$17 Alaska cruise on Discovery Princess

[rj59]

I was doing a cruise search today and saw a crazy $280 Princess Plus 7-nt. Alaska fare on Discovery Princess for 9/11/2022 for a solo deluxe balcony. I looked on another booking site and saw it was a whopping $17 without Princess Plus, so I booked a deluxe balcony, with $60 obc and my usual $200 in shareholder/military obc. I have to imagine it was a pricing error, since inside and regular balconies were much more, 

[sfaaa]

Congratulations for scoring a crazy deal.  It was obviously a computer glitch. By the time I saw the deal,  Princess had already caught on and blocked my booking. 

[geoherb]

I wonder if Princess will honor the price. 

[pms4104]

17 minutes ago, geoherb said:

I wonder if Princess will honor the price. 

Not as dramatic, but Princess honored our pricing couple years ago ... 20-day mini for less than cost of inside ... that price was pulled off thair site pretty fast.

[pompeii]

About 5 years ago we snagged a full suite on the Regal 23-day Baltics and Transatlantic for $1,090.  A computer glitch left off a zero so the price was 90% off, should have been $10,900.  Minisuites were going for almost $8000 so we could tell more or less what the full suite price should have been.

 

We booked it well in advance of sailing, about a year as I recall.  Princess never said a word about the price and we sailed for that rate without a hitch.

[Steelers36]

It's like winning the lottery.

[Calnev1]

3 hours ago, pompeii said:

About 5 years ago we snagged a full suite on the Regal 23-day Baltics and Transatlantic for $1,090.  A computer glitch left off a zero so the price was 90% off, should have been $10,900.  Minisuites were going for almost $8000 so we could tell more or less what the full suite price should have been.

 

We booked it well in advance of sailing, about a year as I recall.  Princess never said a word about the price and we sailed for that rate without a hitch.

Holy Guacamole!!   I once snagged an error fare on an overseas plane flight where the price was also 90% off because of a missing zero.  But your cruise story leaves me in awe.

[voljeep]

Princess has an errors and omissions clause in its' passenger contracts - which this most certainly is.

 

Now whether they choose to enforce it ...  

[pompeii]

4 minutes ago, Calnev1 said:

Holy Guacamole!!   I once snagged an error fare on an overseas plane flight where the price was also 90% off because of a missing zero.  But your cruise story leaves me in awe.

I know, I kept thinking we'd get a call from Princess saying "about this upcoming booking of yours..." lol.   I didn't relax until after we boarded in Warnemunde, and even then we certainly didn't brag about the fare while we were onboard.  I know they couldn't really try to collect the difference at that point but we didn't want to cause any issues, just in case.  I remember one of our dinner mates when we were discussing our cabin types looking at us kind of funny and asking if we always sailed in suites.  I said something like "um no, but uh, we just got a really good deal on this one."  I guess we don't look like typical $10,000 per person passengers😆.

 

I do remember that when I stumbled on the fare I tried to book it on the website and pay in full, but it wouldn't let me finish the booking.  So I had to call in and the rep completed the booking for me with no issues, just took my information and payment and that was it!  

[Rabbi-Reefer]

Mazel Tov Boychik!

Great score, but if it were me, I would’ve sprung for the Princess Plus fare.

[pompeii]

7 hours ago, geoherb said:

I wonder if Princess will honor the price. 

I hope the OP keeps us posted.  And I do hope they honor the fare.

[cruisequeen4ever]

How exciting for you! I really hope you get to keep it!

[sfaaa]

A few years ago, a few lucky cc members and I scored a mini suite at interior price on a NCL Alaska cruise. Someone in the IT department screwed up on that Friday afternoon and put interior rate under mini suite category that lasted the entire weekend. NCL was reluctant at first but finally honored the deal after a week. NCL loss, our gain and whoever made the mistake likely paid the price for his screw up.

[leck57]

2 hours ago, sfaaa said:

A few years ago, a few lucky cc members and I scored a mini suite at interior price on a NCL Alaska cruise.  NCL was reluctant at first but finally honored the deal after a week. NCL loss, our gain and whoever made the mistake likely paid the price for his screw up.

 

May not have been a "he".

[rj59]

Update: the TA called and said Princess is refusing to honor the price mistake, saying her agency had 10 or so people who were also denied, some very angry. Princess gave a lie, saying port fees/taxes weren’t charged (they were), that it wasn’t a real fare (yep it was, $280 on the Princess site), and then insulted me with a ‘bargain’ fare of $1500 instead for an inside, but I of course cancelled. This morning I nearly booked a 5-nt pre-Xmas Cabo cruise on Grand, but not now. Instead, I have Royal cruises every month through March, and will book the Quantum or Serenade to Alaska in May. I’m Elite on Princess, but minibottles and saving $6 on laundry isn’t enough to keep me as a loyal customer if they won’t honor a mistaken fare. 

[geoherb]

Unfortunately, it's not really a surprise that Princess isn't honoring this mistake. You admitted in the first post "I have to imagine it was a pricing error." 

[sfaaa]

Well this is disappointing to hear. It appears customer PR and goodwill have now taken a back seat in favor of more revenue. Sign of the times across the traveling industry.

[pms4104]

57 minutes ago, sfaaa said:

Well this is disappointing to hear. It appears customer PR and goodwill have now taken a back seat in favor of more revenue. Sign of the times across the traveling industry.

Free, or nearly so, cruises not sustainable for any line.