Your experience in transferring cancelled booking to an equivalent cruise

[Markanddonna]

We have a 28 day spring 2022 cruise booked and it was now been cancelled. Princess suggested a replacement fall 2022 cruise which is just a 24 day cruise. We want to transfer to a spring 2023 because I can't travel in the fall because of work commitments. The 2023 cruise is more similar but is 29 days (one more day.) Do you think Princess will agree to that?

 

All they can do is say no...but then I'll cancel and be moving over to a Royal Caribbean sailing which is less expensive with better ports.

[disneyochem]

Not sure what Princess will do with an extra day.  We went from a 14 day 2022 Panama Canal to a 14 day 2023 Panama Canal.

 

My advice—have all of your booking documents and receipts handy when speaking to Princess.  It took a while (put on hold numerous times) but we eventually got everything we had on the canceled cruise.  OBC, free upgrade, specialty dining promo, casino cash and price protection.

[disneyochem]

Oh, I also want to add a manager had to manually give us some of promotions.  On the cruise personalizer it doesn’t say, for example, “Specialty Dining.”  Instead it shows a $58 dining credit as a gift from Princess ( and it’s only listed in my name, not hubby).

[Thrak]

For our 3 cruises down under they are offering a couple that are a day shorter and one that isn't a match at all - it's a shorter repeat of the second cruise. We "may" take the first two even though they are shorter but the third one definitely has to be something other than what they are offering.

[nini]

Whatever you do, keep copious notes! During 2020, our bookings and cancellations became very complicated. $900.00 OBC can easily disappear into thin air!!! Fortunately, my notes (who, what, why, when, where) came in very handy.

[wallyj]

My friends were booked on the 22 day Diamond LA/Tokyo April 2022 and as you can see on the cancelled sailings, Princess is offering as replacement sailings the. 25 day LA/SYD for Sept 2022 or the 28 day SYD/LA April 2023, so Princess will give ‘extra’ days for the same fare where they see fit.

[Markanddonna]

Princess doesn't seem  to be budging with our situation. We booked a 28 day spring 2022 TP when no one was booking anything and they are only willing to give us a 24 day in its place. Problem is that we can't go in the fall AND Tahiti just announced that it won't allow the bigger ships during the 2022 season. So, that makes virtually all the TPs less valuable.  The three ports in Tahiti were our big draw.  The cruise lines could severely reduce their passengers to accommodate this new rule but cruisers understand how a port can be cancelled right before docking.  

 

I'm about ready to give up on Australia, New Zealand and the South Pacific. Too much volatility. 

[NavyVeteran]

I was booked on a cancelled 2021 holiday cruise to Hawaii roundtrip Los Angeles in a Window Suite on the Grand Princess. The equivalent cruise was a 2022 holiday cruise to Hawaii roundtrip Los Angeles on the Crown Princess, so it was almost exactly the same cruise a year later.

 

I was able to transfer to a Vista Suite on the Crown Princess at the same price as I had paid for the Window Suite on the Grand - even though the Vista Suite is much more expensive than the Window Suite. The Crown Princess does not have any Window Suites, and the Vista Suite was the lowest cost suite on the ship.

 

Not only did I keep the same price, I also kept the promotions from the old cruise, including a Specialty Dining Promotion that was not available for current bookings. In addition, I received an Onboard Credit Promotion available for current bookings that was not on my old booking, so I have a little more onboard credit than I did on the cancelled cruise.

 

That was the good news for me. However, I booked the last Vista Suite - and that is the only suite that Princess considered to be equivalent. Once all of the Vista Suites were booked, Princess no longer transferred people from Window Suites to suites - another poster mentioned that he was offered only a Club Class Mini-Suite on the Crown to replace his Window Suite on the Grand.

 

In summary, the process seems to work very well for some people and not so well for others. A lot depends on availability of equivalent cruises and availability of equivalent cabins on the equivalent cruise. I suspect this may primarily be a problem for those in suites, since they are less likely to have a large supply of equivalent cabins.

[Princess Cruises Fann]

13 hours ago, Markanddonna said:

Princess doesn't seem  to be budging with our situation. We booked a 28 day spring 2022 TP when no one was booking anything and they are only willing to give us a 24 day in its place. Problem is that we can't go in the fall AND Tahiti just announced that it won't allow the bigger ships during the 2022 season. So, that makes virtually all the TPs less valuable.  The three ports in Tahiti were our big draw.  The cruise lines could severely reduce their passengers to accommodate this new rule but cruisers understand how a port can be cancelled right before docking.  

 

I'm about ready to give up on Australia, New Zealand and the South Pacific. Too much volatility. 

What's interesting is that Princess just added a 17-day Honolulu to Auckland that stops at Tahiti and Bora Bora on the Royal Princess on October 2, 2022. 

[LACruiser88]

10 hours ago, Princess Cruises Fann said:

What's interesting is that Princess just added a 17-day Honolulu to Auckland that stops at Tahiti and Bora Bora on the Royal Princess on October 2, 2022. 

I read last week that there are exceptions for Trans-Pacific stops of ships up to 2,800 passengers (I think that was the number?).  I tried to find the article but was unable.  

 

Maybe someone else has the full details of the Tahiti restrictions?

[Markanddonna]

10 hours ago, Princess Cruises Fann said:

What's interesting is that Princess just added a 17-day Honolulu to Auckland that stops at Tahiti and Bora Bora on the Royal Princess on October 2, 2022. 

When I spoke to the Princess agent on Friday, I mentioned the news about Tahiti.  She was shocked and spent some time during our call reading the news site I told her about. 

Booking a cruise like the one on the Royal Princess in 2022 just sets you up for future disappointment. I'm getting so weary of this. I want to go to Australia, New Zealand, French Polynesia, and Israel.  All are off limits to us. The Caribbean just doesn't get my travel juices going.

[Markanddonna]

4 minutes ago, LACruiser88 said:

Maybe someone else has the full details of the Tahiti restrictions?

https://www.cruiseindustrynews.com/cruise-news/25900-islands-of-tahiti-position-to-small-and-medium-sized-cruise-ships.html

[Ombud]

As I've posted before there are numerous Princess ships under the 2500 limit and the rest of the Grand class are under the Transpacific repositioning limit of 3500. IMHO the Grand Class will be kept for just this reason

[Ombud]

3 hours ago, Markanddonna said:

I want to go to Australia, New Zealand, French Polynesia, and Israel. 

Me too. I'm on a March 2023 Sydney to Hong Kong but its on Royal Princess so no French Polynesia. I'll do Israel on my own .... probably 2 weeks by land.  

 

I think that land trips will become more common. JMHO 

 

Edited September 26, 2021 by Ombud