than up to par…

 

Hopefully those relishing in the low fares aren’t complaining about lower quality...I think the old saying "you get what you pay for" applies.

[MichTraveler]

Additionally, Princess is not preventing its TAs from discounting the prices from their commissions as some of the other lines are doing. When my agent kicks in some OBC, it makes it tough for some of the others to match.

[roohound]

 

Hopefully those relishing in the low fares aren’t complaining about lower quality...I think the old saying "you get what you pay for" applies.

 

 

I believe if you review my past threads you'll see for the most part I am quite complimentary of Princess. I think my biggest issue has been the iced tea, but that's just the Southern belle in me coming out ;)

 

As far as getting what I pay for, for the most part I believe I'm getting a lot more than what I pay for, which is a hig point for any traveler I think.

 

I'm a big fan of good service and good value, with Princess I get the best of both worlds. And I'm an experienced cruiser so I know what good service is. Maybe I'm just a Pollyanna, or maybe I just have a really kickbutt TA, but I will continue to enjoy what I perceive as a great Princess experience and save some $$$ to boot.