⚠️ Important update — Better Than Best Price Guarantee enrollment has closed for new bookings
The strategy in this guide depends on Princess's Better Than Best Price Guarantee — and as of 2026, its enrollment window has closed. The most recent window covered bookings made between December 16, 2024 and December 15, 2025 for 2026 and 2027 sailings. If you booked within that window and haven't reached final payment, you're grandfathered in: the guarantee still applies, and everything in this guide is fully usable — file a claim whenever you spot a qualifying lower fare. (Worth knowing, and not always spelled out: the OBC is capped at $2,000 per booking.)
If you're booking fresh in 2026, don't assume price protection. Princess has not announced a new enrollment window, and the 2026 Wave Season sale did not renew the guarantee. Until Princess reopens it, a new booking has no formal price-drop protection.
What to do instead: you still have the informal route that works on most lines. Before your final payment date, if you find a lower publicly available fare for the same ship, sail date, and stateroom category on princess.com, call Princess (or have your travel agent do it) and request a reprice. It's discretionary rather than guaranteed, and it typically adjusts your fare rather than adding OBC — but before final payment you hold the leverage, since you're still inside your cancellation window.
The move that makes this work is the same one this guide is built on: watch your sailing so you catch the drop while the lower fare is live. Track your Princess sailing with CruiseAlert →
(Original Guide - left for historical reference as some older bookings may qualify for this program for the coming months). The Princess Better Than Best claim process is self-service through a form on princess.com. The form is straightforward. What determines whether the outcome is worth pursuing — and which outcome to pursue — is the preparation before submission: confirming your booking qualifies, verifying the lower fare is genuinely better in total, and deciding whether to take the 120% OBC or request a full reprice.
That last decision is specific to Princess and doesn't exist on most other lines. Because the guarantee issues OBC while keeping your original booking terms intact, you're choosing between two different outcomes — and the right choice depends on the package attached to the lower fare you found. For the full strategy, see our complete guide to Princess price drops.
Before You Start — Confirm These Four Things
1. Your booking is within the qualifying promotional window. The single most important check. Go to princess.com/plan/best-price-guarantee/terms-and-conditions. Confirm your booking date and departure year both fall within the current Better Than Best terms. If they don't, the form submission will be denied. This step is not optional.
2. You're before your final payment date. The guarantee applies from booking through final payment. Once final payment passes, the formal mechanism closes and only a limited set of post-payment options remains. Confirm your final payment date from your booking confirmation before proceeding.
3. The lower fare is publicly available on princess.com for the same cruise, stateroom category, and sail date. Same itinerary, same category (inside, oceanview, balcony, mini-suite, or suite), same sail date, same currency. OTA fares and any fare behind a password or membership don't qualify. The fare must be available at the time Princess reviews the claim — not just when you submit.
4. The total value of the new booking is higher than your current booking. Calculate both: current fare plus current package value plus any promotional OBC, versus lower fare plus whatever package and promotions come with it. The guarantee calculates on cruise fare only — package differences are not compensated. If the lower fare strips a valuable package or promotional OBC, the 120% OBC from the claim may not cover the gap.
Track your Princess cruise price and get an alert when there's a fare drop — CruiseAlert.com
Step 1: Find and Document the Lower Fare
Go to princess.com. Search your exact sailing — same ship, same departure date. Navigate to your stateroom category. Find the current publicly available fare.
Screenshot the page showing: the fare amount per person, sailing details and departure date, stateroom category, and the date of capture. Princess requires the lower fare to be available at the time of review — not just when you submit. Strong documentation protects your claim if the fare recovers before Princess processes it.
Also screenshot the package terms attached to the lower fare — specifically whether it includes Princess Plus, Princess Premier, or neither, and what promotional OBC (if any) comes with it. This information drives the decision in Step 2.
Step 2: Decide — OBC or Full Reprice?
This step is unique to Princess and shapes everything that follows.
Option A: Submit a guarantee claim for 120% OBC. Your booking stays at the original fare and package terms. You receive 120% of the fare difference as non-refundable OBC. Your stateroom, your package, your promotional OBC from original booking — all unchanged.
When this is the right choice: the lower fare carries a weaker package than your current booking (Plus when you have Premier, or no package when you have Plus/Premier), or the lower fare carries less promotional OBC. In these scenarios, keeping your original terms and receiving OBC is the better total outcome.
Option B: Request a full reprice to the lower fare. Your booking converts to the lower fare's terms — including its package tier and promotional structure. You pay less for the cruise fare but may lose or change package inclusions and promotional OBC.
When this is the right choice: the lower fare carries the same package tier as your current booking (or better) and comparable or better promotional OBC. In this scenario, repricing gives you the lower fare with equivalent or better terms — a clean win on total value.
Run the numbers before deciding. A $100 per person fare difference with a package downgrade from Premier ($100/day) to Plus ($65/day) loses $35/day × sailing length in package value — which on a 7-night sailing for two people is $490. The 120% OBC on a $100 per person fare difference for two is $240. Option A produces a better total outcome by $250 in that scenario.
Step 3: Submit the Claim Form
Navigate to princess.com/plan/best-price-guarantee.
For Option A (120% OBC): complete the Guarantee Claim Form with your booking confirmation number, the lower fare details (sailing, category, fare amount per person, URL), and your screenshot documentation. Princess reviews the claim and applies OBC to your booking upon verification.
For Option B (full reprice): contact Princess directly or through your travel agent and request a booking reprice to the lower fare under the Better Than Best Guarantee. This is not done through the same Claim Form — it requires a service contact. Your agent can handle this on your behalf if you booked through one.
If you booked through a travel agent: contact your agent and provide the lower fare documentation. They submit the form or make the reprice request on your behalf. Don't submit the form yourself if your booking is agent-held — it may cause processing complications.
Step 4: Verify the Outcome
For the OBC path: confirm the OBC appears in your booking account after processing. Non-refundable OBC from a Better Than Best claim is available in your Princess Folio at embarkation. Verify the amount matches 120% of the fare difference before sailing.
For the reprice path: request a new booking confirmation immediately after the reprice is processed. When it arrives, verify: the fare shown matches what you agreed to, your stateroom assignment is unchanged (or updated as agreed), the package inclusions reflect the new fare's terms, and any new promotional OBC is visible in the confirmation.
What We've Seen In Practice
Two patterns appear consistently in how Princess guarantee claims go wrong:
The first is submitting without verifying the booking window. Passengers assume the guarantee applies to their booking, submit the form, and receive a denial. The denial reason is typically that the booking date falls outside the current qualifying window. Verify first — it takes two minutes and prevents a wasted submission.
The second is choosing the OBC path without running the package comparison, then later realizing the OBC doesn't fully offset a promotional OBC difference between the original booking and the lower fare. The guarantee's 120% applies to the cruise fare gap. If your original booking carried $200 in promotional OBC and the lower fare carries none, that $200 difference is not covered by the guarantee. The total outcome depends on whether the 120% OBC on the fare difference exceeds the promotional OBC loss — and that calculation requires knowing both sides before deciding.
The cleanest claim outcomes appear when the lower fare carries the same package tier as the original booking, with comparable or better promotional OBC. In that scenario, the 120% OBC is straightforwardly additive and either option (OBC or reprice) works in the passenger's favor.
Catch the drop before it recovers. CruiseAlert watches your exact Princess sailing and alerts you the moment a qualifying lower fare appears — so you can document and file while it's still live. Set a free price alert →
Common Questions
How long does Princess take to process a guarantee claim?
Processing time varies. Most claims are reviewed within a few business days. If you haven't seen the OBC applied within a week of submission and received no communication, follow up through Princess or your travel agent.
Can I submit more than one claim on the same booking?
The Better Than Best Guarantee allows claims for each lower fare found — it's not explicitly one-per-booking for each qualifying drop. Each submission requires a separate lower fare at the time of review. Contact Princess or check current terms to confirm how multiple claims on the same booking are handled.
There's also a subtler version worth knowing: when Princess improves its promotional OBC offer for new bookers during a sale, that improvement is sometimes claimable on an existing booking if the promotional terms are compatible. It's not the standard fare-drop claim, but it's the same instinct — watch what new bookers are being offered, not just the headline fare.
The lower fare I found disappeared before Princess reviewed my claim. Is it still valid?
Princess requires the fare to be available at review time, not just at submission. Strong documentation — timestamped screenshots — supports your claim if the fare recovered, but doesn't guarantee approval. File quickly and document thoroughly.
I'm outside the US. Does the guarantee still apply?
The Better Than Best Guarantee terms reference fares in the same currency as the original booking (USD or CAD in the current terms). Check the current terms at princess.com for your specific booking currency and residency.
My travel agent is telling me the guarantee doesn't apply to my booking. What do I do?
Ask them to verify directly against the current terms at princess.com/plan/best-price-guarantee/terms-and-conditions. If your booking date and departure year fall within the qualifying window, the guarantee applies. If the agent is uncertain, contacting Princess directly to confirm your booking's eligibility takes the ambiguity out.