Don't trust everything you see on their web page
I just booked an Alaskan cruise on the Princess Ruby via Direct Line Cruise. Their pricing is exactly the same as on the Princess web site for this cruise. But I went through them because the booking page shows many benefits, such as:
. Free Onboard Credits up to $1500 per states room
. Independence Day Sale Extended: Up to $100 Onboard credit
. 4 Princess Plus bonus offers included, including drinks, Wifi and tips
. 10% Off shore excursions
When my booking on the Princess site did not show any of the Plus packages, I question DCL and they said the package I book does not include this. But it was on their web page front and center when I booked. It turned out that each package has these tiny icons at the bottom that shows what benefit is included. But it is totally not obvious if you do not know where to look. And the packages that do include these benefits are not displayed unless you click to show more packages, and their prices are 700-800 dollar more each person.
The next problem came when I tried to book the excursions. DCL gave me a discount code for the 10%. But when I tried to book it on the Princess web site, there is no place to enter a discount code. I called Princess and they said I have to contact DCL to book in order to use this discount code. DCL gave me a web link for booking these excursions and it is only through shoreexcursionsgroup.com. The excursions are totally different from the ones on Princess and a lot more limited, even no excursions on some of the ports. I went through what was available and found the ones at Princess more interesting. So, we ended up booking via Princess and paid full price.
We did get a $25 credit plus a $25 Independence Day bonus credit. But that was it.
I do have to say that DCL staff were nice and responsive, except that they close by 5pm PST.
So, in total, the only benefit for booking through DCL was a 1,7% credit for the booking, plus a lot of time spent chasing down the details.
