Live from the Caribbean Princess 11/09/2013

[cruzrbachoua]

The fog-related delay mentioned above taught us a valuable lesson -- choose a disembarkation scenario that allows PLENTY of time to get to the airport. Here's what happened to us:

 

We had a 2:16 departure flight out of Bush Intercontinental Airport (IAH) which is about 1 hour from the terminal. We previously booked a Princess bus transfer to that airport and chose a 9:15 am bus, thinking the 2 earlier ones (8:15 and 8:45) were earlier than necessary and would have us rushing around in the morning, then hanging around a boring airport for hours on end. It never occurred to us there could be a weather delay (dumb, in retrospect). When the ship did dock, they logically proceeded to disembark people in the original step-by-step pattern, which resulted in our getting off the ship shortly after 12 noon. We knew the Princess bus would take significant time to load people and luggage and then stop at multiple terminals once at the airport. So we knew there'd be little or no chance of getting to our plane on time. So we told Princess we wouldn't be on that bus and chose a waiting taxi instead. We were lucky enough to get a VERY experienced driver who knew all the fastest routes and knew we had a deadline to make. She couldn't guarantee we'd make it on time, but promised to do the best she could. She got us there in 50 minutes and we got there with a bare 10 minutes to spare. (Amazingly the TSA line had NOBODY in it, otherwise it would have been impossible). The cab driver told us that, because the Houston cruise ship terminal is new, many drivers are unfamiliar with the route, so we were doubly lucky in getting her as a driver because she used to drive commercial rigs in and out of the neighboring cargo terminals. The whole experience caused us to lose the cost of our Princess bus transfer and the cab fare was $100.00 (plus a very generous tip thrown in), but it was money well-spent since missing that flight and re-booking the next day would have cost us $490 x 2 people = $980 (plus the cost of eating the original tickets and cost of a hotel). So next time we'll either fly home the next day or get to the airport ASAP and sit around the airport where a cup of coffee and a Danish would cost $10 (instead of FREE on the ship).

 

Incidentally, the many local Texans aboard told us that fog in this area is quite common, so it seems to be something to plan for in future cruises from Houston (and maybe also Galveston).

 

I am normally not one that is quick to run back and tell princess to refund stuff, but given that this instance was way out there being 3 hours late I would try contacting princess and tell them your story about barely making your flight and that if you had waited for the princess bus you would have missed it, they may refund you the transfer fare. Worth a shot and in this instance dont think that it would be wrong to ask especially since you booked your flight after the time they suggest....

[jrzebird]

The fog-related delay mentioned above taught us a valuable lesson -- choose a disembarkation scenario that allows PLENTY of time to get to the airport. Here's what happened to us:

 

We had a 2:16 departure flight out of Bush Intercontinental Airport (IAH) which is about 1 hour from the terminal. We previously booked a Princess bus transfer to that airport and chose a 9:15 am bus, thinking the 2 earlier ones (8:15 and 8:45) were earlier than necessary and would have us rushing around in the morning, then hanging around a boring airport for hours on end. It never occurred to us there could be a weather delay (dumb, in retrospect). When the ship did dock, they logically proceeded to disembark people in the original step-by-step pattern, which resulted in our getting off the ship shortly after 12 noon. We knew the Princess bus would take significant time to load people and luggage and then stop at multiple terminals once at the airport. So we knew there'd be little or no chance of getting to our plane on time. So we told Princess we wouldn't be on that bus and chose a waiting taxi instead. We were lucky enough to get a VERY experienced driver who knew all the fastest routes and knew we had a deadline to make. She couldn't guarantee we'd make it on time, but promised to do the best she could. She got us there in 50 minutes and we got there with a bare 10 minutes to spare. (Amazingly the TSA line had NOBODY in it, otherwise it would have been impossible). The cab driver told us that, because the Houston cruise ship terminal is new, many drivers are unfamiliar with the route, so we were doubly lucky in getting her as a driver because she used to drive commercial rigs in and out of the neighboring cargo terminals. The whole experience caused us to lose the cost of our Princess bus transfer and the cab fare was $100.00 (plus a very generous tip thrown in), but it was money well-spent since missing that flight and re-booking the next day would have cost us $490 x 2 people = $980 (plus the cost of eating the original tickets and cost of a hotel). So next time we'll either fly home the next day or get to the airport ASAP and sit around the airport where a cup of coffee and a Danish would cost $10 (instead of FREE on the ship).

 

Incidentally, the many local Texans aboard told us that fog in this area is quite common, so it seems to be something to plan for in future cruises from Houston (and maybe also Galveston).

 

I was on the two cruises before yours and we were lucky and had no weather delays. We had been warned however that it could happen.

 

I took the princess shuttle and it did not stop at other terminals. They had busses for each terminal. At least that was my experience. I'm sure each sailing has different scenarios. Our second cruise was only about half full so that might have made a difference.

 

Glad that you made it on time.

[caribill]

I took the princess shuttle and it did not stop at other terminals. They had busses for each terminal.

 

Not everyone checks in on the Internet in advance and thus knows which terminal to go to. United has flights out of three terminals at IAH.

[AKman2495]

Princess tour or an independent tour or just on your own?

 

It was a ships's tour. We started late thanks to a Carnival ship that arrived and held up the gangway. We returned about 15 minutes late ands they were happy to see us-no cold towels....just get on the ship....

[AKman2495]

How are you enjoying the food in the MDR? :)

 

A bit too well...:o

[BridgeMates]

I was on the 10 day repo and the 4-day Cruise for a Cause following it, and there were bridge gatherings every day, some hosted, some not. From what I could tell, they were for about 3 hours, in one of the main dining rooms, starting around 1:00. I don't play bridge anymore so I have no first hand knowledge, only what I read in the Patter.

 

Maureen

 

Thanks so much.

[AKman2495]

I am writing this from my home. Yesterday was a LOOOOOOOOOOONNNNNGGGGG day! As you know, the fog held us up. We were in the Princess theatre for the whole time (well just about-went outside to check on the fog and went to the International Cafe for some refreshments)

 

Anyway, we were booked on a tour of downtown Houston with an airport drop-off. That didm;t go so well-they canceled the tours and converted them to regular transfer vouchers with a refund of the difference. Since we had a tour we had an earlier disembarkation time, which we kept. With the dally, we arrived at the airport right on schedule. :)

 

The only bad thing about the experience was that they had Fox news on the whole time-now keep in mind we just had 11 days of almost no politics and certainly no galleries of talking head yelling at each other. # hours of that was a real eye-opener. :roll eyes:

 

The cruise itself was great. Although we were off the ship most of the day at Cozumel, we went to the mainland and were actually on Cozumel about 15 minutes. The tour of Coba was fantastic.

 

We loved Roatan. It was a lush tropical paradise (true, some people said they experienced garbage, but what the heck, even paradise has garbage). We otoh had a wonder time on an eclectic tour of the island.

 

Belize was "interesting". Our tour was canceled because of flooding so they booked us on an alternate tour to Altun Ha. Those ruins were again spectacular.

 

The rest of the country -not so much. The roads are joke it took 90 minutes to drive 36 miles with very little traffic.

 

The place is below sea level and floods all the time. Hurricanes wipe it out every 4-5 years, They do have schools, which is good. But there is really not much else.

 

They are trying to attract retirees to Belize with low cost housing and low living costs.If you've seen the ads for "buy Belize" on TV, yes, the house you ill get looks just like that-what they don't show you is the hundreds of acres of swampland that surround the place. If you "buy Belize" good luck:roll eyes:

 

Yesterday, at the airport, my wife ordered a MCd's chicken sandwich...She said it was like "rubber chicken" I gently reminded her that "we were not on the ship anymore"....:(

 

When we left on the B2B on 11/4 it was about 40 degrees in Anchorage with no snow. This morning it was 7 degrees with about 4 inches....,,sigh...:(

[Nauticat42]

To Sminfiddle: Great idea -- thanks! I've posted the same on the Gulf Coast Departures forum (never knew there was one!)

 

To Curzbrbachoua: We will, indeed, see if Princess will pay us back for the transfer. It will frankly impress us Big-Time if they do, though, because it's not like Princess was the cause of the delay. If the ship had broken down it would be a different story, but weather seems like one of those "Acts of God" you always see in disclaimers. Will update on this when we see what happens. As it is, though, we think of Princess quite fondly because of the 4-day Veterans Cruise (Cruising for a Cause) they had just prior to his one (we did a back-to-back). Princess donated a nice portion of every cruise fare to 2 veterans' charities, and even though the ship was only half full, they went all-out to put on a great cruise with wonderful programs for veterans and veteran supporters. Distinguished guests included all of the recently-retired Joint Chiefs of Staff and their wives, plus several other veteran celebrities, each of whom gave very interesting presentations. Allen Buckelew (Princess CEO and Vietnam veteran) also attended with his wife and was a gracious host.

[Mekamax]

Fog can be a problem for both Houston and Galveston from December to March usually. Our Disney was fogged out for a few hours last Feb and didn't get in till 10am. Happens a couple times a year from Galveston so Houston will be the same. It happens mainly if I'm correct when we get really cold weather for us (35 degrees) and then warms up to 70 degrees. We got an Arctic cold front which got us in the low 30s which I'm sure made the Gulf choppy with 40 mile an hour winds in Galveston and then two days later were back in the 70s... I think this causes it but not sure... Anyway it was unusual for November..

 

So glad you made your flights and got that taxi driver! :) I would ask for a refund just in case as I'm betting Princess filled your spot on that bus with someone else....

[Tickled2Trvl]

To Sminfiddle: Great idea -- thanks! I've posted the same on the Gulf Coast Departures forum (never knew there was one!)

 

To Curzbrbachoua: We will, indeed, see if Princess will pay us back for the transfer. It will frankly impress us Big-Time if they do, though, because it's not like Princess was the cause of the delay. If the ship had broken down it would be a different story, but weather seems like one of those "Acts of God" you always see in disclaimers. Will update on this when we see what happens. As it is, though, we think of Princess quite fondly because of the 4-day Veterans Cruise (Cruising for a Cause) they had just prior to his one (we did a back-to-back). Princess donated a nice portion of every cruise fare to 2 veterans' charities, and even though the ship was only half full, they went all-out to put on a great cruise with wonderful programs for veterans and veteran supporters. Distinguished guests included all of the recently-retired Joint Chiefs of Staff and their wives, plus several other veteran celebrities, each of whom gave very interesting presentations. Allen Buckelew (Princess CEO and Vietnam veteran) also attended with his wife and was a gracious host.

 

Peg and Joe,

 

I thank you first for your service to our country and second for the heart pounding story of your ride to the airport! How wonderful to have a cabbie who knew the route! How strange a half filled ship must have felt to you and fellow cruisers. Thank you for your info.

[Times Prince]

The fog-related delay mentioned above taught us a valuable lesson -- choose a disembarkation scenario that allows PLENTY of time to get to the airport. Here's what happened to us:

 

We had a 2:16 departure flight out of Bush Intercontinental Airport (IAH) which is about 1 hour from the terminal. We previously booked a Princess bus transfer to that airport and chose a 9:15 am bus, thinking the 2 earlier ones (8:15 and 8:45) were earlier than necessary and would have us rushing around in the morning, then hanging around a boring airport for hours on end. It never occurred to us there could be a weather delay (dumb, in retrospect). When the ship did dock, they logically proceeded to disembark people in the original step-by-step pattern, which resulted in our getting off the ship shortly after 12 noon. We knew the Princess bus would take significant time to load people and luggage and then stop at multiple terminals once at the airport. So we knew there'd be little or no chance of getting to our plane on time. So we told Princess we wouldn't be on that bus and chose a waiting taxi instead. We were lucky enough to get a VERY experienced driver who knew all the fastest routes and knew we had a deadline to make. She couldn't guarantee we'd make it on time, but promised to do the best she could. She got us there in 50 minutes and we got there with a bare 10 minutes to spare. (Amazingly the TSA line had NOBODY in it, otherwise it would have been impossible). The cab driver told us that, because the Houston cruise ship terminal is new, many drivers are unfamiliar with the route, so we were doubly lucky in getting her as a driver because she used to drive commercial rigs in and out of the neighboring cargo terminals. The whole experience caused us to lose the cost of our Princess bus transfer and the cab fare was $100.00 (plus a very generous tip thrown in), but it was money well-spent since missing that flight and re-booking the next day would have cost us $490 x 2 people = $980 (plus the cost of eating the original tickets and cost of a hotel). So next time we'll either fly home the next day or get to the airport ASAP and sit around the airport where a cup of coffee and a Danish would cost $10 (instead of FREE on the ship).

 

Incidentally, the many local Texans aboard told us that fog in this area is quite common, so it seems to be something to plan for in future cruises from Houston (and maybe also Galveston).

We were on the repositioning cruise from New York to Houston, and although we got off the ship about 40 minutes past the scheduled disembarkation time, the Princess transfer left in a timely fashion. The Princess transfer buses were clearly marked which terminal they were going to. Unfortunately the driver decided at the airport that his bus lacked the vertical clearance to enter the departure ramp for United terminal C. We looped around the airport at least three times with more and more passengers becoming engaged in directing the driver concerning what to do and where to turn. He finally stopped near the terminal (with an airport person telling him he couldn't stop there) and let us get our luggage and enter into the baggage claim section. We still had plenty of time before our flight so it was not a big deal for us.

 

It is clear that the transport company that Princess has hired does not have it's act together yet. Princess needs to take some action to vet the company and ensure that their drivers have the proper training and directions for the cruise terminal and airport. (the driver used a GPS system in between).

 

I didn't note this on the survey, as I figured it was a first time event.

 

RE: the fog delay - our last cruise into Galveston in Jan 2013 had a significant fog delay, with us getting off the ship around 5PM. Princess did treat passengers with Princess EZair very well, providing hotel, alternate flights, and transportation to hotel/airport. All others had to make their own arrangements.

[caribill]

It is clear that the transport company that Princess has hired does not have it's act together yet. Princess needs to take some action to vet the company and ensure that their drivers have the proper training and directions for the cruise terminal and airport. (the driver used a GPS system in between).

 

This has amazed us several times in the Houston area and not just with Princess. I am not sure if the drivers are from the Houston area or elsewhere, but they often do not know the direct route and, what is worse, an alternate route if the direct route is blocked by construction or an accident.

 

I saw a Carnival bus last week on the freeway between IAH and Galveston. It was painted "Bus to the fun" and obviously used only by Carnival and, I suspect, a driver that knew the way.

Edited November 18, 2013 by caribill

[Vacation Couple]

I too was on the Ship. We were stuck in the Ship Channel due to Fog for a few hours. No Problem.

 

What happened after that was a Nightmare! I was scheduled to get off the boat at 9:40 am after the fog delay I got out of the Terminal about 2PM.

 

Since I was in my room , I did hear the orginal delay announcement but remembered hearing the Fog horns around 5 am. Look out the window about 8 am to see nothing but fog. The boat appeared to be stopped but I couldn't see the bridge or land. Step outside to balcony and was told by other passangers we were a mile and a half from port. Stuck my head out into the hall and porter was shocked we were still in the room. Stayed there. When back to balcony and talked to the man on the next balcony. Told him the steward wanted us out of our room. The man next door said that they made an announce to stay in your room for a while. Watched about 10 people every ten minutes get off the boat. Porter told us to go to assigned disbarkment area.

 

The wife and I were greeted by (make that Bitched out by) the area cordinator who said we could not stay there and just go somewhere else they would call us. Went down the hall, No A/C. Stayed about 45 minutes.Went back to assigned meeting area to ask when since no shipwide announcement had been made. She said announcemences have not been made and come back in 30 minutes. Finally heard overhead announcement. Went to verify if we had been called. 12:30pm they decide to serve lunch upstairs.(no way everybody could be off before 4 pm) finally a smart move.

 

Number finally called, went to gageway it was broke again. Had to wait till repaired. Allowed off. Noticed all luggage door to terminal closed. Found our luggage pick up spot. Half the luggage was missing. Parked wife with luggage next to wall while I go hunting for our luggage. After searching 15 minutes for our missing luggage I notice nobody was checking who was leaving with who's luggage. Noticed many others in my section hunting luggage too. Then I spotted a crate of suitcases coming in aleast an houir after all other luggage arrived. the missing two suitcases were onboard.

 

Baggage handler help us get baggage to customs. Line was quick. Went to get truck to pick up wife and luggage. Found truck and started to follow signs out of parking area. Exit signs directed me to an area fully blocked by cones. I freesytled it out of the parking area to the pick up area in the no parking zone?

 

The fog is one thing. Organization and communication is totally Princess Cruise

responsibility!

 

See people Mocked and Bitched at by the staff was uncalled for. I'm glad I was not treated that way but saw many nice people who were.

 

Wife suitcase returned with a 6" razor cut down the side. We didn't notice anything missing.

[azbirdmom]

Not everyone checks in on the Internet in advance and thus knows which terminal to go to. United has flights out of three terminals at IAH.

 

Well that certainly must make it interesting! We are booked on a 3 PM United flight out of IAH following our New Year's cruise and will make a note to check the terminal on line before disembarking.

[AKman2495]

I too was on the Ship. We were stuck in the Ship Channel due to Fog for a few hours. No Problem.

 

What happened after that was a Nightmare! I was scheduled to get off the boat at 9:40 am after the fog delay I got out of the Terminal about 2PM.

 

Since I was in my room , I did hear the orginal delay announcement but remembered hearing the Fog horns around 5 am. Look out the window about 8 am to see nothing but fog. The boat appeared to be stopped but I couldn't see the bridge or land. Step outside to balcony and was told by other passangers we were a mile and a half from port. Stuck my head out into the hall and porter was shocked we were still in the room. Stayed there. When back to balcony and talked to the man on the next balcony. Told him the steward wanted us out of our room. The man next door said that they made an announce to stay in your room for a while. Watched about 10 people every ten minutes get off the boat. Porter told us to go to assigned disbarkment area.

 

The wife and I were greeted by (make that Bitched out by) the area cordinator who said we could not stay there and just go somewhere else they would call us. Went down the hall, No A/C. Stayed about 45 minutes.Went back to assigned meeting area to ask when since no shipwide announcement had been made. She said announcemences have not been made and come back in 30 minutes. Finally heard overhead announcement. Went to verify if we had been called. 12:30pm they decide to serve lunch upstairs.(no way everybody could be off before 4 pm) finally a smart move.

 

Number finally called, went to gageway it was broke again. Had to wait till repaired. Allowed off. Noticed all luggage door to terminal closed. Found our luggage pick up spot. Half the luggage was missing. Parked wife with luggage next to wall while I go hunting for our luggage. After searching 15 minutes for our missing luggage I notice nobody was checking who was leaving with who's luggage. Noticed many others in my section hunting luggage too. Then I spotted a crate of suitcases coming in aleast an houir after all other luggage arrived. the missing two suitcases were onboard.

 

Baggage handler help us get baggage to customs. Line was quick. Went to get truck to pick up wife and luggage. Found truck and started to follow signs out of parking area. Exit signs directed me to an area fully blocked by cones. I freesytled it out of the parking area to the pick up area in the no parking zone?

 

The fog is one thing. Organization and communication is totally Princess Cruise

responsibility!

 

See people Mocked and Bitched at by the staff was uncalled for. I'm glad I was not treated that way but saw many nice people who were.

 

Wife suitcase returned with a 6" razor cut down the side. We didn't notice anything missing.

 

Sorry to hear of your bad experience. We had the opposite experience. We got up on time, got dressed and packed and went down to the Palm dining room for breakfast. We had heard the announcement from the captain that we were anchored behind another ship and we were going nowhere until the fog lifted. After a nice leisurely breakfast, we went to out room before 8:00 am took our bags out, tipped the steward and went to the theater, which is where we were supposed to assemble. A few times while we were there, the captain repeated his announcement that the ship was not going anywhere. We were able to go out on the promenade deck to check out the fog and we even went down to the IC for some provisions....

 

After a 3 hour wait, with water, coffee and tea available, the ship docked and they began disembarking based on the same order of groups-because that is how they were unloading the luggage.

 

I do agree that the Houston terminal has some issue with baggage handling, but it is a new terminal and that cruise was the second in its history.

 

They called our group, we left the ship and the customs people were giving us warm welcome homes. Our bags were all there, we passed customs and out transfer bus was there waiting-w had booked a tour but they dropped it and converted it into a transfer-with a refund.

 

At t he bus, the Princess coordinator took out tickets and asked us which airline-we were flying Alaska and she said that was terminal A.

 

We got to the terminal at the time the tour was supposed to end anyway.

 

All in all it worked out very well for us-and the Princess people were very pleasant and were apologizing for the delay on a regular basis.

 

FWIW.

[DrivesLikeMario]

Fog is lifting. Almost to the dock. We are about 3+hrs. late. Crew and passengers seem to be doing a great job. Have not seen too many passengers complaining. Waiting in Club Fusion(Plat.,Elite,Suite)

I will post more when I can in the days coming.

Great itinerary and cruise. Met lots of great people.

 

This is exactly why I tell people not to cut it too close for the flights home from Texas cruises!!! Our ship coming into Galveston was delayed by about 9 hrs., then it took another 2-3 hrs. for all the passengers to debark, then get to their airports. You just never know what's going to delay embarkation/debarkation and in Texas, it can often be fog.

[karabear15]

Hi everyone! I wish I could have made it to the M&G, but I was so entranced by soaking in some sun and waiting for the football game to start. Plus our entire group was pretty much all over the place on the ship. Arizona: I did notice that Ladyinred was right next door to our line of rooms as well as in the dining room with us. We were the large table near you guys who were at times very loud. Sorry that I missed out on meeting everyone. Johanna and I spent a good portion of our time in the martini lounge, we loved Kelvin and Jerry as the martini masters. The last night was extra fun as there was much laughter up there.

 

Overall I feel that it was a good vacation and I had more positive experiences than negatives. However, I would pike to point out that as I often travel with first timers or those who have now made it to gold level, I was told when entering the port that I was not going to be able to utilize my "perk" because the rest of my party was not platinum. I politely disagreed and spoke with another woman saying that every other time I have traveled my party has been able to come along with me. I just felt that in that moment it showed poorly on their part as brand new cruisers were witnessing this. I'm not sure when the entrance was changed, but I'm pretty positive we entered the way it was planned. I found it odd that rather than coming in on the 5th deck walking into the amazing atrium wasnt an option, as walking into a hallway on the promenade deck wasn't as breathtaking.

The remainder of the week was great, although our cavetubing excursion was cancelled in Belize due to the rain, we were able to take a trip to Altun Ha, and yes I agree...the roads are terrible! However having the opportunity to climb the ruins, was awesome. Upon returning to the port I must have dropped my wallet from my bag and I almost did not make it back into port. Thankfully our van/guides d not driven off right away and I was able to get my wallet (with everything in it still) back. Whew!!

 

Disembarking was pretty bad. We noticed that the captain wasn't giving much information past 930am...many of us were unsure if we needed to leave our rooms or to stay put. We decided to stay in our rooms and watch the fog slowly lift from the comforts of our balconies. Once we started to move, we gathered our things and made our way to coral dining room. We were able to walk right in without any problems, however when I went down to the IC for donuts and returned, I witnessed our advisor being somewhat rude to some people saying they needed to turn around and go back to their rooms as their time slot was later. The people tried to express they were told they needed to leave their rooms so didn't really have anywhere to go and sit, at which point she shrugged her shoulders and turned away. I'm not sure why they couldnt sit in the dining room, it was far from full. Our flight was at 1230, and well, clearly we missed that as we didn't even get off the ship until after 1pm. At this point we were unsure of how we were going to get new flights but what happened next was even more disturbing. We prepaid shuttle service with SuperShuttle, our driver did not contact us that morning(we could not as we had no idea who our driver was) and at 930 decided that since no one was there, he was going to leave. In my mind, if a ship hasn't even docked yet, why would you leave....anyways, we go out to the shuttle's that were sitting and explained the situation at which point we were told we needed to pay full fair as we were listed as no shows. Umm no. We noticed that this was also the case for another large group who came up behind us. We all then approached the harbor master who basically expressed to the shuttle drivers that if their services were going to continue to be utilized then they were going to need to help us out as clearly this matter was out of our control. We made it to Hobby airport and princess advised them of the delay, at which Southwest added some flights to help with displaced people. We were able to get a new flight without any charges, nonstop to Midway(chicago) and believe it or not, the ticket was cheaper and we all received a voucher to use on another flight in the future. All in all after dealing with all of that negativity, we were extremely happy with how Southwest helped us and others.

 

 

 

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[RNGALNG]

Wife suitcase returned with a 6" razor cut down the side. We didn't notice anything missing.

 

Hope you had insurance. Start the process of getting your money back for your ripped case. (Take pictures, show how much it would take to replace, etc. . . )

 

Good luck!

 

TO all of you- did you have your air with Princess or had you all booked on your own? I wondered if that had any difference in getting flights after your appointed time. . .

Glad you are all home safely!

[caribill]

 

Went to get truck to pick up wife and luggage. Found truck and started to follow signs out of parking area. Exit signs directed me to an area fully blocked by cones. I freesytled it out of the parking area to the pick up area in the no parking zone?

 

The fog is one thing. Organization and communication is totally Princess Cruise responsibility!

 

See people Mocked and Bitched at by the staff was uncalled for. I'm glad I was not treated that way but saw many nice people who were.

 

Wife suitcase returned with a 6" razor cut down the side. We didn't notice anything missing.

 

Anything on the ship was Princess' responsibility.

 

Any SNAFUs on shore was the port, not Princess.

 

Contact Princess ASAP to file a claim about the suitcase.

[karabear15]

 

TO all of you- did you have your air with Princess or had you all booked on your own? I wondered if that had any difference in getting flights after your appointed time. . .

Glad you are all home safely!

 

 

We booked our own flights, but like I said when we arrived at Hobby airport, a woman who was directing lines expressed to us that Princess had called and confirmed the delay. So I don't think it had anything to do with using their services or not, I applaud them for reaching out.

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[cruzrbachoua]

We booked our own flights, but like I said when we arrived at Hobby airport, a woman who was directing lines expressed to us that Princess had called and confirmed the delay. So I don't think it had anything to do with using their services or not, I applaud them for reaching out.

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That is good to know. I have been following this thread as we are on the March sailing and are using southwest out of Hobby for our flight home. Can I ask what type of ticket you booked with Southwest...we did the wanna get away fare or the lowest option they have. Just curious if southwest honored all or just the higher categories of air fare.

[karabear15]

That is good to know. I have been following this thread as we are on the March sailing and are using southwest out of Hobby for our flight home. Can I ask what type of ticket you booked with Southwest...we did the wanna get away fare or the lowest option they have. Just curious if southwest honored all or just the higher categories of air fare.

 

We also booked the wanna get away fare. From what we heard from the woman behind us in line, regardless of fare southwest will honor a new flight if missed without an extra fee. I would only think that this happens only if you have "checked in" and then miss. Not 100% sure though, but I would suggest making sure you have booked a much later flight than normal for cruising out of Bayport just in case of the fog problem.

 

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[cruzrbachoua]

Kara, thanks for the info. We bought the early-bird as well and I would go online that last sea day to double check that i was checked-in. I am going to keep an eye on the fog for the sailings until ours. We booked a 2pm flight as Princess said we could not fly before 1:30 so we chose the 2pm flight.......

[karabear15]

Kara, thanks for the info. We bought the early-bird as well and I would go online that last sea day to double check that i was checked-in. I am going to keep an eye on the fog for the sailings until ours. We booked a 2pm flight as Princess said we could not fly before 1:30 so we chose the 2pm flight.......

 

Well that's nice that they told you that...I would have appreciated some sort of idea as to when was best to fly out, but no need to dwell on it any longer, we made it home safely and that is what matters.

 

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[caribill]

I would have appreciated some sort of idea as to when was best to fly out.

 

It usually is there in the details on the personalizer.