Last minute moveover offer from Princess

[BB8241]

I just accepted a “moveover” offer on my cruise leaving on the Sky this Saturday out of Fort Lauderdale. I was offered 50% of my cruise fare back in refundable onboard credit to move from a mini-suite MB to a deluxe balcony DB.  I thought it was a great offer and am pleased with my new cabin location. My question is what type of scenario happened for the cruise line to extend this offer do you think? It would seem silly to think they have over sold the mini suites. 

[VibeGuy]

Oversell

Too many people in the fire zone/muster station for number of qualified crew

Not enough stewards for the number of adjacent booked cabins - want to spread the load

Cabins offline for mechanical or maintenance - especially air conditioning or plumbing 

Cabin with three or more berths sold for two

Solar flares

 

 

[BB8241]

That makes sense. Thanks!

[JGard911]

I got the same offer, but asked a few questions, and it looks like you beat me to it.  I didn't want to be in the rear of the ship on the Dolphin deck.  What section did you end up with D300s, D500s or D600s?

[JGard911]

Hope we are not affected by the hurricane headed toward Florida.  😬

[VibeGuy]

It’s a little surprising to me given that the mini-suites are more broadly distributed on the Royal class than the Grand and Gem classes.   It’s not like a mechanical problem midships Dolphin deck takes out 20% of the minis, as it definitely can on the earlier builds.  
 

ProTip about the refundable OBC - the check takes weeks.   Loading some to your casino bank at the start of the cruise and  playing a couple of spins a day, you could easily cash that amount out at the end of the voyage and walk away with it.  “Some” is a matter of taste, naturally, but $100/scheduled day would certainly not be the kind of sum that raised eyebrows. 

[BB8241]

Yeah I took a gamble but ended up in the D300s. So midship. 
Only time will tell about the storm. Right now it’s looking like the hurricane will make landfall Wednesday/Thursday. 

[BB8241]

I was originally in the R200s in my mini suite

[JGard911]

I'm in the R300s mini suite.  I love the Riviera deck.  I love being able to take the stairs up just 2 decks to the pool instead of having to wait for an elevator.   

[Rick&Jeannie]

It's very possible that they oversold the "guaranty" cabins...and are now scrambling to accommodate all bookings.  If they can relieve some of their "self-imposed" pressure by offering a moveover...then that's what they're going to do.

[cruzsnooze]

What was the cost of the Balcony cabin originally.  Is 50% OBC of your mini anywhere near your refund would be had you booked a balcony to begin with?

[SargassoPirate]

11 hours ago, VibeGuy said:

Oversell

Too many people in the fire zone/muster station for number of qualified crew

Not enough stewards for the number of adjacent booked cabins - want to spread the load

Cabins offline for mechanical or maintenance - especially air conditioning or plumbing 

Cabin with three or more berths sold for two

Solar flares

Operational reasons

Out of an abundance of caution

 

[voljeep]

10 hours ago, cruzsnooze said:

What was the cost of the Balcony cabin originally.  Is 50% OBC of your mini anywhere near your refund would be had you booked a balcony to begin with?

I don't understand ... please show your math as to what you mean

[Vexorg]

A couple of years back my wife and I were on a sailing that turned out to be overbooked, and got a move over offer to move to another sailing entirely.  We got our entire cruise fare (minus taxes and fees) as refundable OBC and an upgrade from an interior cabin on a 5 day sailing to a balcony cabin on a 7 day.  They also provided an allowance (I believe $300) to cover airline change fees.  It was a pretty good deal, all things considered.

Edited November 8, 2022 by Vexorg

[mlmbar]

16 hours ago, JGard911 said:

Hope we are not affected by the hurricane headed toward Florida.  😬

I am also on Sky flying in from Philly. I changed my flight from Thursday to Friday yesterday. It looks like the storm is hitting north around Orlando and so lar, FLL is fairly unaffected except for rain and wind until Thursday. By Friday AM it looks to be in GA.  HOPE this holds up!!! 

[cruisequeen4ever]

Congrats; sounds like a good offer!

[JGard911]

I ended up getting the same offer.  Moved from Riviera R300s to Dolphin D300s.   I was only in a Mini-Suite as a result of the extra 25% Future Cruise Credit due to a Covid cancellation in 2021.   So this was a great deal for me.    I kinda wanted to check out the bigger tub/shower, but I also didn't want to get used to a Mini-Suite.  Once you move up into a higher cabin class you never want to go back !!!  😂 

[JGard911]

1 hour ago, mlmbar said:

I am also on Sky flying in from Philly. I changed my flight from Thursday to Friday yesterday. It looks like the storm is hitting north around Orlando and so lar, FLL is fairly unaffected except for rain and wind until Thursday. By Friday AM it looks to be in GA.  HOPE this holds up!!! 

I am scheduled to fly out of Boston at 5:45 AM Friday morning.  Will probably be a bumpy ride,  but that's better than a change of itinerary for the ship.  Will be interested to see if our ports of call have recovered from Hurricane Fiona also.  Fiona basically followed the path of our itinerary.  

[Steelers36]

19 hours ago, BB8241 said:

I just accepted a “moveover” offer on my cruise leaving on the Sky this Saturday out of Fort Lauderdale. I was offered 50% of my cruise fare back in refundable onboard credit to move from a mini-suite MB to a deluxe balcony DB.  I thought it was a great offer and am pleased with my new cabin location. My question is what type of scenario happened for the cruise line to extend this offer do you think? It would seem silly to think they have over sold the mini suites. 

First of all, you did not receive a move over offer.  Just to correct the record, a move over is when the cruise line offers you a full refund (typically) and a replacement cruise for free (typically) on either the same ship for a different date, or another ship whenever (subject to a time limit) .. because your sail date is oversold and they have to free up space. 

 

You received a downgrade offer since the cabin category is lower than what you had booked, so you didn't get a full refund (I wouldn't expect one either). 

 

They either realized they have a high demand for mini's or oversold them.  What appears to be happening (based on other posts), is that Princess has realized they don't need so many - if any - of the reserved quarantine cabins which have mostly been located on D deck.  So, they may have got some upgrades done via bids and, in your case, free up some mini's by offering downgrades.  

 

We don't know the math that goes on the Ivory Tower, but they must have figured out the best route to fill some D deck cabins while freeing up some mini-suites for other needs.

 

A DB would have cost more than 50% of a Mx, so not a bad deal unless one was really counting on having the Mini.

 

[JGard911]

2 hours ago, Steelers36 said:

First of all, you did not receive a move over offer.

Well I guess you need to tell the coordinator at Princess that.  The subject line of the email they sent me was " Booking -XXXXX - Moveover Offer "  Since I usually book a Standard Balcony on Riviera deck, a  Deluxe Balcony is still an upgrade for me.  As I previously mentioned, 25% of the cost of the mini suite was Covid FCC.  The only thing I gave up was the ability to walk up 2 flights of stairs to the pool and a bigger shower.  

[dog]

4 hours ago, JGard911 said:

Well I guess you need to tell the coordinator at Princess that.  The subject line of the email they sent me was " Booking -XXXXX - Moveover Offer "  Since I usually book a Standard Balcony on Riviera deck, a  Deluxe Balcony is still an upgrade for me.  As I previously mentioned, 25% of the cost of the mini suite was Covid FCC.  The only thing I gave up was the ability to walk up 2 flights of stairs to the pool and a bigger shower.  

Thanks for clarifying that.

[caribill]

18 hours ago, voljeep said:

I don't understand ... please show your math as to what you mean

 

Example with pricing on a different  cruise:

 

Mini-suite $2599.  Premium balcony $1999.

 

So, 50% back from the movedown offer would make the premium balcony cost $1299.50.

 

This would be a savings of $699.50 from the new cabin's price, a savings of 35%.

 

So basically you would get back the extra money paid for a mini-suite ($600) and then a discount of 35% on the cost of the new cabin.

[TullMan]

Adding to the mystery: We were offered and accepted an upgrade from E-interior to

E-balcony-obstructed on the 11/12 Sky. I suspect this has to do with the storm and travel insurance cancellations.

 

I hate a boring cruise. We have an exciting drive tomorrow and Friday, so I guess that counts.

[cruzsnooze]

18 hours ago, caribill said:

 

Example with pricing on a different  cruise:

 

Mini-suite $2599.  Premium balcony $1999.

 

So, 50% back from the movedown offer would make the premium balcony cost $1299.50.

 

This would be a savings of $699.50 

 

 

Glad you jumped in here. That 50% wasn't a total of 50% when you consider the price of the balcony cabin. The savings in the given example is $699.50 (not $1300 which is 50% of the mini price price. ) It may still be a good deal for the OP but the math needs to be considered when making an informed decision.

[anji21]

Hello,

Just wanted to share my experience.

This is an example of a "Move Over Offer"  It's my first time to receive this offer, so I did research first. Don't know how one gets selected, probably starting with those without cabin assignment.

Obviously this trip is overbooked and I had a guaranteed mini-suite (it was less expensive than a balcony during booking (? - as I usually book balcony). 

I wasn't given an assigned room yet.

So I received the offer via email yesterday - the offer is for a 7 day future cruise for free and my current payment for this 4 day Thanksgiving cruise is transferred to my new cruise as refundable cruise credit (any unused amount is mailed back as a check). I still kept all the other amenities, such as Princess Plus, OBC from original cruise, SH OBC (didn't have to apply again). They also have a $400 allowance for personal travel expense. 

Essentially, my future 7 day cruise is FREE +(plus) I get a refund for the 4 day Thanksgiving cruise fare.

Note that they transfer the tax and port fees to the new cruise - no refund here. Sometimes they offer a cabin upgrade, but not in my offer (ex. inside to oceanview or balcony). But they did upgrade the type of mini-suite. 

If you receive this offer (via email only), don't hesitate to accept it (after finding your next dream vacation). The new cruise did not have a single occupant discount, so basically they covered my double occupancy rate.