Famous 3 Day Sale

[caribill]

1 hour ago, Abercrombie2019 said:

We also paid $100 for our FCD.  The issue was the $100 OBC that comes from using the FCD was getting added into the price of the cruise (so it wasn’t really free OBC).  We noticed this was happening when a coworker was looking at the same cruise as us and he was being quoted a fare that was exactly $100 less per person.

 

Do you remember if there was a price difference if both of you looked at pricing without signing in?

 

In general, the only price difference between signing in and not signing in is the $100 early booking discount for past passengers.

[Abercrombie2019]

1 hour ago, caribill said:

 

Do you remember if there was a price difference if both of you looked at pricing without signing in?

 

In general, the only price difference between signing in and not signing in is the $100 early booking discount for past passengers.

If we both were not signed in, we saw the same price.  We were both past passengers so when we signed in his price went down but mine did not.  Once the FCD expired the price I saw also went down.  
I still think FCD’s are worth it if you are booking multiple cruises.  I’ve just never been in that position (at least not until recently - but all of my cruises were cancelled).

[Cruise Raider]

19 hours ago, Thrak said:

We booked under this promo last year. As time went on things changed to the point that the only real plus we ended up with was some OBC and then, eventually, we cancelled the cruises. Shortly after that Princess cancelled them as well. We booked at a local brick and mortar location. The "agent of record" was totally clueless and worthless but his wife stepped in and was great. I saw a price reduction on one cruise and asked her to change things and she did. While she was at it she checked the other two cruises as well and got us a tiny (something like $9 per person) price drop. I knew about that one but hadn't asked her to mess with it as it was such a small reduction but she saw it and made the change for us.

 

Like I said above, we booked at a local brick and mortar location. There was no cancellation fee. While things worked out for the most part we will stick with our regular TA. We currently have 6 cruises booked with him. (Hey, a guy can dream...)

 

We went to one nearby our house, too and no agent in the place knew a thing about cruising.  She actually told us that the sale precluded her from using a FCD.  I told her to just cancel the whole thing.  She was clueless.  I found another one that was on the other side of the bay and she is wonderful.  I booked during the three day sale but, as price drops occurred down the road, I ended up getting my cruise and same perks for a lot cheaper.  Since I had a few cruises booked with her, whenever I requested a price drop, she'd check them all.  She usually gave me all the different options that were available.  Ultimately, Princess canceled all but one of those sailings I booked through her.  One has yet to be canceled ... but, she stepped right up to the plate and even offered to handle putting in for my refund for me.  I don't know if it hurried things along any faster but, I did receive my FCDs back in my account pretty quickly.  

[voljeep]

2 minutes ago, Cruise Raider said:

Since I had a few cruises booked with her, whenever I requested a price drop, she'd check them all. 

how did that go after 'final payment' ?

[Cruise Raider]

2 minutes ago, voljeep said:

how did that go after 'final payment' ?

 

I usually stop looking once I've made my final payment.  That has only led to heartache for me.  I have used it a few times to get an upgrade, though.  

[drsel]

Looks like we should all check Cruises 45 to 59 days prior to sailing, to look out for last minute huge price drops.

 

The Cruise lines need to sell off the last few unsold cabins or cancelled bookings

 

 

[caribill]

16 minutes ago, Abercrombie2019 said:

If we both were not signed in, we saw the same price.  We were both past passengers so when we signed in his price went down but mine did not.  Once the FCD expired the price I saw also went down.  
I still think FCD’s are worth it if you are booking multiple cruises.  I’ve just never been in that position (at least not until recently - but all of my cruises were cancelled).

 

As a past passenger who also has an FCD waiting to be used, when I sign in the EBD kicks in and the price goes down by $100.

 

The price goes down for all cabin categories, even though OBC for exactly $100 only applies to some of them. (And it goes down by $100 even on cruises shorter than 11 days where the highest OBC is lower than $100)

 

I wonder in your case if there was not some Princess computer software problem that affected what you were seeing.

[Abercrombie2019]

10 minutes ago, caribill said:

 

As a past passenger who also has an FCD waiting to be used, when I sign in the EBD kicks in and the price goes down by $100.

 

The price goes down for all cabin categories, even though OBC for exactly $100 only applies to some of them. (And it goes down by $100 even on cruises shorter than 11 days where the highest OBC is lower than $100)

 

I wonder in your case if there was not some Princess computer software problem that affected what you were seeing.

Possible, but we noticed it happened on all cruises we price in the last 6 months before the FCD expired.  (Never aware of it earlier because we weren’t trying to book anything). Luckily I worked in an office with someone who was a past passenger with Princess, but he didn’t have any FCD.  The prices I saw were consistently more than his by the amount of the OBC on any cruise we compared.  The pricing normalized once the FCD expired.  I can’t explain why that happened, but it did seem odd that the amount matched the OBC associated with the FCD.

[CineGraphic]

30 minutes ago, drsel said:

Looks like we should all check Cruises 45 to 59 days prior to sailing, to look out for last minute huge price drops.

 

The Cruise lines need to sell off the last few unsold cabins or cancelled bookings

 

 

 

That was 100% true when ships were sailing at full capacity, pre-Covid.

Once we start sailing again, and it's at 50% occupancy for the sake of safety/social distancing, I wouldn't count on those price drops being there.

[sfaaa]

14 hours ago, caribill said:

 

So for many people, the only real extra is OBC. How much is offered?

 

(Not including using their credit card benefits.)

I would also like to know. I am not interested in the other 'perks' since they are same as the P+ cruise perks.

[lx200gps]

1 hour ago, sfaaa said:

I would also like to know. I am not interested in the other 'perks' since they are same as the P+ cruise perks.

Assuming we're still talking about the big on-line and storefront TA that was the subject of the original posting, the OBC they will offer during their 3 day sale next week is "up to" $700, actual value depending on cabin class and trip duration. For the three 7 day trips we will be booking in balcony cabins, the OBC is $US250 per cabin per trip. They also give us $25/pp per trip as well, in addition.

[drsel]

The 3 day sale has 6 items:
Premium Drink Package (same as Princess Plus)
Gratuities (same as Princess Plus)
On Board Credit 
Unlimited onboard wifi (same as Princess Plus)
Coupons
Reduced deposits
 

The main difference is the onboard credit which has to be compared with the best offer available on the bidding site

[drsel]

For the three 7 day trips we will be booking in balcony cabins, the OBC is $US250 per cabin per trip. They also give us $25/pp per trip as well, in addition.

How much does the $250+50=$300 OBC work out to, as a percentage of your basic Cruise fare (excluding fees and taxes)?
Is your basic Cruise fare for 2 adults in a balcony cabin $3000 or more?

[lx200gps]

3 hours ago, drsel said:

 

How much does the $250+50=$300 OBC work out to, as a percentage of your basic Cruise fare (excluding fees and taxes)?
Is your basic Cruise fare for 2 adults in a balcony cabin $3000 or more?

Correct, I am working with a 7 day trip in a std balcony cabin for two adults. Using one of our newly held trips, the basic fare, before taxes is about $CAD2900 for the two of us, exactly the same price as quoted off the Princess site and that price should not change once the sale starts. Using a CAD to USD conversion of 0.76, that comes out to $US2200, so the $US300 OBC works out to about 13%. Also, this TA has an in-house points program, awarding points for $$$s spent on cruises, hotel stays, etc. We typically book 2-3 cruises with them per year, and the points usually translate into a few hundred extra dollars per year to partially offset our pre-cruise hotel stays. The final benefit to using this agency, however intangible, is our relationship with our dedicated TA, who has been great to work with, very diligent  and hard working.

[gmjc2]

19 hours ago, voljeep said:

how did that go after 'final payment' ?

Our experience has been that after final payment most cruise lies will give a price reduction or an upgrade when they reduce the price last minute. We have paid for an Ocean view and been upgraded to a Balcony at no extra change several times over the years. .Not so with Cunard. They refused any changes because as they put it" the current price is for new bookings only" ---not very loyalty friendly!!  Of course all may be different going forward with our new way of life!

[drsel]

"Current price is for new bookings only" is a rule that many Cruise lines follow when they have last-minute price drops due to to last minute cancellations, or they have to sell off the last few cabins.

so it is better to wait and take advantage of these last minute price drops which usually happen 59 to 45 days prior to sailing

[CineGraphic]

19 minutes ago, drsel said:

so it is better to wait and take advantage of these last minute price drops which usually happen 59 to 45 days prior to sailing

 

Only if you don't give a damn where your cabin will be.

[drsel]

 
Only if you don't give a damn where your cabin will be.

yes of course, this is for the bargain hunters who are not too fussy about the cabin location.
As long as it is not in the crew quarters!

[OnePsychLynne]

Can anyone tell me about the coupons that are offered? I don't remember ever seeing anything like that, even when I used a TA. Thank you 😊 

[CineGraphic]

2 minutes ago, OnePsychLynne said:

Can anyone tell me about the coupons that are offered? I don't remember ever seeing anything like that, even when I used a TA. Thank you 😊 

 

 

[drsel]

Can anyone tell me about the coupons that are offered? I don't remember ever seeing anything like that, even when I used a TA. Thank you [emoji4] 

It's great to have you on the forum !
what is the discount that TAs get when buying a large amount of OBC from the cruise line?

[OnePsychLynne]

4 minutes ago, drsel said:

It's great to have you on the forum !
what is the discount that TAs get when buying a large amount of OBC from the cruise line?

I'm sorry, I'm not sure I understand your question? (I'm not a TA, I meant when I used to use their services when I first started cruising. I apologize if there was confusion) 

[CanadaRob]

Looking at 14 day Caribbean circle, OBC 250pp plus the usual 30 pp from the TA, which as a %age is less than 10% but I’m ok with taking it what else am I going to spend the OBC on now? Specialty dining Or excursions ?

[OnePsychLynne]

14 minutes ago, CineGraphic said:

 

 

Thank you so much! That link was very helpful. I would only use the BOGO specialty restaurant coupon. 

[trbarton]

1 hour ago, CanadaRob said:

Looking at 14 day Caribbean circle, OBC 250pp plus the usual 30 pp from the TA, which as a %age is less than 10% but I’m ok with taking it what else am I going to spend the OBC on now? Specialty dining Or excursions ?

Think about this...If you could add the Carnival stock credit, $250 to your other credit. It’s great to have any extra credit because it comes off any of your ship charges, like gratuities etc. I would also use it for excursions as well.  
 

Tom😀