Sip and sale promo

[lbfluffy]

I believe Princess had a recent sip and sale prone. Of course I missed it since we were unsure of our plans. I'm wondering if they may do this in the summer? I'll book my cruise at the current rate and get it refared. So it would probably be best to book a balcony since I believe that promo required a balcony or higher.

[caribill]

It is hard to predict which sales promotions may be repeated and when.

 

Yes, the sip & sail promotion has been offered for two years in late summer, but it may or may not be offered at that time in 2017.

 

If it is offered and you want to switch, it will be at the pricing in effect for that promotion. The price may be the same, lower or higher than what you have already booked.

 

And if it is offered, it is impossible to know at this time what cabin categories would qualify.

[Casey12]

They only covered certain sailing dates also. The next promo may not have your sailing date included. I would book your cabin and just watch for other promos and see what comes up.

[paul929207]

After the Sip & Sale ended, Princess lowered the fare. For us the lower fare was a better deal than the fare with Sip & Sale included. So we dropped the S&S.

[skynight]

The Sip & Sail promo may return, no one really knows. I can report that we did have that promo for some 2018 sailings. We changed them to a better promo that provided better OBC. You have to compare how much you actually would spend on beverages, not the purchase value of the AIBP to determine if the Sip & Sail is a good value.

[lbfluffy]

I think we would use the plan, especially since we are planning to take a Hawaii cruise over Christmas and New Years next year. However the price for 15 days it a lot. I may just bring our wine, and maybe my husband can get the plan.

[foodsvcmgr]

Last summer Princess advertised Sip & Sail as an annual event, done once a year in August.

So the presumption will be that they will offer it again this coming August, but of course there is no guarantee of that.

Lock in what you are interested in now and monitor promos going forward.

[Cruise Raider]

I took advantage of the Sip and Sail promo for two cruises for 2018. I booked one is late June and one in mid July last year if that gives you any indication of when it was offered last.

 

So far, I have found other promotions but not better pricing for the cruises I booked and will get more use out of the Sip and Sail than I would out of the perks offered in the 3 for Free promo.

[Myleftfoot]

The sip and sail is all hype, I have just completed a voyage on Princess Sip and sail deal and the only way to get a drink in a reasonable time is to go to a bar and order it direct to the bar man.

I did wait up to 30 mins for a wine at diner.

 

 

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[CaribbeanIsland]

The sip and sail is all hype, I have just completed a voyage on Princess Sip and sail deal and the only way to get a drink in a reasonable time is to go to a bar and order it direct to the bar man.

I did wait up to 30 mins for a wine at diner.

 

 

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We had that same experience except for we paid the money for the all inclusive plan. Won't do that again.

[NavyVeteran]

I think we would use the plan, especially since we are planning to take a Hawaii cruise over Christmas and New Years next year. However the price for 15 days it a lot. I may just bring our wine, and maybe my husband can get the plan.

 

If your husband gets the AIBP, you may not need to bring your wine. He would be able to purchase bottles of wine at 40% off - and those bottles can be shared. In fact, he could purchase a bottle at 40% off for you and order glasses of wine for him.

 

However, this only applies to purchasing AIBP - not to the Sip & Sail promo. The Sip & Sail promo applies to the cabin and two people in the same cabin can't get different promos.

[lbfluffy]

If your husband gets the AIBP, you may not need to bring your wine. He would be able to purchase bottles of wine at 40% off - and those bottles can be shared. In fact, he could purchase a bottle at 40% off for you and order glasses of wine for him.

 

However, this only applies to purchasing AIBP - not to the Sip & Sail promo. The Sip & Sail promo applies to the cabin and two people in the same cabin can't get different promos.

 

That's a good idea. We booked our cruise with the anniversary special promotion. I'll keep an eye out for promotions.

 

Jessica

[DannyMac]

We booked the Sip and Sail promo on the Ruby Princess 12/3 out of LA. We had a group of 12 and the promo was good for us. Will watch for another S&S promo and book it.:)

[satxdiver]

I was able to snag four s&s sales, one in summer 2017, two the fall of 2017 and one the spring 2018. I did look at the 3 free deal which would have lowered our basic cost but not enough to make up for our beverages in the s&s so we stayed with the original deal. Unfortunately our spring 2017 cruises were not part of the sale. :(

 

So now I am monitoring our fall 2018 cruise to see if we can snag another s&s sale. I will probably go ahead and book the cruise and watch for the sale much like I did our cruises coming up.

 

We did get an s&s package on our recent fall 2016 B2B cruise, which was our first time and loved it. Not enough to actually purchase the AIBP, but did consume enough to make up for any price reductions that came along later. We found the service to be very normal in all the bars we frequented. We had TD and after the first night, the assistant waiter was there waiting for our drink order. He was very punctual in bringing it back to the table as well as asking us if we wanted more.

Edited December 20, 2016 by satxdiver

[riclop]

You never know what they will do and it may be for new bookings only.

[Colo Cruiser]

I agree, no way to tell when they will offer it.

The fare has always been inflated to cover the promo. :(

Edited December 20, 2016 by Colo Cruiser

[partybarbie]

In our experience, the bar service is same no matter if you pay as go, or have the AIBP. At dinner, I would have two glasses of wine and my husband would have two beers. After dinner, we would both order specialty coffees. The service was excellent, but we did have traditional dining so the asst waiter knew our preferences. We never had a long wait in any of the bars. In fact, we had to tell them to stop serving us. ;)

[karena1]

We had that same experience except for we paid the money for the all inclusive plan. Won't do that again.

 

Wow we were just on Regal Dec 4-11 with the SipnSail and service was amazing!!! Never had to wait more than a couple minutes for a drink, pool servers all over the place, even at the bar got waited on almost immediately. We loved having the SipnSail and will book another cruise on princes with my FCC as soon as the SipnSail is offered again.

[wizard-of-roz]

We loved the Sip & Sail package onboard the Island for 19 days. We never had to wait for service and actually brought along some singles to tip our servers in Crooners and the Theatre.

 

I hope to get the Sip & Sail package again on future sailings. No matter where we got our drinks the service was always excellent along with the olives, nuts and trail mix in the bar.

[karena1]

We loved the Sip & Sail package onboard the Island for 19 days. We never had to wait for service and actually brought along some singles to tip our servers in Crooners and the Theatre.

 

I hope to get the Sip & Sail package again on future sailings. No matter where we got our drinks the service was always excellent along with the olives, nuts and trail mix in the bar.

 

We take $1's on every cruise we go on so we can tip as we go. Not saying we tip every single drink, but we do a lot. That is just part of the cruise experience for us.

[Thrak]

I agree, no way to tell when they will offer it.

The fare has always been inflated to cover the promo. :(

 

Not always. I checked the price for the 28 day Hawaii/South Pacific cruise this year without the Sip and Sail. I checked it for next year with the Sip and Sail. It was exactly the same price. I booked it for next year. A 28 day cruise with 18 sea days is the perfect cruise for this package. I would never pay for it but, like I said, the cruise was exactly the same price this year without the package as it was next year with the package.

 

On the other hand we booked a connoisseur cruise tour to Alaska that sailed early this year on the first day it became available for booking. I watched for about a year and a half for price drops. There were a lot of "sales" that came along but nothing that would have been cheaper than the price I had booked.

 

I agree that, in general, prices go up when there is a "sale" but, once in a while, one can actually score a deal. I got lucky with the 28 day cruise and the Sip and Sail. It pays to check pricing and be wary of anything that sounds too good to but true but, in this case, it was actually a good deal.