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blbailey

By blbailey,
in Princess Cruises

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Wishing on a star

Wishing on a star

Posted
Posted

We are trying to decide whether to book Alaska today.

 

For the two of us, the gratuities would help a bit... And we would use the dining.

 

We are looking at an early mid-May sailing, that does not have a lot of OV cabins booked. I am wondering if they might actually lower the price on those. I think they are currently overpriced, in that they are only $200.00 less than a balcony. (for us, $400.00 is $400.00)

 

If so, we can just call and have this re-fared, if this would come out cheaper for us. Right?

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Working 2 Cruise

Working 2 Cruise

Posted
Posted
We are trying to decide whether to book Alaska today.

 

For the two of us, the gratuities would help a bit... And we would use the dining.

 

We are looking at an early mid-May sailing, that does not have a lot of OV cabins booked. I am wondering if they might actually lower the price on those. I think they are currently overpriced, in that they are only $200.00 less than a balcony. (for us, $400.00 is $400.00)

 

If so, we can just call and have this re-fared, if this would come out cheaper for us. Right?

 

They're more likely going to go up! You have the free gratuities... Jump on it!

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caribill

caribill

Posted
Posted

We are looking at an early mid-May sailing, that does not have a lot of OV cabins booked. I am wondering if they might actually lower the price on those. I think they are currently overpriced, in that they are only $200.00 less than a balcony. (for us, $400.00 is $400.00)

 

If so, we can just call and have this re-fared, if this would come out cheaper for us. Right?

 

If prices drop, it will be a new promotion and to get the new pricing you would have to give up any amenities (such as free gratuities) that are not also a part of the new promotion.

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Iamcruzin

Iamcruzin

Posted
Posted
Princess "sales" are now mostly the same price as the previous "sale" but with different amenities (AIBP on one sale, free gratuities on another).

 

Same pricing exceptions:

a) If the ship is selling well, the price will go up

b) If there is a lower price, it will be usually be no more that a couple of hundreds of $$$.

 

Princess (and other cruise lines) are trying to keep "price integrity" in order to train customers to book early for best pricing and to avoid deep discounting in order to fill up cabins. Adding amenities such as free gratuities effectively lowers the cost of the cruise while keeping listed price integrity.

 

How well is this working? Well RCL told financial analysts that "The program has been in place for seven months or so, and we have not granted a single exception to the policy. I acknowledge it has cost us a bit and is costing us a bit this year in revenue, and some cabins have gone empty which could have been filled with dramatic last minute deals, but we stood firm and we have made zero exceptions."

 

I think Celebrity has had a lot of success with this approach. I have been monitoring prices of my cruise in May. I booked it last November when the itinerary first opened. I don't usually book 18 months out but I'm glad I did. I paid $1399 with a drink package, $300 OBC and paid gratuities all coming from the cruise line. In March the price dropped $100 pp so I got an adjustment and kept all of the above. My C2 category sold out during the March sale and now the lower category is at $1549 and has been holding at that price. I also have to add at the higher price you only have a choice of one of the perks above where I received all three for less money.

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whatcruiseisnext

whatcruiseisnext

Posted
Posted
Some sale... My cruise has been at a stable price for two months. UP $200 today.

 

It's not a sale for us either. We are booked on a TA in April 2016. When we booked it was under the 3 for free promotion. We used EZ air as well. If we were booking today under the new sale it would cost us (for 2 people) $882 more total for cruise and air PLUS we would lose our free gratuities, our free specialty dining and our free bottle of wine. I'm so glad we booked when we did.

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shredie

shredie

Posted
Posted
Some sale... My cruise has been at a stable price for two months. UP $200 today.

 

I'm curious: if carrots are on sale at the grocery store and you go in to buy cucumbers, do you say "Some sale" when it turns out the cucumbers are full price?

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whatcruiseisnext

whatcruiseisnext

Posted
Posted
I'm curious: if carrots are on sale at the grocery store and you go in to buy cucumbers, do you say "Some sale" when it turns out the cucumbers are full price?

 

I think you missed the point. The cruise I spoke about IS on sale today under the new promotion that started today. So yes....it is "some sale". NOT!

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kayred

kayred

Posted
Posted

I check the price each day on my June Alaska cruise. I saw the price go up $50 on the cheapest category about 4 days ago and then yesterday it went up 150 more for a total of 200 more. Exact same cruise. If I stay in the same room (mid ship) this "sale" would cost me $240pp - not a good deal for me even with the discounted air fare (my flight saves 200pp on air cost).

I am joining the others who are glad we booked early.

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denatravels

denatravels

Posted
Posted (edited)
I was not quoting you.

 

 

Nope. You were quoting me. Not really sure why you continue to feel the need to comment.

Can someone please tell me how to set up the ignore feature from the app. Only have seen on web version.

Edited by denatravels
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caribill

caribill

Posted
Posted
It's not a sale for us either. We are booked on a TA in April 2016. When we booked it was under the 3 for free promotion. We used EZ air as well. If we were booking today under the new sale it would cost us (for 2 people) $882 more total for cruise and air PLUS we would lose our free gratuities, our free specialty dining and our free bottle of wine. I'm so glad we booked when we did.

 

I checked a 33 day B2B cruise we had also booked under the 3-for-three promotion.

 

The price is up $830 for two from what we paid plus it does not include the $759 gratuities for two that was in the previous promotion.

 

Thus a total higher cost of $1589 more for two with this week's pricing.

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caribill

caribill

Posted
Posted

Princess (andf other cruise lines) are working to encourage early booking so that ships can be filled without resorting to last minute big discounting.

 

It seems to be working because booking for next year are ahead of what they have been in the past.

 

Thus, IMHO, the higher pricing is due to supply vs. demand.

 

The pricing for the announced 2017 European sailings are, again IMHO, high. Insides start at around $200/person/day.

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