Re-pricing a cabin at lower rate??

[Trish Traveler]

This is in regards to a cruise in 2024, so well before final payment.  I see a decent price drop and checked with my CVP, to get my under-deposit cruise re-priced.  He said he would need to cancel my current cabin, wait for it to come back in the system and then rebook it.  He said there is a risk someone could book it first.  He offered me a different cabin at the lower price.  Is this how Princess handles price drops?  I have never done one with them.  I am used to Celebrity, where my CVP was able to just re-price it without cancelling and rebooking.

[voljeep]

are the "perks" the same as when you booked?

[Trish Traveler]

2 minutes ago, voljeep said:

are the "perks" the same as when you booked?

From what I can see, yes.

[voljeep]

I will give you an answer that I have used before when I got the same response from my 'old' PVP

Princess vacation Planner.  No EZ-Air involved, no booked excursions, nada - just the cruise.

 

I wanted the same cabin - since you are posting this on a Saturday in the eastern USA, you 'might want to' attempt to call Princess and get a different rep, saying you can't get thru to your CVP and want to tie up the fare drop.  You could also do a 'booking' for a nearby cabin at the reduced price and take a courtesy hold for 2-3 days.  I wouldn't use CHAT as some may suggest - they screwed up my booking so bad I had to get a supervisor involved, my old CVP no longer involved, and a new CVP who handled everything perfectly

 

just a suggestion...and we have re-fared many times - all before Covid, as we have not seen a single price drop on our cruises booked since then.

[PacnGoNow]

35 minutes ago, Trish Traveler said:

This is in regards to a cruise in 2024, so well before final payment.  I see a decent price drop and checked with my CVP, to get my under-deposit cruise re-priced.  He said he would need to cancel my current cabin, wait for it to come back in the system and then rebook it.  He said there is a risk someone could book it first.  He offered me a different cabin at the lower price.  Is this how Princess handles price drops?  I have never done one with them.  I am used to Celebrity, where my CVP was able to just re-price it without cancelling and rebooking.

We’ve refared many times since the restart.
 

Sometimes, the sale is valid for new bookings only.  So, they would need to rebook it and not just a reprice.  If so, he could book another cabin and lock in the lower price, and when he cancels the other booking, he should see the cabin populate back in or he could call his support team for you and secure the cabin.  Not sure why this CVP can’t do it for you.

 

I don’t think my TA has waited more than a few minutes to get my cabin back.  
 

@voljeephas a good idea to call PCL and tell them you don’t want to wait till Monday.  But, they may not be trained well enough to do that.  Worth a try. They won’t touch your current booking though.

 

 

 

 

 

[Wandawithdogs]

They told me the same thing, but my friend on the same cruise didnt have to do that.

[memoak]

I have actually changed regular priced cabins to casino rates through my CVP in the past always kept same cabin. 

[Trish Traveler]

So, I asked him to escalate to a supervisor. This is all via email.  He responded that he did and now it is handled, but the actual change will happen on Monday.  He had to place a hold on another cabin that I don't want in addition to the one I originally had.  But he assures me it will go through and resolve on Monday with a new booking number he gave me.  I don't have anymore time to deal with this now, so I will wait for Monday to see if this is the case.  Confusing system. 😵 Really makes it tough to re-fare and save money which is probably the point.  

[EDDY0827]

Your new fare may be for "new bookings only" in the fine print.

That would explain the new booking number. That may be why they needed to cancel your first booking and give you a new booking number.

[Trish Traveler]

Update: my reservation changed back to just the one cabin I wanted with the new lower price (same perks) and reservation number this afternoon, so CVP handled it as he said. 👍  I also received my new booking confirmation.  Happy for that and saving some money.  It's well over a year out, so obviously we had no airfare booked, but I imagine it would have been more complicated if airfare was connected.  

[Ombud]

1 hour ago, Trish Traveler said:

Update: my reservation changed back to just the one cabin I wanted with the new lower price (same perks) and reservation number this afternoon, so CVP handled it as he said. 👍  I also received my new booking confirmation.  Happy for that and saving some money.  It's well over a year out, so obviously we had no airfare booked, but I imagine it would have been more complicated if airfare was connected.  

Not really. My CVP lifts & shifts that if I have to rebook to get the lower fare

[Trish Traveler]

27 minutes ago, Ombud said:

Not really. My CVP lifts & shifts that if I have to rebook to get the lower fare

Oh good to know!  👍 

[SargassoPirate]

When I want to take advantage of a price drop, I let my warehouse club TA take care of it as my advocate.  Only once were they unable to take advantage of a price drop to my benefit, but it was on HAL and it would require a new booking, a wait for a refund of my original deposit, and loss of a nice package of perks that were no longer available at the lower fare.  I put the pencil to it and a lower fare was going to cost me more on the bottom line.

 

A discount is not always a good deal for the consumer.

[DHP1]

I have re-book all the time at a lower rate and Princess has never cancel my previous booking reservation number however, I do lose any promotions from the previous booking. Sometimes I re-book a cabin with EZ Air and never lose my pervious flight. My last rebook save me $1,600 for my wife and I. 
I believe the reason why CVP wants to cancel your booking and make a new reservation is because she will received a credit/bonus in making a new reservation.

I always phone Princess 1-800 number when I re-book 

Edited May 23, 2023 by DHP1

[Mud_Shark]

Last couple of times calling Princess, I felt like customer service may have become outsourced to a different country.  Last two receptionists had Pilipino accents and were very uncertain of basic procedures like re-faring (didn't really understand what "re-fare" meant.)  I was asked my birthdate for security purposes 3 or more times and got left on hold and dropped once.  I don't know if I just hit a couple of new employees, or if there is now an off-shore call center but it was the weakest customer service and knowledge base I had yet experienced.  Eventually still got done what I was asking for, but just took a lot longer than usual and an extra call back after getting dropped.

 

[startedwithamouse]

32 minutes ago, Mud_Shark said:

Last couple of times calling Princess, I felt like customer service may have become outsourced to a different country.  Last two receptionists had Pilipino accents and were very uncertain of basic procedures like re-faring (didn't really understand what "re-fare" meant.)  I was asked my birthdate for security purposes 3 or more times and got left on hold and dropped once.  I don't know if I just hit a couple of new employees, or if there is now an off-shore call center but it was the weakest customer service and knowledge base I had yet experienced.  Eventually still got done what I was asking for, but just took a lot longer than usual and an extra call back after getting dropped.

 

Use a TA, then you get to speak with someone who knows about cruises. 

[Mud_Shark]

Has not been a problem until this week - but if this is a new way forward, I will at least use a PVP (or a TA) but I like to do things myself rather than through someone else.

[PMGS247]

11 minutes ago, Mud_Shark said:

Has not been a problem until this week - but if this is a new way forward, I will at least use a PVP (or a TA) but I like to do things myself rather than through someone else.

 

I've had some mixed results with my PVP, but overall happy using their service.  It's a slower process but less of a headache than calling customer service.  Rarely are my cruise inquiries all that urgent that a few hours or even days makes much of a difference.  He dinged my confidence once by basically disappearing for a period of time after saying he'd get back to me the next day and then ignored a couple follow-ups I sent over the next couple weeks, but he saved it just before I wrote him off and has been fine ever since. Still, after that, I've got my eyes on him and will not hesitate to go around him if I end up with a more time sensitive matter.

 

I used to use a family member as a TA but she no longer does TA work.  I figure next time I go to book on a different cruise line I may look into finding a new TA, but as long as it's Princess, for now I'm overall happy with my PVP.

[sns1]

A couple of new things for me......

 

I think Princess has made some changes to re-faring.  I have re-fared for years but this year seems to be a little different.  I have a cruise scheduled for December and noticed that the price went down $300, with the same OBC.  I e-mailed my CVP (who I love) and he told me it was for new bookings only.  Nowhere on the website did it say new bookings only.  I wouldn't have asked him to refare if I had seen that.  He said the new bookings only is listed on his end.  He ended up canceling my cruise (that had my favorite room) and giving me a guarantee for the lower price.  I contacted him immediately and was able to get my old room back.  I was ready to cancel the cruise if I couldn't get the room back. 

 

We love E731 on the Grand Class.  We have 5 future cruises booked in that room.  I was told that those are now considered the less expensive and non-refundable.  I guess in every category the less expensive has a non-refundable deposit.  I was not aware of this.  My CVP informed me that all my future cruises were booked awhile ago and are still refundable.....they are grandfathered in.  I had noticed on the Princess website that the Caribbean Princess is not showing the Emerald deck for mini-suites.  This was something new to me.   Looks like I won't be able to book my favorite room anymore.

 

I read cruise critic all the time and check the Princess website.  Did I miss some announcement about these changes?

[Coral]

3 minutes ago, sns1 said:

We love E731 on the Grand Class.  We have 5 future cruises booked in that room.  I was told that those are now considered the less expensive and non-refundable.  I guess in every category the less expensive has a non-refundable deposit.  I was not aware of this.  My CVP informed me that all my future cruises were booked awhile ago and are still refundable.....they are grandfathered in.  I had noticed on the Princess website that the Caribbean Princess is not showing the Emerald deck for mini-suites.  This was something new to me.   Looks like I won't be able to book my favorite room anymore.

 

I read cruise critic all the time and check the Princess website.  Did I miss some announcement about these changes?

I noticed this in December when trying to book an Emerald Minisuite. Yes - it has been discussed.