3 day sale

[Coffeeluvr05]

I was contacted by the TA that I use that is associated with a big online site and they said that this 3-day sale will include the best OBC offer that Princess has ever offered.  Those are their words.  I do not know what the OBC offer is yet.  This timing seems to coincide with historically when Princess used to run their "Sip & Sail" sale so now that they have Princess Plus/Premier they have had to re-work their June sale.  Should be interesting.  We have booked through this sale and typically gotten good deals so it's worth watching.  We book pretty far in advance though.

[startedwithamouse]

50 minutes ago, Coffeeluvr05 said:

I was contacted by the TA that I use that is associated with a big online site and they said that this 3-day sale will include the best OBC offer that Princess has ever offered.  Those are their words.  I do not know what the OBC offer is yet.  This timing seems to coincide with historically when Princess used to run their "Sip & Sail" sale so now that they have Princess Plus/Premier they have had to re-work their June sale.  Should be interesting.  We have booked through this sale and typically gotten good deals so it's worth watching.  We book pretty far in advance though.

What was Sip & Sail?

[PacnGoNow]

6 minutes ago, startedwithamouse said:

What was Sip & Sail?

Old Ad:

 

https://www.princess.com/news/news_releases/2019/06/princess-cruises-serves-up-sip-and-sail-offering-free-beverage-packages-for-all.html

[startedwithamouse]

31 minutes ago, PacnGoNow said:

Old Ad:

 

https://www.princess.com/news/news_releases/2019/06/princess-cruises-serves-up-sip-and-sail-offering-free-beverage-packages-for-all.html

thank you.

[bjkTX]

On 5/24/2023 at 2:02 PM, JimmyVWine said:

Don't know if it is what the OP had in mind, but I received an email today claiming to have special pricing on Princess Cruises good for just a few days, and the email mentioned "free gratuities and drink packages" so it sounded like Plus was being added in for free.  When I went to the site I saw some cruises that claimed to have special pricing, and the "Cheapest" fare was listed, with no mention of a free upgrade to Plus.  But there was also a button to click on to show the "Plus" and "Premier" prices.  I clicked on Plus and a new price showed up (same as I could get on the Princess website) and all of a sudden a whole bunch of bullet points showed up, including one that said that I was getting "free gratuities, wifi and drinks package."  So in order to qualify for all those "freebies", I had to purchase Plus.  😆🤣 

 

Again, not sure if this is what the OP was hearing about, but the email I received today led me down a path of big, fat nothing!

Things may have changed over the last few years when I wasn't paying much attention - but when I did I was always told no one could publish prices publically that were lower than what Princess showed.  The agencies could give you a lower quote - but they couldn't advertise it.  If that's still the case all we'll ever see online is what Princess lists.

[ceilidh1]

June 8-10

OBC up to $1200 per room

Free/reduced 3rd and 4th guest on select sailings

Applies to all published sailings

[Steelers36]

2 minutes ago, ceilidh1 said:

June 8-10

OBC up to $1200 per room

Free/reduced 3rd and 4th guest on select sailings

Applies to all published sailings

Imagine you have to book a suite to earn $600/pp.  Or maybe Premier.  

[ceilidh1]

Just now, Steelers36 said:

Imagine you have to book a suite to earn $600/pp.  Or maybe Premier.  

Based on room type and cruise length. Plus and premiere are additional/regular pricing (unless gifted by TA)

[SilveryRiver]

So if I already have a cruised booked for 2024 and this sale happens, can I call Princess and re-book and get the sale price/promotions? I booked directly through Princess.

[ceilidh1]

4 minutes ago, SilveryRiver said:

So if I already have a cruised booked for 2024 and this sale happens, can I call Princess and re-book and get the sale price/promotions? I booked directly through Princess.

You would need to cancel and rebook through the agency that is having the sale. It's not direct through Princess.

[Steelers36]

23 minutes ago, SilveryRiver said:

So if I already have a cruised booked for 2024 and this sale happens, can I call Princess and re-book and get the sale price/promotions? I booked directly through Princess.

And to clarify, Princess does not match any travel agency pricing.

[Thrak]

1 hour ago, ceilidh1 said:

You would need to cancel and rebook through the agency that is having the sale. It's not direct through Princess.

 

If you decide to try this route I would suggest that you not cancel your booking with Princess first. Make the new booking via the agency and then, when they have secured your cabin, cancel the first booking. This is especially true if you have an area of the ship booked that you want and don't want to end up somewhere else on the ship.

[Ken the cruiser]

1 hour ago, Steelers36 said:

And to clarify, Princess does not match any travel agency pricing.

Just curious, as I keep hearing about cheaper TA rates on a variety of threads. If a travel agency offers a cheaper fare than advertised by PCL for the same cabin category, is that because the TA is discounting that cabin category using part of the commission they get from PCL? For example our TA discounts the PCL fare by 8% when we book it through them, or is it something else and the 8% booking perk we get from our TA is on top of the discounted fare?

[drega99]

58 minutes ago, Ken the cruiser said:

Just curious, as I keep hearing about cheaper TA rates on a variety of threads. If a travel agency offers a cheaper fare than advertised by PCL for the same cabin category, is that because the TA is discounting that cabin category using part of the commission they get from PCL? For example our TA discounts the PCL fare by 8% when we book it through them, or is it something else and the 8% booking perk we get from our TA is on top of the discounted fare?

Many travel companies, including the one doing this 3 day sale in June also have group rates that are definitely lower than Princess direct and also have onboard credits as well as the lower cost.

[warren buffet]

On 5/27/2023 at 5:53 PM, drega99 said:

Many travel companies, including the one doing this 3 day sale in June also have group rates that are definitely lower than Princess direct and also have onboard credits as well as the lower cost.

i have never seen anyone show any actual evidence that a cruise line gives a lower price (thru a so called group rate) to 1 or a few agencies than others. that would probably be illegal. I think it is virtually always the agency giving back some of their commision. cruise line have before done things like priority boarding to a certain large agency. but not cash.   i booked a carnival cruise with an advertised free gratuities sale. once i booked, if showed on my receipt carnival was not giving free gratuitites. my receipt showed the agency paid for my gratuties thru an american express card card. the last 4 credit card numbers of the large agency even showed on my receipt.       and . the details of the sale posted on this thread looks like exactly the same as princess offered approx jan of this year. it's not the best of the yr. maybe equal to. 

Edited May 28, 2023 by warren buffet

[drega99]

On 5/24/2023 at 5:20 PM, Steelers36 said:

Was it from outside USA (wouldn't be Canada as our exchange rate is much worse than that).

I actually was looking at a Resident promo rate Canadian for November 2023 sailing and the PLUS did work out to $60 CAD per person per day.

[drega99]

1 minute ago, warren buffet said:

i have never seen anyone show any actual evidence that a cruise line gives a lower price (thru a so called group rate) to 1 or a few agencies than others. that would probably be illegal. I think it is virtually always the agency giving back some of their commision. cruise line have before done things like priority boarding to a certain large agency. but not cash.   i booked a carnival cruise with an advertised free gratuities sale. once i booked, if showed on my receipt carnival was not giving free gratuitites. my receipt showed the agency paid for my gratuties thru an american express card card. the last 4 credit card numbers of the large agency even showed on my receipt. 

Actually, I know 100 percent that big companies get discounted group rates with additional onboard credits - Princess, Celebrity, Royal Caribbean etc. This is due to the volume of sales they provide to the cruise companies. 

[warren buffet]

23 hours ago, drega99 said:

Actually, I know 100 percent that big companies get discounted group rates with additional onboard credits - Princess, Celebrity, Royal Caribbean etc. This is due to the volume of sales they provide to the cruise companies. 

how do you know the agency is not purchasing the on board credit with some of their commission?  it could be that the cruise lines give an agency the option to buy onboard credits at say a 50 percent discount for their customers. i  think it's not legal an anti trust violation to give lower prices to only a few agencies unless the agencies actually purchase the cruise upfront before selling it. which is a huge huge risk for the agency because we know prices go up and down unpredicably. 

[drega99]

1 minute ago, warren buffet said:

how do you know the agency is not purchasing the on board credit with some of their commission?  it could be that the cruise lines give an agency the option to buy onboard credits at say a 50 percent discount for their customers. i  think it's not legal an anti trust violation to give lower prices to only a few agencies unless the agencies actually purchase the cruise upfront before selling it. which is a huge huge risk for the agency because we know prices go up and down unpredicably. 

The travel companies buy/hold 50/100 cabins on each sailing and if unsold at a certain time prior to sailing the inventory goes back to the cruise lines inventory. They use the group points to purchase the onboard credits per cabin in the contract. Not uncommon at all. If the cruise line has a better rate which sometimes happens - you can transfer your booking into the group to get the onboard credit as well. But only through the contracted agency. This is in Canada by the way.

[jwattle]

1 hour ago, warren buffet said:

i have never seen anyone show any actual evidence that a cruise line gives a lower price (thru a so called group rate) to 1 or a few agencies than others. that would probably be illegal. I think it is virtually always the agency giving back some of their commision. cruise line have before done things like priority boarding to a certain large agency. but not cash.   i booked a carnival cruise with an advertised free gratuities sale. once i booked, if showed on my receipt carnival was not giving free gratuitites. my receipt showed the agency paid for my gratuties thru an american express card card. the last 4 credit card numbers of the large agency even showed on my receipt.       and . the details of the sale posted on this thread looks like exactly the same as princess offered approx jan of this year. it's not the best of the yr. maybe equal to. 

 

1 hour ago, warren buffet said:

how do you know the agency is not purchasing the on board credit with some of their commission?  it could be that the cruise lines give an agency the option to buy onboard credits at say a 50 percent discount for their customers. i  think it's not legal an anti trust violation to give lower prices to only a few agencies unless the agencies actually purchase the cruise upfront before selling it. which is a huge huge risk for the agency because we know prices go up and down unpredicably. 

Because TA's know. 🙂

 

[ceilidh1]

1 hour ago, warren buffet said:

i have never seen anyone show any actual evidence that a cruise line gives a lower price (thru a so called group rate) to 1 or a few agencies than others. that would probably be illegal. I think it is virtually always the agency giving back some of their commision. cruise line have before done things like priority boarding to a certain large agency. but not cash.   i booked a carnival cruise with an advertised free gratuities sale. once i booked, if showed on my receipt carnival was not giving free gratuitites. my receipt showed the agency paid for my gratuties thru an american express card card. the last 4 credit card numbers of the large agency even showed on my receipt.       and . the details of the sale posted on this thread looks like exactly the same as princess offered approx jan of this year. it's not the best of the yr. maybe equal to. 

As someone that works for the agency having this sale, I can tell you 100% that we DO get group rates that are lower priced than cruiselines offer. This is because the group holds are taken out as soon as the cruise goes on sale. That price is locked in. The majority of times, the cruiseline rate goes up, but the locked in group rate doesn't - there are definitely exceptions, of course, (especially after final payment) when promos by the cruiseline mean they have lower pricing than the group rate. However, the agent is then free to use the promo rate and under no obligation to use the group rate. As an example, over Christmas I booked Ruby for myself and three additional cabins for friends. Since it was a holiday sailing, the cabins we were looking at were priced at $2200 pp on Princess site, with no OBC or packages included. Under my agency group rate, we got them for $1600 pp with Princess Plus (group rate was locked in while that was still included in the price - no longer the case) and $150 OBC per person. Neither my commission nor the agency commission paid for any of those "perks". Having said that, you have to shop around - not all agencies or agents are created equal and sometimes booking direct is the best way to go. I would never limit myself to one agent/agency, even though I'm an agent myself!

[ceilidh1]

1 hour ago, drega99 said:

The travel companies buy/hold 50/100 cabins on each sailing and if unsold at a certain time prior to sailing the inventory goes back to the cruise lines inventory. They use the group points to purchase the onboard credits per cabin in the contract. Not uncommon at all. If the cruise line has a better rate which sometimes happens - you can transfer your booking into the group to get the onboard credit as well. But only through the contracted agency. This is in Canada by the way.

This sums it up perfectly!

[Steelers36]

1 hour ago, drega99 said:

I actually was looking at a Resident promo rate Canadian for November 2023 sailing and the PLUS did work out to $60 CAD per person per day.

And that is a special situation as PCL has been offering Canadians cruising at par with USD prices in recent months.  If the cruise being looked at has this on it, then the pricing in CAD will be the same (or virtually the same) number as the fare in USD.  Otherwise, a Plus Cruise Fare option is going to be 1.35 x the USD pricing if that is still the current exchange rate.

[Thrak]

I don't get the huge discounts (10%) that others here say they get from their TA but I do always get a discount. When I get the final bill from the TA it's less than what I actually "owe" Princess. I'm happy supporting a local guy and he gives me excellent service. I've called him on a weekend when he was across the country for something and, even though it's 8 or 9PM where he is - and it's the weekend,  he responds to the voice mail and takes care of my issue. No, he is not allowed to advertise a discount. Yes, he does give me a discount.

 

If you want a guaranteed 10% discount buy Princess Gift Cards from AARP. You don't have to join AARP - Just join the AARP Rewards Program (Free). $100 gift cards are $90 and $500 gift cards are $450. I'm paying for our 32 day B2B2B this fall with discounted gift cards. (Often a 10% discount on something doesn't really amount to much but, in this case, it definitely adds up to substantial savings.)  I will also pay for our Solar Eclipse cruise next year with discounted gift cards and, because we only have $100 OBC on that cruise, I will most likely also purchase extra discounted gift cards and purchase OBC.

Edited May 28, 2023 by Thrak

[justafem]

On 5/26/2023 at 11:34 AM, PacnGoNow said:

Old Ad:

 

https://www.princess.com/news/news_releases/2019/06/princess-cruises-serves-up-sip-and-sail-offering-free-beverage-packages-for-all.html

We booked under that promotion several times.  Yeah, we had to get a more expensive room, but it was cheaper to book a suite than it was 2 insides.  We got a much better room, although there were 4 of us.  At no point was it crowded.  

 

I hope something like that happens again.  I can always get a group of friends together!