If Princess Wants To Raise Cash ...

[beg3yrs]

How about offering customers with cancelled cruises to purchase additional FCDs while not on the ship?

 

I know in my case with five booked cruises, all with FCDs, one has been cancelled and if I take the double your deposit offer, I lose the FCD. I suspect at least three more will be cancelled as well. While DW and I each have one FCD still available, in our situation we'd likely purchase some 'fresh' ones for future bookings.

[Cruise Raider]

Or, they could sell gift cards at a large discount.  

I know Holland is discounting their future cruises for those that pay in full at the time of booking.  

 

[dog]

Maybe after things start up again and people feel safe. I personally will not be pre purchasing anything before I board the ship. My FCD were not expired and I got value back as FCC   they would not let me use them to book a future cruise. I spoke to 3 reps and same answer. 

Edited May 16, 2020 by dog

[Cruise Raider]

29 minutes ago, dog said:

Maybe after things start up again and people feel safe. I personally will not be pre purchasing anything before I board the ship. My FCD were not expired and I got value back as FCC   they would not let me use them to book a future cruise. I spoke to 3 reps and same answer. 

 

That's odd ... I was told they have to go back as FCD's with the expiration date extended.  While I did have one that is supposed to be refunded as cash, or so I was told, I do have another one that was just returned to my account as a FCD.  Mind you, I didn't want to get it back as an FCC so when I called, they assured me they don't do that.  I wonder if you could get them changed back to a FCD instead of the FCC they gave you.  

BTW, I chose option #2 .. refund with 50% extra back for one cruise, refund without any additional bonus for another sailing and was able to move the money I had down on my third cancellation to a separate sailing.  The first one listed was the one where they returned my FCD and the third one was the one they moved my entire payment, minus the FCD, to another cruise.  This is the one I was told would be refunded as it was expired.  I wonder if I will hit the trifecta and get the middle one back as FCCs.  😉 

[dog]

1 minute ago, Cruise Raider said:

 

That's odd ... I was told they have to go back as FCD's with the expiration date extended.  While I did have one that is supposed to be refunded as cash, or so I was told, I do have another one that was just returned to my account as a FCD.  Mind you, I didn't want to get it back as an FCC so when I called, they assured me they don't do that.  I wonder if you could get them changed back to a FCD instead of the FCC they gave you.  

BTW, I chose option #2 .. refund with 50% extra back for one cruise, refund without any additional bonus for another sailing and was able to move the money I had down on my third cancellation to a separate sailing.  The first one listed was the one where they returned my FCD and the third one was the one they moved my entire payment, minus the FCD, to another cruise.  This is the one I was told would be refunded as it was expired.  I wonder if I will hit the trifecta and get the middle one back as FCCs.  😉 

Another case, inconsistency. Not everyone is dealt with the same. They put my FCD $100 pp into my FCC. They had me pay $120pp deposit for the cruise I booked with my FCC. The FCD expiry was March 2021, but I was told no this is the way it is done now. Others have different results, I know. 

[Cruise Raider]

12 minutes ago, dog said:

Another case, inconsistency. Not everyone is dealt with the same. They put my FCD $100 pp into my FCC. They had me pay $120pp deposit for the cruise I booked with my FCC. The FCD expiry was March 2021, but I was told no this is the way it is done now. Others have different results, I know. 

 

Isn't that crazy?  That's why my comment about the trifecta ... maybe they will, maybe they won't.  

I did see an instruction page all detailed out that travel agents / reps used and it did indicate what to do with FCDs in each case ... none of the situations indicated they would be turned into FCCs.  But, like you say, inconsistency is the name of the game.  I was told my FCD would have the expiration extended but then, heard it would be refunded.  At this point, I have one active one back in my account and as for the other ones I have (two on canceled cruises), if I see the opportunity to switch one from one that it looks like they may cancel to a different cruise,  I will do that.  

[dog]

C R. - only guess I can come up with is I cancelled. Princess did not cancel. I was being dealt with differently. My TA was told I was included in pause 1. Princess insisted I was only eligible for Option 1. They back pedalled at refund time and only gave me 100percent of cruise fare as FCC. I was not expecting extra FCC but did not like the misinformation Princess was giving my TA. 

[PrincessLuver]

2 hours ago, beg3yrs said:

How about offering customers with cancelled cruises to purchase additional FCDs while not on the ship?

 

I know in my case with five booked cruises, all with FCDs, one has been cancelled and if I take the double your deposit offer, I lose the FCD. I suspect at least three more will be cancelled as well. While DW and I each have one FCD still available, in our situation we'd likely purchase some 'fresh' ones for future bookings.

 

Why do they need to raise cash when they are keeping everyone's who cruise they canceled.  Seems like they should have plenty to me and I could not imagine giving them anymore of my money for the way they have handled things..

[Two4Sea]

54 minutes ago, PrincessLuver said:

 

Why do they need to raise cash when they are keeping everyone's who cruise they canceled. 

 

Because they already spent it on expenses that occured before sailing and on expenses that continued despite not sailing. The billions in additonal stocks/bonds/loans were to prevent the coffers from running completely dry. Somebody can correct me but I think Carnival is spending $250 million a month just to stand still.

Bill

[Cuedon]

40 minutes ago, Two4Sea said:

Somebody can correct me but I think Carnival is spending $250 million a month just to stand still.

 

According to CNN, they're got a burn rate of 500m/mo. Given they mention in a following paragraph Costa, Princess, and the other brands, I would think that they're referring to Carnival-corp, not Carnival-brand.

Edited May 16, 2020 by Cuedon

[joe d]

Princess will have trouble raising any more money from me.

 

I still have one more cruise booked but Princess will have to make significant changes before I make final payment on it.  I would like to see the time between final payment and sailing greatly reduced and a guarantee of an immediate cash refund in the event of a cancellation (not 30 days, 60 days or maybe never).  

 

[Daniel A]

1 hour ago, joe d said:

I would like to see the time between final payment and sailing greatly reduced and a guarantee of an immediate cash refund in the event of a cancellation (not 30 days, 60 days or maybe never).  

IRRC, Princess instituted a longer period between final payment and sailing in order to discourage the practice of people making bookings in prime staterooms on multiple cruises only to cancel most of these bookings at the last minute.  They were tying up the best locations with no intention of using most of those bookings.  It was a higher order practice of being chair hogs.  I wouldn't mind Princess shortening that time period if they could develop an effective strategy for discouraging hogging good staterooms with no intention of sailing in them.