Astro Flyer

I am so sorry about your awful experiences on Crown. There are a high percentage of first time Princess cruisers in Alaska & like you some won’t ever sail again on Princess. It’s a shame that you did not get to experience a pre-pandemic Princess like I have enjoyed many times. The crew are doing their best to overcome management’s decisions & are likely as frustrated as you. Sapphire was scheduled to sail from LA this summer but shortly after announcing them all of those cruises were cancelled without explanation until late September. This wonderful ship has spent most of this year in the eastern Med & anchored off Cyprus with crew only…why hasn’t it been deployed to replace the unreliable Crown. All cruise lines are experiencing crew & supply shortages but being on a ship not working properly is inexcusable to me.

Guess their new slogan is the brainchild of their new SVP & VP of Sales team they hired from outside of Princess a few months ago.

Hope you have better luck than me with 2 emails detailing a 25% reduction in refundable credit sent to Steinke being ignored for over 2 months.

However our $260 of refundable credit could not be provided onboard (maximum of $25)…unless we were to launder it through the casino. 😉

This article better explains the situation & about how it’s a half finished keel, fixtures & engines that are for sale from Global Dream II and Global Dream is about 80% complete…sad. https://www.businessinsider.com/cruise-ship-genting-global-dream-scrapped-no-buyer-mv-werften-2022-6 “But the ship was designed for service in Asia, and a new owner would have to spend a significant amount of money redesigning its cabin, deck, and drive concept if they wanted to deploy it elsewhere in the world, An Bord said”.

Or copy a post before selecting the blue “Submit Reply” button which I try to remember to do particularly with lengthy posts. That way I can paste it again if it gets lost in the CC/Princess sky…it helps to reduce my frustration with lost posts.

Disembarked Discovery in early April & it took 8 weeks to receive a check which was reduced by 25%. The day before the cruise ended the refundable amount was correct but the emailed version the day after the cruise ended was reduced by 25%. Emails to their Director of Customer Relations didn’t correct the issue despite providing documents showing their mistake.

Yes…I was working cats when this 1971 photo was taken…my first cruise ship where I had to let many things slide. ☺️

Hopefully it won’t be like our experience on Discovery…midship dining room was changed to aft deck 6 upon boarding with no option to change our reservation.

We’ve booked our first Oceania cruise for September 2023 after nearly 500 days of Princess as our preferred cruise line. I have good friends who regularly sail Oceania including last April which they said was just as good as before the pause…I cannot say the same thing about Princess. Oceania is more expensive but we’ll use all of the included things such as free non-alcoholic drinks, internet, a couple of specialty dinners and taxes/fees in their cruise fare to make the extra cost worthwhile for a better cruise experience. I’ve lost trust in Princess’ ability to be truthful & to provide the experiences promised. We’re booked on the same NE/CA cruise in October as you but are close to canceling before final payment due in less than 5 weeks. We’ve cruised Princess 3 times since the re-start but have been disappointed to the point of canceling all of our Princess cruises. We’re rumbling down the road to Oceania even if it results in fewer days at sea but with a true premium experience.

Delete…You already answered about Paxlovid in your other post. Hopefully neither of you will experience any longterm affects. 🙏

We’ve enjoyed sailing on 5 of the 6 Royal-class ships & after sailing on Discovery’s inaugural 2 weeks in March/April it’s now our favorite one…slightly nicer than Sky. The 20% smaller 9’x4’ balconies didn’t adversely affect our enjoyment. Crew were wonderful & cheerful working hard to provide great service. Like all ships DMW didn’t work well but that’s a fleetwide & not a Discovery specific issue.

MUTS movies shown at night are generally the newest ones & are added to the in-cabin list the next day. However despite being told that would happen in April on Discovery it did not happen. Hopefully by now they have corrected the problem to have newer movies available in-cabin. 🤞

An Aussie friend read that the couple stated they’re paying AUD$100/pp/day. My friend checked world cruise prices which for the least expensive cabin (interior) is AUD$200/pp/day. Based on prices he’s guessing they are in an interior cabin. At today’s current exchange rate the couple are paying USD$69/pp/day and it’s been posted the AUS rates include tips. Maybe they’ll bring, or will be provided a fold up chair for their 2 years onboard. ☺️

I am not a TA but my TA shares the notification email with me. I’ve started watching the recorded webinar to control the video & as you can see in this VP of Sales link the most recent late May webinar is available to watch. That has always been the situation & likely will continue after future webinars. I can view them even though I do not have a FB account nor have I ever registered. https://www.facebook.com/PrincessVPSales/videos

I looked on their VP of Sales FB page who conducts those webinars but nothing is there…another missed deadline with no update on when the information will be provided.

Mine was refundable in April.

Here’s my March experience on Discovery attempting to book a complimentary specialty dinner both before & after final payment. The app did not recognize our comped dinners so decided to pay for it in advance for the first evening of the inaugural cruise. Went to Guest Services for either refundable credit or a chargecard credit. GS supervisor decided to give a CC credit within 2 weeks. On day 13 there was no CC refund so GS begrudgingly issued a $28/pp refundable credit to our folio. Unfortunately our refund check was shortchanged by $65 with Princess unwilling to correct their mistake. In the future I would never again go through this procedure & take my chances with booking onboard if the app didn’t recognize a complimentary dinner.

SNAFU ☺️

As ‘azbirdmom’ wrote in the most recent Princess sales webinar they stated that due to understaffing in their travel services department they won’t deal with EZair flight issues more than 30 days before a cruise starts. They’re working to hire additional staff & based on some recent posts they’re hiring offshore call centers with staff having limited English communication skills & knowledge. I’ve always had great EZair experiences however sadly that seems to have changed.

Thankfully I’ve automatically received it on every cruise since it was implemented over 10 years ago (2011?). I am very thankful for this token of their appreciation & sorry to learn that some are experiencing a snafu with receiving it.

It recently took 8 weeks to receive our refund check.

Info from their website about options for those affected. https://www.princess.com/downloads/pdf/plan/impacted-and-cancelled-cruises/cancelled-cruises-regal-europe-apr-through-sept-2023.pdf

https://www.princess.com/downloads/pdf/plan/impacted-and-cancelled-cruises/cancelled-cruises-royal-sept-through-oct-2023.pdf

Thanks for the update Tracie-Lynn…was getting concerned about your recovery but hesitated to ask not wanting to infringe upon your privacy. Take care of your health & hopefully neither of you will have any longterm health issues. 🙏