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Princess Excursion discounts?


13cheermom
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New to Princess Cruise Lines, and wondering do they offer any kind of discount on their own shore excursions?  I know Carnival sometimes offers discounts at different times of the year as well as the Carnival MasterCard will give you a 10% discount when using their card for payment.  Just wasn't sure if Princess ever does any of these things before I start to book our Alaskan excursions, which are pretty pricey.  Thanks for any input or past experience!

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I have never seen them offer a discount on shore excursions.  In fact just the opposite.  On my last cruise the popular excursions went up in price closer to sailing.  Yes Alaska excursion are pricey.

Edited by franktown
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Especially in Alaska I strongly recommend that people look at independent operators for excursions. Smaller groups, more personal, often longer, sometimes less expensive.

 

And no, you won't miss the ship if you book independently (at least in Alaska). That is a scare tactic used by the cruise lines. Just be sure to tell the operator which ship you are on and when it departs.

Edited by frugaltravel
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I haven’t seen this in at least a couple of years, but a while ago Princess did offer sales of about 10% off excursions.  One had to cancel and rebook the excursion; but I think this was before they instituted the prepayment requirement.  

 

Since then, I have only seen pricing go up if it changes at all.

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12 hours ago, 13cheermom said:

Thanks for all the helpful information above, curious as to when the excursion prices start to increase. Our cruise is May 2020, 7 months out. Just wondered if we should go ahead and book soon or wait awhile. 

Waiting incurs the risk that the excursions you prefer could sell out.  If you cancel, you can have the prepayment applied to other excursions or refunded to your credit card.

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19 hours ago, 13cheermom said:

Thanks for all the helpful information above, curious as to when the excursion prices start to increase. Our cruise is May 2020, 7 months out. Just wondered if we should go ahead and book soon or wait awhile. 


I watched for like ever.... it seemed before our Alaska cruise. I did not see price increases. I did book right after final payment though, because some I did not want to miss out on. We ended up changing our mind on the ship and was able to switch (within the allowed time frame lol) and the rate was the same as it was online. 🙂 If anything, more options may open up.  

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1 hour ago, Katwoman007 said:


I watched for like ever.... it seemed before our Alaska cruise. I did not see price increases. I did book right after final payment though, because some I did not want to miss out on. We ended up changing our mind on the ship and was able to switch (within the allowed time frame lol) and the rate was the same as it was online. 🙂 If anything, more options may open up.  

Thanks for this information, like I stated this is our first Princess Cruise as well going to Alaska.  Just don't want to miss out on opportunities since this is a bucket list item for us as well as our adult daughters.  We normally do private excursions in Caribbean however I'm more inclined to book with Princess for this trip.  We have a 14-day Southern Caribbean cruise in November, so wanted to at least wait till we get back from that before I start paying for all these pricey excursions, lol. Glad to hear a different perspective!

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6 hours ago, 13cheermom said:

Thanks for this information, like I stated this is our first Princess Cruise as well going to Alaska.  Just don't want to miss out on opportunities since this is a bucket list item for us as well as our adult daughters.  We normally do private excursions in Caribbean however I'm more inclined to book with Princess for this trip.  We have a 14-day Southern Caribbean cruise in November, so wanted to at least wait till we get back from that before I start paying for all these pricey excursions, lol. Glad to hear a different perspective!


What I did as this too was a HUGE bucket for dh and I and we went all out. I knew what we wanted and changed things up, like whale watching in Juneau we wanted whale watching and the glacier, we changed it from one tour to a small photography tour and there were only 6 of us!!!!!! That was pretty amazing and worth the change for our whale views. 😉 

I watched the numbers of how many pax and such and then watch the numbers fill up. Like I watched the horseback riding drop to zero but someone in my rollcall was bummed because they missed it, and I was able to tell them when they added a second group 😉 I really was watching. We did do our floatplane with a private tour which is a sensitive topic here with this seasons accidents... but our private plane was just a few weeks after the accidents and we really felt safe and enjoyed it all. (Island Wings in Ketchikan with Adam). Everything else we did was through the ship. It just seemed easier. Plus when we decided to change, we could there on the ship. Had we booked our own we had zero cell service and would not have been able to. We really thought this would be a once in a life time trip, but we REALLY want to go back! 😉  

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19 hours ago, Daniel A said:

Waiting incurs the risk that the excursions you prefer could sell out.  If you cancel, you can have the prepayment applied to other excursions or refunded to your credit card.

 

I agree with you, but still find it annoying to have to pay for excursions months before final payment for the cruise is due.

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14 hours ago, 13cheermom said:

Thanks for this information, like I stated this is our first Princess Cruise as well going to Alaska.  Just don't want to miss out on opportunities since this is a bucket list item for us as well as our adult daughters.  We normally do private excursions in Caribbean however I'm more inclined to book with Princess for this trip.  We have a 14-day Southern Caribbean cruise in November, so wanted to at least wait till we get back from that before I start paying for all these pricey excursions, lol. Glad to hear a different perspective!

Head over to the Alaska board. I always book private shore excursions in Alaska. Though unlike the Caribbean, I always book in advance in Alaska.

Edited by Coral
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