Pay to upgrade room after final payment but lose original booking perks?

[Gaynors]

We saw that prices have dropped quite a bit after final payment and were thinking of paying to upgrade our room.  Called TA and they said even if we were paying the difference to upgrade we would lose ALL of our original booking perks that were given by Princess.  We then called Princess to ask and they said the same thing.  We weren't looking to rebook just change rooms and keep everything else the same.

 

Is this new?  I don't remember if we have ever done this on Princess before but we have on Celebrity or Royal Caribbean and we've never lost any of our original perks, we just paid the difference.

 

Just wanted to find out if this was everyone else's experience.

 

TIA

 

 

[Thrak]

If the new pricing is due to a drop after final payment or due to a change in promotions then the answer is YES, you would lose your existing perks and get whatever is currently being offered. i did change cabins on one cruise where I had a Baja deck balcony booked and pricing changed so that a Caribe deck balcony was actually selling for a fair amount less than I had paid. I was able to simply switch cabins while keeping my perks. Notice though that I had already paid more for my cabin than the current asking price and I didn't try to get the lower price - I just got the different cabin.

[Barry H]

When trying to get a better deal after final payment date you are in effect cancelling the cruise and rebooking.

The only time you get to keep your perks is if you get an upsell offer from Princess. 

[Gaynors]

7 minutes ago, Thrak said:

If the new pricing is due to a drop after final payment or due to a change in promotions then the answer is YES, you would lose your existing perks and get whatever is currently being offered. i did change cabins on one cruise where I had a Baja deck balcony booked and pricing changed so that a Caribe deck balcony was actually selling for a fair amount less than I had paid. I was able to simply switch cabins while keeping my perks. Notice though that I had already paid more for my cabin than the current asking price and I didn't try to get the lower price - I just got the different cabin.

 

Yes, I understand my current cabin is less than what we paid, I'm not looking for any money back I understand that after final payment I'm locked in unless I cancel and rebook.  However, the new cabin we are looking at is $400 more than what we paid for our current room but way less than what it was when we booked.  

 

We were able to get prepaid tips for all 4 of us and $450 OBC - which is almost a $1000 value - on our original booking.  I'm not giving that up.  We'll stick with what we've got.   I just thought as long as we were paying more money to Princess just to change rooms our original perks would stay.

 

Live and learn....   

[Gaynors]

3 minutes ago, Barry H said:

When trying to get a better deal after final payment date you are in effect cancelling the cruise and rebooking.

The only time you get to keep your perks is if you get an upsell offer from Princess. 

 

 

We haven't had Princess offer anything yet.   About how far out do they start doing that?   

 

We'll just be happy with what we have.

[skynight]

Not new. Basically it's a new booking and if you take it you get the benefits in effect at that time for that booking.

Some benefits will be applied to the new booking. Things like OBC from a future cruise deposit, stockholder's benefit, maybe real T.A's benefits such as group booking OBC, wine or specialty dining that comes from the T.A. not benefits that are just pass throughs from Princess promos. With the stockholder's benefit you may have to fax the information again if you have a new booking.

With all this said, in some cases people have been able to get the new fares, but I don't think it's common. We did in 2009 when the market crashed, and they were desperate for passengers, but that's 10 years ago.

[Coral]

Your TA was correct and this is not new. I recently had a cruise where the price dropped but I would lose $800 in OBC, free gratuities and a free dinner if I went with the lower price. You change one rate code for another. The only time you don't lose benefits is if the promo is still going on when you change cabins or ask for the better price.

[jagoffee]

1 hour ago, Gaynors said:

We saw that prices have dropped quite a bit after final payment and were thinking of paying to upgrade our room.  Called TA and they said even if we were paying the difference to upgrade we would lose ALL of our original booking perks that were given by Princess.  We then called Princess to ask and they said the same thing.  We weren't looking to rebook just change rooms and keep everything else the same.

 

Is this new?  I don't remember if we have ever done this on Princess before but we have on Celebrity or Royal Caribbean and we've never lost any of our original perks, we just paid the difference.

 

Just wanted to find out if this was everyone else's experience.

 

TIA

 

 

I concur with what everyone else is saying.  It depends on what booking perks are being offered with the new pricing for new bookings.  Usually when Princess removes the Sip and Sail promotion, the price goes down.  You cannot book with the lower price and keep the Sip and Sail.

 

By the way, it is the same with Celebrity.  (Unless you are using the bidding process).

 

It sure can get confusing.