Princess Pricing

First time on this forum. I am planning a 2014 Alaska crusietour for my family (10-14).

What is the best way to get the best price. We are all going to be in double occupancy. So is it straight to the website, travel agent, or another option? What has worked best for you?

My wife and I and a couple of others have cruised once before but for the most part this will be the first time for the majority.

Thanks for any information.

Go to the Princess Forum for Princess questions.

Princess allows TA's to discount their rates .

Booking direct with Princess gets you

retail rates .

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Thanks for the info. I will try the Princess forum as well.

You have to search around, but you should be able to find a TA that offers a good discount off the Princess prices. We generally save 10 to 15%

Great thanks. There is an agent locally. I did not know if there costs would increase my potential savings.

Great thanks. There is an agent locally. I did not know if there costs would increase my potential savings.

When you talk to the agent, ask about cancellation fees or change fees that the agent or agency charges, above and beyond any that Princess may charge. Many travel agents don't charge anything; the cruise lines pay them commission. But some do, and in those cases the costs may in fact exceed the savings.

That is an excellent point. Thanks for the information.

If you can hold off until labor day a lot of the online sites will be offering up a lot of freebees as well as discounted prices. Look for obc, specialty dinning, reduced deposit and cabin upgrades. happy cruising.

Forgot to mention one of the better freebees, look for prepaid gratuities as well.

Great thanks. There is an agent locally. I did not know if there costs would increase my potential savings.

I would shop around. I live in Texas and my travel agent is a small home based travel agent in Pennsylvania. She discounts Princess cruises by about 8-10% I think. I've never met her, only spoken to her over the phone and I think she's fabulous. I "cheated" on her for one of my upcoming cruises :eek: because a large online travel agent was offering a huge amount of freebies and OBC for a particular cruise, and there was no way my small TA would have been able to match it. However, the post-booking customer service with the large agency has been HORRIBLE, and they charge a $50 fee for canceling a cruise, which my small TA does not.

It pays to shop around.

I will make sure I do some price shopping. Thanks.

A good TA is the way to go. Develop a relationship and they can give you a heads up of upcoming sales for any bucket list cruises you may have.