MON REFUNDABLE FARE PROMOTIONS

[mcrcruiser]

A New Tool in the Tool Box for cruise lines is using promotions  ,like  ppd gratuities , on board credits & up graded cabin in the same class of cabin for free . Princess is running a 3 for free promotion but ,the deposit is non refundable . As this catches on you will see more of these promotions connected to non refundable fares . 

 

 We will only take refundable deposit cruises . If it is a promotion with non refundable deposits & we want to take that cruise we will only book it close in to the actual sailing date  .We will also only book cruises that we can drive to the 2 local ports .We do not fly any longer to take a cruise .That was in our past 84 cruises . now older it is a hassle & stressful to fly 

 

 How do you personally feel about non refunded deposit cruises along with those promotions of supposedly free  goodies ?

 

[skynight]

Don't like them

[Colo Cruiser]

https://boards.cruisecritic.com/topic/2576596-non-refundable-deposits/

[CineGraphic]

They are offering a refundable option as well. See below:

[Coral]

My preference for Princess seems to decline each and every time Princess makes a change as none of them are for the better.

 

Remember - at one time there was a choice to pay for excursions in advance. It was a choice. Now, mandatory.

 

Right now we have a choice for a refundable deposit. We will see how long that lasts.

 

 

Edited September 5, 2019 by Coral

[Cruise Raider]

59 minutes ago, CineGraphic said:

They are offering a refundable option as well. See below:

 

I just booked a sailing for late next year and paid a bit more to have it booked with a refundable deposit.  Things can happen ... so why chance it this far in advance?  I have always found they have a refundable deposit available for me even using a promo that has a NR deposit designation, at a slightly increased cost.  

[JF - retired RRT]

1 hour ago, CineGraphic said:

They are offering a refundable option as well. See below:

After seeing this post yesterday, I contacted my TA for our 2021 Tahiti cruise on the Star. The advertised price was $1 more than we paid when we booked. The TA switched us to the N9 offer ("slightly higher price, same promo) and with the TA discount we're paying almost exactly the same amount of $ WITH free grats and $100 OBC.

It's always worth asking for the refundable fare, all they can do is say yes or no...right?

[Coral]

14 minutes ago, JF - retired RRT said:

 

It's always worth asking for the refundable fare, all they can do is say yes or no...right?

Though not all TAs will know about this. Cruise TAs will but many of my coworkers walk into a local automobile club and those people know less about cruises as they sell so many products.

[Cruise Raider]

1 hour ago, JF - retired RRT said:

After seeing this post yesterday, I contacted my TA for our 2021 Tahiti cruise on the Star. The advertised price was $1 more than we paid when we booked. The TA switched us to the N9 offer ("slightly higher price, same promo) and with the TA discount we're paying almost exactly the same amount of $ WITH free grats and $100 OBC.

It's always worth asking for the refundable fare, all they can do is say yes or no...right?

 

My sailing came out to be about $150 less with this promotion, but did lose out on quite a bit of OBC, but then again, picked up almost that much in free gratuities ... so about awash there.  What was great is that I was able to switch to a higher category cabin in a much more desirable location and the insurance went down ever so slightly.  So, it was a win win for us....came out about $100 ahead with everything calculated, even with the refundable deposit!  The 3 for Free is definitely my favorite Princess promo.  

[pms4104]

49 minutes ago, Coral said:

Though not all TAs will know about this. Cruise TAs will but many of my coworkers walk into a local automobile club and those people know less about cruises as they sell so many products.

Beyond that, if you are new to cruising and/or to Princess, and not following any online chat rooms, how the heck would you know that NRD now is default BUT other options are out there? 

[Coral]

5 minutes ago, pms4104 said:

Beyond that, if you are new to cruising and/or to Princess, and not following any online chat rooms, how the heck would you know that NRD now is default BUT other options are out there? 

Good point.

 

What is frustrating is that not all of us have control of our work schedules far in advance.

[fluffybunny22]

They offer refundable options. Just have to ask for it. And why are you shouting? 

[sun&sea]

This 3 for free isn't as good as last year. Last year, the price of the cabin went down about $350 AND we got OBC and free gratuities. Same mini I am looking at both years, same ship. This year's cruise that I have been looking at is very expensive (10 day in lowest club class mini Sky Princess $6500 for two). The price didn't budge at all, the deposit is non-refundable 10%. The free upgrade means nothing, as I want a particular cabin. Even with $300 OBC and free gratuities, it just doesn't make sense. The cruise would be Feb 2021. Too risky at this point in our lives. And we are not interested in going more expensive to make it refundable. 

[pms4104]

13 minutes ago, fluffybunny22 said:

They offer refundable options. Just have to ask for it. And why are you shouting? 

As has been pointed out, not everyone knows to ask for it ... not everyone spends ages on chat boards ... not everyone has a bazillion cruises in their history ... etc.  Some people are juggling lots of balls in life, and just cannot know everything.

 

I think it is distasteful and disengenuous for Princess to do business in this manner.  

[Steelers36]

41 minutes ago, Coral said:

Good point.

 

What is frustrating is that not all of us have control of our work schedules far in advance.

We will never know, but perhaps Princess will end up with fewer really advanced bookings due to pushing NRD's, but when people do book one they will be thinking they can count more on that customer actually paying the balance and sailing.

[dog]

It was quite a hassle, but I finally booked my Panama Canal cruise with a refundable deposit through a Supervisor. This cruise did not offer the refundable deposit option at all. I spoke with my TA, 2 Princess agents and 1 supervisor. The fare was $200pp more then the non refundable option.

I urge others to express their dislike of non refundable deposits by calling Princess. I won't book this option.

[Steelers36]

1 minute ago, pms4104 said:

As has been pointed out, not everyone knows to ask for it ... not everyone spends ages on chat boards ... not everyone has a bazillion cruises in their history ... etc.  Some people are juggling lots of balls in life, and just cannot know everything.

 

I think it is distasteful and disengenuous for Princess to do business in this manner.  

I hear you but I am surprised that a CC member with over 10,000 posts just isn't tuned in and seems clued out about this topic even though it has been discussed at length in numerous threads before 3FF 2019 arrived.

 

[Coral]

2 minutes ago, steelers36 said:

I hear you but I am surprised that a CC member with over 10,000 posts just isn't tuned in and seems clued out about this topic even though it has been discussed at length in numerous threads before 3FF 2019 arrived.

 

Some people only go to CC when they have a cruise booked. Otherwise, they may not find a reason to go here if they have land vacations booked. Or they maybe on the Celebrity boards.

[dog]

35 minutes ago, Coral said:

Some people only go to CC when they have a cruise booked. Otherwise, they may not find a reason to go here if they have land vacations booked. Or they maybe on the Celebrity boards.

So true. I have started booking several of my cruises with other cruiselines and have not visited the Princess forum as much as I did when I had a Princess cruise booked. My 4321 posts have been over several years.

 

I agree:

"I think it is distasteful and disengenuous for Princess to do business in this manner. "

 

I want to see both options/fares on Princess website, like I see on Holland America's.

Edited September 5, 2019 by dog

[sfaaa]

50 minutes ago, fluffybunny22 said:

They offer refundable options. Just have to ask for it.

Why do you need to ask for it? It should be offered upfront as an option on its website. 

[Steelers36]

18 minutes ago, dog said:

I want to both options/fares on Princess website, like I see on Holland America's.

Interesting.  I have rarely been on HAL website and don't know it well.  Here we are with two lines in the same corporate family.  If one can do it, why not the other?  Another pet peeve of mine is that Princess restricts the currency as well, depending on one's computer connection.  Sitting here in Ontario, I can only see fares presented in USD, which means I am always converting numbers.  Not interested in CAD at all as we book with a discount TA in the USA.  Many websites in travel business allow the user to select the currency.  But not Princess.  IDK if still the case, but I recall looking at Carnival and HAL to see what they did and at least one (some time ago) allowed this flexibility.  That aside, my TA website can provide all the prices, so why can't Princess?  It would be a significant change no doubt and everyone is already unhappy with the latest design in booking a cruise on Princess.com.

 

I am also always thinking in USD for this board as 90% of the members are in USA and any pricing mentioned on here is typically the base USD.  At least that is my best guess.  LOL.  It is not as though Canada has any different pricing scheme - it is just the true USA fare times an exchange rate.

 

ETA:  It is Carnival that lets you choose currency (flag at top of web page).  HAL does not appear to.  Their booking interface looks a lot like Princess is now.  

 

 

Edited September 5, 2019 by steelers36

[dog]

18 minutes ago, steelers36 said:

Interesting.  I have rarely been on HAL website and don't know it well.  Here we are with two lines in the same corporate family.  If one can do it, why not the other?  Another pet peeve of mine is that Princess restricts the currency as well, depending on one's computer connection.  Sitting here in Ontario, I can only see fares presented in USD, which means I am always converting numbers.  Not interested in CAD at all as we book with a discount TA in the USA.  Many websites in travel business allow the user to select the currency.  But not Princess.  IDK if still the case, but I recall looking at Carnival and HAL to see what they did and at least one (some time ago) allowed this flexibility.  That aside, my TA website can provide all the prices, so why can't Princess?  It would be a significant change no doubt and everyone is already unhappy with the latest design in booking a cruise on Princess.com.

 

ETA:  It is Carnival that lets you choose currency (flag at top of web page).  HAL does not appear to.  Their booking interface looks a lot like Princess is now.  

Not sure I'm reading this post correctly, but are you saying when you log in to Princess you see USdollars?

I am in Ont. too and I see pricing in Canadian dollars. A couple of times there has been a glitch and I've see US$, but it always switches over.  Some cruise websites like Celebrity have a link at top of home page to take you to Canadian prices.

Re: Princess should be showing refundable option on website. My guess is they want to stop early bookers from holding cabins they aren't committed to taking, they rather have us call Princess to get pricing which makes us more likely to give them the booking , rather then bother with our TAs.  Just my opinion.

Quote

 

 

Edited September 5, 2019 by dog

[Steelers36]

1 hour ago, steelers36 said:

Interesting.  I have rarely been on HAL website and don't know it well.  Here we are with two lines in the same corporate family.  If one can do it, why not the other?  Another pet peeve of mine is that Princess restricts the currency as well, depending on one's computer connection.  Sitting here in Ontario, I can only see fares presented in USD, which means I am always converting numbers.  Not interested in CAD at all as we book with a discount TA in the USA.  Many websites in travel business allow the user to select the currency.  But not Princess.  IDK if still the case, but I recall looking at Carnival and HAL to see what they did and at least one (some time ago) allowed this flexibility.  That aside, my TA website can provide all the prices, so why can't Princess?  It would be a significant change no doubt and everyone is already unhappy with the latest design in booking a cruise on Princess.com.

 

I am also always thinking in USD for this board as 90% of the members are in USA and any pricing mentioned on here is typically the base USD.  At least that is my best guess.  LOL.  It is not as though Canada has any different pricing scheme - it is just the true USA fare times an exchange rate.

 

ETA:  It is Carnival that lets you choose currency (flag at top of web page).  HAL does not appear to.  Their booking interface looks a lot like Princess is now.  

 

 

Eeegads.  I usually proofread and now I cannot edit it.  Sitting in Ontario, I see CAD fares.   It should be obvious what I meant but I hate making significant mistakes.  

[nukesubsailor]

I would not have a problem with non-refundable deposits being required for those travel agencies that reserve whole blocks of cabins as soon as a cruise is scheduled or those individuals who book several cruises that appeal to them knowing they will later pick the one they want most and cancel the rest.  

These people make if difficult for the rest of us, who can make a decision on what we want, to book it early on.

[Steelers36]

49 minutes ago, dog said:

Not sure I'm reading this post correctly, but are you saying when you log in to Princess you see USdollars?

I am in Ont. too and I see pricing in Canadian dollars. A couple of times there has been a glitch and I've see US$, but it always switches over.  Some cruise websites like Celebrity have a link at top of home page to take you to Canadian prices.

Re: Princess should be showing refundable option on website. My guess is they want to stop early bookers from holding cabins they aren't committed to taking, they rather have us call Princess to get pricing which makes us more likely to give them the booking , rather then bother with our TAs.  Just my opinion.

 

Yes, you are correct.  I typed USD Instead and missed it on proofreading.  Hate those dumb mistakes.  Yes, I seem to recall X allows that.  So does Carnival, but not HAL.  So 13 CCL brands allow it that i have checked.  As I wrote, it would be more convenient to have the choice.  As of right now, I do not have a US VPN, but one day I plan to.  That way I can get what I want from USA in general. 

 

I agree with what you said about NRD's.  It will be interesting to see if Princess rides out the backlash or figures out how to offer customers an alternate set of prices if they choose.