Just Cancelled my Booking
 

Well, my first try on Princess started off with such frustration that I cancelled my booking. Buyer beware:

1. Booked mini-suite with a certain promotion package included.
2. Called agent, asked if I could upgrade to a Vista suite and still have the package included. Twice she said "Yes."
3. Paperwork emailed, and promotion package not included.
4. Called back and informed that I would hear from CS on Monday
5. Got paperwork emailed, has old promotion but charge is about $3.5k more per person on a promotion that would cost $901 if I charged it myself.
6. I call Princess and they refuse to honor the declaration of their agent. CSR wants to give me $100 OBC.
7. I cancel. No way am I doing business with such incompetence. I will assume incompetence rather than lies.

Thank you for all your help.

Did you book with the drink package promotion that was running recently? It did end recently (like end of August), and it's definitely one that if you change or refare or whatever they don't let you keep once the promotion ends (which is true in general of all the promotions they offer, I'd expect most cruise lines would be the same way). I'm kinda surprised they told you that you could keep it if you changed after it ended, so yeah, I'd say that's incompetence on the part of whoever you were talking with. (I've been debating whether to refare my december cruise because the price is lower, but I'd lose the drink package, the amount of the difference in fare is borderline on whether it's worth it.)

I never book directly with the line myself, I've always dealt with a TA I've been using since I started cruising.

Yes, it was the Sip and Save.

Sounds they are trying to rebook you then recategorize your reservation. I would watch the reservation numbers on the invoices to make sure they don't change.

Thanks. I am finished with Princess.

Interesting! I had a travel agent say that we would be able to change things about our booking and still receive the Sip and Save promo. It seems like not everyone is very familiar with the terms.

Sorry things went south for you. :/

Odd, I've never really seen any Princess promos that would continue if you refared the cabin (or other changes like upgrading to a different cabin type) after the promo ends. And I find it odd that any TA would say otherwise, because they should know better. (And I'd expect that policy would be pretty similar across all lines, otherwise you could refare under a couple of different promos, and end up with multiple promos stacked together.)