Contacting Princess - On The Weekend

[logan25]

I am booked directly with Princess.  The current promotion could add a significant amount of obc without any fare increase.  But their office is closed.  How do I get my booking repriced with the promotion before it ends on Sunday?

[Rick&Jeannie]

Well...you can always *try* the chat function...or just call the main number.  You're going to get the Philippines call center (most likely) so you may or may not get what you want going that route.

[Rick&Jeannie]

Worst case scenario...you *should* be able to cancel via either method above...and then rebook.

[logan25]

Chat function is closed at present.  Maybe they will reopen tomorrow.  I just panicked because of the short remaining window.

 

Don’t necessarily want to cancel my booking as it contains cruise deposits which technically expired last month.

[Thrak]

I had the same dilemma recently but,fortunately for me, I had moved my bookings to my TA. He's always very responsive and spent a fair amount of time on the phone with Princess on the weekend. I contacted him on a Saturday and the promo ended on Sunday. He was able to keep my same cabin and add an additional $400 OBC. This is where having a TA or a Princess PVP can really help.

[cellfree]

38 minutes ago, logan25 said:

I am booked directly with Princess.  The current promotion could add a significant amount of obc without any fare increase.  But their office is closed.  How do I get my booking repriced with the promotion before it ends on Sunday?

I called the 1.800 # today and was successful at getting the $400 OBC they are offering this w/e. Their Hours of Operation are posted on website, they are Pacific Time Zone. So I was told promotion is for new bookings only, I then asked the Agent to cancel current booking and make a new booking, she was happy to do so, and simply moved my deposit from cancelled cruise to new cruise. My price was exactly the same for the same category and I now have $400 (it’s listed as $200 per person) OBC. Score!

 

[Thrak]

51 minutes ago, cellfree said:

I called the 1.800 # today and was successful at getting the $400 OBC they are offering this w/e. Their Hours of Operation are posted on website, they are Pacific Time Zone. So I was told promotion is for new bookings only, I then asked the Agent to cancel current booking and make a new booking, she was happy to do so, and simply moved my deposit from cancelled cruise to new cruise. My price was exactly the same for the same category and I now have $400 (it’s listed as $200 per person) OBC. Score!

 

 

Princess is so weird about that. They will (often) make you cancel and rebook. That's what my TA had to do. The only real difference was that the new booking was $18 per person cheaper so I saved $36 and got the extra $400 OBC. It would have been a better deal for Princess to simply add the OBC to my existing booking.

[cellfree]

8 hours ago, Thrak said:

 

Princess is so weird about that. They will (often) make you cancel and rebook. That's what my TA had to do. The only real difference was that the new booking was $18 per person cheaper so I saved $36 and got the extra $400 OBC. It would have been a better deal for Princess to simply add the OBC to my existing booking.

I have found that they add an additional $18/$19 per person automatically listed as “package” on invoice and it is the transfer fee to or from airport. I have it removed as I don’t use it. Perhaps it was on your initial booking but not your rebooking. 

[JF - retired RRT]

11 hours ago, Thrak said:

I had the same dilemma recently but,fortunately for me, I had moved my bookings to my TA. He's always very responsive and spent a fair amount of time on the phone with Princess on the weekend. I contacted him on a Saturday and the promo ended on Sunday. He was able to keep my same cabin and add an additional $400 OBC. This is where having a TA or a Princess PVP can really help.

PVPs don't work on the weekend.

[logan25]

12 minutes ago, JF - retired RRT said:

PVPs don't work on the weekend.

This is my “problem”.  And why I don’t work with any local brick and mortar travel agent.  I have no expectation anyone works 24/7.  But when you need help with your booking, time may be of the essence.

[cellfree]

Princess people do work on the w/e. So I was able to take advantage of the $400 OBC. 

[Thrak]

6 hours ago, logan25 said:

This is my “problem”.  And why I don’t work with any local brick and mortar travel agent.  I have no expectation anyone works 24/7.  But when you need help with your booking, time may be of the essence.

 

I've had my TA respond to voice mail I left in the evening. He was across the country at a hotel and it was after 9:00 PM where he was. He responded to my voice mail and the next morning my issue was resolved. He's come by my house to get paperwork signed. It doesn't matter when I need help he always comes through. Like I said above, this latest issue was on a weekend with a Sunday deadline and he took care of things on Saturday.

[PescadoAmarillo]

I had to phone Princess last Saturday with an issue that had to be resolved by Monday. My expectations were low, which, as people on this forum have told me, is the right attitude to take when dealing with Princess, but I knew it would be tough to get through on Monday and took a chance. I didn’t have to wait long, and if the agent was in the Philippines, she was totally understandable with no background noise. She had to escalate the issue which was done while I held and before I hung up I could see that it had been resolved. Maybe calling on the weekend is the trick?

[voljeep]

43 minutes ago, Thrak said:

He's come by my house to get paperwork signed.

Wait, What?!?!

[Thrak]

3 hours ago, voljeep said:

Wait, What?!?!

 

Yep. He brought the paperwork by my house one time and he offered to do it again recently but I went in to his office instead. But wait! There's More!!

 

He just called me and said he put a hold on a new booking for me. As I said above, he came though for me on a weekend recently and got our booking switched to have an additional $400 OBC. The new booking he has placed a hold on is that same cruise but is over $1,000 less. Same cruise but there's a promo with a lower fare. He called to have me okay the change and, of course, I jumped on it. I "may" have to rebook the one excursion we had already booked but it may transfer over.

 

Sooo.... Another weekend save and this time the TA initiated it. Gotta love the guy. The new promo is offering the same $400 OBC. This means that weekend changes by our TA have resulted in an initial saving of $38 and now $1,042 less than that price plus an extra $400 OBC. Add them up and we are $1,480 ahead.  ZOWIE!!!

       

Edited August 4 by Thrak

[Thrak]

Just got email from our TA. He was able to keep the same booking number, same cabin, etc. Since it's the same booking number the OBC from the FCD we used is still in place and the excursion we had booked is also still in place. The only difference is the price is $1,042 lower. We are sooooooooooooo happy that he took it upon himself to save us so much money.

[Rick&Jeannie]

1 hour ago, Thrak said:

Just got email from our TA. He was able to keep the same booking number, same cabin, etc. Since it's the same booking number the OBC from the FCD we used is still in place and the excursion we had booked is also still in place. The only difference is the price is $1,042 lower. We are sooooooooooooo happy that he took it upon himself to save us so much money.

Wow...NICE! 🙂