Jump to content
Cruise Critic Community

Princess "Come Back New Sale" begins March 7th

MCC retired

By MCC retired,
in Princess Cruises

 Share

Recommended Posts

Astro Flyer

Astro Flyer

Posted
Posted

I just noticed that the cruise fare for this offer includes "taxes, fees & port expenses".

 

So there is a slight price reduction of $55 for the cruise we're considering after adding the free gratuities.

 

Also the $50 per flight reduction is an additional savings when using EZair.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
gwenmarie

gwenmarie

Posted
Posted

Our party of three recently booked on the Island Princess. Put a call to Expedia agent and added free gratuities $400 less on cruise price and a Master Card promo netted a $900 OBC! No free air on the partial canal sailing in September

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

Link to comment
Share on other sites
bamelin

bamelin

Posted
Posted
A cruise we're considering had an $85/pp net price increase for free gratuities...they give a little bit & take back even more in return. :rolleyes:

 

Non-sale promotions are becoming the norm for Princess but a friend who has a career in travel marketing (not Princess) said Princess will keep creating such useless deals as long as they generate an increase in sales. She said not everyone is as knowledgeable as some experienced travelers & those less informed passengers don't realize that too often such offers are not a better net price. :(

 

As long as Princess marketing can increase income with such useless offers then this trend will continue. Some passengers may benefit from Princess offers (I no longer refer to them as sales ;)) however that doesn't happen often for cruises we're seeking & based on posts there appears to be many in the same situation as us.

 

Princess keeps dangling lower quality bait while trolling for passengers & apparently they feel it's cost-effective. So apparently there's no incentive for them to offer additional benefits to increase sales by giving passengers a true sale price.

 

Celebrity started the non sale promo ball rolling in 2015 with their "pick your perk" thing, and it seems the other lines are following suit.

 

Rule of thumb I always tell everyone looking at cruises -

 

a. figure out what the bottom line is with these "offers"rolled in

b. Ask your TA to search for FLASH pricing

Link to comment
Share on other sites
floridalover5623

floridalover5623

Posted
Posted
What if you don't need airfare? Do they offer OBC instead. Like deal we booked with free drink package. We didn't want it and were credited OBC in place of it.

Chris

That's definitely a better way to go rather than being forced to drink enough to make the package pay for itself.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Happy2cruise

Happy2cruise

Posted
Posted
I was already booked for a Sept, 2017 cruise when the last sip and sail sale came out. I called and got it added to my reservation with no problem.

 

Sent from my Lenovo TB-X103F using Tapatalk

I was under the impression that you cannot add perks from a current sale to a cruise booked under a previous sale:(.....did something change?:confused:.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
NavyVeteran

NavyVeteran

Posted
Posted
I was under the impression that you cannot add perks from a current sale to a cruise booked under a previous sale:(.....did something change?:confused:.

 

You cannot add new perks to the ones you got from the previous sale. You can usually reprice your booking under the current sale - you keep the same cabin and booking number, you pay the price and receive the perks currently offered, and you lose the price and perks you had previously. I have done this several times with no problem.

 

I know of one exception. If you booked early with a Captain's Circle Launch Savings discount, that discount may still be applicable to the price under a new sale. I have done this, but I don't know that it always applies.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
caribill

caribill

Posted
Posted
Celebrity started the non sale promo ball rolling in 2015 with their "pick your perk" thing, and it seems the other lines are following suit.

 

 

A masterful piece of marketing.

 

You can pick good, better or best perks and the ones you pick after any that might be included in the listed fare often cost more than if you purchased them separately from the booking itself.

 

For example, on one offering you could pay to go from better to best and get free gratuities and $150 OBC added to the booking. The value of these two perks is $315.

 

But the cost of going from better to best is $540.

 

 

What a deal!!

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Cruise Raider Great Review Rare

Cruise Raider

Posted
Posted
The PDF prices are higher than what we paid for October Panama Canal. We already have free grats and OBC.

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Forums

 

I just booked this one like this as well for October. I was happy with the free grats but sad to see no $300 airfare credit for this itinerary. :(

Link to comment
Share on other sites
gwenmarie

gwenmarie

Posted
Posted

My initial booking was on Expedia with a Master Card OBC perk, nothing from Princess so the agent was able to add the free gratuities . Yes no free air but a lower price of $400 per cabin. This was within 2 days of the original booking. I will continue to look for any other promotions that may apply

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Happy2cruise

Happy2cruise

Posted
Posted
You cannot add new perks to the ones you got from the previous sale. You can usually reprice your booking under the current sale - you keep the same cabin and booking number, you pay the price and receive the perks currently offered, and you lose the price and perks you had previously. I have done this several times with no problem.

 

I know of one exception. If you booked early with a Captain's Circle Launch Savings discount, that discount may still be applicable to the price under a new sale. I have done this, but I don't know that it always applies.

That was my understanding but I was questioning it because a previous poster said they had the current promotion of free gratituties added to the booking they did under the 3 for free promotion and lost nothing....maybe I misunderstood.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
caribill

caribill

Posted
Posted
That was my understanding but I was questioning it because a previous poster said they had the current promotion of free gratituties added to the booking they did under the 3 for free promotion and lost nothing....maybe I misunderstood.

 

Since one of the "3 for free" is free gratuities, I do not know what the poster was asking for with the current promotion.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
GweninTX

GweninTX

Posted
Posted
Does anyone remember when the "3 for free " promotion was offered the last time?? I booked our last cruise in November with it but can't remember when it was offered(senior moment).

Thanks

 

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Forums

 

 

Sept. 8 2016

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

Link to comment
Share on other sites
  • 2 months later...
shirazcruiser

shirazcruiser

Posted
Posted

Has anyone sailed with this promotion in a full suite that included "Book a suite for a FREE spa treatment‡‡" that got shipboard credit or something else in place of the spa treatment? I'm not a spa person and hate to lose the value of this perk.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
  • 2 weeks later...
Eggfrmr

Eggfrmr

Posted
Posted
I was under the impression that you cannot add perks from a current sale to a cruise booked under a previous sale:(.....did something change?:confused:.

 

There was no promo deal running when I originally booked the cruise, so I was able to get the offer when it came up.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Please sign in to comment

You will be able to leave a comment after signing in



Sign In Now
 Share
Go to topic listing
  • Forum Jump
    • Categories
      • Welcome to Cruise Critic
      • New Cruisers
      • Cruise Lines “A – O”
      • Cruise Lines “P – Z”
      • River Cruising
      • ROLL CALLS
      • Cruise Critic News & Features
      • Digital Photography & Cruise Technology
      • Special Interest Cruising
      • Cruise Discussion Topics
      • UK Cruising
      • Australia & New Zealand Cruisers
      • Canadian Cruisers
      • North American Homeports
      • Ports of Call
      • Cruise Conversations
×
×
  • Create New...