Sip n' Sail coming back June 20th

[Josie2]

Not so lucky on our November 2018 cruise. Price with Sip and Sail is $160 pp more [emoji53]

 

 

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[beg3yrs]

My TA just told us that Sip and Sail is limited to 100 cabins per sailing. That may have been specific to the Pacific Princess but I'm not sure.

[memoak]

I can verify that you cannot combine a casino rate and Sip N Sail - I lost my casino rate but on a 20 day cruise the AIBP and specialty dining is worth much more that the deal I had been getting.(you can't always get what you want) - But it is still a great deal

[canadarocks]

delete

Edited June 20, 2017 by canadarocks
wrong cabin category

[Astro Flyer]

My TA just told us that Sip and Sail is limited to 100 cabins per sailing. That may have been specific to the Pacific Princess but I'm not sure.

 

Hopefully that's only on the Pacific Princess which is highly in demand with much less availability.

 

With 338 cabins then 100 cabins is 30% of the cabins that are available. If they use the same percentage then that would be 534 of the Royal-class ship's 1780 cabins.

 

If all sailings are limited to 30% of the cabins for S+S, those who snooze may lose. ;)

 

And to get the specialty dinner, eligible passengers is minisuites & suites need to book by 7/5/17 or they'll lose that extra benefit.

[vplsh]

We've booked ocean view cabins for our next three Princess sailings. Two would be covered under the time frame for S & S. To upgrade to a balcony with the AIBP would be $1800 more for our 14 day cruise on the Crown and $660 more for our 10 day cruise on Island in December 2018. We didn't feel the need for balconies and don't think there's any way that would be worth it for us just to get a free beverage package.

Hopefully the 3 for Free promotion will come out afterwards and cover our oceanview cabins!

[Ronnieslady]

Our Star Alaska cruise LA to LA 9/18/18 had gone up so much from when we booked it last April, the Sip & Sail didn't make sense.

 

 

 

But we did rebook our 12/15/18 Mexico cruise with the same price as when we originally booked and got the Sip & Sail OBC of $150pp + the Specialty dinner for 2.

 

 

 

Same thing happened to us. Our S6 suite went up $500.00 more pp.

What a bummer

 

 

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[RocketMan275]

Had booked a Vista Suite under the $1.00 deposit promo.

Was able to rebook under Sip and Sail and there was no increase in the deposit.

Interestingly, Princess says the Beverage package is worth ~$57 PP PN but is offering a choice between $150 OBC and the Beverage Package.

 

In effect, Princess is offering the Beverage Package for $150 PP PN. That tells me that Princess thinks the value of the package is only slightly more than $21 PP PN.

[Iamcruzin]

Had booked a Vista Suite under the $1.00 deposit promo.

Was able to rebook under Sip and Sail and there was no increase in the deposit.

Interestingly, Princess says the Beverage package is worth ~$57 PP PN but is offering a choice between $150 OBC and the Beverage Package.

 

In effect, Princess is offering the Beverage Package for $150 PP PN. That tells me that Princess thinks the value of the package is only slightly more than $21 PP PN.

 

 

 

21 pp is probably based on the whole sale cost to them. The $57 is the retail value that we would pay to purchase it. So on a ten day cruise it would be $210 value. I spend more than that on a 7 day cruise for all beverages combined. So for me the beverage package is a better value. It allows me to have a after dinner cordial and a mimosa or Bloody Mary in the morning. I wouldn't order those if paying by the drink. I booked the 10 reposition cruise from NY to Ft Lauderdale. There are 6 sea days. I'm sure I would spend more than $210 if I didn't have the package.

 

 

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[Astro Flyer]

Interestingly, Princess says the Beverage package is worth ~$57 PP PN but is offering a choice between $150 OBC and the Beverage Package.

 

In effect, Princess is offering the Beverage Package for $150 PP PN. That tells me that Princess thinks the value of the package is only slightly more than $21 PP PN.

That's the figure we used to decide which was our best option which is the OBC even though it's only 37% of the AIBP's $402 value.

 

Princess shows the value of a weeklong AIBP at $402 or instead to receive $150 of OBC. My guess is that's their estimate of the true cost ($150) to Princess vs. their higher estimate to include profit & tips ($402j.

 

With nearly half of our days in port both of us wouldn't drink over $42 of drinks per day particularly when in port. We primarily drink wine at dinner & I've repeatedly read about AIBP passengers who had lengthy delays to get their glasses of wine in the dining rooms.

 

With our complimentary minibar providing us with 10 beers & 10 sodas, daily BOGO$ promotions & the ability to bring our wine onboard those are some of the reasons we chose the OBC.

 

That works for us but others will much prefer the AIBP & it's good to have options.

[billbo_nuclear_baggins]

We're booked on a March 2019 Royal Princess cruise to Cabo San Lucas out of LA. I checked this AM and it's on the Sip N Sail!! Surprised the Princess rep.

Got the alternate OBC instead of the booze and kept our price!!

DH immediately wanted me to check to see if the Hawaii/Tahiti was on the web site yet. ;) No such luck. :(

 

Hawaii/Tahiti 3/24/2019 on the Star is on the Web and is on SIP and Sail

[satxdiver]

I called Princess and had our November 2018 cruise on the CB moved to include the S'n'S at the same price and FCD. We added a Hawaiian cruise in early 2019 with the S'n'S offer and again using FCD. So now all our cruises for the next two years are booked with the S'n'S. We will have to "suffer" with the AIBP and specialty restaurant bennies.

[WeAllLove2Travel]

I checked old emails and the 3 for free started last year on September 6.

 

 

 

What is the 3 for free? Is it literally, pay for one and three are free? That sounds way too good to be true! Fingers crossed that it'll come back.

 

We aren't drinkers so sip and sail doesn't help. BTW, love your screen name. I'm definitely a coffee lover as well!

 

 

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[geoherb]

What is the 3 for free? Is it literally, pay for one and three are free? That sounds way too good to be true! Fingers crossed that it'll come back.

No, it isn't buy one get three free. It was three offers: upgraded cabin location, prepaid gratuities, and onboard credit.

[Astro Flyer]

No, it isn't buy one get three free. It was three offers: upgraded cabin location, prepaid gratuities, and onboard credit.

 

Those were the benefits in 2016 but they have varied by year and in 2015 instead of OBC it was a free specialty dinner. That's a big difference for me because in 2016 I received $300 per cabin of OBC instead of only $58 for 2 dinners if booked in 2015.

 

Searching online these are how the benefits have varied in the past several years but we won't know about the 2017 version for several months.

 

2015: Free Stateroom Location Upgrade, Free Gratuities and Free Specialty Dining

 

2014: Free shore excursion credit ($100 per person), free bottle of wine, free 8x10 picture frame.

 

2013: Free room upgrades, a free shore excursion credit ($100 per person) and a free specialty restaurant dinner

[caribill]

ignore

[Cruise Junky]

So I'm currently pricing two transatlantics. 25 days on Princess vs. 24 days on HAL. Even with my TAs good discount on Princess, the Princess cruise is $2,000 PP Cdn. more expensive than HAL. Newer Ship on HAL, better Itinerary on HAL BUT a drink package on Princess. OUCH!! They sure built the cost of that drink package into the price. $4,000 buys a lot of drinks.

[Astro Flyer]

So I'm currently pricing two transatlantics. 25 days on Princess vs. 24 days on HAL. Even with my TAs good discount on Princess, the Princess cruise is $2,000 PP Cdn. more expensive than HAL. Newer Ship on HAL, better Itinerary on HAL BUT a drink package on Princess. OUCH!! They sure built the cost of that drink package into the price. $4,000 buys a lot of drinks.

OUCH! :eek:

 

Princess appears to have discovered a more profitable clever way to market their cruises.

 

Instead of increasing prices just before a sale which some passengers notice they now routinely have higher prices. Then they don't need to increase prices just before a sale to have passengers believe that benefits such as the AIBP are truly free.

 

I think that's a good business decision but there aren't many free things. Prices for a S+S coastal cruise in 2019 are 37% higher than in 2018 so the AIBP/OBC benefit for 2019 isn't truly free. Sometimes it's more of a smoke & mirrors illusion than anything else. ;)

Edited July 10, 2017 by Astro Flyer

[Cruise Junky]

OUCH! :eek:

 

Princess appears to have discovered a more profitable clever way to market their cruises.

 

Instead of increasing prices just before a sale which some passengers notice they now routinely have higher prices. Then they don't need to increase prices just before a sale to have passengers believe that benefits such as the AIBP are truly free.

 

I think that's a good business decision but there aren't many free things. Prices for a S+S coastal cruise in 2019 are 37% higher than in 2018 so the AIBP/OBC benefit for 2019 isn't truly free. Sometimes it's more of a smoke & mirrors illusion than anything else. ;)

 

Exactly. I laughed when my TA forwarded me the quote on the Princess cruise and it said Sip & Sail was valued at $1,831 PP. Hmmm Yes, yes it is and it's included in the price. :loudcry:

[Astro Flyer]

Exactly. I laughed when my TA forwarded me the quote on the Princess cruise and it said Sip & Sail was valued at $1,831 PP. Hmmm Yes, yes it is and it's included in the price. :loudcry:

As you're probably aware it's Princess who most often provides us with our best overall cruise experience.

 

However as prices increase without much improvement to our cruise experience we're now more closely looking at other similar cruise lines such as HAL & Celebrity. Or maybe to sail less often in what friends tell us is a more upscale cruise experience with Oceania or Azamara which may be closer to our first cruise experience decades ago with Sitmar. ;)

 

And our TA repeatedly tells us that at least once in our lifetime we need to cruise with Crystal Cruises. ;p

[caribill]

OUCH! :eek:

 

Instead of increasing prices just before a sale which some passengers notice they now routinely have higher prices. Then they don't need to increase prices just before a sale to have passengers believe that benefits such as the AIBP are truly free.

 

 

Actually, it is an attempt by Princess (and other cruise lines) to maintain what they call "price integrity.'

 

In other words, keep the price the same unless demand allows an increase in price.

 

When in the past the price might be temporarily lowered to have a sale, now theprice is kept the same and amenities (such as free gratuities) are added that effectively bring down the total cost of the cruise.

 

The idea is to "educate" passengers to book early because the price will not come down. In general this seems to be working. CCL Corp (which owns Princess) and the corporate Royal Caribbean report that bookings are ahead of what they were last year and at higher ticket pricing.

[JC13]

In my short cruising history I found there will always be promotions of some sort used to draw us into signing up. My strategy has always been, book the cruise that fits into my travel time frame and budget, find the best price, book through a big box company travel service, who always seem to provide some OBC, then relax and enjoy. As mentioned, in my short history the price difference has been minimal, but the memories continue to last. Often times the free gratuities is off set by the price, or the Sip and Sail benefit produces a higher cruise price. In the end it all works out. I do however own stock in Princess, purchase future cruise credits, and use my Princess cruise credit benefits to enhance my cruising. Happy cruising!

[floridalover5623]

In my short cruising history I found there will always be promotions of some sort used to draw us into signing up. My strategy has always been, book the cruise that fits into my travel time frame and budget, find the best price, book through a big box company travel service, who always seem to provide some OBC, then relax and enjoy. As mentioned, in my short history the price difference has been minimal, but the memories continue to last. Often times the free gratuities is off set by the price, or the Sip and Sail benefit produces a higher cruise price. In the end it all works out. I do however own stock in Princess, purchase future cruise credits, and use my Princess cruise credit benefits to enhance my cruising. Happy cruising!

 

Exactly !

The average American has been accustomed to looking for that "sale" price. Give them any price break & they feel good about their purchase.

Just look at the new car sales industry. Since purchasing my first new car I can't recall a time when there hasn't been a time when there hasn't been some incentive to make people buy.

[julie3fan]

Exactly !

The average American has been accustomed to looking for that "sale" price. Give them any price break & they feel good about their purchase.

Just look at the new car sales industry. Since purchasing my first new car I can't recall a time when there hasn't been a time when there hasn't been some incentive to make people buy.

New car industry? Try the furniture racket! If anybody ever pays full price for furniture, they'd have to work really hard at it. Those showrooms ALWAYS have some sort of sale going!

[floridalover5623]

New car industry? Try the furniture racket! If anybody ever pays full price for furniture, they'd have to work really hard at it. Those showrooms ALWAYS have some sort of sale going!

We're going to buy a new car (first in 18 years) and I promised myself I'm going to enjoy the process this time since I'm retired & now have plenty of time to irritate the salesmen with looking/pricing/leaving and shopping elsewhere. :D