As Princess extends, here’s how you can save thousands using price guarantees

• Many cruise lines have price-guarantee policies.
• This means if you book your cruise and later see the fare is cheaper, the line will honour the new price.
• Each program is different so here is a guide to each of the policies of each of the major lines that sail in Australia.

One way to save money on your cruise is simple, yet it’s a trick that’s not well known among many regular cruisers. Many cruise lines have ‘Price Match’ guarantees. If your cruise price has dropped since you made your initial booking, the line will match the cheaper price.

Some have saved thousands of dollars using this method, and cruise lines now have programs in place that will automatically adjust the cost of your fare with the updated price. 

When Cruise Passenger previously wrote about the price guarantee policy of Royal Caribbean, many cruisers were shocked that they didn’t know about the policy. Since then, more cruise lines have been adding similar policies.

For example, last year Princess offered a temporary ‘Best Price Guarantee’, however, what many cruisers don’t know is this guarantee has been extended to all cruises across 2025, 2026, and 2027. 

Most cruises will increase in price over time – cruise lines use dynamic pricing meaning when there are fewer cabins available onboard, the ones remaining inventory becomes more expensive.

However, in instances where cruises aren’t selling so well, or the cruise line wants to run a promotion keeping a keen eye on the price of your cruise can mean significant savings.

Each line’s policy is a little different, so here is a guide on the different price match policies of some of the major cruise lines.

Princess Cruise Line

• Any Princess cruise booked for 2025, 2026 and 2027 comes with a price guarantee.
• From their website: “Enjoy total peace of mind with our Best Price Guarantee — a promise built into every Princess® cruise. Book any 2025, 2026, or 2027 sailing, and we guarantee you’ll never find a lower price before final payment.”
• However, this applies only to pricing on their official website, if you see the same cruise advertised on a different website, this doesn’t apply.
• If you do see a cheaper price on their official website, the cruise lines will give you 120% of the difference as an onboard credit. 
• This means if you book a cruise for $5000 and then you see it for $4500, the cruise line will give you 120% of the difference between the two prices as an onboard credit. In this instance that would be $600OBC. 

Royal Caribbean

• Royal Caribbeans’ best price guarantee program, comes with a slight difference for whether you see a better price within 48 hours of booking your cruise, or after this 48-hour window.
• If you see a better price within 48 hours after booking, you can contact the cruise line and receive an upgrade if available, or a refund of the price difference. However, if you’ve already made your final payment, you can receive an upgrade if available, or otherwise, onboard credit in the amount of the price difference.
• If it’s been more than 48 hours, the key difference is whether you’ve made your final payment yet. If you haven’t, then you can receive an upgrade if possible, or otherwise a refund for the price difference. If you have, you can receive an upgrade if available, but nothing else. 
• This means it’s crucial to check the current price of your cruise before your final payment, as this will be your last chance to make some savings. 

Celebrity Cruises

• The Celebrity Cruises Best Price Guarantee applies to any price advertised to the general public. Celebrity’s policy also includes if you see promos with added value that wasn’t advertised when you booked your cruise. For example, if now there’s a cruise offering $1000 OBC and free-WiFi for booking, you can access these perks as well using their program.
• If you submit a request on or before the day of final payment for a reduced cruise fare, Celebrity will reduce the cruise fare to the new fare amount. 
• If you submit a request to add or change an added value offer on or before the due date of final payment, Celebrity will add this to your booking. It’s worth noting that you can’t combine different promotions, so if your cruise booking had a promotion attached to it as well, you can’t combine that with a new promotion, but you can choose the one you’d prefer.

Norwegian Cruise Line 

• Under the NCL Best Price Guarantee, if a lower price is advertised before the final date, you can utilise this price for your booking. 
• If you’ve already made your final payment, and then see a price drop, you can choose between an upgrade, subject to availability, or a future cruise credit of the difference, that can go towards a future sailing.
• There are several criteria that exclude certain cruises from the offer, which can be viewed here.

Carnival Cruises 

• Carnival Cruises has a price guarantee policy, but it’s much less comprehensive than the other major lines, as it can only be applied within two days of booking your cruise. 
• If within two days of booking your cruise, you see the price drop, you can receive 110% of the difference in onboard credit. 
• Also, this offer is not available with Carnival Australia. Therefore, while the policy can be used for overseas sailings, Carnival has no price guarantee policy in Australia. 

Disney Cruise Line

• Disney Cruise Line does not have a price guarantee. You are locked into the initial price you agreed to.