To wait or not to wait - that is the question

[HairyBiker777]

Hi all,

 

I'm looking to book two balcony rooms on the Crown Princess trip around New Zealand, leaving Sydney on Feb 8 2025. I'm undecided about whether to book now or to wait in the hope that prices will come down. We live in Sydney and will be travelling with friends who are coming from the UK to cruise with us. We don't want to mess our friends around, and my gut feeling is to book it now and eliminate the risk of missing out.

 

I've got a couple of prices - one from a US-based company who say they'll give us a better rate if the price drops after booking, and another slightly higher price from a local company without such a guarantee. The local company is offering a Princess promo of $150 credit per stateroom and even with that credit applied, they're still a little more expensive than the US agent. I don't know yet if the US agent is offering that promotion; I'm waiting to hear back from them.

 

One slightly worrying thing is that as I proceed through the local agent's booking process - just checking prices - I see a message saying that Princess has a policy that reservations must be made by an agent in the customer's country of residence (see attached screenshot). I hope this doesn't mean we would struggle to book through them for our UK-based friends. I guess as long as I'm paying for everything then I'll be fine.

 

Any thoughts on whether to wait or strike while the iron is hot?

 

TIA

HB

[Thrak]

We always book early and watch the price go up. Once in a great while it goes down and we rebook at the lower price but, for the most part, the prices go up. I know that on our upcoming cruise the price went up dramatically.

Edited March 20 by Thrak

[Arizona Wildcat]

7 minutes ago, HairyBiker777 said:

Hi all,

 

I'm looking to book two balcony rooms on the Crown Princess trip around New Zealand, leaving Sydney on Feb 8 2025. I'm undecided about whether to book now or to wait in the hope that prices will come down. We live in Sydney and will be travelling with friends who are coming from the UK to cruise with us. We don't want to mess our friends around, and my gut feeling is to book it now and eliminate the risk of missing out.

 

I've got a couple of prices - one from a US-based company who say they'll give us a better rate if the price drops after booking, and another slightly higher price from a local company without such a guarantee. The local company is offering a Princess promo of $150 credit per stateroom and even with that credit applied, they're still a little more expensive than the US agent. I don't know yet if the US agent is offering that promotion; I'm waiting to hear back from them.

 

One slightly worrying thing is that as I proceed through the local agent's booking process - just checking prices - I see a message saying that Princess has a policy that reservations must be made by an agent in the customer's country of residence (see attached screenshot). I hope this doesn't mean we would struggle to book through them for our UK-based friends. I guess as long as I'm paying for everything then I'll be fine.

 

Any thoughts on whether to wait or strike while the iron is hot?

 

TIA

HB

Ships in Australia are sailing full today.  Book now if you are in the US and cancell or rebook if the price drops.  If sailing with UK friends their rules are different so either use your US address or whatever you prefer.

[2022cruisey]

Why not book with Princess? They usually let you refare if it becomes cheaper, or alternatively cancel without penalty until a certain date.  Have saved thousands on my NZ cruise that we went on in January.

[Astro Flyer]

Like Thrak, I’d suggest booking early & watching for price decreases which my US based TA gets for me however your rules might be different than in the US.

 

We booked the very popular twice yearly Princess cruise around Australia two years in advance & prices have only increased with little to no availability. We’ve also booked an Auckland to LA transpacific cruise sailing a couple of days later & had an early price reduction but nothing since then for cruises that are a year from now.

 

I don’t know about the legalities of booking cruises for Aussies sailing outside of your country. Your UK friends might need to book from their country & have read their rules are different than when booking in the US.

 

Good luck…hope your crystal-ball is clear to lead you to your best option.
 

[icat2000]

Not permitted for Australians/NZ to book with overseas agent unless they have done it in the past. This rule have been around for over a decade.

 

Its to protect the local travel agent market. I would suggest that your Australians friends book directly with Princess and then watch out for any price drops which they can get adjusted up until final payment. Certain cruises in Australia sell out very quickly. 

[HairyBiker777]

3 hours ago, 2022cruisey said:

Why not book with Princess? They usually let you refare if it becomes cheaper, or alternatively cancel without penalty until a certain date.  Have saved thousands on my NZ cruise that we went on in January.

 

Purely because of price - booking direct with Princess is c. $200 per room more than the best agent price that I've seen. Re-booking sounds good but it doesn't sound like prices drop very often...

[HairyBiker777]

3 hours ago, icat2000 said:

Not permitted for Australians/NZ to book with overseas agent unless they have done it in the past. This rule have been around for over a decade.

 

Its to protect the local travel agent market. I would suggest that your Australians friends book directly with Princess and then watch out for any price drops which they can get adjusted up until final payment. Certain cruises in Australia sell out very quickly. 

 

Actually, we're the Aussies! We're in Sydney. Our English friends will be travelling from the UK to sail with us. Your point about being not able to use foreign agents is an interesting one - the US travel agent I'm dealing with is adamant that I can book through her.

[icat2000]

1 hour ago, HairyBiker777 said:

 

Actually, we're the Aussies! We're in Sydney. Our English friends will be travelling from the UK to sail with us. Your point about being not able to use foreign agents is an interesting one - the US travel agent I'm dealing with is adamant that I can book through her.

Well if she adamant let her try if you think you get a better deal. Remember booking through US agent you have to add taxes to it plus your Gratuities are not included in the fare like they are if you book within Australia.

 

Also factor in the exchange rate as she do the booking in US dollars.

Edited March 21 by icat2000

[leck57]

I have been watching that cruise and about two weeks ago the prices went up. By about the same amount as what the new Princess promotion is offering in OBC!! There are plenty of cabins remaining but I'd be booking now as I think any price drops will be minor. I'm waiting to get a FCD on a cruise we are doing shortly and will use it if I can, but I'm not fussed if I miss out. There is also Royal Princess NZ cruises around this time and I'd probably rather cruise on that ship.

[TRLD]

you also might want to make sure that you are comparing the terms between the bookings in different countries. For example  on some ships sailing out of australia passengers booking under US terms pay gratuities, where as it is included for those booking under Australian terms.

[JordanF]

This thread made me curious.  We booked a cruise for 2026 (not a typo) on February 5, 2024, so just about 6 weeks ago.  I just checked the price for the cabin next door (same category), and the total cruise would be $740 more if I booked today.  

[Astro Flyer]

1 hour ago, JordanF said:

This thread made me curious.  We booked a cruise for 2026 (not a typo) on February 5, 2024, so just about 6 weeks ago.  I just checked the price for the cabin next door (same category), and the total cruise would be $740 more if I booked today.  

That’s not surprising to me that you booked about 2 years in advance which is what we did for our around Australia cruise from Brisbane a year from now. We booked roundtrip from Brisbane for a couple of reasons…it was nearly a third less than from Sydney & we’ve never been to Brisbane. There were fewer cabins available from Brisbane so we needed to book ASAP which we did do.

 

[Paula_MacFan]

2 hours ago, JordanF said:

This thread made me curious.  We booked a cruise for 2026 (not a typo) on February 5, 2024, so just about 6 weeks ago.  I just checked the price for the cabin next door (same category), and the total cruise would be $740 more if I booked today.  

We have a 2026 cruise booked too and it's gone up $100 per person so far.  

[TRLD]

Unlike in the past when you could book early and then usually catch a sale or two to lower the price and improve the terms.  These days I am not seeing much.  When a sale does pop up the total value seems to pencil out to be my original booked price or higher.

[MTNest93]

We booked a cruise in Jul '23 for Feb '25.  The fare on that cruise has gone up $1,532 (for 2).  We have another that we booked in Jan '24 for Feb '26.  That one hasn't really changed much. We did our 1st cruise last July and had booked about a year prior.  When the price dropped, we ended up going from a Reserve Collection mini to a Window Suite for the same price!  I don't see any downside to booking early. 

[Paula_MacFan]

5 minutes ago, MTNest93 said:

When the price dropped, we ended up going from a Reserve Collection mini to a Window Suite for the same price!  I don't see any downside to booking early. 

Here's the pricing for our 2026 Panama Canal cruise.  I chose the window suite 🙂 It made no sense to me to pay more for the Reserve mini when I can get all the same perks plus more, for less money.  I can live without a balcony this time!  For 2 people the difference between the Reserve mini and the window suite is $1,248 on the 12 day cruise.  

[HairyBiker777]

Thanks for the many replies. Some great advice there 👍 

[MTNest93]

On 3/21/2024 at 3:33 PM, Paula_MacFan said:

Here's the pricing for our 2026 Panama Canal cruise.  I chose the window suite 🙂 It made no sense to me to pay more for the Reserve mini when I can get all the same perks plus more, for less money.  I can live without a balcony this time!  For 2 people the difference between the Reserve mini and the window suite is $1,248 on the 12 day cruise.  

That's exactly what we did!!  We were in F301 and LOVED that cabin!!  The location is perfect and we wouldn't hesitate to book that room again.  Didn't miss the balcony one bit and enjoyed all the full suite benefits.  Have a great time!

[lx200gps]

We've become huge converts to booking, with refundable deposits of course, as early as possible, since fares generally seem to rise with time. Certainly every single one of our four booked trips is more expensive than we we booked it. I just checked the price for the few remaining selectable (i.e. not Guarantee) balcony cabins for our C/NE trip out of Boston this July. If we booked the same category cabin near ours, it would be a staggering $2000 more than what we paid.  And we only booked this trip last year.

[ChutChut]

I'd do it now.

[Grego]

On 3/21/2024 at 6:50 PM, HairyBiker777 said:

Thanks for the many replies. Some great advice there 👍 

Listen to the answers that suggest book now for the cabin you want and then either be diligent about watching the fares going forward and re-fare when you see a lowering of the fares. For the last eight years we have booked our voyages through our Princess Vacation Planner who either catches the fare reduction or acts quickly on our input and gets it done.

[OzKiwiJJ]

We always book in advance then watch for price drops. If they happen before final payment we've usually been able to get our booking refared.

 

If you book though an overseas TA you will be charged the daily gratuities. Also be aware that overseas prices don't always include port fees and taxes up front, they are added on just before you complete the booking. In Australia what you see up front is what you pay and there are no extra gratuities,