Crown - 2-7 day cruises cheaper than 14 day

[lrhcon]

The Crown Princess offers 1 14 day cruise starting March 1st and 2 7 day cruises starting March 1st and March 8th. Per our TA and confirmed by Princess it is more than $230 cheaper per person to book the 2 7 days than the 1 14. There are 5 of us travelling - big difference! Aside from how stupid this is, we also lose $200 in onboard credits from making a deposit last year ($25 each for 4 of us instead of $75 each) because we are booking a 7 day cruise, not a 10-14 day one! Why would Princess penalize those who want to cruise longer - not to mention they incur double paperwork! Anyone else run into this and is there any point in complaining?

[fishmaniac]

I get it now.. :o

 

The 14 day comes back to PR on the 7th day. The back to back 7 day cruise would give you 2 different itineraries.

 

I'm new to cruising (Just recently finished our first) but perhaps they are not penalizing you for doing the 14 but rather discounting those that choose 2 back to backs because of the hassles of double the paperwork, packing up, getting off and then getting back on, etc? (that is, if they require you to leave the ship and then board again..I dont know)

 

Also, on Princess.com only the insides and ov's are cheaper. The balconies & stes are exactly double. From a business standpoint, I'm guessing they're dropping the prices on available rooms as time nears cuz if you try the same 7 day cruise in 2009, the prices are exactly 1/2 the 14day in 2008. So again, it looks like they're just trying to fill up the ship w/ discounted inside and OV rooms.

 

Regardless, I feel your pain. Good luck and hope you have a great cruise.

[Colo Cruiser]

The Crown Princess offers 1 14 day cruise starting March 1st and 2 7 day cruises starting March 1st and March 8th. Per our TA and confirmed by Princess it is more than $230 cheaper per person to book the 2 7 days than the 1 14. There are 5 of us travelling - big difference! Aside from how stupid this is, we also lose $200 in onboard credits from making a deposit last year ($25 each for 4 of us instead of $75 each) because we are booking a 7 day cruise, not a 10-14 day one! Why would Princess penalize those who want to cruise longer - not to mention they incur double paperwork! Anyone else run into this and is there any point in complaining?

 

 

Welcome to Cruise Critic! :rolleyes:

[lrhcon]

Thanks fishmaniac - this will be our 8th cruise with Princess and I guess I expected more from them. Norwegian does the same thing with a cruise out of Miami - offers one 14-day cruise that is a 5-day and 9-day cruise combined (returns to Miami for a day) but their pricing has the 14-day cruise cheaper. Done a cruise each with Carnival and NCL but kept coming back to Princess - they're testing my loyalty this time.

[Kurbanfan]

OP just think of it this way....you will get credit for 2 cruises instead of one.

[Toto2Kansas]

Thanks fishmaniac - this will be our 8th cruise with Princess and I guess I expected more from them. Norwegian does the same thing with a cruise out of Miami - offers one 14-day cruise that is a 5-day and 9-day cruise combined (returns to Miami for a day) but their pricing has the 14-day cruise cheaper. Done a cruise each with Carnival and NCL but kept coming back to Princess - they're testing my loyalty this time.

 

I have seen this many times. Doesn't make any sense to me either. In fact, On our next cruise of 12 days, some are staying onboard for the entire 29 day itineary and although originally booking the 29 day, found they could save $$$ by booking both cruises sepeartely. Why Princess does this? I have absolutely no idea, but it sounds ridiculous to me too.

[iancal]

The reason is fairly straightforward. There is much more competition to contend with on 7 day cruises, hence the per diem pricing tends to be lower.

[pamwinn]

I experienced the same situation on the Grand 5 or so years ago, so this is not a new tactic. The cruise was a 14 day eastern/western caribbean or 2 seven day back to backs. We paid for the 2 seven days and the price was probably $600 less. The thing was that the cabin we wanted, E728, was only available for the 14 day. The same was true with the coveted Aft balconies. They would not let us book it for the two 7 days. We did finally end up with it as I tracked it and close to final payment, a lot of cabins opened up. So if you can't get the cabin you want right now, check to see if it's available for the 14 days and if it is, watch like a hawk.

[kikiwik]

its a 14 day cruise of course it's going to be more more expensive. Expecially when your doing a B2B its like two 7 day cruises!

[okbowler]

Seven day cruises are the advertising equivilent of loss price leaders for some cruise lines. Bill

[DanJ]

OP just think of it this way....you will get credit for 2 cruises instead of one.

 

True. Friends of ours went on the 14 day Sea Princess last March for their honeymoon, whcihw as their second Princess cruise. They could have booked it as 2 7's, but said at the time "Why would anyone bother if they plan to go for 14 days anyway?". Well, now they have one booked at Christmas, and another booked for Alaska next summer. We were talking last week and they said something about having to do another couple cruises after that to get to their 50 day Platinum level. I said "Yes, but if you had booked that cruise last March as 2 7-days instead of 1 14 day, you would have your 5 cruise Platinum after Alaska next year, even though you'll be at 35 days" This was shortly after I told them how much we saved by booking in US (they booked in Canadian for both of those future cruises, yikes). But I have a funny feeling they still won't listen to any suggestions I make LOL.

[geoherb]

Regarding the onboard credit for booking on a previous cruise, I think you can split your $200 deposit to have $100 applied to one cruise and $100 for the second. That way at least you'd be getting $25 each in onboard credit for both cruises.

[DanJ]

Regarding the onboard credit for booking on a previous cruise, I think you can split your $200 deposit to have $100 applied to one cruise and $100 for the second. That way at least you'd be getting $25 each in onboard credit for both cruises.

 

Yes, you can use one FCC per week, but the second person in the cabin only has to put down the $100 deposit, and they then get the onboard credit as well. Then do the same for the second week with the other FCC. It would be like saying as long as you have one future cruise credit per cruise, you can buy more at time of booking, without actually having to give them your money sometime over the previous few years.

[Stevesan]

True. Friends of ours went on the 14 day Sea Princess last March for their honeymoon, whcihw as their second Princess cruise. They could have booked it as 2 7's, but said at the time "Why would anyone bother if they plan to go for 14 days anyway?". Well, now they have one booked at Christmas, and another booked for Alaska next summer. We were talking last week and they said something about having to do another couple cruises after that to get to their 50 day Platinum level. I said "Yes, but if you had booked that cruise last March as 2 7-days instead of 1 14 day, you would have your 5 cruise Platinum after Alaska next year, even though you'll be at 35 days" This was shortly after I told them how much we saved by booking in US (they booked in Canadian for both of those future cruises, yikes). But I have a funny feeling they still won't listen to any suggestions I make LOL.

 

 

I've booked Crown Princess S. Caribbean as a single B2B two week cruise. Princess credits this as two cruises.

 

My pricing was slightly less than booking the two weeks separately, but I booked initially with a Future Cruise Consultant while on board Grand with a smallish discount. The OP's pricing experience is odd, but not surprising. Stuff happens when booking cruises.

[johnmik1]

True. Friends of ours went on the 14 day Sea Princess last March for their honeymoon, whcihw as their second Princess cruise. They could have booked it as 2 7's, but said at the time "Why would anyone bother if they plan to go for 14 days anyway?". Well, now they have one booked at Christmas, and another booked for Alaska next summer. We were talking last week and they said something about having to do another couple cruises after that to get to their 50 day Platinum level. I said "Yes, but if you had booked that cruise last March as 2 7-days instead of 1 14 day, you would have your 5 cruise Platinum after Alaska next year, even though you'll be at 35 days" This was shortly after I told them how much we saved by booking in US (they booked in Canadian for both of those future cruises, yikes). But I have a funny feeling they still won't listen to any suggestions I make LOL.

I just pulled out my cruise atlas for March '07 and the Sea was only showing two 14 day cruises that month.

[DanJ]

I just pulled out my cruise atlas for March '07 and the Sea was only showing two 14 day cruises that month.

 

It was on the Princess website at the time. After they had mentioned what cruise they were doing, I went online and checked it out. They also mentioned that there was a passenger turnover at one of the ports, which I think was Barbados, but I can't recall.

[johnmik1]

It was on the Princess website at the time. After they had mentioned what cruise they were doing, I went online and checked it out. They also mentioned that there was a passenger turnover at one of the ports, which I think was Barbados, but I can't recall.

 

We were on Sea in Jan of '06 and '07 for the 14 night cruises from Ft Lauderdale.Princess flew in the Brits to Barbados who began their 14 night cruise there half way through our cruise.The group that got on a week before us disembarked there to open up the cabins for the new arrivals.If there was a 7 night option,this would not have worked very well.If there was a 7 night option,I must have missed it.