Best Sale Ever Starts Dec 16th

[dog]

11 hours ago, sssteele said:

 

[dog]

I did get a new booking number since they changed my existing booking to include BSE plus casino offer & added specialty dinner which I did not have. 

[Thrak]

Just checked our B2B2B for January 2022 in Australia/New Zealand. We're booked in C718 for all 3 and it seems we already have the "new" low price on all 3 cruises. I guess we could add Specialty Dining to one, two, or even all 3 but we really don't normally like specialty dining because it's waaaaaaaaaaay too much food for us to eat. We physically can't eat that much. I guess I'll ask my wife if she wants to add the dining to any of the segments but I doubt she will want to do so. Damn. When I was younger I could eat and eat and eat and I wasn't fat. Now I'm older and fat and can't eat much.

[snoodqueen]

I asked my PVP to refare and add the dining and he said I would lose the $50 OBC I had.  I told him others got it with losing OBC and his response that it would never happen.  He also says that only high rollers get the casino offers and we know that's not true.  Should I switch to a more informed PVP?  Everything with him is 'no'!

[dog]

13 minutes ago, snoodqueen said:

I asked my PVP to refare and add the dining and he said I would lose the $50 OBC I had.  I told him others got it with losing OBC and his response that it would never happen.  He also says that only high rollers get the casino offers and we know that's not true.  Should I switch to a more informed PVP?  Everything with him is 'no'!

I did not lose my OBC. Might be kind of oBC you have. We are not high riollers but have had a few casino offers. Not a free cruise like some. 
I do not use a PVP. I call & take a chance with the rep answering the phone. My recent casino offer was through email. 

Edited December 18, 2020 by dog

[snoodqueen]

No special OBC but he could have added the Specialty Dining like others have gotten.   I have 2 more cruises to book once all the FCCs get sorted out and this PVP sure doesn't deserve my business.  I've had a couple really good PVPs who went all out for me.  Not this guy!  I think your idea of just booking with whoever answers is worth a try!  Thanks!

[GonzoWCS]

Thanks for posting this!

[Thrak]

6 hours ago, snoodqueen said:

No special OBC but he could have added the Specialty Dining like others have gotten.   I have 2 more cruises to book once all the FCCs get sorted out and this PVP sure doesn't deserve my business.  I've had a couple really good PVPs who went all out for me.  Not this guy!  I think your idea of just booking with whoever answers is worth a try!  Thanks!

 

I'm really unhappy with the - fairly recent - changes to the Princess booking process. I have always booked my own cruises. If there's a change of perks I called and got them. If there was a price drop I called and got it. I did it all myself and was able to keep on top of things without a hassle. When final payment time rolled around I contacted my TA. He took over the booking, got the commission, and knocked hundreds of dollars off the price. I won, he won, all was great. Then Princess changed things and now I have to move the booking to my TA almost immediately. BAH! It just makes things more hassle and more cumbersome. I never needed a PVP or anybody else in order to get the best deals as I could do it all myself. These days it's not nearly so simple. I hate having to hassle my TA for any little change. I just want to do it myself.

[kiwimum]

7 minutes ago, Thrak said:

 

I'm really unhappy with the - fairly recent - changes to the Princess booking process. I have always booked my own cruises. If there's a change of perks I called and got them. If there was a price drop I called and got it. I did it all myself and was able to keep on top of things without a hassle. When final payment time rolled around I contacted my TA. He took over the booking, got the commission, and knocked hundreds of dollars off the price. I won, he won, all was great. Then Princess changed things and now I have to move the booking to my TA almost immediately. BAH! It just makes things more hassle and more cumbersome. I never needed a PVP or anybody else in order to get the best deals as I could do it all myself. These days it's not nearly so simple. I hate having to hassle my TA for any little change. I just want to do it myself.

Moving the booking to a TA within 60 days has been the norm for at least the last year.

[dog]

17 minutes ago, kiwimum said:

Moving the booking to a TA within 60 days has been the norm for at least the last year.

I think it has been this way for a couple of years. 
with FCC I find it easier to just deal directly with Princess, and I don’t use a PVP, myself. 

[snoodqueen]

Like Thrak, I used to always make my own bookings, but somehow I wound up with a PVP.  She was great, but she left and I was assigned someone else.  I've given him a fair chance so it's back to doing it myself on future cruises.  I much prefer it that way.  More control.

[Thrak]

2 hours ago, kiwimum said:

Moving the booking to a TA within 60 days has been the norm for at least the last year.

 

Yes, somewhere around a year. Of course there haven't been any freaking cruises for quite a while now. I'm not absolutely positive (it's late...) but I think the first cruises I was forced to move right away are cruises that have since been cancelled by Princess.

[caribill]

3 hours ago, Thrak said:

 

Then Princess changed things and now I have to move the booking to my TA almost immediately. BAH! It just makes things more hassle and more cumbersome. I never needed a PVP or anybody else in order to get the best deals as I could do it all myself. These days it's not nearly so simple. I hate having to hassle my TA for any little change. I just want to do it myself.

 

Like you and many others, I do not like the 60 day limit to moving a booking to a TA.

 

But I can see the value to Princess of what they have done.

 

The TA gets a commission for doing all the necessary work. When bookings could be transferred up until final payment time, Princess personnel were doing all the work until that time. Thus Princess had to staff up to handle all the requests for changes but in effect loses income by paying commission to TAs who had not done the work for their clients.

[RLK33853]

Re-faring under this sale is certainly dependent on the cruise.  One of ours is pretty much the same price, one is more expensive, but our 31 day from Sydney to Vancouver in a mini-suite re-fared $1000 cheaper.  We lost $100 promotional on-board credit, but this was replaced somewhat with the Specialty Dinner.

 

As mentioned on our Board, discussions like this are certainly one of the benefits of Cruise Critic.  

 

Transferring to a travel agent prior to final payment has always been our preference.  Like others, it was easy to track and change perks/prices and not have to go through your agent.  The change has definitely been a step back as far as we are concerned.

[mjmiller]

The price on our 24 day Med cruise dropped almost $800! Plus we get a free dinner at a pay restaurant.  We already had the other bonuses, which we'll be keeping. And we were told we would not lose our OBC. Sounds like a deal to me!