AMEX Platinum upgrade not allowed...

[MGnut]

I just booked a B2B South America, Rio to San Francisco cruise, planning to get the two-cabin upgrade that AMEX Platinum card holders have gotten in the past. When my TA tried to get the upgrades, she was told by Princess that they don't offer that on all cruises anymore (a recent change) and that neither of my cruises can be upgraded. My TA also said that they can't check prior to booking which cruises are eligible for the upgrades.

 

Has this happened to anybody else? Does anybody have any more information on this?

[Loonbeam]

I can't find the email but I saw something about this. Basically they are capacity limiting the upgrades - on some ships possibly down to 0. Since there is a variable amount of possible cabins on any given cruise, there's no way to check except individually.

 

It's important to note this is an Amex provided benefit not Princess, and thus AMEX has to buy the upgrades from the line (or whatever the terms of the deal are)

 

From the Amex benefits site: "Offer is subject to cruise line availability. Blackout dates, category and fare restrictions may apply."

[MGnut]

I can't find the email but I saw something about this. Basically they are capacity limiting the upgrades - on some ships possibly down to 0. Since there is a variable amount of possible cabins on any given cruise, there's no way to check except individually.

 

It's important to note this is an Amex provided benefit not Princess, and thus AMEX has to buy the upgrades from the line (or whatever the terms of the deal are)

 

From the Amex benefits site: "Offer is subject to cruise line availability. Blackout dates, category and fare restrictions may apply."

 

I can't disagree with what you have said, however in the past couple of years I have been able to use this benefit for each cruise - there have been no restrictions other than the fact that you had to upgrade in the same cabin category, ie., inside to inside, balcony to balcony, mini-suite to mini-suite, etc. And if you were in the top level of the cabin category (ie., AA or BA, etc., you were give a $300 OBC in lieu of the upgrade.

 

The most recent information I have had from AMEX (in the last month or so) still states the two-cabin upgrade or the OBC, so this appears to be a change at Princess, and not at AMEX.

 

Maybe just another Princess cost-saving measure, but it will probably make quite a few cruiser unhappy. My TA couldn't believe this was happening, and noted it would make many of her customers unhappy.

[Loonbeam]

Same policy, just Princess isn't selling as many upgrades to Amex as opposed to selling the cabins themselves at a higher margin.

 

I don't know what the actual numbers were but its very possible in the past that 100 balcony cabins were available and Princess decided to cut the number available on some cruises to 5.

 

The reason I say its an Amex benefit is that Amex is the one that markets it not Princess, Princess has no obligation to honor it other than their contract with Amex (i.e. Princess is not providing the benefit, just the product).

[Passin Thru]

Well written.

[MGnut]

Same policy, just Princess isn't selling as many upgrades to Amex as opposed to selling the cabins themselves at a higher margin.

 

That, then, sounds to me like a Princess decision, rather than and AMEX decision.

[Loonbeam]

An analogy might be Wal-Mart on black friday. They advertise X product on sale (with a tiny print disclaimer) but the manufacturer of product X only ships 50 percent of what they expected based on prior year so each store only gets half their allotment. You end up with lots of disappointed shoppers.

 

Unless theirs a contract to provide a certain volume, its the reseller's responsibility to ensure they have enough availability. If AMEX can't convince Princess to provide enough product, they shouldn't list it as a benefit or at least qualify it with more than a tiny disclaimer.

 

It's entirely Princess's decision (subject to contract) to decide how many upgrades to make avail to Amex on a given route, but its AMEX who needs to communicate that to their customers rather than let them assume the status quo. I'm certain this was not news to them.

 

 

 

That, then, sounds to me like a Princess decision, rather than and AMEX decision.