Price Reduction...Be Aware

[moosenaroundtheship]

I booked a cruise through Princess and received OBC. I called to change my room to another area on the ship. Same category, same price, but was told I'd loose my OBC. Whats up with that?

[KruzPrincess]

I booked a cruise through Princess and received OBC. I called to change my room to another area on the ship. Same category, same price, but was told I'd loose my OBC. Whats up with that?

 

Different day, different ship, different offers. One time I lost $200 OBC, but my fare went down $500.

[jetstorm]

I'm having the same issue as the OP, except when we got the discounted fare our new invoice sent a couple months ago showed the OBC from the T/A and (2) soda and more package still on it. Then this week I contacted them when the price dropped again and the next day I got an email invoice $45.00 HIGHER and no obc or soda cards. The T/A replied "your invoice price is less than the current Princess price so we can't give a fare reduction. What!? First it wasn't lower than the current Princess fare and second what happened to the perks? They answered by saying the Princess site had kicked out a discount and it was now fixed and a new invoice would be sent out. I got that invoice and its exactly the same as the one from a couple months ago except the perks were still removed. Keep in mind the one from a couple months ago showed the perks still on. Still going back and forth so we'll see what happens.

[RAPM5856]

You have to watch the promos closely.

 

On our upcoming Hawaii cruise, after booking last spring, we had gotten one price reduction (with some free OBC), saw another one with a price reduction, but loss of the free OBC (didn't take that one - net change of zero $$), and a few weeks later another price reduction with the OBC back in place. I think my TA might be tired of getting emails from me, but he has done his job and gotten me the lower price every time. Since our original booking (at a sale price back then-last spring), we have gotten another $880 off and $100 in free OBC.

Can hardly wait for February to roll around so I can leave our cold Minnesota winter for a cruise to beautiful Hawaii.

[jetstorm]

Wow! good for you. I hope ours turns out half as good. Still working on it. There should be sight where you can tell these stories, good and bad, and name the T/A's. I know why we can't list names here, but I wish there was a sight where you could. Have fun on that cruise!

 

 

 

 

You have to watch the promos closely.

 

On our upcoming Hawaii cruise, after booking last spring, we had gotten one price reduction (with some free OBC), saw another one with a price reduction, but loss of the free OBC (didn't take that one - net change of zero $$), and a few weeks later another price reduction with the OBC back in place. I think my TA might be tired of getting emails from me, but he has done his job and gotten me the lower price every time. Since our original booking (at a sale price back then-last spring), we have gotten another $880 off and $100 in free OBC.

Can hardly wait for February to roll around so I can leave our cold Minnesota winter for a cruise to beautiful Hawaii.

[DrivesLikeMario]

The promos can be quite complicated and TAs really have to know what they're doing to be a positive advocate for their clients.

 

Princess promos are not as confusing as Celebrity and RCI IMO, but you still really have to watch it whenever you make any kind of request for a price change. Often times, it's just not worth it to get the lower price because the OBC benefits are lost. Other times, it's a favorite thing of all of the cruise lines to do - offer a special deal like free pre & post-hotels but then jack up the price of the cruise. :mad:

 

Just make sure you're comparing apples to apples, read the new promo's fine print and ask questions about what, if any, benefits will be lost BEFORE making a price change.

[jetstorm]

Thanks for the advice. Here's how ours turned out. W ended up not getting the last two price reductions we requested as the categories were booked by the time the T/A got our message and contacted Princess. They did reinstate our obc but not the soda packages. Like driveslikemario said, ask questions and compare apples to apples. Most importantly, get everything in writing!