Princess change fee?!

[kahluatoo]

OH MY GOD...

 

I am a student and checked my Spring Break for this year back late last year because we wanted to plan a cruise for it... so I checked the uni's website, found it, and that's that. Booked our cruise last week for the March 26 date on Crown. Just read another syllabus today and thought our Professor had screwed up the SB date... I rechecked the website, and it showed the same date I had... I decided to look further and found a different date on another part of the uni website, a week earlier! The same week the Professor shows SB in his syllabus. I believe that one to be right now, but emailed my advisor anyway.

 

NOW, my question... how much does Princess charge to change dates?! It's only a week later, same itinerary! My parents are asleep already (going with them) and not happy about making my mom wake up to these SOS texts about this all! Please help!??

[Pam in CA]

You'll have to cancel and rebook. It's not a change. If you are past final payment, then the cancellation penalties apply. You can find them on the Princess website.

[kahluatoo]

ACK. Well my mom was talking to the same girl whenever she had questions before we booked, so perhaps she can help us out better rather than canceling & rebooking. I see that as a hassle, but if that's their policy then I guess that's what we'll have to do. Anyone have a similar experience with actual $ numbers?

[Pam in CA]

ACK. Well my mom was talking to the same girl whenever she had questions before we booked, so perhaps she can help us out better rather than canceling & rebooking. I see that as a hassle, but if that's their policy then I guess that's what we'll have to do. Anyone have a similar experience with actual $ numbers?

It's not actual $ numbers; the penalty is a percentage of the cruise cost. I think at this point, it's 25%. And unless the Princess policy has changed, which I doubt, you don't have the option other than to cancel, pay the penalty and re-book. I don't know if this is covered by the Princess insurance policy but it might be a good idea to double-check your cruise insurance just in case.

 

If the cruise you're on is overbooked and the one you want to take isn't full, they MAY allow you to change the booking. Generally, changes from one cruise to another aren't allowed. That's why one would get insurance. "Stuff" happens.

[kahluatoo]

I found this on the Princess website under "Cruise Change Fee"

 

"A $50 service fee per passenger, per change will be assessed for each change to the cruise, cruisetour or Cruise Plus Hotel Packages beginning 45 days prior to sailing."

 

Looks promising?! We are exactly at 60 days from the original cruise. Technically it is my mistake, but also was mislead by the university website, it's not like we put in the wrong date by mistake... :/

[pms4104]

I just checked my passage contract from October ... if your cruise if 6-29 days, at this point, the cancel charge is the brochure deposit amount. If you paid a reduced deposit, the cancel fee will be the normal amount required for deposit, not the lower amount you may have paid. Don't wait too long to square this away, as it soon will go up to 50% of all charges. Also, if you purchased a totally nonrefundable fare, the penalty is the total amount paid.

[Pam in CA]

That's to change ONE name on the booking. One of the original names on the booking can't be changed. It's for a name change only to a booking, not to change from one booking or cruise to another.

[kahluatoo]

Ahhhh, that makes sense. Yeah, my mom will be on top of this tomorrow for sure. This is so ridiculous, I can't believe this. I travel all the time and have never had wrong dates/times for anything!!! I can't believe I am *that* person.

[Pam in CA]

The cancellation/change policy is outlined very clearly in the Passage Contract. I just checked and the penalty to cancel or change from one cruise to another at 60 days before the cruise is 75% of the cruise fare.

[kahluatoo]

It took awhile to find the contract, as you can imagine with a thousand thoughts running through my mind and being all anxious! I guess the good deal we got is not going to mean anything now :(

[pms4104]

delete

[Pam in CA]

Following is from the passage contract:

 

Coastal Cruises 5 days or lessNonholiday 6-29 daysHoliday up to 29 days30-day + sailing including World Cruise & segmentsCancellation Fee60 days or more75 days or more90 days or more120 days or moreNone59-4374-5789-64119-90Brochure Deposit Amounts42-2956-2963-4389-6450% of Total Charges28-1528-1542-2263-4375% of Total Chargeswithin 14 dayswithin 14 dayswithin 21 dayswithin 42 days100% of Total Charges

You're right. I'm on my iPhone and mis-read. I was just going back to correct it.

[shepp]

Hate to tell you, but a change to a cruise is not the same as a change of cruise. From what I can see, if you cancel right now, you'd lose your deposit.

 

section 6 of http://www.princess.com/legal/passage_contract/index.jsp

 

Edit: Whoops...while I was looking around for the answer, others beat me to it.

[pms4104]

delete ...

[kahluatoo]

We have paid in full already?

[pms4104]

You're right. I'm on my iPhone and mis-read. I was just going back to correct it.

You're quick:D ... when I noticed the lack of formatting in my copy and paste operation, I deleted the post. Let's hope the OP didn't buy a totally nonrefundable fare.:eek:

[kahluatoo]

Hopefully not. We'll see tomorrow afternoon and I'll report back what happened. Not going to let my parents pay the difference so I guess I'll have to use my student loan :( I don't even want to go anymore :(

[caribill]

And of course, the new booking will be at current prices for that cruise. This may be higher, lower, or the same as the cruise you are cancelling.

[geoherb]

Let's hope your parents purchased the Platinum insurance from Princess. That package gives you 100 percent refund good toward another cruise.

[Coral]

Or maybe work with your Professors and see if you can miss class.....

 

Good luck!

[Potstech]

Hopefully not. We'll see tomorrow afternoon and I'll report back what happened. Not going to let my parents pay the difference so I guess I'll have to use my student loan :( I don't even want to go anymore :(

 

I thought student loans were to pay for college costs not cruises? I hope you get it all worked out and you and your parents have a great time. Please keep us informed so others may learn from your problem.

[kahluatoo]

Student loan pays for living costs. I am a senior in accounting which is extremely rigorous with 5 classes this semester so I am not allowed to miss any classes (without point deductions) and it's hard to hold any sort of job right now while I am close to graduation. Enough about my personal finances.

 

ANYWAYS, mom isn't as mad as I thought, she is calling Princess when she's off work! They have purchased insurance, although I am not sure which kind yet. I didn't do any of the booking or talking to the Princess rep, so I don't know much about it... hope for a good (cheap) outcome! On my side, I don't see why a change from a week to another week would matter at all, but I understand collecting any fee possible is logical for a company. Everyone does it, it's just so unnecessary a lot of the time!!!

[sirwired]

I don't see why a change from a week to another week would matter at all, but I understand collecting any fee possible is logical for a company. Everyone does it, it's just so unnecessary a lot of the time!!!

 

The fees are in place to discourage people from changing shortly before the cruise at a whim. It wrecks havoc with, pricing, cabin availability, cabin assignments, etc.

 

It isn't done just to make people miserable (although they probably do make some profit from them...)

[Pam in CA]

On my side, I don't see why a change from a week to another week would matter at all, but I understand collecting any fee possible is logical for a company. Everyone does it, it's just so unnecessary a lot of the time!!!

It's not a change fee. When you make final payment, you have a contract with the cruiseline. When you cancel, you break that contract and there are penalties. Call it a "re-stocking" fee if that's the way you want to look at it. That's why people get insurance: jobs change, lives change, medical emergencies arise, flights get changed, people change their minds, whatever the reason. It matters to the cruiseline because they have lost revenue. There is no guarantee that the cruiseline will be able to re-book the cabin. It's all spelled out in the Passage Contract that you agree to when you book a cruise.

[helpmesailaway]

I agree with Coral - is it possible to miss a week of school. I remember (in the olden days) that it was up to us to go to classe. If we missed a class, that was that - we just had to keep up with the work.

 

That might be much easier and less expensive than changing the whole cruise to another date.