Has Princess Cruises UK gone mad?

[terrierjohn]

Popped onto the Princess website to order a brochure and look at their cruise offerings for sailings from the UK, in preparation for looking at a launch booking when their 2014 cruises become available; as we need an accessible cabin we have to plan early.

 

To my shock I find that every cruise for 2013 is showing a drop in the lead in price (Inside cabin) since brochure launch of between 65 and 90%, and this reduction is highlighted in red.

Has David Dingle lost the marketing plot, does he not realise that reducing prices by this amount since the brochure launch less than 9 months ago will only further reduce the liklihood that customers are going to book in advance.

 

Perhaps he should consider a closer look at RCI's marketing policy, in the last 2 years we have booked a Celebrity Eclpise cruise at launch, and those prices have never been bettered by any offers we have seen, and believe me we do keep an eye on price movements.

[Shogun]

Hi Terrierjohn

 

Everything looks normal, do not use brochures only online,

 

however knowone ever pays the brochure price,

 

 

yours Shogun

[skynight]

Don't know about the UK, but in the US if the price drops after booking we receive the lower price. Keep watching the web and when you see a price drop notify the TA you wish to receive it.

[terrierjohn]

Hi Terrierjohn

 

Everything looks normal, do not use brochures only online,

 

however knowone ever pays the brochure price,

 

yours Shogun

 

Agreed no-one used to pay brochure prices but since Carnival reduced TA commission there is no longer anything much to negotiate.

 

I looked at booking tne Crown 17 day Adriatic cruise at brochure launch last year and could only get the brochure price of £2749pp from anyone, I could now book a Riviera balcony ( an accessible cabin is available but the wrong handed one) for £1888; instead I booked with P&O for later in the year at £2100pp.

 

Now if Princess offered a discounted, limited period launch fare. like RCI, then I probably would have booked with them.

 

However I am just relieved I did not book at £2749 and now find it offered at £1888.

[Rascal1]

I like to book early to ensure i get a certain cabin but whilst checking recently found the cruise fare had dropped by 30%. Living in the UK I thought I would need to cancel (and lose deposit due to how close it was to the sail date) but it would still save some money. I gave Princess a ring and they couldn't have been more helpful, they dropped the fare immediately due to a 'Price Confidence Guarantee' that I didn't know about and said they will always do this provided the deal is not just for new bookings, if that is the case you would need to cancel and rebook. I was a very happy lady.

[Loonbeam]

It's also worthy to note that prices can change daily!. What obviously happened in this case is projected demand for the rooms did not materialize and now Princess UK is forced to reduce the price for the unsold cabins in order to fill them.

 

Since cabins are perishable, the impetus will always be to get someone in there even at discounted rates. The incremental cost of someone on board is minimal compared to potential revenue. (Someone once told me the difference between the cost of sailing an empty cabin and one with two people is around $70 per day (basically cost of food, housekeeping, laundry and water/power use.)

[SueFrankuk]

I agree with Rascal1 it has been for quite a while that Princess will honor any price drop as long as it is over 6 months from sail date, we are booked on the Royal next August and have already had the price drop given and extra OBC so we are very happy,

Re P&O we are really upset that their FCC is only now acceptable on full price cruises, give me Princess any time,

[jimpod]

I like to book early to ensure i get a certain cabin but whilst checking recently found the cruise fare had dropped by 30%. Living in the UK I thought I would need to cancel (and lose deposit due to how close it was to the sail date) but it would still save some money. I gave Princess a ring and they couldn't have been more helpful, they dropped the fare immediately due to a 'Price Confidence Guarantee' that I didn't know about and said they will always do this provided the deal is not just for new bookings, if that is the case you would need to cancel and rebook. I was a very happy lady.

We are due to make our final payment this weekend - 16 weeks till the cruise. What are the chances of getting a reduction?

[Rascal1]

We are due to make our final payment this weekend - 16 weeks till the cruise. What are the chances of getting a reduction?

 

I always take the view, nothing ventured, nothing gained. Give them a ring, talk to them nicely (not suggesting you wouldn't but some people would start off grumpy and get their backs up immediately) and mention about price drop and someone has mentioned Princess have a Price Confidence Guarantee and can they check whether it could apply to you. My cruise was about 5 months out and it still worked. Good Luck

[HomelessBear]

I always do a bit of shopping around and although they say the prices are the same wherever you book, in my experience, I have always got a discount of some sort from a TA - up to a couple of £100pp off the quoted fare. Its worth a bit of asking.

[mr green]

Chances are that the 'Cheap Lead Price' only applies to the lowest priced cabin, of which there are probably just two! It just makes people look.

 

john

[Pushka]

I agree with Rascal1 it has been for quite a while that Princess will honor any price drop as long as it is over 6 months from sail date, we are booked on the Royal next August and have already had the price drop given and extra OBC so we are very happy,

Re P&O we are really upset that their FCC is only now acceptable on full price cruises, give me Princess any time,

 

Is this the case when you've booked through a TA also? Our price has dropped too and the TA we've used has sent the request through to Princess. It is just over 6 months from our cruise.

 

 

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[jimpod]

We are due to make our final payment this weekend - 16 weeks till the cruise. What are the chances of getting a reduction?

Just back from making our final payment - TA girl phoned Princess and we got a reduction of £415 ($270) PER PERSON. Couldn't believe our luck. Have checked the Personalizer and everything seems good to go.

[englishbird]

Hi.

 

Princess always have a sale between 1st dec and 28th Feb every year. Its peak selling time here in The Uk. This is when cruise companies do most of their yearly target.

 

:D

[injebreck99]

We have already booked a land tour/cruise to Alaska for June 8th this year, what are our chances of a price reduction, anybody know, we have only paid a deposit with the balance due in March. We have booked through Planet Cruise here in the UK who will not monitor prices once sold.

[Loonbeam]

There is no way of knowing or predicting. If demand is low, price will drop. If demand is high, price will rise. All you can do is keep an eye on it.

 

We have already booked a land tour/cruise to Alaska for June 8th this year, what are our chances of a price reduction, anybody know, we have only paid a deposit with the balance due in March. We have booked through Planet Cruise here in the UK who will not monitor prices once sold.

[jimpod]

Just back from making our final payment - TA girl phoned Princess and we got a reduction of £415 ($270) PER PERSON. Couldn't believe our luck. Have checked the Personalizer and everything seems good to go.

Just realised I made a mistake when calculating the saving in dollars - should have been $643!

[Rascal1]

Is this the case when you've booked through a TA also? Our price has dropped too and the TA we've used has sent the request through to Princess. It is just over 6 months from our cruise]

 

Hi, sorry I'm not sure whether it's only for direct bookings, would be interested to know once you've had a reply. I did speak to a TA friend and she thought it wouldn't make a difference but wasn't 100% sure. Good luck.

[Pushka]

Hi, sorry I'm not sure whether it's only for direct bookings, would be interested to know once you've had a reply. I did speak to a TA friend and she thought it wouldn't make a difference but wasn't 100% sure. Good luck.

 

I will let you know how I go. It usually takes a couple of days. It will mean a savings of 800 euros so huge savings. Although an Aussie I've booked through a European travel agent.

[caribill]

We have already booked a land tour/cruise to Alaska for June 8th this year, what are our chances of a price reduction, anybody know, we have only paid a deposit with the balance due in March. We have booked through Planet Cruise here in the UK who will not monitor prices once sold.

 

Often the price of a cabin will drop, but the price of the cruisetour will not. In that case, you would get no reduction.

[DebJ14]

Often the price of a cabin will drop, but the price of the cruisetour will not. In that case, you would get no reduction.

 

When you get close to travel dates Princess has had some fabulous rates on Alaska CruiseTours, but they are almost always for new bookings only and you can only get medical insurance through Princess. We had friends grab one last year - when they originally priced the 12 day cruise tour about 7 months out it was over $3500 pp for a mini suite. They didn't bite. They ended up getting the same cruisetour and same date for $1299pp for a mini suite 3 weeks before they were due to travel. Now, they ended up paying about $400 more for airfare since it was fairly last minute, but the total savings made it a deal they could not turn down.

[Pushka]

I will let you know how I go. It usually takes a couple of days. It will mean a savings of 800 euros so huge savings. Although an Aussie I've booked through a European travel agent.

 

Yes. They came through. Another 800 euro off cruise price. Happy dance. Pays for an excursion or two.

 

 

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[newparks]

We are booked on a Land/Cruise tour going to Asia. The cruise portion of the trip has been reduced by hundreds of dollars. Princess refuses to budge for those of us who booked the Land portion as well.

[Shogun]

Hi All

 

I said I would try and get an answer from Princess UK, so here its is

 

Does Princess offer a price promise similar to that offered by P&O, seen chat where some folks got price reduction, were others did not.

We now offer book with confidence - this means that if your fare reduces BEFORE your balance due date - we can usually reduce your fare to match the days price however in some instances you may book on a promotion which is non-combinable. For example you may book on a 4 day deal which is only available to book for new bookings only. But with our flexible t&cs over 180 days we usually don't have any issues. And this is a way for passengers booking early to feel confident in booking direct with Princess.

yours Shogun

[Ron the Rev]

Just phoned them and got my price down from £2175 to £1879 per person. our cruise is 7 months away so will keep looking for another price drop.:D