Very Unhappy with Princess pricing

[MommaBear55]

All of the major lines do the same thing. Set a price in your mind that you are happy with, book at that price. If it goes down latter you may be able to take advantage of it, if it is higher you can be happy in what you paid.

[ansoninc]

The sale is on through Aug 31.

 

 

 

Thank you! Now if I only knew what the price will be after the sale. Geesh!

 

 

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[Cuizer2]

Hi everyone at CC,

 

Why does Princess has a "sale" and raise the price!!!

 

 

Kaye

 

Probably because their sales people and accountants were trained by Royal Caribbean.

[getaway101]

I don't quite understand why anyone would even think of booking through Princess when a TA can discount their price, unlike Royal and Celebrity. :confused:

[Raamo]

The price can go up when the sale includes gratuities or has things like sip and sale. We saw the price go up under $200 when they added $400 in credits. So sometimes the OBC can make the difference.

[whitecap]

I don't quite understand why anyone would even think of booking through Princess when a TA can discount their price, unlike Royal and Celebrity. :confused:

 

Speaking from experience, this isn't always the case: when we began cruising in 2010, we began with a TA and each cruise thereafter, we got a reduced fare and usually OBC and or a bottle of wine. Last year we realized that we were no longer getting any special rates, TA would quote the same as on the Princess website, and the OBC and wine dried up as well. Then they instituted a fee to cancel or change a booking. We stopped using the TA immediately and began booking direct with Princess. We haven't had a single issue (fingers crossed of course) and a couple of times we have even had such a pleasant conversation that by the end of the call we had also received "something". Our former TA, part of a major credit card, merged a year and a half ago with some other company and everything changed and so did we.

Edited August 8, 2016 by whitecap

[Astro Flyer]

I agree that their pricing techniques can make you need a vacation. I am trying to figure out when their current sip and sail sale ends. If you use the drink package it can be a money saver at $50.00 a day.

 

Any ideas?

 

 

The sale is on through Aug 31.

 

Being capacity controlled, the S+S may not be available for all cruises even prior to the expiration date.

[Alaskanb]

The price can go up when the sale includes gratuities or has things like sip and sale. We saw the price go up under $200 when they added $400 in credits. So sometimes the OBC can make the difference.

I always look at the total package including OBC to come up with a final cost.

[cherylandtk]

Hi everyone at CC,

 

We are looking at a spring time cruise for 2017. My DH and I were looking at pricing on Princess web page. We discussed our options for a while then decided to log in. When we did, there was a big price Increase. At first there was no Sun Drenched Deal pricing and when we re-logged in the Sun Drenched deal came up. The cruise we are looking at now is $200 pp more under the Sun Drenched Sale! This all happen within 20 minute window.

 

Why does Princess has a "sale" and raise the price!!!

 

Besides the sale price problem, we have noticed that as a returning Princess customer we no longer get a reduce price when we log in. They use to have a returning customer perk of getting a little cost reduction.

 

We will wait for this "sale" to go off and recheck the price of the cruise we want. Mean while, we will be checking other cruise lines.

 

Thanks for letting me vent. :D

 

Kaye

It is possible you were not looking far enough into the booking to see accurate pricing when you first looked. The Sun Drenched Deal sale price that comes up is for one sailing date only....not all of them. You either have to go further into the booking, or click on the "see all dates and prices" tab.

 

I see that you were looking at a DZ cabin on the Regal a few days ago. I checked that category on a price tracking website for a few spring sailings, and they all came up at the same price $1149 regardless of 2017 sail date. This is the lowest price this year except for a short sale from 5/13-24 when it was $1099.

 

However, when you see the Sun Drenched Deal ad for the 7 day Caribbean sailings, it shows a balcony at $999. That is the price for the Dec. 11 sailing only.

 

Perhaps something like this is what may be happening when you looked? If you give us more information about the ship and date, or check a price tracking website, you can see if the price actually went up or if you just did not go far enough into the actual price for a specific sailing on the website.

[lor74]

I was looking into a Royal Princess cruise this morning, but was too busy at work to actually decide to book it.....I finally have a chance to get on the computer this evening, and the price has gone up $340......I am so upset right now!

 

If only I had the time earlier to even put a hold on it......I am sad....:(

[Sea Hag]

I am not saying that this is not true, but I am curious. Did you actually test your theory and find a less expensive fare after you cleared your cookies or from another computer?

 

I have read articles that state that this has never really been proven, but how would anyone know for sure?

 

I've never caught them doing this. Once for sure, a cruise I was booked on went down in price, and I saw that price reduction logged in on their website. Asked for a price adjustment and got it.

 

But it's certainly possible to do this with cookies. I build websites, and it's amazing the amount of information you can cause to write into a cookie.

 

Cookies are browser-based. If I access princess.com in one browser, any cookie written to that browser's cookie store won't activate in another browser.

 

I just checked the price of the cruise I'm currently booked on, using the browser that I always use for things like that. I was logged into my account. Then I opened a browser that I never use for princess.com and looked at prices there, not logged in. I saw $50 more right across the board for all cabin types. Next, I opened a third browser that I've never used when looking at this cruise. Saw the $50 more prices unlogged in, and saw the prices I originally saw after I logged in with this third browser. Browsers are Firefox, MS Edge, and Chrome. So, I'd have to say that they're not cookying my interest on that cruise and keeping the price up. Right now, that is.

[curlybelle2]

It is possible you were not looking far enough into the booking to see accurate pricing when you first looked. The Sun Drenched Deal sale price that comes up is for one sailing date only....not all of them. You either have to go further into the booking, or click on the "see all dates and prices" tab.

 

I see that you were looking at a DZ cabin on the Regal a few days ago. I checked that category on a price tracking website for a few spring sailings, and they all came up at the same price $1149 regardless of 2017 sail date. This is the lowest price this year except for a short sale from 5/13-24 when it was $1099.

 

However, when you see the Sun Drenched Deal ad for the 7 day Caribbean

sailings, it shows a balcony at $999. That is the price for the Dec. 11 sailing

only.

 

Perhaps something like this is what may be happening when you looked? If you give us more information about the ship and date, or check a price tracking website, you can see if the price actually went up or if you just did not go far enough into the actual price for a specific sailing on the website.

 

Thank you for your input. I did go all the way into the pricing, almost to ready to book. I had been looking at different categories as well.

We are actually looking at the Royal 10 day cruise in Feb. we need to get going and make our decision. Thanks again. Kaye

[land lover]

A snarky response really doesn't help us "less educated" cruisers learn. Some lines consider a price drop to be a cancel and new booking, so i am wondering if that is the case or not. This knowledge will help us decide if it is worth risking the deposit.

 

I have not read the whole thread but did you know you can ask for pricing with a refundable deposit on a promo sailing?

Edited August 9, 2016 by land lover

[nanabananna]

A snarky response really doesn't help us "less educated" cruisers learn. Some lines consider a price drop to be a cancel and new booking, so i am wondering if that is the case or not. This knowledge will help us decide if it is worth risking the deposit.

 

 

I agree with the remark presented in the above quote. Seems as thought most times one will find a bad apple in the bunch. Maybe it was just a bad Monday for her. Forget it happened, not worth the time.

 

I am fairly new too, and I am sure I have asked "dumb" questions. How else do we learn than to ask questions? :)

[land lover]

I was looking into a Royal Princess cruise this morning, but was too busy at work to actually decide to book it.....I finally have a chance to get on the computer this evening, and the price has gone up $340......I am so upset right now!

 

If only I had the time earlier to even put a hold on it......I am sad....:(

 

And it will probably we down again next week..I would not worry only unless it was a cabin that you must have...

[jagoffee]

I've never caught them doing this. Once for sure, a cruise I was booked on went down in price, and I saw that price reduction logged in on their website. Asked for a price adjustment and got it.

 

But it's certainly possible to do this with cookies. I build websites, and it's amazing the amount of information you can cause to write into a cookie.

 

Cookies are browser-based. If I access princess.com in one browser, any cookie written to that browser's cookie store won't activate in another browser.

 

I just checked the price of the cruise I'm currently booked on, using the browser that I always use for things like that. I was logged into my account. Then I opened a browser that I never use for princess.com and looked at prices there, not logged in. I saw $50 more right across the board for all cabin types. Next, I opened a third browser that I've never used when looking at this cruise. Saw the $50 more prices unlogged in, and saw the prices I originally saw after I logged in with this third browser. Browsers are Firefox, MS Edge, and Chrome. So, I'd have to say that they're not cookying my interest on that cruise and keeping the price up. Right now, that is.

Thank you for taking the time to explain what you saw. I may be confused, but since you saw the lower price only after you logged in couldn't this been a reduced price for being a repeat cruiser? There is a statement that says to log in to see if there is a lower price.

[easyboy]

I agree with the remark presented in the above quote. Seems as thought most times one will find a bad apple in the bunch. Maybe it was just a bad Monday for her. Forget it happened, not worth the time.

 

I am fairly new too, and I am sure I have asked "dumb" questions. How else do we learn than to ask questions? :)

Very true:)

[snoodqueen]

Princess pricing makes no sense to anyone except Princess. I have two cruises booked. On one of them, I wanted to move to a cabin priced slightly higher and there was no problem, no penalty and I kept my OBC. On the other, I wanted to move to a cabin slightly lower priced but in the location I wanted. I was even willing to pay the higher price of my original cabin but was told that it would have to be re-fared and I would lose my OBC. Add in the poor exchange in the Canadian dollar and no incentives from Princess means less cruising for us.

[Iamcruzin]

I have to agree. The sale prices aren't a sale at all. I was looking at 2018 10 day Caribbean itineraries that offer the sip and sale promotion. The balcony starts at $2300. Really! How much do you have to drink to break even with that deal? I think I would need a liver transplant after that sailing. Even if I could find a Princess TA who discounts it would still be too much money. CC members on the Celebrity board are always complaining of the higher cruise fares due to the included beverage package. Celebrity is currently offering a 10 southern Caribbean cruise which includes a premium beverage package, paid gratuities, $300 OBC and unlimited internet. I believe the starting price of a balcony is around $1549 pp.

[Cruise Junky]

Their prices are crazy right now. We compared 10 day Caribbean cruises for next November. We went with Celebrity for $1,400 less for the two of us. Drink package on both, plus $300 OBC, gratuities and free internet on Celebrity. That's a crazy difference.

[Iamcruzin]

I am not saying that this is not true, but I am curious. Did you actually test your theory and find a less expensive fare after you cleared your cookies or from another computer?

 

I have read articles that state that this has never really been proven, but how would anyone know for sure?

 

I have not experienced this with Princess but I have with a car rental service. I was researching a car rental for may son. I was checking every few days. I kept getting the same prices. My son went to the website on his laptop and found a cheaper price for the same car. After I cleared my cookies I was offered the same price.

[easyboy]

Their prices are crazy right now. We compared 10 day Caribbean cruises for next November. We went with Celebrity for $1,400 less for the two of us. Drink package on both, plus $300 OBC, gratuities and free internet on Celebrity. That's a crazy difference.

Very good deal!

[Sea Hag]

Thank you for taking the time to explain what you saw. I may be confused, but since you saw the lower price only after you logged in couldn't this been a reduced price for being a repeat cruiser? There is a statement that says to log in to see if there is a lower price.

 

Absolutely it was! Sorry I wasn't clear. What I was saying was that the site wasn't cookying me to keep the price up. Although, in hindsight, running through things like I did quickly doesn't really make the case.

 

I can do that another way. Opening the folder that holds Firefox cookies on my computer, I can quickly see that there isn't a cookie - not one - from princess.com. I see cookies from where I'd expect them from, but none from Princess. I should have done this from the get-go instead of all that browser flipping. Sorry about that.

[Sitmar Lady]

We are paying $600 per person more for our Hawaiian Cruise this year then we paid in 2011 & 2013. Perhaps (and I'm thinking positively) Princess needs to increase pricing to maintain some level of quality in food & service. Prices in 2015 were so low for their 50th Anniversary but I really noticed the the quality we are accustomed to was rapidly declining.

 

I may be alone in this opinion, but I don't mind the price increases if the value goes back up. Time will tell...

[myfuzzy]

You know its funny...you talking about "cookies". Until recently, the only "cookies" I knew about were the ones I eat LOL....

 

Anyway.....Last week I was channel surfing in the morning and on one of those four hour AM shows, honestly, don't remember which one, I stumbled across Peter Greenburg speaking, I immediately returned to that channel and turned it up to listen to what he had to say..and lo and behold, he was talking prices, on everything travel. He mentioned that if you go to a specific website to look at prices, and return later to check again, the site has your "cookies" on "file" so you may or may not get a different price. He did say that if you "clear your cookies" it will erase any previous checks on prices. He also did say that if you went to a different computer, you could also get a cheaper price. Makes one go "Hmmmm"