Price lowered AGAIN on our 3 For Free booking!

[StLouisCruisers]

Just checking out Princess.com this morning and noticed our Royal Princess Circle Mediterranean booking, which we'd had upgraded to the 3 For Free Sale on Tuesday, had gone done in price tremendously for our cabin category. I couldn't believe it, but hurried to call and try to get this new low, low price added to our booking. The CS representative said we also got a $200 reduction for being past passengers, so whatever the price is on the website may not be your lowest price. Check your bookings now to see if there was any change since Tuesday.

 

All our Sun Princess bookings for next year remain the same as they were Tuesday, but at least they are under the sale so have the great benefits on them.

 

Then on top of that I checked Delta and found non stop flights on our dates next May and June had dropped overnight so much my jaw dropped. 40% of yesterday's price! Scooped up our tickets as quick as I could. They have competition from American who also has low prices to Barcelona this week.

[dickinson]

Similar here. On Wednesday we had to upgrade our cabin to get a lower price with the new sale (no cabins left in our category and location). Next day on Thursday I saw the prices dropped a LOT. Called TA. Saved a total of just over $1440 for two people on a 28 day TA and Med cruise by switching from balcony to deluxe balcony. Score!

[easyboy]

Happy for you both. But don't settle down as yet. More reductions might be coming!

[Go-Bucks!]

I don't seem to be able to get any good deals from either this promotion or the Sip & Sail one. Both times my TA said that the cruise price increased more than the perks are worth!

 

I'm getting pretty irritated because neither of my last 2 cruises had any promotions going on when we booked and we still can't get into one. :rolleyes:

[jennybenny]

I don't know if Princess ever did this because for as long as I can remember, Princess is difficult to get free upgrades, but back in the day, on Carnival (we don't cruise them anymore, and I don't think they still do this), you could book a category and rate, and if discounts became available they would automatically upgrade you to a better room. It was never a "worse room" in an undesirable location. It was always a true upgrade. If you booked far enough in advance you were upgraded accordingly. so many times we were upgraded from inside to the best available outside. We never booked balcony's back then, but ah the good old days.

 

Now when we book a cruise, we only cruise Princess these days, and we book the category and room location we want. We request to not be upgraded because so many people have shared horror stories about where they have been placed and we never want to have that happen. We love all of our cruises with Princess and enjoy ourselves even though we book as soon as the itinerary comes out. There have been a few occasions where we have booked last minute and that's turned out well also. When we can take advantage of a sip n sail or 3 for free we do and when we can't we keep an eye out for discounts.

 

It's all luck of when we book and what ship we are booking. I've found it's always good to have a few FCC because you never know when you might book a cruise. :)

We were able to book the 3 for free and I was so excited to get that!! Of course, we only did 2 of the 3 (we didn't upgrade our cabin location), but we were happy for the other 2 perks because it was a trip we wanted to do and the 3 for free was just a bonus!

Edited September 10, 2016 by jennybenny

[jennybenny]

Happy for you both. But don't settle down as yet. More reductions might be coming!

 

That would be awesome!! and I'll keep looking out for them!

:)

[dickinson]

I don't seem to be able to get any good deals from either this promotion or the Sip & Sail one. Both times my TA said that the cruise price increased more than the perks are worth!

 

I'm getting pretty irritated because neither of my last 2 cruises had any promotions going on when we booked and we still can't get into one. :rolleyes:

 

Don't take your TA's word. Figure it out yourself. My TA said it wasn't worth it. She was wrong. I asked for the numbers (she discounts so I can't use the pricing on Princess' website). I had the sip and sail promotion with OBC instead of the AIBP. After figuring out what I would have to spend out of pocket for the cruise and tips under one promotion and then this new promotion I saw I would come out ahead by about $350! Then the next day prices dropped substantially so I called back again to get those new rates too.

[MCC retired]

I don't seem to be able to get any good deals from either this promotion or the Sip & Sail one. Both times my TA said that the cruise price increased more than the perks are worth!

 

I'm getting pretty irritated because neither of my last 2 cruises had any promotions going on when we booked and we still can't get into one. :rolleyes:

 

You really have to check for yourself . Don't rely on your TA so much.

You seem to be missing out on adjustments for all of these Princess Promo's

by just taking someone's word for it who's comm. is based on the cruise rate.?:confused:

Edited September 10, 2016 by MCC retired

[Go-Bucks!]

You really have to check for yourself . Don't rely on your TA so much.

You seem to be missing out on adjustments for all of these Princess Promo's

by just taking someone's word for it who's comm. is based on the cruise rate.?:confused:

 

 

I called Princess myself and did a "fake" booking and it said that I am eligible, but both gave me the high Princess-price. My TA gives a 15% discount off the Princess rate so that's why I use her. If I book with Princess at the highest fare, then the deal doesn't give me anything better.

 

What would you suggest??

[azbirdmom]

My cruises all went up with 3 for free over what I booked with Sip and Sail. And it's not just the fares, it's the all in costs including the value of OBC, gratuities etc. I also use a TA who discounts the fares, but I track the Princess price against what it was when I originally booked to determine if I should call about refaring. I'm glad that the sale has been beneficial for some but for us it hasn't been that great!

[MCC retired]

I called Princess myself and did a "fake" booking and it said that I am eligible, but both gave me the high Princess-price. My TA gives a 15% discount off the Princess rate so that's why I use her. If I book with Princess at the highest fare, then the deal doesn't give me anything better.

 

What would you suggest??

 

You did the right thing , you checked for yourself , and you can't do better.

The promo rates with freebee's are not always better than what you have already. Keep checking up until Final.

Edited September 10, 2016 by MCC retired

[StLouisCruisers]

I just wonder if Europe/Mediterranean cruises are being discounted more than other cruises? Could be sales are lagging so they're trying to fill some cabins. Just a thought...

[Astro Flyer]

I just wonder if Europe/Mediterranean cruises are being discounted more than other cruises? Could be sales are lagging so they're trying to fill some cabins. Just a thought...

My October 2017 transatlantic cruise price hasn't changed since booking with the 3 for Free promotion on Tuesday. The price increased by $50/pp for the sale but that was more than offset by getting nearly $350/pp in additional benefits & an upgrade to a higher category. :)

[baz48]

I called Princess myself and did a "fake" booking and it said that I am eligible, but both gave me the high Princess-price. My TA gives a 15% discount off the Princess rate so that's why I use her. If I book with Princess at the highest fare, then the deal doesn't give me anything better.

 

What would you suggest??

 

 

Does your agent give the 15% discount instead of any deals that Princess offers? Our last agent gave us a discounted price AND the specials that Princess was offering. That made it quite easy to book with the agent.

[Go-Bucks!]

Does your agent give the 15% discount instead of any deals that Princess offers? Our last agent gave us a discounted price AND the specials that Princess was offering. That made it quite easy to book with the agent.

 

 

She gives her discount plus any available deals. And she's a "high volume" Princess agent.

 

She told me that the price for our suite increased by $212/pp and the value of the perks was $172/pp so obviously it wasn't logical to take the deal. But Princess (and Celebrity) seem to raise our cruise fare when the deals start by more than the perks are worth. I call that a "bait and switch" deal because they make it sound like you'll get something better if you book during the promotion, but in reality it doesn't make sense to end up paying more.

[Colo Cruiser]

For us it always pays to have a great TA.

Edited September 11, 2016 by Colo Cruiser

[Mom33]

We had an amazing price break today on our Norway cruise for June.:D

[nanabananna]

How does one find a Princess TA?

 

I do not think the TA I am using is to my knowledge not a Princess seller.

 

We have not gotten one thing from her or any discounts. She goes by exactly what is priced on the website.

 

Oh, I did get 2 clear luggage tags with the TA company advertisement on them, but that is all.

 

All in all I could have done everything my TA has done. :( :eek:

[HRPro]

Booked our Eastern Mediterranean under Sip & Sail, but checked the 3 for Free today and price had gone down for the same category we had booked by over $500 plus free gratuities and OBC. When I called to book we got an additional $200 past passenger discount, so total saved over $700. Our EZ Air price dropped over $100 per person too. Great deal and very excited. It pays to check on your own even if using a TA.

[Lucky TGO]

Wow that good for you it's always nice to save a little $$$$$$$$$. :D :D

Tony

[dickinson]

How does one find a Princess TA?

 

I do not think the TA I am using is to my knowledge not a Princess seller.

 

We have not gotten one thing from her or any discounts. She goes by exactly what is priced on the website.

 

Oh, I did get 2 clear luggage tags with the TA company advertisement on them, but that is all.

 

All in all I could have done everything my TA has done. :( :eek:

 

Ask people at your meet and greets or possibly try googling. Try some online agencies. Also try the travel dept of big box stores if you are a member.

[StLouisCruisers]

You and I think alike! I was going to suggest the M&Gs, googling, and I know ONE of the big box stores travel department has large OBC included with cruises. Something to think about.

[BabsinTX]

Just saved a boatload (shipload???) of $$$ thanks to this thread! Had to give up our beverage package to save $2360 on the price of our 14-day Norway cruise in August 2017. Plus we discovered that Princess had messed up my DH's future cruise credits so got more OBC, too. Thank you VERY much!!!

 

Interesting fact: the reduced price my TA got from Princess was $904 less than what I saw while logged on to the Princess website. Now, please excuse me while I go roll in the cash we just saved!

[dickinson]

Great!!! Be careful of all that green ink ;)

[Sr voyagers]

Thanks to this thread, through our TA we were able to get the OBC and free gratuities. We are booked on the Caribbean Princess TA September 22-October 7, 2017. As we are in a suite we did not expect the upgrade and are very happy with these benefits. Thanks to all who posted here. We will continue to watch for more sales.