150 inside rooms left - 40 days to go - price drop predictions/trend?

[Oh2B@C]

Hello all,

 

I know pricing is often impossible to predict, but I wonder if any of you savvy cruisers have any experience or advice for this situation:

 

I am looking at the Caribbean Prince 10-day out of Fort L on April 11 (40 days away)

I am a solo looking for an inside cabin

Current price is $1,940 CDN incl taxes, fees etc (gratuities not factored into this price)

Air fare is on sale - $240 CDN off reg price

No OBC or other perk offered

 

I checked the cabins available on the web site and I coount 150 inside cabins not sold yet. To me, that is A LOT of unsold cabins especially 40 days before sailing.

 

So, questions:

 

- Should I expect a significan enough price drop to make it worth waiting a little? And given the airfare discount of $240, is it worth waiting for a price drop if the air fare goes back to normal?

- Should I expect perhaps an OBC offer to pop up?

- Would calling Princess and asking for a deal (price/OBC) make a difference? I tried this a couple of times and although I never got a price reduction, I did receive some "goodwill" OBC.

 

And to clarify: I won't be crushed if I don't make this cruise. I am able to book at anytime, even last minue, i.e. no time commitments. So I'd be OK with waiting for price drop/perks and take the risk they don't come (did I just anwer my own questions...:D:D :)

 

I appreciate any help/thoughts/suggestions you may have.

 

Thanks

[NavyVeteran]

You actually don't have any idea how many inside cabins are available, since Princess may have sold some guarantees.

 

Example: If Princess has sold 149 inside guarantees, they may still list 150 inside cabins available to give people a choice on which one they want. As soon as one is booked, then they would show none available.

 

In other words, no one other than Princess really knows - and they aren't telling. The price may go down or it may go up or they may sell out.

[thinfool]

 

I am looking at the Caribbean Prince 10-day out of Fort L on April 11 (40 days away)

 

This sailing is currently listed at US$749 plus fees, taxes in the Drop n Go listing. Is that what you are looking at?

 

If bookings do not pick up, the Drop n Go price will likely fall again....stay tuned.

[moki'smommy]

I've been following this cruise a bit. The HA cabin we needed was available on a Sat nite, and when I went to book on Sunday morning, it was gone...so I check periodically.

 

When I log into my account, it is currently down to $699 pp double in an inside cabin, $749 if you don't log in. There was a price drop last week. To see the lower price, you need to go all the way thru the booking to the "I'll pick my own" cabin page.

 

Air fare tends to increase as you get closer to the cruise date, and cruise fare tends to decrease. They obviously have open cabins as they dropped the prices last week, but there is no way to know how many open cabins exist. My guess is that the cruise fare OR single supplement may drop more, but I don't know about the airfare. If you are determined to be on this cruise, book it now. If you really don't care if the airfare becomes prohibitive, then wait and hope.

 

OBCs are rare on last minute cruises, at least in my experience. However, as you noted, calling Princess can sometimes generate some.

[Oh2B@C]

I am looking at the prices on the web site as a logged in captain circle member. $873.25 CDN pp + taxes/fees; which would equal $699 US at a 1.25 exch rate. (I thought they were using 1.30, but perhaps went down as the CDNS did make gains vs the US$ recently).

 

The single supplement is almost NEVER other than double... GRRRR!!

 

Another reason I am suspecting they have a lot of unsold space is the fact that traditional early dining is still available at both 5:30 AND 6:00 PM. Whenever I've booked last minute there was never any space in trad early dining; only waitlist, late trad or anytime dining.

 

Agree on airfare problem as we get closer and closer. Luckily there are lots of flights from Montreal. Keeping an eye on that as well.

[majortom10]

We fell into that trap a few years ago. We were monitoring a cruise which had loads of inside cabins available throughout all areas of the ship so we thought we would hang on hoping for a price drop. I checked again 24hrs later and they were almost all sold and never became available and we missed the cruise.

[LeeW]

We got an email from players club listing inside $199pp and balcony $399 for this cruise. Looked it up and until you actually got to the area choosing part of the ship was showing $1000+ for all areas. Got balcony guarantee for forward decks/14/15 on Friday. Notified Wednesday of upgrade to mid-aft Carib cabin, currently selling for $2078pp.

 

So it looks like they are trying to fill with past casino guests. No OBC, but 10 days for $1121 with taxes and insurance was too good to turn down.

[DrivesLikeMario]

Drop and Go for past passengers if $699 US + taxes. Why not buy your airfare NOW and then get the cruise within the next few weeks? I normally wouldn't recommend doing that but if you're certain you're going, just do it. I've done it before with flights to Europe and I knew I was taking a risk, but it was worth it in the long run. I knew I'd go no matter what the cabin price was.

[denamo]

Received an email for this cruise about a week and a half ago for inside at $399 and balcony for $599. Great deal for a a10 day. We booked then. Within a few days, those fares were gone and prices increased.

 

This was at US prices. Not sure how that translates into CAD.

[JUST CRUZIN]

It’s always the same, as the sailing gets closer the fare seems to drop unless sold out prior to final payment. I have no idea how they choose who gets a cabin for $199 on a 10 day cruise but it didn’t take more than 30 seconds to accept.