Issues booking a casino offer

[Lynnewob]

Received a paper offer on board Sky Princess on 3 June.  Free inside cabin + $250 freeplay.

 

Called Casino Dept (1 888 772 6997) several times to book and told offer code not recognisable.  

Left it over 10 working days to contact again as requested.

 

Booked via phone on 3 July and paid port taxes of $220 by credit card for 2 Sep 2023 sailing.

It was my offer, but they incorrectly put my husband's name as lead when email received.

The invoice showed FULL balance payable on 4 July or cruise will be cancelled.

 

Called (casino dept) 5 July to ask that cruise is not cancelled as casino will pick up the fare and we just need to pay upgrade fee from inside to balcony.

Paid $200pp deposit which will be returned as OBC and they said it would be okay and a new email will follow.

 

6 July - cancellation of cruise email received and $500 cancellation fee is due.

 

I'm currently out of pocked by $620 on credit card and possibly a further $500 if cancelation fees are due and NO CRUISE.

 

I've tried calling but continually get through to Philipines who say it will take 10 working days to escalate - book by date expires on 28 July.

 

Any suggestions as to what to do now?

Edited July 6, 2023 by Lynnewob

[rhobbkf]

We had the same issue for a May cruise.  We just kept calling back. They "cancelled" it 3 times.  I demanded an escalation and they eventually got it right.  And even though it says the cruise will be cancelled, it never was.  We were concerned with losing our room, but that ended up working out as well.  The casino phone lines seem to be better since they put casino offers online.  Before I waited over an hour, now I can get through within 5-10 mins.    Unless your paper includes the drink package, it seems like booking the casino offers online is easier.  But if it has drinks, gratuities, etc included, you have to call them.  Hope this helps...

[LWhit]

Thanks for your response.  It appears I'm not the only one then.  3 times is awful.

 

I have checked my account online and the App and cruise not there - I even managed to snag an early boarding time in Group A too, but all that's gone out the window.

 

Unfortunately in the UK we can't access anything online, it has to be done on the phone.    Whenever I get a US agent, I seem to get somewhere, but anyone in the Phillipines is unable to help.

 

Not worried about the drinks package as we'll get the free minibar and always take champagne on board anyway and prefer to buy bottles of wine with meals so happy to pay as we go.

[Rick&Jeannie]

Welcome to CruiseCritic @LWhit...so sorry you're having these kinds of issues.

[Lynnewob]

Thanks Rick&Jeannie.   I am the same member that posted Lynnewob and an old CC member but Cruise Critic have asked to re-register with an email address and I'm not allowed to use anythng that resembles part of my name, hence changed to user name to LWhit.

 

As you can tell, I'm having a fun time with everything at the moment 😬

[LWhit]

Wow, cancellation number 2 received today, despite noting the booking "do not cancel, Casino is dealing with this booking"

 

Just got to wait another 9hrs before I can get in touch with Arizona again to see it can be reinstated.   Aaarrrgggh!

[PacnGoNow]

50 minutes ago, LWhit said:

Wow, cancellation number 2 received today, despite noting the booking "do not cancel, Casino is dealing with this booking"

 

Just got to wait another 9hrs before I can get in touch with Arizona again to see it can be reinstated.   Aaarrrgggh!

When you call, you can ask them who and why it was cancelled.  They can look at the history in the computer and know who cancelled it.  Was it on a time limit for payment or a time limit to hold it?

 

 

[jonnyenglish1]

Hi Lynne - can you tell me what fee they charged you to go from an interior to a balcony and for what length of cruise?

 

I will share my current tale of woe with the Players club later.

 

Many thanks

[JGmf]

On 7/6/2023 at 1:19 PM, rhobbkf said:

The casino phone lines seem to be better since they put casino offers online.

 

@rhobbkf can you please tell me where you find these on your profile when logged-in?

[rhobbkf]

13 minutes ago, JGmf said:

 

@rhobbkf can you please tell me where you find these on your profile when 

When you are logged in, pick a cruise.  the casino cruises show as $0. That's interior room.  Click through to see the upgrade prices. Usually about $315 for a 7 day balcony. 

[JGmf]

4 minutes ago, rhobbkf said:

21 minutes ago, JGmf said:

 

@rhobbkf can you please tell me where you find these on your profile when 

When you are logged in, pick a cruise.  the casino cruises show as $0. That's interior room.  Click through to see the upgrade prices. Usually about $315 for a 7 day balcony. 

 

Thanks a lot @rhobbkf.  Are upgrades to suites allowed?

[rhobbkf]

1 minute ago, JGmf said:

 

Thanks a lot @rhobbkf.  Are upgrades to suites allowed?

There are prices listed, but generally $$$.  🙂  And we haven't seen any online casino offers with the Plus package, so it's just room and OBC.

[LWhit]

The problem is they generate the cruise booking with full price, so I have yet to see what the upgrade fee is to a BD balcony grade I've requested. I understand it's anything between $300-500pp though.

 

Each day they create a booking with the same booking ref ive been given, which always expires the next day (as it's within final payment date - cruise sails 2 Sep).   

 

I keep emailing a jpg of the offer to someone at Princess & "OneCompany" (4th time) who try to escalate it, which should take 48hrs but the cruise gets cancelled and I have to go through it all again.  Arizona are much more helpful so have to deal with them to get somewhere and drop the call if I get through to the Philippines (14 times last night)

 

On the full fare they generate, princess plus is added and transfers - both are not required by me. 

 

From UK, we cannot log in to our our offers, it's for US only.

Edited July 12, 2023 by LWhit

[Lynnewob]

3rd cancellation on 14 July (0830hrs UK time) after a call the evening before to "protect" the booking from cancellation.   At this point, I wondered if they would ever get it right.

 

Called Alan in Arizona that evening (2000hrs UK) who said he would escalate it again to Manny and give them hell as it's been such an issue.  Confirmed the  BD cabin number required (it was still available) and said no Princess Plus or transfers needed.

 

Logged into my account this morning (15 July) to find a Nil balance (instead of the usual $4k) and no upgrade fee either 😁

 

I can even see the $200pp deposit showing as OBC 😀.

 

Yippee, I think we have success  🤞

 

I'm leaving it a week from now, before I book any flights (as we don't sail until 2 Sep) as I'm still wary.  I should have trust but after everything that has happened and promises made, my trust has gone.

[jonnyenglish1]

Here is my recent story, was fortunate to receive a come back and play offer from the princess casino after a trip 15th to the 19th April. The letter said wait 3 days to contact the casino. I dutifully did. After multiple attempts to call the number (Multiple over 45 minute waits) I was always told  that the offer is not yet on the system, please call back.3 days as per the letter seems ludicrous. Calling from the UK is a significant cost.

 

Finally on the 8th of may,  19 days after my disembarkation, not the 3 days as advertised, the offer had not been uploaded onto the system, I was told to send a picture of the image. The offer was for a free interior stateroom with drinks, wifi, and crew appreciation included and $150 in casino freeplay.

 

IN response to this email they held a balcony cabin for me whilst waiting for the offer to upload, despite the offer being for interior. After further multiple calls I managed to finally speak to a navigator who took my deposit and relevant taxes and charges for a cruise on the 12th August. This was on the 25th May. This totalled a payment of £861.22. I paid this amount. The bill was split, £461.22 for taxes and charges and £400 for deposit. Hence i overpaid on this deposit as £400 deposit is actually not $400. it is more like $510 currently.  I was told to ignore any further payment notices as the casino would pick up and mark my reservation as paid.

 

On the 8th July i got called from  the UK office to requesting for me to pay the outstanding balance. Hence, I called the players  club and spoke to a lady  from the Philipines, after a further hour on the call and extensive discussion she informed me it will be sorted and to call back in 4 hours. 

 

I did call  back, and spoke to a gentleman who i believe was USA based. He told me a different story. He informed  them that i was expected to pay  for the upgrade. and that the cost for this was  £1280.   I dont believe the upgrade for the cuise from inside to balcony is this price of £1280, circa  $1650 more like £160 per person for 12 nights based on bookings made on the 25th May.  £160 per person was shown at this point as a miscellaneous cost per person. I was promised a call back which never materialised.  i think at this point they had not paid anything towards the cruise based on the information in the booking charges. My view was when they took the deposit for the cabin, I view as acceptance for the cruise and the cabin booked.  Currently no interior cabins exist. Of course if they wanted to put me in an interior cabin, that would be fine as that was the offer, but they were now all sold out. If needs be i would have paid a reasonable upgrade fee.

 

On Monday i sent an email to someone who organised the original cabin booking from the player club, customer relations and 2 senior princess people.

 

Good news yesterday, i looked at my personaliser, and i am not showing the £1260 owing. In fact i have a negative balance of -£80! I can still see the princess plus offer, the deposit showing as $200 OBC per person. on my travel summary. I have not had any formal reply to my email but i am very glad that it now seems to be sorted. If someone did fix this from my escalation i am very grateful.

 

Booking come back and sail offers seems very challenging especially from the UK. Any errors or resolution of issues seem to be very difficult as the front line navigators appear to have no authority or discretion. The supervisors they describe as corporate are remote, do not want to speak to any customers and i would say promises are not often kept or acted upon.

 

 

 

 

Edited July 15, 2023 by jonnyenglish1

[LWhit]

I see you've had just as much a nightmare as me with your booking.   I always called after 4pm on UK line to get through to USA but got Philippines mostly when transferred to casino department so waited until 8 or 10pm which helped get Arizona.  

 

Alan said they've had problems with all of the offers issued in June and July but it appears its going back to Apr/May too.  

 

Save money on calls and use Skype. I signed up for a free account.  Pleased I did as I was on one call for 5hrs.  

 

I really wish we had the option of booking the offers online like those in the US. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[LWhit]

I see you've had just as much a nightmare as me with your booking.   I always called after 4pm on UK line to get through to USA but got Philippines mostly when transferred to casino department so waited until 8 or 10pm which helped get Arizona.  

 

Alan said they've had problems with all of the offers issued in June and July but it appears its going back to Apr/May too.  

 

Save money on calls and use Skype. I signed up for a free account.  Pleased I did as I was on one call for 5hrs.  

 

I really wish we had the option of booking the offers online like those in the US. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[JGmf]

Stating the obvious: all of these obstacles and continued lack of customer service on casino offers is either accepted corporate red tape to prevent these offers from being used OR simply systematic incompetence.

 

I'm on week 4+ and counting on no one in the Philippines seeing my casino offer, nor is baked into my online account.

[azbirdmom]

It's maddening that the casino offers continue to be a mess.  It was improving then things took a huge downturn last fall when they outsourced to ONE and their crew in the Philippines who were ill trained and not empowered to resolve even the smallest issues on casino bookings.  For my last two bookings (one made last fall and recently completed, one made the day they silently enabled casino bookings on their website in February) I ended up having to contact senior management to get resolution since calling casino reservations kept leading to dead ends.  During my last call about one of the cruises I was told that they had a new way of booking these so that you would no longer see the casino balance due thus eliminating the risk of the booking inadvertently cancelling.  Apparently that didn't last long.

 

By the way I no longer use EZAir for a variety of reasons but on casino bookings it adds an element of risk.  You must pay for air immediately after booking which can affect the protection on the reservation.  I did have one cancel almost two years ago after I booked air.  Before they outsourced casino reservations they used to tell you to contact them if you book air.  They are no longer doing that and folks have reported that their reservations have stayed intact after booking air on the website.  But these bookings are so glitchy that I wouldn't risk it.

[CountyCarrie]

Beware also when using Platinum Princess Protection Plus on casino bookings. I had to cancel three recent because of my father's stroke. I was told by three separate casino customer service reps that the $200. deposit for each ($600) would be refunded in full by AON. NOT TRUE! They rejected my claim, despite getting all the physicians signatures and medical records.

After two hours on hold today, was told by the casino rep that I "canceled for the wrong reason" under the "cancel for any reason" insurance. When asked to escalate my request, he told me to call back Monday and start all over with my issue as they would only be open for another hour! LOL 

Calling Princess Casino Department is definitely a trip to the Theater of the Absurd.

So book online if possible, but if there is a problem....you are out of luck.

Does anyone know of any contacts to report the misinformation I was given by the casino reps? I'm afraid they will still make these reassurances to others having to cancel. Maybe others can be spared the wild goose chase I've been on.

 

[JGmf]

On 7/15/2023 at 10:27 AM, JGmf said:

Stating the obvious: all of these obstacles and continued lack of customer service on casino offers is either accepted corporate red tape to prevent these offers from being used OR simply systematic incompetence.

 

I'm on week 4+ and counting on no one in the Philippines seeing my casino offer, nor is baked into my online account.

 

Just sharing my ongoing road blocks...

I called the Cruise Vacation Planner (CVP) contact that was emailed to me via email marketing.  She said she can't book bounce-back offers received on the ship and (with my permission) transferred me over the Philippines  Having no patience for a long wait, I hung up after a while....knowing that it was likely a waste of time.  Uggh.

[TN-Mountains]

On 7/6/2023 at 12:59 PM, Lynnewob said:

Received a paper offer on board Sky Princess on 3 June.  Free inside cabin + $250 freeplay.

 

Called Casino Dept (1 888 772 6997) several times to book and told offer code not recognisable.  

Left it over 10 working days to contact again as requested.

 

Booked via phone on 3 July and paid port taxes of $220 by credit card for 2 Sep 2023 sailing.

It was my offer, but they incorrectly put my husband's name as lead when email received.

The invoice showed FULL balance payable on 4 July or cruise will be cancelled.

 

Called (casino dept) 5 July to ask that cruise is not cancelled as casino will pick up the fare and we just need to pay upgrade fee from inside to balcony.

Paid $200pp deposit which will be returned as OBC and they said it would be okay and a new email will follow.

 

6 July - cancellation of cruise email received and $500 cancellation fee is due.

 

I'm currently out of pocked by $620 on credit card and possibly a further $500 if cancelation fees are due and NO CRUISE.

 

I've tried calling but continually get through to Philipines who say it will take 10 working days to escalate - book by date expires on 28 July.

 

Any suggestions as to what to do now?

We were on Sky June 3rd and got this same offer.  My husband tried to book something today and was told this offer isn't in the system.  How did you finally get them "find" your offer?  Although after reading your story, maybe I'll skip the headache and just pay cash!  And for anyone else following this thread that mentioned booking casino rates online in the USA...how do you do this?  I don't see anywhere to put in a promo code and I don't see any discounted rates between mine and hubby's accounts.  He got the free cabin offer and I only got an OBC offer.

[CalLuvsCrusingToo]

24 minutes ago, JGmf said:

 

Just sharing my ongoing road blocks...

I called the Cruise Vacation Planner (CVP) contact that was emailed to me via email marketing.  She said she can't book bounce-back offers received on the ship and (with my permission) transferred me over the Philippines  Having no patience for a long wait, I hung up after a while....knowing that it was likely a waste of time.  Uggh.

 

That person was wrong & might be being lazy telling you that.... or unaware?

CVP CAN book bounceback/Come back & Play offers.

 

Edited July 17, 2023 by CalLuvsCrusingToo

[JGmf]

3 minutes ago, CalLuvsCrusingToo said:

That person was wrong & might be being lazy telling you that.... or unaware?

CVP CAN book bounceback/Come back & Play offers.

 

Geez, I'm not surprised that someone at the other end of the phone doesn't fully know how or what they are doing.  She was nice enough.  I guess I'll call her again....yay!

[NRWPA]

23 minutes ago, TN-Mountains said:

We were on Sky June 3rd and got this same offer.  My husband tried to book something today and was told this offer isn't in the system.  How did you finally get them "find" your offer?  Although after reading your story, maybe I'll skip the headache and just pay cash!  And for anyone else following this thread that mentioned booking casino rates online in the USA...how do you do this?  I don't see anywhere to put in a promo code and I don't see any discounted rates between mine and hubby's accounts.  He got the free cabin offer and I only got an OBC offer.

To see your offers: Go to princess.com, login, go to "my account", click the tab that says "my profile", then click on "circle savings/cruise credits", then click on "on board credits" and "view details". Any offers you have will show there. You will most likely have to do this for each of you since you have different offers. If nothing is there, you'll have to call 😞 

 

If the offer is showing, do a cruise search with any pertinent details (what month, number of days, etc.) Click the green button "view xxx cruises". The applicable cruises will show up and indicate the amount you would pay for an inside. Click on the cruise you are interested in and continue booking where you will be shown pricing for all cabin types. 

 

I hope this helps answer your question. I travel solo so don't know how the two different offers you have are handled and you may still have to call.