Automated way to track price drops and get email alerts?

[crischickie]

I've been copying and pasting right into my url-vals.txt file. Who wants to type all that stuff?

 

I typically open a page in the browser, get to a point where a fare shows and then copy and paste that url into the url-vals.txt file. I've been using a higher fare than advertised just to see what results I get. I wasn't trying to get to far into the booking just because the web address is longer.

 

python says keep your line to 80 characters. I guess that's the code line, but, does that affect what you have in url-vals.txt?

 

I checked my anti-spyware, anti-virus and firewall to see if they might stop python and as far as I can tell they are not the problem.

 

I am not sure how successful I will be. I just tried something very basic. Not really to compare fares, but, to test url's opening. Here's my current url-vals.txt file:

Monarch020209|$739|http://www.yahoo.com/

Freedom031509|$899|http://www.yahoo.com/

 

Here's my current log results:

'Mon Jan 26 15:49:21 2009','Monarch020209','FAILED! Could not open URL',$739

'Mon Jan 26 15:49:22 2009','Freedom031509','FAILED! Could not open URL',$899

 

I figure it would give a different answer if the url opened and the fare test failed.

 

I will keep you posted until I give up.

 

Thanks for getting me this far.

[crischickie]

Mike,

 

I've tried this:

import urllib # then hit enter

p = urllib.urlopen("your URL here") # hit enter again

 

with a number of url's and just got a python prompt (>>>) in return. I guess that's what you mean by not complaining.

 

I noted that you included " in ("your URL here") so when I tested url's I included them in quotes. No complaints. If I took the quotes out, I received a SyntaxError statement. So, I thought I might try that in my (your) fares.py program.

 

I added in quotes at p = urllib.urlopen(url) to make this:

p = urllib.urlopen("url").

 

My log was the same result, but, the cmd window message changed!

With no quotes, the cmd window displays

C:\Python24>fares.py

Tue Jan 27 13:38:59 2009

Finished!

 

When I put quotes in, I get the following:

C:\Python24>fares.py

Could not open URL http://www.yahoo.com/

 

Giving up.

Tue Jan 27 13:39:32 2009

Finished!

 

The log out put though is the same:

'Tue Jan 27 13:38:59 2009','Freedom031509','FAILED! Could not open URL',$999

'Tue Jan 27 13:39:32 2009','Freedom031509','FAILED! Could not open URL',$999

 

Any suggestions?

 

I feel I am close, but, I am also on the verge of giving up.

[mikeerdas]

> p = urllib.urlopen("your URL here") # hit enter again

> with a number of url's and just got a python prompt (>>>) in return.

> I guess that's what you mean by not complaining.

 

Yup, if the web page grab was successful, you won't see anything. Just another command prompt (>>>). I forgot a step though. To see the contents of the web page you grabbed into variable p, you'd need to type:

 

lines = p.readlines()

 

... then type:

 

print lines

 

... to see the contents of the web page that was grabbed.

 

In the:

 

p = urllib.urlopen("your URL here")

 

... statement, you'd use double quotes (or single quotes; Python takes either) around an actual URL that you typed or pasted.

 

Without quotes, as in:

p = urllib.urlopen(url)

 

... Python expects a variable named url to contain a url.

 

Hope this helps. The only other thing I can think of doing would be to repost the script with something like <tab> at the beginning of each line you need to have a tab. You're almost there.

 

I don't know why you can't hit the yahoo web page properly. I tried it myself from the Python command line and it worked fine.

 

At the Python prompt, type or paste each line below, hitting enter at each line:

 

p = urllib.urlopen("http://www.yahoo.com")

 

lines = p.readlines()

 

print lines

 

You should see a raw web page returned (e.g. ugly looking html tags, etc). If this doesn't work, I think something is wrong with your firewall or router settings, e.g. Python.exe isn't being allowed to get out to the web. I couldn't tell you how to fix that. You'd have to refer to your manuals.

 

Mike

[mikeerdas]

Cris,

 

Did you give up or do you need more help?

 

Mike

[crischickie]

No, I haven't given up.

 

I go thru intense busy periods and then intense slow periods. I was in a slow period when I tried it and then went into a busy period. I still plan to work on this but it will be a week or more before I can find time to get back to it.

 

I just signed up for the Carnival Dream (1/2010) with Carnival's best price guarantee and want to try it with that.

 

I cruise alot and think the automatic checking could save me some money.

[TheCommiser]

i just knocked something up quick in bash, just lob it into a crontab, and point a webserver to the output.....

 

 

wget "http://www.royalcaribbean.co.uk/booking/review.do;jsessionid=0000j1QL3gbwVXdO7MVbECJr7C7:13dlht8th?cabin=2011~~Q~~Q~~BRKD01~~false~~I~~SI~~Interior+Stateroom~~02~~Deck+Two~~12~~FW~~&guestCount=2"

D=$(date +%d-%m-%y)

mv review.do\?cabin\=2011~~Q~~Q~~BRKD01~~false~~I~~SI~~Interior+Stateroom~~02~~Deck+Two~~12~~FW~~\&guestCount\=2 $D.review

echo \<br\>$D >> word.html

cat $D.review | grep "Package Total" >> word.html

 

 

the slashes and " marks are important... only for the linux friendly im afraid

[mikeerdas]

Anyone ever use the Python script I posted? Or has anyone created their own, more sophisticated price drop checking script for either Python or Perl?

[jamon]

thanks for all the great info....

[burritto]

This is all definitely way easier than just clicking on a bookmark every now and then.

[cruisenfever]

From what I understand, if you go through a TA, it's up to them whether they want to honor the decrease in price. If they do, most likely you'll either get OBC or an upgrade if it's after final payment.

That is correct. You may lose any incentive that a particular TA is offering if a price drop occurs, but no OBC after final payment. See my answer to the post below.

Why not? Maybe you're not aware but RCCL gives price drops even after final payment! :D

If your cruise was booked prior to May 17, 2010, then you are entitled to any/all price reductions up until 72 hours prior to sailing.

 

If your cruise was booked on or after that date you will only be eligible for price reductions up until final payment. After that, if a higher cabin category is priced the same as or lower than what you paid, you can request an upgrade as long as the price reduction is not for "new bookings only".

[akcruz]

Just as a side note, some of the existing price drop websites out there don't take into account resident discounts and some actually charge to give you anything automated! All you really need to do is go through the booking processs up to the screen where you enter number of passengers, state, etc. Bookmark that page. The next day go into the bookmark put in your specific info and you see the current price with any pertinent discounts applied.

 

To me it is always easier to go to 'horses mouth' or in this case the RCI website to get the info I know is accurte. I've already gotten one price drop on my upcoming cruise, hoping for at least one more before final.

[Host Kewlguy]

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