Shore Excursion Pricing Shenanigans

[essmeier]

A rant about something Princess did with shore excursion pricing recently.

 

We're booked on the Coral in October 2024 for 32 days from Singapore to Los Angeles, with stops in Vietnam, Thailand, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Japan, and Hawaii.  This will be our 25th Princess cruise, so we're not exactly new at this.  But Princess did something with shore excursion pricing recently that I've never seen them do before.

As the trip is long and logistically complicated for us, we had put off booking excursions for a cruise that is still more than four months from now.  We had, however, made a list of available excursions that we might be interested in taking and their prices.  We were going to book them at a later time.

Three weeks ago, we noticed that all of the excursions in Asia for this cruise had gone up in price by 25%.  All of them.  What had been a $159 excursion was now $199.

I guess we should have booked excursions sooner, but we were busy arranging multiple flights, hotels, ground transportation, and well, paying for the cruise itself.  We figured we'd book the excursions later, but Princess raised the prices in the meantime.  I guess we missed out.

 

But wait!...just last Thursday, we got email from Princess saying that they were having a sale!  And "All Asia Excursions are 20% off!"  For three days only!

 

I went to the excursion page for our booking and it showed that all excursions were now priced where they were originally.  There was a banner at the top of the page that had a countdown timer on it, telling us how much time remained on the sale.  Presumably, at the end of the sale, prices would return to their new, higher levels.  "I guess we should book now," my wife said. 

 

So we spent the entire day Saturday looking at excursions with both Princess and Viator.  While we've had good experiences with Viator, there were few options for these particular stops that included having the tour meet us near the ship, so we ended up booking nearly $2000 worth of excursions with Princess now, rather than book them later when the prices returned to their new, 25% higher levels.

 

Except that they didn't return to their new, higher levels.  When the "sale" ended two days ago, the prices remained at their original, lower price.  Today, with that "sale" in the rear view mirror, that $159 excursion that was briefly $199 and then on "sale" for $159 is still....priced at $159.

 

What happened here?  It appears that Princess raised prices substantially, created a fake "sale" to encourage us to buy excursions several months earlier than we otherwise might have, and then when it was all over, returned all of the prices to their original, lower levels.  The whole thing was a fraud.

 

At this point, we've got four months to keep the excursions we have or find cheaper alternatives.  If we find third party alternatives, we can cancel what we've booked with Princess. 

 

What Princess did here isn't exactly admirable.  I need to talk to my vacation planner this week; I'll take a few minutes to share my opinion about this "sale" with her. 

 

</end rant>

[skynight]

Very shady business practice. Seems like something you may wish to write to Department of Consumer Affairs in Sacramento about, copy to Princess of course.

[upwarduk]

You have encouraged me to look at our September 1 st sailing.😱

[Rick&Jeannie]

If I'm understanding correctly, you ended up paying what you originally were seeing when you first started looking? If so, I fail to see how you've been impacted in a negative manner. Sure, Princess (as does most all cruise lines) "plays" with excursion pricing...it's just simple supply and demand at work. Frustrating? Yes...but that's just the way it works.

 

Your cruise sounds amazing! I hope you have a great time!

[skynight]

17 minutes ago, Rick&amp;Jeannie said:

If I'm understanding correctly, you ended up paying what you originally were seeing when you first started looking? If so, I fail to see how you've been impacted in a negative manner. Sure, Princess (as does most all cruise lines) "plays" with excursion pricing...it's just simple supply and demand at work. Frustrating? Yes...but that's just the way it works.

 

Your cruise sounds amazing! I hope you have a great time!

What is described is not simple supply/demand. It is pure deception, poor business practice. It needs to be reported.  

[TRLD]

Excursion pricing also tends to increase as sail date approaches and are almost always more expensive when booked on board.

 

Might be possible that if they do not reach certain number of excursion bookings the prices will stay lower for longer. Have seen them increase, have the sale, then stay high. Have seen them increase, have the sale, then drop back down after the sale is over and stay low until they increase on board. May be based upon the number of bookings. 

 

The sale pricing is basically an opportunity to buy at the lower original pricing, using the sale to get people's attention and getting them to book.

[memoak]

How many stores have you seen that raise prices on items and then have a “sale” a week later. Up to the consumer to decide what and when to buy   In addition excursions always get more expensive as the cruise gets closer. 

Edited June 4 by memoak

[1965]

40 minutes ago, Rick&amp;Jeannie said:

If I'm understanding correctly, you ended up paying what you originally were seeing when you first started looking? If so, I fail to see how you've been impacted in a negative manner. Sure, Princess (as does most all cruise lines) "plays" with excursion pricing...it's just simple supply and demand at work. Frustrating? Yes...but that's just the way it works.

 

Your cruise sounds amazing! I hope you have a great time!

I agree.

[Freckles1983]

I noticed on the app when I went to book excursions that they were listed at a higher price but once you clicked on them for more info a lower price was listed.  This wasn’t during the sale.  

[essmeier]

On 6/4/2024 at 9:09 AM, skynight said:

What is described is not simple supply/demand. It is pure deception, poor business practice. It needs to be reported.  

My cruise planner said she'd received a few complaints, though they were different from mine.

Those complaints came from people who hadn't looked at excursions in a while, so they didn't realize that Princess had raised the prices prior to putting them on sale.

She was getting questions along the lines of, "What kind of sale is this?  There's no sale here.  They're the same prices they've always been!"

[essmeier]

On 6/4/2024 at 8:48 AM, Rick&amp;Jeannie said:

Sure, Princess (as does most all cruise lines) "plays" with excursion pricing...it's just simple supply and demand at work.

Telling me the prices are going to increase in 24 hours when they are not actually going to increase in 24 hours isn't "supply and demand."

 

It's deception, or if you prefer, it's called "lying."

[memoak]

8 minutes ago, essmeier said:

Telling me the prices are going to increase in 24 hours when they are not actually going to increase in 24 hours isn't "supply and demand."

 

It's deception, or if you prefer, it's called "lying."

Welcome to retail advertising 

[BlerkOne]

3 minutes ago, memoak said:

Welcome to retail advertising 

It's typical business. It isn't lying, false advertising, or any of that nonsense. It's puffery and is  legal, and actually encouraged.

[hpeabody]

This has been Princess' MO for quite some time. And it Irks me!  Do they think we are all stupid?  So I typically look elsewhere for shore excursions unless I have OBC to blow.  On my upcoming cruise I have ZERO ship excurisons, booke with all local companies.  This is how their shenanigans work on me.  This is my opinion YMMV

[essmeier]

31 minutes ago, BlerkOne said:

It isn't lying, false advertising, or any of that nonsense.

 

Hogwash.  If they say the prices are going up at a certain date and time and they do not actually raise the prices at that date and time, then they are lying.  Full stop.

 

It's not "business as usual."  It's unusual, and the fact that I've never seen Princess do this in the 25 years I've been sailing with them was the entire point of posting it here in the first place.

 

My cruise planner said she'd received multiple calls like mine about this; that suggests that other booked passengers on this cruise also found this not to be "business as usual."

I've offered my 2¢.  YMMV, and apparently does.   I'm moving on.

 

[voljeep]

3 minutes ago, essmeier said:

  I'm moving on.

🥂

[BlerkOne]

6 minutes ago, essmeier said:

 

Hogwash.  If they say the prices are going up at a certain date and time and they do not actually raise the prices at that date and time, then they are lying.  Full stop.

 

It's not "business as usual."  It's unusual, and the fact that I've never seen Princess do this in the 25 years I've been sailing with them was the entire point of posting it here in the first place.

 

My cruise planner said she'd received multiple calls like mine about this; that suggests that other booked passengers on this cruise also found this not to be "business as usual."

I've offered my 2¢.  YMMV, and apparently does.   I'm moving on.

 

Cruise lines (and airlines, etc) routinely raise and lower prices for any or no reason. Including cruise prices and shore excursions. I've seen it numerous times over the years. Move on.

[ccheng6401]

You should be able to find cheap local excursion operators in those countries. I see the same 'promotion' on other cruiselines too. I guess this is the norm of this industry.

[paddingtonbear]

Read this thread. 

https://boards.cruisecritic.com.au/topic/3014544-anyone-else-notice-the-500-increase-on-shore-excursions/

 

It was about the recent BOGO50% off "deal" they had.  Excursion prices doubled then you got 50% off one of them.  

Really puts me off buying Princess excursions. 

 

 

[memoak]

15 hours ago, ccheng6401 said:

You should be able to find cheap local excursion operators in those countries. I see the same 'promotion' on other cruiselines too. I guess this is the norm of this industry.

We only book Princess excursions if it involves a long drive or sail to avoid the possibility of missing the ship

[Aggie83]

On 6/4/2024 at 9:48 AM, Rick&amp;Jeannie said:

If I'm understanding correctly, you ended up paying what you originally were seeing when you first started looking? If so, I fail to see how you've been impacted in a negative manner. Sure, Princess (as does most all cruise lines) "plays" with excursion pricing...it's just simple supply and demand at work. Frustrating? Yes...but that's just the way it works.

 

Your cruise sounds amazing! I hope you have a great time!

Kinda like how Princess and other cruise lines adjust pricing, up and down, for the actual cruise.

 

Price increases for excursions aren't a new thing. I book any Princess excursions early to both lock in the price and to secure a spot. I don't want to be late to the party and face a 'sold out' situation for those popular excursions. I can always cancel if I find a private option I like better.

[Aggie83]

2 hours ago, memoak said:

We only book Princess excursions if it involves a long drive or sail to avoid the possibility of missing the ship

Definitely a factor in my decision making process. Those long drives introduce the 'traffic' risk factor. When we visited Vietnam I only did Princess tours. Good thing because on one of them we were late getting back due to traffic and road construction.

[BlerkOne]

1 hour ago, Aggie83 said:

Kinda like how Princess and other cruise lines adjust pricing, up and down, for the actual cruise.

 

Price increases for excursions aren't a new thing. I book any Princess excursions early to both lock in the price and to secure a spot. I don't want to be late to the party and face a 'sold out' situation for those popular excursions. I can always cancel if I find a private option I like better.

Prices also sometimes go down and you might be able to cancel and rebook the lower price.

[MacMadame]

On 7/3/2024 at 9:43 AM, memoak said:

We only book Princess excursions if it involves a long drive or sail to avoid the possibility of missing the ship

Same. Or if the excursion is unique.

 

I booked my excursions as soon as excursions were available for my cruise. Since then, prices have gone up and down. When they went down, I rebooked. I haven't seen them lower since but I have seen them higher.

 

Cruise ships do their pricing similarly to airlines. It's completely possible for every single person in a particular cabin category to have paid a different price! It's guaranteed that those cabins were not sold at exactly the same price to everyone. You just have to monitor things and rebook/refare if you see a price drop. This is another reason to book when you can get a refundable deposit.