What recourse do I have?

This cruise was 14 days of my life and thousands of dollars that are always going to be a very bad memory to my wife and I. Once we get onshore and have access to the internet, I will be posting this long sad story on social media and sending it to the CEO of Princess. I will be demanding a refund because Princess completely failed to provide the services we have come to expect and paid for.

Princess Cruise was a disaster. We had nothing but constant problems during the cruise which only one member attempted to remediate. The plumbing on the ship was totally ****, with our bathroom constantly getting a plugged toilet and stopped up shower drain. Each day that this happened we had to call and wait for a member of maintenance to arrive to allow us to either use the toilet or the shower. The crew obviously resented having to come every day since we had to wait over two hours for someone to come clear the problem one day. Repeated calls to the front desk were answered with "someone is coming"

Yes, coming two hours later.

We were forced to wash our clothes in the sink every day since our luggage was missing, and since we couldn't send it to the ship's laundry and wait two days for it to come back to us , as we would have been naked waiting for it.

This was another problem as one day the ship had an issue with the water supply and all the water came through with rust. The rust stained our clothing which we were washing in the sink, including a brand new expensive set of light colored clothed, which we purchased at exorbitant prices on board. When I called the front desk to ask if they were aware of the water being rusty, I was told that they were aware of it and I was asked if my cabin had a shower or tub? (Are there any cabins without either a shower or tub?) When I said yes, his response was that I should run the water in the tub, with the stopper out " but don't run it over the top of the tub"? How ridiculous was that statement?

The cruise front desk personnel were completely incompetent in dealing with our issue of lost or delayed luggage. The first person (Richard Albertyn) we dealt with spoke limited english and couldn't understand us any more than we could understand him. We finally got the person to understand that our luggage was missing and all he wanted to do was generate a Princess cruise report. When we asked him to contact the airlines, his response was that they would contact us when they had something to report. I explained to him that the Virgin Atlantic Airlines representative had advised us to keep their office updated as to what Port AND what dock we would be located in each port of call, so that the luggage could be sent to the correct spot.

This became the main bone of contention with the front desk because they consistently refused to call the Airlines on a daily basis and ask about the current location of the bags and to advise them where we would be the next day. Since we were in a different port or at sea every single day, this issue became of extreme importance.

Because we had no clothes other than what we were wearing, we were told by the desk person that Princess would provide formal wear for us complimentary. The day of the first formal night we were waiting for the formal clothes and had called down to the desk ahead of time asking when we would get the formal wear. We had given our clothes sizes to the person at the desk previously. Our dining time was 1730 and at 1715 the front desk person came to our room with a hand full of clothes that were nowhere near the sizes we could wear. The shoes (we were told) only went up to a size 12 , so since I wear a 14, 12 was what was available. The shirt was a size which had sleeves which ended at about my elbows. The formal wear for my wife did not include any sort of blouse or top wear, other than a shawl. This was more of an insult than an attempt to complement us for lost luggage. We gave all of it back to the front desk representative and ate in the buffet. The second formal night we were supposed to get clothes for my wife and myself in the correct sizes but they never arrived either.

The scenario with me demanding Princess contact the Airlines and the front desk personnel refusing was repeated every day. The supervisor named Stella had helped us on one day by calling the airlines, and at that time I wrote out a Thank you on the forms provided for exceptional service. Unfortunately that was the last time she was helpful to us. We finally ended up in contact with Maria Jose Fiquor who was the supervisor in charge of luggage. She was also useless. At first she acted like she would assist us but after the first day of helping us, she started refusing to take our phone calls to the front desk. One day I called in the morning, and was told she was in a meeting but would call me back. Then a couple of hours later when I called the answer was she was helping some one else but would call us back. Then three hours later when I called again I was told she was in a meeting but would call me. Two hours after that I called yet again and was told she was helping some customers. At that time I told the desk person that either she talked to me or someone higher in rank must talk to me since it was obvious she was refusing my calls. The person said she was unavailable so I responded to the front desk and demanded to see her. She came out from the office behind the desk and told me she was very busy, and my lost luggage was not the only problem she had to deal with. I explained to her that her job was to track down my luggage via the air lines since this airlines was the one that Princess made me chose, in order to assure me that if there was a travel problem, I would be made whole and I would be put onto my cruise. A loud and messy confrontation ensued at the front desk, with the result that she agreed to contact the airline daily and keep me updated. After that face to face meeting with Maria she called our cabin and said she was going to issue ship board credit for us. She put $75.00 on our account, the next day.

Another issue bothering me, is the fact that I requested Maria Jose (the baggage manager) to maintain the details of whom was spoken with at Virgin each time a phone call was made, and what update they had given. When I requested the details to be provided to me on July 08th, I was told that no details were kept and nothing could be provided. Thus I have no way to document to Virgin Airlines that I made constant attempts to keep them updated as to my location and where to send the missing luggage. This was an epic fail on Princess's part as that information would have been very important to me.

The only person on this whole cruise who was of any assistance was the crew manager who was a young lady named Riette from South Africa. She had seen our obvious displeasure with the front desk and came to our assistance with getting the one bag delivered to us. She was so nice and so helpful that the next day I sought her our to give her a small token of appreciation ( a tee shirt from my police department ) but when I went to the desk and asked to speak to her, I was told that I could not speak to her because she worked with the crew, and not passengers. The person who told me this was a front desk person named Stella who was a supervisor. I was disappointed but couldn't do anything so we left. The next day, I again went to the front desk to inquire about the luggage and saw a gentleman in a White-Shirt behind the desk and I knew he was a rank above the usual personnel so I went to him and explained that I needed to have the desk people call the airlines but they kept refusing. He was named Vincent and his badge identified him as being in Administration. He directed StelIa to make the phone call, and she had no choice then, but to do as she was directed. I also explained that I wanted to see Riette but the desk personnel REFUSE to allow it. He apologized and said she would contact me. She did and she continued to help us by making phone calls to the airlines, that the desk people would not make.

Note that for a passenger in dire straits there is no way to contact a crew member above the rank of the front desk supervisor. This is completely unacceptable! If I could have sent an email to the captain or any sort of rank above the (incompetent) front desk, I am sure my problems would have been lessened or diminished.

We finally were notified that our luggage was in Copenhagen airport and also told that since the company which delivers to the ship had left without our luggage, that we would have to pay a Taxi cab fare for our luggage to be brought to the ship , or take our chances on it being shipped to the next port of call and then delivered.

We chose to pay the fee which was $57.00 in US dollars, but when the taxi arrived it only had one of the two missing bags.

Another very big issue is the treatment we received as deaf people. Perhaps the shipping line can be sued for violation of the Americans with Disabilities Act or a similar law since they were completely unresponsive to my wife and my deafness.

The ship has absolutely no respect for the hearing disabled passengers. We were required to communicate with the airlines via a phone at the front desk where a live band was playing alongside us. We requested to either use the telephone in an office or in our room, but we were told if we used the phone in our room to speak to the airline, we would pay for the telephone call. This went on EVERY day until finally on July 6 after my loud confrontation with Maria Jose, when we were finally put through to the airline on the phone in our room, one time.

The television has no closed captioning on most channels and shows, so we could catch perhaps three shows in eleven days that were close caption and therefore understandable to us. The live shows were the same problem, no provision for hearing impaired to access any sort of device to enable enhanced hearing of the show.

There is no provision for providing feedback on tours sold through Princess. We went on a Canal and river cruise tour in Russia (St. Petersburgh) that was a total dog, but there is no way to indicate how bad this tour was. The boat was a rust bucket and we were told we could either sit inside or on the top of the deck. We went down stairs to sit there and found there were absolutely no chairs! The chairs (which were rickety old dining room furniture) were all placed on the top deck for seating. The other boats we saw, had blankets for the cold spray, real seating, and genuine glassware for the champagne. We had plastic cups that could barely hold the beverage and chairs that were falling apart. We also had the wooden gangway plank leaning on our seating area during the cruse. If we had the ability, we would warn potential customers to avoid this excursion since it was not worth the money in any respect. By contrast a tour we went on the previous day was well worth the money and we would have recommended that excursion to prospective purchasers.

Here is another example of aggravation I experienced. The magnetic key card which opens the cabin door deactivated 7 separate times during the voyage. After it happened the first time I paid particular attention to how I handled the key and made sure it didn't get near anything that would deactivate it. That was my bad luck with the key card, and my wife had her card fail and need to be replaced three times.

Seems like a minor detail but why should we need to make 10 trips in ten days to the front desk and stand on line in order to get a new key to get into our cabin? There are still two days of voyage left and undoubtedly the keys will fail again. Perhaps it is our door lock and perhaps it is something that maintenance could fix but nobody ever checked that although I repeatedly told the desk people of the continuing problem.

Here is another example of some of the frustrating things on the ship. Tonight (July 9) the Princess Patter has a front page article about the Customer Services Director, Johannes de Villiers.

The article goes on about how his job to ensure good service etc etc, and how the passengers should contact him, but there is no method to get ahold of him. There is no email, No phone extension, no method of any manner to contact him. Using the onboard internet resulted in a message of " pick one recipient" and no way to email or messenger him.

This just added to the frustration when you advertise to contact him and provide no means to do so. I just finally called the front desk asking how to contact him and I got five minutes of "what do I need to speak to him about?" I persisted and finally got the answer that he could call me the next day from 0800 to 1200. The front desk personnel were obviously in panic mode and told the supervisor, Stella, that I wanted to talk to the person in charge of customer relations. She called me back and wanted to know why I wanted to talk to him? I told her because I wanted him to know how terrible the cruise has been and how the desk personnel have been unresponsive. She advised that she would ask him to call me, but she was obviously upset.

Another issue has been the quality and taste of the food and the ridiculous. lack of tea bags.

We have been on numerous Princess Cruises and on every other one of them the food was much much better. That could just be a difference in accommodating food tastes for more European customers, but the Tea Bag issue was infuriating.

My wife drinks only English Breakfast tea but there was only a very limited supply of these tea bags available everyday. We would have to go from the drink station in one dining room to another to another searching for a tea bag. We asked the crew members where the tea was, or if they would get us one of these particular tea bags and we were told that the ship would only put out a certain limited number of these tea bags each day. It wasn't that they were out of them but rather that they chose to only distribute a small number each day, and if you were looking for English Breakfast Tea after that number was depleted you had to do without it.

One day my wife was ill from the stress of all these constant problems and we had to miss one of our excursions as she sat in our cabin. I went to get her a cup of tea and I literally went to four different drink stations before locating one of these elusive tea bags. This is not appropriate when I am paying top dollar for a cruise.

Copies printed and submitted to

Captain Nick Nash

Customer Services Director Johannes De Villiers

Hotel general manager Adam Gorst

What ship? What cruise?

Is this serious? If so, it really, really needs to be cleaned up before sending it to the CEO. It is a rambling mess and by the time I got to the end of it I was thinking that maybe it was just a parody of every unhappy poster I have ever read on cruise critic. tea bags, really?

Hi There

First welcome to cruise critic,

I too have had lost luggage, never to be seen again but I was on a 24 day cruise, will let you know what Princess did.

Plumbing issues are never nice, and can ruin your cruise, did you take any photos, record dates etc, it is better to try and fix issues while still onboard but if you write a detailed letter to Princess you will get a reply but might take 6 weeks, or more

As to help onboard below customer services director is passenger services manager,

you should have been directed to them, they would have managed your cruise issues, normal getting a junior member to deal with issues but reporting to you daily on progress.

As to Johannes, know him very well, has a high profile and can be found around the ship, he is very approachable and chats to as many passengers as he can,

getting to see him is not a issue, however in the first instance he may call your cabin first.

Above him is Hotel General Manager but again a letter to him will get a reply within a day and an invite to a meeting.

As to Captain Nash again very approachable and takes an interest if he was made aware of crew failings he would become involved.

Things go wrong on cruises I have had leaks, floods, illness etc I cruise with Princess because they are good at putting things right but you need to know who to report too, front desk are not much use and should direct you to the correct person.

When I had lost luggage Princess gave me an over night bag, money to buy stuff in the onboard shops, as to formal night the tux did not fit, the second need fixing so Princess sent ships tailor to make alternations. As to the lost luggage Princess refunded full cost of what we lost.

As to Johannes one night almost midnight I had water coming through my ceiling I went and found him he went to my cabin organised everything from buckets to cleaners, a stand bye incase leak became to bad to stay, next day he came again and had plumber joiner fix the issues, we were given a free meal in the Crown Grill by HGM for our troubles.

It is a pity that you were not able to post from the ship as many here would have been able to give you advise on who to turn to for assistance.

yours Shogun

Welcome to Cruise Critic!! Great screen name! :rolleyes:

Sounds like you were doomed before you booked any cruise.

I agree about Johan. We know him well too. He will go to the ends of the earth to address ANY issues to make one happy/satisfied.

..........................

 

When I called the front desk ....................

 

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Another very big issue is the treatment we received as deaf people. Perhaps the shipping line can be sued for violation of the Americans with Disabilities Act or a similar law since they were completely unresponsive to my wife and my deafness.........................

 

Sorry to read about the troubles that you had. But, then, I have to admit to being a little confused. If you are deaf maybe that was a problem with those phone calls.:confused:

I'll admit that in the world today I have a difficult time telling the difference between a troll and a genuinely upset customer.

The fact that this is the first post from a screen name that joined in 2012 gives me pause, however.

Hi and welcome to cruise critic,

While I do not have much helpful advice to give about who to contact at Princess (I am scheduled to leave for my first Princes cruise in about 45 days), I just wanted to ask if maybe you had travel insurance either through Princess or another source?

I am a little unclear as to what the circumstances were for the lost luggage, but if you had it, travel insurance would help defray the costs. If it was an airline thing, you may have some limited recourse there. If you booked your trip through a credit card you may also have some sort of protection there so worth contacting them to ask. I know I may be pointing out the obvious, but for me, sometimes when I am in the thick of things and upset, I have a hard time thinking of all the possibilities.

I hope that things work out.

I'm fairly foreign to Cruise Critic as I'm not much of a cruiser, but I have found it both entertaining and sad the way that people rush to blame the complainer whenever these posts pop up. In my limited time on this board it has happened over and over. Princess seems to have reached Apple-level adoration status around here.

Princess is a business. The captains and officers that some of you seem to be on a first name basis with are not your friends, they are employees who you are paid to be nice to you so that you'll book another cruise. And the fact that they were wonderful to you does not mean that they have never been unhelpful with anyone else.

Yes, some of the OP's complaints are a little tenuous, but if I had my luggage lost and my plumbing constantly malfunctioning then I would start getting irritated too... and most of us, once irritated, tend to blow small things out of proportion as they pile up. After a few days, I might even find myself getting mad that they didn't have my preferred type of tea.

And yes, a certain level of patience is required while traveling, and sometimes the complainers can be over the top. But Princess is not a $5/night hostel or a tiny shack in the depths of the jungle-- I think passengers at the very least have a right to expect basic, functioning plumbing. Is there really nothing you guys will hold them accountable for?

Maybe instead of jumping to the conclusion that he's a troll, or trying desperately to find holes to poke into his story (really-- a deaf guy can't work for a police department? He never said he was an officer), just offer him some advice on how to resolve the situation. The purpose of this board is for people to get advice on their cruise-related questions, isn't it?

It just seems like anytime anyone has the nerve to mention something that has gone wrong, or accidentally swaps the names of the ship, or, god forbid, calls it a boat, they are roundly dismissed and ridiculed. Not everyone has spent decades of their life cruising. Some of us wouldn't want to. Maybe try showing people a little basic respect and decency?

"Another very big issue is the treatment we received as deaf people. Perhaps the shipping line can be sued for violation of the Americans with Disabilities Act or a similar law since they were completely unresponsive to my wife and my deafness.

The ship has absolutely no respect for the hearing disabled passengers. We were required to communicate with the airlines via a phone at the front desk where a live band was playing alongside us. We requested to either use the telephone in an office or in our room, but we were told if we used the phone in our room to speak to the airline, we would pay for the telephone call. This went on EVERY day until finally on July 6 after my loud confrontation with Maria Jose, when we were finally put through to the airline on the phone in our room, one time.

The television has no closed captioning on most channels and shows, so we could catch perhaps three shows in eleven days that were close caption and therefore understandable to us. The live shows were the same problem, no provision for hearing impaired to access any sort of device to enable enhanced hearing of the show."

Another classic example of US citizens assuming that their laws cover them everywhere in the world. The US Supreme Court in Specter v. NCL clearly delineated the areas of the ADA that could be applied to a foreign flag ship, and those that could not, without a clear mandate from Congress via amendment to the ADA. Very few countries, and Burmuda where nearly all Princess ships are registered in particular, don't have any disability accessibility laws. From Burmuda's own website:

"Unlike the Disability laws in those countries, there are none in Bermuda specifically covering codes and standards, accommodation and social security pensions for seniors, access to public buildings and transportation policies including parking for the disabled. While a few larger taxis able to take the disabled (physically handicapped and other disabled) have been brought in, there is nothing in the law that requires the owners and/or drivers to take disabled passengers. Drivers are free to decide whether or not to accept any disabled. There are no Bermuda laws requiring any type of public or private transport to take the disabled. "

Clearly a case of the OP not doing their homework, though they claim to have cruised Princess before and apparently never complained about the service for hearing impaired passengers.

And really? Tea bags?

"Another very big issue is the treatment we received as deaf people. Perhaps the shipping line can be sued for violation of the Americans with Disabilities Act or a similar law since they were completely unresponsive to my wife and my deafness.

 

The ship has absolutely no respect for the hearing disabled passengers. We were required to communicate with the airlines via a phone at the front desk where a live band was playing alongside us. We requested to either use the telephone in an office or in our room, but we were told if we used the phone in our room to speak to the airline, we would pay for the telephone call. This went on EVERY day until finally on July 6 after my loud confrontation with Maria Jose, when we were finally put through to the airline on the phone in our room, one time.

 

The television has no closed captioning on most channels and shows, so we could catch perhaps three shows in eleven days that were close caption and therefore understandable to us. The live shows were the same problem, no provision for hearing impaired to access any sort of device to enable enhanced hearing of the show."

 

Another classic example of US citizens assuming that their laws cover them everywhere in the world. The US Supreme Court in Specter v. NCL clearly delineated the areas of the ADA that could be applied to a foreign flag ship, and those that could not, without a clear mandate from Congress via amendment to the ADA. Very few countries, and Burmuda where nearly all Princess ships are registered in particular, don't have any disability accessibility laws. From Burmuda's own website:

 

"Unlike the Disability laws in those countries, there are none in Bermuda specifically covering codes and standards, accommodation and social security pensions for seniors, access to public buildings and transportation policies including parking for the disabled. While a few larger taxis able to take the disabled (physically handicapped and other disabled) have been brought in, there is nothing in the law that requires the owners and/or drivers to take disabled passengers. Drivers are free to decide whether or not to accept any disabled. There are no Bermuda laws requiring any type of public or private transport to take the disabled. "

 

Clearly a case of the OP not doing their homework, though they claim to have cruised Princess before and apparently never complained about the service for hearing impaired passengers.

 

And really? Tea bags?

Okay, so I will add "read all case law regarding cruising" to my to-do list before I leave for Alaska.

I didn't realize I needed to go to law school before I went on vacation. :rolleyes:

I'm fairly foreign to Cruise Critic as I'm not much of a cruiser, but I have found it both entertaining and sad the way that people rush to blame the complainer whenever these posts pop up. In my limited time on this board it has happened over and over. Princess seems to have reached Apple-level adoration status around here.

 

Princess is a business. The captains and officers that some of you seem to be on a first name basis with are not your friends, they are employees who you are paid to be nice to you so that you'll book another cruise. And the fact that they were wonderful to you does not mean that they have never been unhelpful with anyone else.

 

Yes, some of the OP's complaints are a little tenuous, but if I had my luggage lost and my plumbing constantly malfunctioning then I would start getting irritated too... and most of us, once irritated, tend to blow small things out of proportion as they pile up. After a few days, I might even find myself getting mad that they didn't have my preferred type of tea.

 

And yes, a certain level of patience is required while traveling, and sometimes the complainers can be over the top. But Princess is not a $5/night hostel or a tiny shack in the depths of the jungle-- I think passengers at the very least have a right to expect basic, functioning plumbing. Is there really nothing you guys will hold them accountable for?

 

Maybe instead of jumping to the conclusion that he's a troll, or trying desperately to find holes to poke into his story (really-- a deaf guy can't work for a police department? He never said he was an officer), just offer him some advice on how to resolve the situation. The purpose of this board is for people to get advice on their cruise-related questions, isn't it?

 

It just seems like anytime anyone has the nerve to mention something that has gone wrong, or accidentally swaps the names of the ship, or, god forbid, calls it a boat, they are roundly dismissed and ridiculed. Not everyone has spent decades of their life cruising. Some of us wouldn't want to. Maybe try showing people a little basic respect and decency?

On the whole you'd be spot on but this case was different. Most of the OP was unbelievable. As example he says he paid top dollar for this cruise? Really? Where would Azamara, Regent, Oceania fall then? This is a mass market line, not a premium line. Sometimes people are just so over the top it's a comedy and I can assure you I am not a cheerleader for any line.

When they found their english tea bags why didn't they just pocket a few extra for later use instead of blowing it up out of proportion.

He says he's looking for a refund, could that be what all this is about. I hope they come back and let us know if they get a full or partial refund so we can turn CC into a "how to get refunds" board.

On the whole you'd be spot on but this case was different. Most of the OP was unbelievable. As example he says he paid top dollar for this cruise? Really? Where would Azamara, Regent, Oceania fall then? This is a mass market line, not a premium line. Sometimes people are just so over the top it's a comedy and I can assure you I am not a cheerleader for any line.

When they found their english tea bags why didn't they just pocket a few extra for later use instead of blowing it up out of proportion.

He says he's looking for a refund, could that be what all this is about. I hope they come back and let us know if they get a full or partial refund so we can turn CC into a "how to get refunds" board.

The scrutiny with which you're parsing his words is exactly what I was talking about. Again, not everyone spends their lives cruising. For my cruise to Alaska I am paying a lot more than I usually pay for my non-cruise vacations, so I, too, would consider it "top dollar". He may also be staying in a suite, which would also be "top dollar" compared to if he booked an inside. It is clear that you (and almost everyone else in this thread) read his post looking for reasons to doubt him. As I have seen time and time before on this board.

Yes, he was a little bit over the top, and yes, tea is a small thing to be angry about. But people are treating him as if his entire post was about missing tea. The fact that he ended up mad about small things doesn't excuse or negate the big things that made him mad in the first place.

I remember a post when I first started reading this board from a guy who was mad that the chef wouldn't drop everything and make risotto for him. Now that was over the top. This is nowhere near that level, but he's being dismissed with the same flippant hand.

Princess is a business. For most people, things go off without a hitch, but for some people they don't. He tried to resolve it on the ship (which is the typical advice here) and the problems were apparently not resolved. So what are his next steps? I, personally, would like to know, in case something like this should happen to me on my Alaska cruise.

It would just be nice if people would suggest ways to resolve it rather than suggesting that the poster is crazy or lying or a troll. HIS TOILET DIDN'T WORK. That is not okay!

The scrutiny with which you're parsing his words is exactly what I was talking about. Again, not everyone spends their lives cruising. For my cruise to Alaska I am paying a lot more than I usually pay for my non-cruise vacations, so I, too, would consider it "top dollar". He may also be staying in a suite, which would also be "top dollar" compared to if he booked an inside. It is clear that you (and almost everyone else in this thread) read his post looking for reasons to doubt him. As I have seen time and time before on this board.

 

Yes, he was a little bit over the top, and yes, tea is a small thing to be angry about. But people are treating him as if his entire post was about missing tea. The fact that he ended up mad about small things doesn't excuse or negate the big things that made him mad in the first place.

 

I remember a post when I first started reading this board from a guy who was mad that the chef wouldn't drop everything and make risotto for him. Now that was over the top. This is nowhere near that level, but he's being dismissed with the same flippant hand.

 

Princess is a business. For most people, things go off without a hitch, but for some people they don't. He tried to resolve it on the ship (which is the typical advice here) and the problems were apparently not resolved. So what are his next steps? I, personally, would like to know, in case something like this should happen to me on my Alaska cruise.

 

It would just be nice if people would suggest ways to resolve it rather than suggesting that the poster is crazy or lying or a troll. HIS TOILET DIDN'T WORK. That is not okay!

His main issue was the airline lost his luggage. Now unless he purchased his tickets through Princess how exactly is that Princess's fault. Most of the other things seem to be piling on everything he can think of. Most of the letter is what he considers to be Princess's shortcomings in trying to help him solve his problem with the airline.

Based upon the tone of this letter, I suspect that a delay in a toilet flushing, which we all have experienced, could become major plumbing problems. Not saying that his were, but he certainly seems to have created a huge laundry list including bringing up the ADA. Wonder how it would have gone if THE AIRLINE had not lost his luggage. Apparently anything that Princess did to help was consider to be wrong or insufficient, instead of being appreciated they became another reason for complaint. Under those circumstances I can see why the customer service staff might run the other way when they saw them coming.

Okay, so I will add "read all case law regarding cruising" to my to-do list before I leave for Alaska.

 

I didn't realize I needed to go to law school before I went on vacation. :rolleyes:

While many people do realize that the laws of the country they are visiting are different than those in the US, and that the US laws and protections that they have come to expect no longer apply, it never ceases to amaze me how many get indignant when their "rights" are violated in a foreign country.

Well, wake up folks, when you make the conscious decision to cruise on a foreign flag ship, that is just like visiting a foreign country, even in a place like Alaska where you are in US waters most of the time, and your "rights" to accessibility, legal protection (limited to certain crimes), health and safety are no longer subject to US laws. Even the much vaunted "cruise passenger bill of rights" was voluntarily adopted by CLIA, rather than have to fight Congress in the Supreme Court.

His main issue was the airline lost his luggage. Now unless he purchased his tickets through Princess how exactly is that Princess's fault. Most of the other things seem to be piling on everything he can think of. Most of the letter is what he considers to be Princess's shortcomings in trying to help him solve his problem with the airline.

 

Based upon the tone of this letter, I suspect that a delay in a toilet flushing, which we all have experienced, could become major plumbing problems. Not saying that his were, but he certainly seems to have created a huge laundry list including bringing up the ADA. Wonder how it would have gone if THE AIRLINE had not lost his luggage. Apparently anything that Princess did to help was consider to be wrong or insufficient, instead of being appreciated they became another reason for complaint. Under those circumstances I can see why the customer service staff might run the other way when they saw them coming.

His very first complaint is:

The plumbing on the ship was totally ****, with our bathroom constantly getting a plugged toilet and stopped up shower drain. Each day that this happened we had to call and wait for a member of maintenance to arrive to allow us to either use the toilet or the shower. The crew obviously resented having to come every day since we had to wait over two hours for someone to come clear the problem one day. Repeated calls to the front desk were answered with "someone is coming" Yes, coming two hours later.

If this is someone that "we all" have experienced, then I should probably start dreading my Alaska cruise now. There will be three of us in the same cabin, so when I flush the toilet I sure hope we don't have to wait for someone to come fix it before the next person can use it. And if I complain about it onboard I sure hope the customer service reps don't "run the other way" because that would be incredibly unprofessional.

I agree that the luggage is the airline's fault, but that doesn't mean Princess shouldn't be as accommodating as possible with trying to get it back. This isn't a hotel where he can just give the airline the address and be done with it. He was asking to use the phone, not to send the Captain looking for it. And you're assuming that he didn't book the tickets through Princess... why not give him the benefit of the doubt, since he didn't say one way or the other?

Again, I'm not saying that this guy doesn't have room to relax a bit. Some of his complaints are indeed a little over the top. But that's understandable given his larger issues. Even if the luggage wasn't Princess' fault, it doesn't make it any less annoying for him. And the plumbing issues, which very much were Princess' fault, would just compound that. People are human. Hopefully once he gets home he can calm down and write the problems out in a more professional manner. But that doesn't mean that all of his issues are invalid and should be dismissed, or that Princess doesn't have a responsibility to address the complaints.

Sorry for your numerous problems which only seemed to get worse. It appears that cruising is not for you.

Maybe if you change your screen name, your luck will change!

His very first complaint is:

The plumbing on the ship was totally ****, with our bathroom constantly getting a plugged toilet and stopped up shower drain. Each day that this happened we had to call and wait for a member of maintenance to arrive to allow us to either use the toilet or the shower. The crew obviously resented having to come every day since we had to wait over two hours for someone to come clear the problem one day. Repeated calls to the front desk were answered with "someone is coming" Yes, coming two hours later.

 

If this is someone that "we all" have experienced, then I should probably start dreading my Alaska cruise now. There will be three of us in the same cabin, so when I flush the toilet I sure hope we don't have to wait for someone to come fix it before the next person can use it. And if I complain about it onboard I sure hope the customer service reps don't "run the other way" because that would be incredibly unprofessional.

 

I agree that the luggage is the airline's fault, but that doesn't mean Princess shouldn't be as accommodating as possible with trying to get it back. This isn't a hotel where he can just give the airline the address and be done with it. He was asking to use the phone, not to send the Captain looking for it. And you're assuming that he didn't book the tickets through Princess... why not give him the benefit of the doubt, since he didn't say one way or the other?

 

Again, I'm not saying that this guy doesn't have room to relax a bit. Some of his complaints are indeed a little over the top. But that's understandable given his larger issues. Even if the luggage wasn't Princess' fault, it doesn't make it any less annoying for him. And the plumbing issues, which very much were Princess' fault, would just compound that. People are human. Hopefully once he gets home he can calm down and write the problems out in a more professional manner. But that doesn't mean that all of his issues are invalid and should be dismissed, or that Princess doesn't have a responsibility to address the complaints.

If you are not familiar with cruise ships. The toilet connects to the black water system and is a vacuum driven system. The shower connects to a different gray water system. So the fact that both plumbing systems were having problems at the same time is curious.

As far as the toilet it is a vacuum system. There is a sensor that determines if there is sufficient vacuum for it to flush. As a result there will certainly be times where you push the button and it does not flush immediately. most times it will flush a few seconds later, but sometimes it might take a few minutes depending upon how busy the system is. Also the system is somewhat prone to plugging if someone puts something down the system that they should not. I would be surprised if anyone that has taken spent more then a couple cruises has not encountered at least one period where the toilet has had issues for 15 minutes or more. The longest I have encountered has been 2-3 hours, while the maintenance department had to clear a plug in the line.

So if that creates too much uncertainty then you might want to reconsider.

Customer Service personnel have directions on what they can or cannot do. If you have someone that repeatedly comes to you and what they want is not something you can provide or where what you can do is never enough, it is not unprofessional, it is survival.

There are some customers that a business is happy to lose. There are many that a business wants to keep. How the business reacts often indicates what category they consider you to be in.

While many people do realize that the laws of the country they are visiting are different than those in the US, and that the US laws and protections that they have come to expect no longer apply, it never ceases to amaze me how many get indignant when their "rights" are violated in a foreign country.

 

Well, wake up folks, when you make the conscious decision to cruise on a foreign flag ship, that is just like visiting a foreign country, even in a place like Alaska where you are in US waters most of the time, and your "rights" to accessibility, legal protection (limited to certain crimes), health and safety are no longer subject to US laws. Even the much vaunted "cruise passenger bill of rights" was voluntarily adopted by CLIA, rather than have to fight Congress in the Supreme Court.

He wanted to call the airline from his cabin where it was quiet. He wasn't asking them to remodel the ship for him. The ADA may not apply onboard or overseas, but basic customer service should always apply. They could have easily let him make the call and then credited whatever the charge was, given the extenuating circumstances.

I don't know what's happened to empathy in this day and age. You look forward to a cruise, but on the way there the airline loses your luggage, you have no clothes or anything, and the only way for you to get your bags back is to tell the airline where your constantly-moving ship is. But the in-room phone charges are exorbitant and the cruise staff doesn't want to let you use their phone, and even when they finally do you can't hear what the airline is saying. And meanwhile your toilet doesn't work and everytime you use it you have to wait for someone to clean up the mess, which is awkward and embarrassing. And you have to use that same plumbing to wash your clothes everyday because you have nothing. It's a nightmare. Yet you all are surprised he sounds irritated and is letting little things get to him? Tell me who wouldn't be frustrated in that situation. No, it's not all Princess' fault, but that doesn't mean you should dismiss the guy's entire post. Show some compassion.

If you are not familiar with cruise ships. The toilet connects to the black water system and is a vacuum driven system. The shower connects to a different gray water system. So the fact that both plumbing systems were having problems at the same time is curious.

 

As far as the toilet it is a vacuum system. There is a sensor that determines if there is sufficient vacuum for it to flush. As a result there will certainly be times where you push the button and it does not flush immediately. most times it will flush a few seconds later, but sometimes it might take a few minutes depending upon how busy the system is. Also the system is somewhat prone to plugging if someone puts something down the system that they should not. I would be surprised if anyone that has taken spent more then a couple cruises has not encountered at least one period where the toilet has had issues for 15 minutes or more. The longest I have encountered has been 2-3 hours, while the maintenance department had to clear a plug in the line.

 

So if that creates too much uncertainty then you might want to reconsider.

He said he had problems with both the shower and toilet. And he said that each day he had to wait for someone to fix it before it would work again. If we are taking him at face value (and why wouldn't we?) then there were obviously extraneous problems well beyond the ones you've described as normal.

I'm fairly foreign to Cruise Critic as I'm not much of a cruiser, but I have found it both entertaining and sad the way that people rush to blame the complainer whenever these posts pop up. In my limited time on this board it has happened over and over.

*snip*

Maybe instead of jumping to the conclusion that he's a troll, or trying desperately to find holes to poke into his story (really-- a deaf guy can't work for a police department? He never said he was an officer), just offer him some advice on how to resolve the situation. The purpose of this board is for people to get advice on their cruise-related questions, isn't it?

*snip*

Not everyone has spent decades of their life cruising. Some of us wouldn't want to. Maybe try showing people a little basic respect and decency?

As you say yourself, you are foreign to CC. Perhaps you haven't been here long or often enough to recognize a type of complaint designed to get money from the company (in this case, a refund.) There is a pattern of first-time posters delivering long complaints and then demanding some form of compensation for their grief. Possibly this poster has legitimate concerns, but there are inconsistencies in the story that make it suspect. Yes, this is a board for asking advice, but I didn't see the OP doing that, only saying he needs money for his trouble.

His very first complaint is:

The plumbing on the ship was totally ****, with our bathroom constantly getting a plugged toilet and stopped up shower drain. Each day that this happened we had to call and wait for a member of maintenance to arrive to allow us to either use the toilet or the shower. The crew obviously resented having to come every day since we had to wait over two hours for someone to come clear the problem one day. Repeated calls to the front desk were answered with "someone is coming" Yes, coming two hours later.

 

If this is someone that "we all" have experienced, then I should probably start dreading my Alaska cruise now. There will be three of us in the same cabin, so when I flush the toilet I sure hope we don't have to wait for someone to come fix it before the next person can use it. And if I complain about it onboard I sure hope the customer service reps don't "run the other way" because that would be incredibly unprofessional.

 

I won't get into the attitude of the front desk staff, any more than I will the OP's apparent attitude which may have had quite an effect on the former.

I think that everyone who has cruised more than once will have experienced a toilet problem. It is the nature of a vacuum toilet system, and is generally caused by someone flushing something down the toilet that should not have been. Depending on what it was (and I've seen just about everything imaginable), and where it got stopped in the system, it will take down 1 or 2 toilets or a block of 20 cabins, or worst case several hundred cabins, while the plumbers locate the clog and roto-root it out. The OP should know, if their claim to having cruised with Princess several times, that there is a limited number of crew who can deal with technical problems, whether it is a light bulb or a toilet. Perhaps on this cruise, there was an unusually large number of these incidents, and the plumbers were busy dealing with problems in other areas of the ship, and got to the OP in the order that problems were reported. I once had a case where a block of 10 cabins were without toilets for 2 days, despite my plumbers working 24 hours a day, because someone had flushed their bikini and a couple of face cloths down the hopper. That thing just wouldn't tear free.

I believe that you should not go on another cruise. It seems you probably are one of those that are never happy. Go fishing and stay off cruise ships. I have been on many and if you treat staff nice they will bend over backward for you

He said he had problems with both the shower and toilet. And he said that each day he had to wait for someone to fix it before it would work again. If we are taking him at face value (and why wouldn't we?) then there were obviously extraneous problems well beyond the ones you've described as normal.

With two totally different systems??? Lets just say with the laundry list of complaints in his letter and some of the verbage such as

When I said yes, his response was that I should run the water in the tub, with the stopper out " but don't run it over the top of the tub"? How ridiculous was that statement?

So he was complaining about the crew member just saying to be care full about not over filling the tub and he had to throw that in.

That is why I cannot quite treat all of his issues as being fully credible as being as one sided as he depicts them. The letter is a bit over the top.

While he starts with plumbing, something that would be Princesses responsibility. Most of the letter deals issues around the lost luggage.

His very first complaint is:

The plumbing on the ship was totally ****, with our bathroom constantly getting a plugged toilet and stopped up shower drain. Each day that this happened we had to call and wait for a member of maintenance to arrive to allow us to either use the toilet or the shower. The crew obviously resented having to come every day since we had to wait over two hours for someone to come clear the problem one day. Repeated calls to the front desk were answered with "someone is coming" Yes, coming two hours later.

 

If this is someone that "we all" have experienced, then I should probably start dreading my Alaska cruise now. There will be three of us in the same cabin, so when I flush the toilet I sure hope we don't have to wait for someone to come fix it before the next person can use it. And if I complain about it onboard I sure hope the customer service reps don't "run the other way" because that would be incredibly unprofessional.

 

If this is how you truly feel then I suggest you rethink your cruise. I have yet to go on a cruise and not have toilet issues of some kind. Usually they stop working because someone in another cabin has put something down the toilet that they shouldn't and clogs the line to other cabins too. It never gets fixed right away. We've been without a toilet for a whole afternoon once. Thankfully never overnight. It is frustrating but not to the point that it would cause me to rant like this person has.

 

If this is the way he is describing his experience, I can only imagine how he spoke to the desk personnel. His attitude probably didn't do him any favors. Not that they should have ignored him but the front desk has a lot of passengers that they have to deal with and not everyone can be the top priority.

...As to help onboard below customer services director is passenger services manager,

 

you should have been directed to them, they would have managed your cruise issues, normal getting a junior member to deal with issues but reporting to you daily on progress.

 

As to Johannes, know him very well, has a high profile and can be found around the ship, he is very approachable and chats to as many passengers as he can,

 

getting to see him is not a issue, however in the first instance he may call your cabin first.

 

Above him is Hotel General Manager but again a letter to him will get a reply within a day and an invite to a meeting.

 

As to Captain Nash again very approachable and takes an interest if he was made aware of crew failings he would become involved...

I have witnessed, on Golden Princess, front desk staff telling upset pax that nobody above them was available to discuss an issue. I'm not sure whether higher-ups were instructing the front desk to run interference for them, or if the CSD just couldn't be bothered escalating a complaint to the proper person.

In the OP's case, I might have tried emailing the CEO's office as well as posting a Facebook comment from the ship. It shouldn't be this way, but we have become a "squeaky wheel" world, unfortunately :(.

With regard to the breakfast tea, I have learned that if there is something packable (tea bags, in this case) that I can't do without, I bring it with me. I have also learned (the hard way) to always bring a carry-on with enough clothing to scrape by with on a trip in case checked bags get lost.

I hope the OP posts again with an update on how matters were resolved, and that any future cruises they may take are better ones :).