Steelers36

There are large retail companies that retain CC information. For example, if I return something to Home Depot or Walmart, the refund auto-posts to the CC used when paying without me needing to take card out of my pocket.

Nice. Hope this is a trend and not artificial tenderizing of a standard cut.

There are normally multiple equivalent mid-ship locations other than the deck on display. As long as the deck doesn't have obstructions, nor public space above it, the mid-ship cabins are considered equivalent. This even holds from ship to ship. Mid-ship below a public deck (such as Lido) will be a lower category.

Actually, I am wondering how exactly you are accomplishing this. When I reverse course and back out from the cabin selection all the way to number of passengers and change from 3 to 2, then go forward, the cabin selection is gone again and back to GTY only. (I was doing a test and not actually looking to book a cruise). Seems like the easiest/best way would be to book a 3rd person and then cancel them out after deposit paid. The other option is have an agent book or use a 3rd party booking engine if using an agency and they have a self-serve option. I can book two people in a Deluxe on same voyage using my agency booking page rather than Princess.com, for example. ETA UPDATE: Hmm.. something has changed more recently than I first thought. I just tried 3rd party booking engine that is used by multiple agency websites and I got GTY only when attempting to book Deluxe Balcony on a sample Caribbean voyage next Winter. Switched to 3 passengers and loads of cabins appeared in the list to choose from. Tried to change back to 2 and they went away. Princess is playing games or has a bug in POLAR. I totally agree that something is wrong when a couple cannot book and choose a specific Deluxe. It will be interesting to read if someone gets a confession from Princess that something is wrong in their system. Looks like we just have to strike back for time being and book an extra person. Is this same issue for regular Balcony cabins?

In your corner 110%.

I am now wondering if there is a bug in the booking process related to the change to make lowest lead-in categories both non-refundable deposit and no cabin selection. Your workaround appears to beat the system and also aligns with 3rd-party booking engines that do show available cabins when booking with two persons.

I am not sure what you are saying above. The change Princess made was to make all of the lead-in category cabins (i.e. the lowest level in each major - "meta" - category to be GTY only and booked with NRD's). These are typically the "F" cabin types (or "E"'s when no "F"'s exist). A guest can still book a GTY cabin at the "A" thru "E" levels if they so choose. In fact, sometimes, PCL may only offer a BA Balcony as a GTY with none available to personally select. Princess.com may display cabins to choose from when electing that option, or they may show GTY only option. What we don't see as users of Princess.com, is if they are showing cabins, there is still an option to book GTY in that category. Example: You are shopping a cruise and looking at BB cabins in mid-fwd and mid-aft locations on multiple decks. In all views, a number of cabins are offered. If you were using a 3rd party booking engine, or an agent you were talking to was live on POLAR, they could book you a BB GTY. There is an anomaly I'd like to mention. Obstructed and Partially-Obstructed Balconies on Royal Class ships are lower category then Regular Balcony (BW for example). Many (most?) of us would consider a mid-ship BW with a larger balcony to be much more desirable than any BF (or perhaps even BE). From a sample I was shopping, Princess is selling the BW's with Refundable Deposits. Go figure.

We have only received them once ahead of a voyage due to pandemic and last ones were in Europe and we live in Canada. They came together. Our friends just sailed this past Winter and had theirs shipped to our FL condo and they also arrived together. So, it has been my assumption for couples. Also, advertising photos indicate two in a box. But I do know not much is absolute when it comes to Princess.

IMO, the comparable location is another deck in same category. I have never thought that making a GTY booking looking at a certain deck means you are going to be located on that deck. Most cabin categories occur in multiple locations. Another example is that B level cabins ... say IB or BB... exist in both Mid-Fwd and Mid-Aft sections. Just because I may have clicked on a Mid-Fwd section of deck plan to book, does'nt mean that is my location. I could end up with a B level iMid-Aft and fhat is comparable.

Agree with contacting PCL mgmt, but I for one am not prepared to think a wholesale change has occurred without more than one known case being reported. I am thinking it was a one-off situation until we see more of the same.

Right. And that was my point earlier. If assigned lower than a booked GTY BA, then the guest is entitled to some recompense and I have now read the OP received a cruise fare rebate for the differential between BA and BD. It seems a surprising result as most guests seem to get an upgrade when their cabin category is unavailable. Whatever happened here in total we may not fully understand, but it seems the guest was made whole, even though some additional goodwill benefit might have been appropriate. In theory, a guest who had selected a BA could be moved down, but anytime this has happened that I have seen reported on CC forum, the guest has been notified and offered compensation for accepting the downgrade.

You can say that all BA and IA cabins are a mid-ship location. You cannot say the reverse because mid-ship on a cabin deck that is below a public space deck will not be A category. Nor the Emerald deck on Royal Class where the mid-ship cabins are labeled as partially obstructed (but often favored among guests in the know).

All GTY's have a cabin category. It isn't just B?. It is one of BF thru BA. That said, I suspect most people booking a GTY seek out the lowest category offered and hope for the best. I think that is why there is a lot of confusion and discussion here about the GTY meaning. Guests pay more as the letter category progress towards "A". They cannot give you less without a down-grade compensation offer.

With a BA GTY, a guest could be assigned a DE and that is considered an upgrade to PCL, but perhaps not to some guests.

I'd need a Princess mgr on the record interpreting it the way you have. If I book a BB Category and elect GTY, they cannot give me a BC thru BF cabin.

If a guest books GTY BC (Balcony), they are to get BC or higher - not BD, BE, BF, Not Oceanview, not Inside.

On Saturday, were you speaking with the Casino dept? Regardless, why not talk to them today? BTW, Monday is the worst day to try and reach PCL. Also, when is this voyage you were booking? I have not seen a courtesy hold time period as short as you indicated. It almost seems as you must have been within Final Payment Date period and had to pay in full and you were just given 24 hrs. I would have asked for more since the next day was Sunday and hard to get "real" people that know something on a Sunday. IDK what was all in your email, but if not a PCL booking confirmation PDF attached, he wouldn't necessarily list everything. Did you login to Princess.com and access the booking in the Cruise Personalizer? The Travel Summary would indicate everything you are getting. You could also look under Onboard Services tab and Payments & Credits tab. If I play with your payment, it appears the PCL price in USD for what you booked would be ~$4500, less $1,120 for Premier Cruise Fare option. So, perhaps about $3,400 for a regular Balcony, which is almost $350/pp/day and that seems quite high. Anyway, I hope this works out for you. Normally, a guest gets a 3-day hold, but not if payment is due immediately. Did you pre-shop the voyage yourself on Princess.com or another booking site?

They send a couple booked in the same cabin two Medallions in one box. If it were me deciding on a long name edit, I would emboss the guest's first name and last name first letter, rather than the other way around. Would work in most cases.

I am not sure just where PCL would place a sofa in a regular Balcony cabin without a major re-design and not seeing how they would/could do that on legacy ships.

Not only is there a time limint to tfr a booking, but if PCL is no longer offering the same OBC benefits you received, then you lose them if you re-book under a new Fare Code (whether with existing agent or a new one).

Right, @Coral. Insurance covers a cost of a trip. If Plus increases the cost beyond the insurance premium max coverage, you need to adjust the coverage - or eat it.

Lately, folks have been writing about beating this oddity of cabins not available. Recently, it was about not being able to book a couple in a Mini. The workaround is to add an extra fake passenger to the booking and drop them later. IDK why PCK would be blocking customers, many of whom would just go to another cruise line that will book them.

Just wait and upgrade on board. If you have any OBC, that will go towards paying for it.

IMO, CC members should post news link from free sources so anyone can see them that is interested. I didn't try myself as I got the gist of it all from the other posts.

When you were young, didn't cars have crank handles in the front? 😁