Cabin downgrade offered

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lpoolmad

Guest
Hi Folks,
I am travelling on the Carribean Princess this weekend, 10th June, for 2 weeks. We have booked an Oceanview Double with Balcony (BC grade) on the Aloha deck but Princess have contacted us and offered us a downgrade to an Oceanview Double on the Emerald Deck (FF grade) for half the price of the original, a 1700 pound saving. Has anyone been in these graded cabins and can give us some advice?

This is our first time on a cruise which is why we booked the room with a balcony so that we would have some outside space to ourselves on the boat. Is this actually worth the amount that we would be paying extra when they are planning to refund us half the cost if we downgrade?

Also, the Emerald deck is 4 decks below the Aloha deck that we had originally booked (Emerald is deck 8 and Aloha is deck 12). Would you know if the lower deck would make any difference to the comfort on board too?
 
W

Whimsy

Guest
You might want to try posting this on the community board to get faster responses.

I'm not sure how much a pound is equal to in American dollars so I don't know if you are getting a good rate or not. I have read where Princess will keep sweetening the deal until they get someone to take the offer. Being that you wanted to a balcony and they are offering you a room without a balcony I don't think I would take the offer, IMO. FF is an obstructive view also.

Good luck and have a great cruise!
 
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Lady Jag

Guest
That's a huge difference in price!! =eek I'm amazed, as the cruise lines rarely ever offer a downgrade. In fact, I've never even heard of it.

Four decks down is actually a good thing if you don't like ship movement. It'll be much more stable for you down there, BUT, be aware that your view out your window may be blocked by the ships' tenders. These are partially-obstructed view cabins.

If I were you, I'd:

1. Have your TA call Princess back.
2. Have her tell them that you'll take the reduction in cabin along with the 1700 Pounds Sterling credit back AND
3. You'd like a shipboard credit to help you get over the fact that you'll be cruising without a balcony! :grin

It never hurts to ask! If you've got a good TA, she'll make an honest effort on your behalf.

I guess you have to weigh the pros vs. the cons of this yourself. If it's worth it to you to get that much back, then go for it. It may be enough to pay for another cruise. If not and/or a balcony was really important to you, then stick with the original plan.

Also, your TA could ask Princess to move you to another sail date, keep you in the balcony cabin AND still give you the 1700 pounds back. Again, it's worth a try.

Good luck! :)
 
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Einstein

Guest
Balconies are Gr8 additions on Caribbean cruises. That being said they are basically offering U a Oceanview cabin for 14 Days at $900 pp. Of course this is assuming that U paid roughly $2600 per person for your balcony cabin since that is what they are advertising it for now. Its also taking into account that 1 Pound is roughly equivalent to 2 US dollars right now.

So subtracting their offer of 1700 Pounds ($3400 US) from $5200 ($2600 X 2) = $1800 US for your 2 people on a 14 Day cruise. That is a pretty sweet deal and one that would be hard to pass up. $65 per person per day for a cruise has the potential to be one of the BEST bargains U may ever get to cruise. GO For IT and FAST is My recommendation. :thumb

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Heatherbc

Guest
We were offered a 'downgrade' one time on the Sky Princess. We had an outside and were offered $3,000 US dollars to take an inside.

That was a few years ago and our dollar wasn't the best at that time.

We were going from Auckland NZ to Hong Kong and that $3,000 more than paid for our airfare.

Needless to say we took the offer. :lol



Heather
 
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