Princess National Cruise Vacation Week

[whitecap]

Contacted our TA who worked with Princess and cancelled our booked and fully paid for Nov 24th cruise; re-booked at the new much lower cruise fare ($560.00 less); lost $100.00 as a penalty for canceling; kept the same cabin and all the OBC. We saved $460.00 and that makes me HAPPPYYYY :D

[Av8tor]

I'm planning an Alaska cruise for this coming spring, too bad that Alaska isn't included in this promotion, at least from what I can see... :mad:

[Thrak]

I'm planning an Alaska cruise for this coming spring, too bad that Alaska isn't included in this promotion, at least from what I can see... :mad:

 

Yes, I have the same problem. My wife is retiring at the end of May next year and a nice cruise to Alaska would be a great way to celebrate. I'm not surprised not to see one in this promotion though. The Alaska cruises tend to sell very well without added perks.

[cjnix29]

We are considering booking, but wondered why everyone is saying nonrefundable deposit. Is that a part of the promotion, or some consequence of people changing their booking? I hate the thought of a non refundable deposit, especially since we are looking to book about 7 months out.

[JC13]

Got a call into my TA to refare as the fare had dropped. Saved $200.00 on the cruise in a balcony, received gratuities, and obc, some from The TA and some from Princess. Bottom line lost $100.00 in obc, but netted the gratuities, which more than covered the obc, still have $145.00 in obc, and saved $200.00 on the cruise price all before final payment and no change fee or loss of the non-refundable deposit!

[Jagggg]

To answer the question about losing your deposit, that is part of the promotion. So it is a gamble you need to decide if you want to take.

[gremlinbangles]

To answer the question about losing your deposit, that is part of the promotion. So it is a gamble you need to decide if you want to take.

That being said, usually they will let you make changes to the existing booking, such as other promotions or uogrades. Usually u just can't cancel the cruise because then it's not refundable.

[Bostonjetset]

That being said, usually they will let you make changes to the existing booking, such as other promotions or uogrades. Usually u just can't cancel the cruise because then it's not refundable.

 

That is an important point. I spoke to my agent at Princess and she said exactly that. You can still change the booking to different promotions if a better one comes up as long as it the the same ship and sailing. You just cannot cancel completely or you will lose your deposit. Therefore, if you are pretty sure you will go, barring any catastrophes, it seems like it is worth the risk. We had booked under a special $100pp deposit so for us it is worth the risk.

[edwar2cf]

I booked a balcony on the Regal for February 2015 in August. My fare went up $70, including the prepaid gratuities. Don't think I'll switch.:)

[WolfpackFan]

Just booked a cruise on the Caribbean Princess for next March. I thought I was getting the free pre-paid gratuities, but don't see it anywhere in my booking confirmation. I booked directly with Princess on-line. I am on hold now with Princess to make sure I get the free gratuities. Hope it is there and I just don't see it.

 

Update - I give up trying to talk to Princess today. Been on hold for at least half an hour. I guess I will try Monday. I sure would feel better if it said somewhere on the booking confirmation that I was getting free gratuities. That is one of the main things that prompted me to book this cruise. I know I won't get the OBC since I booked an inside cabin.

Edited October 4, 2014 by WolfpackFan

[BananaAnna]

After seeing the original post I checked our two upcoming Caribbean Princess cruises, each 5 days, and found that one of them has been reduced dramatically in cruise fare. I plugged in the cabin next to the one we have booked, a BD category, and the difference was $560. My question though is, we are paid in full so what can I expect from Princess? This has never happened to us.

 

We were able to get refared before final payment and after final payment received a credit back to our credit card. Definitely worth checking on!

[oldjetdriver]

My booking confirmation shows under Comments

 

Bundled Gratuity

Complimentary Grat.

 

 

 

Just booked a cruise on the Caribbean Princess for next March. I thought I was getting the free pre-paid gratuities, but don't see it anywhere in my booking confirmation. I booked directly with Princess on-line. I am on hold now with Princess to make sure I get the free gratuities. Hope it is there and I just don't see it.

 

Update - I give up trying to talk to Princess today. Been on hold for at least half an hour. I guess I will try Monday. I sure would feel better if it said somewhere on the booking confirmation that I was getting free gratuities. That is one of the main things that prompted me to book this cruise. I know I won't get the OBC since I booked an inside cabin.

Edited October 4, 2014 by oldjetdriver
addition

[GradUT]

My booking confirmation shows under Comments

 

Bundled Gratuity

Complimentary Grat.

 

I re-fared our upcoming cruise today under the new sale and that's also what showed up on our new Booking Confirmation email. (We lost a little OBC but gained all our gratuities, so we came out a little bit ahead. But as they say in Germany, "Geld ist geld".)

[flutprop]

We are considering booking, but wondered why everyone is saying nonrefundable deposit. Is that a part of the promotion, or some consequence of people changing their booking? I hate the thought of a non refundable deposit, especially since we are looking to book about 7 months out.

 

To answer the question about losing your deposit, that is part of the promotion. So it is a gamble you need to decide if you want to take.

 

I noticed the nonrefundable deposit wording on the reservation my agent put on hold for us and came to research. This is a new booking, and thus a large deposit (I tried to buy a FCC while on a BVE and it never went through; I was told after numerous calls I wasn't eligible to purchase)

Anyway, since I haven't been granted the time off from work yet, I was going to purchase travel insurance anyway. By my calculations, I pay $250 for insurance, and am getting that back in free gratuities and OBC. Plus I still have the insurance if needed.

Good to know I can still transfer the booking or make use of any promotions that may come up.

[Pointkitten]

Just got off the phone with Princess. We ended up saving $218 between OBC and gratuities. However, deposit is now non-refundable. We sail on the Caribbean Princess in March. 😊

[LoriPhil]

The agent I just spoke with indicated that since we booked during a previous promotion we didn't qualify. I reminded her that we didn't use the "free upgrade to balcony" promotion as we had booked an MA mini, and would be happy to swap out the $50 OBC for the service fee waiver currently offered. She just continued to re-read the "can't be combined with a previous offer" language and seemed a bit confused about any other options.

 

Think I'll try again tomorrow during the day and hope for a more experienced rep to see if there is any wiggle room.

[michelle.zhang.90]

Am I the only one that was told I cannot get the reservation because I have to make a new reservation and the rate for a new reservation is 1000 dollars more than what I paid? So I should stay with my current reservation and I will not benefit from this promotion?

 

 

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[WolfpackFan]

Well I called Princess and found out why I didn't get the free pre-paid gratuities. It was an either/or situation. I got either the free pre-paid gratuities or the 30% discount. The discount was greater than the gratuities, so that is why I got it. The rep. said she could give me the gratuities but that my fare would increase. I re-read the explanation and sure enough that is what it says. I can't complain though I did get a very good rate and we're very excited about taking the cruise. We had planned on cruising a lot more after retiring 8 years ago, but it seems that things keep coming up that prevent it. But hopefully we won't have to cancel this one.

[gremlinbangles]

Well I called Princess and found out why I didn't get the free pre-paid gratuities. It was an either/or situation. I got either the free pre-paid gratuities or the 30% discount. The discount was greater than the gratuities, so that is why I got it. The rep. said she could give me the gratuities but that my fare would increase. I re-read the explanation and sure enough that is what it says. I can't complain though I did get a very good rate and we're very excited about taking the cruise. We had planned on cruising a lot more after retiring 8 years ago, but it seems that things keep coming up that prevent it. But hopefully we won't have to cancel this one.

Isn't it funny how retirement where we are supposed to have more free time keeps us so busy? I still can't figure out how I got everything done when I worked.

 

Hopefully this trip will work out for you

[Croptop]

Just got off the phone with Princess. Managed to refare my upcoming Mexico cruise booking. In my case, the fare stayed exactly the same but we gained $50 of OBC ($25 each) and the free gratuities so we're ahead by US$280. Very happy.

 

FWIW, I asked the customer service rep about whether or not the prepaid gratuities would show up in the Cruise Personaliser and she confirmed for me that they will NOT appear as a credit in the Personaliser. Instead, they are simply listed in the Comments section of your booking confirmation as "Bundled Gratuity" (as others have already pointed out earlier in this thread).

[michelle.zhang.90]

So today I called my TA for making the final payment with another credit card, and again, he's not in. So luckily, I talked to anther TA, she not only helped me with the final payment but also contacted princess and gave me 400 OBC instead of 50. What great Friday! I got her email and will contact her next time when I book a cruise.

[kdg51]

They sent me an email saying I had free gratuities.

 

This week the price went down but I would loose the gratuities and gain about $100 and a specialty dinner and champagne. Does anyone know if there is ever a promotion that would allow me to keep the gratuities and take advantage of a price drop?

[2wheelin]

I bit on this sale and because it was the last day of the sale booked online. My fare explicitly stated "includes prepaid gratuities". I called on Mon to confirm all was well with my booking process and was told I did not book the fare that included grats. (I booked the only fare displayed for the cabin I chose). That fare would be $150 more pp and the grats amount to $110. It would also make the res non-refundable. "Did I want to change?" After arguments with three different people at Princess, I was simply told the website must have been wrong.

[gremlinbangles]

I bit on this sale and because it was the last day of the sale booked online. My fare explicitly stated "includes prepaid gratuities". I called on Mon to confirm all was well with my booking process and was told I did not book the fare that included grats. (I booked the only fare displayed for the cabin I chose). That fare would be $150 more pp and the grats amount to $110. It would also make the res non-refundable. "Did I want to change?" After arguments with three different people at Princess, I was simply told the website must have been wrong.

I looked at both sales and I figured the dinner and champagne could cost what 75? Prepaid gratuities was about 161 and 50 obc so a total of 211 so we kept the gratuity promotion...unfortunately they don't combine promotion s you have to pick the best for u.