What was your best Princess deal ever?

[Genessa]

mine was a 12 night Mediterranean brochure offer for $799pp, booked with ta and got free gratuities included, which upped the price a little, but less than by the amount of the gratuities and got cabin credit, too! Air fare actually ended up being about $100 more than the cruise, lol.

[Helenalee]

$299/pp inside, plus $200 OBC in 2013 - Akasaka cruise on Sapphire Princess from Vancouver to Anchorage. It was a flash sale, 3 weeks prior to sailing.

[lovevacadays]

I got a great deal on the Sapphire Princess back in 2010. Cruises were cheaper then due to the economic downturn. I sailed on a 7 day Mexican Riviera cruise. Paid $379.00 pp for an obstructed view cabin and got upgraded to a full ocean view cabin on Plaza deck. It was great!:):)

 

I found it on Princess' website. My mom had just passed away and I needed to get away so checked the website.

 

The other cruise that had an amazing price was a 3 day cruise I did with a friend in January of this year on the Crown Princess. It was a 3 day to Ensenada. We paid $89.50 for a Caribe deck balcony! I was the lucky recipient of my friend's offer from Princess. She does a little gambling when she cruises. Princess was having difficulty selling these 3 day cruises on the West Coast so sent out specials to casino users. She received an offer for a free inside cabin (plus a guest at the same price) with only having to pay port taxes. We decided to ask about the balcony cost and at $89.50 for Caribe we just couldn't resist.

Edited April 15, 2015 by MichelleinOC

[billco]

This year...20 days on the Royal in a mini-suite for $1800 each plus $200 OBC. The sale only lasted a couple of days.

BUT we didn't book:(:(:(. We had scheduling conflicts. I still cry myself to sleep.

 

 

We booked that cruise. I was just going to post that was my best deal. Learned about it from a CC post on this forum.

[Nebr.cruiser]

Not our best deal over all, but probably our best on Princess. 14 night LA to Hawaii cruise for $1299 per person in a balcony with free grats and $400 OBC.

 

As to another post, we often have refunded OBC--in December it was over $300. We don't spend much on board, or drink.

[taxatty]

Princess can give good deals other ways than a cruise. In 2005, well in advance of a late July trip, we independently booked two nights at the Kenai Princess Lodge prior to a Princess cruise. Princess must have overbooked the lodge because they called me about a month before our trip and asked what we would do to cancel or switch one of the two nights there. For switching one of the nights, we got two rooms for two nights free at the Captain Cook Hotel in Anchorage and two nights free at the Kenai Princess in a huge nice room that held the four of us.

Edited April 15, 2015 by taxatty

[sfaaa]

$199 Balcony for 5 days Pacific Coastal on Island Princess May 2014. Added bonus: Great weather the whole way.

[Renmar]

14NT/B2B "Voyage of the Glaciers" on Sapphire for $1700 all-in for two in an obstructed. We had exquisite weather as well. It was an email promo.

 

Same for us, June 2013, but at even a little less than that. This was a last minute and did not involve flying. Can't remember if it was email or our TA.

 

Theo

[Cruise Junky]

$1,199 pp for a mid ship balcony, on Ruby - Grand Mediterranean with $550 OBC

 

We had our air booked for a Europe land trip but noticed cruise prices were dropping like crazy close to final payment. We picked out three cruises that fit our time frame and interest and watched them like a hawk. We could have gotten Celebrity for $999 pp but we liked the itinerary on Ruby better.

Edited April 15, 2015 by Cruise Junky

[cdnphotogirl]

I can't speak for me but my mum's best Princess deal...10 Baltic Cruise on Royal and 10 day Alaskan on Golden for FREE!!!!:D

 

First cruise paid for by 4 of her 5 daughters for her 80th birthday. (I paid for the all the flights, hotels for the 4 weeks in Europe) and the second cruise, hotel and flights paid for by me. Last two things on her bucket list....mission accomplished. ;)

 

We only have one mother, she and my dad made sure we wanted for nothing growing up so it is my turn to take care of her and make sure she wants for nothing. At least that is the way I look at things.

Edited April 15, 2015 by cdnphotogirl

[Renmar]

I can't speak for me but my mum's best Princess deal...10 Baltic Cruise on Royal and 10 day Alaskan on Golden for FREE!!!!:D

 

First cruise paid for by 4 of her 5 daughters for her 80th birthday. (I paid for the all the flights, hotels for the 4 weeks in Europe) and the second cruise, hotel and flights paid for by me. Last two things on her bucket list....mission accomplished. ;)

 

We only have one mother, she and my dad made sure we wanted for nothing growing up so it is my turn to take care of her and make sure she wants for nothing. At least that is the way I look at things.

 

Can you have a good talk with OUR kids :D . Our 50th anniversary is coming up.

 

Theo

[girlguide]

14NT/B2B "Voyage of the Glaciers" on Sapphire for $1700 all-in for two in an obstructed. We had exquisite weather as well. It was an email promo.

 

We did this one twice! 2012 on Diamond for about $1400 & 2013 on Coral for about $1500.

 

First time it came in an email - the next year I checked Princess's website & found it again. I think it was there last year, but we had a Celebrity credit to use.

[Times Prince]

Never known a ship to give you your unspent OBC. It's always been "use it or lose it":confused::confused:

Some types of OBC have refundable balances if unused. Often the ones with a Move-Over offer are refundable.

[SoCal Cruiser78]

My best offer was for two FREE 3-nighters B2B (six nights total). I would have had to pay just port charges. They were both LA to Ensenada on the Crown last November. It was a casino deal, but I couldn't go due to family commitments. I guess they weren't selling well.

Edited April 15, 2015 by SoCal Cruiser78

[annalouise]

I was on a balcony guarantee booking on Dawn Princess departing last Friday. On Wednesday I got my cabin allocation. On Thursday Princess rang me and offered me a full refund to move to an inside cabin. It was initially OBC but the balance of $1800 is going to be sent by cheque. They would have refunded to my credit card but I asked for cheque instead. I already had $50 military OBC, so it was a very cheap cruise :cool:

 

It turned out the sea was quite rough some of the time and the inside cabin midship was much more comfortable than the forward balcony deck 12 I had been allocated. I know because family were in a similar forward balcony deck 12 cabin and it was pitching and rolling all over the place.

[sunshine nana]

2009 Baltic from Copenhagen for $1800 including insurance for a Caribe mini with the huge balcony. I had been checking daily for several months and out of the blue got a call from Princess with the offer. Our best cruise out of 11.

We had done 2 previous Princess cruises, but then did 2 NCL's, so we had not been on Princess for 3 years. Also, the stock market had crashed and we were in the Great Recession. I would not want a repeat of that to get a good price!

[moonglum]

Diamond Princess to the far east in March 2011. Got it for free!

 

We had booked to go to South America but 2 weeks before we went TA called saying Princess had overbooked that cruise and wanted to do a deal. Deal was full refund and free cruise to the value of what we had originally paid.

 

Total no brainer.:):):)

[seattlec5]

Well nice to hear stories of getting a cruise for free. I've never had that happen, but on a cruise during the inaugural season for the Grand we had a standard balcony reserved and at the last minute were upgraded to a penthouse suite! What made it even better was the presence of a butler in those days for suite passengers. Made for a pretty special week.

Edited April 15, 2015 by seattlec5

[RocketMan275]

And how did you find it?

 

My first Princess cruise out of Houston March a year ago. Booked an aft balcony through Princess at $1350 PP. Price drop reported on CC. Rebooked at $1050. Price then went back to $1350. Another price drop I found with a mock booking. Rebooked at $850 PP. Price went back to $1350 and then sold out. All in all, saved $500 PP.

[tgomfe]

On our first Alaska cruise, the day before our cruise we got a call from our travel agent that Princess needed our balcony cabin on the northbound Coral, and offered to upgrade us to a midship Mini Suite on the southbound Diamond leaving the same day (they would make the necessary flight changes for us as we had booked Princess Air). And we got a $1000 obc to boot!

[TomCruises]

And how did you find it?

 

 

 

I certainly cannot give up secrets and a lot of hard work so that you can simply go searching for your very own deal based upon everyone's input herein . May I suggest you figure it out for yourself

[Georgie562]

I would say last year when they had the World of Savings sale.

I was able to book a 10 Day Tahiti cruise with a $100 deposit. This sale was giving $700 discount on flights per person. So I was able to do a 10 Day Tahiti cruise flight included for a little less than $2,000 per person on a balcony

[4x4bob]

Two years ago Princess made us an offer that we could not refuse. :D

 

We signed up for their "free Cruise" Program. The way it worked we took a cruise and the price of our cabin then would be applied as payment for the next cruise. The first one was a California Coastal and the second "free" one was out of Houston down to Honduras.

 

Then this February we lucked into a 7 night cruise for Ocean view for $249.00 each down to Puerto Vallarta, Mexico

 

Bob

[Poulsbo Cruisers]

On the last morning of our 1992 cruise on the NCL Westward, my DW developed food poisoning from something she ate the prior evening. This effected several passengers. NCL changed our flight and put us up in a hotel until my wife could travel. Now for the good deal. NCL gave us a free Caribbean cruise the next year. I don't think you would ever see something like that again.

[VibeGuy]

I am remiss: I did not tell the tale of how I got paid $2 to sail as a solo.

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1393016 was actually about this cruise.

 

A friend (who posts here) regularly sails as a solo, and found that top-grade Interior cabins on an LA-Vancouver Coastal (Coral, I think) were selling for $259 ppdo, but rather than the expected $518, had a single-occupancy price of $18.

 

This was two years and a few months before the sailing date.

 

We booked two cabins (one for me, one for my DH) and very slowly told other friends about the deal so as to not trigger yield management to look at booking velocity. I believe we purchased 18 cabins between us. We told everybody to pay in full, print a copy of the invoice showing paid status, and shut the hell up. No talking to customer service, period. No name changes. Nothing. You can't go? I'll refund your fare.

 

I was pretty sure that someone would catch on. In general, error fares don't have to be honored by travel providers - this was clearly egregiously wrong, the remedy to the line was to refund the fare in full, nobody could have had air yet (tickets weren't open for booking), etc.

 

30 days passed. 60 days passed. 90 days passed. I figured that once we hit 180 days, it would be reasonable to argue, if forced, that they'd had six months to discover their error and rescind the pricing, but after that, there would have to be some serious incentives to shut us up in the event of a change.

 

Not a word from anyone at Princess for the remaining time. Various members of our group got meta-upgrades. I decided to get bold and send in my Shareholder OBC request about three weeks out from sailing, after printing my boarding pass.

 

Absolutely zero issues. Shareholder and Loyalty OBC applied. Two cruise credits issued. Elite minibars in my stateroom and that of DH.

 

I think the all-in cost was $73pp. Minus shareholder and loyalty, that means I got paid $2 to get on board. Further, I redeemed my Princess Visa points for a statement credit after the sailing, so a decent chunk of my onboard spend was taken care of.