Price drop on Regal 14 day Christmas cruise has to be rebooked according to Princess

[Babette73]

We are booked on a 14 day cruise on the Regal on Dec 20 and I noticed a 500 CAD price drop. We booked through Princess. When I called Princess, I was told that the price was for new bookings only. I don't really understand as there is no mention of that on their website and there is no sale on that particular cruise date. When I mentioned this I did not get any answer. I was quoted a rebooking price similar to the website an I asked if that meant I would be losing my OBC of 100$ pp (promo) as well as my low deposit of 120$. I was told I would be refunded the deposit and would have to pay out the "normal" deposit and would lose the OBC.

 

I expect that to be the case when rebooking and would not be upset about it but what is the point of a price drop if you have to rebook? My understanding is that the booking can be repriced and I assume that any perks would not be lost. This is my 3 cruise with Princess and the first time I have seen a price drop for my cruise so needless to say I was pretty excited. I am going to try again tomorrow.

 

Does anyone have any insight on this? Is it normal to have to rebook rather than reprice? I have read many posts and have not come to that conclusion!

 

Its still a better deal to rebook but I would rather not if its possible and keep our OBC.

 

We booked early and unfortunately withe the exchange rate in Canada we got clobbered as Princess had just changed their pricing. We thought that we could get a price drop later on...

[RDC1]

I have seen a couple of cruise price drops lately that have indicated new bookings only (in the fine print under booking terms).

 

An October Quebec City to Houston had a drop with those terms, for example.

[Babette73]

I agree however this is not a sale and I do not see any fine print stating new booking when I go through each screen as if to book a new cruise. I asked for the rep to show me on the website the info that states new booking but was not given a reply. Did I mention that we were disconnected when I asked to speak to someone else? It was too late to call back so I will try again.

I am not an unreasonable person and I don't think its too much to ask to get direct reply from a Princess rep that answers a direct question.

 

I just don't know if I should really insist on this. I am unfamiliar with the price drop process. My understanding is that if the price drops Princess will honor it (before final payment) without having to rebook it (and lose any promo OBC and other perks). If this is incorrect, please let me know. Thanks!

[SadieN]

Simply put... If you want the new fare you have to accept all the conditions of the new fare.

[caribill]

Call back and you will be speaking with a different agent.

 

This agent may give you the different answer you would like to hear.

 

However, one thing you were told is correct. When you change to a new promotion, you may lose any amenities (such as that OBC) which are not a part of the new promotion and pricing.

[Thrak]

Do the math. If the new fare without the OBC is a better deal then take it. If it's not a better deal then be happy with what you originally booked.

[caribill]

Do the math. If the new fare without the OBC is a better deal then take it. If it's not a better deal then be happy with what you originally booked.

 

It is more than a question of OBC. It is also the amount of deposit. OP was told that to switch to the current pricing would require a regular deposit.

 

However, if really not for new bookings only, this should not be required.

Edited July 5, 2015 by caribill

[Thrak]

It is still a financial decision though. If there is a significant financial difference then that seems, given the info we have, to be the only real deciding factor. If it's a very small difference then it may not be worth the hassle - especially if the deposit becomes non-refundable or if there is another drawback we don't know about.

 

Sent from my K00C using Tapatalk

[trbarton]

If it's not past final payment why not do a mock booking and if you come ahead $ wise why not make a new booking and cancel your current booking assuming you can find a stateroom that you like?

 

Tom:)

[caribill]

If it's not past final payment why not do a mock booking and if you come ahead $ wise why not make a new booking and cancel your current booking assuming you can find a stateroom that you like?

 

 

OP should be able to keep the same cabin already booked if the OP wants to change to the current pricing.

[sir-magoo]

It is more than a question of OBC. It is also the amount of deposit. OP was told that to switch to the current pricing would require a regular deposit.

 

However, if really not for new bookings only, this should not be required.

 

I had a similar situation a few weeks ago. Original booking had a 1/2 price deposit. Saw a large price drop, but the new fare came with slightly different conditions such as no longer qualifying for the 1/2 price deposit.

 

I just paid the regular deposit and went forward with the amended booking. Seemed logical to me that different offers would potentially have different conditions. Could be reduced deposits, lower (or even higher) OBC, even other things such as a bottle of wine. As somebody else mentioned, just do the math and if you are better off with the new offer (with the new conditions), go for it.

[berlingo]

Before the final payment for our cruise next month I noticed an offer but it was only valid for new bookings. The new pricing increased our children's fare by 100$ but gave us 900$ OBC. We were very happy to move to this deal and our TA organised everything including for us to keep our carefully chosen cabin.

 

On our previous cruise there was an offer of a price reduction which was available to all bookings. Again our TA organised things and we had 500$ knocked off our cruise price.

 

We have been more than happy with these offers. Here in the UK the price you agree to pay at booking is final. Having the possibility of a price reduction is one of the many things we love about Princess.

 

PS our UK Princess equivalent which is P&O came up with an offer. The offer guaranteed that when you booked early they would honour any future price reductions on your booking. This proved very popular and many people booked early secure in the knowledge that they would not end up paying lots more than those who booked at the last minute.

 

A few months later P&O announced a new two tiered pricing structured. Early bookings were called Vantage Fares and later deals were called Saver Fares. People then discovered that if they had booked early and on what were now called Vantage the promise to honour price reductions only applied to reductions on other Vantage fares. However price reductions were only ever on Saver fares. Therefore the price promise was completely worthless.

 

Let's hope Princess never introduce a similar trick.:eek:

[FritzG]

I had a similar situation a few weeks ago. Original booking had a 1/2 price deposit. Saw a large price drop, but the new fare came with slightly different conditions such as no longer qualifying for the 1/2 price deposit.

 

I just paid the regular deposit and went forward with the amended booking. Seemed logical to me that different offers would potentially have different conditions. Could be reduced deposits, lower (or even higher) OBC, even other things such as a bottle of wine. As somebody else mentioned, just do the math and if you are better off with the new offer (with the new conditions), go for it.

 

We did the same thing on our upcoming cruise. Our agent rebooked us; we lost some obc and had to pay the normal deposit instead of the $100 we previously had, but we saved $800 overall. It was a no-brainer as far as we were concerned.

[skf]

We ran through a variation of this when we saw a price drop of $350 USD on our October cruise. We got the drop but then saw that we had lost $150 each in onboard credits. We called Princess and were on the phone half the day but got the money back as "Customer Goodwill." Only thing we were stuck with is that my sister-in-law's 3rd passenger fare increased from $399 to $449.

Miracles do happen sometimes.

Steve

Edited July 5, 2015 by skf