Complain about a product or service

Princess Cruise

Robert of Jamison, PA June 30, 2008

Robert of Jamison PA (06/30/08)
booked a cruisetour to alaska, in april did not take cruise insurance since my wife and i are in good health and never would cancel this because we were excited to go.. my wife fell at home and broke both arms, plus other bruises to the face etc,had our travel call princess to reschedule to a date in august, as my wife saw in surjury the agent spoke , with princess and spoke to a rep who offered to change to aug sail date with about 250-300 in extra charges due to increses such as fuel etc,

i was grateful to princess but had to wait 5 hours till my wife recovered to confirm it was ok with her she was so excited that since her mishap she could heal and still fulllfill her dream, i went to travel agent from hospital he calls to confirm change and end result no change allowed . i spoke with princess rep who was harsh and rude saying no insurance to return of fees or re schedule allowed, also if my wife still wanted to go would need a doctors note saying she could go, but would have to be reviewed by there medical team and may and probably denied acces to the trip

loss at this point of 6800 cruise fairs and 600 dollars in pre booked land tours when i called later to princess that day to at least save the cost of land tours i was told i could not evan cancel thos e evan though i booked them my self and my wife was to when she booked them they could be canceled 24 hrs prior to sailing dates wife fell jun 28 operated on june 29 tried to cancel all with princess june 29 start of vacation 7/2/08

David of Phoenix, AZ May 10, 2008

David of Phoenix AZ (05/10/08)
My wife and I are celebrating our 45th anniversary this year (2008) and our son and daughter-in-law took us on a 7-day cruise on Princess out of San Juan. To our astonishment, Princess Cruises added 10.50 per day per person to our bill listed as hotel charges that the line said would be distributed among attendants (total of 295 for the four of us).

We learned that these were actually gratuities -- not hotel charges at all, to be distributed among waiters and attendants on the ship). We are generous tippers and had already been tipping waiters/attendants all week. We tried to contact the purser's office as soon as we became aware that the charges had been added but they had conveniently closed early and it was the end of the cruise so we could do nothing.

I have no problem if a cruise line asks upfront if customers would like to pay gratuities in a lump sum so as not to fool with gratuities during the cruise. BUT WE WERE TOLD NOTHING ABOUT THESE EXPENSES. By adding these to our credit cards without our informed consent, I feel Princess essentially stole our money.

Rick of Union Grove, WI April 25, 2008

Rick of Union Grove WI (04/25/08)
I booked a cruise with Princess Cruises last fall. They were offering a promotion to repeat customers giving away a piece of luggage valued at 350 when you booked the cruise. I called the cruise line months before the cruise and asked how I would get my luggage. The first time I called they told me they weren't sure but guessed it would be delivered to our house before the cruise.

As the cruise date got closer and the luggage did not arrive I called back and asked again about the luggage. This time I was told that the luggage would be in our stateroom when we arrived on the ship. Since we were getting another piece of luggage on the ship, we took one less bag and stuffed the two pieces of luggage we brought with us expecting to use the new piece to distribute our belongings and have a place to transport our souvenirs when we returned.

When we got on the ship there was no luggage. We went and talked to the purser and he informed us that the luggage would be shipped to our house after the cruise. I asked how we were supposed to transport our stuff home since we were counting on the extra bag. He informed us that they sold luggage on the ship or we could buy in any of the ports we stopped in. Thanks for the useless help!

We ended up buying a few cheap small bags since we had enough luggage already and would be getting the new piece from Princess upon our return home. No need to spend another 200-300 for an extra bag we wouldn't need. We got over that and enjoyed the rest of our cruise.

Upon arriving home there was no luggage and we didn't get anything for the next month. I finally decided to call and see where our luggage was. The first time I called they blamed it on manufacturer delays and promised it would be delivered in a couple of week.

After a month, still no luggage. I called again and again they blamed the manufacturer and told me it was coming. After another few weeks, another call and this time they told my wife that it would be delivered in the next two weeks. Not sure what excuse that time.

After the two weeks passed and no luggage, we tried calling back. This time they would funneled us to a specific person (Betsy Haines X44411) who never was there so we never got to talk to her live and she wouldn't return calls. Today I finally talked to someone who put me on hold for 10 minutes and then gave me another excuse and promised delivery in another month. This time the excuse was that our name did not get transmitted to the manufacturer and would be transmitted in the next week or so. Then it would take 3 weeks to ship from China. We'll see if it ever shows up.

I am out the 350 luggage I was promised and time I wasted to contacting them numerous times. I was also inconvenienced on the cruise and the return trip as we had to deal with multiple small bags to transport our belongings back from the cruise on the bus, at the airport and to our vehicle. They are out a previously loyal cruiser. Time to look at other cruise lines.

Dan of Rockland, OTHER March 30, 2008

Dan of Rockland OTHER (03/30/08)
This is concerning excursion ITO-A2 Kilauea Volcano. We have encountered some problems with this tour, which I took pictures and notes and name of other passengers. According to the letter we received they were provided with full details. The first thing is according to a park ranger this tour was closed two days prior to this excursion, which means that the tour operator should have taken the proper actions and advise Princess personnel of this condition, instead they decided to proceed knowing that it would not be possible to see the Volcano due to high sulfur concentration. I am assuming that the Princess shore excursion personnel was not aware of this situation.

I reported this event to the shore excursion personnel upon my return to the boat. It took 5 days and two reminders to the shore excursion personnel before we were given any indication of action or news which finally resulted in a refund of only 60 percent of the purchase price. Not only should we have received a full refund the same day, but faster results. I had to intervene twice to finally being told that we will receive a letter the day prior to our cruise termination which I felt was totally unacceptable.

The comments in the letter dated February 29, 2008 Voyage M805, which states as a gesture of goodwill a 60 percent refund has been applied to your account is an insult to my intelligence. We are not talking of a big amount here, which is not the main reason of this E-Mail, but the quality of service we received in this particular case. Besides of a full refund we should have received a satisfactory result the same day. Another concern, which we did not report but should have, is that in the excursion in Kuai (LIHK1 - Zip line, wagon and trekking), the description on your web site said that we would have lunch in a, and I quote: Robinson Crusoe style restaurant built in a tree overlooking the jungle, well all we got was a sandwich, small salad and brownie in the wagon that was used for the tour. The sandwich lunch was good but it was far from the restaurant in a tree (if there is one!). This is false advertising and should be corrected on your web site if the passengers are not going to get what is advertised.

Loss of money, time, frustration and unpleasant vacation time on board.

Laura of Great Falls, MT March 16, 2008

Laura of Great Falls MT (03/16/08)
My parents are Platinum members of this cruise line. They went on a cruise for their 50th wedding anniversary, and my siblings and I wanted to surprise them while they were on the cruise. I called weeks in advance to have their room decorated, a bottle of wine sent to them, and a bouquet of flowers sent to them....all to happen on different days, as a continual surprise on their cruise. It is extremely hard to surprise my parents, as well as hard to buy them things, so this seemed perfect. I paid for these things well in advance, and called again 2 days before they sailed to be sure all was as I wanted it to be. I was told it was. The decorating was to be 2 days post sail, the wine sent in the middle of the trip, and the flowers on the return trip from Hawaii. I was VERY disappointed to get my parents e-mail saying how they arrived on the ship and in their room they had flowers and wine from all of us! I am not sure about the room decorating, but I can't tell you how upset I am that EVERYTHING was delivered at their arrival!

I was told by the lady on the phone that an on-board credit would be given to them. That is NOT THE POINT: the surprise was the gift, as they can well afford to buy these things on their own. Then I was told I would be refunded the money--again--THAT IS NOT THE POINT! The SURPRISE WAS THE GIFT. I would like someone to look into this so my disappointment doesn't have to be also that of someone in the future also trying to surprise a loved one.

Report Your Experience
If you've had a bad experience -- or a good one -- with a consumer product or service, we'd like to hear about it. All complaints are reviewed by class action attorneys and are considered for publication on our site. Knowledge is power! Help spread the word. File your consumer report now.

Share		Follow us on Twitter.

Back to the top |