Princess Booking transfer policy

[Colo Cruiser]

This should free ups some cabins now.

[chamima]

I usually book directly with Princess and then transfer to my TA when we're positive we're taking the cruise.

I have several cruises booked for 2019 and 2020 that I will try to transfer to her but this is Thanksgiving weekend and I refuse to bother her until Monday!.

 

On second thought I may email her tomorrow and see if she can transfer them.

What a mess!!!😡

Edited November 22, 2018 by chamima

[Ombud]

9 minutes ago, chamima said:

I usually book directly with Princess and then transfer to my TA when we're positive we're taking the cruise.

Why don't you just book with her in the 1st place?  Doesn't she know how to book / cancel an itinerary? 

Edited November 22, 2018 by Ombud

[Host CJSKIDS]

Upsetting news as I booked a cruise on line for my parents in September who have only cruised once with Princess years ago. It was for a cruise on the Regal in August 2019.  I booked it online which didn't result in any work for Princess and was planning on transferring it to my TA which would have resulted in a nice discount.  Didn't transfer it yet because prior to making any actual work for Princess and my TA, I wanted them to make sure they wanted to really go. 

Would have been nice if Princess did the " from this date forward this is out new policy" but that does not appear to be something they like to do with anything.  

 

Guess I will have to bother Princess to cancel it now and have my TA book it for them.  

Edited November 23, 2018 by Host CJSKIDS

[Ombud]

It's not that difficult to cancel, free up the room, and rebook hopefully in the same room. Frankly as someone who is only 'room guaranteed' bc all the available rooms in the category I wanted (B2) I appreciate the new rule

[Flafun888]

I'll definitely be canceling ours if there's no grace period or flexibility here - doesn't make any sense to forfeit several hundred dollars in agency OBC I was counting on as part of this trip, just because Princess decided to sneak in a major program change like this without a head's up to anyone affected or at the very least 24 hours to transfer. The fares on this sailing are now higher, with fewer perks so I'd take a hit canceling & rebooking. No cruise is that important.

[Flafun888]

4 minutes ago, Ombud said:

It's not that difficult to cancel, free up the room, and rebook hopefully in the same room. Frankly as someone who is only 'room guaranteed' bc all the available rooms in the category I wanted (B2) I appreciate the new rule

 

When the cost of the room has risen significantly, with lower value perks since initial booking, it isn't that straightfwd. 

[Ombud]

3 minutes ago, Flafun888 said:

 

When the cost of the room has risen significantly, with lower value perks since initial booking, it isn't that straightfwd. 

So keep it & don't transfer. Whatever makes sense financially. After all your TA didn't do anything on it yet

[caribill]

2 hours ago, Ombud said:

It's not that difficult to cancel, free up the room, and rebook hopefully in the same room. Frankly as someone who is only 'room guaranteed' bc all the available rooms in the category I wanted (B2) I appreciate the new rule

 

The new rule will not in general free up cabins due to cancellations. The new rule is not about when you can cancel a booking. It is about a limit on when you can transfer that booking to a TA. Those that used to do it more than 60 days after booking will still do it, but will do it within the 60 day limit.

[caribill]

7 hours ago, Ombud said:

Why don't you just book with her in the 1st place?  Doesn't she know how to book / cancel an itinerary? 

 Many people book with Princess and then search for the best pricing available from a number of TAs. By booking first with Princess, they then do not have to rush to figure out the best TA to use.

 

To me, this is just another case of Princess changing policies that made Princess a better place to book a cruise. Changing policies such as now requiring shore excursions booked in advance to be paid for immediately instead of paying via the onboard account and now this policy about greatly limiting when a cruise can be transferred just makes Princess more like the competition and thus less competitive.

[GTCruiser37]

My intent in starting this forum was to notify CC members so that they can make informed decisions going forward. I have no problem with companies changing their policies, but I do have a problem with "effective immediately" changes without grandfathering options and notifications to TAs and customers.. Recently, airlines have also changed their policies - Delta SkyClub and American/United loyalty programs- without sufficient advance notification.

In our situation, the TA was unable to resolve the transfer with Princess. However, after continued persistence with the Princess customer service representatives, they made an exception and allowed the transfer to our TA. 

 

[tothemall&beyond]

On 11/21/2018 at 6:28 PM, Shmoo here said:

As with all things contractual, things change. 

Why do so many people feel obligated to defend Princess when they do things like this without notice?

[tothemall&beyond]

13 hours ago, GT77 said:

My intent in starting this forum was to notify CC members so that they can make informed decisions going forward. I have no problem with companies changing their policies, but I do have a problem with "effective immediately" changes without grandfathering options and notifications to TAs and customers.. Recently, airlines have also changed their policies - Delta SkyClub and American/United loyalty programs- without sufficient advance notification.

In our situation, the TA was unable to resolve the transfer with Princess. However, after continued persistence with the Princess customer service representatives, they made an exception and allowed the transfer to our TA. 

 

We called Customer Relations, explained the situation, and they allowed the transfer for the 3 cruises at issue for us - "as a one-time exception".  Suggest everyone with current booking sod the same while Princess is still allowing exceptions.

[Shmoo here]

50 minutes ago, tothemall&beyond said:

Why do so many people feel obligated to defend Princess when they do things like this without notice?

I suppose it's because it's not just Princess that does these things.

 

I'm going to hazard a guess that the Princess contract has some sort of statement like "terms subject to change".  I know that's in other cruise line contracts.

 

I second the thought that each person affected should contact Princess directly and see if a "one time" exemption will be made.  I also say, speak nicely to them.  Remember the person answering the phone did not single you out for this.  

 

 

[kjg46]

I can live with the new Princess transfer policies if I know all the rules of the game before I play.,. Like many others, we usually book with Princess and then later prior to final payment transfer to a TA. What I fear might happen, say the Princess cruise price goes down after transfer to TA. Will the TA be able to reprice through Princess or our we now locked out of future Princess promotions and prices reductions?? "The unknowns we don't know"

Edited November 23, 2018 by kjg46

[Ombud]

2 hours ago, tothemall&beyond said:

Why do so many people feel obligated to defend Princess when they do things like this without notice?

Princess is a BUSINESS with stockholders not a club that you join

[dickinson]

17 minutes ago, kjg46 said:

I can live with the new Princess transfer policies if I know all the rules of the game before I play.,. Like many others, we usually book with Princess and then later prior to final payment transfer to a TA. What I fear might happen, say the Princess cruise price goes down after transfer to TA. Will the TA be able to reprice through Princess or our we now locked out of future Princess promotions and prices reductions?? "The unknowns we don't know"

As long as you use a TA that doesn’t charge a fee (most don’t) then no problem 

[cruzsnooze]

When I booked it was under the policy at that time. Princess should have sent notice to all bookings with a grace period to transfer booking to your TA. It was not fair to change a policy for which we already put down a deposit. It was a breach of the contract I already entered into.

[Colo Cruiser]

18 minutes ago, cruzsnooze said:

When I booked it was under the policy at that time. Princess should have sent notice to all bookings with a grace period to transfer booking to your TA. It was not fair to change a policy for which we already put down a deposit. It was a breach of the contract I already entered into.

Breach of contract? Please elaborate.

[yerdua]

I booked a cruise on line last spring on Sky for next fall on a $1 deposit day. It was a whim 18 months in advance of departure. Now I've gotten excited about this cruise and am looking forward to it. Current fares are now substantially higher with much less OBC, so cancelling and rebooking is not an option. I had intended to transfer it closed to final payment. My main purpose was to utilize Princess' cancel for any reason insurance, but not before it was truly necessary. So far all I've used of  princess' resources is a little bandwidth. 

 

i had intended to pick up a couple FCDs while on that cruise, which I now will not do. While I understand changing a policy going forward, but I don't understand not grandfathering prior bookings. I also cruise HAL, who runs many similar itineraries as princess. I'll be using my cruise budget with HAL going forward. Congrats Princess, you just lost a customer.

 

 

Edited November 24, 2018 by yerdua

[LunaSeaRetreat]

I just booked a cruise with Princess online yesterday.  I'm so glad I decided to check out the Princess thread here to see what was happening.  I always wait until about a month before final payment to transfer it to my TA.  That way I can control the booking and not bother my TA.  (Things like changing cabins, taking advantage of price decreases, changing to a different offer.) I can still do these things using my TA but it's easier to do them directly.   I very seldom cancel cruises and I never book two different cruise in the same time period. 

 

Luckily, I still have time to transfer the two cruises I have booked with Princess.  If I had not seen this on Cruise Critic, I would have lost about a $1000 in OBC.  So thank you to GT77 for posting this.  I feel really sorry for the cruisers that won't find out about this for months and can do nothing about it.

 

The main things I appreciated about Princess were that they always allow Military credit, stockholders credit, and transferring to a TA before final payment.  One down 2 to go.  After all they are a business.

 

Cynthia

 

 

[geoherb]

Thanks for posting the new policy. It doesn't affect me so much because I've only booked through Princess directly on weekends when I couldn't book through one of my regular TAs. I've then transferred the bookings to one of them on Mondays.

[cruzsnooze]

6 hours ago, yerdua said:

. I also cruise HAL, who runs many similar itineraries as princess. I'll be using my cruise budget with HAL going forward. Congrats Princess, you just lost a customer.

 

 

You apparently don't know HAL and Princess are owned by the same company Carnival Corp so Princess did not loose a customer. 

[caribill]

5 minutes ago, cruzsnooze said:

You apparently don't know HAL and Princess are owned by the same company Carnival Corp so Princess did not loose a customer. 

And within the Carnival Corp organization, Princess is in the Holland America Group

[yerdua]

Actually I do know they are both owned by CCL. In fact I own their stock. But, they are each separate profit centers and as such are responsible for their own bottom lines. Each has their own President/CEO, their own corporate structure. So, yes, I am still giving my cruise $$ to CCL, but HAL will show the income, not Princess.

 

https://www.theofficialboard.com/org-chart/carnival-2

 

 

 

 

Edited November 24, 2018 by yerdua