New Policy from Princess

[Thrak]

1 minute ago, Coral said:

 

Why not just have your Ta book your cruises? If they are that good - they should be able to book a cruise from the beginning!

 

I like checking and doing it myself. It's not hard and it's something I enjoy fiddling with. It's not like my time is taken up with that hideous "work" or anything. 😛

[Colo Cruiser]

On 12/21/2018 at 11:41 AM, Thrak said:

 

got a phone call from them this morning. They sent me the form and told me there were no restrictions on agencies as long as it was an agency that was registered with Princess. That would definitely include pretty much any reputable agency. I'll wait for my regular TA to get back to me 

Hope you recorded the convo.  

[Coral]

21 hours ago, Thrak said:

 

I like checking and doing it myself. It's not hard and it's something I enjoy fiddling with. It's not like my time is taken up with that hideous "work" or anything. 😛

Just extra work for Princess employees. Their time is reflected in our fares.

[pms4104]

With this new policy, it would seem that some TAs will need to do a lot more work than simply submitting final payment to Princess.

 

Makes me wonder how many great TA perks, discounts, OBCs will go by the wayside.  After all, time is money ... and time spent servicing a client is time not spent selling.  It'll require more time and work (for some TAs, not all) to earn their commission.

[Thrak]

22 hours ago, Thrak said:

 

I like checking and doing it myself. It's not hard and it's something I enjoy fiddling with. It's not like my time is taken up with that hideous "work" or anything. 😛

 

37 minutes ago, Coral said:

Just extra work for Princess employees. Their time is reflected in our fares.

 

Say what? There is absolutely zero work involved for Princess employees. I make my booking. I check on my booking. I make my EZ Air bookings. No work at all for Princess.

[Coral]

17 minutes ago, Thrak said:

 

 

Say what? There is absolutely zero work involved for Princess employees. I make my booking. I check on my booking. I make my EZ Air bookings. No work at all for Princess.

Technically there is - you have made multiple calls about transferring the booking. You had already sent paperwork in about it previously so that was dealt with also by someone (or at least looked at). Are you indicating that this involved no work at all for Princess? Someone had to answer  your phone calls and try to figure out the status of your booking several times.

 

This is why Princess is changing their policy. They were tired of individuals using Princess employees and then later transferring it to their agent at the last minute and the agent received all the commission when Princess did the work.

 

Ultimately - if you still book with Princess (and later transfer), someone from Princess still needs to process the transfer to an agent. It is not done by elves.

[Casey12]

I have to agree with Coral. You may not know it but you are using Princess's employees time when you book directly with them. Look at the efforts of employees you have recently used in just transferring your bookings? There maybe more efforts used behind the scenes that you are not aware of.

[jagoffee]

1 hour ago, Coral said:

Technically there is - you have made multiple calls about transferring the booking. You had already sent paperwork in about it previously so that was dealt with also by someone (or at least looked at). Are you indicating that this involved no work at all for Princess? Someone had to answer  your phone calls and try to figure out the status of your booking several times.

 

This is why Princess is changing their policy. They were tired of individuals using Princess employees and then later transferring it to their agent at the last minute and the agent received all the commission when Princess did the work.

 

Ultimately - if you still book with Princess (and later transfer), someone from Princess still needs to process the transfer to an agent. It is not done by elves.

The 60 day limit in transfers (going forward) is probably an attempt to avoid Princess needing to support changes with the booking.  (Cabin changes, refares, etc.). These are things that the TA should be doing as part of the requirement for their commission.

 

The recent extra work required to support Thrak’s booking transfer confusion is a direct result of a poorly implemented change in a long term Princess policy Transfer policy.

 

IMO Thrak and his TA are the ones that are being inconvenienced by a poor implementation of this change.

 

By the way, I think the change is a good change being made for a very good reason.

[Thrak]

1 hour ago, Coral said:

Technically there is - you have made multiple calls about transferring the booking. You had already sent paperwork in about it previously so that was dealt with also by someone (or at least looked at). Are you indicating that this involved no work at all for Princess? Someone had to answer  your phone calls and try to figure out the status of your booking several times.

 

This is why Princess is changing their policy. They were tired of individuals using Princess employees and then later transferring it to their agent at the last minute and the agent received all the commission when Princess did the work.

 

Ultimately - if you still book with Princess (and later transfer), someone from Princess still needs to process the transfer to an agent. It is not done by elves.

 

Nope. I'm not saying there was no work by Princess in regard to this particular issue but, then again, they caused the issue. With the "old way" of doing things I booked my cruise online. I booked my flights online. I don't see that as making any more work for Princess than if a TA did the same thing. When I transferred it to the TA there was a very minimal amount of work for Princess as I simply sent an email asking that the booking be transferred and they did the transfer.

 

As for other work: Now that the bookings have been transferred I want to book a land excursion at Princess Copper River Wilderness Lodge. It's listed as "sold out". Using the previous method I would contact Princess and ask to be placed on a wait list. Yep, work for Princess. As it stands now I contacted my TA who then contacted Princess to have me put on a wait list. Same amount of work for Princess just more run-around for me.

Edited December 28, 2018 by Thrak

[Coral]

2 minutes ago, jagoffee said:

The 60 day limit in transfers (going forward) is probably an attempt to avoid Princess needing to support changes with the booking.  (Cabin changes, refares, etc.). These are things that the TA should be doing as part of the requirement for their commission.

 

The recent extra work required to support Thrak’s booking transfer confusion is a direct result of a poorly implemented change in a long term Princess policy Transfer policy.

 

IMO Thrak and his TA are the ones that are being inconvenienced by a poor implementation of this change.

 

By the way, I think the change is a good change being made for a very good reason.

Thank indicated that booking directly requires no Princess time whatsoever. My point was - it does in fact require time from Princess employees (even if it is done behind the scenes and he is not aware of it). If you look at what I quoted - he claims it requires no work at all on Princess's part.

 

Even the transfer of the booking requires work by Princess employees (even if it is done with in the new 60 days or under the old method). His entire situation would have been avoided if he had booked directly with his agent. Though some people "want that control". 

 

I agree - the change is positive IMO. 

[CaribbeanIsland]

Thrak - from your posts I would guess that you probably are a high maintenance client regardless who you book with.

[Colo Cruiser]

Yanni  or Laurel