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How to avoid losing perks if we upgrade to a balcony


ljhershey
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We currently have an inside cabin booked for a January cruise, and are thinking we'd like to upgrade to a balcony. Our original inside booking was done during a sale that got us prepaid tips. We also booked airfare through Princess at a supposedly discount price (although I later found the same price on the Delta website.

 

I do have a travel agent although our former one retired, and this one is "new" to us. What is the best approach if we want to explore the idea of a balcony? The ship shows maybe 10% of the balconies as unsold. The interior cabins (which we now have booked) seem to be sold out (no pre-assignments available). We really don't want to lose our pre-paid tips.

 

Thanks in advance for your advice.

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Basic practice is if you cancel and re-book you get the current fares and promo. If you change what you have is lost. Princess ties the cabin fares to the promo to achieve a certain return. New fares with old promos usually will not work for them. There is a Sip&Sail promo on right now for many January 2018 sailings from U.S. ports. It applies to balcony category cabins and higher. You can accept the AIBP, or can opt for OBC. Amounts vary from $150/pp to $250/pp depending on the length of the cruise. Look up your cruise and read the Sip&Sail fine print. Your best bet is to work with your T.A. to see if and what they can do.

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Sorry, but you cannot take the price from one offer and the perks from another. So you can either take the current one (price, inside cabin, & prepaid grats) or take the current deal for a balcony and without the grats.

 

Also, it is difficult to say how many cabins are available in different categories. There may be a number of guarantees which have not been assigned cabins yet.

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Thanks for all your thoughts. I checked and the Sip and Sail does not apply, and the current promo would be a significant loss for us, so I will wait and see what the next promo brings. Seems like there are also special deals available in October during "cruise week" which would still be before our final payment for the January cruise. Thanks for your thoughts. I appreciate the additional insight.

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The usual rule is that if you want to change categories (and you have not been offered a specific upsell or downsell from Princess), you pay the current price and get the current percs for the new category. One exception is the Captains Circle Launch Savings - you can often get $100 per person off the current price if your original booking was early enough to get that promotion.

 

If you change cabins within the same category, you can keep the same price and percs that you originally booked.

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Don't get caught up in your perks, the bottom line should be what is the cruise costing exactly at the end. If the price on a sale is worth giving up the pre paid gratuities and your final cost is lower it's worth giving up the tips for a price that's lower than pre paid tips and the price of the cruise.

 

I saw a couple get so caught up on the fact that they had the AI beverage package they wouldn't look at a price drop that was worth them giving up the beverage package for the better price then purchasing the beverage package when onboard. I look at each sale independently and figure out which deal works best for our bottom line.

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Thanks for all your thoughts. I checked and the Sip and Sail does not apply, and the current promo would be a significant loss for us, so I will wait and see what the next promo brings. Seems like there are also special deals available in October during "cruise week" which would still be before our final payment for the January cruise. Thanks for your thoughts. I appreciate the additional insight.

 

 

If you wait the ship will most likely be sold out.

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Don't get caught up in your perks, the bottom line should be what is the cruise costing exactly at the end. If the price on a sale is worth giving up the pre paid gratuities and your final cost is lower it's worth giving up the tips for a price that's lower than pre paid tips and the price of the cruise.

I agree. Availability of cabins, like a balcony, is also unpredictable.

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Thanks for all your thoughts. I checked and the Sip and Sail does not apply, and the current promo would be a significant loss for us, so I will wait and see what the next promo brings. Seems like there are also special deals available in October during "cruise week" which would still be before our final payment for the January cruise. Thanks for your thoughts. I appreciate the additional insight.

 

Don't give up yet.

 

 

Contact your TA and see if what you can can be done. Worst that can happen is Princess says "no." But if you do not contact your TA, the answer is "no" by default.

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