Move over Offer?

[trrn2016]

We are leaving on a cruise next week with Balcony room. We received an email offering a move over offer to an interior room with 100% cruise fare refund as Refundable Onboard Credit.

Has anyone taken this offer or has any Information?  Can the refundable onboard credit be converted to cash? 

Thanks for any information.

[Rick&Jeannie]

If it truly is "Refundable Onboard Credit" then anything left at the end of the cruise *should* be available to you.  I have heard that this is returned by way of a check mailed after the fact...but I don't personally have experience with that.

[trrn2016]

1 minute ago, CarelessAndConfused said:

Sounds pretty awesome.  Either way, enjoy your cruise!

 

Where are you going?  I suppose that would have some effect on my decision if I were in your shoes.

We are going to the Panama Canal but had planned to go throughout the ship during the passage. 

Left message to get more information but might not even hear back. Lol

[azbirdmom]

Yes, you have received a movedown offer and one of the more generous ones that I have seen recently.  They used to do the 100% refundable OBC to movedown then for a while they cheapened it to 50% so they must really need your cabin.  You use what you can while onboard and then 3 to 6 weeks after the cruise you will receive a check from Bottomline Technologies who handle the refunds for Princess.  It's hard to pass up a free cruise but then if being able to relax on your balcony was part of your buying decision, then it may not make sense to do it.  Good luck, whatever you decide!

 

Edited to add:  It's only the cruise fare that will be shown as refundable OBC.  You still pay the taxes / port fees and insurance if purchased through Princess.

Edited December 27, 2019 by azbirdmom

[Bowler Lady]

One of my friends received that offer when we doing the 10 day Mexico cruise and took it. They really wanted her balcony cabin!

[Colo Cruiser]

12 minutes ago, Bowler Lady said:

One of my friends received that offer when we doing the 10 day Mexico cruise and took it. They really wanted her balcony cabin!

Princess does this in one form or another on every cruise.

They have it down to a science and have been doing to for a long time.

 They know when to increase the offer to get the number of takers needed.

They also know the threshold/offer of what will work and won't work.

[voljeep]

3 minutes ago, CarelessAndConfused said:

I'm surprised that with so many balconies (on many ships anyway), that they couldn't find someone to jump on the offer at well below a 100% refund?  I would think someone would volunteer at 50-75%.

there is no 'volunteer' for a move over/down/upsell on Princess … like I understand may happen on other lines

[Thrak]

I would take the offer in a heartbeat. Free cruise plus the cost of the original cruise as OBC (which is essentially just a full refund). I would be all over this.

[rocklinmom]

Heck yah I would take that offer! 

[FlorenceItaly]

2 hours ago, CarelessAndConfused said:

I would personally take the money and the free cruise though I'd make sure to be out on deck when it's canal time. 

Me too!  Best wishes.  We sailed through the canal in a huge corner aft (Family Verandah with Celebrity) and I would take this offer in a heartbeat!!!

[Cruise Raider]

I would think I won the lottery if I ever got one of those offers.  I've sailed a lot with Princess and was always hearing about everyone getting these upsell, moveover and movedown offers.  I was wondering why I'd never gotten one ... oh, until I found out that my big box travel agency doesn't forward these offers to their clientele.  What?  All those years ... well, I still use that agency if I absolutely do not want an offer.  And then, the first time I made my reservation directly through Princess, bingo .. I got an upsell offer....and I took it.  Now, I have another sailing booked with them and again, got an upsell offer but it wasn't a good offer ... but, I did find that those offers come through only if your booking agent, be it one from Princess or an outside agency,  forwards them to you.  Now, when looking for a travel agency, I always ask them if they forward these offers to their clients.  

[cruzsnooze]

We got a move down from a mini earlier this year on a 7 day Mexico Riviera from San Pedro' We declined because we won't sail in less then a balcony. When I told the Princess rep that he offered a move over offer to any 10 day cruise within one year. I took that in a heartbeat.

[geoherb]

For me, it would depend on how much I had paid for the balcony cabin. We had some killer deals a few years ago where it wouldn't have been worth giving up the balcony for an inside. 

[riffatsea]

Not for me! I'd not be in an inside room for free on any cruise!

[Go-Bucks!]

48 minutes ago, Cruise Raider said:

And then, the first time I made my reservation directly through Princess, bingo .. I got an upsell offer....and I took it.  Now, I have another sailing booked with them and again, got an upsell offer but it wasn't a good offer ... but, I did find that those offers come through only if your booking agent, be it one from Princess or an outside agency,  forwards them to you.  

 

This happened to me a couple months ago...I always go through my TA, but she wasn't working that day and it was a last minute cruise and I wanted one of the last balcony cabins, so I booked directly on Princess's website. 2 days later I received my very first upsell offer!! $85/day to get an aft full suite on the Regal!! I jumped on it and had a great cruise. But I thought it was weird that the first time I booked directly with Princess that I got an upsell offer.

[SinbadThePorter]

5 hours ago, trrn2016 said:

Left message to get more information but might not even hear back

 

My understanding is that dozens of these offers will go out and Princess sorts out the best option for them from the first couple of responses. If you don't respond with a yes within a few minutes of the offer going out, you are too late.

[azbirdmom]

17 minutes ago, SinbadThePorter said:

 

My understanding is that dozens of these offers will go out and Princess sorts out the best option for them from the first couple of responses. If you don't respond with a yes within a few minutes of the offer going out, you are too late.

 

It really does depend.

 

For our February 2018 South America cruise, we and some others on our roll call got move over offers two weeks before the cruise.  For a 14 day cruise, we were offered one or two free cruises totaling up to 18 days in an upgraded cabin (full suite for us since we had booked a mini suite), and our entire cruise fare back as refundable OBC.  They also would fully cover any cancellation expenses for air, hotel, etc.  We, our friends, and come others on the roll call took it.

 

Then a few days later they sweetened the deal to 2 or 3 cruises totaling 21 days and got more people to take it.  A few days before the cruise Princess contacted one of the people who had earlier made a counter offer of 28 days and accepted.  They also offered 100% of the cruise fare as refundable OBC to others who accepted movedowns on that cruise.

 

I think that cruise was seriously overbooked so the offer lasted for a while and got better in time.  I think the earlier the offers are made prior to the cruise date, the more cabins they need.  But generally it is true that they send out a lot more offers than the needed number of cabins and the first ones to indicate they want it are usually the only ones that get it.

[dweeb]

We were offered this exact offer this past summer on an Alaskan Cruise.  There were six couples that we sailed with, and only 4 couples were offered this "move down" offer.    We took it!  noone else did.  We received  a great inside room, and all of our cruise fare  was reimbursable OBC.   We did not use it all, and we received a check a few weeks later for the remaining OBC that we did not use.  I would gladly do it again!   Free Cruise!!!!    Side note, we have sailed the Alaska cruises at leat 7 times, and we had never been offered this before.  I would do it again.  

[Gwendy]

Had a move over offer on world cruise this year.  Free cruise, airline credit and refundable cruise price over $20,000 AUD as I sail solo.  So tempting BUT it was two days before I was booked to fly to UK from Aus, all arrangements made, pets organised, travel insurance, banking etc, shore tours booked, some private and already paid.  Decided too hard and turned it down.

[MsSoCalCruiser]

I About a year ago I booked an inside cabin on a 5 day Cabo cruise.  I received a great upsell offer to a balcony and I happily accepted. The day before our cruise I received a phone call and a princess rep told me that they had sold too many balconies. She said if I would “move down“ back to an inside cabin then I would receive our entire cruise fare back in the form of refundable onboard credit.  I happily accepted and then I did the happy dance feeling like I won the lottery.  About six weeks after our cruise we received a check for the refundable onboard credit that we did not spend on the ship. I hope it happens again! 

Edited December 28, 2019 by MsSoCalCruiser

[satxdiver]

The only offer we have received from Princess was a suite for several hundred/day.  The upgrade fairy has never visited us so now I am jealous.  As for the current subject, we book a balcony or a mini so an offer to move to an inside cabin would be an automatic no.  I could not imagine sailing in an inside cabin with no window as a minimum.  We book directly with Princess having had bad experiences when we started cruising with several TA. 

[camper49]

We always book a balcony but would probably do the move over! As long as we could be assured that we would at least have a queen bed...no bunks. 

[polmcs]

13 hours ago, Cruise Raider said:

I would think I won the lottery if I ever got one of those offers.  I've sailed a lot with Princess and was always hearing about everyone getting these upsell, moveover and movedown offers.  I was wondering why I'd never gotten one ... oh, until I found out that my big box travel agency doesn't forward these offers to their clientele.  What?  All those years ... well, I still use that agency if I absolutely do not want an offer.  And then, the first time I made my reservation directly through Princess, bingo .. I got an upsell offer....and I took it.  Now, I have another sailing booked with them and again, got an upsell offer but it wasn't a good offer ... but, I did find that those offers come through only if your booking agent, be it one from Princess or an outside agency,  forwards them to you.  Now, when looking for a travel agency, I always ask them if they forward these offers to their clients.  

I got a move over offer for my Thanksgiving Cruise on the Royal. I had booked through a big box TA and still got the offer as the move over offer came direct from Princess via e-mail. We opted not to take the offer as we really wanted to take the cruise. 

 

As for the big box TA, we’ve found that they never seem to pass on any upsell* offers. 13 cruises booked via TAs and not once had I ever seen an upsell offer, but cruise 14 was booked direct through Princess and sure enough, right after final payment, an upsell from a BE balcony to an S4 suite appeared in my inbox. Yes, I did take that offer!

 

*we did get a free upgrade from a mini to a full suite for 2 cabins on our second Princess cruise which was sailing to Alaska. The big box TA did call us to say that we had to move cabins for our cruise, but that we’d be happy with the new locations. 😉 I had a quick look at the deck plans for the Diamond and saw that we had been moved to 2 of the forward suites with the huge wrap around balconies.

 

Looks like my big box TA has switched from a OBC to Storecards, so time to get a new TA and hopefully, they might be a bit more proactive with any upsell offers.

[MCC retired]

OP has not returned . Assume Princess never called back.

These Move Overs are so last minute that they will call others until they get acceptance.

Our one and only offer required acceptance immediately , which we did , and was not as good as OP's  offer.

[Cruise Raider]

13 minutes ago, polmcs said:

I got a move over offer for my Thanksgiving Cruise on the Royal. I had booked through a big box TA and still got the offer as the move over offer came direct from Princess via e-mail. We opted not to take the offer as we really wanted to take the cruise. 

 

As for the big box TA, we’ve found that they never seem to pass on any upsell* offers. 13 cruises booked via TAs and not once had I ever seen an upsell offer, but cruise 14 was booked direct through Princess and sure enough, right after final payment, an upsell from a BE balcony to an S4 suite appeared in my inbox. Yes, I did take that offer!

 

*we did get a free upgrade from a mini to a full suite for 2 cabins on our second Princess cruise which was sailing to Alaska. The big box TA did call us to say that we had to move cabins for our cruise, but that we’d be happy with the new locations. 😉 I had a quick look at the deck plans for the Diamond and saw that we had been moved to 2 of the forward suites with the huge wrap around balconies.

 

Looks like my big box TA has switched from a OBC to Storecards, so time to get a new TA and hopefully, they might be a bit more proactive with any upsell offers.

 

Wow ... you've been so lucky!!  That's great!!  

I use a multitude of different TA's (only have come across one agency I really didn't like).   I do like the big box TA if I know I absolutely don't want to get an upsell offer, like one of those coveted window suites or one of the very aft minis on the Emerald deck with the huge balconies.  I'm happy to know about the move over offers and the big box TA's, though.  That's not what they told me when I called but, not all agents are of the same caliber when you call in.  The one time I asked, she said they are way too busy to forward those to their clients.  I said, "what???".   I get it, though ... but, then they have to realize that may also lose them some business.  Well, it's a decision that was made by corporate and way above theirs or my pay grade, I am sure of that!  

I don't mind the store cards instead of the OBC, actually ... sounds like it may be the same agency as we are also located in California.  

I used that same agency recently and got quite a lot of OBC from them ... quite a bit more than what we were quoted and was very happy about that.  And, the one and only time that Princess has given us a free upgrade (inside to a very nice [un]obstructed OV) was once when I used that agency.  As mentioned, the two upsell offers that I received were when I booked directly through Princess .. one was great, the other was not.  They are training me like a Pavlov dog ....hahaha!  

An upgrade or even upsell to a suite ... yes, I would jump on that!!  Ahhhhh ...the sweet suite life.  🙂