Princess Promotions

[wallyj]

@azbirdmom, my first impression is Princess is expanding to allow TA’s to sell the on board packages? Not create new ones?

[azbirdmom]

4 minutes ago, wallyj said:

@azbirdmom, my first impression is Princess is expanding to allow TA’s to sell the on board packages? Not create new ones?

I guess we will find out soon enough.  Princess often stretches the definition of "NEW" 😉

[Host CJSKIDS]

4 hours ago, azbirdmom said:

I guess we will find out soon enough.  Princess often stretches the definition of "NEW" 😉

That's an understatement!  Lol

[AZDAISY]

I have unfortunately never cruised with Princess before and against my better judgement purchased a promotion.  It is the most predatory and bate and switch group I have ever dealt with.  The promotion was sold with certain rules that were not the case.  The lady that I was dealing with went as far as sharing her screen with me to show some of the perks which ended up not being true.  When I called Princess for resolution they are unwilling to help as well and just direct me back to their sales team.  We have a cruise booked for next month (for over 10K) and the way have behaved has soured the excitement a bit.  I'm also noticing that princess nickel and dimes you for everything additional.  Such a bummer....

[Itchy&Scratchy]

They called me! They finally called me!

 

Well, they technically called my parents, but I have my phone number listed for everything, since my folks don't speak any English. Good grief, I couldn't get rid of the guy.  He started with the "how did you enjoy your recent cruise" and "have we got a fantastic deal for you" and kept trying to ask me questions about our previous and future cruises. I asked him several times if this was Princess ONE or Princess Promotions, and he kept ignoring my questions. After a couple of minutes I flat out said that we had no use for this "fantastic" deal and hung up.

[Itchy&Scratchy]

1 hour ago, AZDAISY said:

We have a cruise booked for next month (for over 10K) and the way have behaved has soured the excitement a bit.  I'm also noticing that princess nickel and dimes you for everything additional.  Such a bummer....

Please rest assured that you will (most likely) have a great cruise (I mean - we always have great cruises with Princess, even though we pay less than $3K for our cruises), and that Princess Promotions is not Princess per se.

[Ted M]

Back in June, 2024 I was contacted by Princess Promotions (PP) with a package offer.  We had used Princess Cruises several times so we agreed.  We put a deposit down ($3,000 US) and agreed to monthly payments for 14 months. This has turned out to be a big mistake.  We were promised many things with the package and since we had planned to take at least two more cruises this seemed ideal.  When I went to book our first cruise we were informed that we had to pay off our plan.  We had been told that we could use the plan while paying for it.  I decided to cancel the plan.  I was contacted by PP and told they would mark our file so we could use the plan while paying for it.  Since our supposed Cruise advisor was not advising, they also gave us another advisor.  In the interim the price had gone up and we were stuck paying about $1,300 more for our Panama Canal cruise.  On August 1st the original advisor called to inform us that we had been sold a US plan but we are in Canada so we had to get a new Canadian plan.  This would cost us more ($3,400 US) and the terms changed.  We agreed and pointed out that we had already paid $3,000 US and asked about getting the money back.  We were, by the advisor, that he would make it happen quickly.  We are now at August 23rd and despite numerous calls and emails I am still waiting for my refund.  I have been promised different things at different times.  First it was 7 to 15 days (Passed); then it was 7 to 22 days (Also passed), recently it was that I should get it by August 30th.  On August 9th, after all of the false promises and other problems, my wife and I asked to cancel our plan.  In Ontario you can do this within 10 days with no issue, Princess obviously don't know this or don't care.  As of today (23rd or August) our plan still exists and our trip is still booked.  I have taken steps to go around PP and recover my money asking the credit card company to cancel the charges.  I am writing this to warn users to be very careful is using PP.  Take many notes, hold them to their promises and if they make misleading statements or fail to keep their promises get out.  Let others know about your experiences.

[PR-Texas]

This sounds like one of those situations where the old saying "Just Say NO" definitely applies. Sometimes when it sounds too good to be true...it IS.

[memoak]

56 minutes ago, Ted M said:

Back in June, 2024 I was contacted by Princess Promotions (PP) with a package offer.  We had used Princess Cruises several times so we agreed.  We put a deposit down ($3,000 US) and agreed to monthly payments for 14 months. This has turned out to be a big mistake.  We were promised many things with the package and since we had planned to take at least two more cruises this seemed ideal.  When I went to book our first cruise we were informed that we had to pay off our plan.  We had been told that we could use the plan while paying for it.  I decided to cancel the plan.  I was contacted by PP and told they would mark our file so we could use the plan while paying for it.  Since our supposed Cruise advisor was not advising, they also gave us another advisor.  In the interim the price had gone up and we were stuck paying about $1,300 more for our Panama Canal cruise.  On August 1st the original advisor called to inform us that we had been sold a US plan but we are in Canada so we had to get a new Canadian plan.  This would cost us more ($3,400 US) and the terms changed.  We agreed and pointed out that we had already paid $3,000 US and asked about getting the money back.  We were, by the advisor, that he would make it happen quickly.  We are now at August 23rd and despite numerous calls and emails I am still waiting for my refund.  I have been promised different things at different times.  First it was 7 to 15 days (Passed); then it was 7 to 22 days (Also passed), recently it was that I should get it by August 30th.  On August 9th, after all of the false promises and other problems, my wife and I asked to cancel our plan.  In Ontario you can do this within 10 days with no issue, Princess obviously don't know this or don't care.  As of today (23rd or August) our plan still exists and our trip is still booked.  I have taken steps to go around PP and recover my money asking the credit card company to cancel the charges.  I am writing this to warn users to be very careful is using PP.  Take many notes, hold them to their promises and if they make misleading statements or fail to keep their promises get out.  Let others know about your experiences.

Princess Promotions is a third party vendor they have access to Princess records as a contracted. The push these strange hotel packages that are not as described. I would get everything in writing read it twice and then say no

 

[dreaminofcruisin]

The really frustrating thing is that the phone number they are calling from is the same phone number as when my PVP (or is it CVP--can't ever remember) calls me. So...no way to tell the difference...

😩

[leck57]

18 minutes ago, memoak said:

Princess Promotions is a third party vendor they have access to Princess records as a contracted. The push these strange hotel packages that are not as described. I would get everything in writing read it twice and then say no

 

 

It is a real surprise that Princess are allowing their brand to be trashed by these third party rip off merchants. 

[memoak]

34 minutes ago, leck57 said:

 

It is a real surprise that Princess are allowing their brand to be trashed by these third party rip off merchants. 

This has been going on for quite awhile. They are also the vendors who run future cruise sales in board ships. I get a call about twice a year and since I know it is not my CVP immediately as if they are from Promotions and then say no thanks. I should note that caller ID does not say Princess but does show as a Santa Clarita number

Edited August 23 by memoak

[soaknitup]

Bought the package on the cruise, got home, called the promotions team to get details on the package and found out it would not work for us. Too cumbersome. We would not be able to take full advantage of all the package has to offer in the allotted time. Canceled day 6. Still tried to talk us into keeping the package. we were firm in stating it would not work for our needs. After 10 minutes of back and forth and trying to talk us into reconsidering, they finally relented and sent us the cancellation letter stating it could take up to 2 weeks to get our credit card credited in full...........fingers crossed.

[leck57]

3 hours ago, memoak said:

This has been going on for quite awhile. They are also the vendors who run future cruise sales in board ships. I get a call about twice a year and since I know it is not my CVP immediately as if they are from Promotions and then say no thanks. I should note that caller ID does not say Princess but does show as a Santa Clarita number

 

Yep I knew this had gone for a while from reading posts on here. As you say they also run the Future Cruise sales onboard and is now a reason I don't go anywhere near them. I occasionally used to visit Future Sales to see if there were any good options and also read some cruise brochures while on board. Not anymore. Strange that Princess has them on board when they really should be chucked overboard. 

[TRLD]

The company that does this is Open Network Exchange. They are contracted to provide some services for Princess. Including future cruise sales and apparently they may also be involved in some customer service and sales functions. Imcluding taking over some PVP spots. On board they have also taken over the Captains Circle representative function. Because of these services they have access to your complete cruise history.

 

 The owners of ONE used to own a company that allowed people to trade time share weeks for cruises. That established their contacts with multiple cruise lines including Princess.

 

They sold that business and started ONE which is considered to be a software company. But clearly they have maintained the time share sales approach.

 

 

Edited August 24 by TRLD

[Kay S]

21 hours ago, leck57 said:

 

It is a real surprise that Princess are allowing their brand to be trashed by these third party rip off merchants. 

Well, Princess does like to collect all the nickels and dimes... IMO, it's just another symptom of the mismanagement of one JP.