$100 Excursion Credit for Love Boat Sale not honored unless a higher price paid? Anyone have any experience with this?

[tartana]

My Ta has been on the phone countless times with Princess, and they keep telling her she has to book a different "rate" to get the extra $100 Excursion credit added with the Love Boat Sale.   On the Princess Canadian site (which is all I can see on my computer and devices), it CLEARLY says on the main page the promo includes Princess Plus and the $100 PP Excursion Credit.  She has done our bookings for us in USD for various reasons, and in this case to get the equivalent of the advertised CAD price, they will not include the extra credit.  To change the "rate", it bumps the price up higher than the excursion value.  Does anyone else have any info or suggestions in this situation.  It seems to be the difference in her booking them in US rather than the CAD that I can see online. Just curious.... I, also, tried to call Princess this week with a registration question (one of the questions is again to do with the fact that I'm in Canada and am trying to register a US citizen and it doesn't give me the option anywhere on the website registration to put a US address), and although I didn't have to wait long to be answered, the person was impatient and not at all eager to try to help me. And I have searched high and low online trying to figure it out myself with no luck. It just says to call them.  I, and my TA are Celebrity regulars, so it's been kind of a disappointing, stressful week trying to get 3 different couples booked with Princess...I am just trying to help. 

[PRINCESS Sweet Pea]

YES....  I have posted a little about this earlier here.

In our case, we are not Canadian.  But, we had the cruise booked at a lower rate, that then they tell us that we can not re-book and get the promo.

 

We KNOW that the rate we had booked is still available, and that it can include the $100.,  because we had a TA to actually put a booking on hold.   Princess just lies and tells us this can't be done.  Even though we had a Hold that shows that it can easily be done.

 

I think the Canadian thing might be a factor that you can't get around.  But, there is no way to know for sure unless you can get another person in Canada to make the booking and it includes the $100.

Once you have a booking, I think the system knows this, and will just not offer you those rates.

 

Is your final payment soon?  Have you paid a lot down on your amount?

We weren't able to do anything about our situation, because Princess is kind of holding our payments hostage.  But,  I might be able to help with some info.

 

Do you have to book thru a Canadian TA?

I don't know anything about those requirements.

 

I can say that if you can find a TA that will be able to give you the better rate with the Promo  (some are better at knowing how to do these things) then make the booking, or bookings, thru them.

Edited October 28, 2022 by PRINCESS Sweet Pea

[tartana]

9 minutes ago, PRINCESS Sweet Pea said:

YES....  I have posted a little about this earlier here.

In our case, we are not Canadian.  But, we had the cruise booked at a lower rate, that then they tell us that we can not re-book and get the promo.

 

We KNOW that the rate we had booked is still available, and that it can include the $100.,  because we had a TA to actually put a booking on hold.   Princess just lies and tells us this can't be done.  Even though we had a Hold that shows that it can easily be done.

 

I think the Canadian thing might be a factor that you can't get around.  But, there is no way to know for sure unless you can get another person in Canada to make the booking and it includes the $100.

Once you have a booking, I think the system knows this, and will just not offer you those rates.

 

Is your final payment soon?  Have you paid a lot down on your amount?

We weren't able to do anything about our situation, because Princess is kind of holding our payments hostage.  But,  I might be able to help with some info.

 

Do you have to book thru a Canadian TA?

I don't know anything about those requirements.

 

I can say that if you can find a TA that will be able to give you the better rate with the Promo  (some are better at knowing how to do these things) then make the booking, or bookings, thru them.

I haven't had much luck with any Canadian TA's in the past.  This new one, who can book both US or CAD has been my best bet LOL...Most of my local CAD companies don't honor any of the Cruiseline Promos - just not enough experience around here.  I have always booked with US companies in the past from US websites. - and have had good luck with Celebrity.  Looking back, it probably would have been easier just to book directly with Princess - but there were various issues involved that made it easier to use a TA 

Edited October 28, 2022 by tartana
spelling

[cruzsnooze]

Can you cancel and rebook? You'd have to be before final payment.

[Steelers36]

14 minutes ago, tartana said:

I haven't had much luck with any Canadian TA's in the past.  This new one, who can book both US or CAD has been my best bet LOL...Most of my local CAD companies don't honor any of the Cruiseline Promos - just not enough experience around here.  I have always booked with US companies in the past from US websites. - and have had good luck with Celebrity.  Looking back, it probably would have been easier just to book directly with Princess - but there were various issues involved that made it easier to use a TA 

Forget booking with a Canadian TA.  I don't think any of them discount the cruise fare. 

 

Also, the $100 OBC has no bearing if booking in USD or CAD.  Otherwise, not sure why you are having issue getting it.  Find a third-party website (usually an agency) that has a booking engine where you can enter your info and get fare quotes.  The good ones show you ALL eligible fares when you enter your Name, Birthdate, and Captain Circle number.  You should also be able to see the 3-character fare code - or promo code - associated with the quote.  You can use that info to provide your TA or Princess Rep and tell them to use that fare code.

 

Princess.com should show you your best eligible fare when logged in - but it doesn't do that 100% of the time.  Princess.com does not show you the fare code being used, generally, but you can often find out the fare code for each sales promo they have. 

 

I can't say much more without providing you actual websites and not allowed as it indicates an agency name.  That said, even our national flag carrier vacation site can help you find fare codes (but that's as far as I would go with them).

 

[lenetere]

I had the exact thing happen to me.  My TA is dogged in pursuing these things for me, and she said she had NO luck with Princess.  I'm hoping a Black Friday sale takes care of this annoyance!

[tartana]

30 minutes ago, Steelers36 said:

 

 

I can't say much more without providing you actual websites and not allowed as it indicates an agency name.  That said, even our national flag carrier vacation site can help you find fare codes (but that's as far as I would go with them).

 

thanks for the tips - I checked our national site....says to call an agent LOL...of course!  I have never had good luck with Canadian sites. I even originally priced this same cruise with a Princess agent and a reliable US site, and to get all the perks, it was the higher price in USD.  My own TA said to get the lower price, she had to price the Resident Rate with Princess Plus....but if she booked the Love Boat Rate, it made the price higher in USD. And she has the codes.  I keep wondering if there's any chance the Exc. Credit will be added by Princess at a later date and just doesn't show on the bookings???....BTW, this cruise is several months out to final payment, so I, too, will be watching for the November deals for repricing.  

[Shelly97060]

The issue could be that this sale states that it is for new bookings only, so in order to get the promo your TA likely needs to cancel and rebook you. They can create a new booking for you to verify if that would save you money ( not all sales do) and  tell you what the new price would be.  If you like the new price you can cancel the original booking and keep the new one.  
 

[Ombud]

My CVP added it to 3 of my 4 bookings & lowered the price on those. 4th one left alone as it is 2024 & significantly less than anything out there (redeployment)

 

So it's not new bookings only

[bafinegan]

Our PCP rebooked us under this promo and got us the excursion credit as well as the price drop from what we had prev booked.  Somehow, she managed to keep the other promos too.  The difference from the price drop was refunded within a week.  The other couple also got the same.  We were paid in full and the other couple just had their outstanding balance reduced.

Edited October 29, 2022 by bafinegan

[Coral]

I know when speaking with my agent - there were 15 different rate codes for a sailing I was going on. Each one had different prices, different offers, different OBC, etc...

 

Yes - sometimes if you pay more, you get more. Sometimes it pays to take a cheaper rate and not have any promo. This is not new.

 

If you can get the rate and promo you want direct from Princess - lock it in and transfer it to your agent.

 

 

[PRINCESS Sweet Pea]

Yes, this is what I understand about the many different 'Rate Codes'.

This seems to be the bottom line.

If you don't have a TA or Princess Planner who is willing to go to bat for you,  you are just plain out of luck.

Again,  we KNOW that we can keep the lower rate we had, and get the $100. promo.  

We had put an actual Hold on the cruise with a TA with one of the biggest online travel/cruse agencies.  So we know this can easily be done.

 

But, Princess will not make this right.   They were kind of holding our payments hostage, so that we couldn't cancel and book the hold.  We have sailed Princess before, and I am looking forward to being on the Regal.  But, I no longer have any respect for them as a company doing business.  No respect or loyalty at all.

 

That, along with the fact that we are told to contact our Princess Planner, and we gave up on that after weeks and weeks of getting no response, at all.  Just dead air.

 

 

Edited October 29, 2022 by PRINCESS Sweet Pea