13 Days Highlights of Spain CruiseTour

[ak1004]

Hello all,

 

I'm looking at 13 Days Highlights of Spain CruiseTour for September 2020.

 

The prices start from ~$5,500 CAD for interior cabin and ~6,200 CAD for veranda - https://www.princess.com/cruise-search/details?tourCode=T0E02A&voyageCode=N055

 

When I'm looking at the cruise portion only, the prices are around $2,000 CAD for interior cabin and ~2,700 CAD for veranda - https://www.princess.com/cruise-search/details?voyageCode=N055

 

That doesn't make sense to me. The land portion (6 nights in Madrid, Valencia and Barcelona) adds $3,300 CAD?? Similar tour from Gate1 (6 nights in the same cities) is around $1,500 USD which is ~$2,000 CAD. What am I missing?

Edited April 15, 2019 by ak1004

[Thrak]

You wouldn't believe the difference between the 7 day southbound cruise from Alaska and the cost of our 15 day connoisseur cruise tour that ends with the same cruise. Since it's well after final payment the cost of a cabin for the 7 days southbound is a small percentage of our cost for the package cruise/land tour. Adding a land tour - especially a connoisseur land tour - jacks up the price by an incredible amount.

Edited April 15, 2019 by Thrak

[caribill]

Princess land tours are at prices that many consider to be high. But almost every review I have read about these land tours has been full of praise. Hotels are usually among the best. Many meals are included and in many areas of the world, these meals can be very expensive if purchased separately.

 

We have been on three Princess cruisetours: One in Alaska, one in South America, and one in Africa. We felt we received value for our money on all three.

 

But not all such Princess cruisetours are a great value. For example, a pre-cruise tour to Machu Picchu can cost up to three times more than a private tour that includes more days with more sites visited and with a much smaller group. But even this Princess land tour has received great praise from its participants.

[ak1004]

Thank you for your responses.

 

In this case 3 days are breakfast only and 3 days breakfast plus dinner.

 

My guess is that the tour is similar quality to Gate1 similar tour (which uses 5 star hotel in Madrid and 4 star in Valencia and Barcelona). And Gate1 costs $1,300 CAD less.

 

The challenge of course is to "marry" the Gate1 tour with Princess cruise in terms of dates..

 

On a related note, I read a while ago that Princess mini suites can be upgraded to suite class to get all the perks of the suites. But I don't see them during the booking process. How the upgrade is done?

[caribill]

17 hours ago, ak1004 said:

 

On a related note, I read a while ago that Princess mini suites can be upgraded to suite class to get all the perks of the suites. But I don't see them during the booking process. How the upgrade is done?

 

I have never seen anything about this other than switching the booking from a mini-suite to a full suite and paying the difference.

 

Princess does have "Club Class" which has the main benefit of true anytime dining is a special section of a dining room. This applies to all full-suites and some mini-suites which are called "Club Class mini-suites" which are priced higher than the regular mini-suites. However the Club Class mini-suites do not have the perks of full suites.