Princess Failure

[schittenden]

We're on our last day on board Royal Princess, and despite what has generally been a good cruise, I have a sour taste in my mouth that may well prevent me from sailing with Princess again. My wife received an offer for a "free" cruise in an interior cabin from Station Casinos in Las Vegas. The terms requires a "$100 per person deposit will be charged . . . at time of booking." According to the mailer, "once on board, the $100 per person deposit will be automatically distributed as an onboard credit." I called Princess last Tuesday and confirmed that the $100 per person OBC would show up once we were on board because it did not appear in the cruise personalizer.

 

After three days of waiting, I went to guest services and inquired as the OBC had not appeared on our account. The woman I spoke with was completely indifferent, said she could not see anything on the account, and there was nothing she could do. I followed up and asked if she could contact the headquarters as I had the flyer showing the terms and a confirmation email showing an OBC. She sent an email and said she would call us when they received a response. 

 

After not receiving a call, I again inquired at guest services. They told me that headquarters had indicated they did not see a credit on our account and that we should contact the casino manager. The woman then called the casino manager who suggested we call Station Casinos. She offered to provide a free phone call. We followed up again today and called the number on the flyer, which, by the way, is answered "Princess Cruises."

 

The woman I spoke with on the phone indicated that she could see the credit on the account and that she needed to talk to her supervisor. After more than 15 minutes on hold, she told me that we never paid the $200 deposit. That their system charged us the cost to upgrade from an interior to a balcony cabin, to add a third passenger, and for vacation protection, but did not charge us the deposit. This makes little sense to me as a deposit is not an additional charge but is a prepayment toward the cost of the cruise. We paid for our cruise in full at booking, so it seems to me we must have paid any required deposit. She insisted that our cruise would have been $200 more than we paid had we paid the deposit. Of course, I have no way to dispute what their system should have charged us. I only can show what it did charge us. I can show the confirmation email that shows on board credit.

 

Between my wife and I, we have spent significant time and money in the casino on board. The $200 makes little actual difference, but I am left feeling scammed. It feels like a bait and switch that I am powerless to dispute. I am left with only the internet to vent my frustration and my threat not to return. 

 

 

[gdisney]

It seems like your beef is with Station Casinos and not Princess.

Edited February 1, 2019 by gdisney

[schittenden]

6 minutes ago, gdisney said:

It seems like your beef is with Station Casinos and not Princess.

It is not. The booking is with Princess. When you call the number on the certificate, it is answered by Princess. I booked the cruise on a Princess website. When I called to confirm the OBC, I called Princess. All Station did was give Princess a list of names. 

[gdisney]

2 minutes ago, schittenden said:

It is not. The booking is with Princess. When you call the number on the certificate, it is answered by Princess. I booked the cruise on a Princess website. When I called to confirm the OBC, I called Princess. All Station did was give Princess a list of names. 

 

Yes, but it was Station Casinos that presented the terms initially, was it not? But you said you have a confirmation email that shows the credit; is that email from Princess? Is it a booking confirmation and if so does it show the credit with the changes you made to upgrade to a balcony and add a person or was it before that?

[schittenden]

1 minute ago, gdisney said:

 

Yes, but it was Station Casinos that presented the terms initially, was it not? But you said you have a confirmation email that shows the credit; is that email from Princess? Is it a booking confirmation and if so does it show the credit with the changes you made to upgrade to a balcony and add a person or was it before that?

 The flyer purports to be from Station, but the phone number and website are both owned by Princess, the booking is made with Princess, and the email confirmation (which includes all of the upgrades and additions we made at the time of booking on the Princess website and shows an on board credit) is a booking confirmation from Princess. 

[lax19]

Do you have an itemized listing of your costs and can you compare them to your credit card statement (if you paid with your credit card)?

 

Is it possible that Princess (or Station Casinos) applied your $200 deposit to the cost of the upgrade and additional passenger instead of giving you OBC?  If so, you are not losing anything.

[gdisney]

17 minutes ago, schittenden said:

 The flyer purports to be from Station, but the phone number and website are both owned by Princess, the booking is made with Princess, and the email confirmation (which includes all of the upgrades and additions we made at the time of booking on the Princess website and shows an on board credit) is a booking confirmation from Princess. 

 

Well, based on what you've said, imo Princess should honor the credit that's on your booking confirmation (assuming no changes to the booking were made after that). But I don't think you were scammed, and I don't think you lost money.

 

Listen: Station agreed to pay for your "free" cruise, based on the cost of an inside. The deposit you would have had to pay would then be "refunded" as an OBC. For the sake of argument, let's say the inside cabin cost $1000, and the upgrades you paid cost another $1000 (or $2000 total for the balcony). Here's the layout:

 

Inside

$1000 cost - $1000 paid by Station - $200 deposit paid by you = -$200 (you should get $200 OBC)

 

Balcony

$2000 cost - $1000 paid by Station - $1000 paid by you = $0 (you shouldn't have an OBC)

 

That's how I see it anyway, for what it's worth.

[Georgie562]

It is a Station Casino promotion seems like they are the ones responsible.

No different than a Travel Agent offering you OBC out of their own pocket once on board but then you don't see that OBC.

Edited February 1, 2019 by Georgie562

[jlp20]

As others have stated, this was a come on from a third party. Your phone call to princess got the answer for what is SUPPOSED to happen. 

[RMMariner]

If it does not work out for you, I have always found Princess very helpful after the cruise. The service agents on the ship can only do so much. 

 

I hope it works out for you.

[RDC1]

On your phone call the person stated that you had not sent in the $100 per person deposit.  So if you go back to your original payment, the amount you paid should have been $100 per person deposit plus the amount for upgrade to balcony, add third person and vacation protection.  They indicated that while you paid the upgrade and vacation protection amounts you did not pay the original $100 deposit.  If you kept copies of your paperwork you should be able to validate pretty easily.

 

If the information they gave you is valid their is no $100 OBC because the deposit (basically a $100 charge to be refunded as OBC on the original offer before any upgrades) was never paid.

 

 

Edited February 1, 2019 by RDC1

[atdahop]

I have been thinking about taking the Station Casino offer of the free cruise for the past six months but cannot get past the offer that is supposed to be "free", yet expects me to pay $100 per person to book.  I too called the customer service number and was told that the initial $100 per person would be returned in OBC.  If you upgraded to a balcony then I think you paid the premium to upgrade plus the $100 OBC deposit.  At least that how the pricing looks to me.  This is one of the reasons that I did not book yet, you cannot get a definitive answer. 

On the booking site it shows $0 for an interior and $315 for a balcony, yet when I do a mock booking it then shows $100 per person for an interior and $415 for a balcony.  Doesn't that seem to you that they are charging the $100 for the deposit plus the cost of the balcony.  Is this what you paid?

[schittenden]

20 minutes ago, atdahop said:

I have been thinking about taking the Station Casino offer of the free cruise for the past six months but cannot get past the offer that is supposed to be "free", yet expects me to pay $100 per person to book.  I too called the customer service number and was told that the initial $100 per person would be returned in OBC.  If you upgraded to a balcony then I think you paid the premium to upgrade plus the $100 OBC deposit.  At least that how the pricing looks to me.  This is one of the reasons that I did not book yet, you cannot get a definitive answer. 

On the booking site it shows $0 for an interior and $315 for a balcony, yet when I do a mock booking it then shows $100 per person for an interior and $415 for a balcony.  Doesn't that seem to you that they are charging the $100 for the deposit plus the cost of the balcony.  Is this what you paid?

The exact fees to upgrade and for additional passengers vary depending upon the cruise and date selected, but yes, that is exactly my recollection. The $100 is included in the price of the upgrade fee if you upgrade. The confirmation only shows the amount per person, so I have no way of comparing it to the advertised upgrade fee. It does show on board credit below the amounts for each of the first two passengers. 

[schittenden]

1 hour ago, RDC1 said:

On your phone call the person stated that you had not sent in the $100 per person deposit.  So if you go back to your original payment, the amount you paid should have been $100 per person deposit plus the amount for upgrade to balcony, add third person and vacation protection.  They indicated that while you paid the upgrade and vacation protection amounts you did not pay the original $100 deposit.  If you kept copies of your paperwork you should be able to validate pretty easily.

 

If the information they gave you is valid their is no $100 OBC because the deposit (basically a $100 charge to be refunded as OBC on the original offer before any upgrades) was never paid.

 

 

I can't validate because as the poster after you indicated, when you book it, it is just included in one line item. The upgrade charged and other information are displayed on a Princess website. They are not on the flyer or email. It just shows $X as the date for a balcony cabin and then a lower line shows the OBC. 

[RDC1]

1 hour ago, schittenden said:

I can't validate because as the poster after you indicated, when you book it, it is just included in one line item. The upgrade charged and other information are displayed on a Princess website. They are not on the flyer or email. It just shows $X as the date for a balcony cabin and then a lower line shows the OBC. 

Didn't you print out a travel summary, when you printed your boarding pass?  It has a full breakdown of all money paid.

 

Since you have no way to validate you certainly cannot prove what was said on the call to be incorrect.  

 

So you have two choices accept that the person told you the truth or assume that they didn't, hold a grudge and never sail Princess again.  Without any evidence to the contrary I would accept what they said in the call.

 

You could call them again and ask for a print out and break down of funds paid.

Edited February 2, 2019 by RDC1

[Thrak]

Send your issue - nicely - to customerrelations@princesscruises.com

 

I've always gotten a phone call in return.

[jagsfan]

I don’t understand why, if they’re claiming you never paid the deposit, you were booked without it. The whole promo sounds pretty shaky to me. 

[idahospud]

Having received free cruises from our local-ish casino I can share what we've experienced. 

 

When we receive some of these offers there is a $100 deposit (basically to hold the cruise so you don't back out last-minute). Those $100 deposits are returned as OBC once you are on the ship. But when you upgrade to a higher level cabin you don't pay a deposit - you just pay the additional money for the upgraded cabin. Since the upgrade fee is paid at the time of booking they already have your money (again, in case you back out). There is no deposit on the upgrades - just the extra fee - therefore there is no "deposit" to give back.

 

I don't know if that helps or not, but that's what we've found with the freebie cruises coming from land casinos.

 

[Mike45LC]

I had looked into the free cruise once.  I did not want the inside cabin, and I wanted to pay the difference between the book rate for the inside and the mini-suite.  Princess was willing to give me something like a $400 pp credit against my upgrade -- $400 being some secret really discounted fare that Station was going to pay them.  The best rate they would give me, less the lousy $400 credit, was NOT as good a fare as what the Princess Casino would give me.  So I passed on the "free" cruise.

 

On the other hand, a friend of mine who was happy with an inside took the free cruise offer and loved it.

 

Bottom line:  I don't know about the credit that the OP was supposed to get, but the "free offer" is only good if you are happy with an inside cabin.  Once you upgrade, the savings disappear.  Buyer beware!!

 

 

[RDC1]

2 hours ago, jagsfan said:

I don’t understand why, if they’re claiming you never paid the deposit, you were booked without it. The whole promo sounds pretty shaky to me. 

Keep in mind that this is not a normal booking.  The terms are set by the Station Casinos.  If they had booked under the original terms they would have paid a $100 per person deposit that would be refunded on board as OBC.  However when they upgraded they would have provided more money then the required deposit, but apparently only the amount of the upgrade (none of which is refunded as OBC), but did not pay the additional $100.  

 

I expect the deposit is to make sure that people dont accept the offer and then not show up.  Since they upgraded they technically had more more at risk then the original deposit so no one caught it.

[RDC1]

2 hours ago, idahospud said:

Having received free cruises from our local-ish casino I can share what we've experienced. 

 

When we receive some of these offers there is a $100 deposit (basically to hold the cruise so you don't back out last-minute). Those $100 deposits are returned as OBC once you are on the ship. But when you upgrade to a higher level cabin you don't pay a deposit - you just pay the additional money for the upgraded cabin. Since the upgrade fee is paid at the time of booking they already have your money (again, in case you back out). There is no deposit on the upgrades - just the extra fee - therefore there is no "deposit" to give back.

 

I don't know if that helps or not, but that's what we've found with the freebie cruises coming from land casinos.

 

So basically your experience is the same as they were told during the phone call.

[pris993]

i can't get over ... this is all about $200??????????????????   Why????????????????

[schittenden]

59 minutes ago, RDC1 said:

Keep in mind that this is not a normal booking.  The terms are set by the Station Casinos.  If they had booked under the original terms they would have paid a $100 per person deposit that would be refunded on board as OBC.  However when they upgraded they would have provided more money then the required deposit, but apparently only the amount of the upgrade (none of which is refunded as OBC), but did not pay the additional $100.  

 

I expect the deposit is to make sure that people dont accept the offer and then not show up.  Since they upgraded they technically had more more at risk then the original deposit so no one caught it.

 

Another poster's comment discusses exactly how the Princess website booking engine works for these bookings. They add $100 to the advertised upgrade fee for the first two passengers. It's not the same as what you have experienced. We sailed on the same offer before and received the OBC. That was a cruise that we upgraded from an interior to a balcony and added a third, just the same as we did on this cruise. 

[schittenden]

1 hour ago, RDC1 said:

Keep in mind that this is not a normal booking.  The terms are set by the Station Casinos.  If they had booked under the original terms they would have paid a $100 per person deposit that would be refunded on board as OBC.  However when they upgraded they would have provided more money then the required deposit, but apparently only the amount of the upgrade (none of which is refunded as OBC), but did not pay the additional $100.  

 

I expect the deposit is to make sure that people dont accept the offer and then not show up.  Since they upgraded they technically had more more at risk then the original deposit so no one caught it.

 

You keep saying the terms are set by Station Casinos, but I don't think that is right. I think Princess sets the terms based on the player's history with Station Casinos and how Station rates them. 

[schittenden]

19 minutes ago, pris993 said:

i can't get over ... this is all about $200??????????????????   Why????????????????

 

Why? Should I just drop $200 wherever I go because $200 doesn't matter? I can provide my address if it matters so little to you that you'd like to just throw it away.