Refare with new sale

[ihopfar]

Good Morning,

 

I have a cruise booked for next summer under "best price" (i.e. not princess plus) and am hoping to take advantage of the latest sale, but keep best price.

 

• No cabins in my category (BB) are available.  But, with the current promotion of free upgrade, a BB would be priced the same as a BF.  Normally, I know it is hard to refare if cabins are sold out, but does this make it easier?
• I have EZAIR flights booked for this trip (international).   Will I be able to keep my easier flights/price or will I need to rebook?   The fares are higher now.

 

I am booked through a TA and would like to know if these things are possible before I reach out.

 

Thanks!

Brad

[voljeep]

*deleted thought*

[dog]

You need to call your TA. 

[ihopfar]

2 hours ago, dog said:

You need to call your TA. 

Of course.  I am just wondering other folks experience to know if it is even worth the call and how hard I should push back if he says it is not doable.

 

Thanks!

Brad

 

 

[deliver42]

That's the reason you use a TA. If you can't trust him to know the answer, then you have the wrong TA.

[Moondogy]

I don't know what you're first rate included, but I received on board credit when I first booked. While the fare is now $20 cheaper per person, there is no longer OBC being offered. Meaning the fare would actually be higher. 

[Steelers36]

11 hours ago, ihopfar said:

Good Morning,

 

I have a cruise booked for next summer under "best price" (i.e. not princess plus) and am hoping to take advantage of the latest sale, but keep best price.

 

• No cabins in my category (BB) are available.  But, with the current promotion of free upgrade, a BB would be priced the same as a BF.  Normally, I know it is hard to refare if cabins are sold out, but does this make it easier?
• I have EZAIR flights booked for this trip (international).   Will I be able to keep my easier flights/price or will I need to rebook?   The fares are higher now.

 

I am booked through a TA and would like to know if these things are possible before I reach out.

 

Thanks!

Brad

This is what I think you face.  It would help to know your fare code, but probably doesn't matter much.

 

If you change to B.S.E., you can book at the BF rate, but you will have to select another available Balcony category.  You can cancel and see if your cabin returns to inventory, but not very likely if they have been sold out for a while.  There will be GTY's in BB waiting on cabin assignments as well.  Princess system won't necessarily release your specific cabin back into the pool.  

 

As for EZ-Air, if they do a cancel/re-book, you will lose the EZ-Air reservation.  You must discuss with TA first and they need to know when making the change (or having a Princess agent do it for them), that your air reservations must be preserved.  It's all about the math as well.  Is the now-higher airfare difference more than what you will save on the cabin (allowing for a free SD credit)?  Did you have any OBC from before you stand to lose?

 

Things can work for you if the TA can arrange or do a re-fare using same booking and not losing the air.  Probably not so good if they insist it's a cancel/re-book.

[bjkTX]

I had thought about doing another refare but after losing $170 in OBC it wouldn't be worth the hassle to get a free SD 🙂

[Shelly97060]

@ihopfar you should reach out to your TA. They are in the best position to evaluate your existing fare ( including any perks or penalties like non-refundable deposit) and the current promo.  In short they can help you do the math to make sure the new fare benefits you overall. 

 

 If you decide the new fare is beneficial to you, the refare you describe is very possible. However you may not be able to keep your current cabin if the category is sold out. You may need to be moved to a different cabin category. Hopefully your TA can get your existing cabin back later if it goes back into open inventory but you may not get it back; that’s a risk.
 

Since you are refaring to a different promo rather than cancelling and rebooking your EZair should not be effected.

Contact your TA

[dog]

I’m in process of refaring current booking for September 2022. Just got a casino rate- $500 pp less then I booked at, but deposit is twice as much. 
so I will be on the phone again. 

Edited December 16, 2021 by dog

[ihopfar]

Thanks everyone. 

 

I called my TA, who after checking with Princess, said without any BB cabins available they could not refare me and have me keep my cabin.  The best he could do was a BC cabin -- but there are no good locations for those.  

 

I'll keep watching to see if any BB cabins open up!

 

Thanks!

Brad

[StLouisCruisers]

1 hour ago, ihopfar said:

Thanks everyone. 

 

I called my TA, who after checking with Princess, said without any BB cabins available they could not refare me and have me keep my cabin.  The best he could do was a BC cabin -- but there are no good locations for those.  

 

I'll keep watching to see if any BB cabins open up!

 

Thanks!

Brad

 

You're doing the right thing by watching to see if any BB cabins open up.  Just remember they could be on another deck from your booking.  Just click on other cabins on different decks to see if any show up.

 

I emailed my agent yesterday to see if she'd check our June cruise because when I did a dummy booking it showed a significant decrease in price.  The B2B July cruise showed an increase in price.  Today she let me know she refared our June booking at the lower price, same booking number, same cabin, no problem with the Princess air and all the same perks we had originally were offered on this sale as well.  We only lost $200 in OBC and ended up saving nearly $2300, more than I thought I would.  Hope it all works out for you!