Anybody used free champagne/gratuity yet?

[cruiserdru]

Has anyone used their free champagne and gratuities deal yet?

 

I am interested in what you received as the free bottle of champagne.

 

Thanks for your help.

[Treven]

What free champaine / gratuities is that?

[Pia1913]

Has anyone used their free champagne and gratuities deal yet?

 

I am interested in what you received as the free bottle of champagne.

 

Thanks for your help.

 

Please elaborate further.

[paul929207]

Never heard of the plan.

 

Probably the same fine champagne they give people in Mini's. Yuck.

[rkmw]

think someone stirring the pot

[PescadoAmarillo]

No pot stirring- we've got two cruises booked under this promotion. Of course, the real draw was the free tips; the champagne not so much. Our cruises aren't until November, and I was under the impression (based solely on memory) that this promotion was only for Fall 2013, so it's possible no one who booked under it has actually cruised yet.

[xavier]

No pot stirring- we've got two cruises booked under this promotion. Of course, the real draw was the free tips; the champagne not so much. Our cruises aren't until November, and I was under the impression (based solely on memory) that this promotion was only for Fall 2013, so it's possible no one who booked under it has actually cruised yet.

 

I think you are correct we are using it for our November cruise

[Vexorg]

The free champagne/gratuities would be from the sale Princess ran around the time of the Royal Princess Inaugural in June, which offered a free bottle of champagne on most cruises, and free gratuities on cruises of 8 days or more. I actually booked a 10-day cruise during the promo (the free gratuities combined with a really good price on the 10-day compared to the 7-day I was looking at steered me toward this one) but don't actually sail until December. I also don't drink alcohol, so I'm not sure what I'm supposed to do with the bottle of champagne...

[Pia1913]

The free champagne/gratuities would be from the sale Princess ran around the time of the Royal Princess Inaugural in June, which offered a free bottle of champagne on most cruises, and free gratuities on cruises of 8 days or more. I actually booked a 10-day cruise during the promo (the free gratuities combined with a really good price on the 10-day compared to the 7-day I was looking at steered me toward this one) but don't actually sail until December. I also don't drink alcohol, so I'm not sure what I'm supposed to do with the bottle of champagne...

 

How the H did I miss this one? :eek:

[PescadoAmarillo]

It's interesting that the current promotion actually works out to be $12 per cabin cheaper than the free tips and champagne promotion (factoring tips back in), which is probably on the high end of what a bottle of the champagne is worth. However, it also requires Non Refundable Non Transferable deposits, which the free tips and champagne offer didn't, which is why we did book under that one.

[xavier]

How the H did I miss this one? :eek:

 

It was in one of their many post card mailings

[Mrs Moho]

We got a similar offer in the UK, $220 OBC each, $60 bottle of champagne and £300 (around $450) each off our airfare - it would be rude not too, so we did!! It was all part of the launch of the Royal Princess.

 

Thank you very much Princess :D

[Pia1913]

It was in one of their many post card mailings

 

Which I obviously never received.

[cruiserdru]

It was in early June and we took it for our October Hawaii cruise. We lost our early booking discount but we still came out ahead. I was just curious if anyone had done this yet and what champagne was offered.

 

For many it was not a good deal but for our category it was worth it. To take the current $100 OBC meant losing the free gratuities and champagne so we let that one slide.

 

Couldn't remember when the deal took effect but evidently not yet. :)

[caribill]

Which I obviously never received.

 

Princess tends to send less brochures and e-mails to people who already have half a dozen future cruises booked.

[PescadoAmarillo]

How the H did I miss this one? :eek:

 

I get no snail mail from Princess; I got an email. And I had close to 20 cruises booked and was still able to take advantage of this one. It was not a targeted promotion.

 

But only on certain Fall cruises. I don't think you missed out, since it was the timeframe between cruises for you (which occurs so seldomly that it's easy to keep track of). :p

 

ETA: Whoops. After looking at your future cruises, I take that back. I think it might have worked on your December Crown cruise.

[tennis1000]

Pia, check your World Cruise booking... you probably have the included gratuitities promotion on that one. They were offering it on the WC and I think it was just automatically included in the booking, it's listed on our confirmation.

[Treven]

Thanks all. As I can't/couldn't afford a cruise this fall, while trying to finish paying off my two April cruises, I probably didn't pay much attention to a mailer.

[bdjam]

So does that mean the crew isn't tipped or is Princess chipping I the tips for crew members on these bookings? Princess doesn't pay much for their champagne and then they aren't paying the crew members either. Sounds like this promotion scews the crew.

[PescadoAmarillo]

Princess doesn't pay much for their champagne and then they aren't paying the crew members either. Sounds like this promotion scews the crew.

What proof so you have that they're not paying the crew? A counterpoint would be that the crew might come out ahead since no one will be removing their autotips.

[Astro Flyer]

So does that mean the crew isn't tipped or is Princess chipping I the tips for crew members on these bookings? Princess doesn't pay much for their champagne and then they aren't paying the crew members either. Sounds like this promotion scews the crew.

What proof so you have that they're not paying the crew? A counterpoint would be that the crew might come out ahead since no one will be removing their autotips.

It's probably an OBC equivalent to the auto tip amount added to shipboard accounts because there's no way Princess would stiff their hardworking crew.

[KruzPrincess]

I had free gratuities on my Alaska cruise in July. No champagne for my offer, though, so I can't help with that question. We had an OBC amount that equaled the gratuities for the 14 days and the daily gratuities were deducted from that daily. Crew members were not stiffed. We loved the offer. I wish they'd make the offer to me again. I must have missed the fall one or I might have booked something. When did it end?

[PescadoAmarillo]

It's probably an OBC equivalent to the auto tip amount added to shipboard accounts because there's no way Princess would stiff their hardworking crew.

I agree. Getting an OBC equal to $11.50 pp per day is what I suspect will happen too, although it could be handled like Elite laundry: each day's charge immediately reversed out.

 

Of course, our base cruise cafe is higher to start with, and our Princess insurance is $18.40 higher as a result of that, but the bottom line is that it saved us about $150 net over what we were previously paying.

[PescadoAmarillo]

I must have missed the fall one or I might have booked something. When did it end?

I think it ended June 28th, because the next day (a Saturday) the cruise fare basically doubled (really!), and stayed that way until Monday, when it went back down to the pre-free tip promotion level. And then I think there was a July 4th sale that was not as attractive.

 

I keep a spreadsheet with our cruise budget, and it was last changed on June 27th (no price drops since then :(); that also makes me suspect it was June 28th.

[KruzPrincess]

I think it ended June 28th, because the next day (a Saturday) the cruise fare basically doubled (really!), and stayed that way until Monday, when it went back down to the pre-free tip promotion level. And then I think there was a July 4th sale that was not as attractive.

 

I keep a spreadsheet with our cruise budget, and it was last changed on June 27th (no price drops since then :(); that also makes me suspect it was June 28th.

 

:( Too bad I missed it.