PLEASE NOTE IF USING PRINCESS TOURS!!

[PoohUnderstands]

I have been keeping track of the tours and pricing for my recent cruises and find this happening on a very regular basis and just wanted to let all know.  If you know for sure you will want to do a Princess tour in a certain port, go ahead and book it when the tours first become available.  I did that for my upcoming Baltic/TA cruise in August.  I booked three Princess tours and rest are independent.   Still being 89 days out, if I went in to book the same three tours, they are available still but total cost per person went up $80 each!!  Now I know that isn't a lot but paying for the convenience of a Princess tour costs enough as it is, why pay more?

 

Pooh

[c-boy]

good advice and one reason why the d w and i do it.

[canadarocks]

It happens a lot with Princess tours that the price definitely increases as the departure date nears. I haven't found the same with Holland America tours at all; they seem to stay the same price. 

[pms4104]

Since tours can accommodate a finite number of participants, it's all about supply and demand.  As tours begin to fill, prices go up. 

  

[Vlgg731]

They can change hourly on Royal Caribbean.

[seacruise9]

Hi, 

 

I usually book my Princess shore excursions early. In addition to a possible price increase, there is a risk that the tours with limited capacity may fill and no longer be available.

 

Chuck

[rocklinmom]

Yes the prices go up all the time, based on how the shorex's are selling apparently. I always book them early and am glad I did.  It's also easy to make changes, up to five days before your cruise. 

[SargassoPirate]

We often book excursions through our big box warehouse club's travel department.  Same local tour operators that the cruise lines use, less expensive, and they offer a return-to-the-ship guarantee.  

 

 

[tailspintom]

2 minutes ago, SargassoPirate said:

We often book excursions through our big box warehouse club's travel department.  Same local tour operators that the cruise lines use, less expensive, and they offer a return-to-the-ship guarantee.  

 

 

Not to mention that the tours typically have significantly smaller groups. On a recent Maui tour, we were a party of two. The tour company covered the charge minimum of four.

[c-boy]

8 minutes ago, rocklinmom said:

Yes the prices go up all the time, based on how the shorex's are selling apparently. I always book them early and am glad I did.  It's also easy to make changes, up to five days before your cruise. 

D W and I have had many occasions of cancelling outside that dead line and we gladly give the excursion, free of charge to any of our table mates. Here we can't go perhaps one of you might like to go, Tell us all about it a dinner tomorrow night. 

[In Toronto]

I want to use our OBC for excursions.  Can I reserve now but pay on board with OBC?

[msmoger]

1 minute ago, In Toronto said:

I want to use our OBC for excursions.  Can I reserve now but pay on board with OBC?

You can use your OBC to pay for excursions booked online.  As long as your OBC shows up on your Personalizer you will be given the option to use it to pay for the excursion.

[In Toronto]

I just saw the answer to my question on another thread.  Thanks

[satxdiver]

We usually book ship tours as soon as they are available.  The price has gone up sometimes but usually $10 or so.  We have not seen the price jump like the OP is suggesting.   We have rarely seen the price drop and Princess always gives us credit for the decrease but that has been very rare.  

[DrivesLikeMario]

I've noticed tour prices going up on my Celebrity cruise too.  Pretty frustrating.  I hate to book so far in advance .

[Pam in CA]

Tour prices going up is nothing new. That's been the case for years (decades?) and the advice has always been to book when you are sure that's the tour you want as that locks in the price. I've been on cruises when the price for a tour went up three times in three months.

[PoohUnderstands]

5 hours ago, In Toronto said:

I want to use our OBC for excursions.  Can I reserve now but pay on board with OBC?

If you have OBC when you make your tour reservation, the Princess website automatically uses up your OBC first before any actual payment is required from you.  So yes, you can use OBC, but it is paid for when you purchase the tour.  Then when you are onboard, your bill will still list your credit and charges for tours so you have a record of them.

 

Pooh

[Outerdog]

@PoohUnderstands You and others booking early are creating the "demand" the algorithm is looking for. Once it sees it, prices go up.

[PoohUnderstands]

3 hours ago, satxdiver said:

We usually book ship tours as soon as they are available.  The price has gone up sometimes but usually $10 or so.  We have not seen the price jump like the OP is suggesting.   We have rarely seen the price drop and Princess always gives us credit for the decrease but that has been very rare.  

Our three tours went up pp, $30, $30, and $20 for a total of $80.

 

Pooh

[4cats4me]

I don’t recall them jacking up prices 10-15 years ago.  The price online was the price onboard.  A few years ago I started noticing this volatile stock market type pricing.  And now ,  not only  do the prices increase online, they increase again once onboard.  We don’t book very many Princess tours but when we do I always reserve very early on to get a better price.  

[PoohUnderstands]

1 minute ago, Outerdog said:

@PoohUnderstands You and others booking early are creating the "demand" the algorithm is looking for. Once it sees it, prices go up.

Your point is................?   Booking when tours become available isn't booking early.  It's booking on time.  So for people, who for some reason, want to wait to much closer to the cruise, I am the bad girl?  So be it.  I accept it.  I will therefore ask everyone's forgiveness now, but will still book early.  It's the OCD TA in me.

 

Pooh

[Outerdog]

1 minute ago, PoohUnderstands said:

Your point is................?   

 

Didn't have one other than to participate in the conversation. Calm it on down. Wasn't accusing you of anything.

[PoohUnderstands]

Just now, Outerdog said:

 

Didn't have one other than to participate in the conversation. Calm it on down. Wasn't accusing you of anything.

I realize not me personally, just fooling with you.  And I wasn't being "uncalm", just aggravating ya!  Grin.  Sorry, sometimes my sense of humor is mine alone!

 

Pooh

[capriccio]

We don't usually book Princess excursions but have for our Norwegain Fjords cruise that leaves in 2 weeks.  Since we reserved last summer, our two excursions and one transfer to the airport with an excursion have increased $20, $20 and $0 per person. I am willing to bet that the airport transfer excursion price will increase for those waiting to book on board.  Glad we booked last September.

[satxdiver]

I just checked our next cruise in two weeks.  We have 4 ship excursions booked back when they were first offered.  One is the same price, two have gone up $10 each and the fourth has increased by $20 each.  Not a significant amount but does pay to book early which can be cancelled if you find a better excursion on your own.