From Princess's Mouth - Supposedly The Facts On New Perks

[coiran]

OK - let's initiate a "class action" lawsuit against Princess - will that satisfy everyone? - all we need is a lawyer dumb enough to take it on and everyone dumb enough signing up to pay him!!

[bdjam]

Unfortunately it does not take a lot to get people on the defensive side.

Ain’t that the truth…here you and I agree.

[cruise182]

OK - let's initiate a "class action" lawsuit against Princess - will that satisfy everyone? - all we need is a lawyer dumb enough to take it on and everyone dumb enough signing up to pay him!!

 

Finding a lawyer is the easy part!!

[cruise182]

Ain’t that the truth…here you and I agree.

 

I am sure we agree on a lot more too!! People, including me, can get worked up on these boards with people we don't even know. Probably the same people we have laughed with and enjoyed a drink with while cruising the seas!!:)

[Golfette]

For whatever it's worth, I wrote to Princess in Santa Clarita today about this asking the simple question - Why? The perks would be nice (I'd sure like a nice mattress to help me sleep), but they're not essential to my cruise. What bothers me is the PRINCIPLE of advertising a claim like this, not performing it for whatever reason AND NOT JUST ADMITTING THAT THEY MADE A MISTAKE! That's all that's required - a simple admission that they can't do it for whatever reason & not to expect it. Deleting it from their website is insidious & downright stupid. Lordy, lordy, where has truth & honesty gone?

[CroozBlooz]

First off, let me say that I am a Carnival shareholder. I understand the profit motive and the need to give shareholders a return.

 

As a consumer, I expect companies with which I deal to deliver on their promises. While the information on perks is not contained in the fine print of the contract, it was posted on the website and released in press releases. Anyone who relied on that information could properly make a claim against Princess. Do I think that this is worth really getting aggravated over, writing nasty letters and threatening litigation? Absolutely not.

 

On the other hand, it is a shame that Princess apparently jumped the gun and then couldn't deliver. And while one of the releases did indicate "beginning in September" and some believe that language only requires some of the perks to be available to some ships in some staterooms in September, the other news release that I referenced on the other thread regarding perks (http://www.princess.com/news/article.jsp?newsArticleId=na755&submit=pk) says that passengers will find these perks without referencing a date, meaning that they are currently in place. (Please don't tell me that the statement "passengers will find" suggests that they will find them at some unspecified time in the future). That release which was available a week ago, now has been removed by Princess. I do, however, have a printout of the page.

 

We know that Princess Customer Care monitors these boards, and it would certainly be nice if they addressed this issue with those of us who don't believe this is right.

[MszKitty]

I am very sorry to say that a few days after I talked to Jesse at Princess cruises and she assured me, after speaking to her supervisors, that the new perks were in place on the Sapphire Princess already, I read the following in another perks thread:

 

No upgrades on Sapphire as of Sept. 30, 05

We were in minisuite E728 on the Sapphire from Sept. 26 to Oct. 1st. We asked about the perks and our steward hadn't heard of them. I also inquired at the pursers desk and had them make a copy of my printout from the Princess website. They hadn't received any information about the perks for minisuites and suites. Let me add that we had the exact same room on our January 6, 2005 cruise. The bedspread last week was soiled & stained & I had it removed for the duration of the cruise.

 

I was on that same cruise (Hi Scampi!)...in minisuite E725...and no perks. We did have the pillow menu on our cruise personalizer, but the pillows weren't there when we checked into our cabin. I had to ask for them. No big deal. Room steward brought the extra feather pillows No champagne, or special beds, or sheets either. Quite honestly, I didn't even remember about the special perks until the next day, and then I figured it was too late to ask about them. Oh well...I booked the cruise before I knew about "perks" anyway, so it didn't make a difference. The only thing I did ask about is the use of the thermal suite in the Lotus Spa when I checked in for my massage. The receptionist at the Lotus Spa didn't seem to know anything about it, but she said I could use it because I was getting a massage. So, I still got use of it.

[spongerob]

I guess there is a little bit of good news here. While I might disagree with pre-over-reaction if the plan is not executed according to schedule, I am somewhat heartened by the fact that there is more energy around this subject than Princess' reversal of course concerning the MUTS retrofits. All the yelling and screaming some of us did over that plan appeared to provide a desirable result, so perhaps the agitation displayed over this subject will also give us a happy ending to this chapter of our lives.

 

All's well that ends well, let's give them a chance to make it so.

 

I've been the victim of Marketing promising things that Operations can't deliver, too.

[nreeder]

The interesting thing I find in all of this is that the parent company (Carnival) which also owns Holland America, has been quite clear on the Holland America side about which ships, and which dates those ships get the "signature of excellence" upgrades. I've already seen e-mails which list that for each Holland America ship. If they can do it, why can't Princess?

 

Thanks

Norm

[calikak]

I still think that redrobin is right that if Princess really meant in their PR that the amenities wouldn't all be available by the end of September, they should tell their phone reps to stop telling people like the OP that they are already available, because the reports here are that they're not. That should be step one in addressing people's concerns, whether we think they're legitimate or not: stop creating unrealistic expectations and putting out bad information. Step 2 would be to revise and then reissue the press release that was yanked earlier this week, so that it more accurately reflects the real timetable for the amenities to be rolled out. That way, unrealistic expectations are replaced with realistic ones, and people are less likely to be disappointed.

 

I don't think anyone here is saying that these things don't take time to put in place. Of course it's going to take a while to coordinate putting new mattresses in hundreds of cabins across a fleet scattered all over the world. What's annoying is that the marketing department put out PR with an incorrect (or misleading, depending on your point of view) statement about when things would be available. If they put out a new release with accurate info, it's going to do a lot to help make this problem go away.

 

This kind of screw-up is really crappiest for the onboard staff. The passengers who don't get their amenities still get to sit by the pool, eat lobster tails, and have a massage. But the crew on the ship, who have no ability to address this kind of concern, get yelled at by angry passengers and then get paid next to nothing. The folks who work at the purser's desk have to be absolutely made of steel to stick with that job, because it really is tough, and it's a shame that the marketing department makes it tougher by making mistakes like this one.

[britsbest]

"Beginning September 2005, our Suite and Mini-Suite passengers will enjoy added amenities. From sumptuous luxury mattresses, linens and amenities to in-suite entertainment, passengers can expect to be pampered every step of the way."

 

 

Here we go again!....Beginning September means that some time during the month of September, if one room is upgraded they have kept their side of the deal. No where does it even imply or infer that every mini/suite will be completed which is a logistical impossibility!

 

BE REASONABLE no one lost out what do you all expect?

[donna5]

OK - let's initiate a "class action" lawsuit against Princess - will that satisfy everyone? - all we need is a lawyer dumb enough to take it on and everyone dumb enough signing up to pay him!!

 

 

Can we add the "Escape Completely" tag also. False advertising?? Since it seems that we can no longer "Escape completely" because rules that made the cruise that Princess was known for, now doesn't exist. :rolleyes:

[cruise182]

If I sent a print ad that read

"Beginning September 2005, our customers will enjoy a free dinner at the restaurant of your choice.

 

You can bet my customers would all want that free dinner. Seems clear to me.

 

Its very simple if YOU are a customer and you are sailing after September YOU WILL enjoy..........

 

How about this note sent home from my kids school

Beginning October 2005 all students are to be picked up at the rear playground. Clear to me!

[britsbest]

If I sent a print ad that read

"Beginning September 2005, our customers will enjoy a free dinner at the restaurant of your choice.

 

You can bet my customers would all want that free dinner. Seems clear to me.

 

Its very simple if YOU are a customer and you are sailing after September YOU WILL enjoy..........

 

How about this note sent home from my kids school

Beginning October 2005 all students are to be picked up at the rear playground. Clear to me!

 

Your example states ALL students this is so obviously not the case in Princess' example. Get a life and be realistic!!

[cruise182]

Your example states ALL students this is so obviously not the case in Princess' example. Get a life and be realistic!!

I find your last statement to be extremely rude and childish. If you cant have a reasonable debate perhaps you should stay away from threads such as this.

 

Convenient of you to leave out my first example

 

I will reword my 2nd example Beginning October 2005 students will be picked up at the rear playground.

Now Please go and read the CC guidelines or perhaps you did but misinterpreted the guidelines.

[naplesam]

I have resisted posting here, but finally decided to put in my "two cents worth"!

 

I think that most would agree that to have every one of these new perks appear on September 1 (or even within 30 days) would be a logistical nightmare. Regardless of what might have been said or actually printed by Princess, to get all those mattresses, pillows, sheets, towels, shower heads, etc., onto every ship, no matter where in the world it might be, all at once is probably not doable! Logic and reason would tell us that it would be a phased approach. Having said that, the phased approach should be completed in a timely manner! I doubt any of us with cruises in September or October or even November of this year booked the cruise with these new perks in mind. Agreed, Princess could have been more clear in their announcement, but hey, that's typically marketing.

 

But........we embarked the Island Princess on AUGUST 20th in Whittier and had champagne, new shower head and new mattresses! This was BEFORE 9-1. When we docked in Vancouver on August 27th there were stacks of mattresses on the dock waiting to be put on the ship. So even on one ship the implementation was phased.

 

We are booked on the Star at the end of November----booked LONG before any announcement of mini-suite perks---and hopefully most, if not all, the new items will be in place. But if not, I will not let the lack of a free small glass of champagne, the same old towels/shower head/mattress/pillows, etc., get me one bit upset!

 

Enough said!

[critterchick]

Perhaps the person who writes Princess' ad copy needs to take a course in writing. Now, "beginning in October, students will be picked up...." does that mean October 1? 15? It's unclear.

 

"In September, Princess will begin offering extra perks to its minisuite and suite passengers." Some people will see what they want to see, which is that their ship will have all the amenties. Others will actually read the sentence, which says that Princess will BEGIN offering... But at least it says what I think Princess meant to.

[CroozBlooz]

I think Golfette hit the nail on the head here. It is quite apparent to me that Princess intended to have all of the perks implemented fully by September. It also is plain that they didn't make it. Instead of continuing to give improper information through their reps, and simply removing various news releases from their website, they should have updated the information with an honest explanation of what went wrong and when the updates will be completed.

 

In my case, the decision to go with a mini-suite versus a balcony was made based on the perks (particularly the mattress and linens). The price differential for the cabin was about $200 total, and it seemed to be worth it for a nicer bed. Am I going to sue Princess? Do I intend to yell at on-board staff next week when the perks aren't there? Of course not. But I do have a right to feel as though the company is not handling this properly.

 

I don't know if in today's society we just simply are so used to not getting what is promised (this is a key ingredient of customer service), or if the Princess cheerleaders just think that Princess can do no wrong.

 

Britsbest, while I respectfully disagree with your interpretation of the clause "beginning in September" (your interpretation would have Princess delivering a glass of champagne to one cabin in one mini-suite sometime in September, and never doing anything else, and being in compliance with their release; such a result is ridiculous), it doesn't really matter because another release that also was taken down in the last couple of days simply indicates that "passengers will find" the various amenities. No September date was used.

 

The fact that Princess began implementing the perks prior to September is additional evidence that they intended to complete the work by September. Frankly, how long should it take to replace mattresses, linens and showerheads? Not that long, in my opinion.

[cruise182]

croozblooz,

 

Great post.

[calikak]

Some of us will continue to feel that Princess blew it, and some of us will not, and I don't think anything any of us say here is going to change that. But perhaps we can all hope that, like the problem described in the Nitemare threads, Princess will quickly address this situation to most people's satisfaction (we all know you can't please everyone). I noticed that nobody who was upset that they haven't put all the perks in place yet suggested on this thread that they would be hiring a lawyer or making demands for a new mattress to the purser's desk. Instead, they've made reasonable suggestions such as ceasing to give out inaccurate information via 1-800-PRINCESS. Hopefully Princess will read those suggestions and decide to act on them. I'm sure they'll ignore any hotheaded suggestions that people are owed large sums of money over this mistake.

[bdjam]

It is quite apparent to me that Princess intended to have all of the perks implemented fully by September.

How do you know what Princess intended to do? Can you tell us how you know that, because if we all knew that as well, we could really understand how Princess works and we could stop all these heated debates…

That's all that's required - a simple admission that they can't do it for whatever reason & not to expect it. Deleting it from their website is insidious & downright stupid. Lordy, lordy, where has truth & honesty gone?

Really now, why should the go to all that? How many people do you really think are monitoring their progress at this effort? The few of us here at Cruise Critic. I doubt whether the majority of Princess passengers even knows there is a controversy going on about this. I’m sure if anyone wants an apology from Princess, a nicely worded letter to Customer Relations will result in one. Besides, if you read the release properly, there’s no error on the cruise line’s part.

This kind of screw-up is really crappiest for the onboard staff. The passengers who don't get their amenities still get to sit by the pool, eat lobster tails, and have a massage. But the crew on the ship, who have no ability to address this kind of concern, get yelled at by angry passengers and then get paid next to nothing. The folks who work at the purser's desk have to be absolutely made of steel to stick with that job, because it really is tough, and it's a shame that the marketing department makes it tougher by making mistakes like this one.

Isn’t that unfortunate? I don’t particularly put the blame for the abuse that the on-board staff has to take on the cruise line. I put that on unreasonable passengers who expect the on board staff to pull a new matress up from below decks.

The interesting thing I find in all of this is that the parent company (Carnival) which also owns Holland America, has been quite clear on the Holland America side about which ships, and which dates those ships get the "signature of excellence" upgrades. I've already seen e-mails which list that for each Holland America ship. If they can do it, why can't Princess?

If I’m not mistaken the HAL upgrades are being performed while the ship is in dry dock – for the Statendam class ships, it includes remodeling of the spa areas, I think. So perhaps Princess thought that rather than wait for all of its ships to go through dry dock, it would roll out the program as quickly as possible.

I am somewhat heartened by the fact that there is more energy around this subject than Princess' reversal of course concerning the MUTS retrofits.

I miss the old days when a good MUTS debate could monopolize the boards…this debate somehow seems cheap in comparison.

[CroozBlooz]

bdjam:

 

I suspect you didn't read my complete post, or you wouldn't ask why it is apparent that Princess intended to complete the upgrades by September. My logic is as follows:

 

1. They began doing the work prior to September. If they intended simply to start in September and finish whenever they got around to it, as britsbest suggests, there would be no reason to begin prior to September.

 

2. One release says "beginning in September" and the other says "passengers will find" without any date reference. I'm sure that Princess would not intentionally misrepresent when the amenities would be in place. That being the case, they must have intended that they be in place by September and certainly in place when the made the second release.

 

I don't know about you, but I'm used to sleeping on extremely high thread count Egyptian cotton sheets, on a Tempurpedic mattress, and I find Princess' current offering to be substandard. The improvements of upgraded quality mattresses and linens are meaningful.

 

Perhaps this thread has outlived its usefulness, but I stand by my original assertion that the cheerleaders need to be a bit more pragmatic and take off the rose colored glasses.

[bdjam]

I suspect you didn't read my complete post, or you wouldn't ask why it is apparent that Princess intended to complete the upgrades by September. My logic is as follows:

Actually, I did read the entire post.

1. They began doing the work prior to September. If they intended simply to start in September and finish whenever they got around to it, as britsbest suggests, there would be no reason to begin prior to September.

How do you know this? Might it have just been advantageous to start some of the ships when they were available to start and when the vendor delivered? I still don’t understand how you – or anyone outside of Princess – knows without a doubt what their intention was.

2. One release says "beginning in September" and the other says "passengers will find" without any date reference. I'm sure that Princess would not intentionally misrepresent when the amenities would be in place. That being the case, they must have intended that they be in place by September and certainly in place when the made the second release.

How do you know what they intended? Perhaps the ambiguity built into Princess’ statements was on purpose?

I don't know about you, but I'm used to sleeping on extremely high thread count Egyptian cotton sheets, on a Tempurpedic mattress, and I find Princess' current offering to be substandard. The improvements of upgraded quality mattresses and linens are meaningful.

I’ve always found the mattresses and linens that Princess offered to be fine for me. I think what you are used to might be more applicable to a five-star hotel than a mass-market, “affordable” cruise line - so, I maintain that Princess is offering these upgraded amenities as sort of a "gift" to you. I understand how the amenities could be more meaningful for some than for others, but I don’t understand how that trumps patience with the roll out of those amenities. Apparently a good number of us have been sailing with Princess without the amenities in the past and without ill effects.

I think where Princess erred was to announce the roll out of these amenities at all. Too much information is a bad thing – people get their expectations up and interpret what is to come in accordance with those expectations instead of in accordance with the actual intent. They should have waited until the roll out was complete and then made the announcement - then there would have been no room for misinterpretation.

[cruise182]

nevermind.........

[CroozBlooz]

bdjam,

 

While I may disagree with some of the things you wrote, I do concur with your conclusion. Princess probably should have waited until everything was in place before they made their announcements. I suspect, however, they wanted to build excitement, etc., by making the advance announcements.

 

In my company, it takes quite a while to change shelf tags on items when prices change, although the front end system changes are made instantaneously. In order to not disappoint or mislead our customers, the system changes first before the shelf tags change when the price is going down, and the other way around when the price is going up. That way we are certain that the customer gets the product at the price they thought they were going to receive, or a better price. It's not identical to this situation, but you get the idea.