An offer too good to refuse........so

[Lynnees]

we took it.

 

We were suppose to sail on Dec. 20 on the Tahitian Princess in a BB. They called earlier this week and offered $2100 (and a bit) to change our sailing. After a bit of back and forth between DH and myself we declined. We had booked our own pre and post hotels and pre-paid without being able to get a refund.

 

Well, they called again today and upped the anti. $4390.00 plus the cost of changing our domestic flight as well as an upgrade to an AC. Even if we can't come to an arrangement with the hotel we just had to jump on it. It's basically a free cruise to Tahiti!!!!

 

Now I'm trying to find someplace for us to go for Christmas week anyway as I have the next 3 weeks off work.

[dog]

Wow! Lucky you! I remember when we were waiting for bookings to open up. That's a nice offer you got Marilyn and you still get to go in 3 months.

Congrats!

[Lynnees]

Thank you - I've just talked to United and it will cost $100 each to change our domestic part of our flights but Princess has said they will pick that up too.

 

Just waiting to hear from the hotel and see if they will work with us. Even if they don't, it's still worth it.

[lhbsurf]

Wow!! What a great deal!!! And, now you're on our sailing!! Looking forward to it -- it will be here before we know it!!!!

 

Laura

[Druke I]

Periodically, they will make fantastic offers to get you to take a "bump".

 

Several years ago, Princess was phoning us right up to the time we were leaving for the airport, trying to get us to take a bump. Unfortunately, we could not adjust our plans, so had to stick with orginally booked trip.

[laurieb]

ATN is running a great special on airfare, 398pp Lax to PPT roundtrip. maybe you can do a land vacation to Tahiti. Moorea has some wonderful pensions fo under 200 a night for the room.

[land lover]

What a great deal...glad you could take advantage of it... sometimes is pays to hold out:)

[Lynnees]

Thank you for the suggestion laurab. However, we have decided to go to the Dominican republic for 9 days. We'll still be leaving on Sunday.

 

This is just giving us an extra vacation for free and then some. We can/will probably still be able to take another vacation on what we've saved on these two.

 

Yes, sometimes it really pays to hold out, although we weren't holding out for a better offer, I do think we were extremely lucky.

[northwoods2]

Wow - why did they bump you? Did they over sell the ship? Did you have a specific cabin assignment or Grnty?

[SeaYa52]

Why the bump? Overbook?

[Lynnees]

Princess said they had overbooked and didn't get the cancellations they thought they would.

 

I believe they must have been getting worried. I don't know the actual reason so I can only surmise one of two things, they had a big shot who wanted on or they had a group if they couldn't get enough cabins they would have lost the whole group. Whatever there reason, it had to have been really important to give us what they have.

 

 

 

We had a balcony assignment - 7075.

[calikak]

Cruise lines do oversell ships, just like airlines oversell flights, because there's usually cancellations. My TA told me that she's actually seeing more of these kinds of offers over the past year or so, probablybecause the ships are sailing so much more full than they were after 9/11 and people aren't cancelling as much.

[OregonDuck]

We were supposed to take an inaugural cruise (Hal) years ago and the ship wasn't ready. Got a full refund, plus a free cruise and a certificate which we used for another cruise. Also happened on Rcci, ship couldn't make it to Hawaii (repositioning from Vancouver) got a full refund, plus air and a full Caribbean cruise. Nice when this happens if you can make other plans.

[Lynnees]

We had a lovely Christmas at a landbased resort in the Dominican. Of course the food was hit and miss at the best of times, but we knew that was going to happen.

 

In the meanwhile, both of our hotels have agreed to change our dates. They will each charge a bit more, but that's OK with us. Neither had to as we had booked a non-refundable rate to get the best rate. I've changed our air and Princess will be reimbursing us for the $50 each difference.

 

So, everything is good to go and once again we are looking forward to our vacation in Tahiti, and when I think about the fact it's free, it's going to make it even better :D :D

[dog]

we took it.

 

We were suppose to sail on Dec. 20 on the Tahitian Princess in a BB. They called earlier this week and offered $2100 (and a bit) to change our sailing. After a bit of back and forth between DH and myself we declined. We had booked our own pre and post hotels and pre-paid without being able to get a refund.

 

Well, they called again today and upped the anti. $4390.00 plus the cost of changing our domestic flight as well as an upgrade to an AC. Even if we can't come to an arrangement with the hotel we just had to jump on it. It's basically a free cruise to Tahiti!!!!

 

Now I'm trying to find someplace for us to go for Christmas week anyway as I have the next 3 weeks off work.

 

Bringing this back to life:

 

I was wondering if the compensation was cash, in Can. or U.S. dollars, or was it ship board credit?

 

We've had a couple of offers my TA said NO for us today because our air fare is non refundable ( 2 flights ) and the offer is no where near this one.

Anyway, how did this all work out for you? Did you go on the TP yet? J.

[Lynnees]

It couldn't have worked better for us. We went in March. The air that I had booked myself (Buf - LA) I was able to change for $50 each and Princess paid that. The hotels I had pre-booked myself were willing to change (although the Sofitel in Tahiti ended up being a real problem and I had to go through their head office in Paris).

 

On the last day of the cruise when we went to the purser's desk to ask how the refund was going to work he said if you come by about 6 am we would get cash. Guess where we were at 6 am :D They gave us our refund in U.S. dollars.

 

Princess had put the refund on our on-board account so we ran the whole time with this huge credit. They did say they would apply it back to my cc if I didn't want the cash but that wasn't necessary as it was already paid for anyway.

 

We took the cash.

 

I would ask your TA to call you with all offers and let you make the decision. Although air cannot be cancelled for the most part, for a nominal fee it can be changed.

[dog]

Your offer was really worth it. Our 2 offers can't compare at this point and we leave Toronto for a few days in LA before our ATN flight this Fri.

 

I did give my TA our LA hotel info. if anything happens beyond our control. I could still do a land stay in Tahiti and Bora Bora. I see a couple of hotel availabilities but we prefer the cruise.

 

We are not being offered cash, but 2 for 1 shipboard credit or upgrade to owner's suite from a mini suite....not that appealing since we had this booked since June 2005!

[pacurnl]

Princess called our travel agent and offered us a re-book of Oct 2, and then again a re-book in Feb. but we had to turn it down. We are a large group, and it would be very hard to re-arrange every one's schedule. The deal was nowhere near as good as this one though. $1500 and a re-schedule. This seems very late as we are leaving 9-18-06.

[dog]

pat...come over to our roll call thread for Sept. 18,2006

 

It is listed 18/09/06 J.

[Lynnees]

Yes, they do leave it late. We were to leave on the Sunday and they called on the Wednesday. Luckily both DH and I could rearrange our schedules in a hurry.

 

NO, I don't think I would change for that either. Too much hassle for too little in return.