When did Customer Service/ Guest Relations get so rigid??

[remydiva]

Less than two weeks after we booked, and more than  6 wks before final payment due, a weekend promo was offered that included several perks including $200 OBC pp for a cruise of our length. 

In the past,  Princess has done a courtesy gesture and added an OBC in these cases when cabins still available , no increase in cabin price ( which would be offset by OBC) and before final payment.
 

Our CVP doesn’t work on weekends and after three phone calls to ask for guest relations, I got polite replies with promises to pass on my ask higher up but nothing happened.
 

My CVP the next day at work replied to my email to say ONLY guest relations could make that offer.

 

Several emails back and forth to guest relations also failed to resolve the issue which imho was not an unreasonable ask, They said they had to ‘honor the promotion’ which was for new bookings only.

 

I replied that approach made me as a long time loyal customer feel that my business and loyality was less valuable than a new booking or a new customer. 
 

Yes I could have cancelled the entire booking including EZ air and $1600 in princess shore excursions and then rebooked to get the OBC.

To my mind, just adding the OBC to my existing booking would have been not only good customer service relations but also easier on their staff for all the extra time and effort. 
 

Have others found Princess to be less accommodating than in the past? 

[JF - retired RRT]

Sometimes they'll give it to and sometimes they won't. Maybe, a little harder to get that OBC since the shut down and all the $$$ problems PLUS sending cust. svc. to the Philippines.

[memoak]

You are talking about rebooking nothing unusually or rigid about that   You are doing a new booking which is how these offers work

[Wishing on a star]

Back when you could put holds on cruises, TA put a hold on the 14 day instead of just the 7 day...  We let that expire...   We had one of those 'offers' for a bit of OBC...  really tiny amount, but...

That HOLD was considered a 'booking' and they would NOT honor that tiny OBC....

I have NO respect or confidence in Princess as a corporation.

[TRLD]

28 minutes ago, remydiva said:

Less than two weeks after we booked, and more than  6 wks before final payment due, a weekend promo was offered that included several perks including $200 OBC pp for a cruise of our length. 

In the past,  Princess has done a courtesy gesture and added an OBC in these cases when cabins still available , no increase in cabin price ( which would be offset by OBC) and before final payment.
 

Our CVP doesn’t work on weekends and after three phone calls to ask for guest relations, I got polite replies with promises to pass on my ask higher up but nothing happened.
 

My CVP the next day at work replied to my email to say ONLY guest relations could make that offer.

 

Several emails back and forth to guest relations also failed to resolve the issue which imho was not an unreasonable ask, They said they had to ‘honor the promotion’ which was for new bookings only.

 

I replied that approach made me as a long time loyal customer feel that my business and loyality was less valuable than a new booking or a new customer. 
 

Yes I could have cancelled the entire booking including EZ air and $1600 in princess shore excursions and then rebooked to get the OBC.

To my mind, just adding the OBC to my existing booking would have been not only good customer service relations but also easier on their staff for all the extra time and effort. 
 

Have others found Princess to be less accommodating than in the past? 

It has gotten a bit tighter since they added non refundable bookings. Prior to that one could refare and even thought it was basically a cancellation and rebooking under new terms, most thing remained in place. Now you pretty much have to fully cancel and rebook.

Edited May 31 by TRLD

[Wishing on a star]

Which is a problem when it comes to Excursions, Dining, EZ-air, etc...

Edited May 31 by Wishing on a star

[Kay S]

Another feature of post-pause Princess.  

[remydiva]

55 minutes ago, Wishing on a star said:

Which is a problem when it comes to Excursions, Dining, EZ-air, etc...

Exactly … and since outsourcing customer service off shore there seems little effort to keep us long timers. Lord knows essentially all the Elite perks vanished. 

[remydiva]

1 hour ago, Wishing on a star said:

Back when you could put holds on cruises, TA put a hold on the 14 day instead of just the 7 day...  We let that expire...   We had one of those 'offers' for a bit of OBC...  really tiny amount, but...

That HOLD was considered a 'booking' and they would NOT honor that tiny OBC....

I have NO respect or confidence in Princess as a corporation.

Now that’s brutal considering a hold a booking. 

Edited May 31 by remydiva

[latebloomer56]

1 hour ago, TRLD said:

It has gotten a bit tighter since they added non refundable bookings. Prior to that one could refare and even thought it was basically a cancellation and rebooking under new terms, most thing remained in place. Now you pretty much have to fully cancel and rebook.

What is non refundable bookings? I have cancelled without issue in the past and nobody said my two bookings for $198.00 each was non refundable. Maybe I better star asking this question. I know with Carnival I had to pay a higher deposit to get a refund if I had to cancel. Nobody said anything like this about Princess.

[memoak]

29 minutes ago, remydiva said:

Exactly … and since outsourcing customer service off shore there seems little effort to keep us long timers. Lord knows essentially all the Elite perks vanished. 

Gee that’s funny almost all of my elite perks are still intact. Free laundry, mini bar, 10% off excursions. The only thing that got diminished was the paltry amount of WiFi that was never enough and we had to buy more

[remydiva]

Re elite perks —/Mini bar still intact. Free laundry we never use as so many now Elite that it’s a 3 day turnaround. We only travel with carry on .. ever. Don’t have enough extras to wait 3 days. 
Wifi was actually enough for us 150 mins x2 did us just fine to check and send emails. 

I don’t think we ever got 10% off excursions .. I know it’s done on board but I never recall seeing a credit. 

[Ken the cruiser]

I’m confused? When there is a better deal on one of our bookings prior to final payment for the category we’re booked in, we just have our TA refare our booking, if it makes economical sense to do so. We have never had to cancel and rebook a cruise if it was before final payment. Now if there was an increase in price regarding our cabin category, those additional promotional perks better far out weigh the increase in the cabin cost. But TBH that has never happened to us. 

[TRLD]

33 minutes ago, latebloomer56 said:

What is non refundable bookings? I have cancelled without issue in the past and nobody said my two bookings for $198.00 each was non refundable. Maybe I better star asking this question. I know with Carnival I had to pay a higher deposit to get a refund if I had to cancel. Nobody said anything like this about Princess.

With Princess in the US you can book with refundable deposits or at a lower rate with nonrefundable deposits. About the same time that they added the nonrefundable option they also tightened up on the ability to refare.

 

They also made some cabins only nonrefundable and tightened up booking 3 or 4 person cabin with only 2 people.

Edited May 31 by TRLD

[TRLD]

15 minutes ago, memoak said:

Gee that’s funny almost all of my elite perks are still intact. Free laundry, mini bar, 10% off excursions. The only thing that got diminished was the paltry amount of WiFi that was never enough and we had to buy more

Even the wifi is still there just cha ged from X free minutes to half off unlimited. Personally I prefer the half off unlimited.

[memoak]

23 minutes ago, TRLD said:

Even the wifi is still there just cha ged from X free minutes to half off unlimited. Personally I prefer the half off unlimited.

Likewise. And we still get priority tendering and embarkation among others

[latebloomer56]

11 hours ago, TRLD said:

With Princess in the US you can book with refundable deposits or at a lower rate with nonrefundable deposits. About the same time that they added the nonrefundable option they also tightened up on the ability to refare.

 

They also made some cabins only nonrefundable and tightened up booking 3 or 4 person cabin with only 2 people.

You would think our TA would have said something if non refundable 😢. I have health issues so never book non refundable she knows this. The trip for 2025 I grabbed because she was off and aft or the very forward go quick on Panama full transits. I didn't see non refundable. Do you know where I would look?

[NavyVeteran]

1 hour ago, latebloomer56 said:

You would think our TA would have said something if non refundable 😢. I have health issues so never book non refundable she knows this. The trip for 2025 I grabbed because she was off and aft or the very forward go quick on Panama full transits. I didn't see non refundable. Do you know where I would look?

When you search for a cruise on the Princess website and then click on SELECT ROOM TYPE, choose Number of Guests, choose Stateroom Type, and select a specific subtype, you will see a page labeled Stateroom Assignment. On this page, you can select either "We Pick Your Room" or "You Choose Your Room". Under the "We Pick Your Room" and "You Choose Your Room" options, there is a statement saying either "Deposit is non-refundable" or "Deposit is fully refundable". It will also give you the price for each option, and sometimes they are different.

 

If you deal with a Travel Agent, the Travel Agent should tell you.

 

After you book, you should receive a BOOKING CONFIRMATION. The confirmation includes a CANCELLATION SCHEDULE which gives cancellation penalties by date. If the first date listed with a penalty is the final payment date, then the deposit is refundable.

 

[STLCARDS82]

15 hours ago, Wishing on a star said:

Back when you could put holds on cruises, TA put a hold on the 14 day instead of just the 7 day...  We let that expire...   We had one of those 'offers' for a bit of OBC...  really tiny amount, but...

That HOLD was considered a 'booking' and they would NOT honor that tiny OBC....

I have NO respect or confidence in Princess as a corporation.

In 2024 I have no confidence in any Corporation!!

[TRLD]

2 hours ago, latebloomer56 said:

You would think our TA would have said something if non refundable 😢. I have health issues so never book non refundable she knows this. The trip for 2025 I grabbed because she was off and aft or the very forward go quick on Panama full transits. I didn't see non refundable. Do you know where I would look?

Not sure since we never boik non refundable.

 

Point is refundable or not, Princess made it more difficult to refare  even refundable bookings about that time. Making more offers new bookings only which would require cancellation of even a refundable booking before final payment and a new booking made to take advantage.

[latebloomer56]

7 hours ago, TRLD said:

Not sure since we never boik non refundable.

 

Point is refundable or not, Princess made it more difficult to refare  even refundable bookings about that time. Making more offers new bookings only which would require cancellation of even a refundable booking before final payment and a new booking made to take advantage.

I never do either so was surprised if this is our TA of 25 years wouldn't have said this. I need to check then call her on Monday about the one I booked but haven't transferred to her yet.

Thanks everybody.

[coo359a2]

23 hours ago, remydiva said:

Re elite perks —/Mini bar still intact. Free laundry we never use as so many now Elite that it’s a 3 day turnaround. We only travel with carry on .. ever. Don’t have enough extras to wait 3 days. 
Wifi was actually enough for us 150 mins x2 did us just fine to check and send emails. 

I don’t think we ever got 10% off excursions .. I know it’s done on board but I never recall seeing a credit. 

 We have been receiving the 10% shore excursion credit since the restart of cruising in 2021

  It is listed on your folio under the credit column as - 10% Shorex Discount-Elite Member Exclu.

[SiliconCruiser]

Since Covid they've hired even less competent Guess Services people for the desk.  If you don't like the answer that you get, just ask another newbie, and you'll get a different answer ... and so on ... and so on.  You'll probably eventually get the right answer when someone with a little more experience intervenes.