Booking your princess cruise tidbits

This is for the do-it-yourself TA's out there especially but for all.

I have quite a few Princess cruises under my belt that I have started to book my cruises myself. This is what I have found out over the last few years.

I have booked 1 1/2 years out to 6 mos. out. Of course you get the "better" cabin selections the earlier you book, but that is a personal preference. But this is what I have found out. Once you have booked, you need to go OCD about checking the Princess site and do a pretend booking on your cruise in the morning and in the night each day if you are really into it! I am sure you guys know where I am going with this. Price! Prime example is what happened to me yesterday.

Around 10AM I looked up my cruise and found my cabin had gone down by $500 and my friends' who are going with us down by $430. We both called Princess immediately and rebooked. Now I want to take a moment and give Princess high praises here. In this area, at least, the reps are great and the wait time on the phone is under 5 minutes if that long. They check, as I make sure though, that I won't lose any OBC, etc. if I rebook. Then it literally is a second later and all done, monies saved. Same booking number, same cabin, and within minutes new confirmation in my email. I initially booked my March, 2018 Southern Caribbean cruise on 6/16/2017 at a decent price. My first price discount I got on 7/11. Then the next one (that made me initiate this thread) happened yesterday. Between the two rebookings (along with the Princess insurance costs going down too!) I have saved $750 from my initial booking.

So, I went into the site again last night around 7PM to check prices again (yes, I know, I AM OCD!) and they had already gone up to the original pricing of the days before!!!! So the sale price I got was on for maybe 12 hours, who knows? That's why I am saying to check daily several times and maybe you too can catch a quick sale like this?! This is the second time this has happened to me. So by catching this second quick price reduction, I have booked a club class mini-suite for less than a regular mini suite is costing this morning.

And with many days left to check, maybe another rebooking is in the possible future!!!

May you guys all have this little bit of luck with your bookings too!

This is exactly what I do as well at least daily and I too have found price reductions I can take advantage of many times! Sometimes there IS a benefit for being OCD!

Good info. Thanks.

This is for the do-it-yourself TA's out there especially but for all.

 

I have quite a few Princess cruises under my belt that I have started to book my cruises myself. This is what I have found out over the last few years.

 

I have booked 1 1/2 years out to 6 mos. out. Of course you get the "better" cabin selections the earlier you book, but that is a personal preference. But this is what I have found out. Once you have booked, you need to go OCD about checking the Princess site and do a pretend booking on your cruise in the morning and in the night each day if you are really into it! I am sure you guys know where I am going with this. Price! Prime example is what happened to me yesterday.

 

Around 10AM I looked up my cruise and found my cabin had gone down by $500 and my friends' who are going with us down by $430. We both called Princess immediately and rebooked. Now I want to take a moment and give Princess high praises here. In this area, at least, the reps are great and the wait time on the phone is under 5 minutes if that long. They check, as I make sure though, that I won't lose any OBC, etc. if I rebook. Then it literally is a second later and all done, monies saved. Same booking number, same cabin, and within minutes new confirmation in my email. I initially booked my March, 2018 Southern Caribbean cruise on 6/16/2017 at a decent price. My first price discount I got on 7/11. Then the next one (that made me initiate this thread) happened yesterday. Between the two rebookings (along with the Princess insurance costs going down too!) I have saved $750 from my initial booking.

 

So, I went into the site again last night around 7PM to check prices again (yes, I know, I AM OCD!) and they had already gone up to the original pricing of the days before!!!! So the sale price I got was on for maybe 12 hours, who knows? That's why I am saying to check daily several times and maybe you too can catch a quick sale like this?! This is the second time this has happened to me. So by catching this second quick price reduction, I have booked a club class mini-suite for less than a regular mini suite is costing this morning.

 

And with many days left to check, maybe another rebooking is in the possible future!!!

 

May you guys all have this little bit of luck with your bookings too!

It's not being OCD. It's being an educated consumer. Cruise prices go up and down with no rhyme nor reason all the time. Whether it's computer generated or human controlled it happens often and as you said sometimes for hours. It's the same with the EZ air. As I once mentioned on these boards, I got fired from my long time TA because I "bothered" her with too many price adjustments. I now only use a TA for an expensive cruise where the discounts and OBC tend to be greater. For the cheaper cruises, I go directly to the cruise line and get whomever answers. I do the legwork and all they do is adjust. And by the way, since I'm retired I check 3 times a day!

I do that too. When I find a price drop I call my TA. She has gotten price reduction for all my four cruises that I have coming up. Three are on Princess and on is on X. The best was the price change on the X cruise. We had a normal balcony. There was a price drop for the two classes above that. I called her and told her that for $50. more pp we could get Aqua Class cabin. She put me on hold and came back and said that it was $50. more pp but worth it. AND she would give us an extra $100 OBC if we took it. So, that covered the cost. This was the second price change on our X cruise.

But you do have to look often at the prices.

I check our Princess cruise all the time too. We first had two Princess cruises booked and she saved us a good amount, that my DH said book another one! So I did!

Glad you were able to take advantage of the price drop!

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I do that on every single cruise that I book, regardless of whether I book directly through the cruiseline or with a travel agency. I would say I have gotten better pricing on my many cruises approx 50% of the time. For $25, I don't bother ... for $50 or more, I most certainly do make the call for the reduced price. If after final payment, I have been known to get an upgraded room instead of a cheaper price.

I was looking at a cruise about 10:00 on a Saturday night and found a mini suite that was cheaper than an ocean view. I closed my browser, checked again as I was in disbelief, and after 3 times of shutting down and opening again, and the price never changed, I booked it. I think Princess caught the IT error Monday morning as the price went back to what it should have been, however my cabin and price was locked in.

So unfair that in UK we are only allowed to re-fare one single time and it costs us £100 for the pleasure !!!

Are you only able to get these price reductions up until final payment? If so is there anything you can do if you see it reduced after you are paid in full?

Are you only able to get these price reductions up until final payment? If so is there anything you can do if you see it reduced after you are paid in full?

Some report getting the price difference after final payment. I think most get it by having a TA that goes to bat for them. We recently saw a large price drop after final payment but I didn't ask for OBC or a price adjustment. I was afraid of losing the AIBP perk and, on a 28 day cruise, that would be huge. However, we did successfully move from our Baja balcony to a Caribe balcony in a location I think is really great so I am very happy. :D

I think that the answer to that is to just ask and play on your platinum-elite status if you have it too. I mean the reps might not be able to give you the price reduction in the way of a credit on your credit card but they could give you some OBC, etc. Just ask. It doesn't hurt to try is what I am saying. I used to be "too shy" to negogiate or ask for something, but I have learned in my "old age" that it doesn't hurt to ask! I have been very fortunate with just asking especially with free upgrades on my rental cars - from compact to SUV! Sometimes, "playing dumb" (grin) gets you great rewards! Just be polite and nice when asking and don't get upset if you get a no.

Pooh

I was looking at a cruise about 10:00 on a Saturday night and found a mini suite that was cheaper than an ocean view. I closed my browser, checked again as I was in disbelief, and after 3 times of shutting down and opening again, and the price never changed, I booked it. I think Princess caught the IT error Monday morning as the price went back to what it should have been, however my cabin and price was locked in.

I encountered the same thing on the Princess site. It was late night on Wednesday, 7/5. I thought that I had found an awesome deal on a 13 day Australia/New Zealand cruise for $1199 pp for Balcony. However, when I went in to pick cabin category, I found the $1199 price across the board - from inside to suite. At first, I was in disbelief. So, I booked an Aft Facing Penthouse Suite for $1199 pp rate with the feeling that somehow Princess would not honor the price and my booking would not go through..Well, I was wrong. We are booked!

Wow, Funkat, what a spectacular catch you got!!!!!! If I had seen that, I would have booked too and hang the airfare! Have a great fantastically inexpensive cruise!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Pooh

This is for the do-it-yourself TA's out there especially but for all.

 

I have quite a few Princess cruises under my belt that I have started to book my cruises myself. This is what I have found out over the last few years.

 

I have booked 1 1/2 years out to 6 mos. out. Of course you get the "better" cabin selections the earlier you book, but that is a personal preference. But this is what I have found out. Once you have booked, you need to go OCD about checking the Princess site and do a pretend booking on your cruise in the morning and in the night each day if you are really into it! I am sure you guys know where I am going with this. Price! Prime example is what happened to me yesterday.

 

Around 10AM I looked up my cruise and found my cabin had gone down by $500 and my friends' who are going with us down by $430. We both called Princess immediately and rebooked. Now I want to take a moment and give Princess high praises here. In this area, at least, the reps are great and the wait time on the phone is under 5 minutes if that long. They check, as I make sure though, that I won't lose any OBC, etc. if I rebook. Then it literally is a second later and all done, monies saved. Same booking number, same cabin, and within minutes new confirmation in my email. I initially booked my March, 2018 Southern Caribbean cruise on 6/16/2017 at a decent price. My first price discount I got on 7/11. Then the next one (that made me initiate this thread) happened yesterday. Between the two rebookings (along with the Princess insurance costs going down too!) I have saved $750 from my initial booking.

 

So, I went into the site again last night around 7PM to check prices again (yes, I know, I AM OCD!) and they had already gone up to the original pricing of the days before!!!! So the sale price I got was on for maybe 12 hours, who knows? That's why I am saying to check daily several times and maybe you too can catch a quick sale like this?! This is the second time this has happened to me. So by catching this second quick price reduction, I have booked a club class mini-suite for less than a regular mini suite is costing this morning.

 

And with many days left to check, maybe another rebooking is in the possible future!!!

 

May you guys all have this little bit of luck with your bookings too!

Thanks for the information.

I have not seen the term OCD used before. What does that mean?

Tom🤔

Thanks for the information.

I have not seen the term OCD used before. What does that mean?

Tom🤔

Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder

Wow, Funkat, what a spectacular catch you got!!!!!! If I had seen that, I would have booked too and hang the airfare! Have a great fantastically inexpensive cruise!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

Pooh

Thanks Pooh. I'm very excited about it. We have also booked air through Princess since they had a better deal for the flights we wanted than we could do on our own. And the best part is that we booked flexible rate so we can make changes at no charge (until 45 days out) if we find better or cheaper flights. In fact, we have done that 3 times already.

This is for the do-it-yourself TA's out there especially but for all.

 

I have quite a few Princess cruises under my belt that I have started to book my cruises myself. This is what I have found out over the last few years.

 

I have booked 1 1/2 years out to 6 mos. out. Of course you get the "better" cabin selections the earlier you book, but that is a personal preference. But this is what I have found out. Once you have booked, you need to go OCD about checking the Princess site and do a pretend booking on your cruise in the morning and in the night each day if you are really into it! I am sure you guys know where I am going with this. Price! Prime example is what happened to me yesterday.

 

Around 10AM I looked up my cruise and found my cabin had gone down by $500 and my friends' who are going with us down by $430. We both called Princess immediately and rebooked. Now I want to take a moment and give Princess high praises here. In this area, at least, the reps are great and the wait time on the phone is under 5 minutes if that long. They check, as I make sure though, that I won't lose any OBC, etc. if I rebook. Then it literally is a second later and all done, monies saved. Same booking number, same cabin, and within minutes new confirmation in my email. I initially booked my March, 2018 Southern Caribbean cruise on 6/16/2017 at a decent price. My first price discount I got on 7/11. Then the next one (that made me initiate this thread) happened yesterday. Between the two rebookings (along with the Princess insurance costs going down too!) I have saved $750 from my initial booking.

 

So, I went into the site again last night around 7PM to check prices again (yes, I know, I AM OCD!) and they had already gone up to the original pricing of the days before!!!! So the sale price I got was on for maybe 12 hours, who knows? That's why I am saying to check daily several times and maybe you too can catch a quick sale like this?! This is the second time this has happened to me. So by catching this second quick price reduction, I have booked a club class mini-suite for less than a regular mini suite is costing this morning.

 

And with many days left to check, maybe another rebooking is in the possible future!!!

 

May you guys all have this little bit of luck with your bookings too!

Thanks for the information.

I have not seen the term OCD used before. What does that mean?

Tom🤔

Thanks for the information.

I have not seen the term OCD used before. What does that mean?

Tom��

Hi Tom,

I can answer that since I too suffer from it. lol:D

Obsessive Compulsive Disorder

Sorry about the initials!!!! I do that alot!

Princess site was down late last night for maintenance, so went in early this a.m., and some cruises I booked and some looking at have gone down in price again, for how long who knows. Hopefully longer this time!

OCD raising its ugly head again! Grin.

Pooh

P.S. Funkat, wow, what a great situation you find yourself in. With such a wonderful itinerary! Enjoy this trip of a lifetime.