HairyBiker777

Thanks for the many replies. Some great advice there 👍 

3 hours ago, icat2000 said:

Not permitted for Australians/NZ to book with overseas agent unless they have done it in the past. This rule have been around for over a decade.

 

Its to protect the local travel agent market. I would suggest that your Australians friends book directly with Princess and then watch out for any price drops which they can get adjusted up until final payment. Certain cruises in Australia sell out very quickly. 

Actually, we're the Aussies! We're in Sydney. Our English friends will be travelling from the UK to sail with us. Your point about being not able to use foreign agents is an interesting one - the US travel agent I'm dealing with is adamant that I can book through her.

3 hours ago, 2022cruisey said:

Why not book with Princess? They usually let you refare if it becomes cheaper, or alternatively cancel without penalty until a certain date.  Have saved thousands on my NZ cruise that we went on in January.

Purely because of price - booking direct with Princess is c. $200 per room more than the best agent price that I've seen. Re-booking sounds good but it doesn't sound like prices drop very often...

Hi all,

I'm looking to book two balcony rooms on the Crown Princess trip around New Zealand, leaving Sydney on Feb 8 2025. I'm undecided about whether to book now or to wait in the hope that prices will come down. We live in Sydney and will be travelling with friends who are coming from the UK to cruise with us. We don't want to mess our friends around, and my gut feeling is to book it now and eliminate the risk of missing out.

I've got a couple of prices - one from a US-based company who say they'll give us a better rate if the price drops after booking, and another slightly higher price from a local company without such a guarantee. The local company is offering a Princess promo of $150 credit per stateroom and even with that credit applied, they're still a little more expensive than the US agent. I don't know yet if the US agent is offering that promotion; I'm waiting to hear back from them.

One slightly worrying thing is that as I proceed through the local agent's booking process - just checking prices - I see a message saying that Princess has a policy that reservations must be made by an agent in the customer's country of residence (see attached screenshot). I hope this doesn't mean we would struggle to book through them for our UK-based friends. I guess as long as I'm paying for everything then I'll be fine.

Any thoughts on whether to wait or strike while the iron is hot?

TIA

HB