Princess offers not clear.....unhappy

[Qcruise]

So my wife and I have cruised with Princess now around 3 or 4 times, and we get many "offers" from them with exclusive pricing which we have taken advantage of now twice just this year and enjoyed our cruises much. These offers have given us great pricing along with on board credits we have used and been able to offer friends and relatives to go with us. We just received an offer from them which looked just like the other ones we took advantage of this year, and we asked friends if they'd like to join us. After talking with the reps this morning, we were told that this particular offer is only available to us, and that the OBC is just a "casino loyalty" credit we can use in the casino only, not for anything else as we did in the past. Now it may be a great deal for us, and that's great, my point is this....please be CLEAR when offering these deals just exactly what it is. This offer it seems to me is disguised to look like the others but only when we talk with reps do we find out the details, so what if we booked online expecting something different, because all we can go by is what we have experienced in the past....we are not big gamblers so it's rather surprising that this deal is offered to us. Am I out of line being ticked....??

[SoCal Cruiser78]

...After talking with the reps this morning, we were told that this particular offer is only available to us, and that the OBC is just a "casino loyalty" credit we can use in the casino only, not for anything else as we did in the past. Now it may be a great deal for us, and that's great, my point is this....please be CLEAR when offering these deals just exactly what it is. This offer it seems to me is disguised to look like the others but only when we talk with reps do we find out the details, so what if we booked online expecting something different, because all we can go by is what we have experienced in the past....we are not big gamblers so it's rather surprising that this deal is offered to us. Am I out of line being ticked....??

 

I mentioned just yesterday on another thread that Princess needs to be more transparent with their offers, especially with regard to restricted OBC. With that said, many cruise lines offer restricted fares, so I personally wouldn't mention one to anyone else until I had checked with the line to see if it could be used by others who might want to join me. But I understand your frustration since you have done this before successfully.

 

I recently booked an offer that showed up in my online Princess account, and didn't realize until I printed out the confirmation that the OBC was for the casino. All it said up front was OBC. I am hoping I can use it in other areas of the ship as well.

 

The Princess phone rep I spoke with wasn't even sure if I had to wager the full OBC amount in the casino or not :(.

Edited December 9, 2014 by Ryndam2002

[jewelsea21]

Not sure why a great deal would upset you, even disregarding the recent casino promos, not all past guest promos have a share the savings stipulation

Its either written into the promo dets or not, just like the deposit amt/dep refundabilty/,exclusive occ rate percentage

and obc /other goodies

[AKman2495]

I agree. what "look like" one promotion is not necessarily the same promotion.

 

One must read the fine print carefully before assuming you have toe same kind of deal.

[SoCal Cruiser78]

Not sure why a great deal would upset you, even disregarding the recent casino promos, not all past guest promos have a share the savings stipulation

Its either written into the promo dets or not, just like the deposit amt/dep refundabilty/,exclusive occ rate percentage

and obc /other goodies

 

In my case, the casino wasn't mentioned in the promo details before I booked. It appeared to be unrestricted OBC. It wasn't until I booked that the word "casino" appeared next to the OBC amount. I now know to book and hold, then go back through the confirmation before placing a deposit to check for this.

[sunsetbeachgal]

Wow, I have never seen A promo with OBC limited to the casino. But going forward I will be on the lookout...we are not gamblers so this would be of no value to us, unlike other OBC which we definitely find a use for!

[TM]

Would it be possible to take the casino credit in chips or tokens from the cashier and later on in the cruise cash them out as if they were winnings? Just a thought but I really don't know as I never partake of the casino.

[Colo Cruiser]

Many offers mention specific uses but once onboard they are on the account as a general credit used for anything thats charged.

 

If this turns out to be the case with the casino I don't see why you could not cash out.

[AZbeachboy]

Many offers mention specific uses but once onboard they are on the account as a general credit used for anything thats charged.

 

If this turns out to be the case with the casino I don't see why you could not cash out.

 

I agree. I had multiple types of OBC on my last cruise. What I found out was that on the ship's ledger all OBC is considered the same. It turned out that was the case. The question then was will the OBC cover tips. Princess Reps said no, but they even acknowled that everything is thrown together. So yes, they did pay for gratuities.

[lovevacadays]

I agree. what "look like" one promotion is not necessarily the same promotion.

 

 

 

One must read the fine print carefully before assuming you have toe same kind of deal.

 

 

Reading the fine print is key. Just like with anything. One should read through everything before making a decision and should not assume.

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

[2wheelin]

Reading the fine print is key. Just like with anything. One should read through everything before making a decision and should not assume.

 

 

Agree with reading the fine print but have found that often that also is ambiguous. They use terms like "may" or "up to". And when the offers read the same as previously, one should be able to reasonably expect they are the same.

I would be happy to get any OBC.

[Colo Cruiser]

Reading the fine print is key. Just like with anything. One should read through everything before making a decision and should not assume.

 

 

Agree with reading the fine print but have found that often that also is ambiguous. They use terms like "may" or "up to". And when the offers read the same as previously, one should be able to reasonably expect they are the same.

I would be happy to get any OBC.

 

 

 

 

Reading the fine print is like talking to a Princess rep for the 4th time. :eek:

Only thing to do is wait until your real life experience once onboard. :p

Edited December 10, 2014 by Colo Cruiser

[SoCal Cruiser78]

Reading the fine print is like talking to a Princess rep for the 4th time. :eek:

Only thing to do is wait until your real life experience once onboard. :p

 

Like :).

[Pam in CA]

This is standard marketing promotion practice. Princess isn't doing anything that almost every other retailer or company isn't also doing. As said, read the fine print but if you received a mailing or email, chances are very good that the promotion is targeted for you. Even if someone else has the promo code it doesn't apply to them. There are promotions based on country, geography, driving distance to the port, Captain's Circle level, and so on.

 

I've discovered that often, special promotions are based on double occupancy which means that as a solo passenger, I'm not eligible. In the past, I was booking a Mexican Riviera cruise and my friend from the Boston area was going to join me (both as solos) but she was not able to get the same reduced fare I was. Another time, she received a promo email for a cruise we were already booked on and she was able to get her fare reduced in half. I couldn't even using the promo code since I didn't receive the promo myself. In the first case, our TA was able to get her a fare close to mine; in the second, the cost of the cruise plummeted and I wound up being upgraded to a mini for the reduced cost of the balcony cabins we'd booked.

 

This is another case where a good TA can make a big difference. They can explain the promos and be your advocate with Princess, not to mention discounting your fare.

Edited December 10, 2014 by Pam in CA

[generichandle]

I agree offers need to be more transparent.

 

We were offered an 'upsell' to a 'room with approx. 78 sq ft of extra space'.

Huh? No mention of what was actually being offered. We declined, because we

liked where we were, but it was a strange way to sell, IMHO.

 

Later we looked carefully at other cabin dimensions and realized it had to be

a mini; but our balcony cabin is just fine. All very strange.

[cruzsnooze]

I got an email with the title "New information for Booking #XOXOXO". It was an ad to sell the specialty restaurants. Very deceptive and wrong of Princess. So it seems they like these shady practices.

[Iamcruzin]

Was there an asterisk directing you to the small print at the bottom of the page? I always read the small print. I can't believe that Princess didn't have some sort of disclaimer. They usually always do.

[Iamcruzin]

I got an email with the title "New information for Booking #XOXOXO". It was an ad to sell the specialty restaurants. Very deceptive and wrong of Princess. So it seems they like these shady practices.

Is Princess allowing you to book reservations in advance online? If so is there a discount or some incentive to pre-book?

[geoherb]

I got an email with the title "New information for Booking #XOXOXO". It was an ad to sell the specialty restaurants. Very deceptive and wrong of Princess. So it seems they like these shady practices.

This is the standard email heading for a number of different email messages that Princess sends out before a cruise. The ones I received for our upcoming cruises told the names of the hotel general manager and maitre d' and links to videos about traditional dining for one cruise and anytime dining for the other then links to videos on the specialty restaurants. I see this email as informative for people who haven't sailed Princess. I don't think of it as a shady practice.

[Qcruise]

So after speaking again with them it looks like we are able to use our OBC anywhere, it was apparently our casino history that got us the promo according to them, which makes no sense as we have maybe lost a total of $200 bucks in their casinos our entire Princess sailing history. Now we are trying to negociate pricing for three more couples to sail with us. If we can bring six more people on board with our booking one would think they would be willing to negociate pricing for that many people......:confused:

[cruzsnooze]

This is the standard email heading for a number of different email messages that Princess sends out before a cruise. The ones I received for our upcoming cruises told the names of the hotel general manager and maitre d' and links to videos about traditional dining for one cruise and anytime dining for the other then links to videos on the specialty restaurants. I see this email as informative for people who haven't sailed Princess. I don't think of it as a shady practice.

 

There is no new information, that's what I find shady. It's worded in such you way you feel the need to open it because something changed about your booking. It sounds urgent but it's not. It could read, " information for your upcoming cruise" without your booking number.

[shredie]

There is no new information, that's what I find shady. It's worded in such you way you feel the need to open it because something changed about your booking. It sounds urgent but it's not. It could read, " information for your upcoming cruise" without your booking number.

 

You haven't gotten one that says "emergency" yet?

[caribill]

There is no new information, that's what I find shady. It's worded in such you way you feel the need to open it because something changed about your booking. It sounds urgent but it's not. It could read, " information for your upcoming cruise" without your booking number.

 

The booking number is included because many people have more than one active booking.