jtdlmc Posted March 11, 2018 #1 Share Posted March 11, 2018 I was reading on another group that Princess increases their excursion prices depending on supply and demand. Is this true? I have never seen or heard of that on any other cruise line I have been on, in fact excursion prices are the same from cruise to cruise months apart. I don't usually purchase ship sponsored excursions but may for a couple in Alaska so just wondering if I had better have my research done and choices made by the time the excursions are available for my sailing to get the best price. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wolfie11 Posted March 11, 2018 #2 Share Posted March 11, 2018 I am elite on Princess with and cruise on them a lot. I have never experienced this. In the first place, it would have to be done on board and I can't imagine the already overworked shore excursion team staying up to the wee hours trying to figure out which tours to raise the prices on. The really popular tours can sell out before the cruise and the "lame" tours or exotic tours hardly ever sell out. I can see where the prices of certain excursions might go up during the season, for example if the price of oil/gas goes up dramatically, the tour operators that operate buses, planes, trains, etc. may raise prices to cover their increased costs. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JT1962 Posted March 11, 2018 #3 Share Posted March 11, 2018 (edited) I can’t speak specifically to Princess, but many companies are going to “Dynamic Pricing” programs to determine prices based on supply and demand. It is based on algorithms in the programming and done automatically, so no human interaction is required. It is possible that Princess is experimenting with this concept for their excursions in addition to the cruise fares. I do know that Royal Caribbean will offer discounted prices on certain excursions at times when they aren’t selling well. Raising prices as demand increases could be the inverse form of this process. Sent from my iPhone using Forums Edited March 11, 2018 by JT1962 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare gotta cruise again Posted March 11, 2018 #4 Share Posted March 11, 2018 DH and I have an upcoming AK cruise. I had called Princess regarding our OBC as we have enough between two of us to pay for a pricey excursion for 2 but DHs amount of OBC is greater than mine. I was unable to use combined OBC on My Princess to book so was asking agent to see if they could reserve two tickets using our combined OBC total. The short answer was “can’t be done”...but that’s not the point of this reply to OP. The rep told me to be aware that prices will increase as we get closer to sailing date and no way to know when. I said I didn’t imagine it would happen very soon on this particular excursion as it appears no one has yet booked it and she said, that didn’t matter because it’s still likely prices will increase. So, I wonder if in addition to supply & demand, pricing may increase arbitrarily just because a cruise sailing date is approaching. Though we usually look at excursions (ship’s and on-our-own) well in advance, we do tend to wait until quite close to departure to actually book them when pre-payments are involved (even when OBC covers them). If enough folks do that then its in the cruise line’s interest to charge more for last minute bookings. Even if they have to pay out a few people for difference due to the best-price program, I bet Princess comes out ahead. I’ll book the excursion as soon as we make final payment next week even though I have to charge a portion for mine while DH is sitting with plenty of remaining OBC. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
katrina915 Posted March 11, 2018 #5 Share Posted March 11, 2018 I experienced this with princess for June sailing. I purchased helicopter glacier excursion and the price was higher after I did that. I also noticed that morning time slot for one excursion was more than afternoon slot for same excursion. I never experienced this on celebrity or royal Caribbean. This is my first sailing with princess. Sent from my SM-G930V using Forums mobile app Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wheezedr Posted March 12, 2018 #6 Share Posted March 12, 2018 I have been sailing with Princess for close to 20 years and yes they do change excursion prices in both directions, up and down. In fact an excursion may have differing prices even at one point in time. That occurs, as it does on my current booking, when one departure time for the excursion may be more desirable than another. I have canceled and rebooked at a lower price, usually I do not cancel to rebook at a higher price. Most of all I rarely book cruise line excursions because I can do better and cheaper in the private market Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare Coral Posted March 12, 2018 #7 Share Posted March 12, 2018 I have been sailing with Princess for close to 20 years and yes they do change excursion prices in both directions, up and down. In fact an excursion may have differing prices even at one point in time. That occurs, as it does on my current booking, when one departure time for the excursion may be more desirable than another. I have canceled and rebooked at a lower price, usually I do not cancel to rebook at a higher price. Most of all I rarely book cruise line excursions because I can do better and cheaper in the private market I am on this same cruise with wheezedr and several of our cruise excursions have increased since I booked probably 6-8 weeks ago. Frustrating! I also booked an afternoon excursion as the morning excursion is $20 more. I am Elite on Princess and this is the first time I have paid for excursions up front. I usually don't do ship excursions but for this trip, I am (not Alaska). In Alaska - it is easy to do private excursions. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rocklinmom Posted March 12, 2018 #8 Share Posted March 12, 2018 (edited) Yes the prices do increase. It just depends on which ones and which times. For example, in Skagway I booked one for June that was $179.95pp. Now, a few months later, it is $209.95pp. And our Ketchikan one increased by $10pp, but only the one at a later time. The earlier one is still the original price. Edited March 12, 2018 by rocklinmom Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare gotta cruise again Posted March 15, 2018 #9 Share Posted March 15, 2018 As an update: the excursion we want for our May 2018 cruise has 2 options, 15 minutes apart; both allow for 20 people each. Neither shows anyone booked as still 20 places in each. The earlier option has just increased in price by $10 while the one leaving only 15 minutes later is still at the original price. I went ahead and booked the lower priced, later option!! Moral of the story: prices seem to change capriciously, not only due to supply and demand. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wheezedr Posted March 15, 2018 #10 Share Posted March 15, 2018 As an update: the excursion we want for our May 2018 cruise has 2 options, 15 minutes apart; both allow for 20 people each. Neither shows anyone booked as still 20 places in each. The earlier option has just increased in price by $10 while the one leaving only 15 minutes later is still at the original price. I went ahead and booked the lower priced, later option!! Moral of the story: prices seem to change capriciously, not only due to supply and demand. By the way 20 is just the number that Princess feeds into its system. Even a bus for 50 will only show as 20 and will drop below that only as it gets further booking. I just mention it as there may be more on a tour than you realize Sent from my iPad using Forums Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
land lover Posted March 16, 2018 #11 Share Posted March 16, 2018 (edited) I was reading on another group that Princess increases their excursion prices depending on supply and demand. Is this true? I have never seen or heard of that on any other cruise line I have been on, in fact excursion prices are the same from cruise to cruise months apart. I don't usually purchase ship sponsored excursions but may for a couple in Alaska so just wondering if I had better have my research done and choices made by the time the excursions are available for my sailing to get the best price. I have cruised Royal Caribbean & Princess in the last few years and I have seen price fluctuation with both. I just looked at the excursions I have booked for Alaska and a couple have increased $5.00. Once on the ship it always seems that both lines increase their excursions and transfers. I've attributed the increase to the cruise line contracting for so many seats or buses at a price with a vendor and when they exceed that number the price goes up. Who knows??? However on 3 international cruises I took last year some Princess excursions increased by $30-40 dollars per person. By booking early on one cruise I saved over $300. One interesting thing I noted when searching for independent excursions in Alaska vendor webpages often directed you to cruise lines sites where I noticed Princess excursions were often less expensive. For example....the Taku Lodge & 5 Glacier sea plane...with Princess $315(now 320. went up $5 since I purchased) but other cruise lines are as high as $360 exact same description. Vendor at the time I looked was same price as Princess. Edited March 16, 2018 by land lover Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
land lover Posted March 16, 2018 #12 Share Posted March 16, 2018 I can’t speak specifically to Princess, but many companies are going to “Dynamic Pricing” programs to determine prices based on supply and demand. It is based on algorithms in the programming and done automatically, so no human interaction is required. It is possible that Princess is experimenting with this concept for their excursions in addition to the cruise fares. I do know that Royal Caribbean will offer discounted prices on certain excursions at times when they aren’t selling well. Raising prices as demand increases could be the inverse form of this process. Sent from my iPhone using Forums In 2016 I cruised with both Princess and RCI, both discounted their excursions by 20%.....on my 2 sailing...one Mex Riviera other Caribbean, Oasis. RCI as always been less expensive the Princess on Snorkeling adventures. First time I had ever seen this lasted a month and then back to regular pricing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
land lover Posted March 16, 2018 #13 Share Posted March 16, 2018 I have been sailing with Princess for close to 20 years and yes they do change excursion prices in both directions, up and down. In fact an excursion may have differing prices even at one point in time. That occurs, as it does on my current booking, when one departure time for the excursion may be more desirable than another. I have canceled and rebooked at a lower price, usually I do not cancel to rebook at a higher price. Most of all I rarely book cruise line excursions because I can do better and cheaper in the private market This truly depends on where you travel to and what you want to do. 20 years ago most of our choices were with the cruise line..or pick up something once docked. .....Now we have the internet to guide us....especially in the last 10 years just amazing...... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Please sign in to comment
You will be able to leave a comment after signing in
Sign In Now