Help - Princess booted us out of our cabins

[DONNAKG]

Just back from the Royal Nov24 to E Caribbean. We had the same thing happen.. 3 cabins booked in MAY together,,, and 2 cabins were NEWBIES!!

They put 2 in the front of the ship & we got to stay in aft.

TA was really ticked off!... Princess told her that the 2 cabins they changed are considered *an Upgrade*,,,, we are loyal cruisers ,, if that is an upgrade,, I'd say UP something!... where was our upgrade? HA!

not all, but alot of people love the aft cabins & we happen to be part of that group. My sis in law 's fangs came out on the cruise ,, she went down 4 x' s after the 2 I did, but the passenger services basically said it was the TA's fault.

NO one got an email from Princess regarding the changes!:mad:

 

SO,, we finally got a plate of chocolate strawberries n a note of apology.

whatever!

lesson- SPECIFY* DO NOT CHANGE* -- and maybe you will get the cabin u want!

 

beside from that fiasco-- it was lovely ship, food was better than ever.:)

we have a trip to the Baltics in Aug on Royal,,,,, not so sure .. looking @ different cruise lines,, too bad!

donnakg

[inghilch]

Well after two calls today, "per princess upper management, your original cabins are no longer available". We'll I knew that already. I said what am I supposed to do with my children all over the ship?? After another 30 minutes on hold waiting to speak to customer relations, I'm told all we can do is put the request into inventory to move you closer together. Its unlikely though with the cruise only 16 days out. You may have to keep trying up until the point of boarding because there are people that don't show and don't cancel. They basically said that though our reservations are crossed referenced, a cabin upgrade was requested and its computer generated without taking anything else into consideration. I said I did not request an upgrade but they are insisting some box was checked. So now I left it I need to wait until Monday.. another 48 hours to see if inventory can help at all… Sooo crazy.. I'm really shocked this happened. It sounds like my husband and I will have to separate and stay with kids on different decks… I guess no santa this year….

[Liz54]

Are you speaking to a supervisor?

Also, can you transfer the booking to a Cruise Travel Agent? TAs are great in this kind of situation. I think you should keep pushing.

[rkmw]

Our bookings were linked and marked, "No upgrade."

Princess could & should have a "NO UPGRADE & DO NOT CHANGE MY CABIN FOR ANY REASON" button for those with a particular cabin in mind. After the customer has gone to all the trouble of locating their choice, I do not see why they would make this kind of change. They do have your telephone number.

 

if you have the no upgrade box ticked and they offer you an upgrade to a full suite are you going to knock it back

[Happy2cruise]

if you have the no upgrade box ticked and they offer you an upgrade to a full suite are you going to knock it back

IMO,Offering an upgrade and just doing the upgrade are two different things.

[CI66774]

Well after two calls today, "per princess upper management, your original cabins are no longer available". We'll I knew that already. I said what am I supposed to do with my children all over the ship?? After another 30 minutes on hold waiting to speak to customer relations, I'm told all we can do is put the request into inventory to move you closer together. Its unlikely though with the cruise only 16 days out. You may have to keep trying up until the point of boarding because there are people that don't show and don't cancel. They basically said that though our reservations are crossed referenced, a cabin upgrade was requested and its computer generated without taking anything else into consideration. I said I did not request an upgrade but they are insisting some box was checked. So now I left it I need to wait until Monday.. another 48 hours to see if inventory can help at all… Sooo crazy.. I'm really shocked this happened. It sounds like my husband and I will have to separate and stay with kids on different decks… I guess no santa this year….

 

I am so sorry for your predicament but I would not take this lying down. Either your TA (if you had one) or someone at Princess is at fault here. I would not stop until I spoke to the "highest" person on the food chain. Then I would call the president's office at Princess and persist in getting your cabins back. I would not stop until I was satisfied. I've had to do this several times with different companies and each time the company relented. Then each gave me extra for the trouble. You paid good money for this cruise, you should get what you bargained for. Good luck!

[Coral]

Are you speaking to a supervisor?

Also, can you transfer the booking to a Cruise Travel Agent? TAs are great in this kind of situation. I think you should keep pushing.

 

You can't transfer after final payment.

[inghilch]

Thank you again everyone for sharing your experiences and giving me some insight to all this.

Princess customer relations couldn't get anyone on the phone I guess being Friday night? Maybe that's why they told me to call back after 5 when I first called today at 1:30. I was supposedly speaking to a supervisor. She kept saying she needed to speak to inventory and it would take until Monday. The TA conferences me in with princess directly and doesn't seem to be doing much of anything.

I was thinking the same. An upgrade to a suite. Who would give that up. I said has anyone been offered my upgrade?? Princess Customer Relations repeatedly said they needed to discuss with inventory and they weren't there.

Bottom line they are saying this happened because a box was checked and with the cruise 16 days out, there is not much they can do.

[inghilch]

True. I should keep calling. Asking to speak to the president is not a bad idea.

[Coral]

I was supposedly speaking to a supervisor. She kept saying she needed to speak to inventory and it would take until Monday.

 

I don't think anything can happen over the weekend.

[The4OfUs]

True. I should keep calling. Asking to speak to the president is not a bad idea.

 

You may also consider taking it to Social Media. As an Ecommerce professional myself, I cringe at times when people try to hold companies hostage with nasty unreasonable demands over slights they feel they are "owed" for, but in your case with a time sensitive VALID issue it might help to try the customer service out there on Facebook and/or Twitter, and see if they can be a quicker line to higher ups. If they are a savvy modern company (and I see that their Twitter account is active and fairly current in terms of responding to tweets) they should see your request and try to help.

 

Just a thought - it helped us when our entire cruise was cancelled (unbeknownst to us for 5 days!) due to a glitch on the Carnival website - we ended up with the Owner's Suite. In that case it took a bit, but they definitely heard us and helped.

[Ren1216]

Ask Princess to offer your upgrades (or any upgrade) to the passengers now placed in your original cabins. That should be simple enough, it's only two cabins (since you managed to hang onto one). Whether a box is checked or not, you'd think that linking the reservations would keep them from being separated. Can't be too hard to configure a program this way.

 

When I booked our upcoming cruise (family of 7 in 3 side by side cabins), the agent assisting me said she assumed that we would not care for an upgrade (I confirmed), and our reservation was marked as such. Guess it all depends who ya talk to when you make that initial booking. I agree that the default setting should be NO upgrade. Still won't keep an agent from marking it by mistake or carelessness though.

 

Sure hope this can be resolved for you, OP. Good luck.

[Cruisin' Chick]

You may also consider taking it to Social Media. As an Ecommerce professional myself, I cringe at times when people try to hold companies hostage with nasty unreasonable demands over slights they feel they are "owed" for, but in your case with a time sensitive VALID issue it might help to try the customer service out there on Facebook and/or Twitter, and see if they can be a quicker line to higher ups. If they are a savvy modern company (and I see that their Twitter account is active and fairly current in terms of responding to tweets) they should see your request and try to help.

 

Just a thought - it helped us when our entire cruise was cancelled (unbeknownst to us for 5 days!) due to a glitch on the Carnival website - we ended up with the Owner's Suite. In that case it took a bit, but they definitely heard us and helped.

 

Princess does have a facebook page. If you post there just give a brief (less than four sentences, if possible) plea to have the name and phone number private messaged to you that you can call first thing on Monday to resolve the matter (mention you have kids under the age of 10 that are involved).

[Ellipooh]

I think this is just horrible, and on a holiday cruise no less. I can't believe the situation hasn't been resolved yet, and I can only assume that the idea of transferring the "upgrades" to the new pax has been considered and rejected by mgmt already (it is the obvious solution). I wonder if that means that the new pax are actually traveling b2b? And that's why they are not easily transferred?

 

My other thought is that they're cracking down on parents who book two cabins (within the rules), while intending to put parents in one and kids in the other (against rules). I think that is what the OP admitted she is trying to do. Practice is probably widespread, but I think there are some very good reasons for the rules, too. But a forcible split of rooms far away from each other is unnecessarily drastic.

 

I am still brand new to cruising I booked my cruise without a TA, just using the princess website. I NEVER saw a box about upgrades to check or uncheck. Since then, having read other horror stories about purported upgrades on cc, I hired a TA for the sole purpose of marking my reservation as No Upgrade, as I am rather enamored of my aft cabin. In OP's situation, a TA may have been able to link the reservations so the rooms would not be separated.

 

OP, I really hope this situation gets resolved soon. What a lot of unnecessary stress over a vacation.

[rkmw]

IMO,Offering an upgrade and just doing the upgrade are two different things.

Princess could & should have a "NO UPGRADE & DO NOT CHANGE MY CABIN FOR ANY REASON" button for those with a particular cabin in mind. After the customer has gone to all the trouble of locating their choice, I do not see why they would make this kind of change

 

if people could tick the box no upgrade for any reason they should not be offered an upgrade

[jean s]

I think taking this situation to social media could be helpful. I am always amazed at what pressure being on Facebook can create. I agree that you should mention how young the children are. Shame on Princess for doing something like this to a family.

[geocruiser]

I hope this might help.

Complaint Department Number: 800-PRINCESS (800-774-6237)

Complaint Department Email: customerrelations@princesscruises.com

Executive: Alan Buckelew, President & CEO

Corporate Address: 24844 Avenue Rockefeller, Santa Clarita, CA 91355

Corporate Phone Number: (661) 753-0000

Corporate Fax: (661) 359-3108

abuckelew@princesscruises.com

abuckelew@princess.com I found two E-mail address on CC for Princess CEO Alan Buckelew. (if he is still the CEO)

A nice E-mail to the CEO might help.

[Debe7ing]

Once you get this worked out ENSURE that all the cabins have the same tender location as well. We did a 2 week South Pacific cruise with kiddos and did NOT realize until we were on the ship we happened to fall into the "cut off area" and OUR cabin mustered at one tender station, our kids at another. Needless to say THAT did not fly!!! How KNEW that ajoining rooms could be divided into different muster stations for emergencies???? Kids all grown now, but it scared the bejesus out of me then!!!

[rkmw]

Once you get this worked out ENSURE that all the cabins have the same tender location as well. We did a 2 week South Pacific cruise with kiddos and did NOT realize until we were on the ship we happened to fall into the "cut off area" and OUR cabin mustered at one tender station, our kids at another. Needless to say THAT did not fly!!! How KNEW that ajoining rooms could be divided into different muster stations for emergencies???? Kids all grown now, but it scared the bejesus out of me then!!!

 

would the TA or princess know what would be cut off for tender locations

[DrivesLikeMario]

I doubt any TA or even Princess would know what the tender muster stations are for the entire ship or even just the areas the OP is now placed in; anyone can make an educated guess though.

 

Inventory Control is not open on the weekends, hence the reason why you have to wait until Monday.

 

The thing is, on the invoices TAs get from Princess, there is no designation about the upgrade the passengers will, or will not, accept. So, they have no recourse other than their own handwritten notes when Princess claims it was an agent error. It's an 'easy out' for them - blame it on the TAs - because the TAs can't prove otherwise on a Princess invoice.

 

Something really needs to be done about it IMO so TAs are protected when these situations come up and can prove to their clients that they did the correct steps per the passenger's orders. Thank God I've never had this happen and I always document everything, but for agents that aren't quite as meticulous, it can put them in a real predicament.

[JimmyVWine]

I really don't understand the "nothing can be done" attitude. If you were "upgraded" on 2 of your cabins, then by definition, the people now in your cabins are in a lower level cabin. So why can't they "downgrade" you back to your original cabins and "upgrade" the people who now occupy it? If your current cabins are truly an upgrade, then these other folks should be thrilled. And you would be satisfied. Everyone wins. How is this so complicated? I buy a VW. When I go to pick up the vehicle, they tell me that they sold the last one to someone else by mistake so they give me a Mercedes. The VW is still on the lot as the other owners haven't picked it up yet. I tell them that I reeeaaally want the VW. So let me drive it off the lot and give the other buyer the Mercedes. Is he going to complain?

[Wehwalt]

 

The thing is, on the invoices TAs get from Princess, there is no designation about the upgrade the passengers will, or will not, accept. So, they have no recourse other than their own handwritten notes when Princess claims it was an agent error. It's an 'easy out' for them - blame it on the TAs - because the TAs can't prove otherwise on a Princess invoice.

 

Something really needs to be done about it IMO so TAs are protected when these situations come up and can prove to their clients that they did the correct steps per the passenger's orders. Thank God I've never had this happen and I always document everything, but for agents that aren't quite as meticulous, it can put them in a real predicament.

 

I do not believe you get to put conditions on upgrades. You either make yourself eligible for upgrades, in which case you may get one, or you do not.

[thyme2go]

If they refilled the room with a family (no upgrade stated) then Princess is still stuck in the same predicament. Moving out a family and now dealing with another family they can't move together either. Not saying it's okay.......just giving a possible explanation of what is going on behind the scenes.

[Renmar]

I hope this might help.

Complaint Department Number: 800-PRINCESS (800-774-6237)

Complaint Department Email: customerrelations@princesscruises.com

Executive: Alan Buckelew, President & CEO

Corporate Address: 24844 Avenue Rockefeller, Santa Clarita, CA 91355

Corporate Phone Number: (661) 753-0000

Corporate Fax: (661) 359-3108

abuckelew@princesscruises.com

abuckelew@princess.com I found two E-mail address on CC for Princess CEO Alan Buckelew. (if he is still the CEO)

A nice E-mail to the CEO might help.

 

As far as I know Mr. Buckelew is now the EX CEO.

 

 

Theo

[Debe7ing]

would the TA or princess know what would be cut off for tender locations

 

Not sure about that...but I DO know once we made it clear that this family was stuck between two muster stations they quickly rectified it by a swap out. Obviously, there was no need and we were fine...but just for headcount and availability, we needed to make it known that NONE of us were leaving if we could not verify by having the rest of the family with us on the same muster station should the need arise. The crew did their magic, and it was all a distant memory as we enjoyed one of the best cruises we ever took!