Caribbean Princess and Sky October 2021

[New York Nana]

On 12/4/2020 at 12:00 PM, Desert Cruisers said:

The reason that there is currently nothing on the website might partly be because Princess must first transfer current cabin bookings from the Sky to the Caribbean.  This includes figuring out what to do with cabin categories from the Sky that do not exist on the Caribbean.  We have been told that we probably will hear about a cabin assignment for our October 16 cruise in mid-December.  We are booked into an obstructed view balcony which does not exist on the Caribbean.  Our cabin number on the Sky is an obstructed oceanview on the Caribbean.

 

The Caribbean is due to leave NY to Fort Lauderdale on a repositioning cruise on November 6.

We had the same category on the Sky (obstructed view). We received 2 cabin changes. The 1st was December 4th and it was a Guarantee/BE cabin on the Caribbean. I received an 'upgrade' on the 9th for a B2 cabin on Caribe deck. 

Looks like they're moving things around pretty quick!

[candide333]

Well, I cancelled our October 2, 2021 New England cruise on the Caribbean. I was told my fare went up even more than the $3000+ increase and I wouldn’t know if there was a price protected adjustment until December 28th.

 

We are now sailing to Alaska. Luckily, I got the last cabin in the class I wanted. Hopefully, no one else will have theses issues. 

[AF-1]

I really don't understand how the price of your New England cruise would go up.  Caribbean Princess is an older ship;  unless Princess is trying to make up for lost revenue;  so they are charging inflated prices for this cruise.  

[mfanderso]

I don’t really think Princess knows what they are doing on this ship change. When my TA got my new price it was more on the Caribbean than I was paying on the Sky. She called Princess and they lowered it to what I was paying on the Sky.  The category I had on the Sky was not available on Caribbean so now they were charging me the same for a lower category. My TA escalated it up the chain and they lowered my price to be more in line with what they should be charging. Keep in mind that comparing October to September prices wouldn’t necessarily work because October is sometimes considered the peak season because of the fall foliage. 

[AF-1]

mfanderso;  I get it;  Oct is peak leaf season.  So the pricing would be more.  However, when I check Enchanted Princess for Oct 2022 pricing it is over $2,000 more for same cabin on Caribbean Princess.  The only date I can currently check for Caribbean Princess is Sep 18, 2021;  That price is $2,000 less than my current cabin on Sky.  Will wait till end of December to see how this all shakes out

Edited December 12, 2020 by AF-1

[caribill]

14 hours ago, mfanderso said:

I don’t really think Princess knows what they are doing on this ship change. When my TA got my new price it was more on the Caribbean than I was paying on the Sky. She called Princess and they lowered it to what I was paying on the Sky.  The category I had on the Sky was not available on Caribbean so now they were charging me the same for a lower category. My TA escalated it up the chain and they lowered my price to be more in line with what they should be charging. Keep in mind that comparing October to September prices wouldn’t necessarily work because October is sometimes considered the peak season because of the fall foliage. 

 

For those who doubt the value of booking with a TA.

[mfanderso]

6 hours ago, caribill said:

 

For those who doubt the value of booking with a TA.

That’s for sure. I don’t know what I would do without my TA. She is the best and always goes to bat for me. 

[AF-1]

I second mfanderso; using a seperate travel agent is the smart choice

[AF-1]

I got my new pricing for my Caribbean Princess sailing for 16 Oct 2021.  Price went down a few hundred dollars and both my wife and I got $50 OBC for ship swap.  We are in cabin F303 which is a window suite on deck 6.  People who have stayed in these cabins said they are their fav onboard the Grand class ships.  We have been looking forward to New England and Canada for a few years; so we do hope next year we will all be vaccinated by summer and we can have fun in October.  Cheers and Merry Christmas to all.

[candide333]

On 12/16/2020 at 5:43 AM, AF-1 said:

I got my new pricing for my Caribbean Princess sailing for 16 Oct 2021.  Price went down a few hundred dollars and both my wife and I got $50 OBC for ship swap.  We are in cabin F303 which is a window suite on deck 6.  People who have stayed in these cabins said they are their fav onboard the Grand class ships.  We have been looking forward to New England and Canada for a few years; so we do hope next year we will all be vaccinated by summer and we can have fun in October.  Cheers and Merry Christmas to all.

I was able to get B411, but the fare was $2300 more.  I emailed Princess and a customer relations person called me. I was told there were no protected fares.

 

I called again today, but was told by Princess again that there were no protected fares. 
 

I called my big box tour agent and she said that she saw that I received an email on Dec 1st saying it was protected, but I didn’t get it and she couldn’t send it to me. Did anyone get verification in an email that the Sky fares were protected?  

[Mud_Shark]

We are on the Nov 6th NY-FLL repo cruise.  In our email from Princess telling us about the change of ship it specifically did say our price was protected.

 

However, in our case, we are already paid in full (due to a sale Princess had in August that offered OBC and 10% fare reduction if you paid in full early), so don't know if others got the same email which specifically said the fare was protected.

 

The administrative booking for the ship swap for our journey has been delayed until Dec 23rd, so we have not yet seen the new booking to confirm the price remains the same.

 

Don

[Mud_Shark]

Here is the wording from the Princess redeployment email:

 

VOYAGE REDEPLOYMENT - SKY PRINCESS Please be advised that due to deployment changes, your voyage will now sail on Caribbean Princess rather than Sky Princess. Caribbean Princess features some of the same signature Princess amenities as Sky Princess, including the Sanctuary, Sabatini's and Crown Grill. For more information on Caribbean Princess, visit http://www.princess.com/ships-and-experience/ships/cb-caribbean-princess/.   You will be rebooked onto the new voyage, and will receive your new booking information no later than Wednesday, December 16, 2020. As a gesture of goodwill, guests that remain on this voyage will receive an onboard credit of USD $50 per person (credit applies to the first two guests on the booking only). The cruise fare and promotions have been protected. Once you receive your new booking details, you can verify the cabin location using the deck plans available at http://www.princess.com/deckPlans.do?shipCode=CB. We look forward to welcoming you aboard Caribbean Princess.

[mfanderso]

 

We were on the October 9 sailing.  The email we received from Princess did not say that we were price protected but our TA received notification that she shared with us.  I copied and pasted what she was told:

 

Please be advised that due to deployment changes, this voyage will now sail on Caribbean Princess rather than Sky Princess. Caribbean Princess features some of the same signature Princess amenities as Sky Princess, including the Sanctuary, Sabatini's and Crown Grill. For more information on Caribbean Princess, visit http://www.princess.com/ships-and-experience/ships/cb-caribbean-princess/. Your clients will be rebooked onto the new voyage, and you will receive their new booking information no later than Wednesday, December 16, 2020. As a gesture of goodwill, guests that remain on this voyage will receive an onboard credit of USD $50 per person (credit applies to the first two guests on the booking only). The cruise fare and promotions have been protected. Once you receive their new cruise booking details, you can verify the cabin location using the deck plans available at http://www.princess.com/deckPlans.do?shipCode=CB. We look forward to welcoming your clients aboard Caribbean Princess.

 

 

[Mud_Shark]

Well, we have not received the email of the new booking information yet, but in the cruise personalizer it now shows us on the Caribbean Princess - and although the previous email told us the fare price and the promotions have been protected, and we had paid in full, the new info now shows a price increase of $250, which it says we now owe.  And our OBC has dropped by $450.

 

Hmm - hopefully they will correct these errors but I will call Monday and find out.  I hope this doesn't turn out to be more hassle than it is worth - but we will not be paying an increased fare for a downgrade in ship. 

 

Don

[AF-1]

Mud_Shark;  both my travel agent and I received the same email as you did on Dec 1.  It says we get $50 OBC per person and price is protected.  We have received our new invoice with new cabin # and everything is good to go.  No price increase; we got the cabin we wanted plus the new pricing benefits; all inclusive gratuities, booze and coffee package, wifi package.  We are on 16 Oct 2021 sailing

[Mud_Shark]

It took an hour and a half on the phone today, but we got our OBC all back and the cruise fare was reduced - in fact - it is a little lower than it was before on our original Sky reservation.

 

We did not yet receive the bonus $50 obc for accepting the ship switch, but we will wait on that and if I have to - call another day.

 

However, we had a back-to-back planned on the Sky for Nov 20th - and Princess cancelled that 2nd booking and did not even notify us (their notes indicated it was cancelled because of CDC no back-to-back restriction).  So that was part of the issue on the phone today.  They admitted since the back-to-back is in November, after the CDC restriction is set to expire - they oops'd in cancelling our booking.  They had already processed a refund - so they have allowed us to repay the fare and have the same fare and perks re-established once the refund has been received by us.  Will this second leg - which is supposed to sail on the Sky - even happen?  Who knows.  It is the first North American cruise being sold for the Sky, but Princess does not know when the Sky will even come over to North America.

 

So - all good for now.  Just waiting for the next cancellation or change to come out of the blue.

 

It will be a rocky year for making plans as everything is so fluid and uncertain.

[AF-1]

  2021 will be interesting for all who have cruises booked.  Personally I do not see any major cruiselines starting before May/Jun;  According to the experts at FDA and CDC; people will still be getting vaccine shots in May/Jun

[Mud_Shark]

We've been told in Canada that all who desire to receive the vaccine will have it by September.

 

Don

[AF-1]

wow September;  I think we in the lower 48 states will have vaccines provided nlt Jun 2021

[Ride-The-Waves]

6 minutes ago, AF-1 said:

wow September;  I think we in the lower 48 states will have vaccines provided nlt Jun 2021

Doubtful, unless you are a "priority" because of age, job responsibility or underlying conditions.  The US requires 700,000,000 doses and last I've read the US has contracted for about 300,000,000.  That said, we are looking toward to receiving ours sooner than later.

[Ride-The-Waves]

There is another huge reason for schedule and pricing flux, and schedule gaps, at the moment.  Cruise lines are still wrestling with where they can go - ports - and the itineraries supporting those ports.  It is a difficult challenge to build a cruise ship's schedule.  They are usually planned 2.5-3 years in advance by a ship's navigation team, submitted to the home office and adjusted as required, then resent back to the ship for finalizing navigation and timing.  COVID-19 interrupted that planning and cruise lines are still waiting for countries/ports to provide access, guidance on how visits/tours will be handled, and numbers of passengers permitted ashore.  We recently booked a 2022 TA eastbound and selected a suite on Sky that was not showing on the Princess website but was showing available on another company's site.  Agents are still a bit flustered and available cabins remain in flux as cruise lines dig out from the pandemic booking/cancellation challenges.

Edited December 19, 2020 by Ride-The-Waves

[AF-1]

Rides-The-Waves;  I am not worried;   we scheduled our first cruise next year for 16 Oct.  We will be vaccinated by then

[EllieinNJ]

I work in the ICU of a hospital  and am scheduled to get my vaccine on January 7.  I could have gotten  it as early as Monday but am slightly  Apprehensive so wanted to wait to see how co workers fared.  Some friends and relatives  are fearful of side effects but I  think most will get it in the end

[AF-1]

EllieinNJ;  I have a friend who is ICU nurse.  she got vaccine last week and said it felt no different than flu shot.  She said here arm hurt a little; but went back to normal after 24 hrs. She gets her second shot on Jan 6th

[Roberto256]

12 hours ago, EllieinNJ said:

I work in the ICU of a hospital  and am scheduled to get my vaccine on January 7.  I could have gotten  it as early as Monday but am slightly  Apprehensive so wanted to wait to see how co workers fared.  Some friends and relatives  are fearful of side effects but I  think most will get it in the end

 

Can you / did you get the princess ship board credit for medical professionals and first responders?

 

I would think Princess would be over-joyed to have cruisers who have been vaccinated!

Edited December 20, 2020 by Roberto256