Will Princess Adjust the Fare if Prices go Down?

[Ando]

You lucky people getting your cruise price lowered. For us Australians booking Princess, we generally pay brochure price and price trends are not passed onto us. For our upcoming Crown cruises, the price we bought at in October is what I had to pay on final payment last week. NOT RIGHT ! I think I have paid my auto tips to Princess already by paying brochure price!

 

If you visit the Onboard Cruise Sales Consultant and get a Future Cruise Sales letter each time you take a cruise, on your next booking your deposit is fully refundable in Australia up until the time of final payment (you also get extra onboard credits and you can change to a different sailing once and retain all these benefits for the new cruise).

 

So I happily book a cruise at the current rate and keep an eye out to see if the price decreases. If so call Princess (or your TA) and they will either drop the price on your exisiting booking or cancel that one and do a new booking on the lower fare without any penalty. BTW, there is no cost or deposit payable for Aussies on Princess International ships for the Future Cruise Sales Letter, and it is valid for 4 years from the date of issue.

 

You almost get treated like an American :eek:

 

Cheers

Andrew

[windsor26]

Help How can I find out reductions personally. If I try to go into Princess USA site it automatically bumps me to australia site. I booked via USA in US$ as it was several thousand dollars cheaper but cannot find whether the prices are going down or not and the site showes AUD. I have a B2B fll-manaus-FLL 27th Feb and 13th March 2010 and have booked a BA balcony room on deck 7. if I look on Ta's sites I cannot find the previously cruised price and over 55 discount to check my corrrect up to date costs

 

Any suggestions??? Thanks Yvonne

[windsor26]

If you visit the Onboard Cruise Sales Consultant and get a Future Cruise Sales letter each time you take a cruise, on your next booking your deposit is fully refundable in Australia up until the time of final payment (you also get extra onboard credits and you can change to a different sailing once and retain all these benefits for the new cruise).

 

So I happily book a cruise at the current rate and keep an eye out to see if the price decreases. If so call Princess (or your TA) and they will either drop the price on your exisiting booking or cancel that one and do a new booking on the lower fare without any penalty. BTW, there is no cost or deposit payable for Aussies on Princess International ships for the Future Cruise Sales Letter, and it is valid for 4 years from the date of issue.

 

You almost get treated like an American :eek:

 

Cheers

Andrew

 

NOT QUITE RIGHT I had 2 FCC letters as I wanted to book B2B FLL-Manuas-FLL This cruise was not available to the Australian agents so I booked via a USA TA and Princess refused to honour the letters in respect of the lower deposit and the on board credit as I had not booked through an australian agent - who did not have the cruises for 2010. I am still waiting for a reply from the CEO who has not acknowledged either of my e-mails sent directly to him about this dishonouring of their promise.

Nowhere on the letters does it say we had to use an australian agent dont think it will always work - I had previously used a FCC letter for a NZ cruise but that was available in australia

[bethandterry]

I am about to consider another cruise with Princess after booking August 2008 for Jan 09 and ask for a down grade of a cabin after the fares started to drop and was charge 800.00 extra, then after paying full amount the cabins were advertised cheaper for a balcony then what I ended up paying for a inside cabin end of story ended up with a outside up grade, have no idea how we got that which was smoke ridden and was moved two days later, to a balcony, three cabins down from the original booking so all was wonderful had a great cruise and we are now thinking of doing a South America on the Star Princess any feed back please.

[flamomo]

I don't mean to be rude, but the above entire post is written like one very lengthy sentence, and I am having a hard time understanding what the poster is saying.

[bethandterry]

Sorry you didn`t understand my story.

[Daniel1313]

I don't mean to be rude, but the above entire post is written like one very lengthy sentence, and I am having a hard time understanding what the poster is saying.

I don't think a rocket scientist could understand what they were trying to say...

[Ando]

NOT QUITE RIGHT I had 2 FCC letters as I wanted to book B2B FLL-Manuas-FLL This cruise was not available to the Australian agents so I booked via a USA TA and Princess refused to honour the letters in respect of the lower deposit and the on board credit as I had not booked through an australian agent - who did not have the cruises for 2010. I am still waiting for a reply from the CEO who has not acknowledged either of my e-mails sent directly to him about this dishonouring of their promise.

Nowhere on the letters does it say we had to use an australian agent dont think it will always work - I had previously used a FCC letter for a NZ cruise but that was available in australia

 

What I said is right as it related to the issue of booking Princess Cruises through Princess Australia as an Australian passenger.

 

What you are talking about is a different issue, and one that I have experienced. If you book through the US you have to purchase your FCC under the US system, which is different to the Australian system ie. you have to pay a deposit at the time of obtaining the FCC which is then applied to your next Princess US reservation.

 

As you have discovered you can not use an Australian FCC for a US booking, and vice versa. When you travel on this US booking you can purchase the US FCC for future US bookings. I have both US & Australia FCC's and use the appropriate one depending upon which country my booking goes through.

 

You are probably aware that Princess don't technically "allow" Australians to book via the US. They operate in the 2 markets very differently - different pricing structure, cancellation conditions, FFC policy, and of course until recently we weren't even acknowledged as real Captains Circle members :mad: Whilst it is a great source of frustration to all Aussies, that's they way they are at the moment...hopefully it will change:confused:

 

Anyhow, do let us know if they honour your AU FCC for the US booking.

[Ando]

Help How can I find out reductions personally. If I try to go into Princess USA site it automatically bumps me to australia site. I booked via USA in US$ as it was several thousand dollars cheaper but cannot find whether the prices are going down or not and the site showes AUD. I have a B2B fll-manaus-FLL 27th Feb and 13th March 2010 and have booked a BA balcony room on deck 7. if I look on Ta's sites I cannot find the previously cruised price and over 55 discount to check my corrrect up to date costs

 

Any suggestions??? Thanks Yvonne

 

Hi Yvonne,

 

You can use a program that changes your IP address to a US one and you will then be able to access the Princess US website. They cost about $20 to buy, or you may even be able to find a free one by searching on Google - I haven't checked for a while.

 

Check out http://www.change-ip-address.com/

 

Cheers

Andrew

[dawcruiser]

What I said is right as it related to the issue of booking Princess Cruises through Princess Australia as an Australian passenger.

 

What you are talking about is a different issue, and one that I have experienced. If you book through the US you have to purchase your FCC under the US system, which is different to the Australian system ie. you have to pay a deposit at the time of obtaining the FCC which is then applied to your next Princess US reservation.

 

As you have discovered you can not use an Australian FCC for a US booking, and vice versa. When you travel on this US booking you can purchase the US FCC for future US bookings. I have both US & Australia FCC's and use the appropriate one depending upon which country my booking goes through.

 

You are probably aware that Princess don't technically "allow" Australians to book via the US. They operate in the 2 markets very differently - different pricing structure, cancellation conditions, FFC policy, and of course until recently we weren't even acknowledged as real Captains Circle members :mad: Whilst it is a great source of frustration to all Aussies, that's they way they are at the moment...hopefully it will change:confused:

 

Anyhow, do let us know if they honour your AU FCC for the US booking.

 

 

I am wondering what does FCC mean and how does it work?

 

Don

[Toto2Kansas]

Many threads on this subject (FCC=Future Cruise Credit). This one should explain fully what an FCC is and how it is purchased and used.

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=957708&highlight=what+fcc

[NSWP]

If you visit the Onboard Cruise Sales Consultant and get a Future Cruise Sales letter each time you take a cruise, on your next booking your deposit is fully refundable in Australia up until the time of final payment (you also get extra onboard credits and you can change to a different sailing once and retain all these benefits for the new cruise).

 

So I happily book a cruise at the current rate and keep an eye out to see if the price decreases. If so call Princess (or your TA) and they will either drop the price on your exisiting booking or cancel that one and do a new booking on the lower fare without any penalty. BTW, there is no cost or deposit payable for Aussies on Princess International ships for the Future Cruise Sales Letter, and it is valid for 4 years from the date of issue.

 

You almost get treated like an American :eek:

 

### ANDO, tried getting a reduction with our big on line Aussie T/A and Princess direct, no reduction they said, prices firm for Aussies, even though I pointed out Americans were being offerred 2 for 1 on our B2B's.

We also had FCC letters for both cruises. Maybe it was because I got 20% off both cruises with Princess goodwill letters following issues with our Sun Princess cruise around OZ last year. ###

 

Ah well, it will work out in the long run, plenty of BYO vino for us on this trip and if the service is not to our expectations....:o I will not say that word Automatic Wage Subsidy.:mad:

[mpk]

But here is something interesting: we received a email from Princess last week saying we had been upgraded. At the bottom of the email was the notice that if we did NOT want to upgrade, we had to contact Princess within 48 hours of the email.

 

I wondered why they would do that - then someone said that allows Princess to keep from giving you a refund at that time IF you accept the upgrade. Not sure if this is correct - but I would probably accept the upgrade over the bucks (if any).

 

I'm not sure about that one. I suppose it's possible though.

 

I've gotten upgraded during the high demand years, when cruise fares did not fall. I always took the "do not upgrade me" option as something for groups traveling together, where the cabins were carefully chose to be close to each other.