Princess British Isles cruise prices in 2018 v 2019.

[Beachbabyboo]

We’re looking at the Princess British Isles cruise for next year, but the prices are more than double what they are for this year. I really want to book it, but when will the prices go down? Anyone know? For example, mini suite is $1699 this May, but $3499 next May for exact same cruise. Prices have been this drastically different for some time now.

[moki'smommy]

Prices will go down when Princess decides that cabins are not selling as well as they would like. There will probably be a few promotions between now and the 2019 cruise--you'll have to see if they are any better than the "naked" cruise. They might be if they include things like complimentary gratuities; less so if they include a beverage package and you don't drink much.

 

In terms of straight up dollars. the issue is that Princess has space on a cruise that is departing 2 months from now. Yes, they are going to reduce the fare to try to tempt people to book. It is a great cruise, but one that attracts lots of people from North America. That means a high priced air fare on top of the cruise ticket. People from England are probably less interested in this one. An empty cabin is a loss for Princess. A cabin sold at a fare that just makes their costs will still generate a profit from on board sales. They want people in that cabin.

 

They have a whole year to entice people for the 2019 cruise--no need to reduce fares yet. They have a computer algorithm based on sales from previous years that will tell them when the eager people will have snapped up the cruise. When they've made as many of those sales as they anticipate, they will start to lower fares.

 

You have to decide--do you want to do it this year or next? if next, you can always book it now and watch for the fare to go down...then re-fare your booking. Of course, as the penalty date approaches, you'll have to decide whether to keep that booking or not. And it very well might go lower after the penalty date!

[Cindy]

We’re looking at the Princess British Isles cruise for next year, but the prices are more than double what they are for this year. I really want to book it, but when will the prices go down? Anyone know? For example, mini suite is $1699 this May, but $3499 next May for exact same cruise. Prices have been this drastically different for some time now.

 

 

 

I’m booked for this summer, and prices have come down dramatically from when we first made our reservation. Our mini-suite (MA) is about $1700 less PER PERSON than when we booked. There was a huge price drop when Sip and Sail ended, and we gave up the AIBP to take advantage of it. There have been 2 more drops with different promos/perks since then. Fares dropped again last week, but my category is sold out so I can’t take advantage.

 

 

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[Beachbabyboo]

Thanks to you both. Cindy, what is AIBP? I think what was strange to me is we booked a European cruise to Italy/Greece on Celebrity 18 months in advance and the price was pretty decent for balcony cabin for 11 nights and it never really changed thereafter. Always thought booking well in advance was the way to go!

[moki'smommy]

All Inclusive Beverage Package

[sandyoftheseas]

We are on the May 13 British Isles cruise and the price just dropped which usually happens after final payment is due.

[john watson]

A few years back I did a British Isles cruise on Caribbean Princess and this year I have booked another British Isles cruise on Pacific Princess. I have studied the prices over the years on this itinerary and they always seem to have current season far cheaper than the subsequent season. The prices are always about £1000 different until the last six months or so then they drop.

 

2018 They are using Royal Princess ex-Southampton (with some ex-Le Havre as an interport) and Pacific Princess ex-Dover.

 

2019 They are using Crown Princess ex-Southampton (with some ex-Dublin as an interport) and Pacific Princess ex-Dover.

 

Pacific Princess does shorter itineraries and are comparatively expensive as it is a smaller ship. Royal is obviously bigger than Crown so the 2019 prices might not drop as much as 2018 but they will drop. The problem is that cruise prices drop the nearer sail date you get, however air fares increase the nearer to departure you get.

 

If I were in the US looking at this problem I should target a specific sailing and then twelve months ahead of sail date look at booking just cheap return air tickets. Book on a refundable basis with minimum cancellation penalty flying in 1 to 2 days ahead of the expected sail date and book a hotel on a similar cancellation basis. I think London, Heathrow or Gatwick airports will be fine for Southampton. In the last six months the prices will drop and you can book up the cruise. You should be sorted six months prior to sailing.

 

Regards John

[sunsetbeachgal]

We are doing the British Isles this June on the Royal. Booked in Summer of 2017 and prices have come down quite a bit for my balcony cabin as different promotions come out. I have booked direct through Princess so easy to call and refare and agents are very good about advising you what perks you get or give up under each promotion, as this makes a difference in the big picture. And before final payment I will turn it over to TA and hopefully get more on board credit!

 

At this point we are still before final payment, and I could save some money however the newest promo that applies to our sailing is for new bookings only (and requires non refundable deposit) so would have to cancel and rebook. I’m not willing to chance losing the cabin I chose (one of those rare one on the Royal with the larger balcony on the deck I want ) or to do a guarantee. Also we have flights booked through EZAir which we are happy with and don’t want to lose.

 

I would go ahead and book, only under a refundable deposit and then keep your eyes open for reductions.

 

 

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Edited March 2, 2018 by sunsetbeachgal

[Cindy]

 

If I were in the US looking at this problem I should target a specific sailing and then twelve months ahead of sail date look at booking just cheap return air tickets. Book on a refundable basis with minimum cancellation penalty flying in 1 to 2 days ahead of the expected sail date and book a hotel on a similar cancellation basis. I think London, Heathrow or Gatwick airports will be fine for Southampton. In the last six months the prices will drop and you can book up the cruise. You should be sorted six months prior to sailing.

 

Regards John

 

 

I wouldn’t wait until six months out to book as long as your cruise fare has a relatively low refundable deposit. If you book early you can get the cabin and location you want, then take advantage of the drops as they happen. The first big drop ($500/person) we got came at about 9 months out. There have been two more since then...another for $500, and one that I think was around $250.

 

If you do that you need to know the value of what you’re giving up and what you’re gaining, since every sale or promo has different perks. That’s the only way to calculate the net value of a price drop. We didn’t mind giving up the AIBP (beverage package) because with only two sea days on a 12-night cruise we wouldn’t get a lot of value from that. Things like pre-paid gratuities and OBC with a much lower cruise fare seemed like a better deal for this trip. There has been one additional price drop, but since my category is now guarantee only I’m not biting. I have an oversized balcony and it’s not worth a net gain of $21/person to give that up![emoji23] The real winners on the latest promo are the people with 3 or 4 in a cabin, because they slashed those fares.

 

 

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[geoherb]

We booked our cruise after the final payment date last summer. Princess EZair was still a great price for airfare--$709 per person from North Carolina. It was less than half the price I was finding airfares for on my own. I was even toying with the idea of driving to Washington, D.C., to get a cheaper fare before finding out the EZair price.

[john watson]

I wouldn’t wait until six months out to book as long as your cruise fare has a relatively low refundable deposit. If you book early you can get the cabin and location you want, then take advantage of the drops as they happen. The first big drop ($500/person) we got came at about 9 months out. There have been two more since then...another for $500, and one that I think was around $250.

 

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Sounds good if you can do this. Nine months then two drops after that gives a good idea of what the fare will be. Problem with us in the UK is that as fares drop, we just have to look at the new reduced price and observe how much more we are paying in comparison to later bookings. We cannot refare or request the new lower price.

 

Regards John

[Cindy]

Sounds good if you can do this. Nine months then two drops after that gives a good idea of what the fare will be. Problem with us in the UK is that as fares drop, we just have to look at the new reduced price and observe how much more we are paying in comparison to later bookings. We cannot refare or request the new lower price.

 

 

 

Regards John

 

 

 

Yes, it’s a huge disadvantage for you.[emoji853]

 

 

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[Beachbabyboo]

Thanks to you all for this invaluable information! Just wondering why U.K. residents can’t refare but others can like us in the US?

[DrivesLikeMario]

For UK residents, their entire booking system is totally different than here in the US. UK laws come into affect and their fares include things those of us in the US have to pay extra for, like insurance. It's just a completely different ball game. If I lived in the UK, I'd only book at the last minute unless it was a cruise I couldn't live without.

 

I've done both British Isles cruises - the Southampton one and the Dover one. Prices never really dropped that much for either one of them. They seemed to stay pretty steady during the last 4-5 months.

[SLYScorpions]

My husband and I are booked for British Isles Crown Princess departing from Dublin May 16, 2019 with a balcony cabin so I am very interested in watching for price drops!

[Ken the cruiser]

We booked a club mini-suite for the July 2019 cruise when they first came out so we would get the cabin we wanted. We are now in the "wait and see" mode to see how far the prices will come down and which perks get added on before our final payment is due in April 2019.

 

We do have a question, though. How many times can you "rebook" a cruise if a good price/perk deal comes along before final payment? I recently read on CC where someone said 1 time, but that just didn't seem right. I know on Celebrity or HAL cruises, as we book really early, it's not uncommon for us to "rebook" a cruise 3-4 times if it makes sense to do so.

[NSWP]

From Australia. We are on Royal Princess 18 June 2018 - British Isles. We had a price drop a couple of months ago and got a refare on balcony cabin, but we did a deal, left the original price on and went mini suite, no problems. I booked direct on line with Princess Australia.

 

Also got refares on the two preceding cruises on Sapphire, did the same as above.

 

Strange that UK customers cannot get a refare.:(

[moki'smommy]

We booked a club mini-suite for the July 2019 cruise when they first came out so we would get the cabin we wanted. We are now in the "wait and see" mode to see how far the prices will come down and which perks get added on before our final payment is due in April 2019.

 

We do have a question, though. How many times can you "rebook" a cruise if a good price/perk deal comes along before final payment? I recently read on CC where someone said 1 time, but that just didn't seem right. I know on Celebrity or HAL cruises, as we book really early, it's not uncommon for us to "rebook" a cruise 3-4 times if it makes sense to do so.

If you are in the US, you can re-fare as often as you'd like. I think the post you saw about only re-faring once was for UK passengers.

 

As with others, I book when I can get what I want and then refare if a better overall deal becomes available.

[Cindy]

We booked a club mini-suite for the July 2019 cruise when they first came out so we would get the cabin we wanted. We are now in the "wait and see" mode to see how far the prices will come down and which perks get added on before our final payment is due in April 2019.

 

We do have a question, though. How many times can you "rebook" a cruise if a good price/perk deal comes along before final payment? I recently read on CC where someone said 1 time, but that just didn't seem right. I know on Celebrity or HAL cruises, as we book really early, it's not uncommon for us to "rebook" a cruise 3-4 times if it makes sense to do so.

 

 

 

It’s the same on Princess. The only stipulation is there has to be a cabin in your category available in order for you to take advantage. We had to wait a few days on one of the price drops. As soon as a cabin opened up we contacted our TA for the reduction.

 

 

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[Ken the cruiser]

It’s the same on Princess. The only stipulation is there has to be a cabin in your category available in order for you to take advantage. We had to wait a few days on one of the price drops. As soon as a cabin opened up we contacted our TA for the reduction.

 

 

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Cool! Thanks for responding so quickly!

[DrivesLikeMario]

When you ask for a lower price, you're not "re-booking" the cruise. You are re-faring the cruise (if that's a word). You keep the same booking number. All of your pre-ordered shore excursions, drink packages, etc. stay the same. You can re-fare as many times as you want. Re-booking involves cancelling your current booking and starting all over with a different booking number. You may have to re-enter all of your Cruise Personalizer information (online check-in, etc.). Just watch the new pricing and make sure it doesn't say, "for new bookings only". ;)

[sexyaznboy]

is it true that after final payment you can no longer ask for a fare reduction or is it worth a shot?

[Cindy]

is it true that after final payment you can no longer ask for a fare reduction or is it worth a shot?

 

You can ask, but you probably won’t like the answer![emoji23]

 

 

 

When you ask for a lower price, you're not "re-booking" the cruise. You are re-faring the cruise (if that's a word). You keep the same booking number. All of your pre-ordered shore excursions, drink packages, etc. stay the same. You can re-fare as many times as you want. Re-booking involves cancelling your current booking and starting all over with a different booking number. You may have to re-enter all of your Cruise Personalizer information (online check-in, etc.). Just watch the new pricing and make sure it doesn't say, "for new bookings only". ;)

 

 

 

I have kept my booking number and things I booked/paid for, but in order to take advantage of the reductions I had to give up my beverage package on one drop, and pre-paid gratuities on another.

 

 

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[Ken the cruiser]

When you ask for a lower price, you're not "re-booking" the cruise. You are re-faring the cruise (if that's a word). You keep the same booking number. All of your pre-ordered shore excursions, drink packages, etc. stay the same. You can re-fare as many times as you want. Re-booking involves cancelling your current booking and starting all over with a different booking number. You may have to re-enter all of your Cruise Personalizer information (online check-in, etc.). Just watch the new pricing and make sure it doesn't say, "for new bookings only". ;)

Good point! I will definitely use the term refare rather than rebooking from now on as we definitely want to keep the same booking number.

[NoWhiners]

is it true that after final payment you can no longer ask for a fare reduction or is it worth a shot?

 

Based on what I have been reading on our RC, for this same cruise in May, I think you can call and get re-fared to less. It hasn't been consistent--some people were able to get a lower fare, some weren't. Some people who booked the 27 day TA, then BI cruise, others booked one or both of the segments (TA and/or BI). There was some discussion that some people couldn't get a reduced fare because no cabins were available in their same category, as noted above.

 

But, you have nothing to lose by calling and asking. You might be disappointed but you could get lucky. We didn't call because we got the AIBP as part of S&S and we are on the 27 day cruise. Some people on the RC got a lower fare but gave up the AIBP.

 

ML