rocklinmom

The 3rd/4th person sails free promo isn't on our cruise anymore, even though it was supposedly good through Sept. 30th. I noticed a week or so ago that the regular fare reappeared for the third and fourth passengers in a cabin. So it seems like it now only applies to certain cruises. 

Was considering booking one of these on Sun but went with regular balcony cabins for now. The cove ones do look unique in being closer to the water, wonder if the lifeboats above would make noise when swinging around (and of course would hear when they are being used for tendering and safety drills). On Sun these cabins are on deck 6 so mid or midaft would be best so not underneath the theater on deck 7 forward. 

17 hours ago, partybarbie said:

I hope your TA can help you. I just went through this exact situation and Princess refused to change out Passenger One for a different passenger, even though Passenger Two was staying the same and was on the original booking. After three phone calls, and a supervisor, no one would help us. Lesson learned. I will never book directly with Princess again.

Wow Princess wouldn't swap out a passenger because of a justified reason? Did you have the Princess insurance by any chance? I could see this happening to us and would not be happy either. 

I got the mailer too and checked our 2024 Med cruise but this promo isn't listed on it. Would have been nice, if our fare hadn't gone up $200pp. 

Thank you for this info, you just never know when something could happen and it's good to know that it was a painless procedure to get the FCC credited. We always do the Platinum insurance (at Standard price as Elite so a great deal) with CFAR so glad to hear that it's fast and easy. 

I will be highly annoyed if they start charging for the cookies. In the afternoons we always get a plate of them at the IC or in the buffet. 

5 hours ago, Princessfan20 said:

Beyond frustrated.  We usually have 4 or 5 bookings a year and in the last 6 months when we needed help with a booking it usually turns into some kind of time consuming and error prone ordeal.  Just trying to cancel a booking, have the FCD's go back to our accounts and then being reapplied to a new booking is like walking a tight rope with no net when you talk to a Princess representative, especially from the ridiculous Philippine call center.  I now give the lowest marks on the follow-up survey and indicate I would not hire that representative as a matter of principal.  

 

They just do not seem to value their customers time or needs anymore.  It is such a radical change and not the norm for how easy Princess customer service use to function.

Yes it is a radical change from what it used to be! Makes me sad. One of my friends literally just asked me this morning to help her book a cruise (I love to normally) and I was like as long as you need only one cabin and then I can book it online for you...no way I'm calling in again anytime soon! 

It was around 9am. I used to get the CA office calling at that time. Those were the good old days I guess. 

I did try that extension this time (to book a cruise). 

Yes you can look at the hotels Princess uses in your embarkation city and then just book it yourself. Most likely it will be cheaper. And as someone mentioned above, there is usually a Princess rep in the hotel lobby for questions and you will be with fellow cruisers. 

4 hours ago, jdacombe said:

Had excellent service  the last three times I've phoned them, pretty prompt at answering the phone, very helpful and sorted out my queries without any problem.

The only thing that I do find frustrating is the option you are given for Princess to call you back instead of waiting in a queue, done it a couple of times, and on both occasions never received the return call

I assume you used the U.K. number? Because I'd be shocked if it was this call center you spoke with.

Yes I must agree to the customer service at Princess lately. I have been sailing with Princess for years and never had any issues getting anything done on their customer service line. I book my own cruises and call in to add cabins, link them together, change dates if needed, etc. Yesterday (8/25/23) I spent over two hours on the 1-800-PRINCESS line with a very poorly trained rep at the new call center - lots of chattering in the background, occasional cheering (?), thick accents. I was patient and explained what I needed, just to change our cruise to a different sailing date (due to a recent scheduling conflict with one of us), which I have done in the past with no issues. This was the worst ever experience I have had. The rep had no idea what to do, she refused to transfer me to the direct sales dept. (which would have been able to help me, I've been transferred to them many times), refused to transfer me to a supervisor, and kept telling me she couldn't do it. I repeated the cabin category to her three times, even used the lingo (Delta Alpha for DA) and after a half hour of her telling me the cabins I was looking at on the website marked available were not available I realized she had entered it as DE. I walked her through what to do. An hour later, many times wanting to bash my head into the wall, somehow the cabins disappeared onscreen and my booking confirmations started to appear in my email. She must have hit enough buttons to make it happen but seriously had no clue what to do. Do they not get trained? After the two hours I had the date change and cabins I wanted, but it was a very stressful and frustrating experience. I have never in my 20 plus years with them had this happen. I almost want to file a complaint with Princess but I don't want to affect her job, she did get it done with my help and was never rude, but the fact that she wouldn't (or couldn't) transfer me to someone who could help me was annoying. From now on I will be very hesitant to call in. 

I looked at the cove balcony cabins on the new Sun and they are indeed low, even under the lifeboats. So you would definitely hear them on tender port days and when they do cruise safety drills. 

Thank you so much for posting this, I have always wondered about these. Doesn't it sleep up to 8? So I assume the mini suite for two, the interior must be a quad (so four "bunk beds"), and the sofa in the living area must be a double? 

Thank you for all the info! Much appreciated. 

Wow so are the cable cars or this "trail" down the only way back to the ship tenders to return to the ship? If you get off the ship and just stay in the immediate area I assume you don't have to come back down this way or on the cable cars? First time visiting Santorini. 

So if our ship is docking at Mykonos (no tenders or "water shuttles" as Princess calls them) does this mean we dock far from the town center? And then we have to pay the Princess shuttle bus fee to get into town? Do people try to walk from the dock or is it not possible? The last time we went to Mykonos we were tendered in and walked right into town. This was 9 years ago though. Any info appreciated 🙂

14 hours ago, vividharp said:

@rocklinmom We originally wanted to try the cabana suites and they were sold out so fast. We wanted to give something new and different a try. We ended up with a deluxe balcony. And we couldn’t get two together. We did get two on the same floor though. 

I just booked three deluxe balcony cabins together. The cabin availability keeps shuffling, you could check and see what your cruise is currently showing. If you see a pair together you could always change to those, it's nice to be next to each other and get your balconies connected.

2 hours ago, Steelers36 said:

Did you select "Book a New Cruise" option (or similar wording) from the phone tree selections?  It should put you in touch with a US sales person (possibly a CVP).  AFAIK, you can still get a US rep for a new booking because it is sales.

Hmm I think I hit "existing cruise booking" since I already had one cabin booked. You're right, maybe that had something to do with it. And yes the gal was in the US and said she was the sales dept. 

I did book our cruise today and the call center was a bit challenging. I had booked my own cabin online and needed to add two cabins next to it for the rest of my family. Normally this is a quick process (I already have my booking number, the cabin numbers I want to book, all the totals calculated out, etc.). I called the traditional Princess number that I've always used (the 1-800-PRINCESS) and it was about a fifteen minute wait so not bad for a Monday morning. The representative was friendly, I could definitely tell it was a call center with lots of background noise, and he did have an accent but I had no trouble explaining what I needed. Then I was on hold again several times because he said he had to transfer me to the direct sales department to do my booking. When I asked why he said they aren't trained to do that. Eventually I was transferred to a gal somewhere in a sales dept. who was very efficient and my bookings were all complete. I wish I could book multiple cabins online myself (even if I don't log in the system always remembers me, probably lots of Princess cookies LOL) but this is the process for now. I did appreciate that the wait time was minimal and I didn't have any issues getting our cabins booked, and linked together (which only a rep can do). I think the new call center is fine for general questions or making changes to a booking. 

Princess must have heard me (LOL) because now there are more balcony cabins available on the cruise we are looking at and can get 3 together. I am still trying to research the layout of Sun cabins and balconies and trying to avoid what I think will be the louder areas (open cabana deck on 9, the long rows of cabana balcony cabins, under the Dome, etc.). We had considered doing Oceanview cabins to save some money but they are either under the theater or above the Landing area (loading/embarking/tender wait area). 

15 minutes ago, Lady Arwen said:

We have a very reliable Princess CVP who takes care of bookings,  itinerary changes, fare reductions, telephone calls, etc., etc.  We never have to wait on hold or speak to an offshore rep.  I don’t understand why so many people just go it alone and get themselves so stressed out.  Or, use a trusted TA to do the legwork for you.  This is your vacation and you don’t need any added frustration.

It's hard because some of the PVP's are good and others aren't. I tried using one years ago and they were unresponsive and it was more frustrating than handling my own booking. 

Is this using the new phone number? (1-888-819-1193) I noticed this new number shows on the website now as opposed to the traditional number (1-800-PRINCESS). I am also a lifelong Princess cruiser and will be very annoyed if I have issues completing a booking over the phone. I have always booked my own and had a Princess rep add my other cabins to my reservation and link them together. So is this new number a new call center somewhere? 

I am looking at the June 2024 seven day Med cruises on Sun. We are a family of six and need 3 cabins together, and cabin availability is very limited. I assume this is because people can book a 7, 14, or 21 day version of these cruises so that narrows down which cabins are available. I notice that every day the cabins that are available change, they either disappear or change to different ship locations. We are leaning towards the June 29th cruise with Istanbul but as mentioned each morning the available cabins seem to change (or are in an undesirable location, like under the Dome which will have night performances or overlooking the open Cabana deck). So I haven't booked anything yet, I am just watching what's available and learning as much as I can about the ship. 

https://etias.com/etias-requirements/etias-for-american-citizens

I didn't realize this would affect Europe cruises as of January. Looks to be around $8 per person (children and over age 70 free) and hopefully not hard to do.