Princess Promotions

[back-at-it]

Hello, We are new to Princess and have booked our first cruise with them.  They offered an package from Princess Promotions that included a large FCC, on board credit, and a bunch of Hotel credits.

Just wanting to see what other people have done.  It sounds good, as long as you can use the Hotel credits to their fullest.  

 

[TRLD]

Think of it as cruise line meets time share marketing company.

 

The deal is being offered by Open Network Exchange.  They are a contractor that staffs Princess on board future sales department and well as doing other direct sales functions. The owners of ONE inc used to own a company that would allow time share owners to trade weeks for cruises.  They sold that business and started ONE.  Their previous business gave them good contacts in the cruise industry and led to their current business arrangement with Princess.

 

 

The problem is how much value are the hotel credits?  As the saying goes the devil is in the details and there is language that indicates that the credits might not be accepted for particular dates, or for the entire value of the stay, they might also not be equivalent to what one could book a hotel for directly not using credits.  In other words a lot of ways where the hotel credits might not have the value that the offer would seem to indicate.

 

The following is a link to a Reddit post where someone describes their experience with the package

 

https://www.reddit.com/r/Cruise/comments/187qiy0/i_bought_a_princess_promotions_vacation_package/

Edited March 22 by TRLD

[SCX22]

It's not a scam and is validated by Princess on their website.  Whether or not the package price's value holds true or not is up to you.  Also note that once paid and the initial grace period has passed, the entire amount becomes non refundable, so if you're unable to use one aspect of the package, kiss your money goodbye.  You can also kiss your FCC/hotel credits/hotel discounts goodbye once they expire.  The topic been discussed ad nauseam on this board.  

[Mud_Shark]

OK, It's as close to being a scam as possible while still being a "legit" offer.  I would not touch this, but then I would not touch a time share either.

[sns1]

I am currently on the ruby and yesterday, an envelope was slipped under the door with information on purchasing this product.   It went right in the trash can. 

[dog]

I would not deal with them.

[hpeabody]

@back-at-it   I'm so sorry

Edited March 22 by hpeabody

[memoak]

I won’t go near them even on board ship. I only deal with my longtime CVP. 

[RaineyPark]

I have had no problem with Princess Promotions. Just ask questions, get details, know the expiration date, book the trip and relax. I book with Princess, notify them of the promo, they pull it up from my account, apply it and done. 

[memoak]

11 minutes ago, RaineyPark said:

I have had no problem with Princess Promotions. Just ask questions, get details, know the expiration date, book the trip and relax. I book with Princess, notify them of the promo, they pull it up from my account, apply it and done. 

Have you actually tried to use the supposed hotel deals ?  Frankly I find my casino deals much better and am able to do everything though my CVP

[cr8tiv1]

18 minutes ago, RaineyPark said:

I have had no problem with Princess Promotions. Just ask questions, get details, know the expiration date, book the trip and relax. I book with Princess, notify them of the promo, they pull it up from my account, apply it and done. 

 

Would you mind describing a "typical" package trip you have used?  Many of us are curious as to how a trip went for someone who purchased a Princess Promotion.

[sfaaa]

Too many restrictions. No deal.

[RaineyPark]

My package was about $3K and got the no big deal On Board Credit plus $350 toward a hotel which worked as promoted. If someone is a hard core do it yourselfer and looking to grind down to the fine details then I would suggest not bothering. Personally, I like working every available angle to maximize the vacation money. 

[batterup]

I bought a Princess promotion package on board and canceled it after noticing it did not post as a “cruise line”  purchase- thus losing the 2% back on my credit card. It posted as an “internet software” purchase. No one on board- or after the cruise- from both Princess and Princess promotions could tell me why it wasn’t a “cruise” purchase. It was not easy to get my money back either even though I canceled about 16 hours after purchasing it.

[TRLD]

11 minutes ago, batterup said:

I bought a Princess promotion package on board and canceled it after noticing it did not post as a “cruise line”  purchase- thus losing the 2% back on my credit card. It posted as an “internet software” purchase. No one on board- or after the cruise- from both Princess and Princess promotions could tell me why it wasn’t a “cruise” purchase. It was not easy to get my money back either even though I canceled about 16 hours after purchasing it.

Probably because ONE is also a software company.  If you lookup the company it shows its primary business as software.

[back-at-it]

I am in the process of canceling my Promotion.  I tried to use the Hotel certificates and the 7 Day Free Stay still cost you to use.  I did a mock lookup and a Normal rate of $1140 hotel stay was still $400 plus my 7 night stay certificate.  

[memoak]

ONE is a 3rd party vendor   They are not Princess I believe they sell many things for various companies 

[CynCyn]

When I asked for more info on the hotels, the sales lady offered to zoom with me but wouldn’t give me access.  That’s a no for me.

[Samkirch]

Very frustrating and very shady. It was "sold" as a way to make automatic payments for our cruise... turned out the payments were for the package, not the entire cruise fare. I fixed that mess with a bunch of phone calls and then realized that they didn't apply the entire $3000 to the cruise and left credits (several hundred dollars worth) in the account, and nobody was able to tell us why or credit them to the cruise. Then, airport transfers were added to our reservation at some point - they weren't on our original receipt. So..., I called Princess to remove them, and they were returned as future cruise credits instead of a refund... So... Buyer beware. Also - the cancellation window for Princess Promotions is VERY narrow - if there is a chance you'll cancel, you'll still be on the hook for the whole purchase.

[NAP79]

 

I would be very cautious about purchasing the packages. We did after being promised the full amount of the credit could be applied to the cruise rooms we were interested in even if we booked through a travel agent instead of directly with Princess. We purchased two packages for two rooms on a cruise for next year but when we went to book, Princess would only allow a portion of each credit to be applied to each room (even though they were much more expensive rooms than the credit values). This was three days after purchase and well within the 7 day cancellation and refund window so we immediately called to cancel and get refunds for the packages. It’s been 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 since the first time we talked to him 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 with Princess 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.

[SCX22]

These fools emailed my parents when they got back from their cruise.  If you ever get an email from Princess and the sender has "Contractor" in their name and an @princesscruises.com email address, you'll know that its the Princess Promotions team, in other words O.N.E.  Their signature graphic looks like that of a Princess CVP, but upon closer examination, their official title is "Future Cruise Deposit Team,"  which add more the confusion because if one doesn't know, one would they are trying to sell a $100 FCD with bounce back OBC like what is sold on board.  When my dad responded to never be contacted, the fool added into the reply that "our guests love the benefits." O.N.E. is trying really hard to conceal their identity.

 

 

Edited Tuesday at 09:38 PM by SCX22

[memoak]

Just stay away. Stick to a real CVP who is a Princess employee 

[TRLD]

19 minutes ago, memoak said:

Just stay away. Stick to a real CVP who is a Princess employee 

Atleast until they get converted as well.

[memoak]

47 minutes ago, TRLD said:

Atleast until they get converted as well.

I would not be surprised if the ONE contract does not get renewed. My last 2 cruises the future cruise office was empty. I believe my CVP would rather go to some TA company because he really like ONE