Pricing and TA

[mdcoles1]

I booked a Princess Alaska Cruise for June 2019 about two months ago. a few weeks ago, I noted the Sip and Sail Promo, did a mock booking, and noted the price for my cruise/cabin had decreased in price by $420. I gave up the $500 onboard credit, saved $420 and took the Free Drinks Promotion for the cost savings as I knew we would spend more than $80 on drinks. I contacted my TA and she was able to make the change for me.

 

This past week, I received a mailing from Princess, with additional promotions of the "free" drink packages, pre-paid gratuaties and a speciality dining credit. I again did a mock booking, noted the price was the same for my re-fared booking and again contacted my TA to get the additional perks. (I noted on this board to log in and click special offers on the final page prior to booking to see these 3 offers)

 

My TA has replied that she has been on the phone with Princess and they could not find the offer I can get online. She asked me for the promo code from the mailing and I gave her my Princess Member number as well.

 

I am well within my "no penalty" cancellation period and am a little miffed that I am the one doing this work. and I do not understand why I can book and find these offers and the T/A cannot.

 

at this point, I am leaning to just canceling and re-booking directly with Princess. I do not believe that I am receiving any additional perks from the T/A. its seems like it would be easier for me to just speak with cruise rep directly. I am the type to check my own pricing on a regular basis, so even though they promise to do this weekly, it doesn't seem to be happening.

 

am I expecting to much from a TA?

[Pia1913]

I booked a Princess Alaska Cruise for June 2019 about two months ago. a few weeks ago, I noted the Sip and Sail Promo, did a mock booking, and noted the price for my cruise/cabin had decreased in price by $420. I gave up the $500 onboard credit, saved $420 and took the Free Drinks Promotion for the cost savings as I knew we would spend more than $80 on drinks. I contacted my TA and she was able to make the change for me.

 

This past week, I received a mailing from Princess, with additional promotions of the "free" drink packages, pre-paid gratuaties and a speciality dining credit. I again did a mock booking, noted the price was the same for my re-fared booking and again contacted my TA to get the additional perks. (I noted on this board to log in and click special offers on the final page prior to booking to see these 3 offers)

 

My TA has replied that she has been on the phone with Princess and they could not find the offer I can get online. She asked me for the promo code from the mailing and I gave her my Princess Member number as well.

 

I am well within my "no penalty" cancellation period and am a little miffed that I am the one doing this work. and I do not understand why I can book and find these offers and the T/A cannot.

 

at this point, I am leaning to just canceling and re-booking directly with Princess. I do not believe that I am receiving any additional perks from the T/A. its seems like it would be easier for me to just speak with cruise rep directly. I am the type to check my own pricing on a regular basis, so even though they promise to do this weekly, it doesn't seem to be happening.

 

am I expecting to much from a TA?

 

Your TA, if you have the right one, should be discounting the Princess fare. Never expect any TA to check fares for you. They just do not have the time to do that. Unless of course they have little business.

[mdcoles1]

well that is one of their "selling points". Noted right on their website "prices checked weekly".

 

except of course the last 3 weeks when my agent was in Iceland traveling. :(

[Pia1913]

well that is one of their "selling points". Noted right on their website "prices checked weekly".

 

except of course the last 3 weeks when my agent was in Iceland traveling. :(

 

Not gonna' happen. You are your own advocate.

[voljeep]

1) Fire TA...:evilsmile:

2) Cancel current booking

3) Book current promotion - hopefully keeping current cabin/location

4) Continue to monitor pricing / promotion(s)

5) Transfer to new TA for OBC

 

after step 1 - you 'may' be able to re-fare directly with Princess

 

and yes - sometimes the Princess reps are looking at their 'intranet' and not at the 'internet' you are looking at - especially with new promotions

 

I also got the mailer and starter a previous thread at that time...;p

[JimmyVWine]

Not gonna' happen. You are your own advocate.

This. While a TA may have a program that checks "rack rates" (from which they can then discount), your TA isn't going to run a metric on every person's Captain's Circle Status, state of residence, casino spending habits, etc., all of which can influence price. The more we move into the arena of "big data", the more a company like Princess can (and will) micro-target its audience to a degree with which no TA could keep up. You may very well get an offer from Princess that is unique to you, and the 2% of other cruisers who match your criteria. For example, Princess could email out an offer to all CC members east of the Mississippi who have sailed in the Caribbean and Alaska, but who have never sailed in Europe. It would be up to you to run the numbers as the TA's "weekly check" of fares would never turn up that promotion.

[moki'smommy]

Interesting. I also had a situation where my TA claimed to not be able to see the promotion/price I had on my screen, despite the fact that I sent her a screen capture of the pricing from the Princess web site, and the Princess rep also claimed that it wasn't there. My TA, without consulting me, put a hold on the cruise and contacted me.

 

I told her that I wouldn't be paying $3000 more than the advertised rate thru Princess. I realize that this was a little "chancy," but she canceled the "hold" with me on the phone. I had the reservation at the lower fare pulled up on the computer. As soon as she canceled, the cabin we needed showed up as available. I was able to grab that cabin and do a hold immediately. I then sent the reservation number to her and she handled it from there.

 

What I learned--that I, as a passenger, could put a hold on a reservation, and that this was the preferred procedure if I saw something I wanted.

 

To OP, if you are happy with the TA at the level of service you are getting, let her apply the new promo. If you are not happy, cancel and rebook. There are TAs who will give you a better price than Princess lists and still give you all the perks!

[Whimsy]

Sometimes the rep at Princess cannot find the travel promo code for whatever reason. I have to hang up and get a new rep to help me. Your travel agent should be able to go into the Princess travel agent booking site, pull you up as a guest and view your promo codes as well. Not saying your agent is not doing their job but they should be able to pull some space, get launch fares and combine with promotions. There are tips and tricks with everything, you need to find an agent that knows the product and how to combine.

[majortom10]

You are lucky you can cancel your original booking and take up new offers without losing deposits. In the UK we are stuck with what we initially booked unless cancel cruise lose deposit and rebook and most times it might not be worth it when you have taken account of loss of deposit. Also Princess never offer free drinks package and free gratuities offers for UK cruisers. The last offer we got was free speciality meal, free bottle of wine and OBC to use on a Princess excursion only and not for any other purpose. Not a patch in comparison with free drinks package and fre gratuities and then Americans have the cheek to moan and call us tight for cancelling gratuities of $27pppd when they get them included.

[Retired_Army]

On our most recent cruise we had received an email directly from Princess that offered the then current sale (sorry don't remember the exact one) plus free pre-paid gratuities, and since we had a credit card offer of 5% cash back we called the affiliated TA. When we received the booking invoice it showed the sale fare quoted but no paid gratuities. When we called the TA we were told that was not part of the sale. We sent them a copy of the email and they went to work with Princess on our behalf. Turned out the email offer was meant for someone else (it had their Captain's Circle number on it) but it was sent to one of our email addresses. It took our TA a few days but they did get us the gratuities. We were more than pleased.

[Coral]

On our most recent cruise we had received an email directly from Princess that offered the then current sale (sorry don't remember the exact one) plus free pre-paid gratuities, and since we had a credit card offer of 5% cash back we called the affiliated TA. When we received the booking invoice it showed the sale fare quoted but no paid gratuities. When we called the TA we were told that was not part of the sale. We sent them a copy of the email and they went to work with Princess on our behalf. Turned out the email offer was meant for someone else (it had their Captain's Circle number on it) but it was sent to one of our email addresses. It took our TA a few days but they did get us the gratuities. We were more than pleased.

 

I had something similar. I had an Alaskan cruise booked for this summer under a current sale. Then, they emailed me to say "free gratuities also". My TA could not find it, I called Princess and they couldn't find it, spoke to a Supervisor who couldn't find it. I probably would have fought it but I decided to bag the cruise and go on a European trip instead. I told my TA not to pursue it.

 

So it is not always the TAs fault. The Princess supervisor couldn't find it either. She said she had several calls on this and had not been able to resolve any of them.

[JF - retired RRT]

Not a patch in comparison with free drinks package and free gratuities and then Americans have the cheek to moan and call us tight for cancelling gratuities of $27pppd when they get them included.

I'm sorry... twenty-seven dollars???

That's not what I pay.

[Wishing on a star]

We just re-fared with a promo from an email we received.

And, like yours, the TA did not have access to these specific offers.

 

That is the way it is... TA's can not always see everything that is related to a specific person's Captain's Circle account.

No need to fire anybody...

Per her instructions, e put a courtesy hold with the promo, and then immediately transferred the booking back to her.

At that point she was able to transfer and re-fare from our original booking to the new one.

 

She couldn't add any additional discount to such a low promo fare, but found us some nice onboard credit!!!!

We actually upgraded our cabin category at those rates and still came out very well.

 

We are happy campers (ummmm 'cruisers') !!!!

[Coral]

We just re-fared with a promo from an email we received.

And, like yours, the TA did not have access to these specific offers.

 

That is the way it is... TA's can not always see everything that is related to a specific person's Captain's Circle account.

No need to fire anybody...

Per her instructions, e put a courtesy hold with the promo, and then immediately transferred the booking back to her.

At that point she was able to transfer and re-fare from our original booking to the new one.

 

She couldn't add any additional discount to such a low promo fare, but found us some nice onboard credit!!!!

We actually upgraded our cabin category at those rates and still came out very well.

 

We are happy campers (ummmm 'cruisers') !!!!

 

My problem was that I received an email with the promo but it didn't show up when I logged in (free gratuities) along with 3 for free. So Princess sent me the promo but it wasn't attached to my Captain Circle number so no one could see it. It may have been the same situation as above where it was a wrong Captain Circle number. I never thought to look at that.

[Pia1913]

I'm sorry... twenty-seven dollars???

That's not what I pay.

 

He/she might be referring to $13.50/pppd. That equals $27.00.

[Toofarfromthesea]

He/she might be referring to $13.50/pppd. That equals $27.00.

 

Yeah, but when he went such a long way around to justify his behavior, what is a little doubling.

[geoherb]

I had a similar situation to the OP except it was when I wanted to book a cruise. One TA who had quoted me a price through the website that lets different agencies compete said he could not find the better price that I was seeing in a promotion that included gratuities and reduced price for EZAir. I called another TA who said he could see what I was seeing and could offer additional OBC.

[mdcoles1]

I appreciate the different perspective on the mailers. My TA was able to get the offer once I gave her the promo code. She did rebook as the offer was for new cruise only. She believed that I should not have received the mailer.

 

I will continue to check prices as I see new promos. Of course, no one is going to mind my money as well as me!

 

I am happy with the service she provided.

 

Cheers.

[Micahs Grandad]

Sometimes TA cannot see what we can see but she can call Princess and get me refared. Strange

[Wishing on a star]

Coral and mdcoles....

That promo pricing wasn't pulling up for me either!!!!

But, finally, the other day, it did????

Seems the Princess web-site has been really bad.

On top of that, I tried to contact them several times, and got absolutely NO response.

I had my husband call them directly...

The email mentioned like they were also adding specialty dining... But, per my husband's phone call with Princess that is just not there.

No biggie.... But, yes, all of this can be very frustrating!!!!!

[Wishing on a star]

Grandad, I am thinking that they can do this after they have your Princess Captain's Circle and all of the promo codes and information that you can give them off your email or flyer.

 

mdcoles, your TA should have no thoughts or opinion or say-so on who Princess can send these offers to.

That is the one thing that you have posted that would make me question your TA.

[mdcoles1]

I think she only meant that I already had a booking and the mailer was aimed at people who had not previously booked. I think that is what Princess said to her. Apparently I had set up an account with princess online with a different email. I had never booked a cruise with that online account, but had looked at pricing etc in the past for this very cruise. That email/profile got me the offer as it was "another account" and not linked to my current booked cruise.

 

I do think she might have been a little miffed at Princess for sending out these offers that TA don't know about as it might make someone like me think she isn't doing a very good job. :)

 

all is good...and I am actually happy she worked this out to my advantage.

 

Cheers.

[Love2cruise77]

Any promo linked to your Captain Circle number will be visible to your TA. Unless Princess mailed you something meant for another person, then that is a different story.

 

 

 

You should be able to save ~10% from the Princess' web rate through your TA.

[Wishing on a star]

We were already booked... for a LONG time, with sip-and-sail which was offered last year.

We got the email, and finally the promo fares did pop up when we signed in the Princess web-site.

And, yes we got the promo offer.

I don't think that is so surprising??? Could be wrong though?

 

The fare was actually good enough that we re-fared with a cabin upgrade and will still come out way ahead after paying our bar tab!!!

We are hoping to see a credit card offer so that we can buy OBC, and get a nice statement credit, to make our onboard charges that much cheaper.