jaxter1302

Do the hair dryers require you to hold the button in while drying? Or is it a regular on/off switch?

Princess definitely dropped the ball on this one. They should have refunded you the cost of the tour period... I might consider one more try and specifically request another agent or a supervisor.

Let me see, You got $50 PP refunded to your credit card and $100 PP in cruise credit. This means you paid nothing for a UST for 2 because of a couple of robes. Not a bad deal. And you said you had a great time.

Of course this was such a major problem that you will never use Princess again. I wonder which cruise line will be next in line.

The fact that you say you won't use the credit does not mean you did not get it, Hmmm I wonder if you can move it to my account?

Just kidding.

 

Life is too short to worry about the small stuff.

Or maybe that's just me?

Dixon

I consider the refund of $50 each a success, but the process of getting it was the painful part. If their customer service was better, I absolutely would have taken the credit and used it happily. But it wasn't just the money.

- They didn't get us the items before we left the ship.

- I twice went to Photography to ask about the photos and was assured they would appear, and they didn't.

- On the morning of disembarkation, I was told to go back to my room because surely it would be there.

- It took a week to get initial response to my complaint.

- And I had to deal with a snarky customer service agent who did not know policy and could not have cared less whether I was a satisfied customer.

This wasn't about the money - it was about how they treat customers. I'm big on principles, and this was all about the principle.

So I'll take my money and business where it is more valued.

Princess definitely dropped the ball on this one. They should have refunded you the cost of the tour period... I might consider one more try and specifically request another agent or a supervisor.

Funny story there - I asked for a supervisor and was told that there was nobody above this woman (Alene). Apparently she's the President of Princess Cruise Lines? At some point, I'll look back on this and laugh, but I'm not there yet... :rolleyes:

Resolution?

Well, it took almost 2 weeks to get addressed, but here is the resolution to my issue. After 1 week of not getting a response to my email, I re-submitted. I finally got a call from a customer service rep and it was a very frustrating call. I cited my expectations based on cruise reviewers who had taken the tour, and her response was that it wasn’t Princess’ policy to give UST participants these items - it’s completely up to the individual ship as to which goodies they might give you.

After much back and forth, she directed me to princess.com and to the page that describes the UST, to prove to me that these items should not have been expected. I then pointed out to her that on the very page that she directed me to, the section describing the Laundry tour includes a statement that participants receive luxurious bathrobes, and the section that describes the Galley tour includes a statement that participants receive an official chef’s jacket. Silence! She said she would need to check with the Grand and find out what they were doing, and that she would call me back. She didn’t call me back.

So I waited a couple of days and called again, and was connected to the same customer service rep. She told me that they couldn’t quantify the value of those items ($45 for waffle robe, $90 for the plush robe per the gift section of the site) and had no ability to ship the items. Her offer was to give us each a $50 credit for a future cruise. When I explained to her that after this experience we weren’t interested in going on another Princess cruise, she said that was too bad. After some negotiating, I was able to get $50 per person refunded to our credit card, and a $100 per person future cruise credit, which I won’t be using.

In the end, our destination and the excursions we took were outstanding, our cabin and steward were good, the ship and food were just ok. I’ve had better experiences on other cruise lines, and this final interaction with Princess customer service has tarnished my view of Princess such that I will never cruise with them again. Truly a shame. It should have been very easy for Princess to fix this.

We are truly easy-going travelers and don’t expect special consideration or demand extras for free. We paid for a Jr. Suite, spent a small fortune for excursions – all through Princess, and shelled out $300 for this tour. I really just wanted to get what I had paid for.

In the end, the lesson that I learned and want to share with readers: If you take the ultimate ship tour, do not leave the ship without those goodies!!

Happy sailing, folks! Perhaps we'll meet on another cruise line... We cancelled our April 2016 2-week Panama Canal cruise on the Island Princess (in a full Suite), and booked Anthem of the Seas sailing rom Cape Liberty NJ this December.

Yours,

Unhappy Princess Ex-customer

I would hope you follow up with Princess on this.

I've submitted an inquiry to their customer service email address. Will post on this thread when I've received a response.

Thanks again, everyone!

I must have a different outlook. I am a real ship junkie. I am amazed at the incredible machine that has evolved in this business. I did the UST aboard the Ruby during our Med Cruise and it was amazing. I didn't even know about any giveaways when I booked it. IMHO it was worth every penny. I got to see some amazing places that you otherwise would never see.

When the extras came that was simply the frosting on the cake.

The memories I have from that experience are the real value, not a robe or a photo or two.

The tour is easily worth the price without any extras. Fact is only a limited group can go and if it was priced at $50, there would be a war over inclusion on the tour. Supply and Demand. Perceived Value. For some it is a Suite or nothing, for others an Inside cabin is the only sensible way to go.

Sometimes I am amazed at some of these threads.:confused:

 

But maybe that's just me. :cool:

Dixon

The tour was in fact very good and I'm glad that we were able to do it. However, knowing that pretty much every other passenger who has done the tour in recent history received about $100 worth of goods that we did not receive is worth complaining about.

Our cruise experience with Princess overall was very good, and the quality of our many excursions (that we paid a small fortune for, by the way) was beyond our expectations. But this tour -- which was 100% under Princess' control -- was sub-standard. If I had paid $50 for the tour, I would have walked away happy. But given the expectation set by so many others on these message boards, I think we were right to be disappointed.

I'm wondering if your robes, etc. were delivered to someone else's cabin and they decided to keep it for themselves...

 

Did you inquire at passenger services when you did not receive the expected goodies? What was their response?

Since we were out of our cabin at 8 am for disembarkation on the day following the tour, and had been assured twice since the tour that items would be delivered to our cabin, we never had a chance to inquire about the other items. Photo gallery staff finally offered to walk to our stateroom to find the photos, and within 5 minutes of that our disembarkation group was called. Timing is everything, right? I will definitely send a note to their customer service address and request the gifts or a refund.

Thanks for all for your posts. There seems to be a consistency of gift items that we definitely did NOT receive! Cheers to all.

Yes, that is a bit pricey. I was thinking of treating my husband to a tour but was thinking more on the line of $100/pp. But, it is what it is. Where/when does one book this tour? Can it be done on line via Princess site or AFTER boarding the ship?

I signed up at Passenger Services - it's not advertised or listed anywhere as a pre-book item. Per other posts, I went to the desk on embarkation day worried that it would fill up. We didn't receive notice that we were "selected" until the day before the tour, with waivers to sign and time/location to meet for the tour. Our group consisted of 12 folks, I've heard groups of 17 have gone, but not sure what number is the cut-off.

To Chunder Worthy:

I agree - it really is a lot of $ for the tour, but I had thought at least the souvenirs would give us something tangible for that cost. The only reason I did spend the money is that DH is HARD to buy for! :) He was also in the U.S. Navy, so the chance for him to see the engine control room and bridge seemed worth it at the time.

We just returned from 7-day AK Cruise on Grand Princess, Whittier to Vancouver. I booked the Ultimate Ship Tour for DH's birthday, which was conducted on our last sea day and the last day of the cruise. Based on posts from Princess Forum, I expected souvenirs from the tour such as bathrobes, photos and other small goodies.

The tour was good, but this was what we got for $150 per person:

- 3-hour tour to various off-limits areas of the ship

- Fruit juice in the kitchen portion of the tour

- 1 notepad each from the print shop with our names printed on it

- 4 photos and a generic 8.5 x 11 frame - which we had to hunt down on the morning of our departure - it WAS NOT delivered to our cabin as promised.

While the tour itself was good, this was an absolute disappointment for the amount of money spent. Has anyone done the UST recently and received the free goodies as mentioned by other posters? I'm in the process of writing a letter to Princess, but wanted to see if anyone out there has any insight to share.

This was our first cruise on Princess and although we have another booked in April 2016, we are considering changing to another line.