Questions on princess plus and gift cards

[Need-a-vacation]

I don't have any recent experience with Princess.  I'm looking into one of the September Pacific coastal trips and I have a couple of tedious questions 

1. I think I may want the Plus fare package, but I'm not sure yet.  If I just purchase the standard fare now, had anyone ever had trouble adding Plus to their booking later, but before the cruise? 

2. Is there any down side to using Princess gift cards to pay the booking fare?

3. If I buy Princess gift cards, can I use them on the web site to add the Plus package in a couple weeks?  If so, will I be able to use the remainder for OBC?

4. If I use a gift card to buy OBC and don't use all the OBC, will Princess refund the remainder in cash, or some your of Princess credit or card?

5. Anyone have good or bad experience booking Princess cruise through Costco? The fare seems to be slightly lower than booking directly with Princess and the Plus Package upgrade is a little cheaper as well 

 

I'm sure I have a zillion other questions as I dig in.

 

Thanks!

[Thrak]

58 minutes ago, Need-a-vacation said:

I don't have any recent experience with Princess.  I'm looking into one of the September Pacific coastal trips and I have a couple of tedious questions 

1. I think I may want the Plus fare package, but I'm not sure yet.  If I just purchase the standard fare now, had anyone ever had trouble adding Plus to their booking later, but before the cruise? 

2. Is there any down side to using Princess gift cards to pay the booking fare?

3. If I buy Princess gift cards, can I use them on the web site to add the Plus package in a couple weeks?  If so, will I be able to use the remainder for OBC?

4. If I use a gift card to buy OBC and don't use all the OBC, will Princess refund the remainder in cash, or some your of Princess credit or card?

5. Anyone have good or bad experience booking Princess cruise through Costco? The fare seems to be slightly lower than booking directly with Princess and the Plus Package upgrade is a little cheaper as well 

 

I'm sure I have a zillion other questions as I dig in.

 

Thanks!

 

1. You can easily amend your booking to the Plus fare before sailing. I've done it.

2. There is zero downside to using gift cards. Last year I paid for a 33 day trip with Princess - including flights - and this year I paid for a 10 day cruise including flights. I paid for all of that using discounted Princess gift cards I bought from AARP.

3. If you booked yourself you can use Princess gift cards to pay for your cruise online. (I just added two to my payment the other day.) If you booked with a TA they have to do it but it works just fine. See my info in #2 above.

4. Yes. I added OBC onboard using Princess gift cards and, after the cruise, Princess mailed me a check for the leftover OBC as it is fully refundable.

5. You are not allowed to mention a specific TA by name on these boards. The mods "may" remove your entire post for doing so but hopefully that won't happen. I have no personal info regarding this particular inquiry and, if I did, I would have to either fail to give that info or attempt to couch the reply in such a manner as to not violate the terms of this site. I book myself but do eventually transfer the booking to my TA as he then gets a commission and he tends to cut me a bit of slack on the price. He also answers my queries on weekends and evenings and has, on his own, saved me quite a bit of money by going above and beyond the service levels I've seen mentioned for some other TAs. He's also a really nice guy and I like giving him our business.

 

Note:  Perhaps you merely accidentally named a specific TA when what you actually meant to ask about was a "big box store" through which one can book cruises. That is an acceptable euphemism. (No, I don't know why but it does seem to successfully skirt the regulations without being a violation.)

[Need-a-vacation]

@Thrak thank you for the thorough response. 

It's been a while and I totally forgot about the TA thing. If I could edit the post, I would.  Thank you for the reminder.

 

Maybe the better question is how much savings/OBC justifies using a third-party booking rather than booking directly.  What do you lose using a TA and what do you gain?  I don't travel enough to benefit from an ongoing TA relationship, or for them to ever give a flip about serving me well.

[Thrak]

Just now, Need-a-vacation said:

@Thrak thank you for the thorough response. 

It's been a while and I totally forgot about the TA thing. If I could edit the post, I would.  Thank you for the reminder.

 

Maybe the better question is how much savings/OBC justifies using a third-party booking rather than booking directly.  What do you lose using a TA and what do you gain?  I don't travel enough to benefit from an ongoing TA relationship, or for them to ever give a flip about serving me well.

 

With my TA I have had him answer questions when he was across the country in a hotel and it was after 8:00 PM where he was. I've had him spend a fair portion of a Saturday on the phone with Princess to save me over $1,000 dollars. I've had him take it upon himself to put a hold on a cruise for me that was exactly the same as a cruise I already had booked but was over $1,000 less due to a weekend sale. Yes, he did this on his own on a weekend and then contacted me for my approval. Many folks I see posting about their TA are complaining because they aren't "available" because they were out of town or it was a weekend. I've had excellent service with no "unavailable" issues. Yes, I have seen a number who say their TA gives them 10% off on the price. Does my TA do this? No. However he gives me great service and does always knock a few hundred off the cost. To me, this combination is a winner. The "big box" is not an actual TA. They are a reseller. They will give you OBC (probably actually a store credit) but they will not go to bat for you if there is an issue.

[Need-a-vacation]

@Thrak you nailed it.  The "big box reseller" isn't likely offering any value besides the advertised credit or gift cards. But I know there are some downsides when a third-party "owns" the booking.  In my case, I'm pondering if a net difference of ~$50 is worth not booking directly with princess and having to work with a third party at a call center if there are any glitches.

 

What I'm leaning towards right now is booking a standard fare and paying with my good travel credit card. Then looking at acquiring a discounted gift card (Newegg was running a deal a couple days ago), and using that to buy Plus a little closer to the trip when there is less risk of needing to cancel.  

I had read about Plus being capacity controlled and possibly not being able to buy it later.  It sounds like this is more of a theoretical risk than something that actually happens?  No reason to worry I won't be able to but it a week ahead of the cruise?

 

Another random question... Does Princess do courtesy hold to hold a fare and cabin for 24 hours?