Future Cruise Package: Any Experiences?

[wallyj]

Hi @memoak, I wanted to comment on your post saying they know nothing, as many former Future cruise consultants do as they have been on Princess for many years, I also stated YMMV.

 

They are ‘sales’ people and on my Enchanted sailing last month, they also mentioned they do NOT do any casino bookings/help, as a couple were trying to deal with the Mistake August Emerald sailing that the Princess website offered to practically everyone in the US/Canada.  My friends were on the Majestic and asked about if the on board consultants could book the August Emerald Casino sailing and were told NO, especially since there was no commission since it was a ‘zero’ fare.

[NAP79]

BTW- the person who sold us our packages (that we cancelled 3 days later when we tried to use them to book and realized we had been give incorrect information) was a Santa Clarita, CA number and was our Princess personal travel representative for the cruise line. I think they have them all pushing it now. It may be managed by an outside company but the basic FAQs for it are also on Princess’s website and the number to call to cancel is on the Princess website too. 

[memoak]

1 minute ago, NAP79 said:

BTW- the person who sold us our packages (that we cancelled 3 days later when we tried to use them to book and realized we had been give incorrect information) was a Santa Clarita, CA number and was our Princess personal travel representative for the cruise line. I think they have them all pushing it now. It may be managed by an outside company but the basic FAQs for it are also on Princess’s website and the number to call to cancel is on the Princess website too. 

No my CVP has never even mentioned it to me and when I got a call from an unknown Princess number and I called her she was not a big fan of them

[NAP79]

I’m glad they aren’t all doing it! We obviously won’t be using the same guy again.

[memoak]

11 minutes ago, wallyj said:

Hi @memoak, I wanted to comment on your post saying they know nothing, as many former Future cruise consultants do as they have been on Princess for many years, I also stated YMMV.

 

They are ‘sales’ people and on my Enchanted sailing last month, they also mentioned they do NOT do any casino bookings/help, as a couple were trying to deal with the Mistake August Emerald sailing that the Princess website offered to practically everyone in the US/Canada.  My friends were on the Majestic and asked about if the on board consultants could book the August Emerald Casino sailing and were told NO, especially since there was no commission since it was a ‘zero’ fare.

If they are ex CVP’s then they should know about cruise deals and how to book them since CVP’s have been doing them for several years. The future cruise folks tried to do one for me and totally screwed it up and then claimed it wasn’t their fault. My CVP had to clean it up 

 ONE and Princess employees are not the same 

 

[wallyj]

11 minutes ago, memoak said:

If they are ex CVP’s then they should know about cruise deals and how to book them since CVP’s have been doing them for several years. The future cruise folks tried to do one for me and totally screwed it up and then claimed it wasn’t their fault. My CVP had to clean it up 

 ONE and Princess employees are not the same 

 

I think you might have misunderstood, when I stated former future cruise consultants, I meant the ones that were ‘on board’ not ex CVP’s. As I said, many former Princess Future cruise consultants that were on board Princess ships have accepted positions to be O.N.E. employees and be on Princess ships. In the past, before ONE, I do not think many on board future cruise consultants would book Casino offers as I remember them always saying you needed to call that department.

[memoak]

16 minutes ago, wallyj said:

I think you might have misunderstood, when I stated former future cruise consultants, I meant the ones that were ‘on board’ not ex CVP’s. As I said, many former Princess Future cruise consultants that were on board Princess ships have accepted positions to be O.N.E. employees and be on Princess ships. In the past, before ONE, I do not think many on board future cruise consultants would book Casino offers as I remember them always saying you needed to call that department.

No it is only CVP’s who are trained in casino sales. The question is why future cruises would attempt it   Probably because they have pressure to sell at any cost 

[ecs66]

On 2/8/2024 at 11:32 PM, wallyj said:

Princess has contracted with O.N.E.

There was a thread similar to this one a couple weeks ago.  The consensus was that ONE is dreadful.  Arrangements were wrong.  Money was messed with.  Trips were cancelled that shouldn't have been.  It makes you wonder ...  It was suggested that PAX check future trips frequently to see if they're even listed, because some had disappeared.  Anyhow, FWIW...

[memoak]

1 minute ago, ecs66 said:

There was a thread similar to this one a couple weeks ago.  The consensus was that ONE is dreadful.  Arrangements were wrong.  Money was messed with.  Trips were cancelled that shouldn't have been.  It makes you wonder ...  It was suggested that PAX check future trips frequently to see if they're even listed, because some had disappeared.  Anyhow, FWIW...

Or just don’t book on board. We do everything through our CVP

[ecs66]

1 hour ago, memoak said:

Or just don’t book on board. We do everything through our CVP

That was pretty agreed to by everyone there -- big thumbs up for CVP.  Maybe you can save money by doing it on board (IDK), but is it worth the headache?

[NAP79]

 

Update on getting our refunds from the packages we cancelled -10 days since we requested our refunds (only 3 days into our 7 day cancellation and refund window) and we are being ghosted. No refunds issued and no response to emails or phone messages. All calls to the person who is supposedly the one to issue the refunds go straight to voicemail and no one else seems to be able to help in any way. We have filed all our documentation of everything with our credit card company at this point to let them resolve it. I’m confident it will get taken care of by them (American Express is awesome with resolving disputes) but it’s just an unnecessary headache caused by an absolutely ridiculous lack of honesty and transparency on the part of Princess Promotions. I can’t believe Princess cruises is associated with this, but they are - all the info on the packages came directly from their travel rep and website and the contact number to request the cancellations and refunds is posted on their website. It may be managed by a third party (I can’t speak to that) but when I’m calling 1-800-Princess I assume I’m dealing directly with Princess cruise employees. The cruise we were going to book with these credits was going to be our first Princess cruise. We will not be booking it, or any other with Princess, after this hassle.

[sunnypm]

On 6/4/2024 at 10:02 PM, sunnypm said:

I'm in the process of using this. I bought the lowest package,  $3499, onboard because I was already planning a father son cruise. So far so good, but I couldn't book with the entire credit online. However, the phone contact was fantastic. So I used $3000 up on the cruise, have a $100 onboard credit, and now have to see if I get more than i $399 worth of hotel credit. Btw, it works with the casino offer I had, which was a worry after first. I'll keep you posted, as this cruise is July 14.

Still up in the air about this. Here's the website you can use your regular Princess ID and password to access hotel info.

 

https://www.princesspromotions.com

 

It looks like a wash so far, except that since I booked the father son New England cruise, it was actually an interest free way to pay half that cost over time. For me, the stress of worrying about jumping through all the right hoops, is not worth it. And I still haven't booked the 5 night Premium Stay Certificate. It can't be used as one 2 night stay and one 3 night stay, and most hotels chosen are not totally covered by the certificate...

[Ombud]

On 6/8/2024 at 4:19 PM, memoak said:

On 6/8/2024 at 4:16 PM, NAP79 said:

BTW- the person who sold us our packages (that we cancelled 3 days later when we tried to use them to book and realized we had been give incorrect information) was a Santa Clarita, CA number and was our Princess personal travel representative for the cruise line. I think they have them all pushing it now. It may be managed by an outside company but the basic FAQs for it are also on Princess’s website and the number to call to cancel is on the Princess website too. 

No my CVP has never even mentioned it to me and when I got a call from an unknown Princess number and I called her she was not a big fan of them

My CVP cannot book Princess Promotions. BUT I just want to add that I know for a fact that she lives in a suburb of Seattle Washington and she has a Santa Clarita area code phone number for work. My retired CVP (retired 12/2022) lives in Arizona and had a Santa Clarita area code for work. So a Princess Promotions Vacation Planner having a Santa Clarita # is irrelevant.  They could be anywhere

[memoak]

11 hours ago, Ombud said:

My CVP cannot book Princess Promotions. BUT I just want to add that I know for a fact that she lives in a suburb of Seattle Washington and she has a Santa Clarita area code phone number for work. My retired CVP (retired 12/2022) lives in Arizona and had a Santa Clarita area code for work. So a Princess Promotions Vacation Planner having a Santa Clarita # is irrelevant.  They could be anywhere

Yes but at least when my CVP calls me I can see her name on my phone so I know that it is her and not the nimrods from Princess Promotions