Unhappy With Princess Booking Policies

[margeg]

Travellady - I agree with everything you say---It's happened to me and Princess would NOT BUDGE! I have a terrific TA and she says she CAN DO NOTHONG after Final Payment!

I have written numerous letters - and speak my "piece" to the Purser once I get onboard! They are sympathetic and say they will report the comments. -

Maybe if we all keep at it - Princess will change the policy of "new Bookings" only for the last minute pricing and UPGRADE those who book earliest!

We usually book Mini-suites and they are almost never available on the "sellout" after final payment -

We try to book well in advance and that usually gets us a reasonable rate on the Minis- When the ship is selling well - the price on the premium cabins go UP!

There are always Insides left and Princess will get whatever they can for them - heard as little as $30 a day on my Sapphire Cruise (just finished)

What "galls" me MOST -is some are UPGRADED to balconies, even at those low prices - that is what is unfair - the upgrades should go to those who book earliest I think. GotToCruise (aka Renee

hear hear!!

[spongerob]

Okay, at the risk of making someone I'm cruising with angry with me, I'm going to argue that Renee's idea is wrong and creating any expectations that it should be right is only going to lead to eventual disappointment.

 

First, it doesn't matter when you book a cruise versus other passengers. We all pay at roughly the same time, so there's no real benefit to Princess from those who book a little earlier except that the cabin is taken off inventory - but can come back at any time prior to final payment on little more than a whim.

 

Second, moving people up into the premium cabins could cost money. Let's say I've booked a balcony for $1,000 instead of a minisuite for $1,500. If a few minis open up on short notice, and Princess decides to sell them for $1,200, they are probably sure someone is willing to pay that price. Bumping a balcony passenger into the mini for the price difference, then having to discount the balcony down to $700 means a net loss of $300. The two cabins have been sold for a total of $1,900, instead of $2,200, which would be the case if someone agreed to buy that mini for $1,200.

 

Finally, when you start giving things away, people will no longer see the value in them and are less likely to pay for them in the future. I've been through enough boom-and-bust cycles to know how difficult it is to restore pricing to value-priced products and services after you've been giving them away just to get people in your door.

[Toto2Kansas]

Rob, I agree with you on the thought that 'it shouldn't matter when you book a cruise'. What I think is wrong in this day and age is that there were a lot of upgrades given in the past. Too many want 'something better for nothing' and seem to come to expect it.

 

Upgrades are not the norm anymore, but the memory of them flying around is still with us. So many think they can book that cheap inside cabin and then get very upset when they aren't upgraded. It just doesn't take place that much anymore and everyone needs to get used to it. It is time to get back to the practice of paying the price you think is fare and before final payment if the price drops, then you do get to benefit from it. But, after final payment it has been a standing rule that you don't get money back because they are trying to sell left over cabins at a discounted price. And as for upgrades? Time once again to look at them as a 'gift' instead of just assuming that they will be forthcoming, cause more times than not, it just isn't going to happen.

 

Thankfully Renee found my discount for me long before final payment. Bless her for that, as without her, I would still be in a balcony cabin and paying more for it instead of being able to upgrade to our AA mini suite.

[hcs81m]

 

Second, moving people up into the premium cabins could cost money. Let's say I've booked a balcony for $1,000 instead of a minisuite for $1,500. If a few minis open up on short notice, and Princess decides to sell them for $1,200, they are probably sure someone is willing to pay that price. Bumping a balcony passenger into the mini for the price difference, then having to discount the balcony down to $700 means a net loss of $300. The two cabins have been sold for a total of $1,900, instead of $2,200, which would be the case if someone agreed to buy that mini for $1,200.

 

Rob, looking at this way makes a little more sense to me, but you would have to assume that Princess could move all of the Mini's at that price. If they could not, it would make sense to let the balcony upgrade.

[spongerob]

That depends on the market of course. Like Toto said, when sales were weak just a few years ago, it was far more common to get bumped up. Now that the economy is much stronger, it's a seller's market. One must change their paradigm or be disappointed expecting something that is unlikely to happen.

[CroozBlooz]

Rob:

 

 

You've hit the nail on the head. If people don't believe you, take a look at GM. They slit their throat with all of the rebates they offered to help stimulate sales, and now they can't get rid of them.

[dw64]

Let me tell you something. I've been on over 30 plus cruises...Upgrades are very rare..I'm on the B2B Sun Princess; May 23rd & 30th sailing. We have to change cabins between sailings..I'm Platium, & traveling with Ellite. Originally, they had us on 2 different floors, opposite sides of the ship. My travel agent was no help. I called & demanded to speak to customer service.. 8 phone calls later. FINALLY ..I'm on the same floor as my husband...What a mess!! It's irriatating.I just wonder where Princess's loyality lies....We ended up NOT getting an upgrade. But reservations & customer service wanted us to PAY to accommondate us....It's frustrating....we thought Princess should upgrade another passenger, to put the 4 of us closer together. Which they did. So..I'm just wish I didn't have to change cabins in between the sailings.....And looking forward to cruising on Sun....

[Springtime]

I guess I'm really confused as to what the problem is here ?

 

You have a booking, it is now after final payment right ? And you expect to be able to upgrade at current prices ? No cruise line that I know of does this, this is the whole reason that "final payment" exists, so they can lock in cabins and know if they should discount the remaining cabins.

 

If you truely don't care about what cabin or what ship you are on then by all means wait it out till 30-60 days before the cruise.

 

I myself am very picky I know what ship I want and usually what cabin :) I don't care if I don't end up with the "rock bottom" faire. The cruise line has every right to do its pricing this way. It is really in our own best interest that they do this.

 

I'm reading all of this thread and I'm amazed. The problem here is credibility.

I booked our family Alaska cruise last October because the Princess book says right on the front "BOOK YOUR CRUISE NOW AT DISCOUNT RATES - SAVE $1200 PER COUPLE _ EARLY BOOKINGS SAVE BIG!" Ha Ha bull sh---! I even asked our TA, shouldn't we wait for the "deals" that come a couple of months before the cruise. No, the TA says, the cruise industry wants you to book early so they know FAR in advance how filled the ships are. It would only hurt their reputation to promise savings for early booking and then not follow through.

 

Consider their reputation hurt.

 

So, the moral of the story is wait until the last minute to book if you need to watch your dollars. If price is no problem (and if you are booking a suite, it obviously isn't), then book early.

[phillipahain]

I thoroughly agree that Princess's failure to give you the same rooms B2Bs are totally nuts

 

Equally their crazy policy of selling off good cabins at cheap prices after final payment instead of allowing all early bookers to upgrade for a reasonable cost really upsets many loyal passengers

 

If they rewarded loyal customers with upgrades it would be nice but NO .....

 

On the Sun Vancouver to Alaska 9th May they upgraded one first timer from an outside to a minisuite and another first timer to a full suite

 

Yet one Platinum couple who had booked a balcony for all 4 sectors up from LA did not get an upgrade

 

We got on in LA and were to change cabins 3 times despite several phone calls to Princess ...........eventually the pursers desk managed to get permission for us to stay in same cabin for last 2 sectors

 

Princess lost out on the $900 we would happily have paid to upgrade to a balcony if they were not so wedded to the "NEW BOOKINGS ONLY "nonsense

 

If Princess want to keep their loyal cruisers and get recomended they need to ensure early bookers get real deals not superficial ones and allow existing bookings to pay the difference in an upgrade when they put unsold cabins in "flash sales"

 

There were and still are lots of empty rooms and clearly every Anchorage to Vancouver sector thru to July has lots of space being currently sold cheap by Princess

[spongerob]

Are you posting under 2 user ID's, Phillip? You've made this same complaint about your guarantee bookings on two coastal and two Inside Passage cruises several times, many of the members have responded to your reasoning is not valid, the fact that you booked after final payments, the fact that booking guarantees gives you no choice of cabin...and still you persist with your line rather than responding to those who have tried to set things straight.

 

You have use "leg" to describe part of a B2B cruise, while "Inaspin" who posted the exact same complaints using the term "sector". You even responded to that thread using this present persona. Even the writing style of Inaspin and Phillipahain are strikingly similar.

 

Using multiple user ID's to make your case eliminates your credibility, and is a violation of this site's policies.

[Totally Addicted]

Are you posting under 2 user ID's, Phillip? You've made this same complaint about your guarantee bookings on two coastal and two Inside Passage cruises several times, many of the members have responded to your reasoning is not valid, the fact that you booked after final payments, the fact that booking guarantees gives you no choice of cabin...and still you persist with your line rather than responding to those who have tried to set things straight.

 

You have use "leg" to describe part of a B2B cruise, while "Inaspin" who posted the exact same complaints using the term "sector". You even responded to that thread using this present persona. Even the writing style of Inaspin and Phillipahain are strikingly similar.

 

Using multiple user ID's to make your case eliminates your credibility, and is a violation of this site's policies.

 

Go Spongerob!! :D

[Toto2Kansas]

Good catch Rob! :D

[Princess Di]

Thanks Sponge,

This FairyTale DID sound familiar. I saw one of these posters last weekend. :eek:

He was disguised as Danny Kaye, spinning yarns in the old video, Hans Christen Andersen. ;)

BTW, I have been searching for a CD of the theme song from that Movie called: Wonderful, Wonderful Copenhagen. I cannot find it. Does anyone have a clue how to get this. I think it appropriate for sailaway in Copenhagen. :D

[phillipahain]

Spongebob

 

 

try sticking to the facts

 

1) theres lots of empty cabins on Sun Princess Alaska sailings in all categrories

 

2) Theres over 100 people on the B2Bs and many had to change cabins

 

3)To hear directly from 2 first time couples who only booked in Feb and got upgraded free to a minisuite and a suite from outside cabins means theres plenty more on a ship the size of Princess

 

4) Others onboard have spoken of the same situation and their despair with Princess over more than one issue

 

5)The staff on Princess will also tell you they do not begin to understand the workings of Princess HQ or their computers

 

6) If you had been on the Sun for the last 8 weeks you would also know the utter chaos thats existed with the Internet both for staff and passengers

 

 

and we did not book after Final Payment ............we booked in February too

[mikesteg]

Originally, they had us on 2 different floors, opposite sides of the ship. My travel agent was no help.

 

Well, there is your problem. Why in the world should Princess change your cabin if the TA screwed it up in the first place? Seems like either your TA didn't do there job in choosing cabins on the same deck (and the same cabins B2B) or you booked late enough that it wasn't available.

 

 

We ended up NOT getting an upgrade. But reservations & customer service wanted us to PAY to accommondate us....It's frustrating....

 

Am I reading this right? You expect Princess to give you a free upgrade because you didn't book cabins next to each other? Please tell me I'm reading this wrong!

 

 

we thought Princess should upgrade another passenger, to put the 4 of us closer together. Which they did.

 

So you complained enough that they pushed somebody else out of their chosen cabin... possibly for a worthwhile upgrade, but probably not. Hmmm... I wonder if they've posted a complaint thread about getting bumped out of a cabin they selected well in advance?

[cherylandtk]

Perhaps these folks who are unhappy with the Princess booking policy would prefer the policy of Royal Caribbean:

 

1. TAs are not allowed to advertise discounts on RCI or X cruises; all cruise pricing is the exact same as the cruiseline's, which makes shopping around for a deal a lot harder. Whereas Princess allows TAs to advertise discount prices. TAs are also no longer allowed to advertise discounts on RCI/X group space, nor are they allowed to offer freebies, such as giftcards, OBC, free insurance, etc.

 

2. Upgrades on RCI are not given free, as Princess does. On RCI, you get the room you booked, unless you decide to pay for an available upgrade at the pier. And those cost the current, controlled, advertised price.

 

Personally, I think that the Princess policy is a better choice, but those that don't agree might want to try out a different system and see if they like it better.

[phillipahain]

I think you will find many previous X fans have defected to Princess for many of the reasons you quote

 

I dont think anyone would mind paying the difference for an upgrade after final payment if it is the difference between what they paid and what the upgrade category is on offer for on "flash sale"

 

What does cause upset is being asked to pay the mega difference that it would have been 6 months previously

 

Equally if when someone books a B2B and they cant get the same cabin on both sectors but are assured by both TAs and Princess that "we always try to put you in the same cabin before the cruise starts " and it does not happen despite lots of empty cabins being available its not surprising they get upset

 

Yes TAs screw up

Yes some people cant book a year ahead

Yes some people have to watch the dollars

 

but thats no reason to criticise them ...........all they are asking for is an ounce of consideration

[Lane40]

I am trying to see if I can get shipboard credit or whatever on our Golden Princess 6/11/05 British Isles sailing. We have two cabins booked - a minisuite and an inside. The two cabins are now selling (after final payment) for $2,000.00 less than what we paid - that's a chunk of change!!!! So far, no luck in getting any type of compensation because these are "flash" promotions. I am definitely re-thinking booking cruises ahead of time. With these sorts of policies Princess may find that they don't have a clue how full a ship will sail, and will be selling many more cabins at a deeply discounted rate than they would like.

 

Jules...We are on the same cruise as you have seen from the Golden 11, 2005 rollcall. My parents booked a BB last September for $3973 and now a AD is going for $2600 and they cannot change. We booked AD for 3 at $6600 and cannot get a credit. Like you, we will rethink when we will book our next cruise in terms of when the final payment date is.

[spongerob]

...all they are asking for is an ounce of consideration

 

No, you are asking for more than you are willing to pay for. It's nice if you get it, but you have no right to it and continual complaining will not change the way cruise lines do business. Nor is it a good idea to create an impression you have been treated unfairly - you have made your bargain, fairly and above board. The booking policies are consistent.

[Totally Addicted]

I think you will find many previous X fans have defected to Princess for many of the reasons you quote

 

I dont think anyone would mind paying the difference for an upgrade after final payment if it is the difference between what they paid and what the upgrade category is on offer for on "flash sale"

 

What does cause upset is being asked to pay the mega difference that it would have been 6 months previously

 

Equally if when someone books a B2B and they cant get the same cabin on both sectors but are assured by both TAs and Princess that "we always try to put you in the same cabin before the cruise starts " and it does not happen despite lots of empty cabins being available its not surprising they get upset

 

Yes TAs screw up

Yes some people cant book a year ahead

Yes some people have to watch the dollars

 

but thats no reason to criticise them ...........all they are asking for is an ounce of consideration

 

What do you think might be the reason Princess does this? Can you think of any possible reason they do it?

Barbara :)

[phillipahain]

Seems Princess want to attract new customers with cheap prices because they know loyal cruisers will keep booking regardless

[Totally Addicted]

Seems Princess want to attract new customers with cheap prices because they know loyal cruisers will keep booking regardless

 

Now that sounds like the thinking of a true business man!! :)

[mulvihill]

Hello to all,

 

We have never booked on Princess and are considering doing so in Feb. 06. How do I find out what cabins are still available? We have cruised with Carnival 2X and Norweigan 1X. Being new to cruising we do not know all the ins and outs of how to find what is available or when it is best to book for the best rate.

I do know that after reading about how the upgrades work at Princess I am tempted to go back to Carnival. We liked the itenerary of the Princess ship but can do a back to back on Carnival and if the price goes down get upgrades or ship credits. I did not realize that each company had different policies. I am glad I saw this thread as it will definately make it easier to decide where we will be going in Feb.

I would still like to know how to check and see what is available. This makes it easier to cancel before your final payment. If there are still a lot of cabins open you can then pickup one of the lower discounted rates when they come out. Don't mean to be stingy but I would rather spend the savings on having a better time on my cruise than paying to much for a cabin. We always book the lowest cabin to start with and have always been upgraded.(Usually book a year ahead) We have never gotten a balcony but we don't really care. We spend very little time in our cabin so don't want to spend money on something we don't use.

I appreciate any and all tips you can give me in order to figure out what we will do. Thanking you in advance.

 

Anne

[spongerob]

I do know that after reading about how the upgrades work at Princess I am tempted to go back to Carnival. We liked the itenerary of the Princess ship but can do a back to back on Carnival and if the price goes down get upgrades or ship credits. I did not realize that each company had different policies. I am glad I saw this thread as it will definately make it easier to decide where we will be going in Feb.

 

There really isn't any way to know for sure how well a cruise is selling, but you can get a sense of what is going on by watching the pricing. Some online sites will list specific cabins, but only in groups of six, never all that are available.

 

As far as upgrades go, if you book the cheapest cabins, that is what you should expect. Anything better is a nice surprise, not an entitlement.

[Totally Addicted]

There really isn't any way to know for sure how well a cruise is selling, but you can get a sense of what is going on by watching the pricing. Some online sites will list specific cabins, but only in groups of six, never all that are available.

 

As far as upgrades go, if you book the cheapest cabins, that is what you should expect. Anything better is a nice surprise, not an entitlement.

 

Will Princess tell you all the cabins that are available if you talk with them? I always book with Princess then transfer to the TA with the best price because it seems they are giving me all the options on all the available cabins. Just wondered if that may just seem the case.

 

Also, I've wondered if I may quote you on your signature line about "no place like home". Giving you full credit of course!! I love that line!! :D