2025 costs up, casino offers less, ships filling up……

[azbirdmom]

1 minute ago, Globaler said:

WOW - mine show a cheap deposit and then I get an email saying balance due. I’m going to ask my cruise planner what’s the deal.

 

Yes you pay everything when you book.  I was referring to what happens if you cancel.

[Globaler]

6 minutes ago, azbirdmom said:

 

Yes you pay everything when you book.  I was referring to what happens if you cancel.

Oh thanks for that clarification.

[JimmyVWine]

1 hour ago, Globaler said:

I know this isn’t going to be a popular comment but I would love to see Princess increase the deposits and or move the payment days up to reduce those booking multiple cabins and booking on a whim.

I'm right there with you.  Especially with Princess' stated goal of shifting its pricing strategy toward having the lowest prices at the announcement date of the itinerary and going up from there. (Which seems to be holding true based on my most recent bookings.)  By the time people release their unwanted cabins back into the mix, sometimes very late in the process, the prices are higher than they have ever been so the people picking up these cabins are paying really high fares.  And this causes a "if you can't beat them, join them" mentality with more and more people booking early with $1 deposits knowing full well that there is a 10% chance that they will actually ever take that cruise.  Maybe the solution is to put people on some sort of "probationary period" if they have canceled a certain number of cruises.  Princess knows who is doing this because people have to book using their Loyalty Membership Number.  So maybe after too many book/hold/cancel scenarios, that person is no longer eligible for a $1 deposit and has to secure their future cruises with $500 or so until a period of time passes and they complete a couple of cruises that they booked without cancelling.  Like you said.  Probably not a popular idea here.  

[Globaler]

9 minutes ago, JimmyVWine said:

I'm right there with you.  Especially with Princess' stated goal of shifting its pricing strategy toward having the lowest prices at the announcement date of the itinerary and going up from there. (Which seems to be holding true based on my most recent bookings.)  By the time people release their unwanted cabins back into the mix, sometimes very late in the process, the prices are higher than they have ever been so the people picking up these cabins are paying really high fares.  And this causes a "if you can't beat them, join them" mentality with more and more people booking early with $1 deposits knowing full well that there is a 10% chance that they will actually ever take that cruise.  Maybe the solution is to put people on some sort of "probationary period" if they have canceled a certain number of cruises.  Princess knows who is doing this because people have to book using their Loyalty Membership Number.  So maybe after too many book/hold/cancel scenarios, that person is no longer eligible for a $1 deposit and has to secure their future cruises with $500 or so until a period of time passes and they complete a couple of cruises that they booked without cancelling.  Like you said.  Probably not a popular idea here.  

I think if people had to pay up sooner with larger excelerated cancellation fees then that would level the field. However Princess is competing with other cruise lines and until others feel compelled to change then Princess will follow the herd.

[memoak]

39 minutes ago, azbirdmom said:

 

Yes you pay everything when you book.  I was referring to what happens if you cancel.

On casino comp cabin deals you pay $200 pp deposit which converts to OBC. If you cancel you will lose the deposit. It is sometimes a benefiting better deals come along that you want

[Globaler]

1 minute ago, memoak said:

On casino comp cabin deals you pay $200 pp deposit which converts to OBC. If you cancel you will lose the deposit. It is sometimes a benefiting better deals come along that you want

Ok so if I pay the deposit, then the next day I pay in full - I have some time were I can cancel and get my money back? How many months before I would lose more than my initial deposit? And I appreciate your info.

[azbirdmom]

6 minutes ago, Globaler said:

Ok so if I pay the deposit, then the next day I pay in full - I have some time were I can cancel and get my money back? How many months before I would lose more than my initial deposit? And I appreciate your info.

 

It depends on how far in advance of the embarkation date that you cancel and the length of the cruise.  For example this is the current cancellation schedule from the Princess website that would apply to most casino "comped" cruises too:

 

 

 

[memoak]

7 minutes ago, Globaler said:

Ok so if I pay the deposit, then the next day I pay in full - I have some time were I can cancel and get my money back? How many months before I would lose more than my initial deposit? And I appreciate your info.

I have always had to pay the total when I book. Note I pay to upgrade to full suites. If you cancel you will lose the deposit. After full payment is made standard cancellation rules apply and show on your booking

[Globaler]

Ok so thank you both. In this case, I can book the two cruises I was looking at and put down a deposit - if I cancel my payment would be refunded according to schedule shown by azbirdmom minus the deposit. In that case as memoak said, it’s worth the deposit to get my location and price. Only thing could be a price reduction or earning a better deal.

Edited March 21 by Globaler

[azbirdmom]

10 minutes ago, Globaler said:

Only thing could be a price reduction or earning a better deal.

 

The only time this may come into play is if you've paid to upgrade to a higher category than the one they've comped and then earn an offer that comps an even higher category.  Unless you plan to play significantly more than you do now this is unlikely especially when the offers aren't as good as they used to be.  So at least for me this isn't a concern.

[Globaler]

4 minutes ago, azbirdmom said:

 

The only time this may come into play is if you've paid to upgrade to a higher category than the one they've comped and then earn an offer that comps an even higher category.  Unless you plan to play significantly more than you do now this is unlikely especially when the offers aren't as good as they used to be.  So at least for me this isn't a concern.

Thank you and I doubt it is for me also! I don’t play to earn comp. I play because I enjoy it and the comp is a perk but not to the point that gamble more than I’m comfortable. However, I have discontinued my Vegas and Biloxi trips and now focus my gambling money towards maximizing my cruise trips.

[memoak]

29 minutes ago, azbirdmom said:

 

The only time this may come into play is if you've paid to upgrade to a higher category than the one they've comped and then earn an offer that comps an even higher category.  Unless you plan to play significantly more than you do now this is unlikely especially when the offers aren't as good as they used to be.  So at least for me this isn't a concern.

I had found a b2b on essentially the same route as one I had paid for and the price was so much less and had more days that the $400 hit was worth it

[Globaler]

Thanks to all. I never fail to learn something from this MB. I can book my casino offers, Pay a service charge of 200 per person (will get back as OBC on the cruise) that will be forfeited if I don’t take my cruise. I have to pay the total amount of the cruise but it is subject to the normal cancelation schedule. This means that all I would lose is 400 if I cancel on or before 90 days before departure. 
Based on how cruise prices continue to go up, it’s probably worth it to book and roll the dice on 400 per cruise!

[Globaler]

I booked 2 TA’s today for 2025 - one to Europe and one home. I decided I didn’t want to wait on a potential better offer coming from our two cruises this year. The ships are filling up as our CVP said that yes rates are up given all the bookings. I got the cabins we wanted so it was worth it for that and the casino rate is so so when compared to the deals I got in 2024.  All said I’m happy I’m booked.

[Kabuki12]

On 3/21/2024 at 7:14 AM, karatemom2 said:

 
We are noticing the same thing. Kicking ourselves now for not booking with some of our really good casino offers that expired at end of February. We hesitated due to the non refundable deposit and not being fully certain of the days I can take off work next year. But we didn’t really worry because we have always had multiple offers going. I guess as they say, you snooze you lose!! At this point we are just going to wait and see what kind of come back offer we get after our summer cruise. 

I did take advantage of that promo period and booked 4 cruises into next year but now wish that I would have booked more.   Every cruise across the board was free but now only certain cruises are and they are not near my home port.  They also tend to be last minute cruises.  Some over 20 days but transatlantic.    I hope that the next promo period is as generous as it used to be but I doubt it.  Ships are filling up.  

[kywildcatfanone]

I'm shocked package pricing increases haven't been announced yet