Future Cruise Sales Onboard

[vanillasky]

My brother just got off the Island and said he never saw or even heard anything about the Future Cruise Sales onboard. When I was on the Diamond a couple of years ago the Future Cruise Sales person was so outgoing and personable. Where have they gone?

[Alaska05]

Don't know about the Island, but I was on the Sun this summer and the FCC was very visible. He had several presentations to discuss upcoming itineraries (especially the exotics), saw him around the ship several times. Of course the Patters mention the times the FCC desk is open each day.

[Spikesgirl]

Seriously, our CD on the PP was always saying something about futue cruises - not in a pushy way - just always reminding us that if we were having a good time to go down and sign up for another cruise. We did, but had planned to anyways. It was in the Patter and on the Princess TV shows as well. Either he had a really laid back cruise or was having too much fun to notice the desk. I will admit that some aren't as outgoing as others, but it's been our experience that Princess usually does a good deal to promote future sales.

 

Charlie

[Esprit]

We visited the Future cruises office and took up the offer of the on board credit $100 each (outside cabin) and $75 each (for inside) when we booked Emerald Princess for 9 August 2007.

 

We also only had to pay £75 per head deposit instead of the usual 10%.

 

Well worth registering an interest in a future cruise whilst on board.

 

Peter

[Fuzzzy]

That is strange. I just popped over to the Princess.com site and checked out the deck plans. It shows the Future Cruise Sales Desk on the Plaza deck right in front of the ladies room and right before you go into the Bordeaux Dining Room.

 

Maybe the crew member was ill or absent that sailing. I know I take advantage of them every trip. I love the $100 future deposits. :D

[dazee8]

I stop by the Future Cruise Office always very early on during my cruise, usually the first or second day to sign up for a few Future Cruise Coupons/Credits. They only cost $100/each and good to have when you find that perfect cruise and don't want to put down a huge deposit. All it takes is on of the FCCs to hold it for the deposit. And you get additional onboard credit for your cruise. Can't beat that.

 

:)

[cruzzers]

We took advantage of the future cruise booking on our last cruise. It is a great deal with only $100 PP deposit and the automatic OBC. They also give you a folded card that you can give to friends to use on the same booking you make. That way they get the same perks with the OBC that you get on the same cruise. We just sent our friends one to use on the Coral Princess.

[Stevesan]

You don't need to visit with the FC rep. There are blank forms outside the office. Fill it out and drop in the box. You'll receive your confirmation letter(s) while on board.

[cherylandtk]

That is strange. I just popped over to the Princess.com site and checked out the deck plans. It shows the Future Cruise Sales Desk on the Plaza deck right in front of the ladies room and right before you go into the Bordeaux Dining Room. Maybe the crew member was ill or absent that sailing. I know I take advantage of them every trip. I love the $100 future deposits. :D

Not all the FC Consultants are as capable, knowledgable or visible as others. And sometimes the frequent passengers seem to understand the program better. This past March, several couples who met on the CC Roll Call (ship will remain nameless to protect the guilty) tried making bookings onboard with varying degrees of success and frustration. Consultant was so clueless and ill-informed that they started referring to her as Cupcake.

[paul929207]

We had no problem finding the FCC on the Tahitian last month.

 

Also, we got future cruise credits last year on the Pacific and used them on the Tahitian. Credit showe up with no problems.

 

Paul

[cruiserjanet]

Not all the FC Consultants are as capable, knowledgable or visible as others. And sometimes the frequent passengers seem to understand the program better. This past March, several couples who met on the CC Roll Call (ship will remain nameless to protect the guilty) tried making bookings onboard with varying degrees of success and frustration. Consultant was so clueless and ill-informed that they started referring to her as Cupcake.

 

That's so funny. Thanks for giving me my morning laugh.

Putting down my future cruise deposit is one of the things I like to do at the first part of the cruise rather than before the FCC gets busy with others most people waiting toward the end of the cruise to do it. We find the office and go down either the first or second day.

[Julia’s Journey’s]

Love the onboard deal, normally get 3 open bookings so we can use them, used 2 for our B2B Alaska and have 1 left which we couldn't use for our Sun Princess next year so will be making 2 more open bookings while in Alaska.:D

[SingerEsq]

My brother just got off the Island and said he never saw or even heard anything about the Future Cruise Sales onboard. When I was on the Diamond a couple of years ago the Future Cruise Sales person was so outgoing and personable. Where have they gone?

 

I found this post interesting ... we were on the Island in February and it only being our second Princess cruise, we were not familiar with the FCS. But we heard about it (or read it in the Patter) and thought we'd check it out.

 

The FCS office on the Island is on the first floor of the atrium, near the Patisserie. Pretty easy to find. There was a bit of a wait, but they have brochures available to look through. However, when we met with the specialist, she was probably the most disinterested person on board. I've heard of soft-sales techniques, but never catatonic sales techniques. We ended up booking our next cruise, but that's b/c we had pretty much made up our mind beforehand. Thinking she was having a bad day, we stopped by the next day b/c we had a question .... same glazed over look and attitude. Oh well, maybe she was due for a vacation. :rolleyes:

[Colo Cruiser]

Not all the FC Consultants are as capable, knowledgable or visible as others. And sometimes the frequent passengers seem to understand the program better. This past March, several couples who met on the CC Roll Call (ship will remain nameless to protect the guilty) tried making bookings onboard with varying degrees of success and frustration. Consultant was so clueless and ill-informed that they started referring to her as Cupcake.

 

You hit the nail on the head with that. :D

 

On the Crown 07/29 the FCC was inundated with requests and was overwhelmed. It was not talked about or advertised very much at all. Not even close to what I had experienced on other ships. :)

[CL-JW]

We booked two "open" bookings with the FCC on Sapphire last April. She was very outgoing and recoginzed us when we saw her around the ship.

 

She also did several presentations on different itineraries.

[vanillasky]

Not all the FC Consultants are as capable, knowledgable or visible as others. And sometimes the frequent passengers seem to understand the program better. This past March, several couples who met on the CC Roll Call (ship will remain nameless to protect the guilty) tried making bookings onboard with varying degrees of success and frustration. Consultant was so clueless and ill-informed that they started referring to her as Cupcake.

 

OMG... Who says "cupcake"... honestly. That's extra funny! Thanks for the laugh.

[vanillasky]

I found this post interesting ... we were on the Island in February and it only being our second Princess cruise, we were not familiar with the FCS. But we heard about it (or read it in the Patter) and thought we'd check it out.

 

The FCS office on the Island is on the first floor of the atrium, near the Patisserie. Pretty easy to find. There was a bit of a wait, but they have brochures available to look through. However, when we met with the specialist, she was probably the most disinterested person on board. I've heard of soft-sales techniques, but never catatonic sales techniques. We ended up booking our next cruise, but that's b/c we had pretty much made up our mind beforehand. Thinking she was having a bad day, we stopped by the next day b/c we had a question .... same glazed over look and attitude. Oh well, maybe she was due for a vacation. :rolleyes:

 

Thanks for that SingerEsq. Maybe it was a bad day type of cruise on my bro's voyage... I still think crew member bad days are not the fault of the passenger.... but yet doing months at a time onboard I guess there should be some flexibilty.... sounds like another topic actually.

[vanillasky]

You hit the nail on the head with that. :D

 

On the Crown 07/29 the FCC was inundated with requests and was overwhelmed. It was not talked about or advertised very much at all. Not even close to what I had experienced on other ships. :)

 

I remember reading somewhere about an FCC on the Tahitian doing the exotics presentation in a full polynensian outfit.

[chris2597]

I still dont think I totally understand the FCC offer. When we were on The Grand in Feb several people we were with talked about it and said they were taking advantage of it...We stopped by the office and tried to talk to the rep but he seemed totally uninterested in doing anything other than giving us a brochure....So it is 100 pp dep....Do you have to pick the cruise right then? If not, how long before a cruise must be chosen..? Is there a OBC given?

[cherylandtk]

$100 per FCC, yes you use that as your deposit for your next cruise, yes you get OBC based on the type of room/length of cruise booked and no, you don't have to pick a cruise right then and there. You can just have it 'in the bank' so to speak.

 

You can even do it just by dropping off an authorization slip in the box on the desk and ask for a ghost booking (no specific cruise). You have to do this while on the ship, not after you get home and change your mind. You can book as many as you want, you have 4 years to use them up and one little known fact, you can book a future cruise with ONE FCC and the second person in the cabin also gets the same OBC, although they will have to pay the regular deposit for their booking (unless they want to also use their FCC). But they don't HAVE to.

[marie24]

That is so strange that your brother was not able to find the FCS office on the Island. I was just on there and I had no problem finding her. As it was mentioned before the office is right there on Deck 5 near the Le Pattiserie. While I was there I did notice that the CD did not mention her at all on the Morning show which I have seen on other Princess ships. I went to her one presentation that she held on the first sea day. Granted, it was not held at the best time, up against the Naturalist, but since I have to Alaska before I did not go that presentation. The office hours and location of FCS was on the back of the Patter everyday. I even like some of her Patter Ads, they were entertaining and well written.

[meemeec]

However, when we met with the specialist, she was probably the most disinterested person on board. I've heard of soft-sales techniques, but never catatonic sales techniques. We ended up booking our next cruise, but that's b/c we had pretty much made up our mind beforehand. Thinking she was having a bad day, we stopped by the next day b/c we had a question .... same glazed over look and attitude. Oh well, maybe she was due for a vacation. :rolleyes:

 

The above described Future Sales Consultant has been on every one of our 8 Princess cruises!! We have yet to find one with a personality and barely a heartbeat. We now just fill out the forms and hope for the best and we do it early in the cruise so there's no last minute drama. The last FCC we had was so incredibly rude that she ended up writing us a letter of apology!!! Too little and way too late.

Thanks for this topic.....I feel much better now...:D :D :D

[vanillasky]

The above described Future Sales Consultant has been on every one of our 8 Princess cruises!! We have yet to find one with a personality and barely a heartbeat. We now just fill out the forms and hope for the best and we do it early in the cruise so there's no last minute drama. The last FCC we had was so incredibly rude that she ended up writing us a letter of apology!!! Too little and way too late.

Thanks for this topic.....I feel much better now...:D :D :D

 

Glad you feel better. :D :D Hopefully your next experience will be better!

[SingerEsq]

The above described Future Sales Consultant has been on every one of our 8 Princess cruises!! We have yet to find one with a personality and barely a heartbeat. We now just fill out the forms and hope for the best and we do it early in the cruise so there's no last minute drama. The last FCC we had was so incredibly rude that she ended up writing us a letter of apology!!! Too little and way too late.

Thanks for this topic.....I feel much better now...:D :D :D

 

Not to beat a dead horse, but my partner is in high-end retail and we just found the consultant on the Island to be ... well .... lackluster. (All I could think of is, what fun, your clientele is a captive audience each of whom WANT to go on another cruise. Like shooting fish in a barrel!) She wasn't necessarily rude ... but she got pretty close. Having worked on a ship and being interested in ships' lineage, I asked her a question about P & O and she basically snapped at me that P & O is a totally separate company (which, of course, I already knew) and that it has no relation to Princess (well, it does have a relation, and many of Princess' ships go there to die). Needless to say, we were not impressed with her, but we like the Princess product as a whole.

[SingerEsq]

Thanks for that SingerEsq. Maybe it was a bad day type of cruise on my bro's voyage... I still think crew member bad days are not the fault of the passenger.... but yet doing months at a time onboard I guess there should be some flexibilty.... sounds like another topic actually.

 

Wish I didn't, but I remember a few "bad days" when passengers just drove us nuts. (It usually meant, I need to get off for a bit). Working on a ship is tough, and I understand that. I always give crew a wide latitude ... until I realize, that's just their general attitude. :D