customer service & changing cabins on Sapphire

[OC SeaPA]

I am very frustrated with Princess customer service. Due to sail soon, and have been trying to change cabins for awhile. Every time I call the agent just quotes rates, not much service or help. I am not trying to get a free upgrade, just checking if we can get a better cabin, even if paying more (but not double!). Every time I call I get a different answer- you are marked for upgrade, you got an upgrade, no cabins available, yes cabins available, etc.

 

Hold times to speak to customer service- if the agent will put you through- have never been less than 15 minutes, and today I had to call 3 times because of "dropped calls" (on purpose?) I am always polite, and don't take it out on the agent, but enough!

 

On other lines, especially Celebrity, they try and DO accommodate you to change cabins. Seem more interested in keeping existing bookings, while I get the feeling from Princess they are more interested in new bookings, and figure "already got ya". Has anyone else had good or bad situations to change cabins?

[san diego sue]

When we book direct with Princess, have had no problem changing cabins on booking. Most of the time it is the same class (ex; balconyBB

to same ). Have never asked for an upgrade without paying the extra price.They have always been very polite, maybe I have been lucky.If booking with travel agent, just have her change it for me.

Edited November 22, 2013 by san diego sue

[KruzPrincess]

I use a good cruise TA who does the heavy lifting for me. I'm sorry you're having issues. Maybe you can ask to speak to a supervisor.

 

As for Celebrity, I was traveling solo and paid 200% for a balcony cabin. I wanted a location closer to the elevators. They refused to move me within the category because the available cabin could accommodate 4 passengers and I was only one. Then, I offered to pay to upgrade to the next higher category for a closer cabin, told them I had mobility issues and they still refused to move me because it was after final payment and there was a flash sale going on. They said something about not being able to change fare codes. ???? You can guess that I now use a different TA and I came back to Princess. I may try Celebrity again someday, but it left a bitter taste.

 

Good luck with getting your change.

[nukesubsailor]

I am very frustrated with Princess customer service. Due to sail soon, and have been trying to change cabins for awhile. Every time I call the agent just quotes rates, not much service or help. I am not trying to get a free upgrade, just checking if we can get a better cabin, even if paying more (but not double!). Every time I call I get a different answer- you are marked for upgrade, you got an upgrade, no cabins available, yes cabins available, etc.

 

Hold times to speak to customer service- if the agent will put you through- have never been less than 15 minutes, and today I had to call 3 times because of "dropped calls" (on purpose?) I am always polite, and don't take it out on the agent, but enough!

 

On other lines, especially Celebrity, they try and DO accommodate you to change cabins. Seem more interested in keeping existing bookings, while I get the feeling from Princess they are more interested in new bookings, and figure "already got ya". Has anyone else had good or bad situations to change cabins?

 

From what you posted, I gather that you change or attempt to change cabins frequently. I don't know what you expect to achieve by posting about your interaction with Princess in this matter but I hope you find satisfaction. My suggestion would be to avoid this problem by booking your cruises far in advance when you have a larger selection of available cabins. Pick a cabin that you are satified with and have your booking marked as "No Upgrade". Then you will know you have a cabin to your liking and there will be no need to hassle with a change request.

I have changed cabins only once. I booked the cruise 18 months in advance. About 10 months later I was in a better financial position and could afford to treat my bride of 46 years to a full suite for our anniversary cruise. I told my travel agent what suite I wanted and in an hour I had been changed. No problems at all.

[cherylandtk]

Carencpa-Princess and Celebrity have different booking models for filling their ships.

 

Celebrity will try to upsell current passengers into higher cost cabins along with running sales for slow filling ships. Often times these upsells are at a very good price, but not always, and seem to depend on how quickly the ship is filling. Celebrity also tends to sell many more upgrades than it gives away for free.

 

Princess does not do upsells for the most part, they do, however, automatically upgrade currently booked passengers, for free, and then run sales for the unfilled cabins if the ship is not filling at the expected rate. (Conversely, neither company will run sales if a ship is filling faster than expected.)

 

On Princess, the time to ask for a different cabin in the same category is at booking. There is no price difference between a guarantee (when avail.) and a specific room booking in any category, so you might as well select the room you want when you book. If you were not able to select a specific room at booking and only GTY bookings were available, on Princess that means there were very few rooms left in your category, thus less choice of rooms to switch into. The upside to a GTY booking is if you are upgraded (for free) out of your originally booked category, you are still able to switch at no cost into any available room in the upgraded category.

 

Whomever you reached on the phone should have taken the time to explain the Princess model to you so that you understood it was different than what you expected from your experience on Celebrity. Booking through a TA who could have explained the differences between the two lines may have given you different expectations, too. I don't quite understand why you had to speak to two different people when calling Princess; you did not need to be put through to anyone else to change your booking, if there was an available room. You also could also have checked room availability yourself online before calling.

 

As for self-upgrading, you can do that at any time, but you will pay the going rate for the higher grade room. It appears your sailing was filling quickly and available rooms were priced higher than when you originally booked, a common occurrence. Your sailing is fully sold out at this time, there are no available rooms for anyone at any price.

 

The last price change I see for your sailing was August 21, 2013. That was a small price increase (~$50) in each category. Without knowing when you booked, it is hard to know how much price change has occurred, but it does seem that most prices are within $150 of where they were six months ago.

[bigenna]

Cherylandtk , how were you able to look up past prices for cruises? I know that I can save cruises and watch for price changes, but it appears that you have found a way to check historical prices on any cruise?

Would appreciate knowing how to do this.

 

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Forums mobile app

[pompeii]

We just recently changed cabins on our upcoming PC transit with no problems whatsoever. When the mini we were eyeing went on sale for only $100 more, we called our TA and requested to switch our balcony to the mini suite. Done!

 

On our Alaska cruise in May, when we saw a specific aft corner mini suite become available, we called our TA and had it switched with no issues.

 

On the Canada/NE we booked through Princess, and were also able to switch obstructed OV cabins with one short phone call to Princess customer service. Each time though, we had a specific request, ie we would like to switch from cabin ABC to cabin XYZ. Maybe they don't handle general requests for a "better" cabin as easily?

 

Cherylandtk, I would also love to know how to look up past pricing?