Price Drops in Australia

[Sparky74]

What are the policies of various cruise lines around price drops in the Australian market?

[Sparky74]

We booked an Inside Guarantee cabin on a P&O Comedy Cruise for next July (I432) at $756. Under the current Flash Sale an Oceanview Guarantee is priced at $758 but my TA says it’s for new bookings only and we’d loose our deposit if we cancel and rebook. 🤷‍♂️

[bazzaw]

As far as I understand, it is what you book it for on the day - same as airfares. Price changes everyday depending on the loading factor - something like that. 

[Chiliburn]

I believe Royal Caribbean and celebrity still have the cruise with confidence program going but who knows.

 

https://www.royalcaribbean.com/aus/en/faq/questions/best-price-guarantee-policy

Edited November 1, 2023 by Chiliburn

[MicCanberra]

1 hour ago, Sparky74 said:

We booked an Inside Guarantee cabin on a P&O Comedy Cruise for next July (I432) at $756. Under the current Flash Sale an Oceanview Guarantee is priced at $758 but my TA says it’s for new bookings only and we’d loose our deposit if we cancel and rebook. 🤷‍♂️

Yep, this is where those $1 deposits are great, or even the $25 or $50 deposits.

[Sparky74]

51 minutes ago, Chiliburn said:

I believe Royal Caribbean and celebrity still have the cruise with confidence program going but who knows.

 

https://www.royalcaribbean.com/aus/en/faq/questions/best-price-guarantee-policy

As I read it that’s only applicable if the price drops within 48 hours of booking. 

[OzKiwiJJ]

Princess are excellent for price drops prior to final payment. There was a huge price drop a few months ago for the Japan cruise we're currently on. We'd originally booked a balcony cabin which was a bit further forward than I usually like. With the price drop a mid-aft mini-suite ended up being only about $500 total dearer than the original balcony cabin fare so I rang my planner and we upgraded ourselves. Much nicer especially as the weather today has been warm enough to enjoy sitting on our balcony and mini-suites get foot rests for the deck chairs. 😊

 

Plus a month or so ago I got a call telling us of a big price drop on a 2025 cruise we have booked. That's saved us a significant amount too. 😊

Edited November 1, 2023 by OzKiwiJJ

[Chiliburn]

33 minutes ago, Sparky74 said:

As I read it that’s only applicable if the price drops within 48 hours of booking. 

I don’t know sparky ,it’s Royal Caribbean speaks with fork tongue.

 I believe it’s up to final payment you get a price adjustment and after final (90 days) you get a onboard credit as the difference.

 I’m pretty confident that their terms 

[fairywren]

16 minutes ago, Chiliburn said:

I don’t know sparky ,it’s Royal Caribbean speaks with fork tongue.

 I believe it’s up to final payment you get a price adjustment and after final (90 days) you get a onboard credit as the difference.

 I’m pretty confident that their terms 

No longer any adjustment or OBC after the final payment date. You can still get a price drop up until then.

Edited November 1, 2023 by fairywren

[MicCanberra]

The real issue is if booked directly or via  TA.

[arxcards]

Generally, if you book on something promotional (50% deposits, extra OBC, additional packages etc), the fine print will have you losing your deposit if you want to cancel/rebook your cruise. The cruise we are doing on the weekend on Princess would have us losing our deposit, the Princess cruise we are doing in Feb would see the deposit being refunded if we are chasing a price drop. Ironically, there is rarely a price drop on minis & suites prior to final payment, as they usually sell out

 

P&O is notorious for lock-in fares. The $1 fares aren't a good arrangement, as they are not much more than a hold. One to two months later you will be required to pay the rest of the deposit, and it will be a non-refundable one. The $50 & $99 deposits we have booked with on Carnival & Princess have been great, as no further money needs to be spent till final payment.

 

Mic has hit a big nail on the head. Some T/A's will lock you in via their terms, or terms of the wholesaler they are getting a discount with.

 

Other T/A's are pretty good, but we always ask at the time we are sussing out prices. There have been times when we have been given two or three prices based on the cruise lines' T&C with varied promos & fares. The price is not the only consideration (OBC, guarantee vs cabin choice, T&C's) and it is important to be able to see the whole package before you commit to a deposit. If you are booking direct online, that is your job to comb the fine print before you commit.

[Ozwoody]

1 hour ago, arxcards said:

Generally, if you book on something promotional (50% deposits, extra OBC, additional packages etc), the fine print will have you losing your deposit if you want to cancel/rebook your cruise. The cruise we are doing on the weekend on Princess would have us losing our deposit, the Princess cruise we are doing in Feb would see the deposit being refunded if we are chasing a price drop. Ironically, there is rarely a price drop on minis & suites prior to final payment, as they usually sell out

 

P&O is notorious for lock-in fares. The $1 fares aren't a good arrangement, as they are not much more than a hold. One to two months later you will be required to pay the rest of the deposit, and it will be a non-refundable one. The $50 & $99 deposits we have booked with on Carnival & Princess have been great, as no further money needs to be spent till final payment.

 

Mic has hit a big nail on the head. Some T/A's will lock you in via their terms, or terms of the wholesaler they are getting a discount with.

 

Other T/A's are pretty good, but we always ask at the time we are sussing out prices. There have been times when we have been given two or three prices based on the cruise lines' T&C with varied promos & fares. The price is not the only consideration (OBC, guarantee vs cabin choice, T&C's) and it is important to be able to see the whole package before you commit to a deposit. If you are booking direct online, that is your job to comb the fine print before you commit.

Note also if on a Princess cruise, you can purchase a cruise credit for $100, it can be used as a deposit on a future cruise, with the bonus of extra OBC.

On longer cruise around 60+ I think, you can't use it as a deposit, but it can be used to get a discount on the longer cruise, I forget what the % discount was, but it was more than worth the $100 invested.

Pre covid we always had two, because sometimes we booked a second cruise before going on the first one.

[resordanis]

2 hours ago, Chiliburn said:

I don’t know sparky ,it’s Royal Caribbean speaks with fork tongue.

 I believe it’s up to final payment you get a price adjustment and after final (90 days) you get a onboard credit as the difference.

 I’m pretty confident that their terms 

 Chili you are correct on this one!😁

[arxcards]

16 minutes ago, Ozwoody said:

Note also if on a Princess cruise, you can purchase a cruise credit for $100, it can be used as a deposit on a future cruise, with the bonus of extra OBC.

On longer cruise around 60+ I think, you can't use it as a deposit, but it can be used to get a discount on the longer cruise, I forget what the % discount was, but it was more than worth the $100 invested.

Pre covid we always had two, because sometimes we booked a second cruise before going on the first one.

We usually have one around somewhere, but way back when you didn't have to buy them to get the benefit, you just had to request a letter that you could apply a reduced deposit to at a later date. The other plus is a bit more flexibility. Been a while, but you used to be able to cancel once and transfer to another cruise. We have a cruise to book in Feb 2025, so will be getting FCD's with that in mind while we are aboard Majestic this weekend.

[Chiliburn]

17 minutes ago, resordanis said:

 Chili you are correct on this one!😁

Hey Cheryl,does Celebrity have kettles in Australia?

[Bowm54]

Some price drops can be dramatic.

We were about to pay $7600 final payment for a Celebrity Antarctica cruise in January, but made a quick check of prices beforehand.

Ended up paying $5300 for guaranteed balcony on same cruise. 
Have built very nice front fence with difference.

[fairywren]

1 hour ago, resordanis said:

 Chili you are correct on this one!😁

I stand to be corrected but have you checked recently on the post final payment conditions?

[Chiliburn]

21 minutes ago, fairywren said:

I stand to be corrected but have you checked recently on the post final payment conditions?

Things are always pretty dynamic with Royal,you don’t really know until you ask, things are constantly changing 

[arxcards]

As an example of varied promo/fare options, I am looking at these options for a cruise on Carnival Luminosa.

 

Code QZY is offering $50 deposits and OBC. It also comes with a non-refundable deposit.

Code KEH is giving an included cabin location upgrade. It also has a non-refundable deposit.

Code QCP has a refundable deposit. It is also more expensive than what you would lose if you were to forfeit the deposits on the above promos - but it does give you the option to watch the price and cancel/rebook later if you think the prices might come down.

[resordanis]

8 hours ago, fairywren said:

I stand to be corrected but have you checked recently on the post final payment conditions?

I haven’t checked in the last month, but with my final payment that was due on 24/9, I rung the call centre when I noticed a reduction in the price and they adjusted the invoice. Might have changed, as they are constantly changing everything at Royal Caribbean atm and you don’t get their profits if they were looking after the customer.

I also would be interested to know if this has changed in the last month as it will make a difference to when I book.

 

[resordanis]

10 hours ago, Chiliburn said:

Hey Cheryl,does Celebrity have kettles in Australia?

We asked for one Chili, no problem getting!

[Chiliburn]

14 minutes ago, resordanis said:

We asked for one Chili, no problem getting!

Thanks Cheryl, I will take my coffee plunger along.

I suppose there’s milk in the buffet it’s Edge .

[resordanis]

23 minutes ago, Chiliburn said:

Thanks Cheryl, I will take my coffee plunger along.

I suppose there’s milk in the buffet it’s Edge .

Yes there is, although I think they gave us milk too! Which cruise Chili? I would like to try Edge but prices look very high atm.

[ceeceeDee]

15 hours ago, MicCanberra said:

Yep, this is where those $1 deposits are great, or even the $25 or $50 deposits.

Absolutely, Mic. We originally booked a Byron Mini suite on the $1 deposit. A month or two later the price dropped by a whopping $1,080 (for a value plus fare). I was on the phone immediately, cancelled the original booking and re-booked the same cabin at the sale price. We lost our original $2 deposit (quel dommage😉) and the OBC was reduced from $400 to $225 but we're still way in front. I've since been monitoring the prices (purely out of interest) and they're still around $800 more than the fare we re-booked.

[MMDown Under]

9 hours ago, arxcards said:

As an example of varied promo/fare options, I am looking at these options for a cruise on Carnival Luminosa.

 

Code QZY is offering $50 deposits and OBC. It also comes with a non-refundable deposit.

Code KEH is giving an included cabin location upgrade. It also has a non-refundable deposit.

Code QCP has a refundable deposit. It is also more expensive than what you would lose if you were to forfeit the deposits on the above promos - but it does give you the option to watch the price and cancel/rebook later if you think the prices might come down.

Which option are you planning to choose?  Life was simple when we just paid the brochure price, but much more expensive.