Princess Price Protection

[gdgraham12]

Does Princess provide any kind of price protection if rates on your selected cabin type are lowered prior to your cruise?

 

Thanks in advance...

[OnlineMom]

I've never had a problem with Princess re-faring a booking should the prices drop - even after final payment has been made. Some promotions/pricing is for "new bookings only", though, so lower prices might not be applicable to existing bookings. It never hurts to ask!

[Pam in CA]

Does Princess provide any kind of price protection if rates on your selected cabin type are lowered prior to your cruise?

If you qualify and that's a big if. Most of the time, if fares go down, it's for a "Flash" sale for new bookings only. You would have to cancel, lose your cabin and dining preference if it's Traditional, and re-book. You're far better off finding a TA that does a high volume of Princess bookings. Princess allows TA's to discount so you can save 10-20% at booking and get OBC and perks. The earlier you book, the better chance of a discount.

[gdgraham12]

Thanks for the info...

[Astro Flyer]

My experience has been that if booking a 'sale' price there's a "non-refundable, non-transferable" deposit which results in losing the deposit to cancel & to book at a lower price. For me using a $100 FCC deposit it may be worthwhile however for those with a full deposit it may not be cost effective. Upon request they have 'upgraded' us to a cabin costing the same as we paid but I have not been able to get them to waive the "non-refundable, non-transferable" deposit restriction.

 

I've been able to easily get 'non-sale' fare reductions.

Edited January 18, 2013 by Astro Flyer

[jimpod]

There's no harm in asking if you find the price has gone down. We did this recently for the cruise we are going on in 14 weeks - knew the price had dropped and when we went to make the final payment we asked the girl in the TA to phone - got £415 per person off (almost a quarter of the price). The price given to us was one of the sales for new bookings only but there didn't seem to be a problem gettting the reduction - all done in a 2 minute phone call. Looks like us UK cruisers have finally caught up with the US!

[madjohn]

If you qualify and that's a big if. Most of the time, if fares go down, it's for a "Flash" sale for new bookings only. You would have to cancel, lose your cabin and dining preference if it's Traditional, and re-book. You're far better off finding a TA that does a high volume of Princess bookings. Princess allows TA's to discount so you can save 10-20% at booking and get OBC and perks. The earlier you book, the better chance of a discount.

 

 

Pam you could not be more right. Now I am not a fancy cruiser so I have done the above, called and they say no and then I say I want to cancel and rebook and have done it and it is a big pain in the you know what. For a small price change I wont do it but I have done it when the price drop has been over $500. Then it is worth it. As Pam says, sometimes you can get them to give you a ship board credit and in IMHO its just as good

[Astro Flyer]

Pam you could not be more right. Now I am not a fancy cruiser so I have done the above, called and they say no and then I say I want to cancel and rebook and have done it and it is a big pain in the you know what. For a small price change I wont do it but I have done it when the price drop has been over $500. Then it is worth it. As Pam says, sometimes you can get them to give you a ship board credit and in IMHO its just as good

I've also had them give us a cabin costing the same as what we were paying so that could be another option if deciding not to cancel & rebook. Sometimes this type of an "upgrade" may be to a less desirable location in the same type of a cabin but I have received an upgrade from oceanview to balcony by asking them when prices dropped to less than what we paid.

Edited January 18, 2013 by Astro Flyer

[English Tim]

I use a site that monitors the price of my cabin and notifies me if it goes down, then I can notify Princess.

 

Currently I have a balcony on Caribe, so if they offered me an upgrade, what could it be?

[ashhill]

I've never had a problem with Princess re-faring a booking should the prices drop - even after final payment has been made. Some promotions/pricing is for "new bookings only", though, so lower prices might not be applicable to existing bookings. It never hurts to ask!

 

We booked through Princess UK and leave in 7 weeks.the price of our cabin has dropped by £180.contacted Princess UK today and we were told that the cut off is 70 days prior to cruising.has anyone found this to be the case?

 

thanks

Ashhill

[silverjoe]

I have received price reductions on every princess cruise I have booked. We book directly with Princess, always using future cruise credits for our deposit. I am fanatical about checking the princess website every few days for price reductions. All I do is call up Princess and ask. On several cruises, I actually received three separate reductions. If you booked through a TA they have to contact Princess for the reduction. Princess will not speak to you.

 

I have read that with certain fares, that you cannot change without forfeiting your deposit, but I have never experienced that. You generally cannot get a reduction after the final payment date at 75 days in advance of cruise.

 

The largest reduction was when Princess offered a two for one sale on the Grand Med cruise several years ago, and we saved $1750 per person and even upgraded our balcony cabin classification. Our final price was lower than any I saw with any online TA's

Edited January 19, 2013 by silverjoe

[ashhill]

I have received price reductions on every princess cruise I have booked. We book directly with Princess, always using future cruise credits for our deposit. I am fanatical about checking the princess website every few days for price reductions. All I do is call up Princess and ask. On several cruises, I actually received three separate reductions. If you booked through a TA they have to contact Princess for the reduction. Princess will not speak to you.

 

I have read that with certain fares, that you cannot change without forfeiting your deposit, but I have never experienced that. You generally cannot get a reduction after the final payment date at 75 days in advance of cruise.

 

The largest reduction was when Princess offered a two for one sale on the Grand Med cruise several years ago, and we saved $1750 per person and even upgraded our balcony cabin classification. Our final price was lower than any I saw with any online TA's

 

 

silverjoe-many thanks for the prompt reply.we will remember this for any future Princess cruise

 

regards

Ashhill

[Pam in CA]

I have received price reductions on every princess cruise I have booked. We book directly with Princess, always using future cruise credits for our deposit. I am fanatical about checking the princess website every few days for price reductions. All I do is call up Princess and ask. On several cruises, I actually received three separate reductions. If you booked through a TA they have to contact Princess for the reduction. Princess will not speak to you.

 

I have read that with certain fares, that you cannot change without forfeiting your deposit, but I have never experienced that. You generally cannot get a reduction after the final payment date at 75 days in advance of cruise.

 

The largest reduction was when Princess offered a two for one sale on the Grand Med cruise several years ago, and we saved $1750 per person and even upgraded our balcony cabin classification. Our final price was lower than any I saw with any online TA's

TA's are not allowed to show or promote discounted prices on any website so comparing pricing with a TA is kind of pointless and invalid unless you call and request a quote for a specific cruise.

 

I can't tell you how many times I've seen someone on my roll call who has booked directly with Princess get so excited about the great price reduction they just got. I didn't have the nerve to tell them that I was already paying a lot less (hundreds) through a TA than their new price and I was getting a very nice OBC, bottle of wine, etc. -- all without having to religiously check the Princess website. When you book directly, you are always paying the most anyone would pay for your cruise.

Edited January 19, 2013 by Pam in CA

[English Tim]

TA's are not allowed to show or promote discounted prices on any website so comparing pricing with a TA is kind of pointless and invalid unless you call and request a quote for a specific cruise.

 

I can't tell you how many times I've seen someone on my roll call who has booked directly with Princess get so excited about the great price reduction they just got. I didn't have the nerve to tell them that I was already paying a lot less (hundreds) through a TA than their new price and I was getting a very nice OBC, bottle of wine, etc. -- all without having to religiously check the Princess website. When you book directly, you are always paying the most anyone would pay for your cruise.

 

Sadly for us Brits, we've already discovered that there's very little movement in fares offered to us by UK TA's and US TA's can't deal with us, without many complications, but you guys in the US still seem to have a fair degree of freedom, long may it continue.

[Darcys mom]

TA's are not allowed to show or promote discounted prices on any website so comparing pricing with a TA is kind of pointless and invalid unless you call and request a quote for a specific cruise.

 

I can't tell you how many times I've seen someone on my roll call who has booked directly with Princess get so excited about the great price reduction they just got. I didn't have the nerve to tell them that I was already paying a lot less (hundreds) through a TA than their new price and I was getting a very nice OBC, bottle of wine, etc. -- all without having to religiously check the Princess website. When you book directly, you are always paying the most anyone would pay for your cruise.

 

Pam, how do you find a travel agent who does this?

[Pam in CA]

Pam, how do you find a travel agent who does this?

You can Google and search the Internet, ask fellow passengers when onboard, etc. You do the best booking very early, often as soon as itineraries are released since the high-volume TAs reserve blocks of cabins at reduced group rates even though you're not traveling with a group. They have less flexibility closer to sailing date. Edited January 19, 2013 by Pam in CA

[darnoc23]

If you qualify and that's a big if. Most of the time, if fares go down, it's for a "Flash" sale for new bookings only. You would have to cancel, lose your cabin and dining preference if it's Traditional, and re-book. You're far better off finding a TA that does a high volume of Princess bookings. Princess allows TA's to discount so you can save 10-20% at booking and get OBC and perks. The earlier you book, the better chance of a discount.

 

Hi Pam,

 

Just Googled for any advice on having Princess price match if their price got lower. I was in a waiting list for the Cabo cruise and when it finally opened up I took the price that was currently offered. Now I see the price has dropped 50%!!! I contacted Princess and asked if I can have the same price and was informed I did not qualify for the promotional price since I'm already booked. Asked if I can cancel and rebook and they said the price is for New Bookings only. Any advice on what I can do? Thanks.

[Colo Cruiser]

Hi Pam,

 

Just Googled for any advice on having Princess price match if their price got lower. I was in a waiting list for the Cabo cruise and when it finally opened up I took the price that was currently offered. Now I see the price has dropped 50%!!! I contacted Princess and asked if I can have the same price and was informed I did not qualify for the promotional price since I'm already booked. Asked if I can cancel and rebook and they said the price is for New Bookings only. Any advice on what I can do? Thanks.

 

 

Times have changed, this thread is 3 years old. Princess has become very tight as far as refunds and price adjustments.

Best to cancel and rebook if you are able to do that. Rarely will you get a refund now. :(

Edited October 16, 2015 by Colo Cruiser

[darnoc23]

Times have changed, this thread is 3 years old. Princess has become very tight as far as refunds and price adjustments.

Best to cancel and rebook if you are able to do that. Rarely will you get a refund now. :(

 

Thanks Colo. Unfortunately, I'm not able to cancel and rebook. I'm seeing from threads that going through a travel agent is better than going directly to the cruise line. Are there any recommended travel agents I can contact in Southern CA? Thanks.

[chrysalis]

Thanks Colo. Unfortunately, I'm not able to cancel and rebook. I'm seeing from threads that going through a travel agent is better than going directly to the cruise line. Are there any recommended travel agents I can contact in Southern CA? Thanks.

 

Cruise Critic rules prohibit members from recommending or mentioning any travel agents.