Princess Cruises ripping off Australians

[woodienz]

I have travelled on 6 cruises with Princess most out of Northern Hempishere Ports. My most recent cruise was a 31 day cruise from Singapore to Capetown on Ocean Princess in 2010. We paid NZ$11,200 pp for a Mini Suite. We are shortly to embark on a 35 day cruise from Sydney around South Pacific on Dawn Princess and booked a balcony cabin at $11,235 pp!!. A Mini Suite was costing NZ$21605. I have compared a number of cruises of similar length and find that cruises on ships not based in Australia, are approximately half the price of those that are ie Sea Princess, Dawn Princess and Sun Princess. Another example is Cruise 7227A - Sydney to Papeete (26 days) on Ocean Princess (not based in Australia) - Mini suite NZ$9,476 and Balcony NZ$7556.

 

Also, the ships based out of Australia are all over 10 years old would have been written down in the books of Princess. So I cannot understand the pricing policy adopted for those ships based out of Australia. I can only come to the conclusion that Australians and New Zealanders are being ripped off relative to what is available elsewhere under the Princess banner.

[MrYellowDuck]

If right now you look at Island Princess - Voyage of the Glaciers with Glacier Bay for 1 July 2013 you'll see:

 

In USD terms a NZ cruiser will pay 9% more for a suite through 17% more for an interior cabin.

 

Easily tested. Connect to the US over a VPN. Delete the princess.com cookie. Go to the site and get your prices. Disconnect the VPN. Go back to the site and get the new much higher local prices. Convert at xe.com

 

This is true rip-off stuff really. Especially when you consider that someone for NZ may well have paid $5k for the airfare to get to the ship too.

[paddingtonbear]

Carnival Australia are now charging this same 1.5% on credit card payments on all on board accounts but we are used to this as we have always had to pay a fee for using a C/C for air fares and holidays and etc. The same applies in the UK as well.

 

Since you are australian you might be interested in this:

 

You can always pay direct debit. The advantage of using a CC is mine gives me "free" travel insurance so it is worth it to pay the 1.5%. There is a new account offered by NAB called a gold account (not gold card) where you deposit money in your account and can withdraw it anywhere in the world in that countries currency for no charge except the exchange rate which is an exceptionally good rate. No ATM charge either. No deposit and withdraw charge.

 

If you use a travel passport (by combank) you should check this new offering out. We recently used it in Europe and NZ and it is true! Saved us heaps.

[paddingtonbear]

I don't know what can be done about differential pricing except to travel with someone from overseas and get the best of both worlds.

 

We are travelling with someone from UK and they can get great rates on Canadian Rental cars that we can't match at all.

 

I guess one reason Australians pay more to travel (and eat/live here!!) is because there are so few of us. Princess has a call centre here staffed (by australians) from 3am in the morning because they have to confer with the US princess people. I guess these factors all have to be taken into account along with exchange rates etc (we pay in AUD and they are a USA company).

 

If you are desperate to cruise cheaply best bet is to move to florida and take last minute deals :D:D:D

 

The prices for 2013 Alaska cruises are much cheaper now than the same cruise in 2012. A few months ago the 2012 cruises were cheaper by $1000. You really need to keep your eye on price fluctuations if you care about saving money.

[paddingtonbear]

One last thing :D:D:D

 

So often people complain about the price of a cruise and then tell you they are doing a 10 day land tour with the cruise line and 10 excursions booked through the cruise line. I find this so annoying. If you really care about saving money pay the cruise fare and then do your own independent tour and save 2/3 of the cost of the cruisetour.

[woodienz]

I don't know what can be done about differential pricing except to travel with someone from overseas and get the best of both worlds.

 

We are travelling with someone from UK and they can get great rates on Canadian Rental cars that we can't match at all.

 

I guess one reason Australians pay more to travel (and eat/live here!!) is because there are so few of us. Princess has a call centre here staffed (by australians) from 3am in the morning because they have to confer with the US princess people. I guess these factors all have to be taken into account along with exchange rates etc (we pay in AUD and they are a USA company).

 

If you are desperate to cruise cheaply best bet is to move to florida and take last minute deals :D:D:D

 

The prices for 2013 Alaska cruises are much cheaper now than the same cruise in 2012. A few months ago the 2012 cruises were cheaper by $1000. You really need to keep your eye on price fluctuations if you care about saving money.

 

I think you are missing the point. I know that I can get much cheaper cruises out of the US. I have done that. The cruise I took from Fort Lauderdale to Los Angeles through the Panama Canal was a lot cheaper than for a 16 day cruise on an older ship based out of Australia. They are ships based out of the US. When I challenge Princess Australia about their pricing policy they openly admit that they are taking advantage of a lack of other lines based in Australia and charging higher prices. When the competition hots up with other Lines basing ships in Australia, prices may come down. In the meantime we get ripped off.

[paddingtonbear]

I think you are missing the point. I know that I can get much cheaper cruises out of the US. I have done that. The cruise I took from Fort Lauderdale to Los Angeles through the Panama Canal was a lot cheaper than for a 16 day cruise on an older ship based out of Australia. They are ships based out of the US. When I challenge Princess Australia about their pricing policy they openly admit that they are taking advantage of a lack of other lines based in Australia and charging higher prices. When the competition hots up with other Lines basing ships in Australia, prices may come down. In the meantime we get ripped off.

 

I do understand what you are saying.

 

Also for the same cruise from Vancouver to Alaska, same cabin (balcony), if I buy it in UK it would cost me 226 AUD LESS per person. If I buy it in USA it would cost me 348 AUD LESS per person than what I pay when I buy it in Australia.

 

They get us whether we cruise in Australia or in the US.

 

Carnival have started advertising on TV down here now for 2013 I think! Have you seen the ads?

[jagoffee]

I think you are missing the point. I know that I can get much cheaper cruises out of the US. I have done that. The cruise I took from Fort Lauderdale to Los Angeles through the Panama Canal was a lot cheaper than for a 16 day cruise on an older ship based out of Australia. They are ships based out of the US. When I challenge Princess Australia about their pricing policy they openly admit that they are taking advantage of a lack of other lines based in Australia and charging higher prices. When the competition hots up with other Lines basing ships in Australia, prices may come down. In the meantime we get ripped off.

I am sure that you know that you are not really comparing "apples to apples". Certainly market pricing is a major factor. You even see that in different locations in the US. Also all cruises to the same place are not the same price depending on how many have previously booked on the cruise.

I suspect that it cost more for supplies in Australia than in the US. Also I recall something concerning the service charge perhaps being included in Australia?

 

I agree with you that you will be able to get less expensive cruises out of the US or any port that has a lot of different ships and competition. I suspect this is true on some European based cruises as well. But you do have the extra expense of the air fare to get to the cruise port.

 

Personally i love to cruise in Australia/New Zealand, Tahiti, and Europe, but getting there is always a hassle and added expense. I do not really view the added cost as getting ripped off. It is just the price I pay to live one place and take a holiday in another.

[cantwaitfornextcruise]

It is the same in the UK.

We have just back from the Carribean where i was talking to an American couple who could not belive that we had paid nearly four times more than they had for the same cruise in the same cabin grade and could not belive we could not get the price drops either:mad::mad:

 

We can get price drop in the UK, if you do it 180 days from sailing for our last cruise in Feb I had 4 price drops in total and for June had 1 pric drop, so far for Nov I've had 3. May I ask were you comparing cruise only costs or Princess UK with flights, hotel and transfers, we do cruise only and our cost is very similar to US costs only a few £ in it, check it out. Now our OZ/NZ cruise in Jan is another story our friends from the US have a mini for less than our balcony go figure that one cause I can't. Would I cancel no way, it's supply and demand