Beware Booking the Sun Princess Casino Event Offer

[POSGuy0112]

As a casino player who been on a number of Princess Casino Event Cruises (VIP, Ultimate, Prestige, etc), I wanted to call out issues with the current Casino promotion for the Sun Princess.  If you have this offer for Feb/Mar 2024 and you are thinking about booking one of these events, watch out for a classic "bait and switch" that the casino marketing is currently attempting.  

 

I received an offer for a Free Balcony stateroom, free play, and a few other items for taking 1 of 5 cruises specifically targeted for the Sun Princess in Feb - Apr 2024.  When I booked on-line, I thought everything went fine.  That was until I looked at my offers and Princess.com booked my cabin (a Cove Balcony) under a different offer code (less Freeplay and no other perks).  At least for me, I wasn't able to select a specific offer, the website just used one that qualified for the March 2024 sailing on the Sun Princess.  So I called the casino line expecting to get the offer switched.

 

Once I got a representative on the line, I was told that even though I have an offer for a FREE BALCONY stateroom in my offer flyer, the Sun Princess doesn't have any standard balconies.  Under my "free balcony" offer, the Cove Balcony does not qualify, and to get a balcony room, I have to upgrade to a Deluxe Balcony ($200 pp extra) since that this the only balcony which can be booked on the Sun Princess.  I explained that I booked a Cove Balcony online, and why can't they just transfer the promo code.  They said NO.  Under this "free balcony offer", you must upgrade to a Deluxe Balcony and pay the upgrade fee.

 

To me, this is a classic bait and switch.  The flyer is specifically for a free balcony on the Sun, but they apparently sent these offers out knowing that you cannot book using it and must upgrade or downgrade to an Oceanview or inside cabin.  I know some will say that the cabin is still discounted even with the upgrade, but to me that is not the point.  The Princess Casino Marketing department is not honoring their promotions.  They next thing you know they can start taking away other promised benefits after booking. 

 

Given that I have other family members booked on this cruise, my options are limited.  However, I wanted to call out this extremely poor practice from the Princess team in the event others are looking at taking advantage of these mailed offers.

[memoak]

19 minutes ago, POSGuy0112 said:

As a casino player who been on a number of Princess Casino Event Cruises (VIP, Ultimate, Prestige, etc), I wanted to call out issues with the current Casino promotion for the Sun Princess.  If you have this offer for Feb/Mar 2024 and you are thinking about booking one of these events, watch out for a classic "bait and switch" that the casino marketing is currently attempting.  

 

I received an offer for a Free Balcony stateroom, free play, and a few other items for taking 1 of 5 cruises specifically targeted for the Sun Princess in Feb - Apr 2024.  When I booked on-line, I thought everything went fine.  That was until I looked at my offers and Princess.com booked my cabin (a Cove Balcony) under a different offer code (less Freeplay and no other perks).  At least for me, I wasn't able to select a specific offer, the website just used one that qualified for the March 2024 sailing on the Sun Princess.  So I called the casino line expecting to get the offer switched.

 

Once I got a representative on the line, I was told that even though I have an offer for a FREE BALCONY stateroom in my offer flyer, the Sun Princess doesn't have any standard balconies.  Under my "free balcony" offer, the Cove Balcony does not qualify, and to get a balcony room, I have to upgrade to a Deluxe Balcony ($200 pp extra) since that this the only balcony which can be booked on the Sun Princess.  I explained that I booked a Cove Balcony online, and why can't they just transfer the promo code.  They said NO.  Under this "free balcony offer", you must upgrade to a Deluxe Balcony and pay the upgrade fee.

 

To me, this is a classic bait and switch.  The flyer is specifically for a free balcony on the Sun, but they apparently sent these offers out knowing that you cannot book using it and must upgrade or downgrade to an Oceanview or inside cabin.  I know some will say that the cabin is still discounted even with the upgrade, but to me that is not the point.  The Princess Casino Marketing department is not honoring their promotions.  They next thing you know they can start taking away other promised benefits after booking. 

 

Given that I have other family members booked on this cruise, my options are limited.  However, I wanted to call out this extremely poor practice from the Princess team in the event others are looking at taking advantage of these mailed offers.

This is why you need.a CVP to deal with the casino department 

[mnocket]

1 hour ago, POSGuy0112 said:

To me, this is a classic bait and switch.

 

To me too.

[happy42cruise]

I would contact a CVP & if you haven't already paid try booking another cabin to see what offer it uses.  If you put it on a courtesy hold you get a booking # & email & then check your offers for which was used. The system just randomly assigns offers so you need to make sure it's the correct one before you pay. Calling the casino line seems to be the worst place to get any information.  

[Esprit]

Sorry for your disappointment but I'm with Princess on this one due to the uniqueness of the Sun Princess balconies compared with all it's other ships. There are no standard balconies on Sun Princess so my only option is to book a luxury balcony to get a cabin on another deck. The cove balcony cabins are limited to deck 6.

[Steelers36]

3 hours ago, Esprit said:

Sorry for your disappointment but I'm with Princess on this one due to the uniqueness of the Sun Princess balconies compared with all it's other ships. There are no standard balconies on Sun Princess so my only option is to book a luxury balcony to get a cabin on another deck. The cove balcony cabins are limited to deck 6.

But the Cove ones are the lowest cost Balcony, so it is not like the OP was trying to score something better.  In any case, Princess should be clear in advertising that there is a premium to book on the Sun versus rest of fleet. 

[Womble99]

1 minute ago, Steelers36 said:

But the Cove ones are the lowest cost Balcony, so it is not like the OP was trying to score something better.  In any case, Princess should be clear in advertising that there is a premium to book on the Sun versus rest of fleet.

I guess more to the point if Princess is going to offer Free Balcony room offers to Casino guests then they had at least make one category available on the ship regardless of what the lowest category is?

Kind pointless offering a prize that doesn't exist on the ship you are offering it on now does it?

[POSGuy0112]

As some of the feedback has advised, I have engaged a CVP to see if the booking can be changed and aligned with the free balcony offer.  I would have been fine if the offer had said, Get a Balcony for $200pp or some other language, but it didn't.  Maybe this goes the way of the dining charges and if we want to sail on Princess we have to take it. But if so, we should be told that when booking the Sun Princess.

[CynCyn]

I’ve had a free ocean view offer that didn’t apply to ships with no ocean view.  I could take an interior or upgrade to a balcony.  I don’t see it as a bait and switch as much as I see it as a lack of understanding of the inventory on different ships.  Princess casino department can and should do better, but they probably won’t since they aren’t having many refuse their offers.  I know I don’t.  $200 is better than thousands.

[WAvoyager]

5 hours ago, CynCyn said:

I’ve had a free ocean view offer that didn’t apply to ships with no ocean view.  I could take an interior or upgrade to a balcony.  I don’t see it as a bait and switch as much as I see it as a lack of understanding of the inventory on different ships.  Princess casino department can and should do better, but they probably won’t since they aren’t having many refuse their offers.  I know I don’t.  $200 is better than thousands.

For me what’s different in this case is there are Balcony cabins on the Sun - they’ve just added new categories of balconies.  I’m very surprised they didn’t account for this.  I give them some leeway since the offer included multiple ships/sailings, so they may just have overlooked the detail with a new ship that’s entering service.

We’ve been looking at that offer, but haven’t booked yet.  I guess we’ll plan for the upcharge, but still disappointing.

 

we also received a different offer specifically for sailing on the Sun - I could’ve sworn that was for a free balcony cabin…. I’ll have to go take a look.

Edited August 23, 2023 by WAvoyager

[Steelers36]

4 minutes ago, WAvoyager said:

For me what’s different in this case is there are Balcony cabins on the Sun - they’ve just added new categories of balconies.

Technically not.  All of the Balconies on Sun Class are categorized as Deluxe Balcony.  They added DG & DH categories for the Cove set from what I can tell.  Regular Balcony cabins are categories BF, BE and on up the line.

[azbirdmom]

On the surface it does sound like bait and switch.  However, having booked a few casino cruises myself I know that they only hold X number of cabins for each offer / cabin type.  I have in the past run into them not having my specific category available when I've gone to book an offer and when that happens you can 1) buy up, 2) downgrade for free, or 3) book for free under a different offer.  I'm looking at the offer for the Sun and it does include "on a limited availability" verbiage so they do explain this in the fine print.  In your case I'm assuming that they have already exceeded the cabin type limit for the specific offer / perks that you were trying to redeem.

 

And I can also understand why you were able to book this on their website.  Their consumer booking engine seems to look for an offer associated with the cruise that you are trying to book which may or may not include the best perks.  You have no idea what the perks are until after you've booked and can check the Travel Summary / Onboard screen in the personalizer.  I was one of the first to do a DIY booking last February and ended up writing to the executive group given the multiple issues that I ran into.  They have fixed some issues but haven't yet or haven't wanted to modify the program to allow one to designate which offer they wish to redeem.

 

One thing that folks have reported is that launching to Princess from an offer email has allowed them to book that specific offer.  You may want to give that a try to test the limited availability theory.  But when I have multiple offers and want to book a specific one, I just resign myself to having to spend the painful hour or so to call Princess to book.

[POSGuy0112]

Just as an update.  The advice to use a CVP really paid off in this instance.  I contacted someone in that team (CVP) that was recommended to me, and she was able to book me on the selected Sun Princess trip in a Deluxe Balcony (not a Cove which I expected) at no additional charge.  How she was able to accomplish this when the Princess Casino line was adamant it was not possible without an upgrade charge is unknown.   

 

WRT to some of the other great suggestions like scanning the offer barcode, I tried that today and it also allows the booking of a Cove Balcony at no charge on this same trip.  My take-away from this experience is to work with a CVP and let them navigate the waters. Using the website like azbirdmom says doesn't allow you to select your offer, and the Princess Casino line doesn't seem to have the abilities to be creative like a CVP does or align your booking to the best available offer.

[azbirdmom]

1 hour ago, POSGuy0112 said:

Just as an update.  The advice to use a CVP really paid off in this instance.  I contacted someone in that team (CVP) that was recommended to me, and she was able to book me on the selected Sun Princess trip in a Deluxe Balcony (not a Cove which I expected) at no additional charge.  How she was able to accomplish this when the Princess Casino line was adamant it was not possible without an upgrade charge is unknown.   

 

WRT to some of the other great suggestions like scanning the offer barcode, I tried that today and it also allows the booking of a Cove Balcony at no charge on this same trip.  My take-away from this experience is to work with a CVP and let them navigate the waters. Using the website like azbirdmom says doesn't allow you to select your offer, and the Princess Casino line doesn't seem to have the abilities to be creative like a CVP does or align your booking to the best available offer.

 

Happy it worked out for you!  It shouldn't be this difficult should it?

[UKWildcatCruiser]

17 hours ago, POSGuy0112 said:

Just as an update.  The advice to use a CVP really paid off in this instance.  I contacted someone in that team (CVP) that was recommended to me, and she was able to book me on the selected Sun Princess trip in a Deluxe Balcony (not a Cove which I expected) at no additional charge.  How she was able to accomplish this when the Princess Casino line was adamant it was not possible without an upgrade charge is unknown.   

 

WRT to some of the other great suggestions like scanning the offer barcode, I tried that today and it also allows the booking of a Cove Balcony at no charge on this same trip.  My take-away from this experience is to work with a CVP and let them navigate the waters. Using the website like azbirdmom says doesn't allow you to select your offer, and the Princess Casino line doesn't seem to have the abilities to be creative like a CVP does or align your booking to the best available offer.

Can you provide a phone number?  I'm booked on the Feb 18 cruise which I booked through the website and it's supposed to be under the "VIP" casino offer but I'm not sure it is.  After I booked I saw I had freeplay, but I thought there would be other things included.  Would love to talk to someone to be sure it's coded correctly.  Thanks!

[POSGuy0112]

I can provide the generic number to the Princess CVP department, which is 1 800 901 1172.   Just a bit hesitant to provide a specific extension or contact in this type of public forum.

 

However, I was told by the CVP to contact the casino line after booking to verify the exact offered associated with the booking.  And that many of the additional elements won't appear until 30 days after booking. 

 

Others might know more.

[BassettMom]

On 8/23/2023 at 6:17 AM, CynCyn said:

I’ve had a free ocean view offer that didn’t apply to ships with no ocean view.  I could take an interior or upgrade to a balcony.  I don’t see it as a bait and switch as much as I see it as a lack of understanding of the inventory on different ships.  Princess casino department can and should do better, but they probably won’t since they aren’t having many refuse their offers.  I know I don’t.  $200 is better than thousands.

I think the difference is that this specific offer was for the Sun Princess and not to other ships.  As it was a targeted offer for the Sun's inaugural season, the cabin categories offered should be the ones available. 

 

I do agree with you that is it likely a lack of understanding the different ships (but if I was this clueless at my job, I wouldn't have a job...just saying).

 

 

Edited August 24, 2023 by BassettMom

[WAvoyager]

23 hours ago, Steelers36 said:

Technically not.  All of the Balconies on Sun Class are categorized as Deluxe Balcony.  They added DG & DH categories for the Cove set from what I can tell.  Regular Balcony cabins are categories BF, BE and on up the line.

Yup - totally agree with the specifics.  The problem is (for both Princess and its customers) when someone has to wade through cabin codes to understand the offer.  That’s when an offer - good or otherwise - starts to create confusion.  
 

If you offer an oceanview room, but no oceanview rooms exist, that’s pretty clear.  If you offer a balcony room, but “balcony” doesn’t exist, only “obstructed balcony”, “deluxe balcony”, “premium balcony”, and “super duper extraordinary balcony”, it’s gonna be confusing.

[WAvoyager]

On 8/22/2023 at 3:08 PM, POSGuy0112 said:

As a casino player who been on a number of Princess Casino Event Cruises (VIP, Ultimate, Prestige, etc), I wanted to call out issues with the current Casino promotion for the Sun Princess.  If you have this offer for Feb/Mar 2024 and you are thinking about booking one of these events, watch out for a classic "bait and switch" that the casino marketing is currently attempting.  

 

I received an offer for a Free Balcony stateroom, free play, and a few other items for taking 1 of 5 cruises specifically targeted for the Sun Princess in Feb - Apr 2024.  When I booked on-line, I thought everything went fine.  That was until I looked at my offers and Princess.com booked my cabin (a Cove Balcony) under a different offer code (less Freeplay and no other perks).  At least for me, I wasn't able to select a specific offer, the website just used one that qualified for the March 2024 sailing on the Sun Princess.  So I called the casino line expecting to get the offer switched.

 

Once I got a representative on the line, I was told that even though I have an offer for a FREE BALCONY stateroom in my offer flyer, the Sun Princess doesn't have any standard balconies.  Under my "free balcony" offer, the Cove Balcony does not qualify, and to get a balcony room, I have to upgrade to a Deluxe Balcony ($200 pp extra) since that this the only balcony which can be booked on the Sun Princess.  I explained that I booked a Cove Balcony online, and why can't they just transfer the promo code.  They said NO.  Under this "free balcony offer", you must upgrade to a Deluxe Balcony and pay the upgrade fee.

 

To me, this is a classic bait and switch.  The flyer is specifically for a free balcony on the Sun, but they apparently sent these offers out knowing that you cannot book using it and must upgrade or downgrade to an Oceanview or inside cabin.  I know some will say that the cabin is still discounted even with the upgrade, but to me that is not the point.  The Princess Casino Marketing department is not honoring their promotions.  They next thing you know they can start taking away other promised benefits after booking. 

 

Given that I have other family members booked on this cruise, my options are limited.  However, I wanted to call out this extremely poor practice from the Princess team in the event others are looking at taking advantage of these mailed offers.

Was this offer specific to the Sun, or was it a generic sailing offering, with one of the options being the Sun?

 

just reread your original post and realized I misread that part originally.

 

I checked my offers and the Sun specific offer does say “Free balcony stateroom”.  And while the fine print does indicate the non-refundable deposit, nowhere does it state that “free” means $200 to upgrade to the first available balcony category.

 

Im glad you got it sorted out, and I won’t be using this offer due to timing, but it is very poorly conceived.

Edited August 24, 2023 by WAvoyager

[POSGuy0112]

Yes, your offer is the same one that I attempted to utilize.  Specifically targeted to the Sun Princess for the 5 sailings listed

[PacnGoNow]

Does PCL own the casinos, or is it a third party?  They must be making a lot of money from the casino, to be able to offer so many free and discounted rooms.

 

As they are tightening up so much now, I’m surprised to see the offers.  

[Steelers36]

2 hours ago, WAvoyager said:

Yup - totally agree with the specifics.  The problem is (for both Princess and its customers) when someone has to wade through cabin codes to understand the offer.  That’s when an offer - good or otherwise - starts to create confusion.  
 

If you offer an oceanview room, but no oceanview rooms exist, that’s pretty clear.  If you offer a balcony room, but “balcony” doesn’t exist, only “obstructed balcony”, “deluxe balcony”, “premium balcony”, and “super duper extraordinary balcony”, it’s gonna be confusing.

I don't get casino offers and the "small print" isn't reproduced it.  Princess should have been clear with an exception in their T&C - same as a situation where some ships have no OV cabins. 

 

OTOH, I imagine anyone getting this offer is likely a long-time or at least frequent Princess cruiser and would presume to have familiarity with the cabin types.  But, it they had read nothing about the new Sun, I suppose they wouldn't be aware.

 

[CynCyn]

5 hours ago, PacnGoNow said:

Does PCL own the casinos, or is it a third party?  They must be making a lot of money from the casino, to be able to offer so many free and discounted rooms.

 

As they are tightening up so much now, I’m surprised to see the offers.  

It’s a third party.  They must be making $$$$$!