Has anyone booked and then when price dropped cancelled and rebooked.

[Grey Nomad]

We were booked for 13 November, Ocean Princess, Singapore to Sydney but cancelled and transferred to Sth Pac cruise instead. I would be spitting chips if still booked as we were paying $3849 for balcony and it has now come out at $2199. Difference of $1700 each, total $3400. Has anyone had this happen and cancelled to rebook under new price.

[Mum81]

We are going on a 2 night cruise on Radiance of the Seas next month. This happened to us. We were booked at $444 per person, price went down to $183 per person prior to cancellation penalty date.

 

I called Royal who said they would not adjust the price. I said ok, just cancel and re-book us then. They tried to talk me out of it, saying we wouldn't get the same cabin etc. I insisted. We got all 3 cabins the same and our group saved over $1200 with one phone call! :D

[rkmw]

We were booked for 13 November, Ocean Princess, Singapore to Sydney but cancelled and transferred to Sth Pac cruise instead. I would be spitting chips if still booked as we were paying $3849 for balcony and it has now come out at $2199. Difference of $1700 each, total $3400. Has anyone had this happen and cancelled to rebook under new price.

 

it depends if the cruise line will do it and if the TA charges a cancellation fee, if you have made final payment they wont do it

 

we have cancelled out and rebooked but we had a future cruise credit to be able to do it but it all depends on the t&c

[Sutho]

I have done it plenty of times and have always come out on top even if I lost a deposit.

[Billy and Charlie's Mum]

Yes, we have done it twice with our upcoming cruise on the Diamond. We used a FCC letter though which makes it much easier. Our TA in WA didn't charge a fee either time which we applaude them about. Hard to find an Aussie TA that will do that, and gladly too!

[Kiwi Kruzer]

Why oh why do cruise lines keep shooting themselves in the foot ?

 

We see his time and time again .

People get conned into an "Early Booking Discount Fare" , which is far from a discount ,

and then have to watch as the price comes down closer to sail date.

Surlely the cruise lines know that they get repeat passengers or are they just out to con virgin cruisers ?

 

As a general rule , Airlines work the opposite way. The earlier you book , the cheaper your fare,

and the fare climbs as the date gets closer and demand increases.

 

Only on one cruise did we see a pricing structure that was really fair.

HAL offerred a repositioning cruise one year , from Sth America to the Med.

When announced the fare was a bargain and bookings were very good.

As it neared sail date the demand had risen so much that the price we paid had nearly doubled for new bookings.

 

Thats how it should be.

 

The earlier you book the cheaper it should be.

 

Here endeth my weekly rant:D:D

[resordanis]

Yes' date=' we have done it twice with our upcoming cruise on the Diamond. We used a FCC letter though which makes it much easier. Our TA in WA didn't charge a fee either time which we applaude them about. Hard to find an Aussie TA that will do that, and gladly too![/quote']

 

We have also done it with our upcoming Diamond cruise. Luckily we also have a good TA who has been able to obtain price drops and once re-cancelled and booked to get us a better price. Fortunately, he also does not charge us a cancellation fee.:D

[newfarmers]

Like Eileen, we booked our upcoming Princess cruise onboard using FCC.

 

I have cancelled and rebooked three times (our agent charged $50 for last cancellation, no problems with this).

 

We have saved $1500 and our OBC has actually gone up from 300 to 400 (total)

 

pete

[bronte2]

We have cancelled and rebooked several times with various lines. Once we lost OBC but that didn't matter as the savings were twice as much. In fact, this was the Ocean Princess cruise Sydney to Singapore earlier this year.

 

The biggest discount was on a sector of next year's P&O WC where the price drop was around $4000 each. I can't remember if we lost our deposit or not but that didn't matter and we still had the same cabin. After we received the discount, the price skyrocketed again but has gone up and down over the months. It seemed to be different every time I checked, but it has never been as low again as the discount we received, so we were very lucky.

 

There certainly doesn't seem to be much incentive to book early, but then there is always the risk that the cruise sells well so it's a bit catch 22!

[Billy and Charlie's Mum]

Like Eileen, we booked our upcoming Princess cruise onboard using FCC.

 

I have cancelled and rebooked three times (our agent charged $50 for last cancellation, no problems with this).

 

We have saved $1500 and our OBC has actually gone up from 300 to 400 (total)

 

pete

 

We are very happy with the OBC we will have on our next cruise also.... in total $685 for both legs plus we have just bought CCL shares, so add another $500 to that! :D

[NSWP]

That is the beauty of the FCC letters, cancel and rebook. Also if you book with Princess their is no cancellation fee if you are compliant with the cancellation policy, dates etc.

 

We booked our next big one, Golden Princess, around South America with Princess Australia direct, it was $200 cheaper than any on line T/A price I could get and much the same price as the Big American T/A's are charging. Much easier too, you can get on Cruise Personaliser any pay your cruise off in instalments if you want to and final payment is not until 90 days before sailing. I have already changed cabins on the cruise with no charges, a better partially obstructed view cabin became available so I snapped it up.

[Sutho]

I also forgot to point out that all this crazy discounting at the last minute is now forcing me not to book any future cruises. There used to be a time when I had two or more cruises booked while I was already on one. At the moment all I have booked now is March 2013 and that has already been cancelled and rebooked due to price dropping.

 

I have cruised so much now that where I go next does not matter to me and I will just wait for last minute deals to pop up. I would really like to cruise to South America and the Golden Princess in 2014 is appealing there and I would also really like to cruise Alaska, Japan or even into New York and Canada. At the moment bookings for all these are on permament hold as I am holding off for specials.

[NSWP]

I also forgot to point out that all this crazy discounting at the last minute is now forcing me not to book any future cruises. There used to be a time when I had two or more cruises booked while I was already on one. At the moment all I have booked now is March 2013 and that has already been cancelled and rebooked due to price dropping.

 

I have cruised so much now that where I go next does not matter to me and I will just wait for last minute deals to pop up. I would really like to cruise to South America and the Golden Princess in 2014 is appealing there and I would also really like to cruise Alaska, Japan or even into New York and Canada. At the moment bookings for all these are on permament hold as I am holding off for specials.

Hi Sutho, yes come and join us on Golden Princess, 1 March 2014. 31 days - BA to LA, I got a partially obstructed view cabin for $3500 pp twin share, an adventure it will be. Ship is filling fast so there will be no last minute deals on that one, only 'early bird prices.!'

[Sutho]

Hi Sutho, yes come and join us on Golden Princess, 1 March 2014. 31 days - BA to LA, I got a partially obstructed view cabin for $3500 pp twin share, an adventure it will be. Ship is filling fast so there will be no last minute deals on that one, only 'early bird prices.!'

 

I have got to admit that one is on my cruise radar. I noticed the one for 2013 is sold out now so I would imagine it would need to be booked soon.

 

What do you recon about Princess and their deposit policy and last minute prices?

 

My Arcadia cruise back in February I had booked over a year and cancelled, lost about $1000 in deposits and rebooked a much cheaper balcony cabin opposed to outside and still came out $2000 on top. I am also booked on Celebrity Solstice 4th March 2013 to New Zealand. Last month I cancelled that got the deposit back and booked a higher grade balcony cabin $1000 cheaper than my original booking.

 

Is it possible to book Princess, cancel and rebook if they play games with prices?

[Aus Traveller]

I have got to admit that one is on my cruise radar. I noticed the one for 2013 is sold out now so I would imagine it would need to be booked soon.

 

What do you recon about Princess and their deposit policy and last minute prices?

 

My Arcadia cruise back in February I had booked over a year and cancelled, lost about $1000 in deposits and rebooked a much cheaper balcony cabin opposed to outside and still came out $2000 on top. I am also booked on Celebrity Solstice 4th March 2013 to New Zealand. Last month I cancelled that got the deposit back and booked a higher grade balcony cabin $1000 cheaper than my original booking.

 

Is it possible to book Princess, cancel and rebook if they play games with prices?

That is what Future Cruise Credits are for. :D If you have one of these, you can cancel and re-book without penalty.

[NSWP]

I have got to admit that one is on my cruise radar. I noticed the one for 2013 is sold out now so I would imagine it would need to be booked soon.

 

What do you recon about Princess and their deposit policy and last minute prices?

 

My Arcadia cruise back in February I had booked over a year and cancelled, lost about $1000 in deposits and rebooked a much cheaper balcony cabin opposed to outside and still came out $2000 on top. I am also booked on Celebrity Solstice 4th March 2013 to New Zealand. Last month I cancelled that got the deposit back and booked a higher grade balcony cabin $1000 cheaper than my original booking.

 

Is it possible to book Princess, cancel and rebook if they play games with prices?

Yes Sutho, I booked direct with Princess Australia via their website, I already cancelled once and rebooked another cabin, no cancellation charges and only paid around $600 deposit for the two of us. On Princess site if you do a dummy booking you can see, not a lot of cabins left for this 2014 one. As you said the 2013 is already sold out. I reckon the launch fares for this one are reasonable, around $115 per day for cat OV.

 

As for Arcadia, as you might know we did Syd-Sou, 2 for 1 deal, obstructed view @$5000 each for 49 days, good value that. We booked about 4 months before sailing.

[Gaznjo]

when our european cruise dropped in price we just rang the agent who contacted princess and they dropped the price without cancellation we saved nearly $6000.... Princess now honor price drops if you book early.... well before final payment

[Billy and Charlie's Mum]

when our european cruise dropped in price we just rang the agent who contacted princess and they dropped the price without cancellation we saved nearly $6000.... Princess now honor price drops if you book early.... well before final payment

 

I think that Princess honouring price drops now it makes it easier to book early. I am waiting for the August 2014 cruises to come out... as soon as they do I will be booking our UK circ and TA to NY and hope the price drops. Another one off our bucket list :D

[NSWP]

when our european cruise dropped in price we just rang the agent who contacted princess and they dropped the price without cancellation we saved nearly $6000.... Princess now honor price drops if you book early.... well before final payment

Hi again guys..so re price drops if like me (for our next one on Golden Princess) one booked direct with Princess, then I/we would have to look at the Princess website price for that particular cruise/cabin category and contact them re adjusting final payment figure, OR just hope they are fair dinkum and do it automatically.

 

What say ye?

[Billy and Charlie's Mum]

Hi again guys..so re price drops if like me (for our next one on Golden Princess) one booked direct with Princess, then I/we would have to look at the Princess website price for that particular cruise/cabin category and contact them re adjusting final payment figure, OR just hope they are fair dinkum and do it automatically.

 

What say ye?

 

They won't do it automatically..... keep your beady little eyes peeled for price drops on the website and call them.

[Sutho]

Yes Sutho, I booked direct with Princess Australia via their website, I already cancelled once and rebooked another cabin, no cancellation charges and only paid around $600 deposit for the two of us. On Princess site if you do a dummy booking you can see, not a lot of cabins left for this 2014 one. As you said the 2013 is already sold out. I reckon the launch fares for this one are reasonable, around $115 per day for cat OV.

 

As for Arcadia, as you might know we did Syd-Sou, 2 for 1 deal, obstructed view @$5000 each for 49 days, good value that. We booked about 4 months before sailing.

 

I just noticed that in their booking system that not much is left. I looked at Qantas website and one way flight is over $3000 per person, yet when I opted for multi city and hit Syd-BA and LA-Syd then the price was under $2000 per person.

 

In regards to booking and cancelling the policy for that cruise 180 days before departure full refund so that is pretty close to get your money back if they do play games with prices and it at least gives a chance to find decent flights.

[MMDown Under]

We were booked for 13 November, Ocean Princess, Singapore to Sydney but cancelled and transferred to Sth Pac cruise instead. I would be spitting chips if still booked as we were paying $3849 for balcony and it has now come out at $2199. Difference of $1700 each, total $3400. Has anyone had this happen and cancelled to rebook under new price.

 

Grey Nomad, I know you can't tell me the name of the TA, but could you please tell me whether this price was from the Princess website, or a local or overseas TA.

 

Sounds tempting.

[Gaznjo]

Hi again guys..so re price drops if like me (for our next one on Golden Princess) one booked direct with Princess, then I/we would have to look at the Princess website price for that particular cruise/cabin category and contact them re adjusting final payment figure, OR just hope they are fair dinkum and do it automatically.

 

What say ye?

 

 

no you have contact them or your agent if you booked through them.....

[Kiwi Kruzer]

Grey Nomad, I know you can't tell me the name of the TA, but could you please tell me whether this price was from the Princess website, or a local or overseas TA.Sounds tempting.

 

Whatever the Princess site says is usually the price agents quote.

It does not match up with price being quoted in NZ at the moment....

however you must remember that Princess prices change as often as you have a hot dinner.:eek:

I have watched them change on the Princess site almost by the hour.

When you see a good price you have to move quick, as by the time you jump on the phone to confirm it , it could have gone.

So many people have discovered the joy of cruising thats its all on these days. The competition for bargain fares is fierce.....

that is , once it gets past the TA's ....who usually snap up anything really good thats going.:eek::eek:

 

[MMDown Under]

Whatever the Princess site says is usually the price agents quote.

It does not match up with price being quoted in NZ at the moment....

however you must remember that Princess prices change as often as you have a hot dinner.:eek:

I have watched them change on the Princess site almost by the hour.

When you see a good price you have to move quick, as by the time you jump on the phone to confirm it , it could have gone.

So many people have discovered the joy of cruising thats its all on these days. The competition for bargain fares is fierce.....

that is , once it gets past the TA's ....who usually snap up anything really good thats going.:eek::eek:

 

 

Thanks David.

 

As someone who has always been happy with an inside cabin, I am now tempted by fares for balcony cabins, such as this one, which are good value. :)

 

I did look at the Princess website, but it was higher, so thought it may have come from a TA.