Princess Pricing/“Sales” Question

[CruiserMickey]

Can anyone enlighten me on Princess’ pricing strategy or “typical” sale times? I am familiar with Celebrity’s dynamic pricing and their propensity to always have a “sale” to make it look like you are getting a good deal. How about Princess? Do prices fluctuate a lot?

 

I’m hoping to book a cruise for 2025, but wanted to wait til we were onboard at the end of September to get a future cruise deposit. Is this Labor Day Sale just a renaming of the usual prices, or is it actually a sale worth booking and giving up the future cruise deposit plan?

 

Thanks for any insight you can give.

[SCX22]

In the past Princess has had a Black Friday Sale.  TBH, you're more than a year until your sail date and the fare is very likely to decrease.  It pays to PLUS.  Wait that's wrong, it pays to keep checking the fares.

[skynight]

Purchase your Future Cruise Deposits at the end of September. Once home research and book your 2025 cruise(s). Most promos allow you to either re-fare or cancel and re-book. Just make certain that any promo that you book has a refundable deposit. Most do, but some do not. Read the fine print carefully. Most promos move the fares and OBC around so that the net comes out to be roughly the same. I always use a T.A. Most have access to group fares and other promos.  

[CruiserMickey]

1 minute ago, SCX22 said:

In the past Princess has had a Black Friday Sale.  TBH, you're more than a year until your sail date and the fare is very likely to decrease.  It pays to PLUS.  Wait that's wrong, it pays to keep checking the fares.

Thanks…I do check regularly. My experience with Celebrity is that there is rarely a price drop (though I have found a couple) and more likely a price increase. I’ll keep watching!

[CruiserMickey]

Just now, skynight said:

Purchase your Future Cruise Deposits at the end of September. Once home research and book your 2025 cruise(s). Most promos allow you to either re-fare or cancel and re-book. Just make certain that any promo that you book has a refundable deposit. Most do, but some do not. Read the fine print carefully. Most promos move the fares and OBC around so that the net comes out to be roughly the same. I always use a T.A. Most have access to group fares and other promos.  

Great advice. Thanks!

[LACruiser88]

27 minutes ago, CruiserMickey said:

Thanks…I do check regularly. My experience with Celebrity is that there is rarely a price drop (though I have found a couple) and more likely a price increase. I’ll keep watching!

Our experience has been similar, rarely do fares go down.  When they do, we either re-fare or re-book if the reduction is only for new bookings.

 

It pays to book far in advance!

[NavyVeteran]

3 hours ago, CruiserMickey said:

Can anyone enlighten me on Princess’ pricing strategy or “typical” sale times? I am familiar with Celebrity’s dynamic pricing and their propensity to always have a “sale” to make it look like you are getting a good deal. How about Princess? Do prices fluctuate a lot?

 

I’m hoping to book a cruise for 2025, but wanted to wait til we were onboard at the end of September to get a future cruise deposit. Is this Labor Day Sale just a renaming of the usual prices, or is it actually a sale worth booking and giving up the future cruise deposit plan?

 

Thanks for any insight you can give.

It makes a difference where you live. Do you live in the United States? If so, and you book with a refundable deposit, you can either refare or cancel and rebook it the price goes down. You can also cancel and rebook after you purchase your FCD if the fare hasn't gone up. Unfortunately, our friends in some other countries don't have this opportunity.

[CruiserMickey]

12 minutes ago, NavyVeteran said:

It makes a difference where you live. Do you live in the United States? If so, and you book with a refundable deposit, you can either refare or cancel and rebook it the price goes down. You can also cancel and rebook after you purchase your FCD if the fare hasn't gone up. Unfortunately, our friends in some other countries don't have this opportunity.

I live in Canada.

 

I’m also wondering…if I book a cruise now, can I use the future cruise deposit as a $100 payment towards a cruise that is already booked (without having to cancel/rebook etc.)?

[NavyVeteran]

22 minutes ago, CruiserMickey said:

I live in Canada.

 

I’m also wondering…if I book a cruise now, can I use the future cruise deposit as a $100 payment towards a cruise that is already booked (without having to cancel/rebook etc.)?

You can use the FCD as a $100 payment towards the cruise. However, you won't get the OBC associated with it. To get the OBC, you have to use the FCD as your deposit.

[CruiserMickey]

19 minutes ago, NavyVeteran said:

You can use the FCD as a $100 payment towards the cruise. However, you won't get the OBC associated with it. To get the OBC, you have to use the FCD as your deposit.

Thank you for that information.

[Thrak]

We tend to book early - well in advance. When the "sales" hit they are almost always more than we paid. We have, however, found lower pricing sometimes but not really due to a sale. I recently checked a series of cruises and found that one of them was more and the next two were way less. When we had initially booked we were out of Future Cruise Deposits but, at the time I checked later, we had several banked. I kept the fare on the first one and refared the next two segments for a saving of over $1,100 and increased OBC of $650. It wasn't a "sale" but was simply a price drop due to the cruises not being booked as well as Princess had expected. (I had to go from the old Plus 50 to the more expensive Plus 60 but still had the savings listed above.)

 

My point is: Don't count on sales. Don't wait to book. If you are in the US it's pretty easy to either refare or rebook if a better price comes along. If you wait for a "sale" to book you may well pay much more than if you had booked early.

[CruiserMickey]

35 minutes ago, Thrak said:

My point is: Don't count on sales. Don't wait to book. If you are in the US it's pretty easy to either refare or rebook if a better price comes along. If you wait for a "sale" to book you may well pay much more than if you had booked early.

Thank you, that is my philosophy, too. Time to talk to my TA again! 😃

[skynight]

10 hours ago, CruiserMickey said:

I live in Canada.

 

I’m also wondering…if I book a cruise now, can I use the future cruise deposit as a $100 payment towards a cruise that is already booked (without having to cancel/rebook etc.)?

Not really. If you book without an FCD you will have to pay the full required deposit. There is no real benefit to adding a future purchased FCD to your booking. It will just reduce your final payment by $100 without any OBC. The advantage of the FCD is that he deposit is only $100 which is already in your account, and you receive the OBC when used as the deposit. 

[phabric]

If you have a cruise in mind, the Future Cruise agent onboard can book your cruise with your new FCD and your new booking will be send to your own agent you used before for the cruise you are on.

[Steelers36]

11 hours ago, CruiserMickey said:

I live in Canada.

 

I’m also wondering…if I book a cruise now, can I use the future cruise deposit as a $100 payment towards a cruise that is already booked (without having to cancel/rebook etc.)?

We are treated exactly same as US. 

[deliver42]

You know when a sale is coming by the price increase before the "sale".

[sunviking90]

2 hours ago, Steelers36 said:

We are treated exactly same as US. 

Until they see our money.

[Coral]

I don't remember Princess ever having a great Black Friday sale. Maybe a sale on gift cards but normally this is not a big sale date. I just looked back and they had $1 deposits.

 

I don't think a lot of Princess sales are Princess sales unless the ship is not sailing well and there is a last minute sale.

Edited September 2, 2023 by Coral