3 for free

So I have booked a cruise with this offer

3 FOR FREE SALE

All good things happen in threes when you take advantage of Princess Cruises' 3 for Free offer. Cruise on over 500 of our selected voyages and you can enjoy:

+ FREE stateroom location upgrade^. It's important to be in the right place. Make sure your stateroom is located in a preferred spot at no additional cost. This offer doesn't apply to Suites, Mini-Suites and selected balcony categories.

+ FREE onboard spending money#. Freedom is yours. Spend your money on specialty dining, shore excursions, or gifts in The Shops of Princess.

+ FREE Wine and Dine package‡. To truly immerse yourself in the Princess experience, we expect you to taste our specialty dining when cruising for 7 nights or longer.

From Europe to New Zealand and the Pacific Islands, to Asia, Alaska and the Americas, and with itineraries ranging from two to 106 nights, enjoy the feeling of having Princess Cruises® deliver the world to you

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I wanted mid ship inside but couldn’t choose my stateroom ?

Took a guarantee so how does the free upgrade work when you can’t even choose your room to begin with

Cheers Carole

They place you anywhere they wish. The upgrade offer is only "if available" and typically means an upgrade to a preferred location of the same type of cabin.

We booked this offer a couple of years ago and were told that we couldn't get the upgrade because we needed the HA cabin and those were not subject to the upgrade clause. I even asked if any other compensation was possible (could I book lower and be "upgraded" to the HA? OBC as compensation for lack of upgrade?) I was flat out told no and that the fine print on the upgrade was "if available."

This "sale" is yet another example of Princess treating Australians as poor relations when it comes to deals, or fares generally. This "sale" essentially offers a paltry $100 OBC for most cruises, which would be eaten up by the gratuities, and a dinner for 2 in a specialty restaurant, which is nice. The OP has already mentioned the Upgrade part of the sale is a non event.

As I've said before, we get nothing compared to the deals that US customers get. Good luck to them but I wish we wouldn't be subsidising others.

This "sale" is yet another example of Princess treating Australians as poor relations when it comes to deals, or fares generally. This "sale" essentially offers a paltry $100 OBC for most cruises, which would be eaten up by the gratuities, and a dinner for 2 in a specialty restaurant, which is nice. The OP has already mentioned the Upgrade part of the sale is a non event.

As I've said before, we get nothing compared to the deals that US customers get. Good luck to them but I wish we wouldn't be subsidising others.

Well...at one time deals with Princess were far and few between for anyone. It has just been in the last 4 or5 years that all this promo playing has been happening.

I actually have 2 cruises booked with Princess(Carnival Australia) leaving out of SYD and I feel the same way you do about subsidizing the" local crowd". The Promo I booked my OBC is in AUD, it is not converted, so an advertised promo for $100.USD on these AUS sailings is just 100 AUD. If I understand it correctly on US ships the conversion rate for AUS guests can be pretty good, if one buys OBC. Correct me if I have been misinformed. I also understand that on the princess ships using AUD my Credit card will be charged and extra percent, even with a non fee card, do you pay that as well? Also from what I understand your grats are include in your fare, ours are not.

Business is business and we pay for what we want....everyone pays different pricing on ships just like on airlines.....

Also don't believe everything I read on these boards......that is why I have the above queries for you.....

The Australian market is an emerging one......ships are flocking to your shores.....lucky you....

Enjoy...

BTW right now this AUS promo is better than what is offered with "North America" Princess presently.

This "sale" is yet another example of Princess treating Australians as poor relations when it comes to deals, or fares generally. This "sale" essentially offers a paltry $100 OBC for most cruises, which would be eaten up by the gratuities, and a dinner for 2 in a specialty restaurant, which is nice. The OP has already mentioned the Upgrade part of the sale is a non event.

As I've said before, we get nothing compared to the deals that US customers get. Good luck to them but I wish we wouldn't be subsidising others.

And the same in the UK!

This "sale" is yet another example of Princess treating Australians as poor relations when it comes to deals, or fares generally. This "sale" essentially offers a paltry $100 OBC for most cruises, which would be eaten up by the gratuities, and a dinner for 2 in a specialty restaurant, which is nice. The OP has already mentioned the Upgrade part of the sale is a non event.

As I've said before, we get nothing compared to the deals that US customers get. Good luck to them but I wish we wouldn't be subsidising others.

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We only got $50 for the 2 of us

Big deal

This "sale" is yet another example of Princess treating Australians as poor relations when it comes to deals, or fares generally. This "sale" essentially offers a paltry $100 OBC for most cruises, which would be eaten up by the gratuities, and a dinner for 2 in a specialty restaurant, which is nice. The OP has already mentioned the Upgrade part of the sale is a non event.

As I've said before, we get nothing compared to the deals that US customers get. Good luck to them but I wish we wouldn't be subsidising others.

??Gratuities are included in Australian tariff??

This "sale" is yet another example of Princess treating Australians as poor relations when it comes to deals, or fares generally. This "sale" essentially offers a paltry $100 OBC for most cruises, which would be eaten up by the gratuities, and a dinner for 2 in a specialty restaurant, which is nice. The OP has already mentioned the Upgrade part of the sale is a non event.

As I've said before, we get nothing compared to the deals that US customers get. Good luck to them but I wish we wouldn't be subsidising others.

Honestly - I wish they would go back to how they did pricing years ago. These new promos are annoying. The grass isn't always greener where you think it is.

Well...at one time deals with Princess were far and few between for anyone. It has just been in the last 4 or5 years that all this promo playing has been happening.

 

 

I actually have 2 cruises booked with Princess(Carnival Australia) leaving out of SYD and I feel the same way you do about subsidizing the" local crowd". The Promo I booked my OBC is in AUD, it is not converted, so an advertised promo for $100.USD on these AUS sailings is just 100 AUD. If I understand it correctly on US ships the conversion rate for AUS guests can be pretty good, if one buys OBC. Correct me if I have been misinformed. I also understand that on the princess ships using AUD my Credit card will be charged and extra percent, even with a non fee card, do you pay that as well? Also from what I understand your grats are include in your fare, ours are not.

 

 

Business is business and we pay for what we want....everyone pays different pricing on ships just like on airlines.....

 

Also don't believe everything I read on these boards......that is why I have the above queries for you.....

 

 

The Australian market is an emerging one......ships are flocking to your shores.....lucky you....

 

Enjoy...

 

BTW right now this AUS promo is better than what is offered with "North America" Princess presently.

As I understand it gratuities are not added on Aust/NZ cruises as we do not have a tipping culture, although people often tip at restaurants etc.

All of my cruises have been away from Aust where $US has always been the currency on board. When I use my Aust credit card all charges are made in $US and converted to $AUD. We certainly do not get any better rate, and yes I pay an international conversion fee on each transaction although this is very small.

The real point of my post was that "sale" fares down here are generally worth almost nothing whereas I see posters from the US often talk about sip and sail, 7 days from $400 etc. Those things are pipedreams to us and we never see a sip and sail offer here with Princess. Other lines have the sip and sail equivalent but never Princess.

It gets me because Princess is our preferred line but we have also cruised Celebrity and they are getting more and more of my attention.

So I have booked a cruise with this offer

3 FOR FREE SALE

+ FREE stateroom location upgrade^. It's important to be in the right place. Make sure your stateroom is located in a preferred spot at no additional cost. This offer doesn't apply to Suites, Mini-Suites and selected balcony categories.

I wanted mid ship inside but couldn’t choose my stateroom ?

Took a guarantee so how does the free upgrade work when you can’t even choose your room to begin with

The way 3 for free works is that at the time of booking, all cabins of the included type cabin have the same price. So, for example, if the inside cabins categories are IA, IB, IC, ID, IE and IF, then you could book at the IF price and actually get an IA cabin.

Until all the IA cabins have been purchased, you can pick which IA cabin you want. Once they have been purchased, Princess will allow a number of additional IA reservations to be made as a guarantee reservation. If all the allowed guarantee reservations are purchased, then the guarantee will be to a lower category such as IB.

So my question to you is, what does your booking confirmation show as the category booked. Is it a guarantee for the IA category? If not, what category is it for?

As to how it works, if you have an IA guarantee, you will get a cabin in that category (which is mid-ship) or in a higher category (which could an ocean view or higher type cabin and it could be anywhere on the ship).

Let us know what category your booking confirmation shows.