Change Sip 'n Sail Booking?

[lx200gps]

We have a number of Princess cruises booked for 2019 and 2020, all booked under the 2017 and 2018 mid-year Sip 'n Sail promotions. One of our upcoming trips is on the Sky this November out of Rome and so we are well before final payment. I notice that our cabin class is now selling for a LOT more than we booked it for. The trip was booked through one of the very big online/storefront TAs.  We are looking into the possibility of changing this trip to another one, probably on the Regal out of Florida instead.

 

I believe that I can simply cancel, and re-book under the promo that is currently active, the "All Aboard" sale. We find, however, that the SnS is a very good deal for us, and I am wondering whether anyone has had success in asking Princess, through our TA of course, to simply swap over the booking and keep the ORIGINAL SnS promo we have for the Med trip even though it's not currently active. I believe that there have been comments here on CC to the effect that yes, it can happen, and no, it will not be allowed.  I thought I'd ask the question and confirm there's a precedent for it being allowed before I waste our TA's time on a possible snipe hunt.

 

Thanks for any advice...

[DDG 41]

No, If you want to the perks of sip 'n sail well then you'll have to book under it.

As you know you'l' get the perks of the current 'sale' if you re-book onto your new cruise of choice.

That being said a TA could buy you the Beverage Package if you ask, unlikely though they'll give it to you

[Astro Flyer]

It’s been my experience that it’s impossible to combine two promotions including the time we changed a S+S to a 3 for Free offer.

 

My longtime TA sometimes has success negotiating with Princess when there’s some flexibility but combing promotions was nonnegotiable so I don’t waste my TA’s time requesting it.

Edited February 21, 2019 by Astro Flyer

[lx200gps]

1 minute ago, Astro Flyer said:

It’s been my experience that it’s impossible to combine two promotions including the time we changed a S+S to a 3 for Free offer.

 

My longtime TA sometimes has success negotiating with Princess when there’s some flexibility but combing promotions was nonnegotiable so I don’t waste my TA’s time requesting it.

 

I'm not really thinking about COMBINING two promotions (I guess I wasn't clear when I described our situation?) I am investigating keeping the package we currently have but transferring it to a different cruise that almost certainly had it available at the time we booked.

[Host CJSKIDS]

In order to change the sailing (date, port and ship) that promotion must be available for booking. 

What you are doing is canceling the current cruise and booking another and with sip and sale no longer available, they won’t transfer what you have. 

At least that’s been my experience. 

[memoak]

This is not going to work - you can only book a sip and sail package while the promotion is going on

[voljeep]

14 minutes ago, lx200gps said:

 

I'm not really thinking about COMBINING two promotions (I guess I wasn't clear when I described our situation?) I am investigating keeping the package we currently have but transferring it to a different cruise that almost certainly had it available at the time we booked.

I like your chances ... providing ...

 

the availability of cabins both on the cruise currently booked and the one you want to change to...

the price of both

upgrade cabin type

your 'status' with Princess - long time elite ... or somewhat 'new' to Princess (so they can set the hook by allowing this 'one time' change)

 

but most importantly ... the mood of the supervisor you ask for after the initial person who took your call states

it can't be done

 

[lx200gps]

4 minutes ago, memoak said:

This is not going to work - you can only book a sip and sail package while the promotion is going on

The issue is that I'm not trying to book a SipNSail package, because I already have one booked. I'm just trying to change the cruise to another one that ALSO had the SnS package available when we booked. 

 

I realize that folks are quoting the official rules, but rules are made to be "flexible" and there's another issue at play. IF Princess were to allow us to move over, they could sell our booked cabin on the Sky and make over a thousand more AND not have to pay out the SnS benefits. Make no mistake, if we CAN'T make the switch, we will keep the existing Med cruise but Princess would stand to make a lot more $$$s if they allowed to switch over to another cruise.  Maybe another way of looking at it is that I'm offering them my own moveover, which would be  beneficial to both parties.

[Astro Flyer]

18 minutes ago, lx200gps said:

 

I'm not really thinking about COMBINING two promotions (I guess I wasn't clear when I described our situation?) I am investigating keeping the package we currently have but transferring it to a different cruise that almost certainly had it available at the time we booked.

 

13 minutes ago, Host CJSKIDS said:

In order to change the sailing (date, port and ship) that promotion must be available for booking. 

What you are doing is canceling the current cruise and booking another and with sip and sale no longer available, they won’t transfer what you have. 

At least that’s been my experience. 

Thanks for the clarification & my experiences have been the same as CJSKIDS...benefits are only transferable during a promotion & not after its expired.

[lx200gps]

21 minutes ago, voljeep said:

I like your chances ... providing ...

 

the availability of cabins both on the cruise currently booked and the one you want to change to...

the price of both

upgrade cabin type

your 'status' with Princess - long time elite ... or somewhat 'new' to Princess (so they can set the hook by allowing this 'one time' change)

 

but most importantly ... the mood of the supervisor you ask for after the initial person who took your call states

it can't be done

 

I love a realist  ;o)  We're lowly Platinums, most of the way to black, so no benefits there The Regal cruise we would like to change to is open, the Med cruise is VERY full and popular, with few selectable balcony cabins left, almost all GTYs, so I expect Princess would be quite happy to open up a nice Balcony at the much higher rate. 

[memoak]

59 minutes ago, lx200gps said:

I love a realist  ;o)  We're lowly Platinums, most of the way to black, so no benefits there The Regal cruise we would like to change to is open, the Med cruise is VERY full and popular, with few selectable balcony cabins left, almost all GTYs, so I expect Princess would be quite happy to open up a nice Balcony at the much higher rate. 

The sip and sail is not a sticker that you can move from place to place - it is a promo only allowed while it is featured

[Cruiser_1977]

2 hours ago, lx200gps said:

....but rules are made to be "flexible" ....

Really?

 

I hope you are successful in your venture because it doesn't affect me one iota. 

[LeeW]

Hmm - everyone says it isn't going to happen because you can't take a promotion that was offered a year ago to a new booking.  Somehow I doubt that Princess would keep your booking number and move it to an entirely different ship and date.

 

The only way I can see this happening is if Princess decides the ship is over sold and offers you a move-over.  Problem is this isn't going to happen until very close to sailing and usually they just offer a few specific cruises in replacement.  The fact that your current cruise is now selling for much higher than you paid is normal.

[lx200gps]

1 hour ago, JennyB1977 said:

Really?

 

I hope you are successful in your venture because it doesn't affect me one iota. 

Thanks, very helpful. 

[jagoffee]

8 hours ago, lx200gps said:

The issue is that I'm not trying to book a SipNSail package, because I already have one booked. I'm just trying to change the cruise to another one that ALSO had the SnS package available when we booked. 

 

I realize that folks are quoting the official rules, but rules are made to be "flexible" and there's another issue at play. IF Princess were to allow us to move over, they could sell our booked cabin on the Sky and make over a thousand more AND not have to pay out the SnS benefits. Make no mistake, if we CAN'T make the switch, we will keep the existing Med cruise but Princess would stand to make a lot more $$$s if they allowed to switch over to another cruise.  Maybe another way of looking at it is that I'm offering them my own moveover, which would be  beneficial to both parties.

The only way that you will likely keep the Sip and Sail promotion is if it is currently offered on your desired new cruise.  Otherwise you should plan to stay with your existing Med cruise.

[RMMariner]

6 hours ago, JennyB1977 said:

Really?

 

I hope you are successful in your venture because it doesn't affect me one iota. 

 

I too hope he is successful for the same reason, but I also hope he is successful in his venture because it will mean that I too can possibly get the same benefit. I think that will be his problem though, if Princess does this once then it will have to do it again.

 

Good luck

[mevs904]

I have a curiosity question that’s not related tithe main issue.  The OP is looking to change the original Med cruise because the prices have gone up.  If they’ve already booked that cruise aren’t they already locked into the lower price that they originally booked?

[caribill]

57 minutes ago, mevs904 said:

I have a curiosity question that’s not related tithe main issue.  The OP is looking to change the original Med cruise because the prices have gone up.  If they’ve already booked that cruise aren’t they already locked into the lower price that they originally booked?

 

Yes, they are locked into that cruise at that price. But if they want to change to a different cruise, they will pay the current price of that different cruise and only get any perks that are a part of current pricing.

[Grburkart]

Hmmm... the sense of entitlement is strong with this one!

The question has been answered the same way, several times. 

Good luck with your venture. As far as your TA goes, they are there to answer your questions and this one should take him/her less than a second to answer it. 

Enjoy your cruise wherever it may be!

 

Glenn

 

[Papa Yoda]

 

Let us know if it works!  I'm hoping for the return of SnS this summer to add it to a booking in 2020. (I did this for a March 2018 booking in the summer of 2016 - no change in fare)

 

Likely you can add the promo to one or more of your bookings this summer.

 

My own thought is that no one says it can be done because it isn't possible in their system, i.e. if a promo isn't active for a voyage then no one can add it, even if it was at one time in the past.  

[bemis12]

6 hours ago, mevs904 said:

I have a curiosity question that’s not related tithe main issue.  The OP is looking to change the original Med cruise because the prices have gone up.  If they’ve already booked that cruise aren’t they already locked into the lower price that they originally booked?

 

They aren't looking to change because the price has gone up.

 

They are using "the price has gone up" as lever to convince Princess that this is in their best interest because they can resell the vacated room at a profit.

 

I still can't image Princess agreeing to move the promo to an entirely new booking on a different ship.

[lx200gps]

4 hours ago, Grburkart said:

Hmmm... the sense of entitlement is strong with this one!

The question has been answered the same way, several times. 

Good luck with your venture. As far as your TA goes, they are there to answer your questions and this one should take him/her less than a second to answer it. 

Enjoy your cruise wherever it may be!

 

Glenn

 

"Sense of Entitlement" is not strong with this one, sorry Genn and thanks for that.  I have no expectation that it will happen, and am quite well aware that the rules say that when booking a cruise, you get whatever package is on at that time. I thought I was clear that I was not expecting special treatment.

 

People seem to have missed the question I was asking at the start. I stated that I THOUGHT I remembered reading about cases here on CC where folks have managed to get Princess to agree to do exactly what I was enquiring about, changing a booking but keeping the original set of perqs and I was simply asking for examples. So far, everyone has responded back quoting the rule and nobody has yet responded with a concrete example stating they had managed to do what I had asked about, so it's starting to look like I was mistaken. I'll give the thread some more time in the hope that someone will come back and state they or their have done this. Otherwise I will of course, let it pass.

[bemis12]

25 minutes ago, lx200gps said:

"Sense of Entitlement" is not strong with this one, sorry Genn and thanks for that.  I have no expectation that it will happen, and am quite well aware that the rules say that when booking a cruise, you get whatever package is on at that time. I thought I was clear that I was not expecting special treatment.

 

People seem to have missed the question I was asking at the start. I stated that I THOUGHT I remembered reading about cases here on CC where folks have managed to get Princess to agree to do exactly what I was enquiring about, changing a booking but keeping the original set of perqs and I was simply asking for examples. So far, everyone has responded back quoting the rule and nobody has yet responded with a concrete example stating they had managed to do what I had asked about, so it's starting to look like I was mistaken. I'll give the thread some more time in the hope that someone will come back and state they or their have done this. Otherwise I will of course, let it pass.

 

I managed keep my PBP when I moved up to a suite on the same ship/booking.  I had to call multiple times, because the answer was "no". I don't have any illusions that I could have taken it to a completely different ship.

 

We had a couple of things going for us:

 

1.  We had never sailed Princess and they knew we didn't have any "loyalty" invested in them.

 

2.  We started by explaining that we were looking at the cost of cancelling the cruise and booking a suite on another line which did include the beverage package. We were making a purely financial decision as to which one was cheaper for us. 

Edited February 22, 2019 by bemis12

[spyro1952]

Not gonna happen 🙅‍♂️ 

[lx200gps]

3 hours ago, spyro1952 said:

Not gonna happen 🙅‍♂️ 

Quite probably not, and I'm certainly not going to ask without confirmation that there is a precedent. I started this thread not out of a sense of entitlement, but because I could have sworn I had read posts here on the Princess board where folks had stated that they HAD managed to change a cruise and keep the original package they had booked under. Perhaps I was remembering discussions of move-over offers where it was Princess, not the customer, offering the swap?