Re faring with EZ air

[yerdua]

I ran into this issue when I tried to refare our Baltic cruise next summer and was wondering if this is a new policy or if anyone else had run into the same experience. We have an excellent ez air fare to copenhagen from our original booking. Current RT air fares are $700pp higher. Called princess to refare the cruise but stressed that I didn't want to lose my air reservation. So far, two princess reps have told me that if I re fare, I will lose my air reservation and will have to re reserve air at the current price. Last July and August i re fared a princess cruise with no change to my existing flight costs. So I'm wondering, is this a new rule throughout princess (in which case I could just as easily cancel my booking and re book cruise and air at current rates - not a good financial option for this particular situation) or might this apply just to the current anniversary sale, or are both princess reps incorrect? I am transferring this booking to my big box TA to see if they have better luck, since they are the ones who previously had my cruise re fared twice with no impact on the air fare. Any thoughts from more experienced princess cruisers?

[phred119s]

1 hour ago, yerdua said:

I ran into this issue when I tried to refare our Baltic cruise next summer and was wondering if this is a new policy or if anyone else had run into the same experience. We have an excellent ez air fare to copenhagen from our original booking. Current RT air fares are $700pp higher. Called princess to refare the cruise but stressed that I didn't want to lose my air reservation. So far, two princess reps have told me that if I re fare, I will lose my air reservation and will have to re reserve air at the current price. Last July and August i re fared a princess cruise with no change to my existing flight costs. So I'm wondering, is this a new rule throughout princess (in which case I could just as easily cancel my booking and re book cruise and air at current rates - not a good financial option for this particular situation) or might this apply just to the current anniversary sale, or are both princess reps incorrect? I am transferring this booking to my big box TA to see if they have better luck, since they are the ones who previously had my cruise re fared twice with no impact on the air fare. Any thoughts from more experienced princess cruisers?

This is our exact situation right now. Like you said, our flights to Copenhagen are about $700 more. When I initially refared under the Europe sale in September I had to reface airfare as well to get the $200 discount. I haven’t called yet but was planning to based on how the air stipulation reads. Interested to see what others have to say going to/from a promo that included the air sale. 

[TNTLAMB]

Depends on which of the the two programs they have, that you booked your air on. There is a pretty significant price difference between the two. and a bunch of stipulations on refare etc. Under one you essentially start over if you make changes. Great if the air fare has gone down, but that is rare. On the other your fare stays the same and does not reduce if air goes down nor does it go up ones you have paid in full.....

[azbirdmom]

I have never had a problem refaring with my TA and keeping my airline reservation.  But then I haven't had a cruise that was booked under a promo that included airfare discounts.  Could that be the case with your reservation?  I think that all promos are different and a knowledgeable TA can advise what will happen if you refare.  As for air costs, mine have come down with United for every cruise that I've booked.  It could be a fluke with United as they always start out very high when they are first released then come down in time.

[Steelers36]

I don't see how a re-fare to a new cruise promotion would not affect the air if the previous promotion included an airfare discount or free air.  Otherwise, the air is separate deal and I would think re-faring should be possible. 

 

The OP will have a problem transferring the booking if it was made more than 60 days ago.  And that could be since the airfare has changed a lot.

Edited November 5, 2019 by steelers36

[TNTLAMB]

What I would do is compare the currrent price of the cruise with air (including the air discount) OBT and Perks etc. To what you have booked. Once you have those two prices negotiate OBC for the difference (We have done similar before with success) BUT make sure you have all the numbers. More often than not subsequent promotions really don't save you much as it simply is marketing putting a fresh spin on things. and like Steelers said that 60 day thing is a biggy.  Refaring a cruise is really the same as cancelling and rebooking in the larger scheme of things. Rarley is it worth it..... If it is significant though, there is usually not much trouble getting some OBC to compensate.

 

Edited November 5, 2019 by TNTLAMB

[PoohUnderstands]

All depends on what promo, if any, your current booking is under.  And also what the current promo is with the airfares you are looking at right now.  Depending on both, the answer can be yes or no.  Usually if the air fare is connected to the current promo, then you have to completely rebook under the new promo and lose whatever one you had before, which might be fine if the lower airfare makes up for the loss of other freebies.  You just have to do the math.  On another cruise I did, I had a promo going.  When the airfare lowered, there were no promos on my itinerary at that time.  So I was able to rebook the airfare without losing my freebies.  Hope that makes sense!  One thing be aware of.  On one of my bookings, there was a sale(connected to the promo as previously stated).  Not worth to rebook, BUT I did notice that the crossed out price was lower than mine I had at the moment.  In that case I was able to just rebook the fare as I wasn't getting involved with the sale price connected to the promo.

When I first noticed this, I went into my personalizer and pulled up my flight and clicked on rebooking(doesn't do it automatically but you can check prices for your specific booking this way) and it did show the better pricing was available under my current booking.  So just cancelled my current EZair booking and rebooked immediately.  That's all it took.  Once you learn the system, it really is very easy to handle.

 

Pooh

[PAKathy]

I had a problem refaring my EZAir reservations.  On the Princess website I saw a "flight sale" for my booked cruise.  The prices were beyond excellent.  When I went into my account and tried to refare my air reservations the "flight sale" prices were not available.  I called Princess and was told I could only use the prices shown on my booking, not the prices publicized on the general website.  My TA, who was away when I saw the sale, tried to get somewhere with Princess and was told the same thing.  Somehow this seems discriminatory against cruisers who have booked a cruise and airfare. 

I had already refared my air fares a couple of times for this cruise so was very disappointed that I could not refare again.  I'm wondering if this is a new Princess policy, or just a one time occurrence.  

[Earthworm Jim]

1 hour ago, PAKathy said:

I had a problem refaring my EZAir reservations.  On the Princess website I saw a "flight sale" for my booked cruise.  The prices were beyond excellent.  When I went into my account and tried to refare my air reservations the "flight sale" prices were not available.  I called Princess and was told I could only use the prices shown on my booking, not the prices publicized on the general website.  My TA, who was away when I saw the sale, tried to get somewhere with Princess and was told the same thing.  Somehow this seems discriminatory against cruisers who have booked a cruise and airfare. 

I had already refared my air fares a couple of times for this cruise so was very disappointed that I could not refare again.  I'm wondering if this is a new Princess policy, or just a one time occurrence.  

 

Yeah, but...

 

Let's say you originally booked under the recently expired 3 for free promotion and got, among other things, free gratuities. Which is worth about $100 for a 7 day cruise.

 

Now their current promotion doesn't have free gratuities, but instead has $100 off airfare (more for Europe and Japan). So what you're asking them to do is take the good parts from both offers. You're basically asking them to give both the old and the new perk on one booking.

 

You may not have booked under 3 for Free, but it's highly likely the same logic applies with your request to double dip getting both whatever old offer you booked under and the new offer.

[Jnsplace1]

When I booked my cruise last week, I couldn't get the airfare special I'm guessing because it was the first thing on Nov 1st.  I called later that day and talked to an agent.  I was given two choices.

 

Either have the 3 for free, or the airfare + dining.  The move either direction was laterally.  I couldn't have both.

I ended up keeping the 3 for free.  I didn't want to lock in a special airfare $ and is so far out that it COULD still drop.

 

I'm comfortable with my choice.  Now I wait and watch for fare drops.