Question About Re-faring

[JimmyVWine]

When a sale offer says that the promotion is for "New Bookings Only" and the ship is showing that there are many, many cabins still available, in your experience will Princess re-fare for a customer who has already booked or do they really force you to cancel, get a refund, and re-book?  What have you experienced?

[AZaTaz]

1 minute ago, JimmyVWine said:

When a sale offer says that the promotion is for "New Bookings Only" and the ship is showing that there are many, many cabins still available, in your experience will Princess re-fare for a customer who has already booked or do they really force you to cancel, get a refund, and re-book?  What have you experienced?

In the last 6 months or so they have made me cancel and rebook if it said new bookings. 

[Cruise Raider]

If it’s past final payment, I’ve found they only allow you to book if you book a higher priced cabin or fare.  My CVP will usually get it rebooked for us if not past final payment.  

[Wishing on a star]

They have announced the new Best Price Guarantee policy.

I have not looked into the details.

I think it means that a booking can be re-fared up until final payment date.

I am not sure if the "New Booking Only' fares are excluded from this or not.

Not sure if it only applies to bookings made after this was announced and/or goes into effect?

Might not apply to bookings made prior to this?

Good luck finding out and getting re-fared!

Might have to call your TA or Princess Planner, or somebody????

Edited Monday at 07:54 PM by Wishing on a star

[JimmyVWine]

5 minutes ago, Wishing on a star said:

They have announced the new Best Price Guarantee policy.

I have not looked into the details.

I think it means that a booking can be re-fared up until final payment date.

Not sure if it only applies to bookings made after this was announced and/or goes into effect?

Might not apply to bookings made prior to this?

Good luck finding out and getting re-fared!

Might have to call your TA or Princess Planner, or somebody????

I sent an email with a screenshot of the new fare to my Princess Planner and will report back.  It will be interesting to see how the Best Price Guarantee works in my situation, as I booked a cabin for 3 people.  The "new" price is actually MORE for Guests 1 and 2 (by a little) but the price for Guest 3 went from $999 to $0 so the net savings to me would be $901.  Guests 1 and 2 DID get a better price at the time of the original booking.  The savings all flow from the "3 and 4 Sail Free" promo.  I pleaded with my Planner that it would be really complicated to cancel, put a couple thousand back onto Gift Cards, and then re-book.  We will see what happens.  And this is NOT after the final payment date.  Final Payment is over a year and a half away!

Edited Monday at 07:59 PM by JimmyVWine

[Wishing on a star]

Yes, complicated!!!

The thing is, Princess has has the 3rd and 4th person FREE going on, almost all the time, for quite a while now.  So, if this applies to your sailing, could be the regular Princess Pricing, and not just 'New Bookings Only'....   This sounds like you should be able to re-fare, this far in advance, it doesn't seem like they would have a Drop-&-Go for New Bookings Only type of fare.

Good Luck!

[startedwithamouse]

55 minutes ago, JimmyVWine said:

When a sale offer says that the promotion is for "New Bookings Only" and the ship is showing that there are many, many cabins still available, in your experience will Princess re-fare for a customer who has already booked or do they really force you to cancel, get a refund, and re-book?  What have you experienced?

Cancel and rebook. 

[startedwithamouse]

15 minutes ago, JimmyVWine said:

I sent an email with a screenshot of the new fare to my Princess Planner and will report back.  It will be interesting to see how the Best Price Guarantee works in my situation, as I booked a cabin for 3 people.  The "new" price is actually MORE for Guests 1 and 2 (by a little) but the price for Guest 3 went from $999 to $0 so the net savings to me would be $901.  Guests 1 and 2 DID get a better price at the time of the original booking.  The savings all flow from the "3 and 4 Sail Free" promo.  I pleaded with my Planner that it would be really complicated to cancel, put a couple thousand back onto Gift Cards, and then re-book.  We will see what happens.  And this is NOT after the final payment date.  Final Payment is over a year and a half away!

Yeah, the new "average price per person" with guests 3 and 4 free is tricky.

 

Looks like they've raised the prices for guests 1 and 2. 

[AZaTaz]

11 minutes ago, startedwithamouse said:

Yeah, the new "average price per person" with guests 3 and 4 free is tricky.

 

Looks like they've raised the prices for guests 1 and 2. 

Yes I have been check all of my future cruise and all of them are $50 p/p or more higher. 

[JimmyVWine]

36 minutes ago, Wishing on a star said:

could be the regular Princess Pricing, and not just 'New Bookings Only

No.  The cruise now has the new sale banner on it with the 40% off and 3 and 4 sail free stuff, and the terms and conditions say "New Bookings."  But I will check out whether the guarantee does anything for me. 

[d9704011]

1 hour ago, JimmyVWine said:

When a sale offer says that the promotion is for "New Bookings Only" and the ship is showing that there are many, many cabins still available, in your experience will Princess re-fare for a customer who has already booked or do they really force you to cancel, get a refund, and re-book?  What have you experienced?

 Did this on Friday evening to save about CAD 360.  I had to cancel and rebook the same cabin.  A little time consuming but, really, painless enough for the savings.

[JimmyVWine]

36 minutes ago, startedwithamouse said:

Cancel and rebook. 

I will if I have to.  But I used so many Gift Cards so far that that will be a headache.

[Thrak]

22 minutes ago, JimmyVWine said:

I will if I have to.  But I used so many Gift Cards so far that that will be a headache.

 

it's idiotic that they don't just do a re-fare. It works out the same in the end. The few (very few) times we have had price drops we got it done as refares. In one case we had two segments of a multi-segment cruise go down and we refared for a substantial saving. We had paid "real" deposits and the refares used FCD. Between the price drops and the OBC from the FCD and the OBC from the new offer we came out waaaaaaaaaaaaay ahead so the refare was well worth the effort. I had our TA take care of it and I'm sure he got them to "see the light" and just refare rather than cancel and rebook. (We paid for these cruise segments and 4 others using Gift Cards so it could have been a super hassle.)

 

Result of the refares: $1,135.86 price reductions. $1,000 returned deposits. $650 additional OBC. If you deduct the $200 we paid for the FCD we used we came out $2,585.86 ahead. We were able to keep the same cabin assignments.

 

[arles7]

I just rebooked for the first time.  I have always booked new cruises within the 90 days and so never had the "fun" of rebooking to get a lower price.  I just booked a new cruise, choosing the cabin next door and saved about $400.  And then called and cancelled previous booking.

 

One thing I noticed is that adding the Plus package at booking changes the deposit.  Without the package the deposit was $99, but if adding the Plus package the deposit went up to $400.  I guess there is no way around having to front Princess the cash by adding a package.

 

All in all, about 30 minutes of my time to cancel and rebook, but I saved $400...

[devonuk]

2 hours ago, JimmyVWine said:

When a sale offer says that the promotion is for "New Bookings Only" and the ship is showing that there are many, many cabins still available, in your experience will Princess re-fare for a customer who has already booked or do they really force you to cancel, get a refund, and re-book?  What have you experienced?

I did this recently and saved a lot of £££’s and got a better cabin because of the unusually bigger balcony. Just called Princess and said I was considering cancelling due to a BIG price drop. Ended up paying £100 admin fee to ‘hold’ the new cabin, cancel the old one and then book the new one. I then paid the new price on the due date. Simples 😀

[Italy52]

I did a re-fare with my TA today.  We originally had an inside cabin and wanted to upgrade to a balcony cabin.  Told my TA about the Love Boat Sale and she was able to re-fare with no problem.  I asked if I needed to cancel my original booking and then initiate a new one to get the sale price and she advised me I did not need to do that.  The only glitch we encountered was my husband's military OBC was not transferred over from the original booking to the re-fare booking. Princess corrected the issue as soon as my TA brought it to the agent's attention.  My advice if you re-fare your booking is to take a moment to make sure all your credits are transferred to your new booking. Saved some money and was happy that I checked with my TA.

[PacnGoNow]

Your CVP should be able to do this for you.  Let us know how it works out.  

[Arizona Wildcat]

I have my TA handle it.  Simple email for me.  They seem to simply be able to reference.  I cannot do it that way.

[JimmyVWine]

20 hours ago, PacnGoNow said:

Your CVP should be able to do this for you.  Let us know how it works out.  

You are correct, and he did.  Just got off the phone with him.  It DID require a technical cancellation and new booking, so I have a new Booking Number.  And he did have to take a new $300 deposit from me because even though he said that he can work behind the scenes to move my prior down payment and gift card payments over to my new booking, understandably that would take some time, and to ensure that I kept my same cabin, he needed a new payment on the phone to lock in the transaction.  So when (and I assume it is "when" and not "if" he is able to move the money I already paid over to the new booking), I will have saved $901.  

[JimmyVWine]

I just checked and all my payments have moved over. All's well that ends well.  Thank you Princess and thank you Princess Vacation Planner whose name I cannot mention.

[SDWalt]

Hi-

I saved tons by contacting my CVP for an upcoming AUS/NZ cruise in Jan 2026.  Emailed her the details of the price change from what I booked at and she called me the next day to discuss.  She was able to adjust fare without rebooking.  Saved over $3K each for a 14 day cruise in a suite!

So try contacting your CVP.

Walt

[BamaVol]

Dammit. My only future booking has gone up $24. I want in on all this fun. 

[JimmyVWine]

23 hours ago, Thrak said:

it's idiotic that they don't just do a re-fare.

FWIW, off the record my PVP agrees.  He said that they had a brand new system that should move payments over seamlessly, and if so, the only thing that the "new bookings only" accomplishes is giving people new Booking Numbers which is pointless.  However, he said that if the new system didn't work as advertised, he would have to take my 15 $50 Gift Cards and recharge them one at a time, and then use each one to pay for the new fare, one at a time.  Thankfully the new system must have worked because the switchover was pretty instantaneous.  

[JimmyVWine]

I suppose there might be a positive unintended consequence to the way they are forcing cancellations and re-bookings.  My booking (which I originally made in May) now carries forward as a new booking made today, and since it is after July 1, I would qualify for the Best Price Guarantee and 120% of the price difference in OBC if the price ever falls below what I paid today.  

[SCX22]

From reading this, I think it depends on your CVPs experience. 

 

The CVP I work with has been able to refare without cancelling and rebooking.  In addition, said CVP been able to keep my promotional OBC (which was offered on the original fare booked), any shore excursions I pre-booked using said OBC, and flights.  I also book the lowest location category with a non-refundable deposit, so cancelling and re-booking isn't an option without loosing the deposit.  Said CVP is amazing and the best.