Does Princess have a responsibility

[Shogun]

Hi All

 

Watched a commerical presentation from a travel agent selling Princess cruises,

 

some deals were good, however over and over again they said cruise's were all

 

inclusive, now they had added a limited drinks package full details were not

 

given,

 

however presenter said clearly once you board you have no other costs,

 

the price on screen is the price you pay etc.

 

Now tips were never referred to, coffee cards etc never talked about.

 

So you can see what is going to happen, posts from unhappy cruisers, now

 

if selling cruises costing only a few hundred pounds tips and other costs will

 

make up a big % of total costs, also folks buying a cruise at such a low

 

entry level may well not have a budget for such costs.

 

So should Princess do something about the way their product is promoted,

 

Then in a weekend newspaper there was a link to cruise saving tips,

 

number one tip, as soon as you board, get all tips removed, it had a real go at cruiselines calling these tips tips a con trick etc.

 

do not take cruise tours

 

do not buy photos

 

do not pay for any food,

 

this was written by a travel expect.

 

Now I expect to see very low fares this year, for Med Europe etc if around

 

£399 for a week many first time cruisers will be tempted, I fear that the

 

onboard feeling that Princess has will be changed and not for the better.

 

So if going down the route of such low fares should tips be included.

 

I do not want to be on a cruise with hundreds of unhappy cruisers.

 

yours Shogun

[RocketMan275]

I understand your concern but I'm not at all sure what any cruise line could do to police presentations made by independent travel agents. Pretty clear in both the examples that agents were trying to increase sales by minimizing the perceived costs. And, these agents were being truthful in that you can avoid all those costs by doing the things they said.

[antsp]

Cruises on the Royal are being discounted on the Princess site already for summer med cruises. £599 per person is not great but £99 for 3 and 4th passenger is a bargain for a family of 4 in a single cabin.

[WISH84]

I understand your concern but I'm not at all sure what any cruise line could do to police presentations made by independent travel agents. Pretty clear in both the examples that agents were trying to increase sales by minimizing the perceived costs. And, these agents were being truthful in that you can avoid all those costs by doing the things they said.

 

 

I've seen this discussed before and you are 100% correct. The travel agent can promote that everything is all inclusive because all the other items are "extra" just like souvenirs. However it's the ships personnel that will pay the price once the unseasoned traveler gets on board and learns that's not the case

[RocketMan275]

I've seen this discussed before and you are 100% correct. The travel agent can promote that everything is all inclusive because all the other items are "extra" just like souvenirs. However it's the ships personnel that will pay the price once the unseasoned traveler gets on board and learns that's not the case

 

Taking things out on the crew is unfortunate. However, there is simply no way that one can protect the truly "unseasoned traveler". If the "unseasoned traveler" has not learned to be skeptical of sales pitches and to ask questions by the time they're old enough to cruise on their own, then, perhaps, they will gain from this experience.

[Potstech]

I would think the travel agency putting out the information should be the responsible group. They are the ones putting out the bogus information in most of these cases. If someone feels they were mislead then they should go to the one who gave them the bad info in the first place.

[chrysalis]

We had dinner on board one night with a couple who believed their TA to the extreme.

 

....they were shocked and disappointed that the vendors ashore would not accept their cruise card for payment.

 

Their TA told them that they would never need cash.

[4x4bob]

If TA's continue with this type of advertisement the crews will suffer. If it gets bad enough then the Cruise Lines will have a hard time hiring quality staff.

 

Who would want to work on a cruise ship if the large part of their salary came from tips and passengers in large numbers start to cut back on paying the tips.

 

And, picture this. Arriving in your cabin to find a note. Dear Passenger, due to cut backs staff will no long clean and maintain your cabin. Cleaning materials will be made available. Clean sheets and towels will be issued from carts in the hallway between 1:00 and 3:00 each day. :D

 

Bob

[Wolfhunt]

The cruise lines can step in and block an agency if they feel they are misrepresenting the product (at least in the US, not sure about the UK). That happened to an agency here that I talked to. They fed me the everything included line and the tricks to not pay more (including the cancelling of tips which I would never do). When I said I would never do that, his response was "everyone does it" and went into hard sell mode (something that will make me leave immediately). Since I had sailed before I knew the agent was giving me info that wasn't truly representing the product and walked out the door. A few weeks later I learned that three different cruise lines had taken him off their approved agent lists and forfieted his commissions to compensate angry passengers that believed him.

 

I had only talked to the agency because they offered what I call a "too good to be true" rate. Turned out it was too good to be true.

[cruzsnooze]

It's up up the cruise line to deal with these problems. Why should I concern myself about what TA's do or don't do.

My job is to enjoy my vacation and come back NEW, whatever that means.

[Shogun]

Hi All

 

My concern is the onboard feeling is going to change,

 

crew will be unhappy with tips being removed,

 

new passengers will be un happy with all the extra costs

 

experienced cruisers will be unhappy with everyone complaining

 

the cause of all this is the cruiseline wanting the lowest head line cost,

 

so looking forward a few years, crews are to find unless paid more,

 

passengers hard to find unless they are offered more included in fare,

 

the loser the cruisline

 

yours Shogun

[Loonbeam]

Also you will see more lines doing what NCL has done. You now cannot remove the DSC (their version of the hotel charge - and their are some important differences) onboard. You have to wait to get back, call or fill out a form and wait up till 2 months for a refund. They pretty much said that the new process is in response to people trying to game the system (the fact that it's also to THEIR benefit is far from coincidental I am sure).

[donswife]

Call or e-mail the cruise line and report the name and phone number of the agency, no doubt they have whole legal departments that make sure their interests are being protected.

[habita]

We subsidize the cheapskates that remove the tips. Simple solution: Princess figures a fair wage for the crew,add it to the price of the cruise and advertise no tips!

[Dreamer333]

Hi All

 

number one tip, as soon as you board, get all tips removed, it had a real go at cruiselines calling these tips tips a con trick etc.

 

do not take cruise tours

 

do not buy photos

 

do not pay for any food,

 

this was written by a travel expect.

 

yours Shogun

 

I can understand all of these EXCEPT for number 1, regarding tips . SMH.