Are there deals to remain onboard a second week?

[chefim]

This will be our first Princess cruise. I recall on RCL several years ago we were offered a great deal to remain on board for a second week, however we did not have the flexibility.

 

We will be on CB 11/11/07 and would be interested in taking a second week, and were wondering if they offer deals to stay for a B2B?

 

Thanks for any replies.

 

Chef

[Tina G]

All Princess cruises I have ever taken have been sold out long before sailing. The one exception was a repositioning cruise which followed our Greek Isle cruise. That involved sailing across the Atlantic. We did not have the flexibility to take it, but we would have, if not for job considerations. This was unusual, however. Sometimes it is not possible to do back-to-back cruises because of stupid U.S. laws regulating foreign cruise lines.

[peterv]

If your cruise is not until November, why not book the second week now. You would also probably get to keep the same cabin as well. Our experience is that Princess will give a decent discount on the second week, holiday sailing excepted. Talk to your TA.

 

Cheers,

Peter

[Coral]

This happened a lot after 9-11. I have not seen any offers since. Maybe if the ship was delayed coming back due to a hurricane but this would be a very unusual case. If you want to do a B2B - book the 2nd week before you leave.

[spongerob]

It's been several years since we've seen such an offer. IIRC, we could have stayed on another week when we sailed in April, 2003. There was a flyer placed in our mailbox listing the prices. I don't recall seeing a notice like that since then.

[aclay]

As others have said - book it before you go. We booked B2B for the Caribbean Princess last November for this coming May. It was slightly cheaper to book the 14 day sailing but we went with two separate sailings and have managed to get the same cabin for both.

Once we had taken our future cruise credits into consideration (2x $100 deposits p/p + 2x cabin credits p/p instead of just one) there wasn't much price difference.

Also we wanted to have two more sailings count towards Capt Circle Elite, however that benefit is now irrelevant for us under the new 'total #of days' ruling as we will reach that new goal much quicker :cool:

If you go for an offer whilst on board you may have the minor stress of moving cabins on changeover day.

Also if it helps I have seen passengers go online whilst onboard and because there was a last minute offer they booked the next sailing so that they have a B2B. Oh how much fun it must be to be so flexible

(and rich);)

[chrysalis]

I have asked at the Purser's Desk on each of our last 3 or 4 sailings, and each time they have said "Sorry, but we are full".

[serene56]

Caribbean Princess for the week of February 18th has been sold out for MANY weeks now. Even waitlisted.

I doubt very much you will find a cabin for that week.

 

Have you considered looking to get off the CB on SUnday and getting on another ship the same day??

 

opps--wrong date-- but you are looking to sail the second week which is thanksgiving-- which will sell out months before. If interested in the second week.. why not book it now.

[firefly333]

I was just on the CB and it was oversold. I had tons of people mention to me that Princess had called them and offered them 2 for 1 specials and other incentives to NOT take the cruise last week, but to wait for March. Im guessing winter is a big booking time for the CB, but that once it warms up the demand is not as great is why they asked so many to wait until March. They must have gotten some to wait, but most said they were not able to change their plans.

 

Editing to add: We had dinner with some folks from Vancouver who books THREE back to back cruises on the CB in the same room. They said considering the cost of getting there, it made sense. Thats why they knew all the tricks of what to see and order and give us good hints.

[vacation fool]

Its probably not cool to mention another cruise line in the Princess area, but i just got off a 4 nite cruise on RCL. There was a couple there from Canada who had just done a 5 nite and then a 4 nite b2b on the ship and wanted to do a third. There was one cabin left for the next sailing and they would not give it to them for the same price that they got on the previous leg. They were told that it would sail with the one cabin empty rather than to lower the price. Mind you, maybe they didn't tell me they wanted the penthouse suite for the price of an inside-but there was obviously no problem with customer loyalty on the part of the cruise line with saying no them...... Bottom line book it if u really want to go rather than taking a chance that it won't happen last minute.

[Jimsgirl]

I am doing a b2b on the Grand Aug/Sept, but received no discount for the second week, keeping same cabin as the first week.so suppose that is a plus.

 

I booked b2b even without the discount because it was a totally different itinerary to the first week.

[chefim]

I called Princess this afternoon, and I forgot the second week was Thanksgiving. The price to do a B2B would have been another $2200 for the second week to stay in the same cabin.

 

Instead I changed my Riviera deck balcony, to a Caribe deck balcony, and will probably just book another cruise for a later date while on board.

 

Thanks for the answers.

 

Chef

[Julia’s Journey’s]

I am doing a b2b on the Grand Aug/Sept, but received no discount for the second week, keeping same cabin as the first week.so suppose that is a plus.

 

I booked b2b even without the discount because it was a totally different itinerary to the first week.

 

We did a B2B this last September and were not given a discount for booking the 2 weeks in the same cabin - never thought to even ask:D :rolleyes:

[KikiKruiser]

On the Star Princess in '05, we got a discount on our B2B: $400 discount for taking 2 linked cruises. We kept the same cabin for both. But for our next B2B we don't get a discount cause they also offer the 2 cruises as a 14-day cruise as well. And it was more expensive when listed as a 14-day !! Go figure!

[Coral]

We did a B2B this last September and were not given a discount for booking the 2 weeks in the same cabin - never thought to even ask:D :rolleyes:

 

I have done 2 B2Bs and there were no discounts for the 2nd cruise. If there was, it would have priced out that way.

[GloriaF]

The last time I heard about an offer like that was in October 2005 during Hurricane Wilma. Star Princess was forced to change the itinerary on the first cruise, and the Captain thought we might have to wait it out in San Juan and be delayed back to FLL. It looked like our 7 day cruise would turn into 9 or 10 days, and the next week would be a shorter cruise to get the ship back on schedule. They were offering the second week at greatly reduced prices.

 

It turned out that the ship made it in to FLL on schedule right in front of the hurricane because the storm stalled over Cozumel for 3 days, the ship made a quick turnaround and was back out of port before the storm hit FLL. We did not take them up on the offer, but I'm sure some did.

[GloriaF]

sorry ~ double post due to the dreaded white screen. :( :confused: :eek:

[Toto2Kansas]

We have seen this offered on several of our cruises, but most were quite a few years ago on exotics and also during hurricane season. I can honestly say that we have not seen a "stay onboard offer for a discount rate" in at least the last 4 or 5 years on the sailings we have taken.

 

It's a shame really as now that we are more flexible, we would probably take them up on it. Back in the early 90's, before Tahiti was as popular, our cruise from Honolulu to Papeete had the stay onboard offer. $300 and you could sail back to Honolulu in the same cabin (if yours wasn't already booked). We met several retired couples that took them up on it. Good for them, we were so glad they could do the return for so little $$$.

[PescadoAmarillo]

RC and Celebrity do offer extensions while on board, not frequently, but sometimes when the ship is repositioning at the end/beginning of the season. The reason is simple...RC and Celebrity generally will, if they drop the price of a cruise after your final payment, allow you to get the price drop or an on board credit. Not always, but often. Of course, they don't often drop the price after final payment, and so their ships tend to sail with a few more empty cabins than Princess. Princess frequently drops the price after final payment, does not issue refunds to existing bookings, and sails with ships virtually full all the time.

 

However, we frequently do B2B cruises on Princess (pre-reserved that way), and the brochure will list that you get a two category upgrade for doing B2Bs. We're doing it again next spring on the Emerald Princess in the Caribbean. We don't actually get the upgrade, we simply pay for a 2 categories lower than we're booking.