Europe on Sale

[riffatsea]

REALLy strange!!

Now my May 2021 cruise has the Air Sale flyer on it but it says you have to fly by the end of 2020!

That makes no sense! Just emailed my agent to see if he can make any sense of this at all!

Edited January 23, 2020 by riffatsea

[dog]

These promotions seem to be offering perks but at higher prices in many cases. I find it best to book the cruise I want when I see a refundable deposit and watch every week for a price drop. Anything I’ve looked at is charging for the perks. I know some find the drink promotions worth it to them though 

Edited January 23, 2020 by dog

[Justprettynpink]

I got the air credit added to my reservation for my June 2021 sailings....I will be curious to see if it is still there when airfare becomes available. There was no price change or loss of perks...just $200 for the both of us air credit.

[billco]

16 minutes ago, Justprettynpink said:

I got the air credit added to my reservation for my June 2021 sailings....I will be curious to see if it is still there when airfare becomes available. There was no price change or loss of perks...just $200 for the both of us air credit.

Air Sale terms from Princess website "If you book both this cruise and your flight directly with Princess using EZair® between January 1, 2010 and January 29, 2020, you can save on your flight. Air discount is not combinable with all promotions."

[CruiseVA]

I called and couldn've gotten thje $200 pp, but the cost would go up $120 pp. Almost took it until she told me that the flights I have booked aren't available, I have direct flights both ways. Not worth it to me. It took me a long time to find those flights.

[riffatsea]

My agent got back to me saying that the price was raised by exactly $200 so not a "sale" for me to add on the Air.

[senior lady]

I did a mock booking and our fare is already up and the good flights I got with ezair are gone, so defeats the purpose.   No savings for me.   I'm happy with the flights I got and will just monitor the airline for any better deals.  $1398 return from Vancouver with great connections.     There are only a couple "lengthwise" insides left and very few insides period.  So maybe a upgrade will come our way...lol

[RosieRoo]

I booked a transatlantic for 2021 the day before the Europe deal started. Now if we want the airfare perk added to the booking the cost of the cruise goes up by $165. Supposedly it’s a different booking code. Seems like a fair trade for $400 in air credit, but we’ve never used Princess air before. Is it worth it or are we better booking our own flights?

[Justprettynpink]

4 hours ago, billco said:

Air Sale terms from Princess website "If you book both this cruise and your flight directly with Princess using EZair® between January 1, 2010 and January 29, 2020, you can save on your flight. Air discount is not combinable with all promotions."

 

No sure why they would have put it on my cruise (it has NO 2020 sail dates) if I couldn't use it....

 

I will see 🙂

[CruiseVA]

26 minutes ago, RosieRoo said:

I booked a transatlantic for 2021 the day before the Europe deal started. Now if we want the airfare perk added to the booking the cost of the cruise goes up by $165. Supposedly it’s a different booking code. Seems like a fair trade for $400 in air credit, but we’ve never used Princess air before. Is it worth it or are we better booking our own flights?

I've found that Princess Air has very competetive pricing & you can change it up to a certain date, as well as cancel it. 

[CruiseVA]

On a more recent booking I was able to get the $200pp flight credit applied. 🙂

 

[RosieRoo]

35 minutes ago, CruiseVA said:

On a more recent booking I was able to get the $200pp flight credit applied. 🙂

 

Without the price going up?

[CruiseVA]

5 minutes ago, RosieRoo said:

Without the price going up?

Yes, but, I booked less than a month ago. Pretty much the same Promo (drinks, wifi, gratuities), just added the $200pp deal. I'll track it from here out...

[RosieRoo]

2 minutes ago, CruiseVA said:

Yes, but, I booked less than a month ago. Pretty much the same Promo (drinks, wifi, gratuities), just added the $200pp deal. I'll track it from here out...

Good for you. I just booked the day before yesterday, but now they’re saying if I want to add the air credit it’s a different promo code and $165 more than I’m paying now. 

[idahospud]

42 minutes ago, RosieRoo said:

Good for you. I just booked the day before yesterday, but now they’re saying if I want to add the air credit it’s a different promo code and $165 more than I’m paying now. 

I don't know who "they" are, but yes the Europe Best Sale Ever is a different promo code than the original Best Sale Ever. Some cruises (and in some cases, just certain categories) went up in price and some stayed the same. Sounds like yours went up. Is that $165 per person or per cabin?

Edited January 24, 2020 by idahospud

[RosieRoo]

13 minutes ago, idahospud said:

I don't know who "they" are, but yes the Europe Best Sale Ever is a different promo code than the original Best Sale Ever. Some cruises (and in some cases, just certain categories) went up in price and some stayed the same. Sounds like yours went up. Is that $165 per person or per cabin?

I meant Princess said it would be an increase of $165 for the cabin to add the air promo. Sorry for the confusion. 

[idahospud]

Just now, RosieRoo said:

I meant Princess said it would be an increase of $165 for the cabin to add the air promo. Sorry for the confusion. 

No worries. Wasn't sure if it was a TA or Princess direct you were dealing with.

With that you would still come out ahead though, right? $200 off airfare per person for an increased cabin cost of $83 per person?

[billco]

All is good for us. We booked a 15 day cruise on the Sky Princess for this September under a sale that included the $200 air discount and $200/person OBC. When the BSE came out, we added gratuities and PBP for $900 (15 x $60). Shortly after that I heard about this sale that added $200 airfare discount. We rebooked under this sale for almost $1000 less. It did make for quite a bit of work for our TA in that Princess kept telling her it would be an increase to rebook our existing cabin. She had to cancel the booking and then rebook.

Edited January 24, 2020 by billco

[Ombud]

19 hours ago, riffatsea said:

My agent got back to me saying that the price was raised by exactly $200 so not a "sale" for me to add on the Air.

That's what I found. Was 3198 with BSE now 3398 with BSE + Air. 

[CruiseVA]

Great - I just checked my booking for this fall, the one that I called to get the Europe on Sale $200/pp air credit on & declined because it would have required me to re-book my flights. Well, it seems that the $1200 OBC I had has disappeared, I'm a bit upset at this. I'll be calling them later. I have email's for what that's worth. At least my flights are still there. The cruise price went up as well. 

[dickinson]

I have a Europe cruise in October 2021.  I am booked through my TA under a group booking.  Price is for a BD cabin and then a two category upgrade so I have a BB cabin (mid aft).  Also a small amount of OBC.  I contacted her to see if I could get this sale.  While I was on the phone with her she tried to change me but said she couldn't do it.  The computer wasn't allowing her.  She ultimately was able to get me the sale WITHOUT the $200/person airfare credit (so it is the Best.Sale.Ever and not the Europe Best.Sale.Ever).  Not sure if she was doing something wrong or what.  She is a top agent for Princess and some people on this board use her.  

 

Anyone else have this happen?

[rocklinmom]

Yes I just spent a half hour on the phone with Princess refaring with this promo because the third person fare dropped this morning -- and it dropped by $860. When I crunched the numbers, even with the rest of our fares going up with the value of our gratuities alone we would be basically be paying only $159 more total.  I also wound up with the BSE without the airfare credit. After being put on hold for awhile and a lot of back and forth with the rep, she said I couldn't get the way lower third person fare unless I did the non airfare credit/refundable deposit (which I insisted on) booking code. But we still get all of the BSE perks and I will book my own air anyway so this is definitely a win-win for us.  And worth the aggravation on the phone today. Princess has made it so much more complicated now. To refare you have to listen to their list of options: refundable deposit, nonrefundable deposit, with airfare credit, without airfare credit, etc. and then debate over the fact that I just want what's showing on the website. I miss the old days of easy refaring.  

[rocklinmom]

Oh and I forgot, two important notes from my experience today:

1) the Captain's Circle Launch Savings discount ($100pp) does not show at all anymore, even when doing a mock booking and signed in, and I had to insist on it. The rep kept repeating the higher fare and said she couldn't guarantee that the discount would appear once she did the refare; thankfully it did appear once she had done it

and 2) for those booking the BSE, anyone under the age of 21 will not have their (Premier Coffee and Soda package) show at all on your Personalizer or on the travel summary. I think I read this somewhere else on CC. The rep said it won't appear until closer to sail date. It does show in the BSE verbiage on my new booking confirmation so will take that with me when we sail just in case

Edited January 25, 2020 by rocklinmom

[idahospud]

1 hour ago, rocklinmom said:

Princess has made it so much more complicated now. To refare you have to listen to their list of options: refundable deposit, nonrefundable deposit, with airfare credit, without airfare credit, etc. and then debate over the fact that I just want what's showing on the website. I miss the old days of easy refaring.  

 

Way more complicated.

On my TA system, we have a huge number of promo codes to apply to sailings. For example, for many of our Europe 2020 voyages we have promo codes for:

• Flash Fares
• Drop and Go Deals
• Best. Sale. Ever. with a Refundable Deposit
• Best. Sale. Ever. with the Air Disc + Ref Dep
• Best. Sale. Ever. with Air Disc + Non refundable deposit
• Princess Savers with a Refundable Deposit
• Princess Savers with Air Disc + Ref Dep
• Princess Savers with Air Disc + Non refundable deposit

Unfortunately for passengers, most of these promos (with their varied pricing) can't be accessed without a TA or Princess offering them up to you. Just by looking at the Princess website you won't find all the options available. Even for our system we have to click to a separate screen to see all the promos available and are only able to look at two at a time - even though there may be eight of them.

 

Make sure when you talk to your Princess rep or TA ask them to check on all the promos for you. It will take more time on their part (and your part) but it could save you several hundred dollars in the long run.

Edited January 25, 2020 by idahospud

[MamaFej]

1 minute ago, idahospud said:

 

Way more complicated.

On my TA system, we have a huge number of promo codes to apply to sailings. For example, for many of our Europe 2020 voyages we have promo codes for:

• Flash Fares
• Drop and Go Deals
• Best. Sale. Ever. with a Refundable Deposit
• Best. Sale. Ever. with the Air Disc + Ref Dep
• Best. Sale. Ever. with Air Disc + Non refundable deposit
• Princess Savers with a Refundable Deposit
• Princess Savers with Air Disc + Ref Dep
• Princess Savers with Air Disc + Non refundable deposit

Unfortunately for passengers, most of these promos (with their varied pricing) can't be accessed without a TA or Princess offering them up to you. Just by looking at the Princess website you won't find all the options available. Even for our system we have to click to a separate screen to see all the promos available and are only able to look at two at a time - even though there may be eight of them.

 

Make sure when you talk to your Princess rep or TA you ask them to check on all the promos for you. It will take more time on their part (and your part) but it could save you several hundred dollars in the long run.

This is one of the reasons having a travel agent who cares about getting the best deals for his/her clients is a good thing. Mine will take the time to check every code to get me the best deal possible, even when it means his commission might be a bit lower. Knowing I'll get the best deal means I keep returning to him. It's a win-win. It sounds like you do the same for your clients.