Price discrepancy

[kaerofan]

I have been watching a cruise for May and noticed a large price drop today however when I go to book it, the price drop is not reflected (it is the same prices as yesterday before the drop).  Wanting to put a courtesy hold but is the only way to get the advertised discount rate to call?

[AF-1]

not sure about why website won't allow you to hold the cruise at the price you saw.  This is confusing to me. suggest going back to the cruise you want and if you see the price drop take a picture of price with your camera and call Princess.  You have proof to what price you saw.

Edited March 27, 2022 by AF-1

[Sea Hag]

I would do both. Put a hold on the cabin and then call and explain the situation. Choose the phone tree option for new bookings, which may or may not get you connected to a live person faster.

[cruisingrob21]

13 minutes ago, kaerofan said:

I have been watching a cruise for May and noticed a large price drop today however when I go to book it, the price drop is not reflected (it is the same prices as yesterday before the drop).  Wanting to put a courtesy hold but is the only way to get the advertised discount rate to call?

Best to call.

 

You could also try using "incognito" mode on your browser or clearing your cache.  Some old data may be messing with the princess website, especially if you've been checking it frequently.

Edited March 27, 2022 by cruisingrob21

[Jmox84]

I am having this problem too.  Woke up to see our current cruise has dropped in price (though the price is feeling a bit too good to be true now).  When I attempt to book it, the price comes up as the old price not the advertised price.  Something is starting to feel fishy.  

[Mud_Shark]

I am seeing this as well.  All cruise prices are advertised as lower than they work out to be when you try to book them.  I have a suspicion that we in Canada are being shown the US prices in the initial cruise listings (even though it says price is in CAD), but when you go to book, we are then being shown the actual prices in Canadian.  Every price appears to be off by about an exchange rate of 1.25 or so.

 

Don

[Jmox84]

14 minutes ago, cruisingrob21 said:

Best to call.

 

You could also try using "incognito" mode on your browser or clearing your cache.  Some old data may be messing with the princess website, especially if you've been checking it frequently.

I tried this just in case.  No dice.  Something is up on Princess' end.

[kaerofan]

The U.S. price was my thought as well (since I'm also in Canada).  I also did wonder about the tracking since I have been checking it quite often.  Good idea to take a screen shot.

[anjiedupree]

I was just talking to my DH about this. I live in California, so the Canadian prices wouldn’t be an issue. I have noticed the disappearing low price phenomena since last Thursday. I ended up logging out several times and rechecking, back and forth until I found the cruise with $300 OBC and Drop n Go price. I finally was successful yesterday. 

[Jmox84]

I'm in Canada too.  If anyone calls, please let us know how it goes.  Will princess honour the price if it is an error?

[kaerofan]

Wondering if someone in the U.S. would mind checking the May02 to Alaska on Royal, interior lowest price room - just for comparison in U.S. dollars?

[westcoaster]

11 minutes ago, kaerofan said:

Wondering if someone in the U.S. would mind checking the May02 to Alaska on Royal, interior lowest price room - just for comparison in U.S. dollars?

Aren't they still doing a promo for Alaska cruises where you can get the CAD price on par with the USD price?  I received an email from Princess about this a couple of weeks ago, and my May Alaska cruise is still showing the reduced price.

[kaerofan]

Definitely strange - I was able to look at prices in U.S. and they are actually significantly higher than Canadian?

[westcoaster]

20 minutes ago, Jmox84 said:

I'm in Canada too.  If anyone calls, please let us know how it goes.  Will princess honour the price if it is an error?

The phone line isn't open today, but I did do the online chat to ask about a January 2023 cruise that was showing the USD price, although the web page said it was in CAD.  The agent could not find the lower CAD price, and he said this was just a website glitch.  Princess does not honor those prices.

[donaldsc]

Your problem shows the advantage of having a good TA.  You can just call them and they will work it out.  Mine has solved problems such as yours in the past.

 

DON

[Jmox84]

5 minutes ago, westcoaster said:

The phone line isn't open today, but I did do the online chat to ask about a January 2023 cruise that was showing the USD price, although the web page said it was in CAD.  The agent could not find the lower CAD price, and he said this was just a website glitch.  Princess does not honor those prices.

Good to know.  I won't get my hopes up then.  The original price was still great so not a huge let down.

[kaerofan]

Interesting, I'm basically "in the same boat" as you, lol.  I also have a courtesy hold on the same sailing. How were you finally able tdo get the lower rate?

[Steelers36]

1 hour ago, Mud_Shark said:

I am seeing this as well.  All cruise prices are advertised as lower than they work out to be when you try to book them.  I have a suspicion that we in Canada are being shown the US prices in the initial cruise listings (even though it says price is in CAD), but when you go to book, we are then being shown the actual prices in Canadian.  Every price appears to be off by about an exchange rate of 1.25 or so.

 

Don

 

1 hour ago, Jmox84 said:

I tried this just in case.  No dice.  Something is up on Princess' end.

 

1 hour ago, Jmox84 said:

I'm in Canada too.  If anyone calls, please let us know how it goes.  Will princess honour the price if it is an error?

 

1 hour ago, kaerofan said:

Wondering if someone in the U.S. would mind checking the May02 to Alaska on Royal, interior lowest price room - just for comparison in U.S. dollars?

 

43 minutes ago, kaerofan said:

Definitely strange - I was able to look at prices in U.S. and they are actually significantly higher than Canadian?

 

41 minutes ago, westcoaster said:

The phone line isn't open today, but I did do the online chat to ask about a January 2023 cruise that was showing the USD price, although the web page said it was in CAD.  The agent could not find the lower CAD price, and he said this was just a website glitch.  Princess does not honor those prices.

 

There is some sort of bug in the pricing area - either in currency conversion or something else.  I agree that when first looking at a cruise, the dollar figures are showing USD.  However, when you select a cabin, or let Princess do a GTY, and the pricing comes up, then it shows the CAD.

 

This is obviously a glitch and you are not going to be getting a booking in CAD at par. 

 

 

Also, in this same sort of thing, a week or so back, I was looking at a voyage with a friend on my phone,  We were looking at Inside B's and there were some on three different decks.  When I went to one of the decks, the diagram of available cabins also showed 3 or 4 available BALCONY cabins (also B category).  When I selected any of the Balcony cabins, the pricing page popped up at the Inside price.  However, when I tried to go to the next step and actually book one, I got a system error and it wouldn't allow the booking to proceed.  Clearly there was a safety valve of some sort in the System and it wouldn't book a BB at the IB rate.  I really doubt a photo of the screen and an appeal to Princess was going to get us the lower fare. 

 

 

ETA - I am aware of an Alaska promo at par.  In general though, there is a pricing bug on other voyages and it could be related to Alaska.

Edited March 27, 2022 by Steelers36

[westcoaster]

It's definitely some sort of pricing glitch with the CAD/USD conversion.  For my January 2023 cruise, not only is the website showing the cruise fare as if the CAD is on par, but it is also showing the taxes as being CAD amount divided by 1.25, which wouldn't happen if it was a fare promo. 

[venussuz]

I was just looking at a 7 day California Coastal cruise for $557 and no single supplement for an inside cabin. I tried to book the standard fare, no plus as that bumped it to $1300. The next page showed $1639 with zero explanation for the change in fare. And that was before adding insurance or anything else, just base cruise fare. That's considerably more than the US - CAD currency difference. The fares on the site are inaccurate, likely another problem with databases.

[HKM]

4 hours ago, kaerofan said:

Wondering if someone in the U.S. would mind checking the May02 to Alaska on Royal, interior lowest price room - just for comparison in U.S. dollars?

 

[HKM]

Price is listed as $849 for interior.  The cheapest interior room for 2 people, including fees, etc. is $2,348.

It's $2,023 for 1 person.

[kaerofan]

thank you, its showing as $649 p.p.  in Canadian dollars on mine

 

[DHP1]

5 hours ago, Steelers36 said:

 

 

 

 

 

 

There is some sort of bug in the pricing area - either in currency conversion or something else.  I agree that when first looking at a cruise, the dollar figures are showing USD.  However, when you select a cabin, or let Princess do a GTY, and the pricing comes up, then it shows the CAD.

 

This is obviously a glitch and you are not going to be getting a booking in CAD at par. 

 

 

Also, in this same sort of thing, a week or so back, I was looking at a voyage with a friend on my phone,  We were looking at Inside B's and there were some on three different decks.  When I went to one of the decks, the diagram of available cabins also showed 3 or 4 available BALCONY cabins (also B category).  When I selected any of the Balcony cabins, the pricing page popped up at the Inside price.  However, when I tried to go to the next step and actually book one, I got a system error and it wouldn't allow the booking to proceed.  Clearly there was a safety valve of some sort in the System and it wouldn't book a BB at the IB rate.  I really doubt a photo of the screen and an appeal to Princess was going to get us the lower fare. 

 

 

ETA - I am aware of an Alaska promo at par.  In general though, there is a pricing bug on other voyages and it could be related to Alaska.

In the past few weeks, when I open Princess Cruise website, its in USA (currency) and not the Canadian version.  I try reload and sometimes that works. I check all my settings and they look good. Anyone else one having the same problem?

[Thrak]

Looked just now. In California but not logged in.