JulesNJ Posted August 7, 2009 #1 Share Posted August 7, 2009 Hi everyone! So my soon-to-be-husband and I are taking our first cruise for our honeymoon on Aug 13th. I just got a notification from Princess about our cruise and I was wondering if the expert cruisers among us can tell me if this is standard practice - my impression is that they are trying to get people to switch from our cruise on the CB (from Brookyln) to another ship - the Island Princess departing Oct. 1. The notice states that those in category AA-AE on the CB have a great opportunity to move to the Island Princess departing Oct. 1. If they elect to do this, they get the 2nd passenger cruise fare free, upgrade to a full suite, they will cover air change fee up to $150 per person and any travel agencies involved will get $50. I was just curious as to why Princess would want to get people to switch from my cruise and onto another or is this just standard practice? Any ideas? Thanks everyone! We are not switching as this is our honeymoon, but I am ever so curious!:D Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Toto2Kansas Posted August 7, 2009 #2 Share Posted August 7, 2009 It is common practice for Princess to overbook cruises. They count on so many cancelling and when that doesn't happen, they make generous offers to move to a different sailing. Upgrades, shipboard credits, airline change fees, they sometimes make the offer too good to turn down if your plans are flexible. You don't have to accept the offer if you don't want to, they will find someone who will, and if not, they will keep upping the offer until they do. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
donna5 Posted August 7, 2009 #3 Share Posted August 7, 2009 Hi everyone! So my soon-to-be-husband and I are taking our first cruise for our honeymoon on Aug 13th. I just got a notification from Princess about our cruise and I was wondering if the expert cruisers among us can tell me if this is standard practice - my impression is that they are trying to get people to switch from our cruise on the CB (from Brookyln) to another ship - the Island Princess departing Oct. 1. The notice states that those in category AA-AE on the CB have a great opportunity to move to the Island Princess departing Oct. 1. If they elect to do this, they get the 2nd passenger cruise fare free, upgrade to a full suite, they will cover air change fee up to $150 per person and any travel agencies involved will get $50. I was just curious as to why Princess would want to get people to switch from my cruise and onto another or is this just standard practice? Any ideas? Thanks everyone! We are not switching as this is our honeymoon, but I am ever so curious!:D Probably oversold. If you are getting upgrade to a full suite hope you take advantage of it. The difference will be the amenities that the ship offers onboard, so if there was something or the itinerary on the other ship you wanted make sure you are getting what you want and enjoy. (Unless your just reporting back here to brag and make the rest of us jealous.0 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
beckcab Posted August 7, 2009 #4 Share Posted August 7, 2009 We are also on the August 13 cruise and got a rollover offer on Monday. We didn't think the offer was that attractive so we turned it down. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JulesNJ Posted August 7, 2009 Author #5 Share Posted August 7, 2009 Probably oversold. If you are getting upgrade to a full suite hope you take advantage of it. The difference will be the amenities that the ship offers onboard, so if there was something or the itinerary on the other ship you wanted make sure you are getting what you want and enjoy. (Unless your just reporting back here to brag and make the rest of us jealous.0 haha no bragging here, we could not afford a suite, but we did get upgraded already since we booked. We started off with a cat AE and now we are Cat AA/cabin D423. Honestly I don't know what any of this means, we have never been on a cruise before :o I believe that is just a standard room with a balcony? Thanks for explaining the overbooking thing..makes sense! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Toto2Kansas Posted August 7, 2009 #6 Share Posted August 7, 2009 haha no bragging here, we could not afford a suite, but we did get upgraded already since we booked. We started off with a cat AE and now we are Cat AA/cabin D423. Honestly I don't know what any of this means, we have never been on a cruise before :o I believe that is just a standard room with a balcony? Thanks for explaining the overbooking thing..makes sense! Actually, you have a mini suite booked. Which will be nicer for you than a standard balcony cabin. AA-AB-AC-AD and AE are all mini suite catgories, and really the only difference in them is location and if the balcony has an overhang or not. Minis will give you a sitting area, two TV's, a larger bathroom with full sized shower/tub combination. They are quite comfortable. Your balcony will measure 9X7 feet and will be uncovered with a table, two chairs and two semi reclining chairs. Enjoy your honeymoon! And congraulations! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RickEk Posted August 7, 2009 #7 Share Posted August 7, 2009 haha no bragging here, we could not afford a suite, but we did get upgraded already since we booked. We started off with a cat AE and now we are Cat AA/cabin D423. Honestly I don't know what any of this means, we have never been on a cruise before :o I believe that is just a standard room with a balcony? Thanks for explaining the overbooking thing..makes sense! Wow, nice upgrade to the mini-suite... but I'd seriously consider taking their offer for a suite on the Island Princess. She's a smaller (and IMHO, a better ship) and you'll be doing the Panama Canal partial transit. I'd take the moveover in a "New York minute"! :) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
georoc01 Posted August 7, 2009 #8 Share Posted August 7, 2009 I had two offers on my last cruise. First was one as you described. The next one was for a free cruise. The only problem is that the dates they provided were during a time period I couldn't go due to work and We were getting ready to leave the next day to spend some time in Alaska prior to the cruise. Given that the weather was perfect during our cruise, going a month a later I doubt would have been as good. The suite would have been nice, but being able to use the outdoor pools on an Alaska cruise has an advantage too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JulesNJ Posted August 7, 2009 Author #9 Share Posted August 7, 2009 Actually, you have a mini suite booked. Which will be nicer for you than a standard balcony cabin. AA-AB-AC-AD and AE are all mini suite catgories, and really the only difference in them is location and if the balcony has an overhang or not. Minis will give you a sitting area, two TV's, a larger bathroom with full sized shower/tub combination. They are quite comfortable. Your balcony will measure 9X7 feet and will be uncovered with a table, two chairs and two semi reclining chairs. Enjoy your honeymoon! And congraulations! A mini suite you say? That does sound nice! I am so excited! RickEK - no way are we switching at this point haha. We are getting married on Sunday and this is our honeymoon cruise - we have been saving our $ for a long time and waiting far too long for this holiday LOL. But I will check out the Island Princess for a future cruise! Although this one will be our first, I have a feeling we will be hooked on cruising LOL Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RickEk Posted August 7, 2009 #10 Share Posted August 7, 2009 A mini suite you say? That does sound nice! I am so excited! RickEK - no way are we switching at this point haha. We are getting married on Sunday and this is our honeymoon cruise - we have been saving our $ for a long time and waiting far too long for this holiday LOL. But I will check out the Island Princess for a future cruise! Although this one will be our first, I have a feeling we will be hooked on cruising LOL Allrighty! Enjoy your honeymoon! :):D Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Colo Cruiser Posted August 7, 2009 #11 Share Posted August 7, 2009 Not probably. It is oversold otherwise they would not send the notification. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cruisin' Chick Posted August 7, 2009 #12 Share Posted August 7, 2009 The day before our first Princess cruise we got a message on our answering machine telling us that our cruise was overbooked. We will still have our cabin, but if we were willing to delay our cruise for a few weeks, we could have our entire fare refunded and get an upgrade to a balcony (we had the lowest category inside cabin). If interested, there was a phone number to call; else, don't worry and enjoy the cruise. We didn't bother with this offer due to various reasons, including we were packed and ready to go (we needed to only drive the 50 miles to the port), even had our girl's kindergarten homework. Besides we weren't interested in a balcony (not with an active 5-yr-old....believe it or not, in a few hours, she turns 12!). And we had gotten an employee discount, so the three of us were basically going for the price of one (not including fees, etc.). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gerig Posted August 7, 2009 #13 Share Posted August 7, 2009 Not probably. It is oversold otherwise they would not send the notification. Yes I'm still waiting for a cabin assignment. My entire family is going on this cruise to celebrate my mother's 80th birthday. There are five couples waiting for AE guaranty cabin assignments. Those of you that may be interested hold out as I read a prior poster received a free CB cruise for next summer and about $1200 per person in cruise credits. A really sweet deal. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
synet165 Posted August 7, 2009 #14 Share Posted August 7, 2009 Hi, I'm also on your cruise and didn't get any offer , which we probably wouldn't have taken. But the most important thing is that now you are just across the deck from me. We are in D422 and I hope to meet you at our meet and greet. Nettie:) synet165 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gerig Posted August 8, 2009 #15 Share Posted August 8, 2009 Yes I'm still waiting for a cabin assignment. My entire family is going on this cruise to celebrate my mother's 80th birthday. There are five couples waiting for AE guaranty cabin assignments. Those of you that may be interested hold out as I read a prior poster received a free CB cruise for next summer and about $1200 per person in cruise credits. A really sweet deal. I received an offer for free passage for the second passenger for a 10 day Panana Cruise. Of course we cannot accept this offer because we are on the CB 8/13/09 family cruise celebrating my Mom's 80th birthday. We can't take birthdays for granted anymore. The offer isn't that great and I feel Princess will need to up the ante in order to get accepters. There are still five couples in my family waiting to receive their minisuite AE guarantee assignments. Can't wait until Thursday. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
beckcab Posted August 8, 2009 #16 Share Posted August 8, 2009 We got an offer on Monday--upgrade from a balcony to a mini and $1200 OBC per cabin. I know others have been offered $2500 per cabin. We looked at it but decided we needed a vacation more than a cruise next year with $1200 OBC. If it had been $2500 we might have considered it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gerig Posted August 8, 2009 #17 Share Posted August 8, 2009 We got an offer on Monday--upgrade from a balcony to a mini and $1200 OBC per cabin. I know others have been offered $2500 per cabin. We looked at it but decided we needed a vacation more than a cruise next year with $1200 OBC. If it had been $2500 we might have considered it. There was a poster from the July CB sailing that took an offer which consisted of a 2011 CB cruise fully paid minisuite and 1200 on board credit per person. This was not the original offer. The original offer was not great but since not many people accepted the offer was increased. I read some people received offers on Monday, I received mine today. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
beckcab Posted August 8, 2009 #18 Share Posted August 8, 2009 One of the people scheduled for the July 26 sailing received an offer 3 days before sailing--moving from a balcony to a mini for any sailing in 2010--plus $2500 per stateroom OBC. They had 3 cabins booked and they took the offer. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cruise Lover Kathy Posted August 8, 2009 #19 Share Posted August 8, 2009 Thinking ahead to a time this might happen for us...What can you do with a $2500 OBC? We don't usually use the ship's excursions and although we like the casino and the BARS we don't go through THAT much during a cruise. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cdngrl Posted August 8, 2009 #20 Share Posted August 8, 2009 Thinking ahead to a time this might happen for us...What can you do with a $2500 OBC? We don't usually use the ship's excursions and although we like the casino and the BARS we don't go through THAT much during a cruise. exactly what i was thinking! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
donna5 Posted August 8, 2009 #21 Share Posted August 8, 2009 exactly what i was thinking! Buy christmas presents:D? Sanctuary? Buy Art:p? Take me with you and I will help you spend it.:D!!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Toto2Kansas Posted August 8, 2009 #22 Share Posted August 8, 2009 Thinking ahead to a time this might happen for us...What can you do with a $2500 OBC? We don't usually use the ship's excursions and although we like the casino and the BARS we don't go through THAT much during a cruise. If none of the above mentioned items interest you, go to one of the jewelry shops onboard, you can get rid of the extra in about two minutes. ;) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IKE Posted August 8, 2009 #23 Share Posted August 8, 2009 I would "GO FOR IT!". Enjoy your Honeymoon and Congrats!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HarrietKC Posted August 8, 2009 #24 Share Posted August 8, 2009 I just got the same offer and it was very, very tempting. But we got it only a week before we were set to leave on the cruise (we're boarding tonight as a matter of fact). We were given a huge bump in cabin choices, a refund of half our paid fare, and money to pay for airline fee charges. But there was one problem, my husband would have to reschedule his patient load, and we discovered that the change would have put us in Alaska near the end of the season when the risk of rain and cold was more prevalent. Still - if this were to happen in the Caribbean, I'd be all over it. It was a nice dream and hurt to turn it down. But I could tell our ship was overbooked because every category is waitlisted. Good luck! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gerig Posted August 8, 2009 #25 Share Posted August 8, 2009 Oh well maybe tomorrow. I'm sure the ship holds a couple of cabins as spares in case of cabin problems. I'll definitely know my cabin assignment in five days. The four other couples also have not received assignments. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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