What if cruise goes on sale after you've booked

[danjean2013]

If a cruise goes on sale for less after you've already booked, will you automatically get that sale price if you haven't made your final payment? Or, do you have to ask for cheaper fare price? Thanks!

[Pam in CA]

It depends.

 

If it's a "Flash" sale (likely), those are for new bookings only. You'll have to cancel and re-book. Depending on when you cancel, there'll be a penalty.

 

If it's a price reduction and you've used a TA who discounts, already saving 10-20%, you probably won't get a further discount. If it's a price reduction and you booked directly, you'll get the new fare (but then you'll still be paying more than if you'd booked with a discount TA.)

[ntvsdgrl]

This just happened to me. My cruise has gone down 3 times since I booked last year. First and second time, I got the lower price. Third time it went down I upgraded to a mini suite but my deposit became non-refundable. The price went down again this past week but I couldn't get the price without cancelling and losing my deposit. Instead my TA fought with a supervisor at Princess and got me upgraded to a better category of a mini suite.

 

 

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[cruzsnooze]

Every TA site I checked is charging more then what I'm paying at the Princess website for my next two Princess cruises. I called princess last week when I saw my fare decrease $50 and I am before final payment. Princess reduced the fare and I'm saving the $100 for the cabin. It pays to keep control of your own booking.

[AKman2495]

Well first, you will have to ask for the lower fare. Princess will not send you an e-mail saying "We just cut the price! and passed those savings on to you!"

 

Second, I've seen Princess discount a category of cabins so when you look at the cruise, the prices are marked out and the new ones are there. But, when you look at the cabins for sale you find the discount applies only to the lowest category of cabins in that class.

 

Flash sales have been noted.

 

That said, I found from our roll call that Princess has cut the prices for our Caribbean cruise so I sent an e-mail to my TA and within an hour I learned that we had saved over $400 on our cabin. So, it never hurts to ask....

[always_cruisin]

As others have said, it depends on the sale. I saved myself and two other couples $1000 on our 15 day Hawaii sailing in November by rechecking the prices during the World of Savings Sale. Plus, we got additional onboard credit.

 

It pays to keep an eye on it and/or have a TA that watches for sales. Not all TAs who discount don't discount further during sales.

[satxdiver]

I always keep checking the offered price online for the cruises I have booked. I usually book a year in advance to get the cabin/deck I want. Most of the time I get a reduction in price, so a call to Princess will take care of lowering the price. So keep checking the price for a better deal.

[Suzy'Q]

Not all TAs who discount don't discount further during sales.

 

This has been my experience too. Even if you have a TA who discounts, call when you see a price reduction.

[Tak8]

I'll check once a week or so for price reductions. It's up to you to stay on top of it before final payment. After final payment, I don't look. Most cases they won't do anything and some folks just get mad over it. I'd rather not know and go to cruise port smiling. Hey, I'm cruising.