likeadisguise

So you want the free stuff from the 3-for-free promo, but you want to keep the price you originally booked at?

I'm not surprised Princess won't let you do that! You can't pick and choose elements from one promotion and combine them with another -- the pricing and the "perks" are all tied together.

A few weeks ago, it's a new options.

The rep may not be aware, if the trip was just removed from the database. The most likely reason if that's the only one canceled in that time frame is a charter.

Princess is generally upfront about the reason when cancelling a cruise due to a charter. It's likely this is for some sort of technical/maintenance reason.

You are starting to get me worried! We are booked on the Island Princess leaving San Pedro on the 6th March for a 32 night cruise ending in Venice on the 7th April 2015. We have heard nothing from Princess cruises or our Travel agent to say part of our cruise has been cancelled. Should I be worried?:confused:

You're on the last cruise before she goes into drydock in Trieste on April 7, your cruise isn't cancelled.

And at least with a TA booking they verify the CLIA, IATA or TRUE number of the TA before doing anything to a booking, which is info that only the agency and its agents have. It does not appear anywhere on the confirmation. Definitely protects you from someone fooling with your booking without your knowledge.

That's completely untrue. The only time they need a TA to verify that information is if the TA wants a confirmation sent someplace other than the default for the agency.

Someone impersonating your TA would have to have your booking number and last name, along with the agent's phone number, but they wouldn't have to know the agency CLIA etc. number.

The consultants obviously get tired of undoing upgrades so one day they just snap and have a go at people. If they work in the call centre that deals with "existing bookings" then they are the ones that deal with it on a daily basis.

The consultants don't have the power to "undo" your upgrade. They have to fill out the form for the department that handles those, and tell you that you will hear back. That's the procedure for an unwanted upgrade. Obviously the rep shouldn't have been rude to you, but that is the policy, and they can get in a lot of trouble if they try to reassign a cabin after an upgrade.

Also, you said in one post that you're sure you "ticked" no upgrade. Unless you're a travel agent, there's no way for you to do that. Only Princess reps and travel agents using the online booking system for TAs have the ability to mark a booking no upgrade (which, as Loonbeam notes, is still just a request).

I understand your frustration with the poor service you received, but it seems like your dislike of Princess's corporate upgrade policy is a factor, which is certainly something the phone rep had no control over.

It wasn't a vacation, it was a job. She was going on the cruise to work for OP and take care of the children. If OP isn't going on the cruise, there's no job for the nanny.

I am booking a cruise right now and I would not like to be upgraded. If I am booking online is there a way it can mark it for no upgrade or do I have to call? Thanks for any help & sorry to hijack :D

There's no way to mark it online, you'll need to call Princess.

Princess in the US will not even speak to us Brits if we have booked through a TA. I only wanted them to remove a "NA" which appeared, in error, as my middle name on the Cruise Personalizer, but they refused to talk to me because we had used a TA!!!!

It has nothing to do with being booked through a TA -- if you book with Princess UK, the reps at Princess USA can view your reservation, but it's view-only. The system gives them no access to change anything on it. Not even your middle name.

Very wrong as to the reason. The ship MUST stop (by law, the PVSA) at a near foreign port so even though most of the ports are in the US, the ship is not registered in the US and you are technically leaving the country once you step foot on the ship. Thus, you are most definitely not "still in the USA."

 

A passport isn't required because both parents are accompanying the child and because the ship is sailing a "closed loop" itinerary. This is allowable under the PVSA (Passenger Services Services Act.)

Well, it's actually the WHTI (Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative) that allows children under 16 to travel with only a birth certificate on a closed-loop domestic voyage. PVSA dictates where the ship can and can not travel between.

Agreed with everyone that having a passport is better than not having a passport, though!

Nobody knows because each cruise is different. I think your chances are very slim because anyone who booked had to pay in full since you're only 3 weeks before sailing. Why would anyone pay in full then cancel without the prospect of a refund? There is a possibility someone misses the ship or gets sick but that's a slim chance for you to hope for.

Waitlist bookings auto-cancel on midnight on the day the cruise begins, so you won't get notified if someone cancels at the very last minute. (And if they aren't on the ship because they missed it, how would you be able to get on the ship?)

Does that include Princess Vacation Protection and transfers? If so, just ask them to take those off.

Royal Caribbean is actually inventive, builds new ships with decent size balconies and their stock price is now killing CCL. They must be doing something right.

I'd suspect the Costa Concordia accident and the Carnival Triumph fiasco have had more of a negative effect on CCL's stock price than the size of Regal and Royal Princess's balconies.

As others have said, if there had been overwhelming passenger dissatisfaction with the new builds, and if they hadn't been generating the expected revenue, Princess wouldn't have ordered a third.

Yes, a Window Suite is a suite, and has all the associated benefits.

Yes anyone could have booked the cruise, it was widely advertised. My booking was made through my usual TA and he was amazed that shareholder OBC was not applicable.

 

I think this is the sort of issue that Hop2it implied in their original post!

I imagine it had something to do with the fact that they offered it with a special cruise fare of $99 per person.

Right, but if you stay on the same ship, it's considered one big cruise. One that is not allowed, because it's a PVSA violation.

If you're changing ships in Vancouver then there's no problem.

There are no connecting cabins on Emerald.

If that's on the same ship, yes, Seattle to Hawaii is a violation. The cruise line will not allow you to book it even if you're willing to pay the penalty, because they cannot knowingly violate the law.

No problem. Princess seemed to go to great lengths to make this program as confusing as possible when they originally launched it. :)

I just copied this from the princess web site, and it does state that each passenger in the cabin has to buy the package.

 

3. Drinks - as many as you like (All-inclusive Beverage Package)

 

Available at a rate of $ 49.00 per person, per day, plus service charges of 15% independent of the duration of your cruise

The package must be purchased for the entire cruise and each passenger in a cabin has to buy the package.

Given that your location says you're in Wisconsin, I'm not sure why you're looking at France's Princess web site? (http://www.princesscruises.fr/en/holiday-princess/dining-options/beverage-packages/671628)

But yes, that is outdated. And there's nothing on the US Princess.com site that indicates this restriction, which as others have noted, only existed for a short time during the test phase.

No, everyone in the stateroom doesn't have to buy it.

It's a myth that you can't get a price drop after final payment. As long as the promotion isn't specified as "new bookings only," you can get an available reduction.

The family suites never show as available on the website -- you have to call Princess directly, and the rep you speak to will call another department to verify pricing and availability.

When auto tips began in 2001 they were $6.50 per person per day for MDR staff only.

A few years later when cabin stewards entered the pool the rate became $9.00 pp/pd.

The next increase was to $9.75 pp/pd to incorporate the HC staff.

Subsequent increases have come without explanation.

How about because it's been 13 years since 2001? :)

The itinerary on your Cruise Personalizer should show embarkation times, usually.