How can Princess prices be better than online TA?

[pamwinn]

I have heard of it but never saw it until now. When I login on the Princess website, the prices I see for many, many cruises are significantly better than the quotes from online TA's. I am one of the lucky one's this time. I have received all the recent offers and emails. (Example BD balcony on Pacific Princess on June 11 for $2279). When I saw that price on the Princess site, I checked all the regular online TA's including the competitive one hoping to snag a really good deal and they could not touch the price. I am very surprised.

[cacy6893076]

I guess the past passenger discount beats any group incentive pricing.

[IUFAN]

I'm glad to see that someone put this post up. I get better prices on princess website than any online TA.;)

[wizard-of-roz]

So, let me understand this....I'm so open to booking my cruises the best and most efficient way I can. It seems I do most of the work, anyway! I research the cabin I want, I shop for the best deals (I think), I contact the cruiseline with any questions about my special issues (directly)...would I be better off booking directly?

Does Princess (direct) give OBC's if you're booking without FCC's?

I know I sound like a "newbie" and I've cruised a lot but ALWAYS through an agent.

Tell me more about your experience.

[regnig]

Pam we had something similar happen with our next Emerald cruise. As is my habit I kept checking princess.com to see if the rates had dropped. Bingo, one day on the site they dropped $$$ for a BB category. We held a BA but Princess.com showed a price enough lower that we decided to save the $$$s. Our original booking had been made while on board the Emerald last spring and then turned over to our land based TA. Called TA, she called Princess and the CSR they told her the fare I was seeing on their site could not be correct. It took a couple of days and I finally had to let our TA give Princess our sign-on but the Princess CSR finally could see the same price I could. In the end we kept our BA but at a discounted rate provided by Princess for our inconvenience (their word, not mine). Happy ending! :D:D

 

Since we always use the same TA once we book and turn it over to her we end up getting OBC from her agency.

[paul929207]

Princess has been reducing prices. The online TA's are probably slow in updating their prices.

[caribill]

Be sure you are giving your TA your Captain's Circle number. Without it, they mat not see the pricing that you do on Princess.

[Toto2Kansas]

I always do a double check of Princess pricing compared to my TA, and to date, Princess hasn't come anywhere near what I pay through my TA.

Maybe someday I will price a cruise where Princess has better pricing, but so far, nope, never! Glad you found it less expensive though. ;)

[Poulsbo Cruisers]

On the BD category they are $320 pp higher than Princess. On the BA category they are a whopping $1300 pp, yes per person higher than Princess. Like I said, I have never seen this.:)

 

Did you actually call the online TA and tell them the price that Princess was offering? I find it hard to believe that they would be undersold by this amount. As another poster stated, the online TA's website may not yet be updated. However, if you called them and they are still this much higher, than by all means book directly with Princess.

[Colo Cruiser]

I have heard of it but never saw it until now. When I login on the Princess website, the prices I see for many, many cruises are significantly better than the quotes from online TA's. I am one of the lucky one's this time. I have received all the recent offers and emails. (Example BD balcony on Pacific Princess on June 11 for $2279). When I saw that price on the Princess site, I checked all the regular online TA's including the competitive one hoping to snag a really good deal and they could not touch the price. I am very surprised.

 

 

Did you actually call them or just attempt a booking online with the different TA's?

[Coral]

Be sure you are giving your TA your Captain's Circle number. Without it, they mat not see the pricing that you do on Princess.

 

This most likely is the deal - they are not running your CC number through.

 

Though if for some reason something is not working properly - if you reserve it from Princess and transfer it to a TA that discounts, they most likely will discount anything that is transferred to them. They receive the booking at Princess's price and then can slash accordingly.

[Colo Cruiser]

Did you actually call the online TA and tell them the price that Princess was offering? I find it hard to believe that they would be undersold by this amount. As another poster stated, the online TA's website may not yet be updated. However, if you called them and they are still this much higher, than by all means book directly with Princess.

 

 

Wow just saw your post before mine. Wierd. :D

[hummingbirdz]

I am new to cruising and Princess and do not have any special status and have found that Princess 'direct' pricing is as good or better than the internet TA's. Only exception is extra $50 OBC per cabin from one internet TA.

[pamwinn]

I have emailed the TA. I will let you know what I discover. I did go to one online site that allows you to put in your Captain's Circle number and did not get the good prices. I haven't called them because their bestprices are web only.

[Karenteach]

I didn't realize it was against the board policy to name names. Thought we were all here to help and guide each other. Oh well. In any event, I guess each website has different deals and the deal I received for my cruise was over 300 cheaper per person than princess site

[Plainsman]

I always do a double check of Princess pricing compared to my TA, and to date, Princess hasn't come anywhere near what I pay through my TA.

Maybe someday I will price a cruise where Princess has better pricing, but so far, nope, never! Glad you found it less expensive though. ;)

Same here, most times a big difference

[regnig]

Be sure you are giving your TA your Captain's Circle number. Without it, they mat not see the pricing that you do on Princess.

 

That was the strange thing about my situation. Both my TA and the Princess CSR had my Captain's Circle number but not until they signed into their computers pretending they were me using my email address & password could they view the lower price I was seeing. Made no sense to any of us and the CSR couldn't even get an explanation from her supervisor.

[Colo Cruiser]

I have emailed the TA. I will let you know what I discover. I did go to one online site that allows you to put in your Captain's Circle number and did not get the good prices. I haven't called them because their bestprices are web only.

 

 

I put in my CC number and the price goes up!! :eek:

[pamwinn]

Same here, most times a big difference

 

I agree. I have over 20 princess cruises and have never held a booking with them through final payment. I have always transferred to a TA for OBC's and significantly better pricing. This is a first for me. It's a little scary even.

 

By the way, I did some random availability checking on several different Princess cruises and found a lot of Aft balconies available. I have never seen that either unless booked way in advance. This, and all the promos, leads me to believe that there is a huge drop in bookings. The Alaska and Europe prices are amazing.

[can786]

A similar thing happened to me when I got the 2 for 1 e-mail about the Alaska cruises. I had just booked my cruise two days before I got the e-mail. I could see the reduced pricing when signed onto Princess.com so I called my TA to get the price reduction. Her system was showing me still at the original price so I told her the price I was seeing on Princess.com. She had to call Princess directly, but she got me the reduced 2 for 1 pricing. When I check on a number of online sites that usually have good pricing they don't show the reduced prices even though I fill out the forms with my CC number, so I guess you would have to call them to get it.

[pamwinn]

I put in my CC number and the price goes up!! :eek:

 

LOL...that was happening to me last year.

[triple7tahoe]

We have been booked on a transatlantic cruise for quite some time. As prices started dropping I stayed with my online TA and got reductions.

Then, early last week, I found that the Princess website had a greatly reduced price. I was concerned that since we had made final payment there was no way I would get the reduction. I called my TA and found that we could move from a balcony (BC) to a minisuite and get a partial refund. He was not able to match the online Princess price but came close. None of the online TA's have even begun to match the Princess price but I will keep checking.:)

[pamwinn]

We have been booked on a transatlantic cruise for quite some time. As prices started dropping I stayed with my online TA and got reductions.

Then, early last week, I found that the Princess website had a greatly reduced price. I was concerned that since we had made final payment there was no way I would get the reduction. I called my TA and found that we could move from a balcony (BC) to a minisuite and get a partial refund. He was not able to match the online Princess price but came close. None of the online TA's have even begun to match the Princess price but I will keep checking.:)

 

Now that's what I like to hear...after final payment reductions! Good for you.:D

[Solara]

I put in my CC number and the price goes up!! :eek:

 

LOL...that was happening to me last year.

That's happening to me now, the prices are cheaper without my CC number. I've been trying for a week now & it hasn't changed.

[robgvic]

Technically < Princess should always be cheaper if only because they get all the money and don't have to pay any commission at all. Airlines have seen this and hotels are beginning to realize it too.