Sip and Sail Available Only if Trip Booked in Segments

The Royal South America cruise 2/2/19 does not appear to have the Sip and Sail Offer. BUT, if I book Ft. Lauderdale - Buenos Aries and Buenos Aries - Los Angeles, I can get the offer. What gives?

BTW on cruise.com it was also slightly cheaper to split the voyage.

Thanks for any insights/guidance.

The Royal South America cruise 2/2/19 does not appear to have the Sip and Sail Offer. BUT, if I book Ft. Lauderdale - Buenos Aries and Buenos Aries - Los Angeles, I can get the offer. What gives?

 

BTW on cruise.com it was also slightly cheaper to split the voyage.

 

Thanks for any insights/guidance.

Marketing. ;)

What is more interesting is that the 1/3 segments turning over in Chile (Buenos Aires to Valparaiso and Valparaiso to Los Angeles) have disappeared completely even though the 2/3 segment of Ft Lauderdale to Valparaiso is still shown. Though this may relate to the fact that those who elect OBC in lieu of the AIBP will get a separate OBC per each section of the booking---so Princess is making sure everyone who wishes the entire 49 day Circle of South America books it as two and exactly two cruises rather than three.

Anyway I would have no qualms booking Ft Lauderdale to Buenos Aires separately from the rest of the sailing as it is far more likely to have a price drop than the other segments. Would not be surprised if for that segment a future promotional fare plus the cost of 16 days AIBP ends up adding up to less than the current Sip n Sail fare.

(You do know that this thread will shortly go *poof* because you used the name of a travel agent; hope you see the responses you want first)

You will get the Sip & Sail by booking two segments but you lose the other perks. Free gratuities, OBC and 3% fare discount. Amounted to $2,850 for us. We had our statement from our 48 day cruise last fall. The bar bill was reasonable. We chose to keep the full 49 day booking.

Cheers, Denise

Thanks Fishywood. So do you recommend booking Buenos Aries - Los Angeles and holding off on the first leg? Why is the first leg more likely to drop?

Thanks Fishywood. So do you recommend booking Buenos Aries - Los Angeles and holding off on the first leg? Why is the first leg more likely to drop?

I did not mean to imply you should hold off on booking the first leg, just that there is no disadvantage to having it under a separate booking number. Even if a price drop is marked "new bookings only" you or your agent can still try to put some pressure on Princess for an upgrade or some other consideration. But if you hold off on booking Ft Lauderdale to Buenos Aires you may be hard pressed to obtain your Brazilian Visa without paying huge fees to an expediter. The time and effort required for that Visa is why the price can drop substantially even before final payment on any cruise calling at Brazil that does not sell quickly at opening. Though again I am not advising that you not book the entire itinerary at once if that is what you wish.

Thanks again Fishywood. We'll be able to go to the Consulate General in person to apply.

You will get the Sip & Sail by booking two segments but you lose the other perks. Free gratuities, OBC and 3% fare discount. Amounted to $2,850 for us. We had our statement from our 48 day cruise last fall. The bar bill was reasonable. We chose to keep the full 49 day booking.

Cheers, Denise

That's exactly right. You lose those other benefits that may make it less advantageous for you.

dchip, thanks. I see your point about the OBC, I'll take your word for it on the fare, but I can't see where the free gratuities come from.

dchip, thanks. I see your point about the OBC, I'll take your word for it on the fare, but I can't see where the free gratuities come from.

Hi Eric

When I go into my personalizer and look at pre paying gratuities, it shows they are paid. :)

I read about the 3% fare discount here and mentioned it to my TA. I think it's because you can't use your FCC but who knows why.

The OBC was $500 pp.

Cheers, Denise

The last time we did this exact cruise on the Crown it was 3 segments but us in North America could only book two segments either FLL to BA then BA to LA or FLL to VAL then VAL to LA. The BA to VAL was never available to us. So we booked as FLL to VAL then VAL to LA. The first leg never really came down but the second leg did come down considerably.

Since we have stock and loyalty credits we were able to get these for each leg. If we did as a full 49 we would only get it once. Also Future Cruise Deposit is double.

We usually don't care about the drink package but it is a good perk. If the price drops enough to make it worth the change we will take the price drop and lose the drink package, but it will have to be a good deal.

Of course it really depends on you and what is right for you. Also what you booked and for what price and perks is what you really need to focus on.

We also wanted to change cabins in Valparaiso as we don't want the sun in the afternoon as it was so intense and made the balcony unusable. So we have port side cabin FLL to VAL and then starboard VAL up the coast to LA.

looking forward to heading back to SA

Hi Eric

 

When I go into my personalizer and look at pre paying gratuities, it shows they are paid. :)

 

I read about the 3% fare discount here and mentioned it to my TA. I think it's because you can't use your FCC but who knows why.

 

The OBC was $500 pp.

 

Cheers, Denise

That is a good deal too. We booked forty days on the Royal with the free gratuities sale a month or so ago.

That is a good deal too. We booked forty days on the Royal with the free gratuities sale a month or so ago.

We are very happy with our perks. We calculated our last two cruises, one which was 48 days. We averaged $30 per day for both of us on beverages.

Cheers, Denise

 

I read about the 3% fare discount here and mentioned it to my TA. I think it's because you can't use your FCC but who knows why.

 

You do use the FCC to get the 3% discount. You get it instead of the usual OBC associated with an FCC.

Reason is that the rules of an FCC offer the discount instead of OBC for cruises longer than 45 days. The 3% discount will normally be more than the OBC would have been.

Also applies for any World Cruise segment even if less than 45 days.

You do use the FCC to get the 3% discount. You get it instead of the usual OBC associated with an FCC.

 

 

Reason is that the rules of an FCC offer the discount instead of OBC for cruises longer than 45 days. The 3% discount will normally be more than the OBC would have been.

 

 

Also applies for any World Cruise segment even if less than 45 days.

Finally!!!!! Thank you so much!!! For the life of me I couldn't figure out why Princess refunded $200 to our credit card and two FCC's disappeared the day after we booked our 49 day cruise. I started a thread asking that question but never got a real answer.

Thanks again, Caribill :D

So, here's my math on this. For simplicity, let's assume no FCC and that the fare is the same for segments and the entire cruise. Let's also assume you get gratuities for the entire cruise, although I can't find that mentioned on a booking site.

Booking a top price balcony cabin for the entire cruise, you get, per person per day, $13.50 in gratuities and $10.20 in OBC ($1000 total). You give up a beverage package that costs $57.45.

One can argue the value of the beverage package, but I don't think anyone would say it's not worth $23.70.

Booking the segments looks like a no brainer to me. What am I overlooking?

Thanks.

You will get the Sip & Sail by booking two segments but you lose the other perks. Free gratuities, OBC and 3% fare discount. Amounted to $2,850 for us. We had our statement from our 48 day cruise last fall. The bar bill was reasonable. We chose to keep the full 49 day booking.

 

Cheers, Denise

So, the "free" gratuities was from a previous sale?

So, the "free" gratuities was from a previous sale?

The prepaid gratuities were if you booked the 49 days as one cruise.

Eric, if the Sip & Sail works for you, do it by all means. :D For us it didn't work as well. Whichever way it works, we are thrilled to be able to take this cruise.

Cheers, Denise

PS: I just did a fake 49 day booking. It is no longer showing the prepaid gratuities or OBC. We booked 3 weeks ago. Interesting.

So, the "free" gratuities was from a previous sale?

yes that was offered on a sale a few weeks ago, but no drink package was offered then. Now it is drink package but no gratuities.

We booked 40 days on the Royal Jan 2018 with free gratuities - also bottle of wine

yes that was offered on a sale a few weeks ago, but no drink package was offered then. Now it is drink package but no gratuities.

 

We booked 40 days on the Royal Jan 2018 with free gratuities - also bottle of wine

Vickie, we could not get the drink package for the 49 days even if we gave up the prior perks. Is it different in Canada?

Cheers, Denise

Vickie, we could not get the drink package for the 49 days even if we gave up the prior perks. Is it different in Canada?

 

Cheers, Denise

The drink package is available if you book the cruise as a b2b (19 day + 30 day). If you go to Princess' website you will see those cruises have the drink package available but the 49 day does not.

Also, I just went and did a mock booking. The "special offers" of free gratuities and OBC are still there. Someone above (dchip) said it wasn't any longer.

The drink package is available if you book the cruise as a b2b (19 day + 30 day). If you go to Princess' website you will see those cruises have the drink package available but the 49 day does not.

 

Also, I just went and did a mock booking. The "special offers" of free gratuities and OBC are still there. Someone above (dchip) said it wasn't any longer.

Weird. I did do a mock booking and didn't see it. Sorry guys!!

Cheers, Denise

Weird. I did do a mock booking and didn't see it. Sorry guys!!

 

Cheers, Denise

I show it under special offers of free gratuities and OBC 500 pp.

We are booked on the 30 day segment with the sip n sail.

Vickie, we could not get the drink package for the 49 days even if we gave up the prior perks. Is it different in Canada?

 

Cheers, Denise

no for the 49 days we had to book it as two segments to get the drink package, it was not offered for the 49 days.

no for the 49 days we had to book it as two segments to get the drink package, it was not offered for the 49 days.

Thanks Vickie. Thought I was losing it. It is 107 here again today.

Cheers, Denise