It pays to keep checking!

[Purple Gallinule]

While reading the Roll Call thread for our Aug 2024 Canada/Greenland cruise on Emerald Princess, I saw a post that said the poster had saved $3,000 by rebooking. That is a lot of money, so I went out and checked all our booked cruises. The 2025 cruises were the same or slightly higher, but we saved big time on the two 2024 cruises. For the W. Caribbean on Enchanted in April, we saved $500. On the Canada/Greenland cruise on Emerald in August we saved and incredible $5,354.

 

Always keep checking! That is the lesson for today, Class dismissed.

[LACruiser88]

We currently have 7 cruises booked thru 2025.  I check prices several times a week.  Last week, we saved $600 pp on one of our 2024 cruises.

 

 

[Ken the cruiser]

If I might suggest, save a link to each of your booked itineraries in your Favorites. That way each morning, as part of your daily "cruising adventure", you'll have a quick way to check each booking for any cost reductions. In our case we have 18 cruises booked through 2025. 

[Mike07]

20 minutes ago, Ken the cruiser said:

If I might suggest, save a link to each of your booked itineraries in your Favorites. That way each morning, as part of your daily "cruising adventure", you'll have a quick way to check each booking for any cost reductions. In our case we have 18 cruises booked through 2025. 

 

 

To where? I don't think that I could find 18 itineraries that interest me.

 

Are you cruising just for the sake of cruising? Or, because you actually want to explore the areas you're going to?

[Ken the cruiser]

9 minutes ago, Mike07 said:

 

 

To where? I don't think that I could find 18 itineraries that interest me.

 

Are you cruising just for the sake of cruising? Or, because you actually want to explore the areas you're going to?

Did I mention we are 70 year old cruiseaholics! 😂

 

Princess 2023 - New England/Canada B2B

Celebrity 2023 - Galapagos

Princess 2024 - Antarctica/South America B2B

Princess 2024 - Alaska B3B 

Princess 2024 - Norway/Baltic B2B

NCL 2024 - Egypt/Greece/Italy B3B

Princess 2025 - Brazil/Caribbean 

NCL 2025 - Longyearbyen/Iceland/Norway B2B

Princess 2025 - Iberian/Iceland Transatlantic B2B

 

 

Edited August 21, 2023 by Ken the cruiser

[LibertyBella]

Go for it!!  If I had the time (still working), and the money, I would be right there with you!  I love to cruise!!  But husband needs to have his ski vacations as well, so we compromise.  Bon voyage!

[BlerkOne]

1 hour ago, Purple Gallinule said:

While reading the Roll Call thread for our Aug 2024 Canada/Greenland cruise on Emerald Princess, I saw a post that said the poster had saved $3,000 by rebooking. That is a lot of money, so I went out and checked all our booked cruises. The 2025 cruises were the same or slightly higher, but we saved big time on the two 2024 cruises. For the W. Caribbean on Enchanted in April, we saved $500. On the Canada/Greenland cruise on Emerald in August we saved and incredible $5,354.

 

Always keep checking! That is the lesson for today, Class dismissed.

Why rebook? If outside of final payment, will Princess not simply reprice the cruise at the lower cost?

[LACruiser88]

32 minutes ago, BlerkOne said:

Why rebook? If outside of final payment, will Princess not simply reprice the cruise at the lower cost?

No, a lot of price reductions are for "new bookings" only.  Pre-pandemic this was not the case.  🤷‍♂️

[Thrak]

35 minutes ago, BlerkOne said:

Why rebook? If outside of final payment, will Princess not simply reprice the cruise at the lower cost?

 

A while back I checked our booked cruises. One was more expensive but the other two had gone down significantly. I had previously booked them with Plus 50 but, in order to get the new price, I had to rebook with Plus 60. Despite the increase in the Plus fare I saved over $1,100 and got an additional $650 OBC. It was definitely worth the hassle of rebooking - especially as my TA handled it all for me. 😁

[LACruiser88]

1 hour ago, Ken the cruiser said:

Did I mention we are 70 year old cruiseaholics! 😂

 

Princess 2023 - New England/Canada B2B

Celebrity 2023 - Galapagos

Princess 2024 - Antarctica/South America B2B

Princess 2024 - Alaska B3B 

Princess 2024 - Norway/Baltic B2B

NCL 2024 - Egypt/Greece/Italy B3B

Princess 2025 - Brazil/Caribbean 

NCL 2025 - Longyearbyen/Iceland/Norway B2B

Princess 2025 - Iberian/Iceland Transatlantic B2B

 

 

Great for you guys!  We are a couple of years younger, but have the same disease!  Our 7 booked cruises amount to 220 sea days!

[Steelers36]

Some of you folks should have your names engraved on chairs or cabin doors.

[Ken the cruiser]

8 minutes ago, LACruiser88 said:

Great for you guys!  We are a couple of years younger, but have the same disease!  Our 7 booked cruises amount to 220 sea days!

You’ve got us there. Our 18 itineraries only cover 198 days. 😂

[BlerkOne]

1 hour ago, LACruiser88 said:

No, a lot of price reductions are for "new bookings" only.  Pre-pandemic this was not the case.  🤷‍♂️

Then I would cancel and rebook. That makes no sense, but if Princess wants the additional overhead, I can oblige.

[BlerkOne]

1 hour ago, Thrak said:

 

A while back I checked our booked cruises. One was more expensive but the other two had gone down significantly. I had previously booked them with Plus 50 but, in order to get the new price, I had to rebook with Plus 60. Despite the increase in the Plus fare I saved over $1,100 and got an additional $650 OBC. It was definitely worth the hassle of rebooking - especially as my TA handled it all for me. 😁

This makes sense. When you open a booking, it generally does reprice everything. Thank you.

[bjkTX]

7 minutes ago, BlerkOne said:

Then I would cancel and rebook. That makes no sense, but if Princess wants the additional overhead, I can oblige.

There is also an issue with cabins being available in your category in order to re-fare.  We normally book B4 category premium balcony cabins - and when we see a price drop (not lately....) we can only get it if a B4 cabin is still available or we want to give up our cabin.  So most times we just keep what we have.

[Generator515]

As someone who hasn’t cruised in 12 years what is best way to check for decreaes given the reliance on TAs?

[LACruiser88]

5 minutes ago, Generator515 said:

As someone who hasn’t cruised in 12 years what is best way to check for decreaes given the reliance on TAs?

Even though we have a fantastic TA, I check fares directly on the Princess web site.  If I find a reduction, I send an email to our TA.

[Steelers36]

8 minutes ago, Generator515 said:

As someone who hasn’t cruised in 12 years what is best way to check for decreases given the reliance on TAs?

Right per the above.  A TA with scores of clients doing scores of trips, including a multitude of cruise lines is not going to be spotting the fare drop for your voyage.  You are the spotter for the TA who then executes the change.

[Thrak]

31 minutes ago, Steelers36 said:

Right per the above.  A TA with scores of clients doing scores of trips, including a multitude of cruise lines is not going to be spotting the fare drop for your voyage.  You are the spotter for the TA who then executes the change.

 

It's worth noting that, although re-faring for a big price drop lowers the commission for the TA, a good TA does the work anyway and doesn't whine or drag his/her feet. A TA who doesn't just help with the booking is a TA to get rid of quickly.

[BlerkOne]

5 hours ago, bjkTX said:

There is also an issue with cabins being available in your category in order to re-fare.  We normally book B4 category premium balcony cabins - and when we see a price drop (not lately....) we can only get it if a B4 cabin is still available or we want to give up our cabin.  So most times we just keep what we have.

There would have to be a cabin available for me to check prices, no? I could rebook, and likely swap cabins after.

[PacnGoNow]

1 hour ago, BlerkOne said:

There would have to be a cabin available for me to check prices, no? I could rebook, and likely swap cabins after.

I just go on the website, check the same category and if it dropped, then email my TA.  No reason to book another cabin and change, etc.

 

Not likely to be a reduction on your cruise anyway, if ship is full.

 

A good time to check, is when a new sale starts.  See if your cruise was affected.

[LittleFish1976]

14 hours ago, Ken the cruiser said:

Did I mention we are 70 year old cruiseaholics! 😂

 

Princess 2023 - New England/Canada B2B

Celebrity 2023 - Galapagos

Princess 2024 - Antarctica/South America B2B

Princess 2024 - Alaska B3B 

Princess 2024 - Norway/Baltic B2B

NCL 2024 - Egypt/Greece/Italy B3B

Princess 2025 - Brazil/Caribbean 

NCL 2025 - Longyearbyen/Iceland/Norway B2B

Princess 2025 - Iberian/Iceland Transatlantic B2B

 

 

Touché!

[WisCruiser2]

15 hours ago, bjkTX said:

There is also an issue with cabins being available in your category in order to re-fare.  We normally book B4 category premium balcony cabins - and when we see a price drop (not lately....) we can only get it if a B4 cabin is still available or we want to give up our cabin.  So most times we just keep what we have.

Hmm, back in July I checked fares for our February Enchanted booking. I just called Princess (had booked this directly with them) and was given the lower fare for the same cabin! Saved over $225pp.

[rjack22]

When checking fares be careful that you are comparing apples to apples.   I thought my cruise fare had dropped significantly but when I called Princess to re-fare I found out that when I made my original booking Princess Plus was added in before I saw the price.  Because back then you selected Princess Plus earlier in the process.   Now you see the fare without Princess plus and when you go through the process it gets added later.   So in the end there was no reduction in the price, just is how they figured it.

[LDVinNC]

Also booked on the August 2024 Emerald Princess Greenland trip.  I rebooked yesterday and moved from an oceanview to balcony in a better location and still saved about $100.  Yes, you have got to keep your eyes open!