Cowardly Princess Cruises treats passengers with contempt

I recently had the misfortune to travel on the Ocean Princess on a “cherry blossom” cruise that was scheduled to go from Shanghai to Osaka.

Some time in the week before departure, Princess Cruises decided not to travel to Japan. However Princess decided to withhold this information from passengers until the day before the cruise was to set sail, presumably to avoid cancellations. As most passengers were in transit to Shanghai by this time, it meant many passengers were not told of this change until they boarded the ship and entered their cabins. Princess didn't even have the decency to inform passengers while they were checking in.

Even worse, the notification sent to passengers, contained neither an apology or an acknowledgement that they had now completely disrupted most passengers travel plans. The best Princess could bring themselves to do was “regret any disappointment”. No apology, and no mention of any possible inconvenience. What a cowardly, weak effort! Abandoning passengers in a different country to their onward tours and flights, and simply suggesting that there may be some disappointment.

Princess then made it clear that they would not assist passengers in any way to get to Osaka to continue their holiday, either physically, by arranging flights, or financially. Imagine an airline deciding to take you to Chicago rather than Dallas and then just leaving you there. There was also no compensation mentioned for cancelling half the ports on the cruise – the cherry blossom half that gave the cruise its name. However they would meet cancellation costs for existing flights out of Japan, and may consider meeting additional costs to fly out of the new destination.

This detail regarding the lack of assistance was withheld from all passengers until after boarding, making it very difficult for passengers to make alternative arrangements until they were on the ship. It was not included in the original announcement, and passengers who contacted Princess after seeing the original announcement were told no further information would be provided. When the ship's staff were ask why passengers were not given these details before boarding we were told “Don't blame us, we are just the ship. That was a decision made by head office. Here is a postal address so you can write to them”.

Having prevented passengers from making arrangements prior to boarding Princess did allow passengers to try to use the internet and phone service to make alternative arrangements. If you have ever tried to use a ships internet and know how slow it is – imagine how much slower it is when the entire ship is trying to use it. Some passengers spent over six hours just trying to send a couple of emails. I loaded one page in ten minutes before giving up. The phone service also gave up under the strain. I had to sit their pressing redial for an hour just to get an outside line. What a great way to start a holiday.

Clearly somebody at Princess decided that the best way to maximise profits in the short term was to manipulate passengers to try to ensure that as many of them as possible boarded the cherry blossom cruise with no cherry blossom, and then to pretend nothing was wrong in order to avoid paying adequate compensation. I think they made a terrible misjudgement. The anger of the passengers on this cruise is such that I can't imagine any of them travelling on Princess again, and I am sure they will make sure as many people as possible know what happened. Be warned – treating passengers with respect is not a high priority for Princess Cruises!

I knew this nuclear problem/Earthquake/Tsunami in Japan was going to cause problems for those passengers scheduled to sail from this area.

I am so sorry you went through this, but I have to admit, the cruise lines had their hands tied until the very last minute.

I would have also been upset at what took place, but what were they to do? Even the news wasn't getting all of the up to date info about what was taking place in Japan.

This is one reason why we book Princess flights for cruises this far awary from home. If there is a problem, Princess will re-schedule everything for you and you don't have all of this stress.

Again, I totally understand your frustration with this, but when Mother Nature Strikes, there just isn't much that can be done. For the cruise line to move the ship to another embarkation/disembarkation port and change the itineary with all the logistics involved.........it isn't an easy thing to do for them either.

I have been waiting for the reports to be posted, as I also knew that some would be totally upset about all of this (as I would be), but what can be done? They can't inform you if they didn't know until the last minute while most were in transit.

When was this cruise?

Yikes - sure sounds like a rocky start. Did you have travel insurance and will they help cover some of the costs?

Wow, this is pretty harsh. Given what is going on in Japan with a disaster of epic proportions, you would think you might have some inkling of understanding that cruises to Japan were out of the question at this time.

As a very frequent business traveller, I know it is frustrating when things go wrong. I see people yelling at gate agents all the time. I recall last year when the Chilean earthquake struck and the airport in Santiago was closed - people couldn't get to the cruise and the ship left port without them.

I'm sorry you had to suffer so badly. Did you have food? Shelter? This is why you book insurance and Princess Air when dealing with exotic and far away destinations. Have a little compassion.

Princess announced the change in itinerary on March 18, one week after the earthquake. In the case of OP's cruise it had been scheduled to end in Osaka. In view of the conditions in Japan, it is not surprising that Princess had to modify the itinerary and change the final port. I thought that Princess did well to make these changes in only one week after the disaster.

I recently had the misfortune to travel on the Ocean Princess on a “cherry blossom” cruise that was scheduled to go from Shanghai to Osaka.

 

 

Some time in the week before departure, Princess Cruises decided not to travel to Japan. However Princess decided to withhold this information from passengers until the day before the cruise was to set sail, presumably to avoid cancellations. As most passengers were in transit to Shanghai by this time, it meant many passengers were not told of this change until they boarded the ship and entered their cabins. Princess didn't even have the decency to inform passengers while they were checking in.

 

 

Even worse, the notification sent to passengers, contained neither an apology or an acknowledgement that they had now completely disrupted most passengers travel plans. The best Princess could bring themselves to do was “regret any disappointment”. No apology, and no mention of any possible inconvenience. What a cowardly, weak effort! Abandoning passengers in a different country to their onward tours and flights, and simply suggesting that there may be some disappointment.

 

 

Princess then made it clear that they would not assist passengers in any way to get to Osaka to continue their holiday, either physically, by arranging flights, or financially. Imagine an airline deciding to take you to Chicago rather than Dallas and then just leaving you there. There was also no compensation mentioned for cancelling half the ports on the cruise – the cherry blossom half that gave the cruise its name. However they would meet cancellation costs for existing flights out of Japan, and may consider meeting additional costs to fly out of the new destination.

 

 

This detail regarding the lack of assistance was withheld from all passengers until after boarding, making it very difficult for passengers to make alternative arrangements until they were on the ship. It was not included in the original announcement, and passengers who contacted Princess after seeing the original announcement were told no further information would be provided. When the ship's staff were ask why passengers were not given these details before boarding we were told “Don't blame us, we are just the ship. That was a decision made by head office. Here is a postal address so you can write to them”.

 

 

Having prevented passengers from making arrangements prior to boarding Princess did allow passengers to try to use the internet and phone service to make alternative arrangements. If you have ever tried to use a ships internet and know how slow it is – imagine how much slower it is when the entire ship is trying to use it. Some passengers spent over six hours just trying to send a couple of emails. I loaded one page in ten minutes before giving up. The phone service also gave up under the strain. I had to sit their pressing redial for an hour just to get an outside line. What a great way to start a holiday.

 

 

Clearly somebody at Princess decided that the best way to maximise profits in the short term was to manipulate passengers to try to ensure that as many of them as possible boarded the cherry blossom cruise with no cherry blossom, and then to pretend nothing was wrong in order to avoid paying adequate compensation. I think they made a terrible misjudgement. The anger of the passengers on this cruise is such that I can't imagine any of them travelling on Princess again, and I am sure they will make sure as many people as possible know what happened. Be warned – treating passengers with respect is not a high priority for Princess Cruises!

Wow!You would rather be subject to radiation??:eek::eek:

Maybe I'm mising something, but if Osaka was the end of the cruise, presumably everybody on board had made travel plans to return home from Osaka.

I think it is a big deal to be left at another port with only a "so sorry".

I can see why Princess would make the change, but I think it was incumbant on Princess to offer assistance for what was going to be a huge expense and inconvience to it's passengers.

Again, maybe I've drawn the wrong inference, but if my flight home was from FLL and I found out after departure the cruise was gonig to end in SJU I'd be pretty angry too.

Radiation???? Does anyone posting these uneducated replies have ANY clue to where Osaka is? It is nowhere near the earthquake area. This would be like not ending a cruise in Seattle when there was an earthquake in Southern California. There was absolutely no reason to cause so many customers so much trouble, I would be furious as well.

Maybe I'm mising something, but if Osaka was the end of the cruise, presumably everybody on board had made travel plans to return home from Osaka.

 

I think it is a big deal to be left at another port with only a "so sorry".

 

I can see why Princess would make the change, but I think it was incumbant on Princess to offer assistance for what was going to be a huge expense and inconvience to it's passengers.

 

Again, maybe I've drawn the wrong inference, but if my flight home was from FLL and I found out after departure the cruise was gonig to end in SJU I'd be pretty angry too.

First, OP does not get to the end of the cruise until April 1, so he has a week and a half to change reservations.

Second, others in the same situation have posted that Princess is paying any change fees for switching from Osaka to Hong Kong.

Third, OP complains about how horrible the internet is and how many people using it, but obviously found time to post here.

I have to agree that while Princess were right not to go to Osaka, they should have set up an emergency team to help passengers onward travel.

People spend a lot of money on their holiday plans and become worried and frustrated when they have to find money for one way flights which are usually expensive and may not get you to where you need to be.

Even with insurance, there is no guarantee that you could arrange insurance help whilst using a hugely overburdoned ships internet or phone line.

I think an onboard team should have collated all passengers problems and then forwarded them in bulk to a help team back in the US.

None of this is ideal, but surely if Princess want these people to cruise again with them, then they should have helped.

Matthew

Maybe I'm mising something, but if Osaka was the end of the cruise, presumably everybody on board had made travel plans to return home from Osaka.

 

I think it is a big deal to be left at another port with only a "so sorry".

 

I can see why Princess would make the change, but I think it was incumbant on Princess to offer assistance for what was going to be a huge expense and inconvience to it's passengers.

 

Again, maybe I've drawn the wrong inference, but if my flight home was from FLL and I found out after departure the cruise was gonig to end in SJU I'd be pretty angry too.

Although I do see you point, the cruise contract clearly states that they have the right to change any port of call for any reason. Those who booked transportation through the cruise line I am sure were assisted in this matter, but when booking transportation privately for something like this, you made that choice to handle everything yourself.

Yes, it would have been nice for princess to assist even those passengers with privately booked transportation, but think about what they were already doing to assist those who allowed the cruise lines to make their plans for them. This is one of those chances you take when you book the air yourself.

When things like this happen, such as they did back with the earthquake in Chile, those without Princess booked transportation were pretty much on their own. I can see where the cruise lines have to draw the line somewhere when it comes to assisting passengers.

As for the lack of radiation in this area, who knows what might have come a few days later (and there is still a great chance of this happening it seems) if the cruise lines would not have made this change? Things were happening so quickly, it would have been impossible to second guess where the fall out would end up from the Nuclear plants. IMHO of course!

Hi All,

Where are the other hundreds of passengers with the same issues,

I think if this story was 100% true this would be a big story here,

most of us know Princess is not good at telling you things, but ask

and you will get the answers you require.

May be the OP thought Princess would organise everything and tell

him, me thinks Princess was there to help but you had to ask.

What ever happened its clear Princess could have helped more.

yours Shogun

First my condolences to the OP. Not fun to have a much anticipated cruise go south. :( I hope Princess will pick up any out of pocket expenses you and your fellow passengers have incurred which are not covered by travel insurance.

I'm going to use your misfortune as a learning opportunity for myself. I've not yet had the opportunity to cruise in such distant (from my home) destinations.

What would be covered by travel insurance? Would this be considered an 'Act of God' allowing insurance companies to avoid claims?

If I was left in San Juan instead of Lauderdale, it wouldn't be a huge deal to me. I'd just book a flight from SJU to FLL and would expect any costs that weren't covered by travel insurance to be picked up by Princess. But San Juan is on 'my side of the world' and I'm familiar with it.

Being left somewhere I didn't know on the 'other side' of the world - well I'd likely be a little less comfortable. What if I'd made prepaid non-refunable tour arrangements for after disembarkation. Who pays for that? What about air cancellation and rebooking fees? Who pays?

We always get travel insurance but to be honest, I've never actually read thru it all to see what is covered and what is not. Maybe it's time I did? :D

Toto remarked that when travelling to very distant places, she always uses Princess Air and travel insurance. I think Princess has their own travel insurance - is it wiser in such cases to use theirs rather than another independent insurer?

One doesn't expect problems and thus doesn't think about them I guess. Given the 'knowledge is power' thing, I'm thinking I'd better get a little better informed on how to handle things should an unexpected event occur.

Any thoughts / info you folks can share would be much appreciated.

Radiation???? Does anyone posting these uneducated replies have ANY clue to where Osaka is? It is nowhere near the earthquake area. This would be like not ending a cruise in Seattle when there was an earthquake in Southern California. There was absolutely no reason to cause so many customers so much trouble, I would be furious as well.

Frankly Scarlet, where it I, I wouldn't want to be dropped off in any part of Japan - period and full stop. I'll quite happily take Hong Kong. It's not an earthquake concern - it's nuclear reactors leaking radiation and Ida not be wantin' to be anywhere near it TYVM. Osaka is not all THAT far from Sendai and who knows which way the wind is blowing.

You, being much better educated than I it seems, can choose as you wish.

If it is true that Princess knew about these changes in departure port before boarding and still boarded everyone and then told them after it was because they wanted to avoid huge distress and tailspins at the gates while boarding passengers. I do agree they should have provided a team to help passengers arrange their independent flights out of the new departure point, but perhaps they did and this poster was unaware of it? Just a thought. But they did agree to pay for the change fees for all passengers which is good. The only element missing is that they should have arranged complementary independent flight assistance for changing flights. Another reason I always get travel insurance!!

I'm sorry the OP is going through this but even sorrier for the people in Japan. Nuclear experts in the US have stated all along that this disaster is worse than the Japanese government was saying, and so far, they've been proven right. The information being given out has been difficult to decipher and in order to change the itinerary, the cruiseline has to make a lot of arrangements. It's not like being on a car and deciding to go to a different restaurant. Port arrangements are a complicated business and can't be made overnight. There are docking facilities that need to be available, customs and immigration arrangements to make, etc. It's not just Princess that has made changes, all of the cruiselines have.

We don't know what options Princess has made available to passengers stuck with making flight changes. Usually, they give free Internet so that passengers can make their changes or contact their TA to make changes. The OP hasn't said anything about this being available nor other assistance Princess usually offers. My guess is that they heard about CC on the ship and decided this was the place to vent.

I would have to go back and look at my phone records but it was not until last Wednesday or Thursday (3/16 or 17) that the US Embassy was suggesting persons living in Tokyo may wish to consider leaving and that the UK was asking their citizens to leave Tokyo. The poster that indicated Osaka is far from the nuclear reactors is correct. However it was not until late last week that they became really alarmed about the extending line of the radiation. My son lives in Tokyo and for the first week, they were only concerned about a 50-mile radius from the site. I'm sure the cruise line also has to consider what if the issue became such that citizens were also being required to evacuate at the same time as the cruise was ending in Osaka. The numbers of people using mass-transit there are just overwhelming in number -- I'm not sure the OP as ever been to Japan, but such a situation would be huge. I do think it would behoove Princess to contact the TA's involved when there are last minute changes so the TA could help relieve the numbers trying to make changes, but in this instance they may not have had much forewarning. If I were on a cruise like that and had used a TA and was having difficulty rebooking I'd contact that TA and let them do some of the leg work for me. I'm sure the cruiselines are at a loss as they have persons who booked directly with them, persons that booked with other TAs (online or elsewhere), and you also have those that just would prefer to handle changes themselves.

So if the passengers are planning to fly out of Osaka the airport is still open for both inbound and outbound at this time and the port should also be OK for now. The question is, what will conditions be on the final day of the cruise? Sounds like Princess chose to error on the side of safety. Would the OP be happier if Princess had cancelled the cruise a the last minute or ended it early in Osaka? You would still need to change flights. stuff happens. I applaude Princess for keeping passenger safety first while still giving passengers a full cruise.

I recently had the misfortune to travel on the Ocean Princess on a “cherry blossom” cruise that was scheduled to go from Shanghai to Osaka.

 

 

.

 

However they would meet cancellation costs for existing flights out of Japan, and may consider meeting additional costs to fly out of the new destination.

 

 

 

 

Having prevented passengers from making arrangements prior to boarding Princess did allow passengers to try to use the internet and phone service to make alternative arrangements. If you have ever tried to use a ships internet and know how slow it is – imagine how much slower it is when the entire ship is trying to use it. Some passengers spent over six hours just trying to send a couple of emails. I loaded one page in ten minutes before giving up. The phone service also gave up under the strain. I had to sit their pressing redial for an hour just to get an outside line. What a great way to start a holiday.

 

es!

First my condolences to the OP. Not fun to have a much anticipated cruise go south. :( I hope Princess will pick up any out of pocket expenses you and your fellow passengers have incurred which are not covered by travel insurance.

I'm going to use your misfortune as a learning opportunity for myself. I've not yet had the opportunity to cruise in such distant (from my home) destinations.

]What would be covered by travel insurance? Would this be considered an 'Act of God' allowing insurance companies to avoid claims?[/COLOR]

If I was left in San Juan instead of Lauderdale, it wouldn't be a huge deal to me. I'd just book a flight from SJU to FLL and would expect any costs that weren't covered by travel insurance to be picked up by Princess. But San Juan is on 'my side of the world' and I'm familiar with it.

Being left somewhere I didn't know on the 'other side' of the world - well I'd likely be a little less comfortable. What if I'd made prepaid non-refunable tour arrangements for after disembarkation. Who pays for that? What about air cancellation and rebooking fees? Who pays?

We always get travel insurance but to be honest, I've never actually read thru it all to see what is covered and what is not. Maybe it's time I did? :D

Toto remarked that when travelling to very distant places, she always uses Princess Air and travel insurance. I think Princess has their own travel insurance - is it wiser in such cases to use theirs rather than another independent insurer?

One doesn't expect problems and thus doesn't think about them I guess. Given the 'knowledge is power' thing, I'm thinking I'd better get a little better informed on how to handle things should an unexpected event occur.

Any thoughts / info you folks can share would be much appreciated.

I'm sorry the OP is going through this but even sorrier for the people in Japan. Nuclear experts in the US have stated all along that this disaster is worse than the Japanese government was saying, and so far, they've been proven right. The information being given out has been difficult to decipher and in order to change the itinerary, the cruiseline has to make a lot of arrangements. It's not like being on a car and deciding to go to a different restaurant. Port arrangements are a complicated business and can't be made overnight. There are docking facilities that need to be available, customs and immigration arrangements to make, etc. It's not just Princess that has made changes, all of the cruiselines have.

 

We don't know what options Princess has made available to passengers stuck with making flight changes. Usually, they give free Internet so that passengers can make their changes or contact their TA to make changes. The OP hasn't said anything about this being available nor other assistance Princess usually offers. My guess is that they heard about CC on the ship and decided this was the place to vent.

I think they DID make free internet available, hence the complaint about slow connection times.

Holly - You have a really good point! This WAS an AOG and I'll bet insurance won't cover anything!

I also found it interesting and disturbing that the OP made no mention of the poor people in Japan and their awful plight.

F...Third, OP complains about how horrible the internet is and how many people using it, but obviously found time to post here.

We recently experienced the Internet service of the Golden whereby it took us 16 minutes to get out a message that was a cut and paste from Word. If the message is important enough and I would say that the OP's message certainly was, then they should not be criticized for using their personal paid-for time to do so.

Hi All,

 

Where are the other hundreds of passengers with the same issues,

 

I think if this story was 100% true this would be a big story here,

 

most of us know Princess is not good at telling you things, but ask

 

and you will get the answers you require.

 

May be the OP thought Princess would organise everything and tell

 

him, me thinks Princess was there to help but you had to ask.

 

What ever happened its clear Princess could have helped more.

 

 

yours Shogun

This story is 100% true. I am one of the 600 or so passengers affected by this change. One reason you haven't heard about this story yet because we're all trying to deal with changing our flights (to leave from Hong Kong instead of Osaka). Another reason is because the internet is so slow it takes forever to download a page. I spent almost 2 hours yesterday canceling our Osaka hotel room. I still haven't been able to change my airline tickets! Also, since it's a small ship, we only have about 10 couples registered in for our meet & greet tomorrow (& I'm going to get them to contribute their thoughts on this topic). Princess is helping those who have booked air through them; those of us who have made our own air arrangements are left to fend for ourselves. They will cover the change fee associated with making the necessary changes to our air, but if we need to pay extra to fly out of Hong Kong instead of Osaka, they are not covering that. They claim that "airlines are lenient right now with flights from Japan". Anyhow, it's a mess right now...a mess that in my opinion could have been avoided (or at least lessened) if we were told about the change of disembarkation port earlier (not when we're in transit to the pier...or in most cases, while we were embarking at the Shanghai pier. I don't want to seem heartless and think that I (or some or most of the passengers on the Ocean Princess) don't have any compassion for what has happened in Japan...I can't imagine the devastation the earthquake/tsunami/nuclear incident has caused, but I'm dissapointed that Princess didn't tell us about the itinerary change until it was too late to make changes until we were on the ship.

While dissapointed at not seeing cherry blossoms, I would have been more dissapointed to come home "glowing". Think of how many lawsuits Princess would have had if they put you in harms way. I am guessing it was not a conspiracy to manipulate passangers as much as taking the measures necessary to keep their passangers safe.

Maybe I'm mising something, but if Osaka was the end of the cruise, presumably everybody on board had made travel plans to return home from Osaka.

 

I think it is a big deal to be left at another port with only a "so sorry".

 

I can see why Princess would make the change, but I think it was incumbant on Princess to offer assistance for what was going to be a huge expense and inconvience to it's passengers.

 

Again, maybe I've drawn the wrong inference, but if my flight home was from FLL and I found out after departure the cruise was gonig to end in SJU I'd be pretty angry too.

A BIG 'THANK YOU' for all those who understand our situation. For those of us who didn't purchase air with Princess, our travel arrangements home are through Osaka...which we will now have to change to Hong Kong...at our own expense (less the change fees...whoopie) through our limited resources on the ship. Princess has allowed us free internet and phone calls up to the evening of March 23 (we embarked on March 20th). I would have rather they help us with our air arrangements than to give us free internet/phone calls.

Princess announced the change in itinerary on March 18, one week after the earthquake. In the case of OP's cruise it had been scheduled to end in Osaka. In view of the conditions in Japan, it is not surprising that Princess had to modify the itinerary and change the final port. I thought that Princess did well to make these changes in only one week after the disaster.

I totally agree with Paul. This is where travel insurance is so important. It will pay for out of pocket expenses, changes to itineraries, and trip delays. I would have appreciated Princess keeping me away from potential damaging effects of radiation, rather than complain.