Stateroom removed from fully paid booking

[BusyBea]

Has anyone ever had Princess sell their paid-in-full stateroom out from under them?  I had been working last-minute to transfer my May 22 Alaska cruise on the Island Princess to a TA. There was a lot of miscommunication between all parties involved and I ended up making full payment directly to Princess three days before the final payment deadline.  A couple of days later I noticed two bookings for the same cruise on my Cruise Personalizer: my original booking and a new one. I called Princess and was told that they were still working with the travel agent and everything would be straightened out in a couple of days. That was a surprise since I've been told there can't be a transfer after final payment, plus I hadn't received any information about this from the TA (see what I mean about miscommunication!).

 

Yesterday, the second booking - along with my stateroom reservation - had disappeared and my original booking now says "stateroom to be assigned."  The stateroom is no longer available, and no similarly positioned staterooms are available in my category. I called and was offered an upgrade for $400+. Their excuse is that the reservation (which I didn't make) hadn't been paid by the deadline so it was canceled. No explanation of why my reserved stateroom was removed from my fully paid booking.

 

I sent Customer Relations a copy of my paid-in-full booking confirmation showing the stateroom number, along with an email asking them to fix the problem.  Has anyone had a similar experience?  I would like to demand my original stateroom back, but at this point Princess doesn't seem inclined to admit they made a mistake.

Edited March 13, 2019 by BusyBea
Clarification of details

[geocruiser]

I did not have the same problem as you but I also had a problem with my 3/3/19 cruise.

Our 3/3/19 cruise was paid about 6 days before final payment was due.  It was paid in full using my credit card.  My TA made the payment.

 

Now on my Princess Account I have a cruise credit of about $1,200 (due to a cancel for any reason from  ins).  Three days before my sailing for my 3/3/19 cruise I  go to my Captain circle account and I now see that I have only about $600 in the account.  The same goes for my DH.  So, $1,200 missing.

 

I call Princess and they tell me that it was used to pay my 3/3/19 cruise.  I told them that it was paid in full weeks ago by my TA and I have the CC bill to prove it.  The lady at Princess said my TA would have to call to fix this.  I as for her supervisor, another lady gets on.  I told her my cruise was paid in full weeks ago and I want my money NOW.  She tried to blame my TA.  I told her my TA is not going to pay for the same cruise twice especially three days before sailing, and not to blame her.  But get my money put back on our accounts.  Two seconds later the money was back on my Princess account.

The whole thing was nuts.

Edited March 13, 2019 by geocruiser

[BusyBea]

Geocruiser, glad things worked out for you.  I also had a problem not long ago involving a cancel for any reason insurance credit that took many phone calls and emails to finally resolve.  For my Alaska cruise,  the main problem with transferring my booking to my TA was that (according to my TA) Princess had transferred it to the wrong TA. Just as in your case, Princess tried to blame my TA.  We are platinum with Princess and have never had a problem until our last cruise and now this one. I'm starting to feel a bit nervous about Princess's ability to keep records straight or to acknowledge their own mistakes. 

[Pickels]

Sorry to hear about all the problems; that's why I always deal directly with the cruise line, air line and hotels/resorts.  Since 2003, NEVER had a problem!

[pms4104]

Had the OP used the now required form to transfer the booking to a TA, there might not have been as many issues and miscommunications.  The OP's intent would have been spelled out clearly.

[Crystal04]

I booked an ocean view room on the Ruby for July about a month ago. I picked out the actual room number and now my booking says OE to be assigned. I thought it was strange, because the guarantees were not being offered at the time of booking. I'm not picky though, so it doesn't matter to me.

[geocruiser]

2 hours ago, Pickels said:

Sorry to hear about all the problems; that's why I always deal directly with the cruise line, air line and hotels/resorts.  Since 2003, NEVER had a problem!

The thing with my issue was that there was no need fro Princess to take $1,200. off my FCC credit to pay for a cruise that was all ready paid in full three days before sailing.  I would not pay for the same cruise twice!  They did give me my money back.

[BusyBea]

pms4104, I am the OP and I did use the new Transfer Request Form emailed directly to Revenue Support as per instructions.  My intent was perfectly clear and TA's information clearly listed.  Everything was done as Princess requested but they messed up.  

 

 

[BusyBea]

Update: My TA got everything worked out; the new/canceled booking was restored along with our stateroom reservation.  She was told by the two Princess staff who helped her that the reservation had been wrongly canceled, but had no idea why or by whom. They said all the paperwork had been in order from the beginning,  it should have been a straightforward transfer,  and they didn't know why whoever was previously working on it had such problems. 

 

Obviously, I'm relieved everything has worked out. I'll enjoy the cruise and hope my next booking experience goes more smoothly.

 

[Reina del Mar]

Am glad it was all sorted out and you can enjoy your cruise.

 

I don't really understand why you would book with Princess directly , then change  the booking to a Travel Agent. Why not book with TA to begin with if they are offering more 'perks'?

 

In my mind, the more people involved in the booking, and the more changes made, the more that can go wrong.

 

Still happy you eventually managed to have it restored to what you wanted.

 

Bon voyage!

[BusyBea]

Reina del Mar, I got an email from Princess featuring a great fare but found only one stateroom left in the location and class I wanted. I used a Future Cruise Deposit to lock in the fare and stateroom, then switched to a TA to get some extra perks.  I believe it's a fairly common practice. You're absolutely right, there's more to go wrong as I discovered this time around!  

[RayW]

By transferring to a TA, I received an extra $150 per person OBC on my May 2020 trip.  The drawback is, I have to go through the TA if I want to make any changes (like the fare drops or more benefits are offered).  I usually go through my TA but if she is out of town and the deal hits, I book through the line and then call  her and she does the transfer.

 

[Steelers36]

19 hours ago, Pickels said:

Sorry to hear about all the problems; that's why I always deal directly with the cruise line, air line and hotels/resorts.  Since 2003, NEVER had a problem!

You are correct - UNLESS you feel that getting a significant discount from a cruise TA is worth giving up some of the booking control.  With my TA, I can do my own booking online using their booking pages/engine and the TA simply has to contact Princess to apply FCD's and do a bit of paperwork internally to generate an invoice.

 

I, like you do all my own travel arrangements and if I shop for best provider and rate using travel websites, I then make a direct booking with my chosen provider.  But I just cannot ignore the discounts I can get when cruising.

 

[Colo Cruiser]

Better mark your stateroom "No Upgrade"!

[jagoffee]

I am confused.

If you transfer your booking to a TA can you still pay for your cruise directly with Princess, bypassing your TA?

perhaos this added to the confusion for the OP.

[LeeW]

3 minutes ago, jagoffee said:

I am confused.

If you transfer your booking to a TA can you still pay for your cruise directly with Princess, bypassing your TA?

perhaos this added to the confusion for the OP.

 

Nope.  All cruise fare and dining plan changes have to go through the TA.  

[Colo Cruiser]

15 minutes ago, jagoffee said:

I am confused.

If you transfer your booking to a TA can you still pay for your cruise directly with Princess, bypassing your TA?

perhaos this added to the confusion for the OP.

When you have a TA why would you?

If they do their job correctly there should be no confusion.

I can't get over how scared some are to use a good TA.

Is it all abut the control?

[Colo Cruiser]

On 3/14/2019 at 3:38 AM, RayW said:

By transferring to a TA, I received an extra $150 per person OBC on my May 2020 trip.  The drawback is, I have to go through the TA if I want to make any changes (like the fare drops or more benefits are offered).  I usually go through my TA but if she is out of town and the deal hits, I book through the line and then call  her and she does the transfer.

 

Do you not get a better price with your TA?

When I use my TA we get an additional 8% to 12% off the cruise fare. Plus the OBC etc.

[trbarton]

On 3/14/2019 at 12:10 AM, Reina del Mar said:

Am glad it was all sorted out and you can enjoy your cruise.

 

I don't really understand why you would book with Princess directly , then change  the booking to a Travel Agent. Why not book with TA to begin with if they are offering more 'perks'?

 

In my mind, the more people involved in the booking, and the more changes made, the more that can go wrong.

 

Still happy you eventually managed to have it restored to what you wanted.

 

Bon voyage!

 

Here’s why I’ve done this. First if I want a certain stateroom & I'm not able to reach my agent so thus my going onto the Princess web site. Second I’ll contact my agent to see what perks/price they can give me. With this information I can decide to transfer my reservation to my T/A or keep what I have. 

 

If your booking is with a T/A everything regarding money is done with them. 

 

Tom😎

[geoherb]

Yes, the TA arranges payments if that's how you book, but you'll see charges will be from Princess on your credit card.

 

[pms4104]

29 minutes ago, geoherb said:

Yes, the TA arranges payments if that's how you book, but you'll see charges will be from Princess on your credit card.

 

That's how it SHOULD be ... and I've read the horror stories of payments processed by TAs on their own behalf ... a variation of robbing Peter to pay Paul.

[capriccio]

32 minutes ago, pms4104 said:

That's how it SHOULD be ... and I've read the horror stories of payments processed by TAs on their own behalf ... a variation of robbing Peter to pay Paul.

"How are payments processed?" should be asked whenever interviewing a potential TA. 

[jagoffee]

I only asked the question about the Princess payment, because in the first post the OP said that made the final payment to Princess.  At the same time the OP was transferring the booking to a TA.  This seems like a self inflicted wound.

 

By the way, I use a TA for the discount or extra OBC.

[BusyBea]

Jagofee, OP here... No, the wound was not self-inflicted.  Despite the fact that I sent a Transfer Request Form to Princess including all the correct information, Princess transferred my booking to an entirely unknown TA.  Please explain how I could possibly have inflicted that on myself.  When Princess told me it was too late to process the transfer prior to the booking deadline I paid Princess directly and let my travel agent know the situation.  My TA contacted Princess because she thought it was wrong for me to miss out on the extra perks she was offering simply because Princess couldn't manage the transfer correctly.  That was when Princess added the 2nd booking, then canceled my original booking and stateroom.  Yesterday things were back to us having the new booking but with our original stateroom.  Today we have two bookings again, with two separate staterooms.  My TA says she's never seen such a mess, and the people she worked with at Princess admitted that to her as well.  I've requested booking transfers to TAs before and my TA has handled transfers before. Before you assume that my problems were self-inflicted, you might want to consider the possibility that someone at Princess messed up big time.   

[BusyBea]

On 3/14/2019 at 4:30 AM, steelers36 said:

I, like you do all my own travel arrangements and if I shop for best provider and rate using travel websites, I then make a direct booking with my chosen provider.  But I just cannot ignore the discounts I can get when cruising.

 

2

Exactly what I do.  I've received great perks and have never had a problem prior to this.  That's why the ongoing issues with this transfer are so noteworthy.