peajay

12 hours ago, Taters said:

I was on this cruise.  First there was an announcement throughout the ship, and even into the cabins (where I happened to be at the time), where the mistake was announced along with a mention of upcoming compensation for everyone. Later that day we all received letters in our cabins.  Neither I nor my husband complained about missing the Inside Passage.

We didn't receive a letter as the captain announced, so I walked two decks and saw just a few letters in the cabin mail racks. I walked back through after midnight and still saw very few letters. The next morning we asked in reception and were told "we are getting to it" The next day we asked again and they reluctantly printed one for us. Interestingly some letters had the passenger names, but others like ours stated dear valued guest. Personally I consider myself a passenger or a customer, for me guests are something else.

11 hours ago, Blackduck59 said:

Wow, I took the time to read this whole thread. I also read "The Letter" everyone commenting should do that first. I'm afraid any "scenic cruising" would have been during the short hours of daylight when entering Queen Charlotte Strait and the daylight before arriving in Victoria keeping in mind that sunrise around here at this time of year is 0530 hrs. The rest would be in the dark. I think there would have been a very big problem if the Victoria port call was missed, being that it is required for the PVSA. I still haven't heard anyone say anything about the Port Visit which for several reasons was way more important than "scenic cruising"

In fact the inside passage cruise scheduled was during daylight. The speaker was in the Crow's nest lounge as planned at 11:00 am for the start of the scenic cruising presentation. This was also noted in the daily activities paper.  

13 hours ago, Miss Vickie said:

Even if you do go through the inner passage, it can be hit or miss. Our passage was rainy, cloudy and foggy the whole way through. And no wildlife to be seen.

Yes agreed weather can be hit or miss but this was our first gloriously sunny day, as forecast, so we were all aware that we missed better Alaskan sights (close proximity to beautiful landscapes) than we had seen up to that point, and an improved chance of finally seeing marine life. That is what helped to anger many onboard

29 minutes ago, Mary229 said:

Please note the cruise was not an inside passage cruise, it was a transpacific focusing on Japan

"Westerdam transpacific cruise from Tokyo via Alaska to Seattle."  This cruise often misses the inside passage due to how early in the season it is in Alaska.  A simple search of reviews would show last year's same cruise missed the inside passage.    I know it is disappointing but we all are often disappointed by missed ports and at least HAL refunds the port fees.  As I said they are fortunate to be offered any compensation besides port fees

 

I am curious why the navigation error was not discovered until the cruise was underway.  

Yes we spoke to two people that missed the inside passage last year for weather reasons, so imagine how disappointed they were to miss it again.

Because the weather had been poor for several days and it was predicted to be fine for the inside passage (it was finally a beautiful sunny day) they were building up the scenic vistas of the inside passage, and chances of seeing marine wildlife, for several days. This mafe it even more odd that they got it wrong 

1 hour ago, CruiserBruce said:

The letter DOESN'T say they crew made a wrong turn. It says, in essence, the home office plotted the Inside Passage (but apparently didn't book the pilot). The crew plotted the Pacific route west of Vancouver.

 

The offer is pretty generous. 10% of a 15 or 20 day cruise? For missing the Inside Passage? Pretty generous.

My understanding from many cruises is that the captain contacts the pilot to confirm the required timing. The captain told us that when they realised their error they tried to arrange for a pilot, and in fact cruised slowly around the end of the island waiting to see if one was available. The guest speaker was in the Crows nest as advertised in the daily news sheet and on the microphone said he was a little confused about which route we were taking and said they will contact the bridge. After about 15 minutes he said that the cruise director was discussing the course with the captain. At that point it seemed like a strange situation, and I think it was only at that time that the bridge realised the error. The letter states error.

It's a pity that they didn't have one of these mugs on the bridge 🙂

Here is the letter 

HA is considered to be a premium cruise line and the prices certainly reflect that. I would say the way to judge a company is how they manage a bad situation, I am not too sure that their offer shows them in a good light ?

HA is considered to be a premium cruise line and the prices certainly reflect that. I would say the way to judge a company is how they manage a bad situation, I am not too sure that their offer shows them in a good light ?

12 minutes ago, Sir PMP said:

Right, I don't believe a captain will announce that they made a big mistake, that's a no no.

He definitely did say that they made a mistake I heard the announcement, and we have a letter that states that. We visited Kodiak and Sitka and then after Ketchikan we should have taken the inner passage south to Victoria.

I don't consider we were lucky to miss one of the best parts of the cruise.

We have just returned home from the Westerdam transpacific cruise from Tokyo via Alaska to Seattle. A very nice enjoyable cruise despite some rough seas and mediocre weather. However after  visiting three Alaskan ports and on the way to Victoria, the itinerary was to cruise through the inner passage. This was widely advertised as one of the cruise highlights and the best opportunity to see marine wildlife, we bought two souvenir mugs that were special for the cruise showing the cruise map and ports visited and  quoting the inside passage specifically

Unfortunately the crew  made an error and sailed west of Vancouver island, so no inner passage cruise for us. The captain announced that they made a mistake and tried to get a pilot at the last minute but none were available. He told us we would get a letter delivered to our cabin detailing the compensation. We did not get the letter and after persisting, guest services reluctantly gave us one. The offer is 10 % of the cruise cost given as FCC. Many people were really frustrated and angry and several that we talked to were very unhappy with the offer, for them, like us, they did not receive one of the highlights of the cruise. This is the first HA cruise we have taken, so I am interested to see opinions. For me this isn't compensation, because we get nothing if we don't buy another cruise, so this is basically a marketing inducement to buy another cruise. On other lines where ports have been missed that were no fault of the cruise line (unlike this one) we received OBC as immediate compensation. We travelled from Europe and at our time of life, we are unlikely to ever cruise Alaska again.  People that had done the inner passage previously, sadly told us that we missed the most picturesque part.

I am about to book a January 2025 South America and Antarctica cruise on Oosterdam.  Not many cabins still available, and since the southern waters around Cape Horn can be rough I am thinking of going for a lower deck. Does anyone have experience of balcony cabins on deck 4 forward section? They are above the theatre so I am concerned about noise levels. They also seem to be the only balcony cabins that have steel and not glass balustrades, so I am wondering how much that spoils the view.

So if I don't have tips included in my HIA, am I allowed to pay them using OBC that is earned for shareholder benefit ?

I am booked on a Westerdam cruise in April which I booked about 9 months ago. I paid for the Have it all package which at the time did not mention crew appreciation. I now see that the same cruise mentions crew appreciation included with the package. So my question is, has the Have it all package been changed to add crew appreciation ?

I also got off that Iona cruise yesterday and I did come down with the bug on Thursday, I presume it is noro virus. Certainly that is what my symptoms were. First time in 21 cruises that I have been affected. Being a rough sea day and at the stern did not help my recovery. Almost nobody washes their hands entering food areas and very few use the gel, although apparently gel does not kill the noro virus anyway.

On 12/26/2023 at 1:36 AM, Pasty feet said:

One day does not stack up against a loss of 38. 

I am not looking for sympathy, simply stating a fact. If I was looking for sympathy I might mention the cruise in November I had to cancel because my parent died. My loss was greater than a 38 day cruise.

I am glad to hear that people with a cancelled cruise have been refunded. I opened this topic and am one of the passengers that was transferred onto Ambition. We completed our cruise, however, we have not yet received our refund which is due to us because our five day cruise was reduced to four. 

We are booked on a 5 night Christmas market cruise departing Tilbury on 10 December. We received an email today explaining Ambience is out of service for repairs. Our cruise has changed to a 4 day cruise departing 11 December and will now be on Ambition. Unfortunately this means that the 38 day cruise on Ambition planned to depart on 12 December has been cancelled. A little disappointing for us, but I feel sorry for those that have lost their Christmas and New Year cruise. 

10 minutes ago, DHP1 said:

This question may already been answer and if so, I do apologize. 
Question - we’re booked on a cruise for next year and we have Princess Plus so does this mean we are automatically included with the new changes?

Yes you will now only have the reduced benefits for Plus. My cruise departs this September and Princess have confirmed this on a chat line today for any departures after August 12.

I have sent an email to Guest Relations making my feelings very clear and requesting that they reinstate the full benefits that were offered when I paid for my cruise. Not likely to work, but if enough people express their feelings, they may relinquish for those that have already paid, or at least give more than two meals on a 24 day cruise, which is now my situation.

I have a 24 day cruise departing in September, so I am one of the customers receiving less than what was stated when I paid. Princess can implement whatever pricing that they want, however, intentionally not providing what customers paid for is poor judgement and disrespectful to customers who have paid. I have already had an online chat to request they reinstate my benefits and I plan to keep doing this just in case the management haven't guessed we are not happy. I urge others to do the same to try to persuade them of their mistake. My first Princess cruise may be my last ?

Does anyone have a customer support email address ?

Yes he did nothing, it seems to have been automatic. Perhaps the UK exclusion is a recent thing ?

Where can I find that ruling ?

Hmm that is odd because my brother has just boarded his first cruise today on Sky Princess. He has done several P&O UK cruises and has been given Platinum.

We have our first Princess cruise coming up in September and wondering how the Captain's Circle entitlement works. We have P&O membership and cruised 52 nights on P&O ships. Is membership in the Princess system automatic, and what level would they give us ?