Cruise is now cheaper - can we do anything?

[Muffinz]

We booked our cruise in February 2024 for December 2024, as part of their 'love boat sale' with $99 deposits

Now we've received an e-mail from Princess about a '7 day sale'... and you guessed it, our cruise is now cheaper than what we paid for it (we booked directly with Princess) - it's about $300 cheaper overall

 

When we first looked at the cruise it was quite cheap, but had gone up a little bit by the time we booked it.... the person on the phone at Princess said as the ship starts to fill up the price also goes up accordingly.... but now it's on 'sale'.

 

Is there anything we can do (contact Princess) to get the cruise at the cheaper price - or do we just have to suck it up?

 

[loupana]

I've had success getting 3 price reductions for my Enchanted Princess cruise in August 2024. I also booked directly with Princess. My final payment date isn't until May 2024. I notice the price drops and called in each time and did not have any problem getting the reduced price. Total savings for me was $668.00 CAD.

[MTNest93]

Worst case scenario you should be able to cancel and rebook, although I would rebook, then cancel just to make sure you get a cabin you're happy with.  But I would call first and see if they can just adjust the fare without changing cabins.  We were able to rebook a cruise last year when prices went down and we upgraded our cabin for the same price.  Our TA handled it all for us, but since you booked direct, you'll need to call Princess.

[ontheweb]

There is one thing you need to be aware of. You said you booked with a $99 deposit. The new rate might require a larger deposit. You could lose your cruise if you do not immediately add to your deposit if and when you are allowed to switch to the new rate.

[leck57]

35 minutes ago, Muffinz said:

We booked our cruise in February 2024 for December 2024, as part of their 'love boat sale' with $99 deposits

Now we've received an e-mail from Princess about a '7 day sale'... and you guessed it, our cruise is now cheaper than what we paid for it (we booked directly with Princess) - it's about $300 cheaper overall

 

When we first looked at the cruise it was quite cheap, but had gone up a little bit by the time we booked it.... the person on the phone at Princess said as the ship starts to fill up the price also goes up accordingly.... but now it's on 'sale'.

 

Is there anything we can do (contact Princess) to get the cruise at the cheaper price - or do we just have to suck it up?

 

 

In Aust and NZ it is harder to re-fare. I would try and call Princess, as it appears you booked with them direct. If you had other incentives like OBC you may lose them as they may not be included with the new price. If you can't re-fare it comes down to whether your deposits were refundable. If so, you could simply cancel and rebook. If not you might still be in front but is it worth the hassle. You may or may not get the cabin you had, if one had been allocated. 

[telecheck]

Princess has launched a new promotion today where some cruises offer $100 OBC per stateroom. However, I noticed that at the same time the price per person has actually increased by $100. This means you will be paying $200 more per stateroom, but you are only receiving $100 OBC. In essence, you are losing $100 even when factoring in the additional OBC, not to mention the fact that you are required to spend more to avail of that OBC.

[cruisinsince75]

We had the same thing happen on our Nov Regal cruise.  Our situation was a little different.  We were in an accessible Mini.  Since there were no accessible Minis available in the base category we were only charged for the base Mini Suite.  When the base fare went down, we tried to re-fare, but the price actually went up.  So we canceled the original booking, and booked online at the lower price. 

[MacMadame]

10 hours ago, MTNest93 said:

We were able to rebook a cruise last year when prices went down and we upgraded our cabin for the same price.

That's what we did! We saved almost $1000 and got a better location. I called the CVP line and got some random person whose name I forgot to write down. It was very easy.

[Ken the cruiser]

4 hours ago, telecheck said:

Princess has launched a new promotion today where some cruises offer $100 OBC per stateroom. However, I noticed that at the same time the price per person has actually increased by $100. This means you will be paying $200 more per stateroom, but you are only receiving $100 OBC. In essence, you are losing $100 even when factoring in the additional OBC, not to mention the fact that you are required to spend more to avail of that OBC.

Thanks for the heads up! We just requested that our TA refare our booking to not only take advantage of the $200 OBC but also save us $350 in fare reduction. 👍

[Teechur]

I just checked our 3 bookings and in each case the price has gone up since we booked, and the sale did not help. ☹️

[ldubs]

@leck57 makes a good point about rules being potentially differrent in different countries. 

 

From here, as long as it is apples-to-apples and prior to final payment, yes you can get the lower fare. 

Edited April 5 by ldubs

[sunviking90]

We had our upcoming cruise refared a couple of times and most recently after final payment! Our CVP is great. We were able to keep the hefty OBC attached when we booked last year too. Of course now it’s on the Drop and Go even cheaper but it can’t be refared to that special she says. We are still about even with our OBC though.

We have decided now that unless it’s a real bucket list cruise to wait until 2 months before sailing to book. I know most on here would disagree, but there are about 3 itineraries we are eying for 2025 and all of them went for about 40% less a couple of months before this year's sailing. 
 

[Ken the cruiser]

2 hours ago, Ken the cruiser said:

Thanks for the heads up! We just requested that our TA refare our booking to not only take advantage of the $200 OBC but also save us $350 in fare reduction. 👍

Just heard back from our awesome TA. She wasn’t able to get the sale’s $200 OBC applied during the refare process, probably because it was for new bookings only. However, she was able to get us $550 off our original fare, which works out even better than we anticipated as the reduction also brought down the price of the insurance! 🕺💃🏻

[RV Queen]

I want your TA!  

[FLAlaska]

Ive successfully refared a Sky TA in Nov 2025 3 times this week. The price keeps going down. just call Princess. Each call took all of a few minutes.

 

I  have another cruise booked in Jan '25 booked with a $400 OBC. that fare also went down but doesn't include the OBC so I left that one as is.

[Muffinz]

thanks for the replies.... I might see if wife can phone Princess this week and ask about the price difference.

We won't cancel and re-book if we have to pay a larger deposit or choose a different stateroom though

[Esprit]

Re faring here in the U.K. isn’t possible. So I hate seeing these threads with so many people successfully getting their booked cruise price reduced.

C’est la vie!

[Lady Meer]

9 minutes ago, Esprit said:

Re faring here in the U.K. isn’t possible. So I hate seeing these threads with so many people successfully getting their booked cruise price reduced.

C’est la vie!

Our TA got us a reduced fare on our next cruise [2 reserve mini suites) after the prices fell considerably, so it is possible. 

[OzKiwiJJ]

7 hours ago, Muffinz said:

!thanks for the replies.... I might see if wife can phone Princess this week and ask about the price difference.

We won't cancel and re-book if we have to pay a larger deposit or choose a different stateroom though

We've been able to refare a number of cruises over the past 10 years. However you have to take into account the value (to you) of any perks that you have with your current booking and make sure you either keep those or that the new fare is still cheaper taking those into account. 

 

For example one cruise we could hae refared would hae meant losing OBC and a speciality dining credit, so we didn't refare. On another cruise we would have lost a complimentary bottle of wine - no big deal so we refared that one.

[Esprit]

6 hours ago, Lady Meer said:

Our TA got us a reduced fare on our next cruise [2 reserve mini suites) after the prices fell considerably, so it is possible. 

I know the CC rules say we can’t promote TA’s but could you give me a clue to who you use please. Perhaps by location in the U.K.!

[rbtan]

On 4/5/2024 at 6:28 AM, Muffinz said:

We booked our cruise in February 2024 for December 2024, as part of their 'love boat sale' with $99 deposits

Now we've received an e-mail from Princess about a '7 day sale'... and you guessed it, our cruise is now cheaper than what we paid for it (we booked directly with Princess) - it's about $300 cheaper overall

 

When we first looked at the cruise it was quite cheap, but had gone up a little bit by the time we booked it.... the person on the phone at Princess said as the ship starts to fill up the price also goes up accordingly.... but now it's on 'sale'.

 

Is there anything we can do (contact Princess) to get the cruise at the cheaper price - or do we just have to suck it up?

 

Call Princess & ask for the lower price in OBC. They should grant it. Next time use a T/A & save the trouble.

[Boatharbour]

On 4/6/2024 at 7:51 PM, OzKiwiJJ said:

We've been able to refare a number of cruises over the past 10 years. However you have to take into account the value (to you) of any perks that you have with your current booking and make sure you either keep those or that the new fare is still cheaper taking those into account. 

 

For example one cruise we could hae refared would hae meant losing OBC and a speciality dining credit, so we didn't refare. On another cruise we would have lost a complimentary bottle of wine - no big deal so we refared that one.

Were you able to do this if you booked in Australia? There has been a big drop in the price 

of our January 2025 Princess cruise. We’ve only ever booked with Celebrity before and they won’t refare. 

[Arizona Wildcat]

On 4/5/2024 at 5:05 PM, RV Queen said:

I want your TA!  

Our October TA had a price reduction.  There was no need to cancel and rebook.  Simply let Princess or your TA know.  Some dozen people from the roll call were able to reference at anywhere from a couple hundred to $2000 reduction in fares.

We were able to keep our group fare.

The warning is the (perks)OBC from your old fare goes away and you get OBC from the new fare

[Boatharbour]

1 hour ago, Boatharbour said:

Were you able to do this if you booked in Australia? There has been a big drop in the price 

of our January 2025 Princess cruise. We’ve only ever booked with Celebrity before and they won’t refare. 

I called Princess in Australia first thing and was able to rebook the same room but at $4000 less than our original booking! They also rebooked all of our shore excursions for us.
There will be a bit of a crossover with refunds and new payments for a few days plus a slightly higher deposit, but I’m so happy that I read this thread. Thanks everyone for the tips. 

[jdhhr]

Anyone have luck upgrading cabin classes and moving ez air fare from the old booking to the new one?  I got a good deal on air fare and don't want to lose it.