They offered a suite upgrade - and took it back !

[mringenoldus]

I was disappointed yesterday - and have written to Princess regarding the matter.

 

I had hoped to upgrade to a full suite at some point prior to the cruise if the price was right. Yesterday my TA called me with an offer from Princess on a full suite - I was delighted and told her to take it. That sounds good right?? But a few minutes later she was back on the line saying that Princess rescinded the offfer after finding out we had a cruisetour package. I was really disappointed. They wanted me to pay double the offered amount if I wanted the full suite. Huh??

 

I can only assume that the cruiseline assigns a different value to the cabin category than what is shown on the Princess website - but I feel that if they were to upgrade me and resell my cabin, it would be at the published price, so what would they have to lose?? They would have also gained by the additional amount I paid for their offer.

 

I have written to the Captain's Circle folks for assistance already - but I fear with only one suite showing available I will not be able to resolve this in time to book it.

 

Has anyone had any success in fighting this battle?? All suggestions gratefully accepted!

Maureen

[srpilo]

I was disappointed yesterday - and have written to Princess regarding the matter.

 

I had hoped to upgrade to a full suite at some point prior to the cruise if the price was right. Yesterday my TA called me with an offer from Princess on a full suite - I was delighted and told her to take it. That sounds good right?? But a few minutes later she was back on the line saying that Princess rescinded the offfer after finding out we had a cruisetour package. I was really disappointed. They wanted me to pay double the offered amount if I wanted the full suite. Huh??

 

I can only assume that the cruiseline assigns a different value to the cabin category than what is shown on the Princess website - but I feel that if they were to upgrade me and resell my cabin, it would be at the published price, so what would they have to lose?? They would have also gained by the additional amount I paid for their offer.

 

I have written to the Captain's Circle folks for assistance already - but I fear with only one suite showing available I will not be able to resolve this in time to book it.

 

Has anyone had any success in fighting this battle?? All suggestions gratefully accepted!

Maureen

 

 

The Princess revenue management department actions remains a mystery to all to follow these type of their decissions... Upgrade roulette continues.

 

 

 

When somebody figure's them out, please let me know :)

Srpilo

[mringenoldus]

Would there be any benefit to contacting the revenue management folks directly. The cruiseline called me (not I them) to make the offer - would there be any argument that it is not legit to rescind it once accepted??

[RickEk]

The problem is that you have a cruisetour booked and, for whatever reason, is dealt with differently in Princess' system. I believe it is because the land and cruise portions are bundled... again it's a mystery. Maybe someone else here will have more info.

[mringenoldus]

I agree that this appears to be the issue. However, the BB cabin is worth a certain amount (their published price) and the price difference to upgrade really has no bearing on the rest of the itinerary. I don't see what Princess would have to lose in this. There are only 3 BB cabins still showing available - and mine is in a better location - so I suspect they would be able to easily resell it.

[paddingtonbear]

I agree that this appears to be the issue. However, the BB cabin is worth a certain amount (their published price) and the price difference to upgrade really has no bearing on the rest of the itinerary. I don't see what Princess would have to lose in this. There are only 3 BB cabins still showing available - and mine is in a better location - so I suspect they would be able to easily resell it.

 

They don't give price reductions for the cruise part if you book a cruisertour. The iniial offer they gave you was a price reduction on the suite was a price reduction so when they realized you had a cruisertour they couldn't give it to you.

 

I think they do this because there is such a demand for the cruise tours (and generally a wait list) that they can keep the prices high.

[mringenoldus]

I suspect you are right that the value assigned to the original booking was probably line itemed as less than the published fare (of course, that is kept a "mystery amount") The price of the upsell was just about the difference the two cabins currently show.

 

If this is the problem - not sure why they called and made the offer in the first place. Just diappointed, I suppose.

 

I saw the email address for the Princess president. Does anyone actually get a response from issues sent to that email address?

[caribill]

They don't give price reductions for the cruise part if you book a cruisertour. The iniial offer they gave you was a price reduction on the suite was a price reduction so when they realized you had a cruisertour they couldn't give it to you.

 

 

Actually, they could but decided not to.

 

In my opinion, they should since they made the offer.

[mringenoldus]

Wish I could find the right person at Princess to consider my plea! Thanks!!

[Pam in CA]

It's possible that the offer came with fine print or conditions which your TA might not have read or been aware of. :( One thing your TA should have known is that there are no price reductions if you book a cruisetour.

[mringenoldus]

Not really sure that this is an actual price reduction. My opinion was that it was an upsell offer.

[Loonbeam]

I don't want to get overly technical, but the issue is the way cruise tours are booked in the Princess system. From a data standpoint, your 5 day land tour + 7 day cruise as an example is considered a single 12 day cruise, i.e with one record. It's NOT stored as land option plus a 7 day cruise in a BB category, it also has a different itinerary/product number internal to the system.

 

What this means is that for revenue management purposes, the cruise and cruise tour are not broken out separately for pricing, as they are considered a discrete product.

 

So in the example above, a cruisetour with a full suite is a different product than cruisetour with BB and also different than if you booked the pieces separately.

 

 

 

I'm not saying the system makes SENSE btw, but that's how it works.

[mringenoldus]

I understand - and you said it well. Thanks

[Loonbeam]

Glad I could help. When I was consulting there, they had talked about changing it in the next major revenue system rebuild, but that is a while off.

 

I understand - and you said it well. Thanks

[Times Prince]

I don't want to get overly technical, but the issue is the way cruise tours are booked in the Princess system. From a data standpoint, your 5 day land tour + 7 day cruise as an example is considered a single 12 day cruise, i.e with one record. It's NOT stored as land option plus a 7 day cruise in a BB category, it also has a different itinerary/product number internal to the system. ...

 

I'm not saying the system makes SENSE btw, but that's how it works.

this does not, however, apply to Captain's Circle credits which are for days at sea only. Thus that cruisetour equates to only 7 days at sea.

[mringenoldus]

Loonbeam

Do you think I stand any chance of consideration since they called me with the offer that I accepted?

[Loonbeam]

I worked with their IT department, so not sure how customer service would respond, but if I had to guess...

 

The real situation here was that they offered you an upsell in the first place which was not really available to your booking class. With that in mind they have two options if they choose to compensate for that error. 1> Give you the upgrade. I don't expect this to happen unless the cabin goes unsold until the last moment, OR the tour/suite combo opens for upgrade in the RVM 2> Offer some amount of OBC or other gift in compensation for the confusion (which is what I would do if I were in their shoes.)

 

One very important point, you were not upgraded, billed and then it was taken back, you were offered and the offer was rescinded, which is a different scenario. If the former had occurred to me I'd be much more annoyed.

 

And yes, the Captain's circle is a different system, each itinerary number has a credit day value that is posted to the CC system when the folio is closed for an active cruise.

 

Loonbeam

Do you think I stand any chance of consideration since they called me with the offer that I accepted?

[icat2000]

What happens if you book them seperately. For example, I booked my cruise first and then couple of weeks later I booked a three day pre cruise tour.

[Pam in CA]

What happens if you book them seperately. For example, I booked my cruise first and then couple of weeks later I booked a three day pre cruise tour.

That's a good question since our package is a pre-cruise hotel package in Beijing. It includes tours but I don't know if its considered the same as an Alaskan package. If it is, it doesn't matter when you added the pre-cruise package.

[caribill]

What happens if you book them seperately. For example, I booked my cruise first and then couple of weeks later I booked a three day pre cruise tour.

 

That's a good question since our package is a pre-cruise hotel package in Beijing. It includes tours but I don't know if its considered the same as an Alaskan package. If it is, it doesn't matter when you added the pre-cruise package.

 

Right. A cruisetour is not a cruise plus a pre- or post-cruise package. The tour part of a cruise tour is not sold seperately.

[Loonbeam]

Do you see two separate amounts for them on your invoice?

 

What happens if you book them seperately. For example, I booked my cruise first and then couple of weeks later I booked a three day pre cruise tour.

[icat2000]

Do you see two separate amounts for them on your invoice?

My invoice from the TA has them on the one invoice. But all invoices from this TA regardless of what your booked goes on the same invoice.

[Loonbeam]

Hard to tell then. Princess would list them as two items if considered separate internally but no idea how to make sure you see that.

 

My invoice from the TA has them on the one invoice. But all invoices from this TA regardless of what your booked goes on the same invoice.

[traveling psych nurse]

So they consider a cruise tour as one product for pricing and upgrades but 2 products for cruise points. The have their cake and eat it too.

[Pam in CA]

Do you see two separate amounts for them on your invoice?

I'm doing the same thing as icat (same cruise) and the hotel is listed separately on the booking from my TA. That's why I thought it was considered a pre-cruise hotel package and not a cruisetour but second-guessed myself. All is well. If there's a fare reduction and I'm eligible, I'll get it. :)