Experiences with cancel/rebook for promotions

[skurvish]

I am a group leader for 16 cabins on a specific Princess cruise in 2021. Most of us have Deluxe Balcony cabins reserved but a few are in regular balconies waiting for Deluxes to become available. According to the current inventory there are no DB available other than obstructed view guarantees.

 

The Sip & Sail promotion is coming in June and we would all dearly like to take advantage of it. It is unknown yet if the T&C's will require new bookings or not. If it is new bookings only then in order to take advantage of the promotion we will have to have our TA cancel and rebook.

 

My concern is losing our existing cabins. This cruise is a Trans Atlantic and we chose cabins to reduce motion issues should they happen.

 

So, for those of you who have been in similar situations, what has been your experience cancelling and rebooking and keeping your cabin assignment. Remember the category is showing sold out except for the obstructed view guarantees. 

 

Your wisdom will be greatly appreciated.

[memoak]

There should be no issue in keeping your cabins - if you change promos the fare may change and of course you will lose whatever old promo you had

[skynight]

We have never had an issue keeping our cabin when we change our booking to a new promo. You will probably be charged at the new exchange rate. 

Edited May 30, 2019 by skynight

[happy cruzer]

Hopefully your TA will do  a refare vs. cancellation.

[memoak]

Last year the rates went up considerably when the sip and sail took place - have to wait and see it if will be worth it to changes this year

[MCC retired]

Princess is very good about ignoring the New Booking Only thing far out .No need to cancel , just request a re fare .

[capriccio]

54 minutes ago, memoak said:

Last year the rates went up considerably when the sip and sail took place - have to wait and see it if will be worth it to changes this year

Not for us - the price of a mini-suite on our Norwegian Fjords cruise actually went down $50!  Obviously, a fare increase means some calculations are called for before switching to the promo fare.

[skurvish]

2 hours ago, skynight said:

We have never had an issue keeping our cabin when we change our booking to a new promo. You will probably be charged at the new exchange rate. 

Yes, S&S comes out mid June and the new exchange rate takes effect on June 5th so and rebook/refare will have to be at the new exchange rate.

[skurvish]

3 hours ago, memoak said:

There should be no issue in keeping your cabins - if you change promos the fare may change and of course you will lose whatever old promo you had

Our bookings were made during initial launch and do not currently have any promos attached so that is not an issue. Just a little nervous as our TA is relatively new, assigned to us through one of the big agencies. I am OK with this as she is working very hard for us but re-faring/re-booking 16 cabins without losing our cabin assignments may be a big task for a newbie. Just hoping to get some data from others as we go into this process.

[jagoffee]

You are smart to be concerned.  Based on what you have stated your cabin category is sold out, so Princess would not be able to determine the revised/current pricing with the Sip and Sail promotion.  Frequently the price goes up, but sometimes it does not.  It would not be an issue if there was an available cabin in your category.

If you are willing to downgrade to an available  category with a price or upgrade, you should be fine.  

Last year, my category of cabin was sold out.  I asked my TA to downgrade me, so that I could add the Sip and Sail promotion if necessary.  Surprisingly, Princess added the Sip and Sail to my booking and I was able to keep my category and cabin.  None of the category prices changed with the addition of the Sip and Sail promotion, so it may have been a factor. I felt fortunate.

 

I now have three new bookings in the same situation (category sold out), so I am hoping for a repeat.  I am not willing to downgrade on two of them, so I am a little anxious.  If not, I will sail without the drink package.

 

The  first critical question is whether Princess is increasing the price with the implementation of the Sip and Sail promotion for your cruise.  If prices are increased, then you might want to consider a category change.  

 

Good luck.

 

 

 

[Jezabel2924]

We did a refare last year but almost accidentally.  Our cabin category had sold out and the fare was now showing +$1500.  This would not make a refare worthwhile and we had an aft facing balcony that we were not going to give up.  About 3 weeks later one cabin became available in our category and it was now showing the same price we were paying!  I called our TA right away about refaring as we would get $500 each in OBC.  I waited online for  a long time and the TA came back and said they were checking to see if this fare category was really available--it was and we kept the cabin and got the OBC.  The cabin showed sold in two days and the price went back up.  We feel really lucky to have hit that window!

[jagoffee]

4 hours ago, Jezabel2924 said:

We did a refare last year but almost accidentally.  Our cabin category had sold out and the fare was now showing +$1500.  This would not make a refare worthwhile and we had an aft facing balcony that we were not going to give up.  About 3 weeks later one cabin became available in our category and it was now showing the same price we were paying!  I called our TA right away about refaring as we would get $500 each in OBC.  I waited online for  a long time and the TA came back and said they were checking to see if this fare category was really available--it was and we kept the cabin and got the OBC.  The cabin showed sold in two days and the price went back up.  We feel really lucky to have hit that window!

I do not understand how your category had sold out, but showed a +$1500 fare.

Where did the higher fare show?

Thanks.

[paul929207]

The last two years, we added the Sip & Sail to several existing booking with no problems. We kept our cabins and had no change in price. 

 

I am preparing the list in anticipation of another SSS&S being offered in a month or so.

[Jezabel2924]

13 hours ago, jagoffee said:

I do not understand how your category had sold out, but showed a +$1500 fare.

Where did the higher fare show?

Thanks.

Sorry, I wasn't very clear.  There were still other balconies below our category that were now priced higher.  We had a B4 balcony and those were sold out.

[memoak]

5 hours ago, paul929207 said:

The last two years, we added the Sip & Sail to several existing booking with no problems. We kept our cabins and had no change in price. 

 

I am preparing the list in anticipation of another SSS&S being offered in a month or so.

You were very fortunate - I am hoping for the same result in June for a Transatlantic in Nov 2021 - I don't mind giving up my casino rate if the PBP is included in the current price.  We will have to wait and see.  If not then I will probably add the 3 for free when it comes up