Anyone else notice the $5.00 increase on Shore Excursions?

[netorders]

No savings as they jacked the pricing on their BOGO 50% off for Canada/NE emerald trip.

 

More now than booked earlier, and then a cabin mini suite offer was e-mailed for $49/day or $490 for 10 days.

 

Drink package went up too!

[PR-Texas]

I was watching the excursions on our Australia New Zealand cruisetour in Nov to be sure I booked them before they sold out. I'm a bit of a spreadsheet nerd so I had the prices of the ones we wanted listed.  We booked 3 when they dropped below 20 tickets left.  Then I saw the prices of the other 3 go up so booked immediately before they went up more.  Out of curiosity I kept watching them and they went back down.  Immediately cancelled and rebooked and received a refund several days later.  Sometimes it pays to be nerdy.

[cr8tiv1]

3 hours ago, netorders said:

No savings as they jacked the pricing on their BOGO 50% off for Canada/NE emerald trip.

 

More now than booked earlier, and then a cabin mini suite offer was e-mailed for $49/day or $490 for 10 days.

 

Drink package went up too!

 

Where are you seeing that drink package went up?  I just checked:

 

Princess Plus = $60

Princess Premier = $80

 

https://www.princess.com/en-us/cruise-deals-promotions/plus-premier-cruise-packages

 

Are you referring to the other drink packages?

Edited June 22 by cr8tiv1

[netorders]

I was logged into my account and it was higher than the $60

 

.

[azbirdmom]

9 minutes ago, netorders said:

I was logged into my account and it was higher than the $60

 

.

The Plus Beverage Package alone is always that price.  The Plus package which includes the Plus Beverage Package, crew appreciation and WiFi is $60.  Princess really should rename this stuff as it's very confusing.

 

[paddingtonbear]

4 hours ago, PR-Texas said:

I was watching the excursions on our Australia New Zealand cruisetour in Nov to be sure I booked them before they sold out. I'm a bit of a spreadsheet nerd so I had the prices of the ones we wanted listed.  We booked 3 when they dropped below 20 tickets left.  Then I saw the prices of the other 3 go up so booked immediately before they went up more.  Out of curiosity I kept watching them and they went back down.  Immediately cancelled and rebooked and received a refund several days later.  Sometimes it pays to be nerdy.

Do you realise that the "20" is not the total amount of seats left? (well it might be at the very last minute). They start out at "20" then when they get to zero it goes back up to "20".  I don't know how many people on each excursion (it probably varies).  I think they use "20" to make people think they are going to miss out or to fool people into thinking it is a small group excursion?

 

I think they get away with things like this because people rarely go back and check prices.  You were very savvy to cancel and rebook. 

[PR-Texas]

12 hours ago, paddingtonbear said:

Do you realise that the "20" is not the total amount of seats left? (well it might be at the very last minute). They start out at "20" then when they get to zero it goes back up to "20".  I don't know how many people on each excursion (it probably varies).  I think they use "20" to make people think they are going to miss out or to fool people into thinking it is a small group excursion?

 

I think they get away with things like this because people rarely go back and check prices.  You were very savvy to cancel and rebook. 

My understanding was that the excursion could have any number of folks but "20" was the number of seats left. Our "can't miss" excursion has fluctuated between 1 and 4 seats left since we booked a month ago.  It will be interesting to see what the numbers do as we get closer to final payment date on August 12. Doesn't really matter one way or the other to me. Pricing has played the roller coaster game going up and down. I'm expecting it to get higher as we get closer to actual sail date.

[paddingtonbear]

45 minutes ago, PR-Texas said:

My understanding was that the excursion could have any number of folks but "20" was the number of seats left. Our "can't miss" excursion has fluctuated between 1 and 4 seats left since we booked a month ago.  It will be interesting to see what the numbers do as we get closer to final payment date on August 12. Doesn't really matter one way or the other to me. Pricing has played the roller coaster game going up and down. I'm expecting it to get higher as we get closer to actual sail date.

But 18 months before a cruise it only says “20” never more than “20” sears supposedly available. 

[Mary loves to travel]

54 minutes ago, paddingtonbear said:

But 18 months before a cruise it only says “20” never more than “20” sears supposedly available. 

My experience is that if there are 20 or more seats left, it will show 20 seats.

If it drops below 20, it's more real.    sometimes more seats are added if the waitlist gets long enough & the operator can add seats, but not always.

 

Mary

[azbirdmom]

2 minutes ago, Mary loves to travel said:

My experience is that if there are 20 or more seats left, it will show 20 seats.

If it drops below 20, it's more real.    sometimes more seats are added if the waitlist gets long enough & the operator can add seats, but not always.

 

Mary

 

Exactly.  They may have 100 or more slots available but it will show 20 until the number available dips below 20.  They will sometimes secure extra space too.  I had been watching a sold out excursion to the beaches of Normandy last year.  After a lot of searching I found an independent tour to go there.  Probably a month after that I checked and saw that Princess had "20" spots available for their similar tour.  They can't always get extra space but if something is very popular you can bet they will do what they can to secure more slots.

[Boku]

Princess excursions are very expensive, I have found that most excursions are available via local operators for a quarter to a third of the price.

[Wishing on a star]

The one I am looking at right now is ONLY available thru Princess, as it is fully chartered out for the cruise lines.   

We had booked one excursion, and it now went up $10.  

The one I just mentioned, I don't remember what the price was.  But, it is expensive, and it probably went up, too.

[paddingtonbear]

1 hour ago, Mary loves to travel said:

My experience is that if there are 20 or more seats left, it will show 20 seats.

If it drops below 20, it's more real.    sometimes more seats are added if the waitlist gets long enough & the operator can add seats, but not always.

 

Mary

Ah thank you. That explains it better. I also didn’t realise PR Texas’s.cruise was so soon. 

[PR-Texas]

Unfortunately for our New Zealand cruise the independent operators that I've found might save us $30-$50 per excursion.  Since several excursions go a fair distance from the port and one is in a tendering port we've chosen to stick with Princess excursions.  Also when I compared the descriptions and reviews of the non-Princess excursions I couldn't find a compelling reason to choose them. Guess we'll find out if we made the right decision in November.

[BamaVol]

5 hours ago, Boku said:

Princess excursions are very expensive, I have found that most excursions are available via local operators for a quarter to a third of the price.

No way. Yes, Princess charges a premium. It’s one of the ways they make money. I have not seen the difference that you quote. 
 

Last week in Roatan, we did an excursion to Gumbalimba park. Princess charged $60 each. 
 

tripadvisor doesn’t show me any tours for less than $45. 

Edited June 23 by BamaVol

[paddingtonbear]

On 6/22/2024 at 7:17 AM, netorders said:

No savings as they jacked the pricing on their BOGO 50% off for Canada/NE emerald trip.

 

More now than booked earlier, and then a cabin mini suite offer was e-mailed for $49/day or $490 for 10 days.

 

Drink package went up too!

I have just noticed this.  I was just going to reply to @PR-Texas and say that some of the Canada new england excursions from Princess are cheaper than the private operators (esp for Sydney and Saguenay.  But when I checked on line Princess has a BOGO 50% "sale".  The "sale" price is much more (US$100 more per couple) than they were yesterday.  I am so annoyed that I waited for DH to come home to discuss which ones to book with Princess.  

 

Our cruise isn't until sept 2025 will the Princess excursions come down in price again?

 

Saguenay is the big problem because the cruise port is miles from anywhere and it costs US$30pp to get a HOHO bus to the town and it isn't that exciting.  Local operators have really bad reviews.  It's the quick or the dead obviously. 

[Ombud]

I booked as many as I can with my OBC (FCD & shareholders) as soon as I can and cancel when I decide against them. Current 0 on my 9/2024 cruise, 3 on my 1/2025 cruise, and 1 on my 2/2026 cruise. Might cancel 1

[paddingtonbear]

20 minutes ago, Ombud said:

I booked as many as I can with my OBC (FCD & shareholders) as soon as I can and cancel when I decide against them. Current 0 on my 9/2024 cruise, 3 on my 1/2025 cruise, and 1 on my 2/2026 cruise. Might cancel 1

I am such a fool. Quick or the dead, obviously. 

We'll just do it ourselves in ports, I think. US$380+ for an excursion for the two of us is just too much. 

 

[Incognito1]

For $195 (up to 10 people for that price), if you have movie fans in your group, you'd likely be better off having dinner in St. Maarten with Nick Maley "Yoda Guy." https://www.tripadvisor.com/AttractionProductReview-g147346-d15668088-Dine_with_Star_Wars_celebrity_that_Yoda_Guy_Nick_Maley_195_up_to_10_people-St_Mart.html

 

Super interesting guy!

[PR-Texas]

My take is that you do your research and go with what works best for you.  And on the BOGO, there's a possibility that the prices will go back down. Definitely worth watching especially if your cruise is in 2025 or 2026. See my post #20.  Since I've been monitoring they've gone up and down and up.

[paddingtonbear]

I have proof that the BOGO 50% off “sale” is a fake. If i go on the website for Canada New England cruises they have the excursion prices (which, incidentally have gone up in the last 48 hours). Then if I go on my cruise personalised and check the BOGO 50% off highlighted (discount applied cost) it is the same as the excursion prices on the other page!  How can they get away with that without losing credabity? 

[phabric]

I have B2B cruises-

1) Vancouver to San Francisco (3 days)

2) San Francisco to San Francisco (14 days)

 

Cruise 1) has a post cruise excursion for $74.95

Cruise 2) only added their post cruise excursion last week for $132.95

 

The description for both itineraries are the same.  
 

Why is there such a jump in the price for the same itineraries?

Edited Tuesday at 12:40 PM by phabric

[Cruisemeister2002]

On 6/23/2024 at 9:34 PM, paddingtonbear said:

I have proof that the BOGO 50% off “sale” is a fake. If i go on the website for Canada New England cruises they have the excursion prices (which, incidentally have gone up in the last 48 hours). Then if I go on my cruise personalised and check the BOGO 50% off highlighted (discount applied cost) it is the same as the excursion prices on the other page!  How can they get away with that without losing credabity? 

Just for something to do I went on to Princess website. Put a tick against our names so as to compare the offer against what I had already paid. Answer $20 p.p. more and that's supposed to be one full price and one half price excursion. Someone has either got their sums extremely wrong or they are blatantly screwing people by advertising something that is not true. Are they alone ? absolutely not.

[canadarocks]

On 6/19/2024 at 8:40 PM, canadarocks said:

I’m sure many here will wonder why I’m questioning a measly $5.00. For context.. I was seriously considering a St Maarten excursion that was $149.95 per person. Has been that price for a LONG time. Then a supposed 20% shore excursion sale happened. That same excursion was “on sale” for $149.95. A week ago that same excursion was $179.95. Now it’s $184.95. 

 

Independent bookings have never looked more appealing!

 

 

That same excursion is now $219.95. From $149.95!! Heaven knows how high it'll get by the time we leave. And no, we will not be doing it. 🤭

[paddingtonbear]

2 hours ago, canadarocks said:

That same excursion is now $219.95. From $149.95!! Heaven knows how high it'll get by the time we leave. And no, we will not be doing it. 🤭

That is what stuns me, though.  When you finally arrive at the port there will be lots of people queueing for the excursion.  People don't seem to count the cost at all these days.