Reduced rates before final payment question

[swdke]

I have a Princess cruise booked for September.  Final payment due in a week.  Rates have dropped.  I've contacted my travel agent to see if I can take advantage of the lower rates.  Agent says Princess tells her that the new lower rate is for new bookings, not existing.  I'm finding this hard to believe.   Is this really a thing, or is my travel agent not really doing a good job.  If she's not doing a good job, what options do I have? I've paid a deposit and my final payment is due soon.  It just seems odd that I can't benefit from lower rates.  Seems to be a disadvantage to book early.  Thanks for your opinions.

[PacnGoNow]

12 minutes ago, swdke said:

I have a Princess cruise booked for September.  Final payment due in a week.  Rates have dropped.  I've contacted my travel agent to see if I can take advantage of the lower rates.  Agent says Princess tells her that the new lower rate is for new bookings, not existing.  I'm finding this hard to believe.   Is this really a thing, or is my travel agent not really doing a good job.  If she's not doing a good job, what options do I have? I've paid a deposit and my final payment is due soon.  It just seems odd that I can't benefit from lower rates.  Seems to be a disadvantage to book early.  Thanks for your opinions.

Sometimes it IS only for new bookings.

But, if you have not reached final payment…

You can ask to cancel and rebook, if yours is a refundable deposit, which most are on Princess.

 

But…

If you rebook, You would want your agent to do it quickly, so they can grab the same cabin, or a similar one.  Talk with them about it.
 

The agent should be able to do this without calling Princess.

 

I did this in March, because they would not refare it.  It was for new bookings only.  If you booked any online services or prepaid anything, you will get those to be refunded.

It took about a week for me to see them on my cc.

 

Then, once the new booking shows up in the App, you can put your DMW back in and MedallionNet, etc.

 

 

Edited June 6, 2022 by PacnGoNow

[Shelly97060]

Princess frequently has fare drops that apply to new bookings only, and as mentioned above if you are before final payment you can cancel and rebook at the lower rate without penalty but if you do cancel and rebook your EZair and any excursions or reservations you have made will also cancel and any previous promotions and any associated onboard credit will be replaced with whatever the new fare is offering.  Also, if there are no cabins left in your current category you may have to rebook in a different cabin category. 

just good things to keep in mind as you make your decision. 

 

[NavArch64]

Suggestion .... instead of asking for lower fare which Princess does not want to do .... and your TA is caught in the middle ... instead, ask to go from Princess Standard to Princess Plus at the current price or go from Princess Plus to Princess Premium at the current price for your existing S/R and Cat ... then perhaps everyone can be happy.

[JimmyVWine]

53 minutes ago, swdke said:

Agent says Princess tells her that the new lower rate is for new bookings, not existing.

Often the new, lower fares are bare bones with no added perks.  They can't re-fare existing passengers who had lots of amenities thrown in such as "Gratuities included".  After the new bookers pay a la carte for all the things that earlier bookers got thrown in as part of their fare, they may very well end up paying more.  Also, very recently Princess started offering Packages (Plus and Premium) that are pay one price for much of what you would spend on board.  So the new, lower fares might not be any lower once a Package is added on.  

[JF - retired RRT]

The one time I saw a lower fare (after final payment), I call Princess (no TA at the time, but TA could do this). I asked for the lower fare and was offered OBC for the same amount instead...worked for me, OBC spends. It was refundable, so I eventually got at least some of the lower fare.

[compozer]

I tried to do it a while ago and it would have cost me more.  I would have to give up great EZair flights and lose some OBC.  SO your TA is correct!!

 

[MickeyandLV]

We just called our Princess Cruise Vacation Planner last week because we saw a lower price.  She was able to get us the lower price on two cruises.  The one cruise we had chosen to go to a lower class room 3 doors down the hall.  The other cruise we lost a specialty dining offer.  But we saved $1000 between the two cruises.  And we ended up with more onboard credits to spend.  We saved enough to book another cruise on Carnival.

We always book directly with Princess because they seem to be able to change things like that.  The one time we booked with a travel agent it was horrible. We did not have any control over our cruise and the travel agent was not responsive. Princess would not talk to us because we had booked with a travel agent.

[Urban trekker]

I also have a cruise booked for September and saw a price reduction - contacted my TA and she was able to cancel my existing booking, lost a small OBC , was able to keep the same cabin and kept a FCC from a COVID cancelled cruise and saved about $150.00. Doesn't sound like much of a saving but I was able to get the premium beverage package, crew appreciation and unlimited internet which I didn't have before.

Factor that in and it was a significant saving.

If I hadn't wanted to take the amenities package likely could have gotten a balcony cabin as the price was what I would have paid for the inside originally. 

[Steelers36]

7 hours ago, Shelly97060 said:

Princess frequently has fare drops that apply to new bookings only, and as mentioned above if you are before final payment you can cancel and rebook at the lower rate without penalty but if you do cancel and rebook your EZair and any excursions or reservations you have made will also cancel and any previous promotions and any associated onboard credit will be replaced with whatever the new fare is offering.  Also, if there are no cabins left in your current category you may have to rebook in a different cabin category. 

just good things to keep in mind as you make your decision. 

 

It is possible to preserve the EZ-Air booking and fare - as long as the TA and the Princess rep at the other end of the line are aware and know what to do. 

 

Yes, you lose on-board bookings, and your Shareholder benefit drops, etc.  But, make sure an EZ-Air booking can be preserved if it matters price-wise before pulling the trigger.

 

Another consideration for the folks is if you made the original booking with FCD's, check the status and make sure they have not since expired.  Otherwise, you need Princess to extend the expiry date of each FCD BEFORE cancelling the original booking.  If not, the FCD's are automatically scheduled for a refund to form of payment and all of a sudden you don't have the FCD's for the new replacement booking. 

 

[JF - retired RRT]

7 hours ago, Urban trekker said:

I also have a cruise booked for September and saw a price reduction - contacted my TA and she was able to cancel my existing booking, lost a small OBC , was able to keep the same cabin and kept a FCC from a COVID cancelled cruise and saved about $150.00. Doesn't sound like much of a saving but I was able to get the premium beverage package, crew appreciation and unlimited internet which I didn't have before.

Factor that in and it was a significant saving.

If I hadn't wanted to take the amenities package likely could have gotten a balcony cabin as the price was what I would have paid for the inside originally. 

I would have taken the balcony. 🤷‍♀️

[Sea Hag]

9 hours ago, Steelers36 said:

Yes, you lose on-board bookings, and your Shareholder benefit drops, etc.  But, make sure an EZ-Air booking can be preserved if it matters price-wise before pulling the trigger.

 

This for sure! I've seen EZ-Air prices going up pretty steeply over the last few months. If your EZ-Air has to be rebooked along with the cruise, the likely higher price might completely wipe out any savings on the cruise portion.