New promotion

[fluffybunny22]

Checked with my TA and also called Princess and got some differing info. The promo does apply to my June Sky sailing. I have EZ Air booked and according to my TA I also have to pay that in full too. I called Princess to check on another direct with them booking and they said I don't have to pay for the air right now. My husband also made me clarify if we cancel before final payment that we get our cash back not a FCC. The promo does not apply to my in laws booking because they are using a FCC that they got as a refund for an air penalty they incurred on a cancelled cruise. We've got the cash handy so we might take advantage of it.

[Georgie562]

I have a Princess cruise booked for December 2021- Tahiti with my sweetie 🥰

 

All  I forked up was the $100 deposit per person to secure my stateroom. With soooooo much uncertainty going on right now, no way I will fork up the balance due just for a 10% discount.

 

 

[Alaskanb]

2 hours ago, Ken the cruiser said:

 

One more question if I may. Did you book your cruise directly with Princess or through a TA?

Through Princess using FCC we had purchased on a previous cruise. 

Edited July 29, 2020 by Alaskanb

[GranJean]

We received the email yesterday referencing our February 2022 cruise.

We probably won’t take them up on it at this time. Thinking is that Princess, like most all businesses, needs the cash flow and they wish to garner some of the stimulus money from the feds. Can’t really blame them. 
We just don’t want to risk the funds at this time. Besides a better deal may be offered at a later date. 

[voljeep]

we've got a little cruise booked December 2021 - we've received nada from Princess

[nini]

NOPE!!!

83 days and counting to receive cancelled cruise deposit.

How long did anyone wait to contest deposit on credit card? Results?

I know that we need to contest by 90 days of "purchase" which of cours

have passed.

[StartrainDD]

6 hours ago, 13cheermom said:

Well here's my situation, we have about $11K tied up in Princess gift cards, have received about $7K back on original cards so far, still waiting for the other cabin booking to be refunded.  So I've already used some gift cards for down payment, and if I use the rest to pay off the cruise, I will get 10% off fare and additional $200 OBC.  These cards are just going to sit here anyway, don't have any real value if they do end up going bankrupt.  Would probably save about $520 total and then the extra $200 OBC, without actually putting any cash down.  So would you do it??  Only thing I see is that my email stated about not being combinable with FCC credits, if that is really the case, not doing that.  It's crazy with  all this FCC floating out there not to be able to apply that to a cruise, well actually they automatically did that when I booked for 3/13/20.  Even though it's only $100/pp, it's the principle of the thing, 🤣.  Disclosure I have 2 cruises already booked with another line for next year, would not even consider putting anymore of my cash down toward those regardless of any savings offered.

Hello 13 cheer!

 

I didn't see anyone actually respond to your post so thought I would jump in.

 

As you have all those funds in gift cards, were I in your shoes I would take advantage of the offer as like you said, you can't spend the gift cards anywhere else!

 

I just did the math on our booking for next August.  Assuming the port taxes are not discountable, it would reduce our fare by $564. and receive the additional $200 OBC.  So total of $764 in value if the cruise sails.

 

To receive this, I would need to put out $5,384 in cash.  Holland America still owes me part of a taxes/fees refund from a cruise they canceled in March.  I am rather loath to send CCL corporation any funds right now - we booked this one only because we had an FCD we were able to use.

 

A $764 return on a $5384 investment works out to a 14.2% return - not bad for tying up the funds 9-10 months 'Early,' assuming the cruise actually happens!  But should CCL go under sometime in 2021, charging this now may not provide any protection for a refund / chargeback.

 

I noted too the discussions on possible price changes.  We have the "Princess Plus" package and while anything is possible we rather doubt the pricing with the package will get much better than our price, especially if the cruises ARE sailing but need to limit to some percent of capacity.  So many wrinkles involved here!

 

We have four cruises booked for 2021 - the earliest being in May.  The other three are all on Celebrity and and all "Paid for" as they were "Lifted and shifted" from 2020 bookings (keeping the fare and offers).  Wish the CCL lines had a similar offer.  Sure hope they all happen!

Edited July 29, 2020 by StartrainDD

[Alaskanb]

2 hours ago, Ken the cruiser said:

Would it be possible for you to post the information you received that said this? In the previous posts on this thread describing the various T&Cs, there was no reference made to these two items. 

Offer is applicable to bookings with full payment made between the dates of July 28, 2020 to August 31, 2020 for 2021 summer cruises and cruisetours onwards, on all stateroom types for cruises with a duration of 5 to 20 days. Guests must pay the remaining balance due on their booking to qualify for the offer. Offer is not transferable and is not combinable with Future Cruise Credits. However, guests may appy their Future Cruise Deposits. Available to residents of the 50 United States, Canada, Puerto Rico, Mexico, Bermuda and the District of Columbia. Please refer to princess.com for terms, conditions and definitions that apply to all bookings. †Save 10% off cruise fare offer is based on a discount off applicable Launch Fares on a space-available basis at time of booking on select categories and sailings. Launch Fares are offering fares and may not have been in effect for the past 90 days or resulted in actual sales in all categories. Intermediate discounts may have been taken and fares may remain at discounted levels after this promotion. ‡$200 Onboard Spending Money per stateroom ($100 per guest) is applicable only to guests 1 and 2 in a stateroom. Guests with single occupancy will receive the per stateroom amount. Spending money may be used on a single voyage only, is not redeemable for cash, cannot be used in the casino, and expires at the end of that voyage. Offer is not transferable and may not be combinable with other select offers or other onboard credits. Onboard spending money is based on the ship’s onboard currency.  Deposit and refundability terms are based on the original offer booked. If an offer that has a non-refundable deposit was booked, the original deposit amount remains non-refundable. If an offer with refundable fare was booked, the fare remains refundable.

[pcur]

9 hours ago, Linsifer said:

Mine says $200 for our stateroom.  Thing is,  I never pay over a year ahead.  I wait until the latest I can pay without penalty.  Now with the coronavirus, who knows what will be happening next August.  So, I’m just not sure an extra $200 plus 10% is worth it.  Any thoughts? 

 

If you can do without the money for 10 months, then I would do it.  I am going to lose $10 in interest between now and when I would have to pay the final anyway.  Not going to fuss over that when I'm saving far more than that.

 

I really don't think Princess is going out of business:  restructure, possibly/maybe, but not out of business.

 

We are going to use the $200 obc on specialty dining, since we have the Princess Plus package already.

[fluffybunny22]

29 minutes ago, pcur said:

 

If you can do without the money for 10 months, then I would do it.  I am going to lose $10 in interest between now and when I would have to pay the final anyway.  Not going to fuss over that when I'm saving far more than that.

 

I really don't think Princess is going out of business:  restructure, possibly/maybe, but not out of business.

 

We are going to use the $200 obc on specialty dining, since we have the Princess Plus package already.

Right now they're running a free specialty dining promotion. I think I added it last week.

[Ken the cruiser]

36 minutes ago, Alaskanb said:

Offer is applicable to bookings with full payment made between the dates of July 28, 2020 to August 31, 2020 for 2021 summer cruises and cruisetours onwards, on all stateroom types for cruises with a duration of 5 to 20 days. Guests must pay the remaining balance due on their booking to qualify for the offer. Offer is not transferable and is not combinable with Future Cruise Credits. However, guests may appy their Future Cruise Deposits. Available to residents of the 50 United States, Canada, Puerto Rico, Mexico, Bermuda and the District of Columbia. Please refer to princess.com for terms, conditions and definitions that apply to all bookings. †Save 10% off cruise fare offer is based on a discount off applicable Launch Fares on a space-available basis at time of booking on select categories and sailings. Launch Fares are offering fares and may not have been in effect for the past 90 days or resulted in actual sales in all categories. Intermediate discounts may have been taken and fares may remain at discounted levels after this promotion. ‡$200 Onboard Spending Money per stateroom ($100 per guest) is applicable only to guests 1 and 2 in a stateroom. Guests with single occupancy will receive the per stateroom amount. Spending money may be used on a single voyage only, is not redeemable for cash, cannot be used in the casino, and expires at the end of that voyage. Offer is not transferable and may not be combinable with other select offers or other onboard credits. Onboard spending money is based on the ship’s onboard currency.  Deposit and refundability terms are based on the original offer booked. If an offer that has a non-refundable deposit was booked, the original deposit amount remains non-refundable. If an offer with refundable fare was booked, the fare remains refundable.

Thank you!!  The particular line noted above in red we had not seen before, but is very relevant as we only have only one cruise in Oct 2021 that is 20 days or less, and have no desire to pay it off this early.

[Alaskanb]

9 minutes ago, Ken the cruiser said:

Thank you!!  The particular line noted above in red we had not seen before, but is very relevant as we only have only one cruise in Oct 2021 that is 20 days or less, and have no desire to pay it off this early.

Ours is October 29 2021 out of Southampton. No-one knows the status of flights etc at that time. I'm on a wait and see schedule.

[13cheermom]

1 hour ago, StartrainDD said:

Hello 13 cheer!

 

I didn't see anyone actually respond to your post so thought I would jump in.

 

As you have all those funds in gift cards, were I in your shoes I would take advantage of the offer as like you said, you can't spend the gift cards anywhere else!

 

I just did the math on our booking for next August.  Assuming the port taxes are not discountable, it would reduce our fare by $564. and receive the additional $200 OBC.  So total of $764 in value if the cruise sails.

 

To receive this, I would need to put out $5,384 in cash.  Holland America still owes me part of a taxes/fees refund from a cruise they canceled in March.  I am rather loath to send CCL corporation any funds right now - we booked this one only because we had an FCD we were able to use.

 

A $764 return on a $5384 investment works out to a 14.2% return - not bad for tying up the funds 9-10 months 'Early,' assuming the cruise actually happens!  But should CCL go under sometime in 2021, charging this now may not provide any protection for a refund / chargeback.

 

I noted too the discussions on possible price changes.  We have the "Princess Plus" package and while anything is possible we rather doubt the pricing with the package will get much better than our price, especially if the cruises ARE sailing but need to limit to some percent of capacity.  So many wrinkles involved here!

 

We have four cruises booked for 2021 - the earliest being in May.  The other three are all on Celebrity and and all "Paid for" as they were "Lifted and shifted" from 2020 bookings (keeping the fare and offers).  Wish the CCL lines had a similar offer.  Sure hope they all happen!

Thanks for the input!  Your right nobody did respond to my situation, oh well.  Have to agree with you my numbers are very similar to the ones you quoted, so for about $520 reduction in fare, and extra $200 OBC, sounds like an easy decision.  We also booked our Panama Cruise with the Princess Best Value Refundable Rate for only $400 more with all the extras included.  I don't think the fare for the mini-suite is really going to go down to refare, but rep today said it is allowable.  Also she stated the part about not being combinable with FCC credit is up to $250.  Since ours is only $100/pp we still qualify for the promotion.  We will probably go ahead and do it for the savings since we have lots of gift cards to use, lol.  Worse case scenario, I just get a refund back to the gift cards which is where I am at right now.  Just realized I had the wrong date as our new cruise is for 3/13/22.

Edited July 29, 2020 by 13cheermom
error in date

[StartrainDD]

10 minutes ago, 13cheermom said:

Thanks for the input!  Your right nobody did respond to my situation, oh well.  Have to agree with you my numbers are very similar to the ones you quoted, so for about $520 reduction in fare, and extra $200 OBC, sounds like an easy decision.  We also booked our Panama Cruise with the Princess Best Value Refundable Rate for only $400 more with all the extras included.  I don't think the fare for the mini-suite is really going to go down to refare, but rep today said it is allowable.  Also she stated the part about not being combinable with FCC credit is up to $250.  Since ours is only $100/pp we still qualify for the promotion.  We will probably go ahead and do it for the savings since we have lots of gift cards to use, lol.  Worse case scenario, I just get a refund back to the gift cards which is where I am at right now.  Just realized I had the wrong date as our new cruise is for 3/13/22.

 

We are cruising with friends who are also booked.  He said (in our case) this is basically like buying a one year $5000 junk bond with a 14% return.  As your cruise is not until March of 22 your rate is a bit lower, but of course with the gift cards you need to find a way to use them!

 

All the best!

[13cheermom]

2 minutes ago, StartrainDD said:

 

We are cruising with friends who are also booked.  He said (in our case) this is basically like buying a one year $5000 junk bond with a 14% return.  As your cruise is not until March of 22 your rate is a bit lower, but of course with the gift cards you need to find a way to use them!

 

All the best!

Thanks, and lets just hope we all can continue to cruise once again!  

[pcur]

I just applied this promo to one of my bookings where I can use our existing credit card.  

 

The 10% is deducted from the base price of the cruise, before taxes and fees.  Those are then added to the resulting reduced price of the cruise, and what you've paid so far is subtracted.  The result is what you owe to pay the cruise off, and the $200 obc is added to your cruise amenities.

[Ken the cruiser]

19 minutes ago, 13cheermom said:

Thanks for the input!  Your right nobody did respond to my situation, oh well.  Have to agree with you my numbers are very similar to the ones you quoted, so for about $520 reduction in fare, and extra $200 OBC, sounds like an easy decision.  We also booked our Panama Cruise with the Princess Best Value Refundable Rate for only $400 more with all the extras included.  I don't think the fare for the mini-suite is really going to go down to refare, but rep today said it is allowable.  Also she stated the part about not being combinable with FCC credit is up to $250.  Since ours is only $100/pp we still qualify for the promotion.  We will probably go ahead and do it for the savings since we have lots of gift cards to use, lol.  Worse case scenario, I just get a refund back to the gift cards which is where I am at right now.  Just realized I had the wrong date as our new cruise is for 3/13/22.

Pardon my ignorance, but what are gift cards? When I log onto my Personalizer under Future Cruise Credits, I see a Future Cruise Credits section and an Onboard Credits section along with a Circle Savings Help section. In what section are those listed and are they called "Gift Cards"? 

[Iamom75]

We had a connoisseur land/cruise trip to Alaska planned for our two daughters and us for July, 2020 for our 45th anniversary with two mini suites.  We got cancelled so we moved the trip to July 2021 and upgraded to vista suites for both cabins. Our final payment is due March, 2021.  Since we are paying for both cabins/suites it would save us approximately $1250 for each suite or $2500 plus all four of us would get the $100 obc.  If we left it where it is, we would get approximately $250 in interest until March.

 

Since we were planning on this being a celebration, we have the money saved to go ahead and pay anytime.  It is the the future of Princess that concerns me.   
We are going to be discussing this as a family the next few days.  We aren’t going to do anything for the next month to see where things are .

[13cheermom]

17 minutes ago, Ken the cruiser said:

Pardon my ignorance, but what are gift cards? When I log onto my Personalizer under Future Cruise Credits, I see a Future Cruise Credits section and an Onboard Credits section along with a Circle Savings Help section. In what section are those listed and are they called "Gift Cards"? 

So we started buying gift cards while sailing with Carnival, purchase them discounted for a 10% savings on face value of card.  When we booked this Alaskan cruise we also purchased basically the entire cruise cost for 2 cabins with the discounted gift cards, hence the reason why I have so many of them, lol.  Have never had an issue with using them in the past, but who knew a virus would shut down the world.  Princess sells them also for some discount with bonus cards, at the bottom of their page it explains the gift card purchase.  They don't show up anywhere on your personalizer, and they appear just like a credit card payment would for your cruise.  This is the one time I have regretted reaping the savings from them just because the money is still tied up in the cards.  However I did save 10% on all the cards, so maybe like $1,000 total.  Hope that explains it a little better.

[Ken the cruiser]

3 minutes ago, Iamom75 said:

We had a connoisseur land/cruise trip to Alaska planned for our two daughters and us for July, 2020 for our 45th anniversary with two mini suites.  We got cancelled so we moved the trip to July 2021 and upgraded to vista suites for both cabins. Our final payment is due March, 2021.  Since we are paying for both cabins/suites it would save us approximately $1250 for each suite or $2500 plus all four of us would get the $100 obc.  If we left it where it is, we would get approximately $250 in interest until March.

When your cruise got cancelled, did you have the refund put back on your CC or did you take the 125% FCC offer and apply it to your new July 2021 cruise? If you took the latter, you probably now know you cannot get the 10% discount.

[Ken the cruiser]

16 minutes ago, 13cheermom said:

So we started buying gift cards while sailing with Carnival, purchase them discounted for a 10% savings on face value of card.  When we booked this Alaskan cruise we also purchased basically the entire cruise cost for 2 cabins with the discounted gift cards, hence the reason why I have so many of them, lol.  Have never had an issue with using them in the past, but who knew a virus would shut down the world.  Princess sells them also for some discount with bonus cards, at the bottom of their page it explains the gift card purchase.  They don't show up anywhere on your personalizer, and they appear just like a credit card payment would for your cruise.  This is the one time I have regretted reaping the savings from them just because the money is still tied up in the cards.  However I did save 10% on all the cards, so maybe like $1,000 total.  Hope that explains it a little better.

You've definitely got my attention. So I went to the Gift Cards section via the link at the bottom of their main web page and they look quite simple to order. Heck, you can even buy up to $10,000 worth of gift cards each day. But what I didn't see was any reference to the 10% savings on the face value of the card. What is required to get that 10% discount? This is too easy, so I know there must be a catch.

[Iamom75]

Ken, the. Cruiser, 

we had the money for the 2020 trip refunded.  When COVID all started, I made a refundable deposit on the 2021 cruise for same trip, time etc.  When the 2020 trip got cancelled, we just moved most things over to the 2021 trip and got refunds on the 2020 trip. 

[13cheermom]

10 minutes ago, Ken the cruiser said:

You've definitely got my attention. So I went to the Gift Cards section via the link at the bottom of their main web page and they look quite simple to order. Heck, you can even buy up to $10,000 worth of gift cards each day. But what I didn't see was any reference to the 10% savings on the face value of the card. What is required to get that 10% discount? This is too easy, so I know there must be a catch.

Oh sorry, the 10% can vary depending on vendor.  We have purchased them from Verizon Wireless for 10%, AARP Rewards for Good at 10%, and Target for 5% off.  When purchased through Princess, they usually offer a bonus free card based on original purchase amount.  Such as for every XXX amount in cards you receive a free XX bonus card.  These offers would be offered various times in the year.  I know right now Target still offers them for sale and if using a Target Redcard you automatically save 5% off purchase.  All of these vendors I already have accounts with, really no catch at all.  I have heard that some purchase at Kroger or Meyers and can also earn free gas rewards.  Don't have any experience with them, so don't know details.  

[Ken the cruiser]

3 minutes ago, Iamom75 said:

Ken, the. Cruiser, 

we had the money for the 2020 trip refunded.  When COVID all started, I made a refundable deposit on the 2021 cruise for same trip, time etc.  When the 2020 trip got cancelled, we just moved most things over to the 2021 trip and got refunds on the 2020 trip. 

That's what I figured, but thought I'd ask. For us our feeling is "this too shall pass" and we'll be sailing again by early next year. But, it could be just wishful thinking; although its nice to see all of the Stage 3 vaccine trials starting up this month.

[Ken the cruiser]

7 minutes ago, 13cheermom said:

Oh sorry, the 10% can vary depending on vendor.  We have purchased them from Verizon Wireless for 10%, AARP Rewards for Good at 10%, and Target for 5% off.  When purchased through Princess, they usually offer a bonus free card based on original purchase amount.  Such as for every XXX amount in cards you receive a free XX bonus card.  These offers would be offered various times in the year.  I know right now Target still offers them for sale and if using a Target Redcard you automatically save 5% off purchase.  All of these vendors I already have accounts with, really no catch at all.  I have heard that some purchase at Kroger or Meyers and can also earn free gas rewards.  Don't have any experience with them, so don't know details.  

I knew there was a catch, but thanks for "the rest of the story". 🙂