Which is better? Book as a 20-day or two 10-day cruises?

[vjmatty]

55 minutes ago, RSS from SF said:

 

I had the same issue with my cabin that was available for the 2 segments, but not for the full 25-day sailing.  In my case, booking the 2 segments separately would have been significantly more expensive than booking the single 25-day sailing. 

 

Perhaps I was lucky, but I was able to get the cabin allocated to the 25-day sailing. (The rep gave awesome customer service; I did tell the rep that this sailing was for a very special occasion -- my milestone birthday that happened to occur within the [bucket-list-for-us] sailing dates.)

 

==> When I called to request the allocation, it was first thing in the morning when Princess opened up its customer service line -- but before the group that handles overrides had arrived for work at 9:00 AM PST.  We could see the block of cabins which were blocked from the single 25-day booking, and adjacent cabins in the same category which were available to be booked for the 25-day as well as 2 individual segments.

 

To get the cabin from the blocked section:

• First, the customer rep booked an available adjacent cabin in the same category; this gave the override person a booking to work with.
   
• Then, the rep spoke to a supervisor; the supervisor sent an email to the group that did the allocation override.  (This email was sent before group's work hours.)  
   
• The rep cautioned that this type of override is not always approved, so that I could be prepared for an "No" answer.  The rep said that if the answer was "No", I would get a call. 
   
• A couple of hours later I received email with an updated booking for the cabin I wanted. 

 

BTW the cabin I could only book for 2 segments separately was only 2-3 doors away from the closest available cabin available for the 25-day booking.  After I received the successfully allocated cabin, I also confirmed that other cabins in this 2-segment-only section still were blocked from the single 25-day booking.

 

---

NOTE:  The day before I called Princess, my TA requested the same allocation override from Princess for the exact same cabin.  Princess told my TA that the allocation might be possible, in 24 to 48 hours.  [This is a popular cabin to book early, so it's very possible that the cabin might have been snapped up if we waited 24-48 hours.]

 

---

Wow, this is very good to know for the future. I didn’t even know there was a separate override group for this purpose. 

[RSS from SF]

38 minutes ago, vjmatty said:

Wow, this is very good to know for the future. I didn’t even know there was a separate override group for this purpose. 

It might have been an IT section or other department that also is able to allocate specific cabins; from what I could infer, my request was not common coming from individuals -- or perhaps most of these requests are screened from getting to the persons who can make the change. 

 

I'm guessing that most reps tell customers that this allocation (of a cabin from a blocked section) is not possible, period.

(But it is!) 🙂

---

Edited April 18, 2021 by RSS from SF

[Coffeeluvr05]

On 4/16/2021 at 7:27 PM, impartfish said:

Hi all - I'm ready to book my first Princess B2B and am a little unsure about a few things.  I'm trying to figure out if it'll be better to book this cruise as one 20-day cruise or two 10-day cruises.  I think I've figured out the OBCs for FCCs and stock holders but I'm confused about these things:

 

1.  If we book this cruise as a 20 day cruise, we will get just 1 loyalty point in the Captain's Circle?  If we book it as two 10-day cruises, we'd get 2 points, right?

2.  How many bar set-ups will there be in a reg. balcony cabin for 20 days?  Will it be just the 1?  If we book as two 10-day cruises, we'd get 2 set-ups right?

3.  How many internet minutes would we get for a 20 day cruise - 250 each?  Would it be more if we booked two 10-day cruises?
4.  Will we get one Loyalty OBC for the 20-day cruise and two for the 10-day cruises?

TIA for the help!  🏝️

 

I did not see it mentioned when you were looking to book the B2B, but last I heard Princess is not allowing B2B cruises right now.  At least my TA said you can book them, but Princess will cancel them (one of them, I assume).  I do not know if it is only for 2021, but we were trying to book B2B cruises in late 2021 and it was a no go.

[rbtan]

On 4/16/2021 at 10:27 PM, impartfish said:

Hi all - I'm ready to book my first Princess B2B and am a little unsure about a few things.  I'm trying to figure out if it'll be better to book this cruise as one 20-day cruise or two 10-day cruises.  I think I've figured out the OBCs for FCCs and stock holders but I'm confused about these things:

 

1.  If we book this cruise as a 20 day cruise, we will get just 1 loyalty point in the Captain's Circle?  If we book it as two 10-day cruises, we'd get 2 points, right?

2.  How many bar set-ups will there be in a reg. balcony cabin for 20 days?  Will it be just the 1?  If we book as two 10-day cruises, we'd get 2 set-ups right?

3.  How many internet minutes would we get for a 20 day cruise - 250 each?  Would it be more if we booked two 10-day cruises?
4.  Will we get one Loyalty OBC for the 20-day cruise and two for the 10-day cruises?

TIA for the help!  🏝️

 

On a 20 day sailing you should not have a repeating menu.  We did a 14 night B2B on the Regal & the menu was exactly the same. On our 2020 Star Princess trip to Hawaii the menu did not repeat. The food, however was really substandard on that ship, but much better on the Regal. I think the Royal class gets better food, as the budget is higher. Being in the food industry, good food is important to us. We do prefer Oceania, obviously. Sometimes the itinerary is better on Princess, so we'll switch back & forth.

[Astro Flyer]

21 hours ago, RSS from SF said:

I'm guessing that most reps tell customers that this allocation (of a cabin from a blocked section) is not possible, period.

(But it is!) 🙂

I agree...it takes getting a good Princess rep who’s knowledgeable & willing  to contact the people who can override the automated system. My TA has done this a few times when cabins were blocked out for either booking as a single cruise or as multiple cruises.
 

Our Fall 7-day cruise only showed guarantees for our type of cabin but my TA worked with a PCL rep to get us our preferred cabin. 👍

Edited April 19, 2021 by Astro Flyer

[skynight]

On 4/18/2021 at 6:15 PM, Kamloops50 said:

Its actually cheaper to book a 20 day versus two 10day B2B. The 20 day is usually a couple of hundred dollars cheaper per person. I book a B2B , then I can book EzAir separately for each segment.

 

Not always. You have to do the math and including OBC. Our experience is that the difference isn't very much.

[impartfish]

On 4/18/2021 at 3:20 PM, RSS from SF said:

 

I had the same issue with my cabin that was available for the 2 segments, but not for the full 25-day sailing.  In my case, booking the 2 segments separately would have been significantly more expensive than booking the single 25-day sailing. 

 

Perhaps I was lucky, but I was able to get the cabin allocated to the 25-day sailing. (The rep gave awesome customer service; I did tell the rep that this sailing was for a very special occasion -- my milestone birthday that happened to occur within the [bucket-list-for-us] sailing dates.)

 

==> When I called to request the allocation, it was first thing in the morning when Princess opened up its customer service line -- but before the group that handles overrides had arrived for work at 9:00 AM PST.  We could see the block of cabins which were blocked from the single 25-day booking, and adjacent cabins in the same category which were available to be booked for the 25-day as well as 2 individual segments.

 

To get the cabin from the blocked section:

• First, the customer rep booked an available adjacent cabin in the same category; this gave the override person a booking to work with.
   
• Then, the rep spoke to a supervisor; the supervisor sent an email to the group that did the allocation override.  (This email was sent before group's work hours.)  
   
• The rep cautioned that this type of override is not always approved, so that I could be prepared for an "No" answer.  The rep said that if the answer was "No", I would get a call. 
   
• A couple of hours later I received email with an updated booking for the cabin I wanted. 

 

BTW the cabin I could only book for 2 segments separately was only 2-3 doors away from the closest available cabin available for the 25-day booking.  After I received the successfully allocated cabin, I also confirmed that other cabins in this 2-segment-only section still were blocked from the single 25-day booking.

 

---

NOTE:  The day before I called Princess, my TA requested the same allocation override from Princess for the exact same cabin.  Princess told my TA that the allocation might be possible, in 24 to 48 hours.  [This is a popular cabin to book early, so it's very possible that the cabin might have been snapped up if we waited 24-48 hours.]

 

---

That's super good advice, thanks!  There's only $1.00 difference between booking it as 2 segments or a longer one so that's not an issue.  We would just get more OBC for the 20 day.  I have a feeling I'm going to run into the same thing with getting the cabin I want and will follow your advice.  Thank you and thanks to everyone else.

[caribill]

15 hours ago, Coffeeluvr05 said:

I did not see it mentioned when you were looking to book the B2B, but last I heard Princess is not allowing B2B cruises right now.  At least my TA said you can book them, but Princess will cancel them (one of them, I assume).  I do not know if it is only for 2021, but we were trying to book B2B cruises in late 2021 and it was a no go.

 

The CDC is not permitting any B2Bs involving USA ports through early November of this year.

 

Any cruises after that date can be longer than 7 days and thus B2Bs are allowed then.

[beg3yrs]

On 4/18/2021 at 3:15 PM, Kamloops50 said:

Its actually cheaper to book a 20 day versus two 10day B2B. The 20 day is usually a couple of hundred dollars cheaper per person. I book a B2B , then I can book EzAir separately for each segment.

 

That's not always the case, so much so that it's worth it to do the calculations. Saved thousands per person by breaking up the last voyage of the Ocean Princess into five separate segments and kept the same aft cabin for all 65 days. Saved a couple of thousand on separating an upcoming Island Princess voyage from Rome to FLL into two 14 day segments.

 

Even if it's only a couple of hundred of dollars, that can be offset by extra OBC from FCDs, additional military OBC as well as loyalty credit (assuming one is eligible for these perks).

[Coffeeluvr05]

10 hours ago, caribill said:

 

The CDC is not permitting any B2Bs involving USA ports through early November of this year.

 

Any cruises after that date can be longer than 7 days and thus B2Bs are allowed then.

Has the CDC allowed any cruise yet from US ports?  I feel like there has been so much info thrown around, I am not sure what the latest is.

[beg3yrs]

19 minutes ago, Coffeeluvr05 said:

Has the CDC allowed any cruise yet from US ports?  I feel like there has been so much info thrown around, I am not sure what the latest is.

No cruises from US ports have sailed. Even the July 4th date is pretty dicey IMHO. It's also dicey that after November 1st B2Bs will be allowed but that's a bet I might take ...

[caribill]

2 hours ago, beg3yrs said:

No cruises from US ports have sailed. Even the July 4th date is pretty dicey IMHO. It's also dicey that after November 1st B2Bs will be allowed but that's a bet I might take ...

 

And there is no certainty that any sailings of even 7 days or less will be allowed by November 1.

 

And the CDC can extend that November 1 date to a later date. (Also possible, is they could end their restrictions before November 1, but do not hold your breath for that.

[Kamloops50]

9 hours ago, beg3yrs said:

That's not always the case, so much so that it's worth it to do the calculations. Saved thousands per person by breaking up the last voyage of the Ocean Princess into five separate segments and kept the same aft cabin for all 65 days. Saved a couple of thousand on separating an upcoming Island Princess voyage from Rome to FLL into two 14 day segments.

 

Even if it's only a couple of hundred of dollars, that can be offset by extra OBC from FCDs, additional military OBC as well as loyalty credit (assuming one is eligible for these perks).

I was assuming that people didn't qualify for the extra OBC. On a B2B versus a 14 Day Alaska cruise in 2022. The difference was almost $700 a person.

[impartfish]

18 hours ago, caribill said:

 

The CDC is not permitting any B2Bs involving USA ports through early November of this year.

 

Any cruises after that date can be longer than 7 days and thus B2Bs are allowed then.

 

We're talking about almost 2 yrs. from now, so no worries.  

[beg3yrs]

1 hour ago, Kamloops50 said:

I was assuming that people didn't qualify for the extra OBC. On a B2B versus a 14 Day Alaska cruise in 2022. The difference was almost $700 a person.

It really varies from cruise-to-cruise and even from week-to-week. To simply say it's always better to book cruises as a single booking when they could be booked separately is not correct. Even without taking into account OBC and other benefits, there can be significant savings in some, but not all, cases. One should not blindly assume one way or the other, you've got to check.

[caribill]

The latest Princess promotion is $150 OBC per person in balconies and above for 7-day or longer cruises from July.2021 through November 2022.

 

So for two people in a cabin (can be for up to four people in a cabin), having a B2B as two bookings can be worth an extra $300 over a single booking.

[voljeep]

8 hours ago, caribill said:

The latest Princess promotion is $150 OBC per person in balconies and above for 7-day or longer cruises from July.2021 through November 2022.

 

So for two people in a cabin (can be for up to four people in a cabin), having a B2B as two bookings can be worth an extra $300 over a single booking.

select bookings ? all ? - a link to the promotion would be appreciated

[caribill]

46 minutes ago, voljeep said:

select bookings ? all ? - a link to the promotion would be appreciated

 

Does say "select voyages".

 

Information came in snail-mail brochure. Promotion code is UL5/UP5.