Wondering about the "3 For Free" Promotion

[Ep010835]

Have used other promotions but never this one. The Terms and Conditions of the offer include the following as it relates "free" gratuties:

Complimentary shipboard gratuities for two are based on the pre-payment by Princess Cruises of the suggested gratuities in the amounts of USD 14.50 per guest per day for Mini-Suites/Club Class and USD 15.50 per guest per day for Suites. 

So does this mean that if we find the service to be truly abysmal and we decide to reduce or eliminate altogether the gratuity (we've only done this once many years ago), we are able to recover the contested amount of the prepaid gratuity? Or is the amount committed to the prepaid treasury forever and unrecoverable?

Edited October 30, 2018 by Ep010835

[Sea Hag]

That's an interesting question. I don't have a definite answer, but wouldn't this be like the "use it or lose it" OBC that you get with the same promo? You don't recover unused funds on OBC, so I doubt you would on the prepaid tips.

[Hlitner]

ROFL!  Love it :).   Your degree of cynicism even eclipses  my own.

 

Hank

[Ombud]

No. JMHO You didn't pay the gratuity so what would you recover? It's like the 60 OBC my PCP gifted me .... use it or lose it, just an accounting transaction

[paul929207]

Sorry, no refund. You didn't pay it, you can't get it back.

[Ep010835]

12 minutes ago, paul929207 said:

Sorry, no refund. You didn't pay it, you can't get it back.

 

Well, not exactly. Which is the point of my quandary. 

 

At the big box TA, they can provide an OBC in the amount of $1615 that includes payment for the 3 For Free promotion. To add the 3 For Free promotion and the associated OBC ($1615) to a booking, they charge an additional $1000. 

 

This surely seems to me that whomever purchases the 3 For Free promotion is certainly paying for all of the component parts of the promotion. Including the included "Complimentary Gratuities". 

Edited October 31, 2018 by Ep010835

[jennybenny]

How terrible to think you could and then use it as free OBC. 

 

Be happy you won’t have to pay any gratuity for service you are not happy with.  

 

If people start trying then I’m sure Princess will remove the perk from its ocassional offerings 

Edited October 31, 2018 by jennybenny

[paul929207]

Well said Jenny Benny

[Ep010835]

14 minutes ago, jennybenny said:

How terrible to think you could and then use it as free OBC. 

 

Be happy you won’t have to pay any gratuity for service you are not happy with.  

 

If people start trying then I’m sure Princess will remove the perk from its ocassional offerings 

 

3 minutes ago, paul929207 said:

Well said Jenny Benny

 

Did y'all read post #6 for clarification on the reasoning behind my concern?

[jennybenny]

1 minute ago, Ep010835 said:

 

 

Did y'all read post #6 for clarification on the reasoning behind my concern?

Yes

[Ep010835]

3 minutes ago, jennybenny said:

Yes

 

So then you DO see that this is something PCL isn't giving away but rather burying in the cost of the booking.

In the real world "Free" is seldom free. 

Edited October 31, 2018 by Ep010835

[neverbeenhere]

If you ever have an issue receiving anything but the best service on a cruise, please report the issue to a supervisor. If this doesn’t work, head up the chain of command.  If this doesn’t solve the issue to your satisfaction, try a different cruise line. 

[jennybenny]

Just now, Ep010835 said:

 

So then you DO see that this is something PCL isn't giving away but burying in the cost of the booking.

In the real world "Free" is seldom free. 

The prices for sip n sail, 3 for free, etc make the price of the cruise higher. Rarely is that the best price you will find, but sometimes it works (it has for me a couple of times).

My opinion of desiring to remove a gratuity that is “technically” booked as included remains the same. 

 

You sound comfortable removing them. Nothing I think will change your mind. 

 

[jennybenny]

1 minute ago, neverbeenhere said:

If you ever have an issue receiving anything but the best service on a cruise, please report the issue to a supervisor. If this doesn’t work, head up the chain of command.  If this doesn’t solve the issue to your satisfaction, try a different cruise line. 

Completely agree. Thank you 

[Ep010835]

7 minutes ago, jennybenny said:

My opinion of desiring to remove a gratuity that is “technically” booked as included remains the same. 

Perhaps in your world the use of the phrase "technically" booked is comforting for you. In my world, when I spend $1000 cold cash on something, it amounts to more than a mere technicality. Clearly, your income resides in a rarefied world that I'll never see. I'm simply not in a position to be as cavalier with $1000 as you seem to be. 

 

You sound comfortable removing them. I certainly am when I receive service not befitting such largesse. You are to be admired for your station in life. 

 

 

[Bill B]

I have a question -

For any booked cruise, you can prepay the gratuities on the Princess website - that amount is charged to your credit card (I've done it). If you don't prepay, the gratuities are automatically added to your on board account; and, they can be adjusted or removed.

 

However, if you prepay, and during the cruise you decide you want to adjust or remove the gratuities, are you able to do so? (i.e. get a refund to your credit card) 

[Colo Cruiser]

Wow.

[Sea Hag]

12 minutes ago, Bill B said:

I have a question -

For any booked cruise, you can prepay the gratuities on the Princess website - that amount is charged to your credit card (I've done it). If you don't prepay, the gratuities are automatically added to your on board account; and, they can be adjusted or removed.

 

However, if you prepay, and during the cruise you decide you want to adjust or remove the gratuities, are you able to do so? (i.e. get a refund to your credit card) 

 

I'd guess yes in that case. It's money you actually spent. They refund unused OBC if you added and paid for the OBC, so it would make sense that they'd refund prepaid grats.

[pms4104]

My guess is that if Princess is prepaying the grats, and the passenger reduces kr removes them, the prepaid amounts would be refunded to he who paid them.  That would be Princess.  

[riclop]

2 hours ago, Ep010835 said:

Have used other promotions but never this one. The Terms and Conditions of the offer include the following as it relates "free" gratuties:

Complimentary shipboard gratuities for two are based on the pre-payment by Princess Cruises of the suggested gratuities in the amounts of USD 14.50 per guest per day for Mini-Suites/Club Class and USD 15.50 per guest per day for Suites. 

So does this mean that if we find the service to be truly abysmal and we decide to reduce or eliminate altogether the gratuity (we've only done this once many years ago), we are able to recover the contested amount of the prepaid gratuity? Or is the amount committed to the prepaid treasury forever and unrecoverable?

No you will not get it back.

[caribill]

5 hours ago, Ep010835 said:

 

So then you DO see that this is something PCL isn't giving away but rather burying in the cost of the booking.

In the real world "Free" is seldom free. 

 

Yes...and...no.

 

Princess used to have sales that were basically reduced pricing. What they found was that many passengers would wait for a lowered price they liked before booking.

 

So Princess wanted to encourage people to book earlier instead of waiting for lower pricing. As a result, they wanted to keep the price of a cruise about the same but the sales would keep that price and include amenities which effectively lowered the total cost of the cruise.

 

So with the price about the same, one sale would include free drinks. Another would be like the 3-for-free with OBC and included gratuities.

 

In general now, the list price goes up now when demand is high, not because one sale ended and another begins.

 

And, with the price not changing much, Princess has found this to be effective as in general people do book earlier than they had done so in the past.

 

As an example, a cabin I booked with 3-for-free in October, 2017 was priced for $100 more/person in June, 2018 and did not include any amenities. It is currently priced (after final payment) for $200 less than October 2017, again with no amenities. In other words, no great $$$ savings by waiting to book. And waiting to book meant a higher total cost because there would be no OBC or included gratuities.

 

[Itchy&Scratchy]

13 hours ago, Ep010835 said:

 

So then you DO see that this is something PCL isn't giving away but rather burying in the cost of the booking.

In the real world "Free" is seldom free. 

I still don't understand your reasoning.

I booked a cruise under 3 for free. I didn't pay anything for the promotion itself. I booked directly on princess.com.  I got free gratuities (3x$94) and OBC (3x$100) in addition to a very reasonable fare (it stayed reasonable just long enough for me to make the reservation and then went up by $200 pp).

Edited October 31, 2018 by Itchy&Scratchy

[cherylandtk]

When you book under a promotion such as 3/Free you are buying a package deal, regardless of how your TA prices it relative to the same cruise without the promotion.  You do not receive a refund for part of the package if you don’t care for it.  If that’s what you want, then book each item separately.

[Ep010835]

2 hours ago, Itchy&Scratchy said:

I still don't understand your reasoning.

I booked a cruise under 3 for free. I didn't pay anything for the promotion itself. I booked directly on princess.com.  I got free gratuities (3x$94) and OBC (3x$100) in addition to a very reasonable fare (it stayed reasonable just long enough for me to make the reservation and then went up by $200 pp).

 

As I said before, at the big box TA, they are able to provide an OBC in the amount of $1615. This includes payment for the 3 For Free promotion. One is able to opt in to this OBC or ignore it completely. 

 

In order to add the 3 For Free promotion which is included within the associated OBC ($1615) to a booking, they charge an additional $1000. 

 

Booking the cruise with only the included OBC (a different amount entirely) is x. 

 

Adding the 3 For Free is x + $1000.  

 

Therefore, it is clear (in this particular circumstance) opting for the 3 For Free adds $1000 to the total cost of the booking. 

 

In this particular circumstance I've come to agree that nothing can be removed even though clearly paid for separately and in addition to the booking. What I've done therefore, is to book the cruise accepting the included OBC but opting NOT to include the separate $1000 add to cover the 3 For Free promotion. Thanks to all for helping me straighten this out. 

Edited October 31, 2018 by Ep010835

[Itchy&Scratchy]

1 hour ago, Ep010835 said:

 

As I said before, at the big box TA, they are able to provide an OBC in the amount of $1615. This includes payment for the 3 For Free promotion.

if you book directly with Princess, you won't be paying $1,000 for the promotion. When you book directly with Princess you don't get to choose whether you are getting a promotion and a fare X, or no promotion and fare Y. Everybody gets fare X and a promotion if you book within the promotional time.

 

Our entire cruise for 3 people was $2,400, so I don't quite understand how a TA could offer $1,615 OBC on such a cruise. Now, if they say "OBC is $1,615, but you must pay me $1,000 to get it" - first, that doesn't sound right, and second, you end up with $600 in perks only, which is exactly what we got (grats 3x$94 + $300 OBC).