Micahs Grandad Posted September 24, 2018 #1 Share Posted September 24, 2018 We are booked in an O/V for the December TA. That booking comes with free grats. Noticed today that Balcony guarantees are down quite a bit and thought it might make sense to pay the difference between O/V and balconies and move on up. According to my TA we can do this but would lose the free grats. She is very good price wise but wonder sometimes about her getting things like this done for us. Do you think this is correct? Would it matter perhaps if we had booked directly with Princess? Thanks for your help. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MCC retired Posted September 24, 2018 #2 Share Posted September 24, 2018 Your booking has a promo , rate code , giving you the free grats. The balcony guaranty is a different rate code without the grats . You can’t have 2 rate codes for your booking no matter who you booked with. It is one or the other . Your TA is correct . Sent from my iPhone using Forums Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
memoak Posted September 24, 2018 #3 Share Posted September 24, 2018 If you change from one promo to a new promo or no promo then you always lose the promos from the first booking. The only exception that I know of is when you accept an upsell offer sent to you by Princess - but that is always premised on paying more than you originally did. I f you are only re-faring to get the cheaper rate then you will lose the original perks. When I changed my 2019 cruise from sip and sail to 3 For Free I lost the drink package but picked up grats paid, OBC's and a casino room rate. Even with paying for the drink package separately we saved several hundred dollars. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GUT2407 Posted September 24, 2018 #4 Share Posted September 24, 2018 Prices and promos come as a package, not a bit from column A a bit from column B Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare CineGraphic Posted September 24, 2018 #5 Share Posted September 24, 2018 However, if Princess offers you an upsell, you will keep your original benefits (free grats). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thrak Posted September 24, 2018 #6 Share Posted September 24, 2018 It actually depends. A lot. I booked a Baja balcony under the Sip and Sail last year. When it got near to time for the cruise people cancelled as they always do. I saw a Caribe balcony - which had originally been quite a bit more than the balcony I booked - which was now going for less than I had paid for the Baja balcony. I sent a note to my TA. I didn't want any OBC, perks, whatever. I simply wanted to move to the Caribe balcony and keep my beverage package. (Originally the AIBP but Princess had changed it to the PBP. I didn't complain.) Princess was fine with me moving to the new (now cheaper but previously more expensive) Caribe balcony. If you are simply wanting to pay Princess more for an upgraded room either force your TA to ask Princess for this or call them yourself. I wouldn't have a TA that wouldn't go to bat for me. Upselling yourself to a more expensive cabin should not result in the loss of your perks. It's more money for Princess and they will have an easier time selling your lower category cabin than selling the one you want to upgrade to. Either get your TA to do it or call Princes yourself. If my TA refused to take care of this I would tell him to either do it or tell him I was going to transfer the booking back to Princess and do it myself. I couldn't get the Sip and Sail this year because I had booked early and when the promo came out they raised the price of my cabin by $1,000. (Ouch!) That's not at all the same as simply changing cabin category and giving them more money. I do not agree with the others here who say you can't do this. My advice is to push the issue. I think your TA is the problem. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Micahs Grandad Posted September 25, 2018 Author #7 Share Posted September 25, 2018 Interesting comments. Have always wondered if a TA that does a lot of business with a cruise line has access to people who will accommodate the request of the TA's customers for things like this. I do not believe my TA actually called Princess but suspect that she just told me Princess would not accept more money for the balcony and let me keep the free tips. Less work for her this way. Willing to pay more for the balcony but if I have to give up by free tips not worth it to me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thrak Posted September 25, 2018 #8 Share Posted September 25, 2018 Interesting comments. Have always wondered if a TA that does a lot of business with a cruise line has access to people who will accommodate the request of the TA's customers for things like this. I do not believe my TA actually called Princess but suspect that she just told me Princess would not accept more money for the balcony and let me keep the free tips. Less work for her this way. Willing to pay more for the balcony but if I have to give up by free tips not worth it to me. I simply can't imagine that there was a promo with free gratuities for a category lower than balcony but didn't include balcony. I have never heard of such a promo. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Micahs Grandad Posted September 25, 2018 Author #9 Share Posted September 25, 2018 I simply can't imagine that there was a promo with free gratuities for a category lower than balcony but didn't include balcony. I have never heard of such a promo. OK but if that promo ended I can see where they want me to book under current promo which has balconies slightly more expensive than my O/V. Apparently in that case I am up the creek unless my TA can work out something for me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cheeseclan Posted September 25, 2018 #10 Share Posted September 25, 2018 My TA will always go to bat for me. She gets things done for me even when Princess at first says no. Like when the cruise price went way down after booking: she got us OBC. Tell your TA you want her to call for you! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Colo Cruiser Posted September 25, 2018 #11 Share Posted September 25, 2018 Interesting comments. Have always wondered if a TA that does a lot of business with a cruise line has access to people who will accommodate the request of the TA's customers for things like this. I do not believe my TA actually called Princess but suspect that she just told me Princess would not accept more money for the balcony and let me keep the free tips. Less work for her this way. Willing to pay more for the balcony but if I have to give up by free tips not worth it to me. If you have a good TA they can sometimes make this happen. It sounds like your TA is giving you lip service. A big red flag for not even trying. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jennybenny Posted September 25, 2018 #12 Share Posted September 25, 2018 I simply can't imagine that there was a promo with free gratuities for a category lower than balcony but didn't include balcony. I have never heard of such a promo. We have it on a Christmas/New Years cruise!! 4 of us in a OV cabin, each got $150 OBC, free gratuities! I think it may have been a 3 for free promotion. We did refare from when we originally booked. We booked the day the the itinerary was released. When we did refare, we paid more than originally booked, but with the promotion came out ahead. It is an amazing deal! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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