How can Princess prices be better than online TA?

[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.

[gipper77]

The "PLA" promotion is a fantastic promo. It is better that any group that I have seen and you can get the low price plus what ever perks that are offered in the group. Have you TA use your CC # and look at the prices out of Seattle for Alaska, WOW. Also look at the Oct 25, Grand cruise. This is the best price for a MED. cruise I have seen for a long time. The prices may be quanity limited so hurry. Also the Wave season will end in Feb. Enjoy your cruises.

[pamwinn]

The "PLA" promotion is a fantastic promo. It is better that any group that I have seen and you can get the low price plus what ever perks that are offered in the group. Have you TA use your CC # and look at the prices out of Seattle for Alaska, WOW. Also look at the Oct 25, Grand cruise. This is the best price for a MED. cruise I have seen for a long time. The prices may be quanity limited so hurry. Also the Wave season will end in Feb. Enjoy your cruises.

 

I noticed some of those 7 day out of Seattle. A balcony in june for under $800.00 pp is something I have never seen before. I have been to Alaska a lot and I am really interested in the Pacific Princess 14 day that goes to all the interesting ports I have never been to. The promo I got today for small ships is PA6.

[robgvic]

I booked my Sapphire guaranteed rate balcony in October and ended up with a BA one on Lido deck. All that for $750 Canadian and when you take into account the fuel surcharge that made is $686. I certainly can't complain about that and will be sailing this Saturday. We can't wait.

Oh, it was all booked through Princess direct.

[sellsitall]

I booked thru an online travel agent. It was $40 less PP than booking direct. Plus I recieved $450 in onboard credit for the 2 cabins I booked.

[love2bonboard]

I just booked through Princess and got a price that my TA couldn't even get close too. When you log on to your account (you must have an account to get the best fares)to book the cruise the system automatically pulls all of your OBC deals and calculates the fare. I now prefer to go through Princess directly so that I can call a represetative directly w/o the need to go through a TA all of the time. Immediately after booking I got an email from a Princess Representative letting me know he is there to help me with any questions. He arranged my dinning, bed crates, and got me a nice upgrade. It doesn't hurt to look at all options and go with the lowest cost whomever that is.:)

[chipmaster]

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.

 

Regardless of what your personal experience is I will bet that Princess CAN'T / WON'T undercut what TAs offer.

 

Imagine if they did this as a rule you can bet the TAs would pretty much preferentially sell the other lines that don't undercut as they wouldn't get ANY princess business ( except the really lazy ones ) I don't think any cruise line can afford to not get equal treatment from TAs. This isn't like the airline industry, not yet at least so a lot of their business likely still comes thru TAs.

[caribill]

I just booked through Princess and got a price that my TA couldn't even get close too. When you log on to your account (you must have an account to get the best fares)to book the cruise the system automatically pulls all of your OBC deals and calculates the fare. I now prefer to go through Princess directly so that I can call a represetative directly w/o the need to go through a TA all of the time. Immediately after booking I got an email from a Princess Representative letting me know he is there to help me with any questions. He arranged my dinning, bed crates, and got me a nice upgrade. It doesn't hurt to look at all options and go with the lowest cost whomever that is.:)

 

It is possible that your TA did not have the code to use the OBC deals.

[pamwinn]

She did in fact beat the Princess Price.

 

For a BD on 6/11, Princess says 2279 plus taxes and fees.

 

TA says 2275 including taxes and fees plus $100 OBC

 

For a BA Princess says 2899 plus taxes and fees

 

TA says 2775 including taxes and fees plus the OBC

 

The TA comes through I am ready to book 8^)

[Chelley00]

She did in fact beat the Princess Price.

 

For a BD on 6/11, Princess says 2279 plus taxes and fees.

 

TA says 2275 including taxes and fees plus $100 OBC

 

For a BA Princess says 2899 plus taxes and fees

 

TA says 2775 including taxes and fees plus the OBC

 

The TA comes through I am ready to book 8^)

 

This is the cruise we'll be on. The online TA beat Princess price when we booked and now they both came down on their rates, although I can't get the TA to return my emails/calls to get the price reduction. :rolleyes: You got about a $300 cheaper rate on the BD than we did.

[pamwinn]

I think this is a wonderful choice for a first cruise. Happy Anniversary. We will be celebratibg our 26th Anniversary though it really occurs on the next cruise. We married on Independence day.:D

[StarTrkGeek]

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.

Hi Pam,

My wife and I are also on the June 11 sailing of the Pacific Princess. Our online TA got us a price that was $50 per person cheaper than the past passenger rate on the Princess Web site. However, we have a category F, not a category BD. Maybe the category makes a difference? On the other hand, it may be which online TA you are using that accounts for the difference.

Alan

[csk]

maybe someone could tell me how to look at all the different catorgys for a booking. I can go see the prices, but it just says inside or ov, or balcony. how do you get all the cat.

[robgvic]

clcik on balcony or which every you want and diferent catagories available will come up