Beware of "Princess Promotions" sold on Princess Cruises' ships.

 Originally Posted: 11/14/24

While on the ship during our Norwegian Fjord cruise, my partner and I decided on taking an Alaskan cruise next year out of San Francisco, purchasing a package ("Concierge Service") which gave us a $3000 credit to be used in booking a cruise, plus other credits to be used in a hotel stay.  Since I knew that the package details weren't that clear from what information I was given onboard the ship, I decided to contact Princess Promotions to find out the specifics on how to use this deal - and I was underwhelmed.

But first...

It's easy to get confused as we did.  We thought that Princess Promotions' "Concierge Service" was being offered through a special department of Princess Cruises.  This is not the case.  They are two separate entities, with Princess Promotions having gained the privilege of having its product sold on Princess Cruises' ships.

When books a pre-cruise hotel stay through Princess Cruises, one can get all needed transfers from airport to hotel, from hotel to cruise ship, from cruise ship back to the airport, and get one of the hotels below as part of the booking:

All three hotels are very good deals, and Princess has negotiated good prices for their cruisers to stay at these hotels.  These were the choices I was expecting when I bought the package from Princess Promotions.  However, when I called the "Concierge Service" at the number listed in another email, it appeared that the service was something other than expected.

Looking at the list of hotels available, one isn't getting that much of a discount when booking rooms through this service.  When I looked at rates presented through the plan for the two hotels below, I would still end up spending more money than might be expected for a 5-night stay.

With the promotional discount, I got these rates:

As you can tell, the 5-night certificate is worth roughly $500 (at most) no matter where you use it.  Have I gained that much by taking advantage of this promotion?  That's the $64,000 Question. Given that I've been to San Francisco enough to know how to get around the city and to have stayed at a few clean, safe, and inexpensive hotels, I found one hotel on this list that meets my requirements.  So I can make use of this credit and have a relatively hassle free time before the cruise.  But for those who have never been to San Francisco, this deal might not be worth it.

From what I can tell, cruisers are not getting a discount on the hotels in which Princess Cruises would book for them.  So this leads me to wonder - who is behind the promotion?   The way I see it, the operator behind the scenes might be a online booking site such as Priceline, Expedia or Orbitz.  But, according to my slipshod research, I found out that the vendor is an operator called Open Network Exchange (ONE). According to a Reddit post, 

They (ONE) are a contractor that staffs Princess on board future sales department and well as doing other direct sales functions. The owners of ONE inc used to own a company that would allow time share owners to trade weeks for cruises.  They sold that business and started ONE.  Their previous business gave them good contacts in the cruise industry and led to their current business arrangement with Princess.

But why has Princess Cruises partnered with such an organization?  In my opinion, I think short term decision making has caused Princess to make a big mistake that will hurt their reputation for the long term.  Although I'm effectively out $500, I can afford to lose a few dollars from my bank account - I was lucky enough to be able to save for an unknown future.  Unfortunately, it sours my opinion on the services provided by Princess Cruises, as I would have spent my money differently had I known what the deal was up front.  

Since it looks like we can use the promotional hotel stay anywhere and not connect the stay to a cruise, I got to thinking - why not use this package for a stay in a city where we've enjoyed traveling more than once?  Washington, DC comes to mind, as we can book Amtrak by ourselves and book the hotel stay through the promotional service.  This leaves us with the option to use Princess Cruises' EZAIR deal for our next cruise on Princess, and to keep things simple by use of Princess' EZAIR, Hotels chosen by Princess Cruises, along with transfers supplied by Princess Cruises by using our travel agent.

In the end, we decided to book both hotel, air and all transfers via our travel agent and Princess Cruises.  I'll try to find a decent discount on an East Coast hotel stay from Princess Promotions for another trip my partner and I will be taking.  Hopefully, our experience will be a warning for those who want to book a cruise via the future cruise desk, so that they do not buy a package from Princess Promotions and waste their money doing so.

PS: Every time I have compared a Princess Promotions price against one from Booking.com, Hotels.com, and Orbitz.com, I always found the latter 3 sites gave better hotel prices than Princess Promotions.  In all cases, stay away from anything that has to do with Princess Promotions, and only deal with a reputable travel agent for booking your travel. Don't fall for the line that their bundles will save you money.  Princess Promotions will only give you false savings and cost you money in the long term. 

Cruising - Choosing whether to use an independent travel agent (or not)

 Posted on 07/07/26

One has several choices in how a trip can be booked:

• Do you need help in planning a trip?
• Are you searching for the best value in the trip you want to take?
• Do you know exactly what you want from a trip?
• Are you comfortable with leaving trip planning in the hands of others?

This post sis meant to serve as a guide to help navigate through the thicket of cruise planning options.

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The most important question to ask yourself is whether you need help in planning the trip.  When one cruises for the first time, the options available can be overwhelming. 

What paperwork will I need for this trip? 
(See:: https://www.slowtravel101.com/2025/08/advice-to-wise-take-care-of-all.html) 

What should I look for when choosing a cruise line?
(See: https://www.slowtravel101.com/2023/05/cruising-how-to-select-cruise.html)

How do I prepare for the cruise?
(See: https://www.slowtravel101.com/2023/05/cruising-preparing-for-cruise.html) 

But nothing truly prepares a cruiser for choosing a independent Travel Agent (TA) or a company employed Personal Cruise Consultant (PCC).  This can be a simple choice depending on what one's needs are.  Yet, making the wrong choice can be the difference between an enjoyable cruise and a trip through hell.

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Virtually all cruise prices have a sales commission baked into the fare.  The greater the price charged fr the cruise, the higher the sales commission will be.  Cruise lines employ PCCs, so that they can retain the sales commission which would normally be paid to a independent TA.  The booked fare to the cruiser may be the same, but independent TA's have tools at their disposal that PCCs don't have.  Some travel agencies are able to negotiate lower group fares for selected cabins and then offer those fares to the public.  For example, one travel agency I use has offered "Included Gratuities" as part of its fare deal. On the cruises I've booked with them with this promotion, I saved $120/pp on a 7-day cruise. On other cruises from a different travel agency, I got extra onboard credits to use as I saw fit.  Although I paid the same rate as offered by the cruise line for these cruises, I got more benefits by using a TA instead of a PCC.

Yet, money can be the least of the reasons one uses an independent TA.  Many times, I use a TA to develop a package where my air travel, airport transfers, hotel stays, cruise transfers, and the cruise itself can be put into a single package for me.  I do not need to do the research to find out which hotel in a foreign land best serves my needs; I no longer need to worry about arranging transfers between airport and hotel, hotel and cruise ship, and cruise ship back to airport; and I have a single point of contact if something goes wrong related to the entire trip.  I can't say that about the average cruise line's PCCs.

The above doesn't mean that all cruise lines' PCCs are bad or worthless.  Often, one doesn't need the handholding an independent TA can provide.  For my Post-Covid cruise to Hawaii, I dealt directly with the cruise line to book my airfare (they had a half-price air promotion), hotel stay, transfers and cruise fare.  Would I do it again?  Maybe.  But on a trip that requires a little more than just driving to a pier and getting on a cruise, I'd want to deal with an individual that I could call and get service when I need it and not when the cruise line's service department is open.

So, what should a newbie cruiser to do?  

Let's start with my history of cruising.  About 30 years ago, I knew nothing about cruising and didn't even have a passport.  I was lucky in this pre-internet environment to have a local travel agency in town (since closed) as well as seeing ads from several travel agencies advertising their cruise offerings.  Sadly, the travel agency I used for my first cruise is no longer in business.  But I learned a lot about cruising on that first cruise.  (Note: That would be the only "Closed Loop" cruise I took using my birth certificate as US Citizenship proof.  I'd never sail without a passport again.)  Later on, I found cruise offerings on the website of a large volume travel agency, vacationstogo.com.   Most of the cruises I took from New York City were booked through VTG, as I wanted cheap fares, as well as not needing much help from this agency in planning my cruise. A couple of times, I booked cruises directly through the cruise line's PCCs, simply because I could set up the entire deal online.  For cruises which required long distance flights, I used an independent TA (associated with a larger operation) to handle booking for these cruises.

There is no one right way to book a cruise.  But there are many wrong ways.  My general rule is: If you need help in research or any guidance, use a travel agent.  If not, book direct or use a large scale travel agency.