What recourse do I have?

[shredie]

This just occurred to me: if the OP can post this from the ship, can't he also use the Internet to email the airline? I guess he didn't think of that. He would have an electronic record of contacting them, and he wouldn't have the noise issues of the desk phone.

This cruise was 14 days of my life and thousands of dollars that are always going to be a very bad memory to my wife and I. Once we get onshore and have access to the internet, I will be posting this long sad story on social media and sending it to the CEO of Princess. I will be demanding a refund because Princess completely failed to provide the services we have come to expect and paid for.

Edited July 30, 2015 by shredie

[WatchHill]

OP had issues with accessing particular services due to a disability. Prior to the cruise, at least 30 days before, OP should have taken the responsibility to contact the Princess Access Desk and request a telephone amplifier and as infrared listening system for the theatre. Princess offers many services for their passengers - all one has to do is request and re-confirm prior to a cruise. If OP's hearing is severe enough to require an ASL interpreter, one will be provided. But this is OP's responsibility - the current personnel on the ship are not mind readers who would be aware of his/her needs.

 

As far as missing or lost luggage - duh, how does anyone not pack a few things in their carry-on case, especially traveling across the pond? In addition, that's what travel insurance is all about. The fact that OP booked air through Princess does not oblige the cruise line to take responsibility for missing luggage - all cruise lines do air as a convenience to its customers. Providing an update of one's travel plans so that missing luggage could catch up with them, is something an air passenger must do within a few hours of landing.

 

Plumbing issues have happened to many of us and yes, it does dampen one's cruise is it continues beyond a few hours.

 

Too many over-the-top issues and overly emotional reaction to each in the OP. I've had issues on some cruises, but take the time to calm down, document everything myself, pictures are beneficial, and when home, write a coherent, factual letter that balances serious concerns with positive comments and never demand anything in return. Taking that approach works every time!!

 

Darcy

[elliair]

What ship? What cruise?

 

Is this serious? If so, it really, really needs to be cleaned up before sending it to the CEO. It is a rambling mess and by the time I got to the end of it I was thinking that maybe it was just a parody of every unhappy poster I have ever read on cruise critic. tea bags, really?

 

I agree, he lost my sympathy for him and his wife after the first two paragraphs. If he thinks he's going to get is money back from Princess, he isn't. If he had trip insurance, the lost luggage is covered and any clothing they had to buy. Lost luggage is not Princess' fault, it's the airlines. Furthermore, he had an extra T-shirt that he was going to give away, yet he had no additional clothing he claimed. Some things don't add up and I'm not going to wade through it all over again. Ranting doesn't get you any where.

[TwoCruisers]

I’m a little confused about the OP choosing a screen name of “unhappytoo” when they joined 3 and one half years ago. This is their first post. I can see them choosing this name if they had a complaint at the time of joining, but they didn’t post anything until this very angry post. I hope they haven’t been unhappy for 3-1/2 years!:confused:

[ggprincess2004]

Lost luggage - yes it happened to us on our second cruise, the one we were to be married on during the first sea day. Well, we did what we were supposed to do. We let the Princess rep at the baggage claim area at the airport know about it and put in a claim with the airline. We were not alone....there were about 35 people that we knew of whose luggage did not make the ship. By the time we got to the ship we were relieved to be there. The passenger services desk could not have been kinder, the onboard wedding coordinator and captain could not have been nicer. We were told the first full day of the cruise (first sea day) our luggage would meet us at the first port - the next day.

 

We were told that we had lots of choices about the wedding - continue as planned and Princess would give us formal attire gratis, or Captain et al would pose for photos later when luggage arrived, or wait until next sea day to get married, whatever we would like. Having been awake for 28 hours when given all those options, I just looked at my mother (our entire groups luggage missed the ship) and she said - Wait. Clearly she wanted to wear her mother of the bride emsemble. ;)

 

DH and I had packed our carry-ons defensively and I still do to this day. Easy care casual, easy care formal enough to get by, et al, but mom and dad didn't want to drag heavy carryons through airports when making connections (and therein lies the reason for the missing luggage - weather delays upon weather delays, Princess booked our flights) so they were in a bit of trouble, but Princess offered them gratis same day laundry and sent them boutique shopping too. We had Princess travel insurance and I am not sure if that made a difference, I was too tired to notice for a few days, and by then we had our luggage.

 

OK, hang in there with me - from this we learned to make sure to fly in at least a day ahead, and to continue our defensive carry on packing practices. Cross packing our checked luggage is way too much of an effort, sorry to say. I know we should but DH packs his own bag and I do the same.

 

 

So none of the above was the fault of Princess and yet they rose to the occasion and did as much as they could for us. Quite different from the treatment the OP apparently reports.

 

Have we experienced challenges with the plumbing while onboard? Yes....sometimes there is a (significant) delay in the toilet evacuating. A few times we've seen rusty water - so we just run it until we get clear water again. Has Princess been responsive to our issues on board? Well, yes, reasonably so. So reasonably that we have written notes and letters of thanks for their handling of situations. Have they ever not been responsive? Not that I can recall.

 

And then having Adam Gorst as Hotel General Manager - he is wonderful. I have nothing but good things to say about the job he does, and the courtesy with which he treats passengers. We look forward to sailing with him. Really.

 

We've spent well over a year on board Princess ships (would that is was over two years by now, but we are working on it) and can honestly say that we've only been really ticked off about some things while sailing Sea Princess in Alaska, and it had to do with the attitude of the Maitre'd and his staff and lack of an elite lounge more than anything else. I suppose part of it was also the array of public areas on the ship that didn't lend themselves to some things, and do I even remember who the maître d' was? Nope. Have we sailed Princess again - again and again.

 

Tea bags, I drink English Breakfast Tea also, and I haven't had a problem finding it on board. Ever.

 

Maybe cruising is just not something the OP should attempt again, at least until he changes his CC name.

[greenie082756]

So sorry you had such a terrible experience.

 

One of the things that we do is we pack two sets of clothing on our carry on just in case we loose our luggage. Did you have a carry on bag?

 

I am just starting to have issues with my hearing as well so I do empathize with so much noise and not understanding what is going on.

 

Your entry so far is quite long and minute by minute.

What ship were you on? Where did you go? How long was your cruise? These pieces of information are missing.

 

Yes, we have had a toilet back up on our last cruise on the Ruby. Our steward and the one working the next section of cabins immediately

came when we told them our toilet was backing up. We left our cabin and when we came back 2 hours later is was fixed. Yes it does happen.

 

What I wonder is why isn't there a hearing impaired person on the ship? Or is there? Just wondering... :confused:

 

I can understand about being frustrated that you are not getting the response about your missing luggage. You wanted to be acknowledge for this issue. I will bet there were several other passengers with the same issue.

 

It does sound like things just didn't go you way and you kept having road blocks. :(

Good luck in getting your issues resolved.

[AF-1]

I don't get this post. OP joined in 2012 and this is the first post. They never mention when and where they went; for all we know this trip could have been last week or last year. Why just one post and no reply to their own thread? I don't get it

[ORB]

It's true I've had toilets stop up, but I've certainly never been required to stay in the room for the service people to come fix them. The service people usually don't NEED to be in your room; all the clean-outs are accessible from the hallway.

 

If our toilet was plugged and we needed to go, we'd use one of the public rooms just like we do when we're 7 decks away from our stateroom.

 

I'm about to go on my second Princess cruise (not soon enough, but soon). You can see from the cruise history in my signature that Princess probably isn't my very favoritest line ever, but there are things here which seem to have been gilded a bit with the hope of getting refund/new cruise/whatever.

 

Perhaps someone more acquainted with the ways of CC can tell me: is it possible to change your screen name? and would that then reset your post count? The biggest red flag to me is that he has been on CC since 2012, but this is his first post--and his screen name seems chosen to reflect the experience on this cruise. On most of the bulletin boards I frequent, that would raise a big collective eyebrow. It's the ONLY thing that makes me wonder about the OPs veracity--I've met people on ships before who don't seem to be having the same cruise I am.

[mek]

Okay, so I will add "read all case law regarding cruising" to my to-do list before I leave for Alaska.

 

I didn't realize I needed to go to law school before I went on vacation. :roll eyes:

 

No, but if I had a disability or special need, I would make sure I understood what is and isn't provided by the cruise line before I booked the trip.

 

Only once have I been on a cruise where a person stood at the front of the stage during performances and signed for a group of people seated together.

[fishywood]

I’m a little confused about the OP choosing a screen name of “unhappytoo” when they joined 3 and one half years ago. This is their first post. I can see them choosing this name if they had a complaint at the time of joining, but they didn’t post anything until this very angry post. I hope they haven’t been unhappy for 3-1/2 years!:confused:

 

My guess is they opened their account three years ago to make similar posts all of which ended up deleted by our hosts. Which this one will be shortly given the starred-out obscenity and using a crew member's full name solely to deride them.

 

I hope the OP understands that if they follow through with their "threat" to forward this treatise to Princess social media and Princess corporate verbatim with the S-bomb intact not only will their complaint be ignored but they will at the least be blocked from Princess' facebook, e-mail and other media accounts--if not totally banned from coming back new ever again.

Edited July 30, 2015 by fishywood

[toberman]

So many things about the OP's post make me suspicious.

 

- He posted today as if he was still on the ship, but makes several mentions of dates (eg. tonight July 9). But I've concluded that he wrote this essay while on the ship and just posted today.

 

- 1st formal night clothes didn't fit, 2nd never got them. 14 day cruise should have been 4 formal nights.

 

- Virgin told him to have ship contact them daily with location so they could ship lost luggage to proper location.. therefore Virgin lost the luggage. But.. Crew member found one bag and had it delivered.

 

- In Copenhagen taxi only brought 1 of the 2 lost bags.. but he already had one from a crew member.

 

- Princess would not contact Virgin, but he could stand at Customer Service and make calls, just not from his cabin. Actually, the crew member was allowed to call Virgin when CS wouldn't.

 

There's more, but a lot of things just don't add up.

 

Forgot to mention - OP has been a CC member since 2012, but 1st post??

Edited July 30, 2015 by toberman

[maiseric]

I don't get this post. OP joined in 2012 and this is the first post. They never mention when and where they went; for all we know this trip could have been last week or last year. Why just one post and no reply to their own thread? I don't get it

 

I am guessing it was the same cruise as ours. Carribean Princess, Baltics this year. He mentions St Petersburg and I reconise the names of staff.

[Jetswdo]

First, I kind of agree with the poster who showed some empathy to the o.p.--

I too have noticed that often if a poster writes something in a less positive light, the responses are kind of mean, at times, and I think unfair.

 

That being said: it is unclear whether or not there was any kind of trip insurance involved--I think that could have made a big difference involving the lost luggage. (I had an annoying situation with Celebrity recently, regarding misplaced luggage) But, if the o.p. are experienced cruises like what was said, then why wouldn't the couple have had a roll on type bag with the essentials? I found that odd.

 

Overall, I have had good experiences with Princess, but have found service inconsistent, depending on the ship--even sailing dates can make a difference.

Apparently, the op, needed a ship that was more attentive to his hearing needs-

But then again, I would have made an attempt to find out what accessability would be available on the sailing.

As far as op complaining about paying top dollar--I'm sure for the agravation that they experienced, they did see their money going "down the drain"---

We have had minor plumbing problems on a couple of sailings- but we certainly didn't sit inside the cabin waiting for the repair. Couldn't they have showered, etc. in the ship spa?

 

Some people should not go on cruises at all, on land, you can check out of one hotel and go into another- I think that to enjoy cruising, you need to be flexible with situations and just go with it- focusing on the positives, rather than the negatives--- JMHO

[srpilo]

OP had issues with accessing particular services due to a disability. Prior to the cruise, at least 30 days before, OP should have taken the responsibility to contact the Princess Access Desk and request a telephone amplifier and as infrared listening system for the theatre. Princess offers many services for their passengers - all one has to do is request and re-confirm prior to a cruise. If OP's hearing is severe enough to require an ASL interpreter, one will be provided. But this is OP's responsibility - the current personnel on the ship are not mind readers who would be aware of his/her needs

 

As far as missing or lost luggage - duh, how does anyone not pack a few things in their carry-on case, especially traveling across the pond? In addition, that's what travel insurance is all about. The fact that OP booked air through Princess does not oblige the cruise line to take responsibility for missing luggage - all cruise lines do air as a convenience to its customers. Providing an update of one's travel plans so that missing luggage could catch up with them, is something an air passenger must do within a few hours of landing.

 

Plumbing issues have happened to many of us and yes, it does dampen one's cruise is it continues beyond a few hours.

 

Too many over-the-top issues and overly emotional reaction to each in the OP. I've had issues on some cruises, but take the time to calm down, document everything myself, pictures are beneficial, and when home, write a coherent, factual letter that balances serious concerns with positive comments and never demand anything in return. Taking that approach works every time!!

 

Darcy

 

+1

 

 

Good take IMO

Srpilo

Edited July 30, 2015 by srpilo

[MJSailors]

IMHO- the post by ggprincess2004 had some good points about personal responsibility when travelling on a cruise.

We also pack two carry on bags with changes of clothes to cover several days if our suitcases are lost.

We get to the embarkation port a day or two early to cover any circumstances that may impact negatively on the cruise vacation.

We always purchase travel insurance.

We use an credit card that gives addition protection for lost luggage.

If we were to use Princess transfers from the airport to the ship or hotel,we would act proactively and check with the Princess rep that our luggage been picked up and put on the Princess transport.

However,we usually transport ourselves from airport to pre-cruise hotel,so we would know first hand if the luggage was lost.

We keep our passports up to date,eliminating last minute concerns over expired passports.

For us, travel is supposed to be a relaxing change of pace.

We do a lot of homework ,making sure that the t is crossed and the I dotted.

Work ahead of time can solve possible problems ahead. This works for us,as we have had very little problems in our travels over the past thirty-five years.

Have we had some difficulties? Of course! But,nothing that spoiled a trip for us.

When we have had some concerns while travelling,we dealt with them the best way we could and moved on with the trip.

We always deal with business people in a calm, respectful manner.

As my mother taught me-"You can catch more flies with honey than you can with vinegar.".

It seems to me that personal responsibility and a respectful outlook can get you far when you travel and in life.

[minniem]

This sounds like a case of "everything that could go wrong, did" How awful for the people involved. I know I book a cruise a year in advance, save money to pay for it and anticipate the cruise with a lot of excitement. If all those horrible thing happened to me I would have been devastated.

 

I hope the poster gets to go on another cruise and I hope this time it is wonderful.

[miagirl]

.....Perhaps the shipping line can be sued......

 

I have to say that any sympathy I might have had for the OP left the building when I got to the "sued" part.

[wanderlust79]

We always deal with business people in a calm, respectful manner.

As my mother taught me-"You can catch more flies with honey than you can with vinegar.".

It seems to me that personal responsibility and a respectful outlook can get you far when you travel and in life.

 

This phrase has been in my head the whole time I've been reading this thread. Having problems on vacation is awful, but having a poor attitude won't fix it, won't make you feel better, and won't make people want to help you!

[luvseaside]

IMHO- the post by ggprincess2004 had some good points about personal responsibility when travelling on a cruise.

We also pack two carry on bags with changes of clothes to cover several days if our suitcases are lost.

We get to the embarkation port a day or two early to cover any circumstances that may impact negatively on the cruise vacation.

We always purchase travel insurance.

We use an credit card that gives addition protection for lost luggage.

If we were to use Princess transfers from the airport to the ship or hotel,we would act proactively and check with the Princess rep that our luggage been picked up and put on the Princess transport.

However,we usually transport ourselves from airport to pre-cruise hotel,so we would know first hand if the luggage was lost.

We keep our passports up to date,eliminating last minute concerns over expired passports.

For us, travel is supposed to be a relaxing change of pace.

We do a lot of homework ,making sure that the t is crossed and the I dotted.

Work ahead of time can solve possible problems ahead. This works for us,as we have had very little problems in our travels over the past thirty-five years.

Have we had some difficulties? Of course! But,nothing that spoiled a trip for us.

When we have had some concerns while travelling,we dealt with them the best way we could and moved on with the trip.

We always deal with business people in a calm, respectful manner.

As my mother taught me-"You can catch more flies with honey than you can with vinegar.".

It seems to me that personal responsibility and a respectful outlook can get you far when you travel and in life.

 

Could not have said that better! When it comes to costly vacations involving multiple modes of transport, the motto should always be "Hope the best, but plan for the worst," and you can keep unpleasant situations from reaching disastrous proportions. Always pack necessaries in carryon.

 

I have a friend who never plans his trips, and usually he comes home whining that he ate horrible food because he didn't do any research of the city. Flew with him once, and I knew before we got there that our flight was delayed and we'd miss our connection. Desk agent was not volunteering that info, and if it hadn't been for me pointing out (nicely) to her that we'd miss our connection, he would have gotten on delayed flight and been stuck in ATL overnight. Instead she put us on another airline, and we were early! He was clueless & a deer in headlights the whole time. :rolleyes:

 

I'm truly not trying to be condescending, and thankfully have never had a major glitch in travel. I'm sorry for those who have. Some things cannot be helped, but it sounds like some of the OP's troubles could have been avoided.

[iceleven]

The OP wrote - "I explained to her that her job was to track down my luggage via the air lines since this airlines was the one that Princess made me chose, in order to assure me that if there was a travel problem, I would be made whole and I would be put onto my cruise."

 

How should this be interpreted? To me, this means he had a contract with Princess to provide his air travel. Doesn't Princess have extended responsibility under these circumstances? Yes, it is the airline's responsibility to get the luggage to him but I would think Princess would be partly responsible, at least making a stronger effort than what was described by the OP.

[notentirelynormal]

This cruise was 14 days of my life and thousands of dollars that are always going to be a very bad memory to my wife and I. Once we get onshore and have access to the internet, I will be posting this long sad story on social media and sending it to the CEO of Princess. I will be demanding a refund because Princess completely failed to provide the services we have come to expect and paid for.

 

How are you posting this now?

 

Princess Cruise was a disaster. We had nothing but constant problems during the cruise which only one member attempted to remediate. The plumbing on the ship was totally ****, with our bathroom constantly getting a plugged toilet and stopped up shower drain. Each day that this happened we had to call and wait for a member of maintenance to arrive to allow us to either use the toilet or the shower. The crew obviously resented having to come every day since we had to wait over two hours for someone to come clear the problem one day. Repeated calls to the front desk were answered with "someone is coming"

Yes, coming two hours later.

 

In the future you should know that their are public toilets and I hear there are showers in the gym. While not the best solution at least you could have used the facilities instead of having to wait two hours for it to be your turn to be serviced.

 

We were forced to wash our clothes in the sink every day since our luggage was missing, and since we couldn't send it to the ship's laundry and wait two days for it to come back to us , as we would have been naked waiting for it.

 

I feel for you here. We too had the airlines lose our luggage and my daughter only had the clothes on her back. However, you could easily have bought another pair of pants and t-shirt and I can almost guarantee you that the ship would have comped you.

 

This was another problem as one day the ship had an issue with the water supply and all the water came through with rust. The rust stained our clothing which we were washing in the sink, including a brand new expensive set of light colored clothed, which we purchased at exorbitant prices on board. When I called the front desk to ask if they were aware of the water being rusty, I was told that they were aware of it and I was asked if my cabin had a shower or tub? (Are there any cabins without either a shower or tub?) When I said yes, his response was that I should run the water in the tub, with the stopper out " but don't run it over the top of the tub"? How ridiculous was that statement?

 

How could you not have seen the water coming out of the faucet as red/brown instead of clear. I mean you continued to wash in it otherwise your light colored clothes wouldn't have been ruined.

 

 

The cruise front desk personnel were completely incompetent in dealing with our issue of lost or delayed luggage. The first person (Richard Albertyn) we dealt with spoke limited english and couldn't understand us any more than we could understand him. We finally got the person to understand that our luggage was missing and all he wanted to do was generate a Princess cruise report. When we asked him to contact the airlines, his response was that they would contact us when they had something to report. I explained to him that the Virgin Atlantic Airlines representative had advised us to keep their office updated as to what Port AND what dock we would be located in each port of call, so that the luggage could be sent to the correct spot.

 

So, to be clear Virgin Atlantic lost your luggage. You went to a Princess personnel once on board to complain and he wanted to generate a report and that annoyed you. Why did you not complain to personnel at the airport. At that time you would have, of course left them a copy of your itinerary including the cruise ship name.

 

This became the main bone of contention with the front desk because they consistently refused to call the Airlines on a daily basis and ask about the current location of the bags and to advise them where we would be the next day. Since we were in a different port or at sea every single day, this issue became of extreme importance.

 

Again, why did you not complain to personnel at the airport. At that time you would have, of course, left them a copy of your itinerary including the cruise ship name and other pertinent information. You must have had a copy of your itinerary inside you suitcase as well, right? I am at a loss as to what exactly you thought the cruise personnel could have done for you by calling an airline asking where your luggage was. Do you think it is a conspiracy between the two to keep your luggage away from you? Seriously, you are nagging them every day and you don't think they want to find your luggage for you?

 

Because we had no clothes other than what we were wearing, we were told by the desk person that Princess would provide formal wear for us complimentary. The day of the first formal night we were waiting for the formal clothes and had called down to the desk ahead of time asking when we would get the formal wear. We had given our clothes sizes to the person at the desk previously. Our dining time was 1730 and at 1715 the front desk person came to our room with a hand full of clothes that were nowhere near the sizes we could wear. The shoes (we were told) only went up to a size 12 , so since I wear a 14, 12 was what was available. The shirt was a size which had sleeves which ended at about my elbows. The formal wear for my wife did not include any sort of blouse or top wear, other than a shawl. This was more of an insult than an attempt to complement us for lost luggage.

 

So you are ticked off that because Virgin Atlantic lost your luggage, Princess Cruises didn't have your exact size of shoes and clothes available to you.

 

We gave all of it back to the front desk representative and ate in the buffet. The second formal night we were supposed to get clothes for my wife and myself in the correct sizes but they never arrived either.

 

I have to tell you....12 day cruise and got our luggage on the 10th day of a Med cruise. We went to each and every dinner wearing t-shirts and jeans. Did we stand out, sure, but by the end of the cruise everyone knew we didn't have luggage. Instead of complaining we made the best of it. Trust me, we were on the original Pacific Princess and their clothing didn't consist of anything we could wear.

 

The scenario with me demanding Princess contact the Airlines and the front desk personnel refusing was repeated every day. The supervisor named Stella had helped us on one day by calling the airlines, and at that time I wrote out a Thank you on the forms provided for exceptional service. Unfortunately that was the last time she was helpful to us.

 

So you were demanding and you wonder why people didn't go out of your way to be nice to you?

 

We finally ended up in contact with Maria Jose Fiquor who was the supervisor in charge of luggage. She was also useless. At first she acted like she would assist us but after the first day of helping us, she started refusing to take our phone calls to the front desk. One day I called in the morning, and was told she was in a meeting but would call me back. Then a couple of hours later when I called the answer was she was helping some one else but would call us back. Then three hours later when I called again I was told she was in a meeting but would call me. Two hours after that I called yet again and was told she was helping some customers.

 

So you called the useless person who was only acting like she was helping you. Then she had the gall to be busy helping others when you wanted to talk to her. The nerve of her going to meetings and doing her job instead of being at your beck and call.

 

At that time I told the desk person that either she talked to me or someone higher in rank must talk to me since it was obvious she was refusing my calls. The person said she was unavailable so I responded to the front desk and demanded to see her. She came out from the office behind the desk and told me she was very busy, and my lost luggage was not the only problem she had to deal with.

 

The nerve of her not devoting her life to your lost luggage when you were demanding her to do so.

 

I explained to her that her job was to track down my luggage via the air lines since this airlines was the one that Princess made me chose, in order to assure me that if there was a travel problem, I would be made whole and I would be put onto my cruise. A loud and messy confrontation ensued at the front desk, with the result that she agreed to contact the airline daily and keep me updated. After that face to face meeting with Maria she called our cabin and said she was going to issue ship board credit for us. She put $75.00 on our account, the next day.

 

So you are now explaining to crew what their job is. You sound like a gem. Virgin Airlines had your luggage and they were the ones in charge. So you caused a scene and screamed at her and you wonder why she avoided you? Really?

 

Another issue bothering me, is the fact that I requested Maria Jose (the baggage manager) to maintain the details of whom was spoken with at Virgin each time a phone call was made, and what update they had given. When I requested the details to be provided to me on July 08th, I was told that no details were kept and nothing could be provided. Thus I have no way to document to Virgin Airlines that I made constant attempts to keep them updated as to my location and where to send the missing luggage. This was an epic fail on Princess's part as that information would have been very important to me.

 

So now you are not only telling crew members what their job is, you are telling them how to do it and when their deadline is.

 

The only person on this whole cruise who was of any assistance was the crew manager who was a young lady named Riette from South Africa. She had seen our obvious displeasure with the front desk and came to our assistance with getting the one bag delivered to us.

 

Seriously, do you really believe that the people you were yelling at every day didn't do their best to get you your luggage and the crew manager miraculously did. How exactly did she get this one suitcase to you and where was the rest of your luggage?

 

She was so nice and so helpful that the next day I sought her our to give her a small token of appreciation ( a tee shirt from my police department ) but when I went to the desk and asked to speak to her, I was told that I could not speak to her because she worked with the crew, and not passengers.

 

So, you just happened to have a t-shirt to give away and you really believe that she wanted a shirt from your police department? If she was a crew manager than she really shouldn't have been dealing with you in the first place so of course she was unavailable doing her job.

 

The person who told me this was a front desk person named Stella who was a supervisor. I was disappointed but couldn't do anything so we left. The next day, I again went to the front desk to inquire about the luggage and saw a gentleman in a White-Shirt behind the desk and I knew he was a rank above the usual personnel so I went to him and explained that I needed to have the desk people call the airlines but they kept refusing.

 

Pleases explain how you got one piece of luggage and not the rest?

 

He was named Vincent and his badge identified him as being in Administration. He directed StelIa to make the phone call, and she had no choice then, but to do as she was directed. I also explained that I wanted to see Riette but the desk personnel REFUSE to allow it. He apologized and said she would contact me. She did and she continued to help us by making phone calls to the airlines, that the desk people would not make.

Maybe if you hadn't been so rude they might have wanted to help you more get your luggage from Virgin Airlines.

 

Note that for a passenger in dire straits there is no way to contact a crew member above the rank of the front desk supervisor. This is completely unacceptable! If I could have sent an email to the captain or any sort of rank above the (incompetent) front desk, I am sure my problems would have been lessened or diminished.

 

I have never been on a cruise where senior officers have not been out and about. At the Welcome Aboard all officers are there. Special events or even the cruise director and staff who is everywhere could have helped you.

We finally were notified that our luggage was in Copenhagen airport and also told that since the company which delivers to the ship had left without our luggage, that we would have to pay a Taxi cab fare for our luggage to be brought to the ship , or take our chances on it being shipped to the next port of call and then delivered.

We chose to pay the fee which was $57.00 in US dollars, but when the taxi arrived it only had one of the two missing bags.

 

Didn't you already have one? You know, the one with the police t-shirt. Why would you expect Princess to pay the fee when it was Virgin Airlines that lost your luggage.

 

Another very big issue is the treatment we received as deaf people. Perhaps the shipping line can be sued for violation of the Americans with Disabilities Act or a similar law since they were completely unresponsive to my wife and my deafness.

 

Speaking as someone who is the aunt of a profoundly deaf nephew I disagree. If you had notified Princess in advance, as another poster said, you would have been given many allowances. We did not do this in advance but when the ship was notified through a casual conversation with an office we immediately were given a light for the door etc. My friend who is not totally deaf mentioned it in advance and was given a sign language person to stay with her on the cruise.

 

Is your deafness the reason you kept yelling at people?

 

The ship has absolutely no respect for the hearing disabled passengers. We were required to communicate with the airlines via a phone at the front desk where a live band was playing alongside us. We requested to either use the telephone in an office or in our room, but we were told if we used the phone in our room to speak to the airline, we would pay for the telephone call. This went on EVERY day until finally on July 6 after my loud confrontation with Maria Jose, when we were finally put through to the airline on the phone in our room, one time.

 

Exactly what respect did you pay to the crew? Did you really expect the band to quit playing so you could make a phone call. Were the rest of the passengers enjoying the band supposed to wait while you uselessly called the airlines. EVERY DAY.

 

The television has no closed captioning on most channels and shows, so we could catch perhaps three shows in eleven days that were close caption and therefore understandable to us. The live shows were the same problem, no provision for hearing impaired to access any sort of device to enable enhanced hearing of the show.

 

If you've been on a cruise before, why exactly didn't you know about the lack of close captioning on ships? The live shows do have provisions but the crew aren't mind readers. You have to ask.

 

There is no provision for providing feedback on tours sold through Princess. We went on a Canal and river cruise tour in Russia (St. Petersburgh) that was a total dog, but there is no way to indicate how bad this tour was. The boat was a rust bucket and we were told we could either sit inside or on the top of the deck. We went down stairs to sit there and found there were absolutely no chairs! The chairs (which were rickety old dining room furniture) were all placed on the top deck for seating. The other boats we saw, had blankets for the cold spray, real seating, and genuine glassware for the champagne. We had plastic cups that could barely hold the beverage and chairs that were falling apart. We also had the wooden gangway plank leaning on our seating area during the cruse. If we had the ability, we would warn potential customers to avoid this excursion since it was not worth the money in any respect. By contrast a tour we went on the previous day was well worth the money and we would have recommended that excursion to prospective purchasers.

 

This is 100% no true. Just go down to the shore excursion desk.

 

Here is another example of aggravation I experienced. The magnetic key card which opens the cabin door deactivated 7 separate times during the voyage. After it happened the first time I paid particular attention to how I handled the key and made sure it didn't get near anything that would deactivate it. That was my bad luck with the key card, and my wife had her card fail and need to be replaced three times.

Seems like a minor detail but why should we need to make 10 trips in ten days to the front desk and stand on line in order to get a new key to get into our cabin? There are still two days of voyage left and undoubtedly the keys will fail again. Perhaps it is our door lock and perhaps it is something that maintenance could fix but nobody ever checked that although I repeatedly told the desk people of the continuing problem.

 

The last hotel I stayed in I went to the desk 5 times just to get in the door for the first time. Really annoying. Ship happens and it happens all the time with magnetic cards.

 

Here is another example of some of the frustrating things on the ship. Tonight (July 9) the Princess Patter has a front page article about the Customer Services Director, Johannes de Villiers.

The article goes on about how his job to ensure good service etc etc, and how the passengers should contact him, but there is no method to get ahold of him. There is no email, No phone extension, no method of any manner to contact him. Using the onboard internet resulted in a message of " pick one recipient" and no way to email or messenger him.

This just added to the frustration when you advertise to contact him and provide no means to do so. I just finally called the front desk asking how to contact him and I got five minutes of "what do I need to speak to him about?" I persisted and finally got the answer that he could call me the next day from 0800 to 1200. The front desk personnel were obviously in panic mode and told the supervisor, Stella, that I wanted to talk to the person in charge of customer relations. She called me back and wanted to know why I wanted to talk to him? I told her because I wanted him to know how terrible the cruise has been and how the desk personnel have been unresponsive. She advised that she would ask him to call me, but she was obviously upset.

 

Maybe he was avoiding you because you had been so nasty to everyone else. Would you have gone the extra step for you?

 

Another issue has been the quality and taste of the food and the ridiculous. lack of tea bags.

 

Food is subjective. Eight people could eat the same food and you would get eight different opinions.

 

We have been on numerous Princess Cruises and on every other one of them the food was much much better. That could just be a difference in accommodating food tastes for more European customers, but the Tea Bag issue was infuriating.

My wife drinks only English Breakfast tea but there was only a very limited supply of these tea bags available everyday. We would have to go from the drink station in one dining room to another to another searching for a tea bag. We asked the crew members where the tea was, or if they would get us one of these particular tea bags and we were told that the ship would only put out a certain limited number of these tea bags each day. It wasn't that they were out of them but rather that they chose to only distribute a small number each day, and if you were looking for English Breakfast Tea after that number was depleted you had to do without it.

 

If your wife wants English Breakfast tea and refuses to drink anything else then she should bring her own. How important do you think you are that the cruise lines should provide your brand in case you sail with them. If she saw the tea bags, why didn't you simply take more so you would have them for later?

 

One day my wife was ill from the stress of all these constant problems and we had to miss one of our excursions as she sat in our cabin. I went to get her a cup of tea and I literally went to four different drink stations before locating one of these elusive tea bags. This is not appropriate when I am paying top dollar for a cruise.

 

She missed an excursion because Virgin Airlines lost your luggage, Princess refused to personally attack Virgin Airlines in the fashion you wanted, you didn't want to poop somewhere besides your cabin and holy moly they didn't have enough of your brand of tea. Wow!

 

Copies printed and submitted to

Captain Nick Nash

Customer Services Director Johannes De Villiers

Hotel general manager Adam Gorst

 

I wish you luck getting money from the cruise line.

[Pam in CA]

It's true I've had toilets stop up, but I've certainly never been required to stay in the room for the service people to come fix them. The service people usually don't NEED to be in your room; all the clean-outs are accessible from the hallway.

You never have to be in the cabin or wait for maintenance to fix anything in your cabin. That's a personal choice. As ORB says, access to your bathroom plumbing is through an access door in the hallway. Bet you never noticed or paid attention. :) Your steward can also assist you and report any problems.

 

There was nothing stopping the OP from using either the phone in his cabin or his cell phone to call the airline to track his luggage. Princess will help but it's not their responsibility to pursue, locate or ship your luggage. That's the airline's responsibility.

 

Like others, I've had plumbing issues on ships. One time, on the Crown, I literally didn't have a working toilet for eight days of a 10-day cruise. They'd clear it out while I was off the ship but it would stop working after one flush. Both my steward and I both reported it multiple times a day, including in person at the Passenger Services Desk. Finally, I was talking to the Captain's Circle Hostess and mentioned my frustration. She was horrified, made a call and half an hour later, the vacuum pump for my cabin had been replaced. When I got home, I wrote to the Princess CEO detailing the issue and giving specific names of who I'd talked to. No refund but I was given a very nice credit for the inconvenience.

 

To answer a question, if you want your CC name changed, just contact CC with the new name and reason for changing.

[shredie]

notentirelynormal: Your answers to OP are priceless. :)

[Astro Flyer]

As you say yourself, you are foreign to CC. Perhaps you haven't been here long or often enough to recognize a type of complaint designed to get money from the company (in this case, a refund.) There is a pattern of first-time posters delivering long complaints and then demanding some form of compensation for their grief. Possibly this poster has legitimate concerns, but there are inconsistencies in the story that make it suspect. Yes, this is a board for asking advice, but I didn't see the OP doing that, only saying he needs money for his trouble.

Based on my experience that happens frequently & is a result of the word Critic in the name of this forum. ;)

 

Everyone would be upset with a backed up toilet & luggage that an airline misplaced. However each of us decides how to react to these unpleasant situations & I would do some things differently.

 

As others have posted, ship's waste systems are prone to experiencing problems which many times are caused by careless passengers putting banned items in the toilet. And when it happens repeatedly, I think anyone would be upset.

 

However a lot of his complaint centers on the PSD & their lost luggage. Why Virgin said to contact them daily to update the ship's location makes no sense to me. All they needed was the ship's itinerary & it's Virgin's responsibility to get the luggage to the OP. Sure Princess could assist but from the beginning the OP said the PSD was incompetent and he frequently states that he demanded what should be done. And when he didn't get his way then a loud & messy confrontation ensued at the front desk. I think he was being unreasonable to demand they call Virgin daily to give the ship's location unless the itinerary was changed & when not getting his way to get into a loud & messy confrontation...it's no wonder that no one wanted to deal with him. Staff is there to help with reasonable requests & if unhappy with their response then go up the chain of command to seek a solution. I understand the OP's frustration however he doesn't understand that it's unreasonable to demand that the ship call Virgin daily without any change in the ship's itinerary.

 

Misdirected luggage is the reason I place a tag on my luggage that can be opened to help facilitate getting them to us during any trip.

 

No way to provide opinions about a tour? How about the Tour Desk?

 

A lack of their one & only type of teabag his wife would drink? Too many times I read about passengers hoarding their favorite items resulting in things not being readily available to other passengers.

 

Good luck to the OP with their demand for a refund & posting it on social media is an attempt to coerce Princess to refund their cruise fare. It would have been better to deal directly with Princess & then if not satisfied to share their experiences. To first squawk here & on other social media sites appears to be an effort to coerce Princess to give them back their money.

 

I have empathy for the OP's situation however it's hard to be completely sympathetic to their unreasonable demands to contact Virgin daily. There are always 2 sides to any dispute & all we're getting is a one sided rant from a very upset passenger...a passenger who is demanding a refund. :(

 

I disagree with the point that posting different opinions than the OP's are based on loyalty to Princess. I would feel the same way on any cruise line & it's unreasonable to expect everyone will agree with anyone's opinions. So if someone posts to solely get reassurance that they're correct...that's not going to happen.

Edited July 30, 2015 by Astro Flyer

[RDC1]

So many things about the OP's post make me suspicious.

 

- He posted today as if he was still on the ship, but makes several mentions of dates (eg. tonight July 9). But I've concluded that he wrote this essay while on the ship and just posted today.

 

- 1st formal night clothes didn't fit, 2nd never got them. 14 day cruise should have been 4 formal nights.

 

- Virgin told him to have ship contact them daily with location so they could ship lost luggage to proper location.. therefore Virgin lost the luggage. But.. Crew member found one bag and had it delivered.

 

- In Copenhagen taxi only brought 1 of the 2 lost bags.. but he already had one from a crew member.

 

- Princess would not contact Virgin, but he could stand at Customer Service and make calls, just not from his cabin. Actually, the crew member was allowed to call Virgin when CS wouldn't.

 

There's more, but a lot of things just don't add up.

 

Forgot to mention - OP has been a CC member since 2012, but 1st post??

 

I read it a bit differently. I read it that they finally got a call from Virgin that there luggage had been found, but that they would need to pay a taxi to have it brought out to the port. Then when it arrived and the crew member gave it to them, only one of the two bags had arrived.