Princess Future Cruise Credit Letters??

[anjo]

Hello Everyone. I wonder if someone is able to tell me if you can use these letters on World Cruises? I have two from 2011, one for my Husband and one for myself. I am hoping to do the World Cruise in 2015 (I realise that its a long way off and the Brochures aren't out yet) but I like to think ahead!! What is the normal deposit for a World Cruise?? Seem to remember that Paketau (Amazing Blogger and Organiser don't know her but am a great fan) used a letter for her 90 day Cruise this year and got a 3% Discount and only had to pay 5% Deposit??!! Also if you book direct with Princess early on will they honour Price Drops?? Thanks for any Help. Anjo.

[johndon]

Hi Anjo

 

I am not 100% sure but I think the Future Cruise Letter offers only last two years.

Someone else will know for sure.

 

 

John

[angie366]

hi there,

 

future cruise bookings are valid for 4 years from the time you made the future cruise booking. I can no reason why you couldn't use it for a world cruise.

 

I'm not sure what the deposit is for such a cruise, but give Princess a call. They will be able to answer your questions, and also ask whether they will honour any price reductions if you were to book this far ahead.

[MMDown Under]

Hi Anjo

 

I am not 100% sure but I think the Future Cruise Letter offers only last two years.

Someone else will know for sure.

 

 

John

 

Old ones were for 4 years, new ones are for two years.

[rkmw]

The future cruise bloke said on the Dawn Princess recently that the FCC lasts for 2 years but can be extended for another 2 years and the reason being that people change bank accounts and they have to be updated

[joll]

What is the normal deposit for a World Cruise?? Seem to remember that Paketau (Amazing Blogger and Organiser don't know her but am a great fan) used a letter for her 90 day Cruise this year and got a 3% Discount and only had to pay 5% Deposit??!! Also if you book direct with Princess early on will they honour Price Drops?? Thanks for any Help. Anjo.

 

The Future Cruise Letter that we got on the 2011 World Cruise is current for 4 years and states similar to above, ie. "For full World Cruises or any World Cruise Segments, the deposit is reduced to 5% of the cruise fare and a fare discount of 3% is provided". Read what your letter states.

 

We are also going on the 90 day cruise in July and at the time I booked over the phone directly with Princess, the consultant saw that we each had $100 credit in our Circle Savings and at that point in time, that was the only amount required as a deposit.

 

As for price drops, keep checking and ring Princess. After three contacts, we have had a total of nearly $2700 taken off the fare and were given an additional $1700 Onboard Credit, as well as $500 off from the Travel Agent when we transferred the booking to them just prior to final payment.

[Stuartm]

My partner and I each bought a future cruise letter on our Dawn Princess cruise last January. The difference I noticed between this one and the old letters we had received on previous cruises was that this one only lasted 2 years and the onboard credit only applied to the person holding the letter. Previously we only needed to use one letter and we both received the credit but we had to submit both letters this time so we each received the credit. The downside of this is that if there is a price drop and we want to re-book we will lose our onboard credit whereas before as we only needed to submit one letter for us both, we had another up our sleeve to apply to the re-booking.

 

The only upside is that we didn't have to pay any deposit.

 

cheers

 

Stu

[kate59]

My understanding was that the FCC could be used but the deposit would be more than the $100 outlayed on the FCC.

 

Agree that the new FCC letters are now for 2 years and with 2 year extension - what we got on our December 2012 cruise.

[anjo]

Thankyou everyone for your prompt helpful replies. Joll, I read my FCC letter and it does indeed say 3% fare discount and 5% deposit on World Cruises and Segments. Glad I have it in writing. Very interesting that Princess accepted the FCC as the deposit for your 90 day cruise!! My Husband would be very happy with that!! Is that the way to go, book initially with Princess and then transfer to a Travel Agent? I don't think I would know what to say to either of them and would feel embarrassed but maybe if it meant $500 extra OBC I might just manage it. Kind Regards, Anjo.

[anjo]

Postscript: Latest Brochure wants 20% Deposit for World Cruise!!

[Sandielle]

The future cruise bloke said on the Dawn Princess recently that the FCC lasts for 2 years but can be extended for another 2 years and the reason being that people change bank accounts and they have to be updated

 

That's good to know Rob. In March, we were told that they now only last for two years - they didn't say anything about extending them. :)

[joll]

Joll, Is that the way to go, book initially with Princess and then transfer to a Travel Agent? I don't think I would know what to say to either of them and would feel embarrassed but maybe if it meant $500 extra OBC I might just manage it. Kind Regards, Anjo.

 

We have done numerous long cruises in recent years and from talking to other passengers and reading Cruise Critic, I have learnt a lot about how to achieve some deals that we are happy with. We usually book many months ahead to get a suitable midship cabin (20 months ahead for our recent 49 day South American cruise which was actually booked out 6 weeks after release).

 

When you find a cruise you like, check with Princess and a couple of travel agents to see what price you have to pay. By doing some research, a lot of people never pay the brochure or advertised price unless it is a super deal.

 

For our recent cruises, I rang Princess to discuss which cabins were available and then booked over the phone. I like to keep the booking with them for as long as possible so I can have direct contact with them because if you book through a Travel Agent, Princess will only talk to the TA. This way I could get immediate answers to my questions and make decisions on the spot. For the 90 day cruise, we have changed the cabin twice (as more suitable cabins became available) and as mentioned previously have managed to get considerable price drops. Having done all the work and just before final payment, I then went to a TA and asked what discount they would give for taking over our booking - for this cruise it was $500 less to pay. We also received 10% off our Travel Insurance from the TA, which for us on this cruise is a considerable amount.

 

Good luck with your research and planning.

[rkmw]

Thankyou everyone for your prompt helpful replies. Joll, I read my FCC letter and it does indeed say 3% fare discount and 5% deposit on World Cruises and Segments. Glad I have it in writing. Very interesting that Princess accepted the FCC as the deposit for your 90 day cruise!! My Husband would be very happy with that!! Is that the way to go, book initially with Princess and then transfer to a Travel Agent? I don't think I would know what to say to either of them and would feel embarrassed but maybe if it meant $500 extra OBC I might just manage it. Kind Regards, Anjo.

 

when they brought out these new FCC i was informed that they were only good for cruises up to 49 days where you had to pay your $100 deposit and no more until final payment.....have things changed where they can be used on the World Cruise

[joll]

when they brought out these new FCC i was informed that they were only good for cruises up to 49 days where you had to pay your $100 deposit and no more until final payment.....have things changed where they can be used on the World Cruise

 

....... Probably can't be used for World Cruises!! Need to refer to conditions on individual letters.

 

The $100 deposit FCC became available to Australians when we were on the Dawn Princess World Cruise in May 2011. Whilst we were onboard, the Future Cruise Consultant processed one for each of us and booked our 49 day South American Cruise. The $200 was used for our deposit and we paid nothing more until final payment.

 

I had also heard that this $100 deposit could only be used for cruises up to 49 days and was pleasantly surprised when a few months later, the Princess consultant accepted another FCC ($100 each), that we had obtained, as deposit for our 90 day cruise. I vaguely remember commenting about the 49 day limit, and was advised that at that particular time they would accept it as a deposit. The 90 day cruise is new and maybe it is not considered as a World Cruise as it does not circumnavigate the world??

 

No mention was made of calculating any other deposit and perhaps it would have worked out cheaper to take a 3% discount etc. but our booking was able to proceed without any payment as we had already paid for the FCC months earlier. Our friends going on this cruise didn't have a FCC and had to pay over $2000 each. By keeping a check on price drops which we subsequently received, we believe we got our cruise at a good price for very little initial outlay.

[anjo]

when they brought out these new FCC i was informed that they were only good for cruises up to 49 days where you had to pay your $100 deposit and no more until final payment.....have things changed where they can be used on the World Cruise

 

Hello Again, Not very good at this replying with quotes etc!

Joll, Thanks again for your helpful information Re Bookings.

 

RKMW: read my FCC letter which was purchased on Sun Princess, Dated Nov 1 2011 Effective until Oct 31 2015.

States in small print at bottom; "For full World Cruise or any World Cruise Segments the deposit is reduced to 5% of the cruise fare and a fare discount of 3% is provided".

 

I think I will just send an e-mail to Princess Australia to see if they are going to Honour the FCC letter or otherwise the Deposit for the World Cruise [30 nights or longer] will be 20% of the fare as stated in their 2012/2014 Cruising from Australia Brochure.

Complicated or is it me???? :confused:

Regards Anjo.