Ordered Ashore From Golden Princess

[lilly4350]

John

I have just been down to the port and the crew at the gangway have undertaken to advise your wife that you are now home safe and sound.

Hope that helps

 

Regards

Mike

 

Thank goodness for Cruise Critic and your kind generosity in helping out.

[Aus Traveller]

I am surprised the senior officers on the Golden did not arrange for John's wife to be put in contact with him. :(

 

When we were on the Sea Princess a while ago a lady was evacuated from the ship. At disembarkation we spoke to her husband. He said the ship was fantastic. The Captain went to see him in his cabin and they arranged for him to phone the hospital in Cairns where his wife was every day.:)

[VK3DQ]

I am surprised the senior officers on the Golden did not arrange for John's wife to be put in contact with him. :(

 

When we were on the Sea Princess a while ago a lady was evacuated from the ship. At disembarkation we spoke to her husband. He said the ship was fantastic. The Captain went to see him in his cabin and they arranged for him to phone the hospital in Cairns where his wife was every day.:)

 

Hi Folks

 

When I spoke to my wife she had not been contacted by anyone on board the ship and was using the phone in the cabin to ring me at over $5-00 per minute .. she was frantic with worry .. as was I ....

 

 

 

I have still not been contacted by anyone from Princess apart from someone who claimed she was an emergency help and would try to contact my wife .. this was about 24 hours ago .. Princess Cruises has not contacted either of us

 

 

regards

 

john

[Beanb41]

As one who has more medical issues than one can put down on a sheet of paper Travel insurance is something I take particular care with. One can take out the basic policy and hope that everything is okay but if one is cruising one has to take into account the repatriation costs if one has to be airlifted off the ship. For that reason we always go with a large reputable insurance company and pay for the extras. For our upcoming European cruise the travel insurance costs almost equate to one cruise fare but one cant take the chance. If an existing medical condition is not declared then it can void the whole policy.

My insurance company (NZ"s largest) insists we take the Comprehensive A policy , naturally the most expensive. We have had to make a claim once and it was resolved within a week.

 

Another thing I always check out prior to a cruise is who the local agents of the cruise line are and their contact numbers. If one has to remain behind after a ship has sailed it is the local agent who will be tasked to resolve any issues. This info can usually be found using Google.

 

I do accept that one may have to pay p[art of ones medical bill upfront hence one needs to have sufficient funds to cover such emergencies. We have an additional credit card with around a $NZ5000 limit on it which we take with us overseas for such emergencies. It has no annual fees and we don't normally use it but it is an emergency backstop and as one gets older with more ailments we need as many backstops as possible.

 

Finally it was fortunate that I happened to check in with CC this afternoon and was able to help. The ship was berthed about 10 minutes away and was no big deal. If I was ever in a similar situation I would hope that given a similar opportunity someone else would have done the same thing.

 

John you get well and again best of luck with the insurance claim

[Aussieflyer]

Mike, I too echo the thoughts of others who thank you for taking the time to visit the ship and pass on the message to be delivered to John's wife.

 

John, I am pleased that you are home safely but agree it is a very worrying situation where no one from the ship or Princess seems to have made any effort to contact either yourself or family on board. It is also extremely poor that no emergency numbers are provided given it was a public holiday time. I have always assumed that the port agent numbers will work, obviously I am mistaken. Good luck with your insurance, hope you get a speedy reimbursement.

[Hawka]

Hello Folks

 

I was on the Christmas cruise on board Golden Princess, I was taken ill three days into the cruise and was put off the ship in Tauraga and dropped at the local hospital and just left with no support from Princess at all

 

To cut a long story short whilst I am insured I had to cover all my costs to get back to Australia on my own and whilst feeling very unwell and in some difficulty .. my insurance company (insure and Go) were totally unhelpful

 

My wife and 92 y/o MIL are still on board and I have not been able to contact them or get a message to them to tell them I am safely home

 

The telephone number for the ship does not work , and Despite a call to a Princess emergency help line have no word at all

 

If there is anyone on the forums that has a working e-mail for Golden Princess or anyone who is on board can they please pass a message to my Wife Jean Fisher Stateroom D623 and let her know I am safely home I would be very grateful

 

Regards

 

John

goldenprincess@princesscruises.com

 

this is the email as i had to email something to them while on board so they had a copy hope this helps

[Esilef]

Well done Mike!

 

Always take out travel insurance. I was badly hurt in Hawaii and the bills from the Hospitals and emergency services totalled over $10,000usd. My insurance paid out and then once at home my private health insurance got me into surgery with 24hours (after heaps of testing).

[cruisine21]

Well done Mike!

 

Always take out travel insurance. I was badly hurt in Hawaii and the bills from the Hospitals and emergency services totalled over $10,000usd. My insurance paid out and then once at home my private health insurance got me into surgery with 24hours (after heaps of testing).

 

Which insurance company was that Esilef?

[Esilef]

Which insurance company was that Esilef?

 

 

It was a major online insurance company just can't remember their name (it's with all the paperwork). May have been travel insurance direct (?).

[diane.in.ny]

John

I have just been down to the port and the crew at the gangway have undertaken to advise your wife that you are now home safe and sound.

Hope that helps

 

Regards

Mike

 

Mike,

 

It's because of people like you that I LOVE this forum. It is a great way to reach out to people for assistance.

 

What you did was great! Kudos to you!!

[VK3DQ]

Hello Folks

 

Just to keep you all up to date on the situation

 

This morning I called Princess Cruises head office in the USA requesting them to contact my wife on the ship and to relay some information to her and to politely request that they facilitate a phone call so she can contact me.

 

I was on the phone for quite some time and whilst the person I was speaking to as trying his best to be helpful It proved impossible even for him to arrange to contact the ship on my behalf

 

I asked to speak to his customer service manager and he advised me that there was a long telephone queue and then I asked if his manager could call me back I was advised that this was not possible.

 

The ONLY recourse I have is to call the Australian office when they reopen in the morning

 

So if you need help at a time when the Australian office is not open such as long weekends or public holidays or on an Sunday , you are out of luck.

 

 

He advised me that there should have been a care team helping me after I was taken off the ship... well not on Golden Princess they did not

 

 

I'll be contacting the Australian office as soon as they open and will let you know the results

 

What I am requesting is that the ship give my wife access to a couple of telephone calls on them , i dont think thats too much to ask .. or even the facility to send a couple of e-mails and some help for her to contact home.

 

 

Anyway I had a good sleep and am feeling a little less fragile , the first nights sleep since the 23rd of December that I have not had to call a doctor ....

 

Gee Folks I sound like a real old grump :eek:

 

There is a real lesson here both for Princess Cruise and us as customers that more needs to be done to ensure that similar situations dont happen again , I suspect that the Christmas Holiday close down is what caused the system to fall apart...

 

 

Best Regards

John

[Coral]

Hello Folks

 

Just to keep you all up to date on the situation

 

This morning I called Princess Cruises head office in the USA requesting them to contact my wife on the ship and to relay some information to her and to politely request that they facilitate a phone call so she can contact me.

 

 

email: goldenprincess@princesscruises.com

 

In the subject line - put Please Deliver to Passenger XYZ in CABIN ABC and then write your email.

 

Princess should deliver this email message to your families cabin.

[SunnyinDubai]

Well done Mike! It is nice to read what the community on here will do for others :)

 

So John - you now need to fill us in on your Auckland bus ride :D

[Esilef]

I would call them back. Get email addresses of senior staff members and put it all into an email. Let them know how you feel but give them a chance to make the situation right

 

I suspect a lot of the problem was that it was Christmas holidays and that we are in Australia.

[VK3DQ]

Well done Mike! It is nice to read what the community on here will do for others :)

 

So John - you now need to fill us in on your Auckland bus ride :D

 

Hi I will do this as soon as I feel a little better but suffice to say if I had of felt well I would have enjoyed this ride ...

 

The BUS is an ancient two decker and whilst there were no chicken crates or livestock on the roof they would not have been out of place,,,, no thats a little unkind ... but more on "The Bus " later :p

 

Regards

 

john

[VK3DQ]

I would call them back. Get email addresses of senior staff members and put it all into an email. Let them know how you feel but give them a chance to make the situation right

 

I suspect a lot of the problem was that it was Christmas holidays and that we are in Australia.

 

Hi

I agree the Christmas Closedown and public holidays are going to play a part in a system failure .... Even the emergency consular response at the Australian Embassy in Wellington was closed yesterday ... If I had been put into prison I could not have contacted the Embassy for help :p

 

I can manage a smile now but my emotions yesterday were somewhat different both anger and worried and darn relieved and grateful for Mike's kindness , but as I have said everyone in New Zealand were kind and Helpful

without their help I dont know what the result might have been .... I honestly thought that I was going to die a couple of times so great was the pain.. Which I am now told is nothing to do with the kidneys or a stone but a problem with muscles in my spine and mid lower back which is making walking difficult at the moment and requires some decent pain killers

I have been referred to a specialist to investigate what the cause is.

 

 

Well at least I have a nice coffee ....

 

 

Regards

 

John

[rguy123]

No cell phones?

[Bodogbodog]

But Public Holidays and Medical evacuations are hardly unknown or unpredictable events.

 

Any risk management or contingency planning by the Cruise line could foresee that eventuality and there should have been a process in place to deal with it

 

Maybe part of the process for medical disembarkation is a sheet of paper with ships contact details included on it?

 

I really can't believe that the staff onboard weren't able to assist Johns wife to ring home and make contact

 

If the contact numbers for the ship are indeed wrong on Princes's website then they certainly need to be corrected

 

The public holidays should not have been an issue - cruising and guest care is a 24x7 activity and Princess have a duty of care to their customers to do these basic things correctly

[VK3DQ]

No cell phones?

 

I had our phone it would not allow me to make international calls .. I'm going to throw it in the sea

 

:D

 

 

Regards

John

[VK3DQ]

But Public Holidays and Medical evacuations are hardly unknown or unpredictable events.

 

Any risk management or contingency planning by the Cruise line could foresee that eventuality and there should have been a process in place to deal with it

 

Maybe part of the process for medical disembarkation is a sheet of paper with ships contact details included on it?

 

I really can't believe that the staff onboard weren't able to assist Johns wife to ring home and make contact

 

If the contact numbers for the ship are indeed wrong on Princes's website then they certainly need to be corrected

 

The public holidays should not have been an issue - cruising and guest care is a 24x7 activity and Princess have a duty of care to their customers to do these basic things correctly

 

 

A paper with a local New Zealand phone number to call for help would have been nice ...

 

 

I was dropped at the hospital by the port agent and told "Your on your own now"

 

Half wacko with pain killers and not a clue where I was

 

Regards

 

John

Edited December 28, 2015 by VK3DQ

[ronrick1943]

Glad your better, but that's why we buy insurance. This almost happened to us, but another blood test kept us on the ship. You can't expect the cruise line to over help on this one.

[VK3DQ]

Glad your better, but that's why we buy insurance. This almost happened to us, but another blood test kept us on the ship. You can't expect the cruise line to over help on this one.

 

I do have travel insurance , when I rang them in Sydney all I could get from them is send us a fax and fill in a form we might pay you in three months time:p

 

 

I was in need of someone to assist me , Princess Cruises say there was supposed to be a care team to look after me , I knew nothing about this nor did I get ANY contact phone numbers , also Princess Office in Australia were closed and not contactable

 

 

Regards

 

John

[windsor26]

Glad your better, but that's why we buy insurance. This almost happened to us, but another blood test kept us on the ship. You can't expect the cruise line to over help on this one.

 

You REALLY need to correctly read all the forum thread before you make an unnecessarily quite brisk and rude comment

[Beanb41]

I had our phone it would not allow me to make international calls .. I'm going to throw it in the sea

 

:D

 

 

Regards

John

 

John contact your service provider re your phone. Some phones and service providers require use overseas to be "switched on". This is more relevant for older type phones. If you can you may like to look at apps like Viber which allow for free calls if in a WIFI situation.

 

Further to your comments about the Port Agent in Tauranga, I find their attitude to be beyond the pale. They had a duty of care on behalf of the Cruise Line to ensure you were looked after. I would definitely ensure that Princess Head Office is aware of their conduct.

[VK3DQ]

John contact your service provider re your phone. Some phones and service providers require use overseas to be "switched on". This is more relevant for older type phones. If you can you may like to look at apps like Viber which allow for free calls if in a WIFI situation.

 

Further to your comments about the Port Agent in Tauranga, I find their attitude to be beyond the pale. They had a duty of care on behalf of the Cruise Line to ensure you were looked after. I would definitely ensure that Princess Head Office is aware of their conduct.

 

Hi Mike

 

Yes I will replace my old phone which is a basic nokia I have used it before in New Zealand without any issues but this time it would not allow overseas calls

 

I am rather deaf so was holding on to the old phone because its rather 'loud" :D

 

i must say that its almast impossible to make bookings and the suchlike if one does not have access to the internet, so my next phone must offer me world wide internet connection

 

 

Now an update I had a call from Princess about 3 hours ago saying that they would arrange for my wife to call me.. but so far no call

The ship is at anchor at the moment so my wife may have gone ashore .. I hope she is enjoying herself :rolleyes:

 

 

I am also waiting for customer care in Australia to call me back .. nothing after 3 hours of waiting ...

 

 

None of the various e-mail that I have sent have been acknowledged even the one to Jan Swartz or those to the ship directly....It would not have taken much effort for them to have e-mailed "Message received"

 

 

I dont want to sound a grump, I'm not

 

 

Regards

 

John