Considering first princess cruise - questions

Hi,

My wife and I are looking at a potential cruise on the Caribbean Princess, it is a 2 week southern Caribbean itinerary.

Having never cruised on Princess nor in the Caribbean itself I wanted to know what an average cost per day on this ship (or equivalent) in this part of the world would be considered a normal deal? With taxes included this cruise looks like it would be $200 per day for an inside cabin (it sails over Xmas and nye so maybe this would make it higher)? Does this sound quite high or is this normal for princess. We usually sail ncl, Hal or celebrity and for 200 a day in an inside we would normally expect to get a drinks package included. To purchase this appears to be almost 70pppd extra so we are now over 350.

We do like the itinerary and the dates and always keen to try new lines and ships but want to ensure we are getting a fair deal.

Also, for those who have sailed on multiple lines how does the Princess beverage package compare? It is more expensive than the basic celebrity and Hal packages and cheaper than the ncl, does it include a wide variety and reasonable quality?

Many thanks in advance

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Sounds high to me too. holidays are usually high. We often book in early December at a lower price.

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Sounds high to me too. holidays are usually high. We often book in early December at a lower price.

 

 

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Thank you for your quick and honest response. When you book in December is that for cruises departing the same month? Or December is just a better time to book in general?

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Holiday cruises are normally higher then non-holiday. True 14 day cruises are also in higher demand than 7 day cruises, thus higher fares. The cruise you are looking at probably had promos last year. I do not see any current promos for the December 19th holiday cruise. $114/pp/day for an interior, $145/pp/day for an outside and $182/pp/day for a balcony seems about right. Remember there is also a $13.50/pp/day gratuity charged each day to your on board account.

Unless you are getting a promo for free grats, OBC or something this sounds a little high. There are 20 day cruises out there that run about $90 pp/pd or less. The holidays do run higher as there is a bigger demand, how booked is the cruise at this point ?

Unless you are getting a promo for free grats, OBC or something this sounds a little high. There are 20 day cruises out there that run about $90 pp/pd or less. The holidays do run higher as there is a bigger demand, how booked is the cruise at this point ?

Thanks, not sure on availability as just using websites for pricing at the moment, is there a particular place I can obtain this information?

Was also trying to use the princess website but it won’t allow me to price, not sure if this is because I am currently travelling and there are some sort of geo restrictions

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I'm with the others--$114 pp per day is a little higher than what we've paid for an inside, but we don't cruise the holidays. Actually, that's higher than we've paid for a balcony on some Princess cruises!

As to the beverage package on Princess, we find it to be better than Celebrity. The vast majority of beverages on Princess are part of the package. It includes all alcoholic drinks up to $12 before gratuity, which is almost all the drinks that Princess serves. Yes, the package includes the gratuity as well. On Celebrity, there are MANY more drinks that exceed their package allowance. The other thing we didn't like was Celebrity's soda package. While, hypothetically, it included unlimited refills for my daughter at dinner, we felt that they were rationing the soda by pouring the can into a small glass, refusing to leave the rest of the can at the table, and making her wait quite a while for a refill. On Princess, she's never kept waiting.

The beverage package on Princess does limit you to 15 alcoholic beverages per 24 hour period. There is no limit to non-alcoholic beverages.

However you decide just go and enjoy your cruise on Carribean Princess. My wife and I have completed 2 voyages on Princess line ships and thoroughly enjoyed the. Far better than HAL. This coming Sunday we depart for Southampton, UK, to join Sea Princess for the voyage of a lifetime back to Auckland,NZ. 52 days of no dishes to wash, lawns to mow and great entertainment. Bliss:)).

We've taken several Christmas cruises. It's more expensive due to the holiday. If you're a gambler, it can pay to wait until after the final payment date to book your cruise--especially if you're not tied down to one particular ship and itinerary.

This itinerary has a lot of great islands but too many in a row for me. I'd get tired by the third or fourth in a row and this itinerary has six.

Thanks, not sure on availability as just using websites for pricing at the moment, is there a particular place I can obtain this information?

Was also trying to use the princess website but it won’t allow me to price, not sure if this is because I am currently travelling and there are some sort of geo restrictions

I suggest you look at Princess' Travel Agent directory, and pick a "Commodore Certified" TA. If not a major agency then it is possible the TA can discount the prices you are seeing online.

Just looking at the 20 day Crown Princess Caribbean Explorer itinerary, the web price for an inside cabin is XXXX plus taxes and fees. As a past passenger the price is about 10% less, which is what a good TA should get you - and some can discount further. The same cruise and ship on Dec 7 departure is about 20% less.

Holiday cruises are expensive, which is why we often travel earlier in December.

I looked at the cost of the lowest category inside cabin on a 15 day cruise I will be on over Xmas and NYE this year. The cost on the Princess web site is $123.27/day/person on that holiday cruise. The cost is $86.60/day/person for the same itinerary on the previous (non-holiday) cruise.

For what it is worth, a balcony cabin on the same cruise starts at $199.93/day/person for the holiday cruise and $133.27/day/person on the non-holiday cruise.

So I suggest the OP check with their favorite cruise line what the cost is on a holiday cruise and also on the equivalent non-holiday cruise before it.

It’s the same as hotels and resorts. High demand brings higher pricing. There are always “shoulder” seasons where you pay less for the exact same thing. When we book vacations we are very fortunate to be able to book for pricing. There are certainly great deals to be had.

However, Sometimes it will be a group we will travel with who have a specific destination at a specific time and we have to bite the bullet and pay the going rate.

I find Princess is coming out cheaper than NCL for me at the moment. Although if the drink package was an essential then maybe I'd stick with NCL, we don't drink enough to justify purchasing one on Princess. I'm also not a huge fan of the NCL itineraries in the Caribbean right now.

Our early December cruise with Princess is 10 nights and is costing £679pp in an inside... so that's £67.90 per night or approx. $90 pppn, which is pretty much the rate someone said above! If you have to travel over Christmas then I guess it's worth paying the extra, but early December seems much cheaper.

The holiday week runs a huge premium - as much as double what the cruise would cost in off season, in my experience. We try to sail the week before Christmas as the prices are still very reasonable, but basically double for Christmas and NYE weeks.

Keep in mind that a 2 week cruise over Christmas will be loaded with families!

I just did a quick check of Princess web-site:

14 day Caribbean Princess - sale date Dec 19th

Cruise out of Ft. Lauderdale

Inside stateroom @ $1429

Taxes, Fees & Port expenses @ $160

$1429 + $160 = $1589

$1589 divided by 14 = $113.50

Excludes drink package

I agree with sknight with $114 per day for interior.

However, there other costs involved when cursing.

Gratuities @ $13.50 pp per day?

Teamflames are you flying into FLL?

Are you staying over night?

Insurance?

As other folks have said, Xmas week will cost you a premium. Also, I think the southern Caribbean cruises are more money because there are fewer of them.

If you can go another week, it would be cheaper. Also, note that there will be many, many more children during the holidays.

Fyi, we've sailed on Royal Caribbean, Celebrity, Holland America and Princess, and I like Princess the best. Gracious ships, better food, more laid back. We've been on the Caribbean Princess several times and it's a very nice ship.- Musing About Cruising

Thanks all for the great responses and insights. We have taken Xmas cruises the last 2 years and loved them! One was Hal South Pacific out of Australia (about 300 per day with drinks and taxes in an inside) the other was Celebrity Millenium Hk to Singapore which was about 200 per day in an ov with drinks. We currently have a hold on an ncl cruise around South America which is exactly 300 per day with drinks and taxes in an inside.

Did some more investigation today and as many of you have pointed out there is definitely a premium on the Xmas cruises compared to those earlier in December in the Caribbean.

We definitely want to cover Xmas at least and perferably nye, we are a childless couple in our mid 40s and it is the one time we don’t mind a lot of families on a cruise as it is children that give Xmas that but of magic and we have found in our experience the ships do a great job celebrating both these holidays. We like the idea of trying a new cruise line as well and have met a few people on recent ncl cruises who usually cruise princess and like it.

We are not wedded to one line and in fact like changing around as after a while there is not enough change in menus and shows.

We are not flying to fll, we will be arriving in the USA from a TA from Europe (we are Australian btw) in mid November and then taking a short cruise on MSc (first time on them as well) before relaxing in Florida leading up to Xmas.

Thanks to those who gave feedback on the drinks package, we always get one. On ncl they are almost always included now, they are too expensive to purchase outright on ncl but then individual drink prices are high, the problem with their package is it doesn’t include water or coffees and they are starting to limit some of the brand liquors. I think the Hal one is great value (wine selections a bit average though ) although it can be limited to 15 drinks total including non alcoholic which sounds like a lot but if you have a lot of waters and coffee like us you do get close, they are great at providing canned drinks and allowing you to take them unopened to your room. They are cheaper as well. We find the celebrity package good value as well, interesting comments made above about the lack of refill on the soda because on wine they are the best at automatically refilling in our experience. However their bar service can be hit and miss as they can be understaffed. The princess package appears to cover a good amount but is quite high in price.

Overall, appreciate everyone’s insightful advice. We think as we are not fixed to dates and location we might roll the dice and see if it comes down in price although we don’t think it is expensive outright with the drinks we can normally procure a slightly better deal. Thanks again all.

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1) I would choose Regal or Royal Princess over Caribbean Princess

2) if you are not sailing with school aged children and don't work for a school system yourself, I would go during the time when the schools aren't on break (holidays and summer/spring breaks).

It's always cheaper to travel in the first 2 weeks of December than during the holidays. Prior to having a kid we always chose to go during the much cheaper non-holiday and non-school breaks times.