Share the Wealth coupons

[Techie]

Good morning. Strange question for you. Went to book a cruise yesterday thru our TA for Feb/07. Tried to use the share the wealth coupon for another couple coming on the same cruise. Princess told the TA that the coupons were not valid for our cruise and the other couple would not get the reduce deposit or shipboard credit. TA asked the Princess rep why this didn't qualify and didn't get an answer from her, just that it didn't.

 

Question is, has anyone else ever had this happen to them?

 

Thanks,

Joan

 

P. S. Got our share the wealth coupons in April this year so know it's not past the 2 years it says on the coupons.

[coiran]

Never heard of that! Your TA better go up the ladder at Princess.

 

Ron

[Colo Cruiser]

I thought those were good on any cruise anytime.:confused:

[buffalogal]

What is a share the wealth coupon? And where do you get them? TIA

Nancy

[calikak]

Nancy, you get Share the Wealth coupons when you make a future cruise booking while onboard. They give whoever uses the coupon the same goodies that you get when you do an onboard booking (reduced deposit of $100 and some shipboard credit).

 

Techie, are you using an onboard future cruise booking for this cruise? If so, I can't imagine why it wouldn't be available to your friends, that's just weird.

[WCAB]

As long as all parties are taking the same cruise, you should be able to use the share the wealth coupons. We just booked a cruise for next March and I gave the coupon to my brother, for the same cruise.

 

What are the particulars for this cruise?

 

Carol

[meemeec]

We just had the very same problem with using a "share the wealth" for my Mom on a cruise for which we were already booked.

 

The Princess rep's are poorly trained when it comes to something slightly out of the ordinary. Have your TA call again and even go to her District Rep. I ended up calling myself and got a rep who knew about the program because he was a frequent Princess cruiser himself so I got him to document the record for my TA when she called. Huge PITA, in my opinion, and if Princess gives out these tiny incentives then they should be prepared to have us use them!!!!

[LARGIN]

Interesting.. Who booked the cruise first, you or your friends?

[WCAB]

One thing if you are mailing the coupons in, mail them in the same day that your share the wealth party makes their reservation. My brother got the $100.00 deposit but I waited about three days to mail the coupon to Princess. By then they had canceled the booking. Because I had mailed it certified, and had made a photocopy of the coupon, they reinstated the booking. They must only allow about 48 hours to get the coupon in the mail, so might be a good idea to send it with one day delivery. If working with a TA, they would probably take care of all this for you, if you have a face to face TA.

 

Carol

[Techie]

Hi again. Situation for us. Both my and DH and SIL went to the TA. TA had rep on speaker phone and TA had coupon in hand. Rep said coupon - share the wealth - not valid on cruise we were booking - Feb 28/07 to Alaska. TA asked why not and rep had no answer. SIL ended up having to pay the full deposit (not cheap in Canada) and no extra on-board credit. TA is sending in the coupons anyway with a copy of our bookings.

 

Was driving me nuts yesterday and so quick call to Princess. Got a very helpful rep who said no, it would be honoured. As soon as they get the coupons, they will apply it.

 

I'm going to call the TA tomorrow (holiday in Canada today - yeah!) just to confirm. Will let you know when this happens - notice no if :)

 

Joan

[calikak]

Joan, glad you found a helpful rep. Sometimes I think the people who work in the reservations department have absolutely no training at all.

[Love Cruis'n]

Last week on the Coral the “Future booking” office was closed, so we just filled out the forms, including the credit card info, and left them with the folks at the purser’s desk. We know they were “handled” as they called our room the next day to confirm our home address. When do you folks think we might get our “Share the wealth” paperwork from Princess, and with whom should we follow up if we don’t get them within that time frame?

Thanks,

Terry

[meemeec]

It has been our experience that we have had to ask the Future Cruise Specialist for the coupons when we made our future cruise bookings. The last time we too filled out the form and turned it in but followed up with the onboard person to get the "Share the Wealth" coupons. Good luck.

[m steve]

I tried to use them and was told only that they were for other people to use and we as the recipients could not apply them to our booking. We did get the booking credit for the cruise we previously booked for Feb 2006.

[Lynda90]

Anyone who did not receive their "Share the Wealth" coupons at the time they paid their deposits on the ship, may still get them. Just send a letter to:

Ms. Debra Smith

Princess Cruises

24844 Ave. Rockefeller Santa Clarita, CA 91355

RE: Share the Wealth Coupons

 

Be sure to include an explanation of not receiving them, and copies of your letters of confirmation. I did this for both my mom and myself and received two "Share the Wealth" coupons. Also include your Captain's Circle number.

[calikak]

m steve, I'm confused. You can't use your own Share the Wealth coupons, they're for sharing the wealth with a friend going on the sailing you booked at the future cruise desk onboard. They're not valid on any sailing but the one you booked onboard. Sometimes people make "open bookings" while onboard, meaning that they put down a future cruise deposit, but they don't decide which sailing they want to go on until they get home and think about it for a while. We did this on our last cruise. In that case, the Share the Wealth coupons aren't valid until you apply your "open" booking to a particular sailing, and then they're only valid on that particular sailing.

[Commodore Suzy]

m steve... if you have a "share the wealth" letter in hand, then you must have made a future cruise deposit. All you need to do is have your TA apply it to your booking. ALL your TA needs to apply a future cruise deposit is to have your correct Captain's Circle number on your booking. Princess reps can "see" the future cruise deposits waiting to be applied for you without you having to show any kind of confirmation letter or anything. It's all tied to your Captain's Circle number.

 

Couple things - Princess reps, most of them, get confused with all of the following:

 

*Applying future cruise deposits to bookings

*Applying referrals to bookings (there is a way for a past cruiser to "refer" someone who has never sailed on Princess and save them and their friend $25 each)

*Anything to do with a share the wealth coupon/letter

 

A couple of suggestions:

*Never have your TA call Princess on the weekend (the smarter people with tenure who understand these programs are off)

*If you're booking a friend and mailing a share the wealth letter the agent booking the friend MUST call and let them know it's coming AND, a smart thing to do is ask for the deposit deadline to be extended as far as Princess will let you when you make the friend's deposit and put down the $100 per person deposit.

 

A normal booking gets only three days to have a full deposit put on it or it will cancel. However, if you've NOT put anything on it yet, an agent can usually do two automatic extensions of two days each giving you seven days for the coupon to get to Princess. The agent MUST do this before putting ANYTHING on the booking though. Once you put down the $200, you can't extend the date and the computer wants the rest of the money.

 

One last thing. Ridiculously, Princess has TWO programs called "Share the Wealth". One is the newer coupon program we're discussing here. The second is an old program that allows you to to share a price with a friend going with you. For example, if you're booking on a Captain's Circle rate you might be able to get your friend that same RATE under the OLDER 'share the wealth' program (but you'd still have to do normal deposits, etc.). Some reps know about the old program but don't know about the coupons.

 

If you have a rep on the phone that insists that your coupon isn't good, they don't know what they're talking about. The coupons ARE good. If you have a rep stomping their feet about "Share the Wealth" not applying to a particular sailing, then they're probably thinking of the OLD program. Everyone is right, you and them, so just hang up, and call again and get a person who knows more about the coupon program.

 

And "share the wealth" coupons should be given to you onboard by the future cruise person. You're entitled to one coupon/letter PER $100 you put down. If they don't give you any or enough, then go ask them for more before you get off the ship. They do have them at headquarters, but it's easier to just handle it on the ship with the person who should have given it to you in the first place!

 

Cheers!