How does the new anniversary sale compare?

[PoohUnderstands]

For the fun of it, I just compared my three booked cruises to see if the newest sale helped at all. The answer is no.

 

My one cruise that was booked under the "Cyber Sale - Sail LATER" is $52 less expensive than the Anniversary Sale. The main negative is that there are no free Gratuities on the Anniversary Sale. Cost of cruise is the same.

 

Another cruise booked also under the "Cyber Sale-Sail LATER" is now available only under the "Cyber Sale-Sail SOON" and now there is no OBC and the deposit is non-refundable. Cost of cruise is $100 more pp.

 

Finally booked a third cruise under "3 for free". Under Anniversary Sale you get $300 more in OBC and $58 for Specialty Dining, but again no gratuities. However this particular cruise at this time is $590 more pp.

 

So, if you have not booked yet, the OBC is nice as well as one free specialty dining dinner, but no the best sale that has been recently.

 

The main difference in value for me is that there is no free gratuities which can add up on a longer cruise. But if you don't have that benefit now, the extra OBC and free dining might be good for you to rebook (assuming you have a refundable deposit).

 

Pooh

[nukesubsailor]

For the fun of it, I just compared my three booked cruises to see if the newest sale helped at all. The answer is no.

 

My one cruise that was booked under the "Cyber Sale - Sail LATER" is $52 less expensive than the Anniversary Sale. The main negative is that there are no free Gratuities on the Anniversary Sale. Cost of cruise is the same.

 

Another cruise booked also under the "Cyber Sale-Sail LATER" is now available only under the "Cyber Sale-Sail SOON" and now there is no OBC and the deposit is non-refundable. Cost of cruise is $100 more pp.

 

Finally booked a third cruise under "3 for free". Under Anniversary Sale you get $300 more in OBC and $58 for Specialty Dining, but again no gratuities. However this particular cruise at this time is $590 more pp.

 

So, if you have not booked yet, the OBC is nice as well as one free specialty dining dinner, but no the best sale that has been recently.

 

The main difference in value for me is that there is no free gratuities which can add up on a longer cruise. But if you don't have that benefit now, the extra OBC and free dining might be good for you to rebook (assuming you have a refundable deposit).

 

Pooh

 

I also compared my 3 bookings with the new sale prices. Under the new sale, the fares range from $150 to $600 higher than what I booked at. The onboard credit and specialty restaurant dinners value do not equal the value of the all inclusive beverage package that we got as a benefit of our bookings.

[voljeep]

we caught a one day $ 1 per person NON-refundable deposit:) back in October for little 5 day cruise out of FLL in March. Our price is now $ 110 each less than if we booked it under either the Cyber or whatever they are calling it now. And we have prepaid grats, so that's another $ 135 savings for the 2 of us. Crown - Turks and Amber Cove:cool:

[easyboy]

For the fun of it, I just compared my three booked cruises to see if the newest sale helped at all. The answer is no.

 

 

 

My one cruise that was booked under the "Cyber Sale - Sail LATER" is $52 less expensive than the Anniversary Sale. The main negative is that there are no free Gratuities on the Anniversary Sale. Cost of cruise is the same.

 

 

 

Another cruise booked also under the "Cyber Sale-Sail LATER" is now available only under the "Cyber Sale-Sail SOON" and now there is no OBC and the deposit is non-refundable. Cost of cruise is $100 more pp.

 

 

 

Finally booked a third cruise under "3 for free". Under Anniversary Sale you get $300 more in OBC and $58 for Specialty Dining, but again no gratuities. However this particular cruise at this time is $590 more pp.

 

 

 

So, if you have not booked yet, the OBC is nice as well as one free specialty dining dinner, but no the best sale that has been recently.

 

 

 

The main difference in value for me is that there is no free gratuities which can add up on a longer cruise. But if you don't have that benefit now, the extra OBC and free dining might be good for you to rebook (assuming you have a refundable deposit).

 

 

 

Pooh

 

 

 

I agree. I look at sales as just another form of price packaging, but not necessarily the cheapest option. It may, or may not, work for others.

 

 

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[riffatsea]

This "sale" would be $800 more expensive for us and only give us an extra $300 in onboard credits but that would not take into account the fact that we got free gratuities for a 15 day cruise for 2 people so no bargain at all for us!

Free specialty dining does not add enough for it to be worth it for us to make any changes.

[sfaaa]

No free grats, no deal.

[Redwing55]

I get having these sales, but it's too bad that it creates more work for all of our TA's, since they need to bird dog these new sales to check if it makes sense to rebook. I guess such is life for the TA's (and those that book themselves.)

[riclop]

Another NON sale.

[voljeep]

I get having these sales, but it's too bad that it creates more work for all of our TA's, since they need to bird dog these new sales to check if it makes sense to rebook. I guess such is life for the TA's (and those that book themselves.)

 

so, if you book with a TA - do you quit going to the Princess site and checking on the fare changes for your cruise?:cool:

[sfaaa]

3 For Free was a good sale.

[MCC retired]

From what I have compared , this Anniversary Sale is for those who did not book @ previous Sales .

No Free Grat's and higher cruise rates .☹️

Won't be adjusting my 1/26/ Regal cruise for this Sale .

 

 

 

 

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[Redwing55]

so, if you book with a TA - do you quit going to the Princess site and checking on the fare changes for your cruise?:cool:

Most of the time. Just for curiosity (Can't resist) I take a peak, but she's gotten every one for me. And I admit, I'm not always sure as to the total... taxes etc. I think I get it, but I doubt myself.

 

It's that curiosity and this dang site that keeps me checking just occasionally.;)

[cruisingthomas]

One of our cruises turns out to save us C$800 with the Anniversary sale. Compare to 3ForFree. However, we have a Premium Deluxe Balcony, and the was no lowest stateroom price benefit. So even adding back in Gratuities and subtracting the extra OBC. We can out ahead. It is a longer cruise ( 27 days, TA and British Isles, April 16, 18).

 

 

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[mthomp5]

Higher fares for both of our cruises under anniversary sale pricing. We booked one under sip and sail (took OBC) and another under 3 for free. Net fare lower by $136 per person for one cruise and $341 per person for the other by booking under prior promos.

[Josie2]

One of our cruises turns out to save us C$800 with the Anniversary sale. Compare to 3ForFree. However, we have a Premium Deluxe Balcony, and the was no lowest stateroom price benefit. So even adding back in Gratuities and subtracting the extra OBC. We can out ahead. It is a longer cruise ( 27 days, TA and British Isles, April 16, 18).

 

 

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Not sure if I understand ...? We also have a deluxe balcony which I think is sold out. But a regular balcony is available and about $1000 less. I didn’t think they would give you any reprice if your category was sold out But it might be worth a call I guess.

 

 

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[Amtrack Springfield]

The Three for Free was a better sale. The current sale our cabin went up $800.

[cruisequeen4ever]

It’s the opposite of a sale for us; our price would increase by $300 pp, and we’d lose a substantial amount of OBC.

 

 

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[satxdiver]

I checked out our next 3 cruises. One the price is the same without the nice bennies we have, the second and third were cheaper but we would lose the bennies which are worth more than the smaller price. So looks like we will be sitting this sale out for now. Maybe next time. All 3 cruises have been rebooked to get advantage of the price/bennies offered at the time.

[Mapu]

I guess it depends on cabin category and number of people in a cabin. Our family has two cabins that were booked under the 3 for free; one triple DB and one double BB. The DB cabin under the Anniversary Sale would have cost $1240.00 more and would have lost the pre-paid gratuities, onboard credit for the 3rd person (whose fare increases $950). The double BB had a lower per person fare; increased obc, and specialty dinner for each. Even losing the pre-paid gratuities in the 3 for free, the increased obc and lower price point was beneficial. Go figure!

[flamomo]

I did the numbers when I saw that my booked cruise fare was reduced by $115 and the OBC was higher..

The present booking has free grats ($337 each) and $150 OBC each.

If I refared it, we would pay $115 less apiece, and the OBC would go up to $300 apiece, plus a free dinner (?$29 apiece), but lose the free grats.

I consider our current booking to be as good a deal, even though the present OBC is only $150 each and there's no free dinner included. With the sale offer, the grats would gobble up the entire $300 OBC plus to remaining $37 would be charged to our shipboard accounts. The $29 value of the free dinner would offset most of the $37. So it seems like pretty much of a wash.

 

 

Could someone who is better at figuring out this sort of thing please tell me if I have I figured this correctly? Is there something else I should consider?

[cherylandtk]

I almost didn’t look at my bookings after reading this thread...just goes to show that you can never assume anything with cruise pricing. Turns out the Anniversary Sale is a better deal on our TA sailing.

 

Was booked under Three for Free, even with losing the grats we come out ahead with the increased OBC and a nice price drop. Net savings $344 for the two of us.

[jknc]

Greetings,

 

We just booked Caribbean Princess during Cyber Sale with Costco on Black Friday. While room cost has decreased, its a wash with the complimentary gratuities we were given.

[PoohUnderstands]

I almost didn’t look at my bookings after reading this thread...just goes to show that you can never assume anything with cruise pricing. Turns out the Anniversary Sale is a better deal on our TA sailing.

 

Was booked under Three for Free, even with losing the grats we come out ahead with the increased OBC and a nice price drop. Net savings $344 for the two of us.

 

So glad you looked! You always should. You are fortunate in this sale. Most of us have seen the price of our cruises stay the same or actually go up! So in that scenario, in most cases, especially if a longer cruise, losing the free gratuities just does not make changing to this sale worthwhile.

 

Pooh

[PoolSlider]

Had the 3 for Free deal. Checked this sale for our 11 night June Cruise; our cabin price dropped $650 and the higher OBC pays the gratuities with some to spare. One thing I note, you have to check the booking all the way to the "choose your room" level for the price drop to show up. I checked the room next to mine...and yep I refared quick!

[soccergang]

I had booked a cruise recently. When I called Princess today to see if it could be moved to take advantage of the Anniversary Sale, she did me one better. We saved $1900 on the cruise, received a specialty dining, and another $600 in OBC. Oh, and we moved from a forward mini-suite cabin to a mid-ship in a very good location. I couldn't be happier!