Princess Shore Excursion Best Price Guarantee Gone

[Pobman]

I know it was hit and miss but Princess seem to of removed the Best Price Guarantee for shore tours completely, the form has been taken down, the FAQ section gone and the bit at the bottom of the shore tours page removed. 

Where it used to say: "If you find the same excursion for less elsewhere, we will offer you 110% of the price difference back to enjoy in the form of a non-refundable onboard credit"

It now says: "We offer competitive pricing, friendly service and unmatched destination expertise."

Put in a request before they changed it, not heard anything back yet after a week+, and was going to put in another when I noticed it's all gone.

[TwoBadKnees]

If anybody needs to print a screen capture of the original 110% guarantee, you can start here:

 

https://web.archive.org/web/20220606085713/https://www.princess.com/ports-excursions/

 

 

[M&L-Colorado]

Sent mine in three weeks ago and sent again on Wednesday. Haven't heard a thing.

[linaka625]

That’s too bad that this is discontinued. I used it on 2 excursions on my Norway cruise in April, and again for a shore excursion in Alaska a week ago on Majestic. It took about 3 weeks for a response. The last one that I submitted, I received a response the day we were embarking. It didn’t show in my onboard account for a few days, so I went to the shore excursion desk, and they had the credit applied. 

[cruzsnooze]

 could it be since they implemented the elite tier 10% off they decided it wasn't cost effective for them to do the price match anymore?

[caribill]

3 hours ago, cruzsnooze said:

 could it be since they implemented the elite tier 10% off they decided it wasn't cost effective for them to do the price match anymore?

 

Possibly with the shortage of people to do customer service they do not have the staff to spend time working on price match requests and found it just easier to discontinue it.

[PacnGoNow]

3 hours ago, caribill said:

 

Possibly with the shortage of people to do customer service they do not have the staff to spend time working on price match requests and found it just easier to discontinue it.

I think you’re right, very time consuming.

[ontheweb]

Sounds like just another wrong headed decision by the bean counters. Passengers who would have used this will instead of using the guarantee and go on an excursion with Princess will take the private excursion.

[caribill]

3 hours ago, ontheweb said:

Sounds like just another wrong headed decision by the bean counters. Passengers who would have used this will instead of using the guarantee and go on an excursion with Princess will take the private excursion.

Maybe.

 

I see two scenarios on how this has been used in the past.

 

(A) Person books a Princess excursion and later discovers it is less costly with the provider, applies for the rebate.

 

(B) Before booking a Princess excursion compares Princess and the provider prices, sees direct costs less, but books with Princess anyway and apples for the rebate.

 

The (A) person will continue to book with Princess without the guarantee.

 

In my opinion, very few (B) people would have booked with Princess and then go through the fun of applying for the rebate. Look at the details: If the Princess excursion cost $30 more, then the guarantee would mean a rebate of 110% or $33. Would it be worth the effort of applying for the rebate just to get $3 more than just booking with the provider in the first place?

[cruzsnooze]

9 minutes ago, caribill said:

 

 

 

 

In my opinion, very few (B) people would have booked with Princess and then go through the fun of applying for the rebate. Look at the details: If the Princess excursion cost $30 more, then the guarantee would mean a rebate of 110% or $33. Would it be worth the effort of applying for the rebate just to get $3 more than just booking with the provider in the first place?

It's not $3 it's $33 because they match the other price AND give the 10%. I did it many times because I wanted to security of the gty to get me back in time so I don't get left behind.

[caribill]

2 hours ago, cruzsnooze said:

It's not $3 it's $33 because they match the other price AND give the 10%. I did it many times because I wanted to security of the gty to get me back in time so I don't get left behind.

 

Your actual savings was $3 compared to have booked it with the provider in the first place for $30 less.

 

Example: Princess price $140   Provider price $110.  So if you book it with provider, cost is $110.

    Book it with Princess and pay $140 with a rebate of $33, cost is $107. You saved $3 compared with booking with the provider.

 

I cannot remember any post any time where someone who booked a tour with a provider equivalent to a Princess tour said they missed the ship at the end of the tour. Those who have missed the ship were either out on their own (rent a car, shopping, bar hopping, etc.) and lost track of time or ran into traffic, or picked up a tour on the dock which was not really equivalent to a Princess tour.

 

In all the cruising we have done, about 1/3 of the time we book prior to embarkation an independent excursion (either individually or as part of a roll call organized tour), 1/3 of the time a cruise ship excursion and 1/3 of a time tour on our own.  Some of the ship excursions did return late and of course nobody on them missed the ship. None of the independent excursions returned late. And, when touring on our own, we always aimed to be back about an hour before all aboard time.

 

All cruise companies try to push passengers into booking ship's excursions by promoting the idea that an independent excursion may not get back in time. But reality is the equivalent independent excursions do make it back in time.

[Pobman]

Price difference for the one I put in was about $250 for two people, took it with Princess for the other benefits but will probably cancel it if they don’t match. Match is with the actual company Princess use for the tour. The two I was going to match when I found it was gone were $220 and $365 direct, both $600 with Princess. Contacted the first tour operator already and they agreed to refund if we miss the port for some reason, they were surprised how much Princess were charging for their tour.

 

So yes when the difference is $30 I wouldn’t bother, but when it’s $300+ it’s a big difference.

[Steelers36]

17 hours ago, caribill said:

 

Possibly with the shortage of people to do customer service they do not have the staff to spend time working on price match requests and found it just easier to discontinue it.

Either that, or they are planning to increase tour prices and know they could be subject to a lot of match requests and aren't interested. 

 

I think it is reasonable for a guest to expect to pay a premium for a PCL tour since they are - in many cases - doing it as they feel more secure with PCL as a sponsor and they know the ship won't leave port without them.  Not only that, but by just picking a PCL tour, the guest doesn't have to do a lot of research and check if dealing with a reputable provider who does get their customers back to the ship on time (or they would not be in business for long).

 

We are not interested in a large group tour (yes, I know PCL is now offering more smaller group experiences than in the past) and a guest can do well if willing to seek out what they want to do and work with a top-notch tour provider who knows how to deal with cruise ship port times.

[caribill]

2 hours ago, Steelers36 said:

 

 

I think it is reasonable for a guest to expect to pay a premium for a PCL tour since they are - in many cases - doing it as they feel more secure with PCL as a sponsor and they know the ship won't leave port without them.  Not only that, but by just picking a PCL tour, the guest doesn't have to do a lot of research and check if dealing with a reputable provider who does get their customers back to the ship on time (or they would not be in business for long).

 

 

 

The other assumption many people have is that with a Princess sponsored tour, the vendor has been vetted enough so that tour participants will have a great tour experience.

 

Our reality is that while many of our Princess tours have been a good experience, some have been the worst tours we have ever been on. Some experiences that come to mind:

 

a) Walking tour where the fast-walking guide did not wait for all participants to reach the next lecture spot and who finished each presentation before a good number of people caught up to her.

 

b) A tour where the bus guide gave us 45 minutes to see the major site on the tour and return to the bus, but the walk to and from the site took 20 minutes each way. Later, when it was too late to do anything about it, the guide said she had thought the bus had parked five minutes from the site as it had done a previous year. Due to time constraints we had to leave the site then without really experiencing the main attraction and reason for taking the tour.

 

c) A tour of Mayan ruins where the guide directed us to walk one path while he rode his bike on another path. As we walked we saw other tour guides actually with their groups and giving lectures  at each ruin about the history and purpose of the ruin. We received no such lectures and had no idea of what we were walking past.

 

The point is that while many ship excursions are good ones, some were a waste of time and money because of the quality of the vendors Princess used.

 

On the other hand, while some independent excursions have been better than others, all were enjoyable and worth the time and money. It helped that these independent excursions had all been recommended on Cruise Critic by people who had taken them previously.

[Steelers36]

6 hours ago, caribill said:

 

The other assumption many people have is that with a Princess sponsored tour, the vendor has been vetted enough so that tour participants will have a great tour experience.

 

Our reality is that while many of our Princess tours have been a good experience, some have been the worst tours we have ever been on. Some experiences that come to mind:

 

a) Walking tour where the fast-walking guide did not wait for all participants to reach the next lecture spot and who finished each presentation before a good number of people caught up to her.

 

b) A tour where the bus guide gave us 45 minutes to see the major site on the tour and return to the bus, but the walk to and from the site took 20 minutes each way. Later, when it was too late to do anything about it, the guide said she had thought the bus had parked five minutes from the site as it had done a previous year. Due to time constraints we had to leave the site then without really experiencing the main attraction and reason for taking the tour.

 

c) A tour of Mayan ruins where the guide directed us to walk one path while he rode his bike on another path. As we walked we saw other tour guides actually with their groups and giving lectures  at each ruin about the history and purpose of the ruin. We received no such lectures and had no idea of what we were walking past.

 

The point is that while many ship excursions are good ones, some were a waste of time and money because of the quality of the vendors Princess used.

 

On the other hand, while some independent excursions have been better than others, all were enjoyable and worth the time and money. It helped that these independent excursions had all been recommended on Cruise Critic by people who had taken them previously.

You are preaching to the choir here my friend.  But one does need to shop carefully as not all tour providers are created equal.  One thing I always check is the vehicle size and type for number of guests.  Not so pleasant to pack 8 people in a minivan and expect everyone to have a good view.

[Pobman]

Program ended June 18th, submissions up to and including June 17th will be honoured they claim.