maureen wrote:

Well the Cuise Kings replied that Princess are not prepared to give us a price drop or any on board credit. I can write to passenger relations if I want to. Will talk to hubby tonight and the other two couples. Can I really threaten to cancel and not lose out? Next time I will book last minute. Lots of deals around at the moment.

Have you spoken to the Manager of Cruise Kings directly. If not, would certainly do that and quote explicitly what the brochure says. If that fails then do not cancel, but certainly take up the matter with passenger relations (quoting the brochure) and see where that gets you.

If you fail with that approach then once on board request an early meeting with the Hotel Director and make him/her aware of your situation. They may not be able to do anything much, but may have some discretion with on-board-credit. If that gets you nowhere then my next suggestion is controversial, but if you still feel strongly enough about the matter you can advise the Hotel Director that you will remove all gratuities making it expressly clear that this is because of Princess and not because of the service level on-board. You would still be "out-of-pocket" overall but at least it would give you something back.

Depending on your nature it may be that all of this is not worth it as you may feel it wastes the holiday, and if that is the case then you will need to put it down to experience.

Sue (keela1eva2) has experience of speaking to senior people on board, and may be able to advise you better than I can. Indeed, if all that I have written is ridiculous then Sue, please, please speak up here! We all want the same thing for Maureen....justice.

Maureen

I would do what Graham suggests and speak to the Manager at Cruise Kings. Ask him how he can help you make up for the fact that now they are selling this cruise for a lower price. I would ask him as your TA to contact Princess on your behalf. Say that you would be happy to take OBC in lieu of a cash refund. If they won't do that then ask if they will upgrade you to an ocean view room.
Don't email Cruise Kings but speak to him directly its much easier for someone to say no to an email.
I would also try speaking to the Customer Services Manager at Princesss.

If you still get no joy then my take would be to ask for an appointment to see the Hotel Manager. I often do this on the telephone from my room rather than going to the Guest Relations desk. They will probably ask you why but don't be put off by this just repeat that you would like an appointment.
I doubt very much that he will be able to give you OBC (I know of many people who are supposed to have OBC and it is not showing on their account when they board the ship. They have had no success trying to follow it up whilst on board but got it sorted out once the holiday was over) What he might be able to do for you is give you some treats whilst you are on board. eg Drinks wine etc. It depends I would not threaten to remove my tips as this can antagonise or alienate them and I find this is counter productive.
If none of this works then I would not let it spoil your holiday and just put it down to bad luck this time around. I have never had to get a price drop after final payment and this may be the sticking point. This is why I am suggesting OBC or upgrade as an option.

I did have a problem once with Princess in the Hotel they put me in in San Francisco was not up to standard. 3* when told it was a 4 * and really quite grotty. There was overbooking so they have and had to arrange an alternative so I told them I was checking out. I did this (it was commented that I was a very strong woman)The Reps said that they could not sanction the bill for the new hotel. This was not a problem for me I paid the bill wrote to Princess sent the bill and they refunded the money apologising that the hotel was not up to their usual standard.

Sorry I can't be more positive. Just feel you way and see how it turns out.

Good luck

Sue

I have posted a query on the CC Princess message board and without exception the 4 who have posted so far have had price drops. Both before and afer final payment. As I suspected one has got OBC another was offered an upgrade of room after final payment. Another says they suspect it depends on what sort of relationship your TA has with the Cruise Company.
I think that we in the UK get a raw deal.

Sue

Thanks Hamrag, appreciate, look forward to more discussions.

The query I posted on CC regarding Princess and the price drops has sparked off this issue. Now as well as people who are saying that yes they have had this there are also those who knew nothing of this and are now going to try and get it applied. Also going to watch the Princess web site. I had a look last night and Princess have got this offer. There are 3 grades from K upwards at £714 this is a price to include flights from London and all taxes and fuel supplements.
At £714 if you were to get the usual 10% going through a TA then this would take £71. I think in this case the commission may be low and the discount less. In which case if the TA were to reduce the discount they gave you it would still be a winner for you.

This is beginning to sound as though it is me looking for the discount. In fact this am I was thinking about it when I wakened and the way forward when it dawned on me I am not on this cruise!! Funny or what but then I am often on one crusade or another.

Sue

Further to an earlier post I made there is a December (12th from memory) date for the NCL Jade Morocco/Gran Canaria/Madeira 9 night cruise at £369 including flights. This particular deal is with Cruise1st (INVALID URL
Tel. 0161 772 2111

Good spot, great pre xmas getaway.

http://www.cruise1st.co.uk/cruisev2_details.phtml?id=73678

£369 with GTW flight
£439 Manchester flight

Might still a bit of OBC floating around as well.

Looks like NCL dropped the UK prices again
cruise only, 9n Dec 12 inc tips
Best inside £314
Best Outside £414
Best Balcony £514

Getting a bit silly
tips £45
fuel £49:50
Tax £50.57
Cruise fare £168.93

Easyjet
East Midlands is £54 only one flight a day
Luton £52 with 2 flight so better chance of getting there.
Gatwick from £48 also 2 flights that can get you there

UPDATE NCL have now added the free upgrade offer.
K->JJ
I->G
BD->BB

The cruise1st deal is probably the best for those who use Gatwick, it does not include paid tips or overnight stay.

Probably the best deal for most others is still with cruise365 at £469 which includes paid tips and flight from either Newcastle, East Midlands, Liverpool, Stansted, or Bristol, and also includes an overnight hotel stay making it a 10 day break rather than 9 days.

I still think the 12 nights on the Grand Princess 30th August has to be the deal of all deals.
Cruise only £545 and with flights £699 Gatwick flights.
This is peak summer a good product and is for 12 nights

There might even be some leeway here as the Princess web site is showing this cruise at £714 including Gatwick flight so that if a TA was prepared to give you 10% on this would take another £71 however this is probably being a bit optimistic as the commission to Agents may be tight. Worth a try though or get your own flights. over £150 to play with. The price for cruise only is from the Princess web site.
Have no idea what they would do with a single price.

Sue

keela1eva2 wrote:

I still think the 12 nights on the Grand Princess 30th August has to be the deal of all deals.
Cruise only £545 and with flights £699 Gatwick flights.
This is peak summer a good product and is for 12 nights

There might even be some leeway here as the Princess web site is showing this cruise at £714 including Gatwick flight so that if a TA was prepared to give you 10% on this would take another £71 however this is probably being a bit optimistic as the commission to Agents may be tight. Worth a try though or get your own flights. over £150 to play with. The price for cruise only is from the Princess web site.
Have no idea what they would do with a single price.

Sue

Absolutely for that time of year, and it is still available at £649. The Jade deal is for December. If only we had any remaining annual leave and cash we would do both!

Graham

At that price looks like the TA is giving that 10% on the Princess prices. Were I not away I would have done this at that price.

Sue

hamrag wrote:

The cruise1st deal is probably the best for those who use Gatwick, it does not include paid tips or overnight stay.

Probably the best deal for most others is still with cruise365 at £469 which includes paid tips and flight from either Newcastle, East Midlands, Liverpool, Stansted, or Bristol, and also includes an overnight hotel stay making it a 10 day break rather than 9 days.

DIY is cheapest still,

NCL direct £314(inc tips)+£48-£52 Easyjet flight, Friday departure so one less day off work if you do same day or get a late flight and stay. £50pp will get a hotel in BCN still cheaper than 365, allthough 365 have yet to reflect the new lower prices at NCL.

Should be possible to squeeze a TA to give a bit of discount, cruse only, on the £314.
Does not look like there is any latitudess/senior discounts on these prices.

One factor to be considered is the bagage allowance included with the TA deals, DIY do not include bags so £6 each with easyjet.

Not that at the moment there are a lot of cruises for Brilliance of the Seas (Being kept in the Med over the winter) Doing the Canaries or the Med for January £599 including flight to Malaga 11 nights also good prices for late October Century 11 nights for £699 including flights Navigator low prices Oct November. Brilliance good prices for Nov/December. Too many and not enough time to watch as the teletext moves on.

Lots of fantastic offers for those of you who have either not had a holiday

or who are looking for or have the time etc.

Sue

windjammer wrote:

NCL direct £314(inc tips)+£48-£52 Easyjet flight, Friday departure so one less day off work if you do same day or get a late flight and stay. £50pp will get a hotel in BCN still cheaper than 365, allthough 365 have yet to reflect the new lower prices at NCL.

Please note you cannot get the prices W/J quotes for the friday flight. Including standard baggage charge the cost varies between £74 and £86, dependant upon airport, and Stansted leaves too late to make the sailaway! The comparative cost for the thursday flights vary between £57 and £70, dependant upon airport.

windjammer wrote:

365 have yet to reflect the new lower prices at NCL.

The cruise 365 price is based on a block booking of cabins, therefore the price will not change. Incidentally their price also includes $50 per cabin OBC for an inside.

windjammer wrote:

One factor to be considered is the bagage allowance included with the TA deals, DIY do not include bags so £6 each with easyjet.

Not quite accurate. The Easyjet charge is not £6 each, but normally £6 each way and for Newcastle flights £7 each way, therefore £12/£14 each. Cruise 365 base their pricing on flights with Easyjet, and will have included baggage costs so baggage built into their price.

Well hubby spent quite some time talking to Sienna at princess 'customer relations' who more or less said lump it. She tried to tell him the £714 price on their site was 'cruise only' so it was plus flights, plus fuel surcharge etc which made it almost what we paid and we should be grateful to have booked early. She said we had been able to choose our dining sitting and had a better choice of excursions by booking early. She said they dropped the price to ensure all the cabins were sold as if the ship was half empty some of the excursions might not run through lack of bookings. When he told her we always did our own thing in ports, she was a bit huffy. She implied that we might have missed out on a cruise if we left it to book later, like there was a shortage of cruises. In the end they agreed to differ as she wasn't giving anything away. She said to write in but I don't hold out much hope. It will still be a good price and we will be away for our 35th wedding anniversary which was why we booked when we did. Next time I will take last minute when I see something on here or in the paper.

Always worth ago but at the end of the day they can pick and choose who they give the reduction too.

The brochure stuff is for changes in costs, they can say there are none, and that reductions are to fill capacity for new bookings only. Shame they tried the Bull approach, do they think we are thick(don't answer please).

Sorry to hear that Maureen as I had hoped you might have had some joy. The best thing now is to look forward to the holiday and as you say it is for a special wedding anniversary. Enjoy!

Sue

Update on the Jade 9n 12 Dec,

Thought I would check the Solo rate since the 2pax breakdown pp was

windjammer wrote:

Getting a bit silly
tips £45
fuel £49:50
Tax £50.57
Cruise fare £168.93
total £314

Solo it is
tips £45
fuel £49:50
Tax £50.57
Cruise fare £428.93

Total £574 still cheaper than many solo rates.

Same upgrade offer are available.

promotion codes are

CSLEADX UK Special Cruise Only
PGSALE SPECIAL OBC/UPGRADE OFFERS
UKPSC Prepaid Service Charges
So looks like there is OBC from NCL for this also

The 4 Jan which I am also watching has gone up.