Princess August Sale

[Tedferg]

On Princess website:

"Endless Summer Sale
drinks + wi-fi + gratuities included + discounted fares for 3rd & 4th guests**

All Cruises and Cruise Tours departing March 2021 and beyond."

 

I assumed this meant Plus prices for Saver fare, however when I did a test booking 'Best Value" (Plus) is $2,899 and Best Fare (Saver) is $2,499.

What am I missing ?

[Renmar]

36 minutes ago, Tedferg said:

On Princess website:

"Endless Summer Sale
drinks + wi-fi + gratuities included + discounted fares for 3rd & 4th guests**

All Cruises and Cruise Tours departing March 2021 and beyond."

 

I assumed this meant Plus prices for Saver fare, however when I did a test booking 'Best Value" (Plus) is $2,899 and Best Fare (Saver) is $2,499.

What am I missing ?

We don't assume anything with cruiseline pricing. Which cruise and when?

 

Theo

[skynight]

Your numbers are correct. The best value fare with all the amenities is more than the best price fare. Best value means that you are receiving the amenities at a lower net cost than if they were purchased separately. Best value fare includes wi-fi, beverage package, gratuities. Best price fare does not include any of these. Up until about a week ago both fares included specialty dining. I think both fares have discounted base pricing for 3rd & 4th passengers, but I didn't actually do the math to prove it.

[Retirement2016]

1 hour ago, Tedferg said:

On Princess website:

"Endless Summer Sale
drinks + wi-fi + gratuities included + discounted fares for 3rd & 4th guests**

All Cruises and Cruise Tours departing March 2021 and beyond."

 

I assumed this meant Plus prices for Saver fare, however when I did a test booking 'Best Value" (Plus) is $2,899 and Best Fare (Saver) is $2,499.

What am I missing ?

 I believe the "Best Value" (Plus) includes drinks + wi-fi  and gratuities.  the "Best Fare" is only the cruise.  Since we do not drink, it's not worth to us to pay the "Best Value".  We are better off paying the wi-fi and gratuities on our own.  But on our recent booking for our son, traveling solo, we picked the "Best Value".  We are only charged for one person and he does have 2-3 drinks a day, plus 6-8 bottled water.  That covers the cost.

[adstz]

From the Princess site - 

Our Endless Summer Sale is here! For a limited time, book your next cruise with our low price "no frills" Princess Savers fares + discounted fares for 3rd & 4th guests**. Or, if you prefer our best value, you can book with our Princess Plus fare with drinks^†, Wi-Fi^‡‡ and gratuities^‡ included to also receive this special offer.

 

Looks like the discounted fares is the perk. Not much of a sale, imo.

[Tedferg]

Thanks for input,  my $ figures above were for Balcony, Oct 11, Canada New England on Princess.

When they said 'with Drinks, Wi Fi and Gratuities included', I naively thought they were saying these do not cost extra, like the old Sip & Sail.

 

I now realize they are saying "Drinks, Wi Fi and Gratuities included' at a good price, Oh and you can have a lower price without perks. My Bad  Furthermore the fares are not better than when I checked a month ago.😞

Edited August 17, 2020 by Tedferg

[AlanF65]

When I booked through an Big Box Hot dog TA  a few weeks ago part of the difference (3-4%) was refundable and non refundable deposit

 

Its different on the Princess site, this a a 14  day Alaska September 4th 2021 RT Vancouver.

 

 

Edited August 17, 2020 by AlanF65
update information

[disneyochem]

2 hours ago, adstz said:

From the Princess site - 

Our Endless Summer Sale is here! For a limited time, book your next cruise with our low price "no frills" Princess Savers fares + discounted fares for 3rd & 4th guests**. Or, if you prefer our best value, you can book with our Princess Plus fare with drinks^†, Wi-Fi^‡‡ and gratuities^‡ included to also receive this special offer.

 

Looks like the discounted fares is the perk. Not much of a sale, imo.

Not for one of our cruises!  Have a cabin with three people (our kids) on the Sun for next summer which we booked two months ago.  TA priced it this morning for us to see if price went down.  Exactly the same.....

[cruzsnooze]

It's not a sale, prices are identical to July and June and .....................................before the sale

[caribill]

6 hours ago, AlanF65 said:

When I booked through an Big Box Hot dog TA  a few weeks ago part of the difference (3-4%) was refundable and non refundable deposit

 

Its different on the Princess site, this a a 14  day Alaska September 4th 2021 RT Vancouver.

 

 

 

Yes. the price difference is the $40/day for the wi-fi, beverage pakage and gratuities.

[caribill]

4 hours ago, disneyochem said:

Not for one of our cruises!  Have a cabin with three people (our kids) on the Sun for next summer which we booked two months ago.  TA priced it this morning for us to see if price went down.  Exactly the same.....

 

So your third person was already booked at a discount fare?

[disneyochem]

1 hour ago, caribill said:

 

So your third person was already booked at a discount fare?

Must have been.  Not only was it the exact price but we also got the specialty dining for each.

[AlanF65]

9 hours ago, caribill said:

 

Yes. the price difference is the $40/day for the wi-fi, beverage package and gratuities.

The big box TA had all inclusive with non refundable deposit for $280 less and the same all inclusive price with refundable deposit. Paying $280 to save $20 didn't make sense to me. (solo $300 deposit)

 

 

[Tedferg]

I still think it is misleading to say, 'Endless Summer Sale - with Drinks, Wi Fi, Gratuities included'. 'Included' implies that you do not pay extra for those perks.

[RNRcruisers]

17 hours ago, Retirement2016 said:

 I believe the "Best Value" (Plus) includes drinks + wi-fi  and gratuities.  the "Best Fare" is only the cruise.  Since we do not drink, it's not worth to us to pay the "Best Value".  We are better off paying the wi-fi and gratuities on our own.  But on our recent booking for our son, traveling solo, we picked the "Best Value".  We are only charged for one person and he does have 2-3 drinks a day, plus 6-8 bottled water.  That covers the cost.

 

Is Plus only 2-3 drinks a day? Asking for a friend 😄

[voljeep]

no - 15 drinks per Princess day + unlimited (mostly) non-alcoholic beverages ( bottled waters, fountain soda, etc )

 

the 2-3 drinks is a "breakeven" if purchased thru the Princess Plus promotion of $ 40 pp pd with also includes grats and wifi

 

we 'discount' the wifi as it is not really used much by us, so $40 - 15 (grats) = $25 pp pd for the beverage package, not the retail price of about $70 pp pd

[Kamloops50]

On 8/17/2020 at 2:18 PM, Tedferg said:

On Princess website:

"Endless Summer Sale
drinks + wi-fi + gratuities included + discounted fares for 3rd & 4th guests**

All Cruises and Cruise Tours departing March 2021 and beyond."

 

I assumed this meant Plus prices for Saver fare, however when I did a test booking 'Best Value" (Plus) is $2,899 and Best Fare (Saver) is $2,499.

What am I missing ?

The sale is actually for reduced fares for 3rd and 4th passengers. The drinks , Wi-Fi and gratuities are part of the normal selection.

[Tedferg]

On 8/21/2020 at 6:51 PM, Kamloops50 said:

The sale is actually for reduced fares for 3rd and 4th passengers. The drinks , Wi-Fi and gratuities are part of the normal selection.

I admit that I misread the announcement, so this is just a minor quibble, but "drinks + wi-fi + gratuities included" implies to me that you would not pay extra for these perks. When you choose these perks you do in fact pay for them, so they are not "included"

[greenie082756]

We booked an Alaska cruise with the "plus" options. In order for me to convince the hubby that we should try adding these for an extra $40 a day each I had to go down a step from balcony to ocean view cabin. I am okay with that because the ocean view cabins on the Sun look pretty good.

 

I look at it this way, we both would get a coffee "card", drink wine with dinner and have an occasional drink in the afternoon, drink plenty of water and a few sodas a day. Just the beverages alone would cost us $20 - 30 a day. Then you add in the gratuities of $14.50 each and then the internet unlimited. This will be a test to see if it is worth it for us to book cruises this way or to just pay as we go. I know I can drink like 3 coffee drinks just to start the morning out. I am not big on soda however I do drink a lot of water too.  So the question is: $40 a day added on to the base cruise cost ~ is that cost effective for you? For us, I think so.

[Kamloops50]

15 minutes ago, Tedferg said:

I admit that I misread the announcement, so this is just a minor quibble, but "drinks + wi-fi + gratuities included" implies to me that you would not pay extra for these perks. When you choose these perks you do in fact pay for them, so they are not "included"

If you work out the cost of the Wifi+Drinks+ Gratuities . You actually save more than the difference in the no frills fare versus the fare with the extras added. I have a cruise booked  the difference between the two options is about  $900 . If you add the cost of the three extras . I'll actual pay more the the fare with the extras.

[Tedferg]

Greenie, I think you are spot on, if you have just  moderate alcohol / specialty coffee / bottled water the $40 is a deal. Matter of fact a couple of beers when we re-board, one cocktail before dinner, glass of wine with dinner and occasionally a nightcap, made the original drinks package reasonable for us. 

 

Kamloops - please run that again - not sure of your final point. Is the $900 for two ? How long is the cruise.

[riffatsea]

The only time we have booked the higher all inclusive price is because we are paying for most of the cruise with"good will" money from previously cancelled cruises!  Otherwise it doesn't  seem worthwhile