Princess Cruises Launches Cruise Industry's Best Price Guarantee on 2025 & 2026 Cruises

[LACruiser88]

June 27, 2024 9:30 AM EDT   Princess Cruises Launches Cruise Industry's Best Price Guarantee on 2025 & 2026 Cruises

The Line's New "Better than Best Price Guarantee" Lets Smart Shoppers Book Early with Absolute Confidence     FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla., June 27, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Smart shoppers looking for the very best price on their 2025 or 2026 cruise vacation will appreciate the new "Better than Best Price Guarantee" from Princess Cruises. From July 1-September 2, 2024, guests can book their dream Princess vacation with the added confidence of knowing they are securing the absolute best price available.     With the "Better than Best Price Guarantee" guests are assured that if they find a better price for the same Princess cruise, stateroom category, and sail date at any time before their final payment, Princess will honor the lower rate and provide 120% of the difference in the form of an onboard credit.   "Our new guarantee underscores the Princess commitment to offering unparalleled value and exceptional service to guests…value that is unmatched by land-based vacations," said Terry Thornton, Princess Cruises chief commercial officer. "With our booking volume for 2025 voyages already nearly 30% higher than it has ever been at this point in the typical booking cycle, securing your spot early has never been more important and this offer not only guarantees the best rates, but also ensures guests can choose their preferred dates and destinations. This way, guests can enjoy the best selection of Princess worldwide destinations and accommodations, knowing they have the best rate available for their cruise."   How it Works If a guest who books a cruise between July 1 and September 2, 2024, for any 2025 or 2026 departure, finds an active, publicly available lower price for the identical verified booking on princess.com prior to the final payment of the cruise, guests can submit a Guarantee Claim Form and Princess will give the guest an onboard credit (OBC) with a value of 120% of the difference between what the guest actually paid for the original booking the located fare (or other mutually agreed makegood). Full terms and conditions can be found here: https://www.princess.com/en-us/plan/best-price-guarantee/terms-and-conditions.

Edited Thursday at 01:41 PM by LACruiser88

[Mud_Shark]

Kind of tells you that "sales" will not be reduced fares (before final payment) but rather, OBC or other perks that would not have to be matched by this guarantee.

[Host CJSKIDS]

Once again, thanks for sharing and keeping us up-to-date on all new things Princess @LACruiser88!

[azbirdmom]

I hope it's real, not like the excursion price guarantee that had lots of loopholes and was virtually impossible to claim.  I also hope they aren't going to dynamic pricing but doubt that could be implemented given the IT challenges for simple things.

[PacnGoNow]

Thank you for that posting.

 

My concern: Who will be working this OBC?  Hopefully,

it will not be offshore.

 

[Boku]

Will we be able to transfer the OBC from ship to ship?

[MacMadame]

4 hours ago, Mud_Shark said:

Kind of tells you that "sales" will not be reduced fares (before final payment) but rather, OBC or other perks that would not have to be matched by this guarantee.

This is the second time Princess has had a promotion like this since I booked a Princess cruise last year and there were sales after that point. Including for my cruise which I was able to refare with no issues even though I had not booked during the required window.

 

So I'm not sure that this guarantee is so special that you would try to book your 2025 & 2026 cruises from July 1 to September 2, 2024, and not when you want to book them. The 120% OBC would be nice though. (It wasn't part of the first promotion.)

[cr8tiv1]

34 minutes ago, MacMadame said:

This is the second time Princess has had a promotion like this since I booked a Princess cruise last year and there were sales after that point. Including for my cruise which I was able to refare with no issues even though I had not booked during the required window.

 

So I'm not sure that this guarantee is so special that you would try to book your 2025 & 2026 cruises from July 1 to September 2, 2024, and not when you want to book them. The 120% OBC would be nice though. (It wasn't part of the first promotion.)

 

I am also curious about this.  I already have 2025/2026 cruises booked before "window".  Does this mean that I will be excluded from this guarantee?  I guess I always have the option to refare if the price drops.  My category is already sold out so I would not risk the chance of cancelling and rebooking specific cabin.

[paddingtonbear]

Doesn’t it just mean that the price isn’t going to drop between now and the 2025 and 2026 sailings? And it has to be on princess.com not a TA website, doesn’t it? Earliest price is the best. 

Edited Thursday at 07:11 PM by paddingtonbear

[MacMadame]

22 minutes ago, cr8tiv1 said:

 

I am also curious about this.  I already have 2025/2026 cruises booked before "window".  Does this mean that I will be excluded from this guarantee?  I guess I always have the option to refare if the price drops.  My category is already sold out so I would not risk the chance of cancelling and rebooking specific cabin.

We are excluded.

 

BUT as I said and many have experienced, if there is a price drop, you can get a refare if the sale is not for new bookings only.

 

I completely expect some sales between now and sailing for at least some 2025/2026 cruises so I think Princess might be paying out some OBC to people who took them up on this offer. But it's probably worth it to them to get a rash of bookings right now for whatever reason.

[ebeluga]

10 minutes ago, paddingtonbear said:

Doesn’t it just mean that the price isn’t going to drop between now and the 2025 and 2026 sailings? And it has to be on princess.com not a TA website, doesn’t it? Earliest price is the best. 

Yeah, they tend to do that - offloading lowest price GTY to other online booking sites and just keep the same or higher price on Princess.com.

[Rubynic]

We have received confirmation from Princess that this only applies to bookings in North America. As with most deals & the ability to refare without charge, it is not available to customers in the UK,

[AZaTaz]

I find it interesting that it starts the same day the new pricing scheme goes into effect July 1.
I have several cruises booked for 2025/26 right now but all of them are lower price than if I rebooked now. 

Edited Thursday at 09:12 PM by AZaTaz

[LACruiser88]

22 minutes ago, AZaTaz said:

I have several cruises booked for 2025/26 right now but all of them are lower price than if I rebooked now. 

Same for us.  Another Princess shell game!

[Gail & Dan]

49 minutes ago, LACruiser88 said:

Same for us.  Another Princess shell game!

We have A BINGO !! 

 

[Ken the cruiser]

Just so I understand what this promotion covers regarding this statement:

  

With the "Better than Best Price Guarantee" guests are assured that if they find a better price for the same Princess cruise, stateroom category, and sail date at any time before their final payment, Princess will honor the lower rate and provide 120% of the difference in the form of an onboard credit.

 

Case in point. We booked an M1 cabin on the 32-day Oct 2025 Tahiti cruise RT from LA when it first came out last year. About 6 months ago, the base cruise fare dropped about $4,000 per person! I know, I almost fell of my chair when I saw it. Our TA later refared our booking without issue to the lower fare.

 

Fast forward to this new promotion. IF this promotion was in effect when we originally booked our Tahiti cruise, would our fare have still been reduced or would we simply have been given $9,600 in nonrefundable OBC after filling out the Guarantee Claim Form, with the original cruise fare remaining intact? 🤔

 

Edited Friday at 02:43 AM by Ken the cruiser

[rmsmith]

24 minutes ago, Ken the cruiser said:

Just so I understand what this promotion covers regarding this statement:

  

With the "Better than Best Price Guarantee" guests are assured that if they find a better price for the same Princess cruise, stateroom category, and sail date at any time before their final payment, Princess will honor the lower rate and provide 120% of the difference in the form of an onboard credit.

 

Case in point. We booked an M1 cabin on the 32-day Oct 2025 Tahiti cruise RT from LA when it first came out last year. About 6 months ago, the base cruise fare dropped about $4,000 per person! I know, I almost fell of my chair when I saw it. Our TA later refared our booking without issue to the lower fare.

 

Fast forward to this new promotion. IF this promotion was in effect when we originally booked our Tahiti cruise, would our fare have still been reduced or would we simply have been given $9,600 in nonrefundable OBC, after filling out the Guarantee Claim Form, with the original cruise fare remaining intact? 🤔

 

From the PR:
Princess will honor the lower rate and provide 120% of the difference in the form of an onboard credit.

 

For me the key is "AND" so I would look for the lower rate plus the 9600 in OBC, but dang, good luck spending all that OCB!  Lots of spa treatments, maybe some expensive bottles of wine?

 

Be interested in others thoughts.

[rmsmith]

With the announced high booking rates, this is an easy promotion for Princess to offer.  And all the effort remains on the customer, I bet most folks don't monitor fares after they book, and many of those that do don't do it enough to catch a lower fare.

[Ken the cruiser]

25 minutes ago, rmsmith said:

From the PR:
Princess will honor the lower rate and provide 120% of the difference in the form of an onboard credit.

 

For me the key is "AND" so I would look for the lower rate plus the 9600 in OBC, but dang, good luck spending all that OCB!  Lots of spa treatments, maybe some expensive bottles of wine?

 

Be interested in others thoughts.

I read it as they will honor the lower rate by providing 120% of the difference in the form of onboard credit. I’m hoping you can still refare your booking, but they are hoping you will instead take the 120% in OBC. IOW you get an additional 120%, but they get to keep the original cruise fare intact.

 

But I guess time will tell as to how this promotion will actually be implemented.

Edited Friday at 03:26 AM by Ken the cruiser

[rmsmith]

6 minutes ago, Ken the cruiser said:

I read it as they will honor the lower rate by providing 120% of the difference in the form of onboard credit. I’m hoping you can still refare your booking, but they are hoping you will instead take the 120% in OBC. IOW you get an additional 120%, but they get to keep the original cruise fare intact.

 

But I guess time will tell as to how this promotion will actually be implemented.

you may very well be correct.  As you said, time will tell.  And of course most situations won't be as extreme as your situation would have been.  I wonder if the OBC would be refundable, probably not.

 

On the plus side for my wife and I, while we're looking forward to our Sept cruise, I've been starting to think about a 2026 cruise, maybe booking during the offer period wouldn't be a bad idea.

[Esprit]

10 hours ago, Rubynic said:

We have received confirmation from Princess that this only applies to bookings in North America. As with most deals & the ability to refare without charge, it is not available to customers in the UK,

We are just second class citizens here in the UK!

[CaptainPedantic]

15 hours ago, Rubynic said:

We have received confirmation from Princess that this only applies to bookings in North America. As with most deals & the ability to refare without charge, it is not available to customers in the UK,

😞 not surprised but still 😞 

[cruzsnooze]

10 hours ago, rmsmith said:

From the PR:
Princess will honor the lower rate and provide 120% of the difference in the form of an onboard credit.

 

For me the key is "AND" so I would look for the lower rate plus the 9600 in OBC, but dang, good luck spending all that OCB!  Lots of spa treatments, maybe some expensive bottles of wine?

 

 

Your math is off.  If the DIFFERENCE is say $ 200 you get 120% of $200 or $240 OBC not the entire cruise fare.

[wcook]

The wording is you get the lower fare and you get 120% of the difference in OBC. But I think we here know it must mean you get one or the other. 

[cruzsnooze]

15 minutes ago, wcook said:

The wording is you get the lower fare and you get 120% of the difference in OBC. But I think we here know it must mean you get one or the other. 

I think you get both. When Princess had a similar gty on shore excursion I submitted a form and got the lower price and 10% of the difference. That promo was several years ago.  Giving 120% of the difference is peanuts and must be spent on board which means it's not full value. If you buy a trinket for $50 with OBC it wasn't $50 lost income to Princess because it didn't cost Princess $50. I have no idea what the mark up margin is but I assume it's a minimum 50% meaning that trinket cost Princess $25.