*NEW?* All Guarantee Cabins Non-Refundable?

[Coral]

I have to say when I was playing around with prices at the end of December/first of January - Princess's website was not as obvious about the non-refundable deposit.

 

At least they are putting it out there in bold text now. My guess is it is more difficult to say "I didn't mean to book a non-refundable deposit" anymore.

[PurpleTraveller]

On 3/16/2023 at 3:29 PM, Steelers36 said:

FCD's used for deposits will be returned as FCD's - unless they have expired at the time the cruise booking is cancelled in which case the guest is refunded the $100 to original credit card payment. 

 

I used two FCD's to book a refundable deposit cruise. When I went to cancel the cruise before final payment to rebook the same cruise to get a lower fare I was told that my FCD's had expired. Before I cancelled the cruise I asked if the expiry date could be extended and Princess refused to extend the expiry date as I had already used them. According to them when I cancelled the cruise I forfeited the FCD's and I lost the $200.00 and will not get a refund. I have spoken to Princess a number of times and they are adamant that I will not be refunded the value of the FCD's. I have also emailed them a number of times but have had no response of any kind.

 

Edited March 17, 2023 by PurpleTraveller

[Coral]

18 minutes ago, PurpleTraveller said:

 

I used two FCD's to book a refundable deposit cruise. When I went to cancel the cruise to rebook the same cruise to get a lower fare I was told that my FCD's had expired. Before I cancelled the cruise I asked if the expiry date could be extended and Princess refused to extend the expiry date as I had already used them. According to them when I cancelled the cruise I forfeited the FCD's and I lost the $200.00 and will not get a refund. I have spoken to Princess a number of times and they are adamant that I will not be refunded the value of the FCD's. I have also emailed them a number of times but have had no response of any kind.

 

Not good!

[Coral]

On 3/15/2023 at 11:29 PM, Steelers36 said:

FCD's used for deposits will be returned as FCD's - unless they have expired at the time the cruise booking is cancelled in which case the guest is refunded the $100 to original credit card payment. 

Honestly - I was afraid to risk that with all of the changes Princess has made.

[Steelers36]

27 minutes ago, PurpleTraveller said:

 

I used two FCD's to book a refundable deposit cruise. When I cancelled the cruise to rebook the same cruise to get a lower fare my FCD's had expired a few weeks earlier. Before I cancelled the cruise I asked if the expiry date could be extended and Princess refused to extend the expiry date. According to them I forfeited the FCD's and I lost the $200.00 and will not get a refund. I have spoken to Princess a number of times and they are adamant that I will not be refunded the value of the FCD's. I have also emailed them a number of times but have had no response of any kind.

 

That is one of the most horrible things I have read about Princess lately.  I'd be writing not only Customer Relations, but the President - PLUS Jan Swartz herself.

 

That is just unconscionable.  That is YOUR money and FCD's are always refunded if they expire. 

 

As for refusing to extend the date so you can immediately re-book, this is done all the time and you were smart to realize and ask first.  But whoever at Princess told you the money is lost is obviously so so wrong it hurts me as a fellow customer and shareholder.

 

[PurpleTraveller]

31 minutes ago, Steelers36 said:

That is one of the most horrible things I have read about Princess lately.  I'd be writing not only Customer Relations, but the President - PLUS Jan Swartz herself.

 

That is just unconscionable.  That is YOUR money and FCD's are always refunded if they expire. 

 

As for refusing to extend the date so you can immediately re-book, this is done all the time and you were smart to realize and ask first.  But whoever at Princess told you the money is lost is obviously so so wrong it hurts me as a fellow customer and shareholder.

 

 

I completely agree with you. When I was about to cancel the cruise my planner spoke with his supervisor who told him that nothing could be done to stop me losing my money if I went ahead and cancelled the cruise even though I was rebooking the same cruise. I have spoken to three other customer service representatives who also spoke to their supervisors who came back with refusals to refund my money. As far as Princess is concerned the FCD's became non refundable as soon as I cancelled my cruise because they had expired prior to the cancellation and they could not be refunded because I had used them. I have also sent two emails and have not had any response. The annoying thing is that if I had been told of this possibility when I was initially booking the cruise I would have used other FCD's that I had that expire after the cruise and let the two FCD's that had earlier expiry dates expire and then got a refund. As far as I am concerned the FCD's were my money that I gave to Princess in good faith. To say that I am annoyed and unimpressed would be an understatement. 

 

Edited March 18, 2023 by PurpleTraveller

[Steelers36]

6 minutes ago, PurpleTraveller said:

 

I completely agree with you. When I was about to cancel the cruise my planner spoke with his supervisor who told him that nothing could be done to stop me losing my money if I went ahead and cancelled the cruise even though I was rebooking the same cruise. I have spoken to three other customer service representatives who also spoke to their supervisors who came back with  refusals to refund my money. As far as Princess is concerned the FCD's became non refundable as soon as I cancelled my cruise because they had expired prior to the cancellation and they could not be refunded because I had used them. I have also sent two emails which have been ignored. The annoying thing is that if I had been told of this possibility when I was initially booking the cruise I would have used other FCD's that I had that expire after the cruise and let the two FCD's that had earlier expiry dates expire and then got a refund. Princess does not seem to realise that they are losing long standing customers due to these sorts of decisions. As far as I am concerned the FCD's were my money that I gave to Princess in good faith. To say that I am annoyed and unimpressed would be an understatement. 

 

Still nuts as the FCD is a cash deposit - a refundable deposit.  At the very least - the very least - you were owed the deposit as cash back to you.  

 

[cr8tiv1]

As mentioned many times before, I am so thankful for my TA.  She never lets me book non-refundable deposit cruises.  

 

I sometimes get so excited, I don't read the fine print.  I have learned not to put anything on hold without "her permission/lol.  If I do put something on hold...it never includes money.  

[Coral]

13 minutes ago, cr8tiv1 said:

As mentioned many times before, I am so thankful for my TA.  She never lets me book non-refundable deposit cruises.  

 

I sometimes get so excited, I don't read the fine print.  I have learned not to put anything on hold without "her permission/lol.  If I do put something on hold...it never includes money.  

Me too!

[datone]

If I try to book the same Hawaiian Islands cruise here in Australia we have a choice of 2 prices and the guarantee is cheaper.   However, I looked at the cancellation policy for both types of fares and they are exactly the same.  We are able to get our deposit back for either one as long as we cancel before 29 May.   

[Coral]

1 hour ago, datone said:

If I try to book the same Hawaiian Islands cruise here in Australia we have a choice of 2 prices and the guarantee is cheaper.   However, I looked at the cancellation policy for both types of fares and they are exactly the same.  We are able to get our deposit back for either one as long as we cancel before 29 May.   

My experience wasn't guarantee rooms but lead in categories (lowest category in inside, outside, balcony and mini suites). Most of the time, there are only a few categories in these categories so they are often guarantees. I could book guarantees in other categories at the same price.

 

Things have obviously changed. My experience was December and January. I just went to the same cruise and am seeing guarantees are non-refundable in the US. I am not impressed with changes Princess have made!

 

 

 

Edited March 18, 2023 by Coral

[wannagonow123]

This is not a "Princess" thing, but a CCL thing. Carnival has been offering this type of fare for a while now. A lot of cruising newbies start with Carnival, and of course they want the "perfect location" for their cruise, so they are willing to pay more. WHEN I AM DESCRIBING A TYPICAL CARNIVAL CRUISER, PLEASE DO NOT FEEL I AM DESCRIBING SOMEONE ON THIS BOARD!!! I KNOW THERE ARE A FEW PEOPLE THAT MAY THINK I AM PICKING ON THEIR PREFERANCES, AND I AM NOT. I AM POINTING OUT GENERALITIES. 

 

When you go to the Carnival boards, you will see people looking for recommendations for specific cabins, not general locations. They are willing to pay more, so no guarantees for them. They are not willing to chance getting a cabin on deck 8, rather than deck 9 where all the action is. They are willing to pay #75 dollars extra PP/per sailing to be one of the first on the ship to get their drink quota started. Assigned cabins cost more. The unfortunate thing is when you choose interior rooms like we do, we have to do assigned rooms, and Carnival offers "bunk" style rooms for interior guarantees, and we are too old for those. So I have to "Choose my own". This negates any "free" casino rooms offered, as lately you have to choose a guarantee room for your free room. 

 

Back when, it was almost a given you would be given an upgrade when you booked a "guarantee" room. Not so much anymore. For casino offers, it does not matter so much, as your deposit is not refundable, and if you choose your room, the price is still $0 until you choose to upgrade.

 

This extra charge for choosing your room apparently has done really well with Carnival, so CCL is trickling down to Princess. Wait until they start doing the upsells to get on the ship before Elites and Platinums!!!!!!!

[wowzz]

15 minutes ago, wannagonow123 said:

This extra charge for choosing your room apparently has done really well with Carnival, so CCL is trickling down to Princess.

P&O (UK) have been charging extra to choose your cabin for many years, so hardly a new thing for Carnival. And, of  course, P&O deposits are always non-refundable,  so I would expect Princess to adopt that policy as well in due course. 

[Ombud]

as long as this is clearly posted I have no problem with this. Personally I've always picked the best available cabin. No sense trying to cheapen it & hope that I can snag it later at a few $$s less. In my personal experience that doesn't work. 

 

Also I only book nonrefundable if I'm picking my favorite stateroom on the $1 deposit promo. Don't care if I lose $1 do care if I get a less than optimal room

[startedwithamouse]

31 minutes ago, Ombud said:

as long as this is clearly posted I have no problem with this. Personally I've always picked the best available cabin. No sense trying to cheapen it & hope that I can snag it later at a few $$s less. In my personal experience that doesn't work. 

 

Also I only book nonrefundable if I'm picking my favorite stateroom on the $1 deposit promo. Don't care if I lose $1 do care if I get a less than optimal room

I suspect we won't see $1 deposits for awhile.  On second thought, maybe a few days a year prior to to their shareholders report when they need to inflate their booking numbers.  

[koolforkatz]

2 hours ago, wannagonow123 said:

This extra charge for choosing your room apparently has done really well with Carnival, so CCL is trickling down to Princess. Wait until they start doing the upsells to get on the ship before Elites and Platinums!!!!!!!

 

Holland America is also charging now if you want to choose your own room. 

[startedwithamouse]

Just now, koolforkatz said:

 

Holland America is also charging now if you want to choose your own room. 

Similar to airplane seats?  

[Ombud]

7 minutes ago, startedwithamouse said:

I suspect we won't see $1 deposits for awhile.  On second thought, maybe a few days a year prior to to their shareholders report when they need to inflate their booking numbers.  

I think we'll see them during dead booking times, just not premium booking times like Black Friday / Cyber Monday / Memorial Day / Valentines Day 

[startedwithamouse]

3 minutes ago, Ombud said:

I think we'll see them during dead booking times, just not premium booking times like Black Friday / Cyber Monday / Memorial Day / Valentines Day 

We can hope. On one hand, we like the $1 deposits. On the other, it takes away available inventory until final payment is due when many people don't make final payment.

Edited March 18, 2023 by startedwithamouse

[Ombud]

1 hour ago, startedwithamouse said:

1 hour ago, Ombud said:

I think we'll see them during dead booking times, just not premium booking times like Black Friday / Cyber Monday / Memorial Day / Valentines Day 

We can hope. On one hand, we like the $1 deposits. On the other, it takes away available inventory until final payment is due when many people don't make final payment.

Edited 1 hour ago by startedwithamouse

I must admit I've had to cancel 2× when booked with $1 deposit. But canceled within a week when I couldn't find a sitter for my avatar. I will never use a kennel. My boy wouldn't understand 

[Redwing55]

On 3/16/2023 at 10:15 AM, Ken the cruiser said:

If I might ask, what's the benefit of booking a guaranteed cabin category if there are plenty of cabins in a particular category to choose from? Is it because someone hopes they're going to be upgraded to the next meta category if the category they originally chose gets sold out?

That's why we do it.  We're flexible on cabin location and in the past it seemed like we'd book the lowest GTD and usually got bumped up to a higher cat.  This even happened when a free balc. upgrade was part of the booking.    We'd receive the upgrade cat when we booked.  Then, more often than not, our eventually cabin would be in an even higher cat.  Now, with the bidding exercise, I do wonder if those upgrades may go by the wayside.  Time will tell.  

 

But yes, we book GTD as one can get the lowest fare with a chance to get a higher fared cabin.

[Wishing on a star]

Wow...  first it started with Princess blocking cabins off and therefore making desireable cabins completely un-available to many guests.   When, this should NOT be the case.  

I don't know if the situation with couples, two guests, not being able to book deluxe balconies is any better now or not.  But, that was really bad.

Now this.  Now there is a higher fare to choose a cabin.

WOW.

 

Thinking about the new Sun Princess.   And, Princess will not make any balcony cabin available to us that is not deck 14/15/16.

Nothing lower, at all.

If I can't find a cabin that I might want,  I will not be booking Princess.

Princess, and their business practices like this, and their severe issues and disrespectful customer service are a HUGE problem.   Yes, I meant that to be in all-cap.

 

I don't know if anyone has been able to get Princess to free up a cabin they want so that they can book it.  But, I take any mention of such 'luck' with several grains of salt.   Especially since nobody can ever seem to post any information about how, when, and thru whom that this was done.

 

Edited March 18, 2023 by Wishing on a star

[Wishing on a star]

On 3/16/2023 at 2:40 AM, Familycruzer11 said:

What happens if the cabin type you want isn’t available to choose your own?  Do you have to pick a different one or risk losing deposit? 

BINGO!!!!   See above regarding whole blocks and categories of cabins being 'blocked' and offered as GTY only.

[Wishing on a star]

Also assuming that everyone is seeing the 'given' that if a better rate, or cabin, or promo, or whatever comes along,  Then Princess is making sure that they keep more of your money.

 

We have a booking for a cruise over a year out, with an outside Travel Agency with a discounted rate, and some good OBC.

I don't see a better rate or promo ever coming along.

But, if we had not went ahead and made this booking before this started changing, we would  probably never get a chance to rebook or refare.

 

Of course with all of the cabin blocking and only GTY available, we weren't able to book our first choice of cabin. No lower decks are made available.  But at least it is acceptable, and we aren't locked in with a higher fare or non-refundable deposit.

[Ombud]

20 hours ago, PurpleTraveller said:

I completely agree with you. When I was about to cancel the cruise my planner spoke with his supervisor who told him that nothing could be done to stop me losing my money if I went ahead and cancelled the cruise even though I was rebooking the same cruise. I have spoken to three other customer service representatives who also spoke to their supervisors who came back with refusals to refund my money. As far as Princess is concerned the FCD's became non refundable as soon as I cancelled my cruise because they had expired prior to the cancellation and they could not be refunded because I had used them. I have also sent two emails and have not had any response. The annoying thing is that if I had been told of this possibility when I was initially booking the cruise I would have used other FCD's that I had that expire after the cruise and let the two FCD's that had earlier expiry dates expire and then got a refund. As far as I am concerned the FCD's were my money that I gave to Princess in good faith. To say that I am annoyed and unimpressed would be an understatement. 

Why were you canceling and rebooking rather than refaring??