RickT

@lx200gps It’s still on the Princess website for me but shows prices unavailable. I also saw an add on FB which did show prices but gave an error message when you clicked to book. Seems like the same list of itineraries they originally had. Hopefully it gets expanded to include Australia and New Zealand.

Called and indeed the “Canadian $ at Par” promo is alive. Seems the website is messed up. I confirmed pricing on a new cruise and while I was at it repriced my Med cruise that was booked during the promo (saved a couple hundred dollars).

Went to the website today using a new device and saw a number of cruises available with Canadian $ at par…. Only issue was I couldn’t upgrade to the Premium or Plus fares. May give my vacation planner a quick shout.

Makes no sense…. In addition to seeing a price difference between standard and plus your standard rate is significantly less than what I am seeing 😳

I’m looking at a few cruises and have noticed that for certain months/departure ports when you select Princess Plus the prices of the cruises doesn’t change (normally selecting Plus results in an increase in the fares shown). I’m looking at Canadian booking and two examples are August sailings from Vancouver and October sailings from Barcelona. Oddly if you don’t select a departure these same sailings still don’t change when selecting Plus but it’s clear that sailings from other ports increase in price to include the Princess Plus package. When I try to complete a booking it’s clear that the booking does not include the Princess Plus package. I’ve reported this to their IT department and will be calling my vacation planner today. Attached are two screen shots showing the same price regardless of which pricing is chosen. If you’ve booked recently it might be worth double checking you got what you wanted…. Perhaps this is just a Canadian booking issue but who knows.

Using the Canadian version of the site I’ve experienced the same issue. I’ve searched for Princess Plus but noticed when I check that box the pricing does not change. When I get to the point of selecting a category the normal pop up asking if I want to upgrade to Premium does not appear and when I continue my booking there is no mention of the perks. I’ve reported this to their IT department and will be calling a vacation planner tomorrow. Huge glitch in the website.

Thanks. All itineraries show “pricing not available”…. 😩

Can you post the link? I had a list and booked one and today when I look at the same cruise it’s 35-40% higher. Perhaps the sale is still on and my particular itinerary has jumped in price?

Princess was running a Canadian $ at Par promo which was originally scheduled to end on March 1st but got extended until April 1st. I was alerted to this promo from a post by a fellow cruiser (Thank You!) and while I was disappointed that it only applied to a select number of cruises I took advantage and found a nice Med cruise for DW and I. I haven’t cruised Princess in a number of years choosing other lines due to their itinerary and price. This promo has brought me back and assuming I like what Princess is currently offering I see two cruises in 2024 that are of interest (even without the At Par Promo). Hoping other Canadians were able to take advantage of this. Keeping my fingers crossed that it will return again soon!

Rent a car… explore South Beach…. Stop for a nice lunch… go to the beach… We’ve done that a number of times and never know what we’re going to wind up doing until we hop in the car.

Just took advantage of this and put a hold on an October Med cruise. Had my sights on a Norwegian cruise but it wasn’t part of the sale and priced out considerably more.

I’ve used FBC a number of times but only when there has been a price advantage to do so. If I can book the flights directly with the airline for the same price that’s what I do. As far as them not being able to match fares that may come down to the rep or perhaps fare class they are booking. The last time FBC gave me a higher quote it was be a they were quoting a fare that included free luggage and seat selection. Might be worth another call to see if you get a different result.

I had noticed this a few weeks back. Was considering a guarantee cabin and noticed when I added AI it became more expensive than choosing a specific cabin with AI. I called X to see if perhaps there was an issue with the website and was told that when a specific cabin is booked with AI the cost of the AI package gets discounted but when the AI package gets added to a guarantee cabin it does not get discounted. Makes no sense to me but what do I know? To the OP, if there is a significant discount offered by booking a cabin I always take advantage of the savings. I’m not too picky about cabin location and can’t complain about any that I was assigned when I take the discount into consideration. As others have said, if you would be OK with the worst cabin you could possibly be given then absolutely go for it.

Someone has to be “That Guy” so I guess it’s up to me. While I won’t dispute what they claim I do wonder why someone who has never posted on CC chooses to have their first post a complaint? Perhaps if they were part of this community prior to the issue they could have had a better idea how FBC works. From my experience I’ve used FBC but only when there has been a significant savings. Things can go wrong at any time and the solution often depends on the quality of the help and the flexibility of the customer.

As a fit 61 year old I can see both sides. I’ve been on excursions where a few people were not able to keep up with the group. I’m sure it wasn’t a pleasant experience for them and it definitely wasn’t a pleasant experience for the rest of us. I’m not sure I would consider any of Celebrity’s excursions strenuous but when labelled strenuous people do indeed have to be in good shape and capable of walking miles on rough surfaces and hot temperatures.

Agree…. But I’d rather $1,600 off and I’ll decide how much to spend onboard.

Thanks. I think those fares are the Celebrity Exciting Deals where it’s simply the base fare with no perks. Worth looking at.

Personally I’m not a big fan of the current promo. I find the prices on the high side and have no need for a large shipboard credit. Would prefer they drop the price and eliminate the shipboard credit.

Seems like the current Semi-Annual sale has been running forever and keeps getting extended. Today the X page is again saying only X hours left to take advantage. I for one am not a fan of the current promo and have not booked anything. The big draw of the current offer is a large shipboard credit. The downside is prices are fairly high. I don’t need lots of shipboard credit. Just give me a decent price with the option of no perks and/or perks and let me decide. I suspect I’ll wake up tomorrow to see this promo extended again.

In my experience most “sales” wind up with the same final price it’s simply presented differently. You’ll have more luck finding sailings that aren’t selling well and hopefully there will be true price reductions to fill up the ship. As far as the current sale it doesn’t appeal to me as I really have no use for a lot of shipboard credit. I’d prefer they discount the price and let me spend $ onboard as I see fit.

Called Celebrity and the rep indicated that the Guarantee rate was most likely priced under the “Xciting Deals” promo and as such the All Included cost was likely full price rather than the discounted price that gets used when added to a base (non guarantee) price. He didn’t argue that it made sense but he had seen it before.

Looking at a winter getaway in February or March and noticed some attractive prices on Guarantees. Imagine my surprise when I saw that a Guarantee price that was hundreds less than choosing a cabin became more expensive if I added the All Included option. Here are two examples: Feb 19, 2023 sailing on Celebrity Reflection 7 day Verandah Guarantee price $799. Adding All Included increases price to $1,660. Verandah 2D price $1,048. Adding All Included increases price to $1,611 or roughly $50 less than a guarantee booking. Mar 13, 2023 sailing on Celebrity Silhouette 10 day Verandah Guarantee price $949. Adding All Included increases price to $2,475. Verandah 2D price $1,442. Adding All included increases price to $2,317 or roughly $150 less than a guarantee booking. I realize that a guarantee booking could result in a better cabin than a 2D but paying more for a guarantee seems crazy. Will call X later to see if this is a web issue or simply a way to offer cheap prices on cruise only fares without giving a cheap price if you add All Included.

Also from Canada and have used Celebrity Air. I’m under no illusion that they can magically get you to the ship in the event of flight issues and always research the route options to give myself sufficient time and options in the event of flight delays or cancellations. Only once have I had an issue. My flight to Frankfurt was delayed and I unfortunately missed my connection to Barcelona. The Lufthansa rep at Frankfurt gave me a number of options to try and get me to my cruise on time. After being rebooked on a flight that would certainly cut it very close to making the ship on time they gave me a phone to call Celebrity and see if they had any other suggestions or options. Ultimately the Celebrity rep agreed that the flight booked by Lufthansa was my best option. They indicated they would advise the ship of my pending later than expected arrival and reminded me to call them for additional help if I missed getting onboard. After additional delays I made it to the ship less than 30 minutes to sail away. There was an officer waiting dockside for me who said they had been advised of my late arrival and had been on the lookout for me. That was a few years ago and luck was on my side but it did seem as if Celebrity was on top of things.

It might be worthwhile waiting until you board and see if they even have any upgraded wine that you like. My last two cruises (March and October) both had very poor selections and I regret paying the $ to upgrade. I would have been better off just paying the difference for those rare times when I actually found a nice wine or wanted a Martini.

We’ve done one cruise (another one next week) as well as a few other trips. For all businesses it seems that demand has increased but businesses ability to hire to meet the demand has lagged behind. Every place we’ve been we’ve seen help wanted signs. Given travel restrictions due to Covid or reduced staffing because we’re able to travel I’ll accept the reduced staffing. Our cruise in March was less than half capacity. For our next cruise it appears to be at 95% capacity.