Sapphire Gong Show Vancouver

Princess created a real gong show in the disembarkation process yesterday in Vancouver.

As upwards of 75% of the pax were Vancouverites they decided that they would have all Vancouverites self-disembark and there was no checked luggage for any pax unless you were flying or had a tour booked through the ship. Even disabled and elderly pax had to handle their own luggage, there were to be no exceptions. The result was chaos, every square inch of public space was filled with pax and their luggage. It took me 2 full hours to get from the the Lido deck to the Internet Cafe, I had to do it twice, once pushing wife in her wheelchair and a second time with our luggage. People were angry and hornets, others were saying they were finished with Princess, some were missing tours that they had booked independently and still others were in tears having to stand with their luggage for well over 2 hrs.

DW and I were not disembarked unitl 9:30 and we I would guess that it may have been more than hour later before the last pax was disembarked. Candidly I have never seen such a botch up of a diembarkation process in any port and clearly someone the hotel department goofed and I expect that corporate will be inundated with complaints.

The rest of the cruise was great, the food and service was excellent, the Sapphire was lovely, but this and the missing person were certainly downers.

Putterdude...........what was Princess thinking?????? Not acceptable!

Candidly I have never seen such a botch up of a diembarkation process in any port and clearly someone the hotel department goofed and I expect that corporate will be inundated with complaints.

And those complaints would be justified. I know it was a 4-day cruise but WHAT WERE THEY THINKING??? Definitely write and let Corporate know what happened and the difficulties it presented.

Canada Place seems to have its fair share of these incidents! :eek:

 

Remember the Golden fiasco a year or 2 ago?

Yeah we've had problems at Canada Place on other ships. At any rate, try to forget about disembarkation and remember the really good parts of your cruise. Disembarkation, just by definition, is not ever going to be MY favorite part of a cruise! It sounds like other than that, it was a fun time?

Canada Place seems to have its fair share of these incidents! :eek:

 

Remember the Golden fiasco a year or 2 ago?

 

This had nothing at all to do with Canada Place in fact once off the ship we were through Canadian Customs, Canada Place and in a cab in a scant 15 mins and that was with a HAL ship arriving at the same time as us.

The problem was entirely aboard the Sapphire and of Princess's making.

and I was dealing with wheel chairs or otherwise health/age issues that made me lugging baggage difficult or unadvisable, I would have sat down at the bar and said "I'm on the next cruise unless you can help me get my luggage off! I physically cannot do it."

This had nothing at all to do with Canada Place in fact once off the ship we were through Canadian Customs, Canada Place and in a cab in a scant 15 mins and that was with a HAL ship arriving at the same time as us.

 

The problem was entirely aboard the Sapphire and of Princess's making.

 

 

OK Ok calm down! Misinterpretation!! :eek:

Just wondering if that had anything to do with the missing person on the ship?????

Putterdude, so sorry to hear you had such a chaotic ending to what sounds like an otherwise lovely cruise. Even under the best of circumstances disembarkation can be a pain, but your experience sounds like a real nightmare. I would definitely let Princess know of your displeasure. From the sound of it, you won't be the only one giving them an earful on this one.

Just wondering if that had anything to do with the missing person on the ship?????

I doubt it since they didn't realize the person was missing until she failed to disembark in Vancouver. That's why the search area is so wide, i.e., she'd embarked the ship three days before and didn't disembark so they're searching the entire Alaska and Canadian coastline.

Just wondering if that had anything to do with the missing person on the ship?????

 

It likley didn't have anything to do with the missing person as they didn't know she was missing until everyone had "punched out". However Princess is busy explaining to authorities why it took so long to report her missing. I had actually started to post about this delay on the "missing person" thread and decided that they really wern't linked.

Sounds like someone on board is due for a "Dumbass of the Month" award. :eek:

So sorry this happened. I think this would have been one of those times I would have claimed I had a flight to catch, even if I didn't. No way with luggage and assisting a wheelchair bound passenger.

 

Such a shame to end a cruise this way. :(

and I was dealing with wheel chairs or otherwise health/age issues that made me lugging baggage difficult or unadvisable, I would have sat down at the bar and said "I'm on the next cruise unless you can help me get my luggage off! I physically cannot do it."

 

 

:D Good suggestion!

We had a nightmare disembarkation on the Ruby last April too. I have never seen such a chaotic mess in my life. It was purely the fault of management on the ship and their lack of organization and preparation. The good thing is, this is NOT the norm, same as with your situation.

 

Hopefully, this will never happen again. What a way to end a great cruise.

How very strange that the disembarkation proces would change from the months before when it has been a very smooth disembarkation. Most odd is requiring all bags, except fliers, to be carried off. I just does not fit with the Princess model.

 

Sorry to hear that it was such a pain and I would definitely write to corporate to tell them of your agony and to see if they have an explanation.

I am pretty satisfied that this is a one off occurance; we have done a couple of repositioning cruises to Vancouver and never encountered this before. Interestingly we live up the coast from Vancouver and have to take a ferry that only runs every two hours and we did miss the oportutnity to take an earlier one...so clearly one size does not fit all. I am just heading out to the mail box with my letter to Corporate, it is a pleasant letter but someone does need to be taken to task over this decision.;)

Canada Place seems to have its fair share of these incidents! :eek:

 

Remember the Golden fiasco a year or 2 ago?

 

Colo,

I believe that c**p flows downhill. Let corporate deal with the situation as it's made aware of same. If someone onboard the vessel or in the Princess staff in CP decided to disembark the locals in such a manner, then let corporate shovel the flow downhill.

 

A very stupid move on Princess's part, in that they would have had all the locals lined up to go through Immigration then Customs before the out of country folks sitting there flapping for flights.

 

We did a 6 day coastal on Golden in 2006 from LAX/YVR and the disembarkation process at CP was the best anywhere in Canada...BAR NONE!!! Mind you with three ships disembarking (6000+ pax), going through Immigration and Customs at the same time, perhaps the CBSA officers were a bit more laxed in a concerted effort to clear the vessels and terminal area fast.

 

Ciao for now!!!

As I mentioned I was on this same cruise. Disembarkation SU*&^%. The lines just to get your bags on the elevator were up to an hour long. Especially if you were at the top of the ship. My DH and I had to split up just to get our luggage moved down to the right deck. I NEVER would have booked a cruise where I had to transport my own baggage.

 

Imagine..... just how much money did Princess save by this little escapade.

What were they thinking? I wonder what the rationale was behind this strategy for disembarkation.

There is on way ever i will take my suitcases off a ship. they would find me in my cabin with suitcases waiting for help. i get help in airports etc- i do not drag my own suitcases. this is not right!!

 

i have thought about going on princess in Europe- maybe not!!

seems like any reasonable manager would have realized a policy like that would only delay the disembarkation process as well as the ability of the crew to prep for the next cruise...that many people waiting around in the public areas just prevents them from getting it cleaned in a tinely manner

What were they thinking? I wonder what the rationale was behind this strategy for disembarkation.

 

Good question and I am not sure that we will ever know the answer. It really hard to describe the condition, I really wish that I had had the where-with-all to get my camera out of my pocket and take some pictures but my real focus was to get my wife into the Internet Cafe and then get our luggage there.

PUTTERDUDE

Hi,

You're right to be p****d off about such a moronic process....Whoever tought this one out will likely lots of time on his hands to ''think it over again''.....They didn't even give you a clue when you checked in last Saturday ??...Cruise lines generally have you fill a disembarkation

'' pre-questionnaire'' at the check-in desk....

 

If it's any consolation, embarkation for the repo down the coast was as disjointed.....Started off....OK...sort of....then stopped dead cold . Obviously, the various law enforcement officers on board due to the missing passenger,( by then a known confirmed issue ) had to do their thing. Strangely, loading the bags from shoreside longshoremen was not at all delayed. When guests embarkation was ''re-started'', you should have seen the tsunami of folks getting on, from approx 15;10hrs till done, around 16;00; bags were already all done and the two doors closed up with the loading blanks gone, by about 15;50hrs.

 

You're spot-on with your letter to Corporate...a nice letter but putting them on a '' now, look a here '' notice....always an efficient approach.

I also tought you were quite composed and well spoken in your posts relating this miserable experience., although your blood pressure certainly took a hit upward during the incident. Hope your DW came out of it justifiably peeved but none the less worse for wear....

 

When are you heading to AZ again ??

Your ''observation deck '' post from Sechelt will be missed.

Cheers

:)