Princess knowledge of their own product

[Colo Cruiser]

Hello Astro Flyer, myfuzzy here from the Royal last year.

 

I guess I didn't dig deep enough in the threads to find information regarding the inconsistencies in the Princess brand. This just came to mind because I had been reading other current threads and was wondering how service and knowledge of the Princess product is progressing or is it regressing. I know customer service at times is very frustrating on both ends, as I am a customer service manager for over 40 years. I am trained to NEVER say "no" to the customer, but how can I say "yes" and achieve over the top customer service. That's by knowing my product, keep asking questions to my superiors, and if a question comes about....find someone who knows the answer and let that customer know that you ARE working for them.

 

Yes but even some superiors don't know. :cool:

[myfuzzy]

Yes but even some superiors don't know. :cool:

 

my problem is that I keep going UP the corporate ladder to find that person who implemented the sale or procedure I need an answer for. But I know, nobody takes initiative anymore

[Astro Flyer]

Hello Astro Flyer, myfuzzy here from the Royal last year.

 

I guess I didn't dig deep enough in the threads to find information regarding the inconsistencies in the Princess brand. This just came to mind because I had been reading other current threads and was wondering how service and knowledge of the Princess product is progressing or is it regressing. I know customer service at times is very frustrating on both ends, as I am a customer service manager for over 40 years. I am trained to NEVER say "no" to the customer, but how can I say "yes" and achieve over the top customer service. That's by knowing my product, keep asking questions to my superiors, and if a question comes about....find someone who knows the answer and let that customer know that you ARE working for them.

Hi Grace & see that you're joining the regulars on the NYC/FLL repositioning cruises again but we're cruising close to home. :)

 

I appreciate sharing your customer service experience & wish you were working for companies that I call. It's not all bad experiences but I really appreciate a CSR who is knowledgeable & can explain why some things are impossible to do.

 

You have a 40+ year career as a CSR but doubt if many of the CSRs at Princess or other companies will be anywhere that long. Some of them are home based which would be good for the employee. Every Princess CSR that I've talked to will contact upper level personnel when they are unable to provide an answer. Guess I'm lucky because not everyone has the same experience.

 

You know better than me that some people routinely get upset if they don't get their way & yell at the CSR. The way I figure it most of the CSRs are just trying to help us & they can only do so much. Even upper level personnel are limited by company policy as to what they can do.

 

Thanks for sharing your experiences & have a great cruise. :)

[myfuzzy]

Hi Grace & see that you're joining the regulars on the NYC/FLL repositioning cruises again but we're cruising close to home. :)

 

I appreciate sharing your customer service experience & wish you were working for companies that I call. It's not all bad experiences but I really appreciate a CSR who is knowledgeable & can explain why some things are impossible to do.

 

You have a 40+ year career as a CSR but doubt if many of the CSRs at Princess or other companies will be anywhere that long. Some of them are home based which would be good for the employee. Every Princess CSR that I've talked to will contact upper level personnel when they are unable to provide an answer. Guess I'm lucky because not everyone has the same experience.

 

You know better than me that some people routinely get upset if they don't get their way & yell at the CSR. The way I figure it most of the CSRs are just trying to help us & they can only do so much. Even upper level personnel are limited by company policy as to what they can do.

 

Thanks for sharing your experiences & have a great cruise. :)

 

 

When I come across an issue, that I feel can be improved, I bring it to the attention of the proper person, let them know how its lacking and how it can be improved going forward. "yelling" at any CSR will get you nowhere because they ARE doing what they are told and unfortunately if initiative was taken, that CSR will be called on it. Shame. Better to ask the name of the person who would better help you by position or department in question. Start by being nice and get nicer....you may reap rewards you never expected.

 

Thanks so much.....you as well!!

Edited August 27, 2015 by myfuzzy

[SoCal Cruiser78]

Poor training and terrible corporate communication are Princess hallmarks...

 

There is, unfortunately, a wide variety of onboard experience among Princess phone reps as well. One I spoke with had never been on a ship, with the exception of a brief BVE-type lunch for new hires. Another said she was Elite before working for Princess. I'm sure the apparent inconsistency in training and shipboard knowledge is frustrating for the reps, too, when they are dealing with passengers who know more than they do :(.

[GUT2407]

I think Princess is actually better at giving you correct information than any other line I've dealt with, but then I ave a direct contact with them who seems to cruise a couple of times a year. And said he was a regular princess cruiser before joining the company.

 

That must help.

[caribill]

As others have stated, inconsistent or inaccurate answers are not limited to Princess.

 

Consider this online dialog with another company:

 

[scott] Hello, my name is Scott, and I’m happy to assist you with your inquiry.

 

[carbill] The web site description of Shanghai is different for one direction and the other. Beijing to China

This morning, see Old Shanghai and travel along the elegant Bund, stopping to admire some of its historic buildings and city views. Then tour the Shanghai Museum, featuring displays of ceramics, bronzes, calligraphy and paintings. After lunch, we spend some time at the exquisite Yuyuan Garden, dating back to the Ming Dynasty.

 

 

Shanghai to Beijing

This morning, tour Old Shanghai and travel along the elegant Bund, stopping to admire some of its historic buildings and city views. After lunch in a local restaurant, tour the Shanghai Museum.

 

Is The Yu Gardens not on the Shanghai to Beijing itinerary?

 

[scott] Let me take a look for you

 

[scott] I do see the Yu Gardens are only available from the Beijing to Shanghai direction

 

[carbill] Are you confirming that or just looking at the descriptions?

 

[scott] I am reading it on the detailed day to day itinerary.

 

[scott] I have also done the tour myself

 

[carbill] When we went on the tour (S to B) we went to the Yu Gardens in the morning before going to the Bund. If the Yu Gardens have been eliminated in that direction, it is a big loss. Better to have eliminated the visit to the Bund.

 

[SCott] I am going to also check with product to see why this was removed as a tour.

 

[carbill] Thanks. Should I wait for an answer here or will you e-mail the answer to me?

 

[scott] I will get an answer for you and email you. Here is my email as well xxxx@yyy.zzz

 

Several days later Scott communicated that the online description was not correct and it would be fixed. At least there was the promised followup.

[myfuzzy]

A little progress is better than no progress at all!

 

I have had similar conversations. Most of my "frustration" is from those "sales" that are offered to you. When you call, after the "I will be happy to assist you" ask them about the "sale" brochure or email you received....you will get dead air.....that's because they have multiple "sales" going on at once and they are so confusing to the agent, they actually have no clue on whats going on. Then its "let me put you on hold, so I can CALL Princess". Then five minutes later he/she comes back on and tells me that by looking at my "booking" I seem to have the (fill in blank) offer, and that the offer I have now is the best deal, can't combine them bla bla bla......

 

I think the main cause of the confusion is the marketing department.

[framer]

Don't knock it. Have you ever dealt with the cable companies? I will take Princess any time. :)

 

So funny, right before checking CC this morning I had an issue and had to log into my cable account. What a joke...

 

I'll take Princess anytime.

 

framer

[waltd]

So funny, right before checking CC this morning I had an issue and had to log into my cable account. What a joke...

 

I'll take Princess anytime.

 

framer

 

Great Photos. What type of camera? :)

[Loonbeam]

This is a known issue with Princess, Part of the issue is (last I checked), they use home based and outsourced call agents. That's not a knock on the agents, but that's not necessarily the best model for a complex company that has frequent changes of data as there are too many potential points of failure in the communication chain.

 

Secondly, as a whole, there seems to be little corporate emphasis on consistency. Given that ships are at sea, you do want to give a certain amount of independence, but from what I can tell its rare that any issues are followed up with the ships (for things like the MDR embarkation for example).

 

Combine those two factors, and you have a fertile ground for issues.

 

As far as the BVE, I do have to wonder how much of that was the port staff. Do be aware, for the most part, anyone you deal with before the photo op is usually a port employee, not Princess, who may be doing Princess that day and RCCL tomorrow. That's another potential route for confusion.

[Coral]

This is a known issue with Princess, Part of the issue is (last I checked), they use home based and outsourced call agents. That's not a knock on the agents, but that's not necessarily the best model for a complex company that has frequent changes of data as there are too many potential points of failure in the communication chain.

 

.

 

I am not sure if this is still true but several years ago, they were advertising to hire high school students for call center positions in the Seattle area.

[dickinson]

This is a known issue with Princess, Part of the issue is (last I checked), they use home based and outsourced call agents. That's not a knock on the agents, but that's not necessarily the best model for a complex company that has frequent changes of data as there are too many potential points of failure in the communication chain.

 

Secondly, as a whole, there seems to be little corporate emphasis on consistency. Given that ships are at sea, you do want to give a certain amount of independence, but from what I can tell its rare that any issues are followed up with the ships (for things like the MDR embarkation for example).

 

Combine those two factors, and you have a fertile ground for issues.

 

As far as the BVE, I do have to wonder how much of that was the port staff. Do be aware, for the most part, anyone you deal with before the photo op is usually a port employee, not Princess, who may be doing Princess that day and RCCL tomorrow. That's another potential route for confusion.

 

Being home based is irrelevant. I worked for almost 30 years as a CSR (not for Princess) with the last 4 being based at home. We had access to the same stuff as in a brick and mortar building. The issue as I see it is that one goes through training and learns so much stuff that they don't remember it all. One person remembers x while another remembers y. That is why you can call and get different answers. If a person is full time they could take tons of calls but just be monitored on a few a month. Meanwhile they keep repeating wrong info over and over because they don't know it is wrong and those calls were not the ones monitored.

 

Now, outsourced is something else. AT my company I heard that those people got good customer service ratings by the customers however whenever I saw work that they did (because the customer called back) I saw that it was wrong and the customer was given wrong information.

[ontheweb]

In the summer of 2014, we sailed on the Ocean Princess out of Dover. I called the call center to try to get information as to how to get from London to the port of Dover. I was told the best way was the Princess transfer; this would have been fine if it existed, but it did not.

 

There were transfers back to both London and to Heathrow airport, but not going to Dover. Princess did have transfers for their sailings out of Southhampton, but not for those sailing from Dover.

[Loonbeam]

Even still, when you are in a call center you have alternate sources of information and people to ask and you tend to hear about changes, etc. Home based, unless you monitor notifications, etc, they tend to be drowned out or lost unless the company is very good at communication, not one of Princess' strength.

 

Being home based is irrelevant. I worked for almost 30 years as a CSR (not for Princess) with the last 4 being based at home. We had access to the same stuff as in a brick and mortar building. The issue as I see it is that one goes through training and learns so much stuff that they don't remember it all. One person remembers x while another remembers y. That is why you can call and get different answers. If a person is full time they could take tons of calls but just be monitored on a few a month. Meanwhile they keep repeating wrong info over and over because they don't know it is wrong and those calls were not the ones monitored.

 

Now, outsourced is something else. AT my company I heard that those people got good customer service ratings by the customers however whenever I saw work that they did (because the customer called back) I saw that it was wrong and the customer was given wrong information.

[myfuzzy]

What a wealth of information. It looks like CC is our first line of defense.

 

I feel bad for those who don't know better when getting an unsatisfactory answer and accept it.

 

Information for the cruise lines (specifically this time) is like a spider web, communication goes along until one link goes missing and then the rest of the information goes down hill.

 

Another funny story (now, not then), We were sailing the Carribbean Princess, NY to Houston (Bayport). We were to be the first ship to dock there in years, it had sat empty for years, except for a couple of times it had to be used as an alternate port for storms.

 

Now, of course, no one had any clue on transportation availabilty, hotels, car rentals, anything.

 

So, I call the Houston Convention Visitors Bureau to see what they could tell me or guide me to the right area.

 

I was told by them that I was NOT docking at Bayport, but Galveston. Talk about not know whats going on. 3000 people in 3000 people out, and not a clue on how to handle them.

[dickinson]

Even still, when you are in a call center you have alternate sources of information and people to ask and you tend to hear about changes, etc. Home based, unless you monitor notifications, etc, they tend to be drowned out or lost unless the company is very good at communication, not one of Princess' strength.

 

With the company I worked for it was no different working from home as opposed to not. I know nothing about Princess though. I will say that even though I did not want to work from home I came to love it. I think most CSRs are now working from home as you rarely hear background noise when you call an 800# (not those outsourced overseas :()

 

No matter how you look at it we should be able to reliably get correct information!

[caribill]

 

So, I call the Houston Convention Visitors Bureau to see what they could tell me or guide me to the right area.

 

I was told by them that I was NOT docking at Bayport, but Galveston. Talk about not know whats going on. 3000 people in 3000 people out, and not a clue on how to handle them.

 

Of course they should have known, but do realize that when the CB was first announced as being in Texas for the season, it was supposed to be in Galveston. The Cruise Atlas for that year also listed Galveston.

 

Only when the Port of Houston paid Princess to switch to Bayport from Galveston was the change made.

[PescadoAmarillo]

Sometimes the lack of knowledge is less than critical (i.e. what movies are showing on MUTS), but we've encountered situations where we are given wrong information about a financial matter (i.e. FCCs related to a cancelled cruise. We were told we could rebook and use them again, when, in fact, we could not since it was after final payment and they were refunded to our credit card). I find these a bit more irritating.

 

As for BVEs...the worst experiences I've ever had with Princess reps were related to the two BVEs we did take and one we did not because they had no idea how to set it up.

[Holomoku]

My best advice when on shore with questions about where to go and what to do is to find one of the ship's Officers on shore duty that day. Ask him or her and get the correct information for that ship at that time. Most of the other people on shore wearing Princess uniform apparel are contract persons that work for many cruise lines and a different one each day. So they don't know all the answers, but the Officers, in uniform, should or should find out for you with their radios. As for being seated in the wrong dining room, not quite sure how that happened. The comment about "real" passengers can be chocked up to English as a second language and a minimum wage person being expected to speak fluent English, perhaps you could have spoken to that person in Tagalog. It is give and take on any cruise ship no matter the line involved. We always use the same phone rep. at Princess and never have any problems. On the extremely rare occassion that I have written to Princess, I have always received a reply, perhaps not the one I hoped for but what the hey. I for one think Princess employees, the real ones and the contract ones do a fine job and try very hard to make everything enjoyable. Even the Union Longshoremen have been very helpful and friendly.

Edited August 29, 2015 by Holomoku

[myfuzzy]

Of course they should have known, but do realize that when the CB was first announced as being in Texas for the season, it was supposed to be in Galveston. The Cruise Atlas for that year also listed Galveston.

 

Only when the Port of Houston paid Princess to switch to Bayport from Galveston was the change made.

 

What about the cruises out of New York, brochures, even pre cruise paperwork says Manhattan OR Brooklyn, here at CC it says Manhattan, but once you print your boarding pass it DOES say Brooklyn on it. We have some folks on this upcoming cruise that have plans to go to Manhattan!!!! Unless a major storm (Sandy), fleet week or some other unforseen event, they should not put Manhattan on the itinerary. For those unfamiliar with NY, they just might think they are one in the same place.

[Holomoku]

What about the cruises out of New York, brochures, even pre cruise paperwork says Manhattan OR Brooklyn, here at CC it says Manhattan, but once you print your boarding pass it DOES say Brooklyn on it. We have some folks on this upcoming cruise that have plans to go to Manhattan!!!! Unless a major storm (Sandy), fleet week or some other unforseen event, they should not put Manhattan on the itinerary. For those unfamiliar with NY, they just might think they are one in the same place.

 

Just go here to see where your ship is really scheduled: nycruise dot com/schedule

Hope this gets them to the correct pier?

Edited August 29, 2015 by Holomoku

[caribill]

What about the cruises out of New York, brochures, even pre cruise paperwork says Manhattan OR Brooklyn, here at CC it says Manhattan, but once you print your boarding pass it DOES say Brooklyn on it. We have some folks on this upcoming cruise that have plans to go to Manhattan!!!! Unless a major storm (Sandy), fleet week or some other unforseen event, they should not put Manhattan on the itinerary. For those unfamiliar with NY, they just might think they are one in the same place.

 

When the cruises are first planned, it may not be known which, but the general logic (there are exceptions) is:

 

o Port stop in the middle of a cruise = Manhattan

 

o Turnaround day for a new cruise segment = Brooklyn

 

Certainly once Princess has the location locked in, they could put in the correct information for a cruise, not leave it as an "or" in the itinerary right up to embarkation day.

[SoCal Cruiser78]

What about the cruises out of New York, brochures, even pre cruise paperwork says Manhattan OR Brooklyn, here at CC it says Manhattan...For those unfamiliar with NY, they just might think they are one in the same place.

 

There is similar confusion here on the West Coast, as Los Angeles, San Pedro and Long Beach are often listed in a unclear manner in cruise brochures. When they say "Long Beach (Los Angeles)", that would be like saying "Hoboken (New York City)" on the East Coast. Fine for the locals, but a potential problem for visitors.

Edited August 29, 2015 by SoCal Cruiser78

[GUT2407]

I recently saw someone ask what terminal in Sydney Diamond P would leave from, they came back and insisted that the Princess Consultant they spoke to said White Bay, now one thing anyone here will tell you is DP just wont fit under the Harbour Bridge, and you have to pass under to get to White Bay , that will make a huge difference to where you might stay in Sydney, and s really poor that the consultant didn't know the right answer.