Major Passenger Service Fail - Bottled Water - Royal Princess

[azbirdmom]

This has me a bit concerned. I have preordered a coffee card and 3 cases of water through cruise personalizer. I received by email a receipt showing the total but nowhere does it show what I purchased. I can print that email but it doesn’t prove what I purchased.

 

The Travel Summary should show what you purchased under "Special Services". In addition, if you go to the screen where you made the purchase in the CP, you should see what you've purchased at the bottom and you can make a screen shot.

[mysaddlebred000]

I agree it is NOT a major issue. I believe it is the fault of your ta. Have you called them? and hopefully in the future, you will print out all important correspondence regarding purchases so you can show them proof of purchase. Also, the way you are worked up here, I can imagine how you acted at the customer service desk. Or how you would react when you really have a MAJOR issue.

You are on vacation on a cruise - try to relax and not let things bother you so much..

We don't know what happened at the customer service desk, so we can't say he was treated negatively and they have lost thousands. I have several good friends that work customer service and you wouldn't believe some of the stores. People come up and start yelling and demanding obc, etc.

[Cuizer2]

We all Love reviews! Please make sure and share yours with us.

 

I still don’t know how to post pictures on here after all these years!

 

Then this thread is just what you are looking for ...

 

https://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1714741

[Host CJSKIDS]

Then this thread is just what you are looking for ...

 

https://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1714741

 

Thank you!

[wishfulone]

This has me a bit concerned. I have preordered a coffee card and 3 cases of water through cruise personalizer. I received by email a receipt showing the total but nowhere does it show what I purchased. I can print that email but it doesn’t prove what I purchased.

Have never had a problem with anything ordered through the personaliser. Print your payment receipts and note exactly what they're for. Check your boarding pass shows confirmation of your purchases and you're right to board. Lesson here seems to be don't order anything when you book or through a TA. Wait until you can access the personaliser yourself.

[pablo222]

Failing to deliver water absolutely does not equal a major service failure - failing to rectify a situation until the 5th day of a cruise while on board after a passenger has provided you with the documents that you asked for and called their credit card company so you can verify there was no refund and continuing to say that you can't do anything until headquarters responds to an email and listens to tapes of a call does equal a failure after a reasonable period of time.

 

After princess made you angry, they gave you the two dinners as compensation...

 

It seems to me if they had simply given you the water while they investigated, you

would have been happy, and the cost would have been less. Win-win.

 

Not very good customer service.

[SteelMagnolia9]

OP - Sorry this happened to you. On my first Princess cruise, I was supposed to receive a specialty dinner as part of a Princess promo when I booked. When I boarded, guest services said they had no record of it and would have to contact corporate. I checked back a couple of times and the response I received each time was they had not heard back from corporate. The 7 day cruise went by and I never did receive the specialty dinner. I wasn’t out any money since it was part of a Princess promo, but it was disappointing not to have received it. I hope you have a better experience next time.

[-Lew-]

Check your boarding pass shows confirmation of your purchases and you're right to board.

Purchases such as bottled water are not listed on the boarding pass.

[Potstech]

This is not a "Major Service Fail" in any way, shape or form. Yes it is a failure but to make a mountain out of a mole hill over a 12 pack of water makes me wonder about th OP and their priorities. Sorry this is a minor inconvenience .

[lolane1]

Also, not sure the failure to deliver $20 of bottled water qualifies as a “Major Passenger Service Fail.” For me, a major passenger service failure would be having no record of all my pre-ordered excursions or drinks packages, or a delayed Princess transfer causing me to miss a flight, or a toilet that backed up sewage three times during a cruise (which happen to me last year on the Star Princess).

 

This whole water thing qualifies as a minor annoyance.

 

Right..........

 

Definitely seems like it was a TA failure. Water is paid for prior to the cruise and never included in cruise fare. OP, I hope you take this up with your TA. Perhaps you should have contacted your TA while on the ship and let them fix it.

[sunsetbeachgal]

I purchase the bottled water package every time we cruise via the Personalizer and have never had a problem. I have never heard of an extra like that being added to the cruise fare.

 

The only time I have ever had a problem with missing something I was promised was OBC from a large on line TA (who I have never used since). It was clearly their fault not Princesses, but took a well documented letter to them post-cruise to get my money. I would go back to the TA, my guess is they could be at fault.

 

 

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Edited January 1, 2018 by sunsetbeachgal

[richsea]

This is what you posted in your first post. Saying you were demanding it be resolved by the time you returned is different than what you just said. My point is that demanding something is not the best way to get things resolved.

 

We had the drink package the past couple cruises and the bottled water was included but we used the tap water and it tasted much beter.

You do, and should, demand when after multiple days a simple problem that should have been resolved immediately is not solved.

[geocruiser]

Right..........

 

Definitely seems like it was a TA failure. Water is paid for prior to the cruise and never included in cruise fare. OP, I hope you take this up with your TA. Perhaps you should have contacted your TA while on the ship and let them fix it.

 

I think that you are right. When I buy the water package, the cost goes right on my charge card. It also shows up on the Cruise Personalize. If I don't see it there, I would call Princess before we go on the cruise. Then I take a copy of the order with me.

[pris993]

part of travel is living and learning from our mistakes, op may not be willing to realize this but we have accepted when things go very wrong it is a learning experience not to be repeated again. Happy New Year.

[pablo222]

This is not a "Major Service Fail" in any way, shape or form. Yes it is a failure but to make a mountain out of a mole hill over a 12 pack

 

I agree. It started out as a minor failure.

 

...which kept being made worse and worse by customer service.

 

Show us your receipt.

Now, call your credit card company, and show you didn't get a refund.

Now, stand on one foot.

 

And, we still don't believe you -- we'll give you the water, but when we find out

you are wrong, we'll charge you for it.

 

...each step making the customer more and more upset.

 

 

In this case, I would call the people in customer service idiots, but that upsets

posters here...

[ChrisInMo]

I think you’re wrong here. From the tone of his posts, sounds like the OP might have been escalatingly rude and disrespectful.

 

I think the biggest mistake here was letting a dispute over $20 ruin a cruise that probably cost 100 times that.

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Forums

 

I was going to check out of this post but since it keeps coming up from several people I wanted to clarify a couple assumptions that have been made.

 

 

1) This didn't ruin my cruise, far from it actually we had a great time - The first part of my review is posted and I think you will see that we had some concerns with the cruise (many shared by other posters on the same cruise) but overall had a great time and are glad we cruised. I wrote this as a separate post so it wouldn't become a focus in my review.

 

 

2) I didn't spend tons of my time dealing with this issue. Probably less than 30 total minutes of dealing with anyone on the ship and that included the 10 minute waiting for a supervisor to come out from the back (I moved aside so others could be helped) and 5 minutes on the phone with Chase at their request. I didn't miss anything on the ship that I wanted to do or anything in ports as a result. I didn't seek out wifi in Amber Cove just to deal with this but since we were already online grabbed screenshots of what they requested.

 

3) Yes I was frustrated, of course, was I ever rude or disrespectful? I don't believe so, which I understand you may not agree with. The couple of times I felt that I could sense I was getting upset I paused the conversation and refocused so maintain a calm demeanor. I acknowledged to the agents that I understood this wasn't a problem they caused and I wasn't upset with them. I'm the one at work that people get routed to when they aren't happy with first line customer service, I understand being rude, disrespectful and yelling aren't going to get you anywhere.

[pablo222]

I think you’re wrong here. From the tone of his posts, sounds like the OP might have been escalatingly rude and disrespectful.

 

Someone in customer service on the ship should have the power to instantly resolve a $20 dispute.

 

Otherwise, they should drop service from their name.

[BarbarianPaul]

Someone in customer service on the ship should have the power to instantly resolve a $20 dispute.

 

 

 

Otherwise, they should drop service from their name.

 

 

 

Yeah, you’re right about that.

 

 

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[Pam in CA]

Like the others, I think this is a TA fail. First, a confirmation from your TA that you'd ordered the water doesn't mean that they actually placed the order with Princess. That's not confirmation from Princess. If they had, it would have shown up as ordered and paid for in your Cruise Personalizer before sailing and on your Travel Summary. I always print out the Travel Summary in addition to my boarding pass and luggage tags for just this reason. If your TA didn't follow through (which is likely the case... not just to defend Princess but because as I mention, any pre-cruise purchase is listed in your Travel Summary), then Princess would have a very hard time tracing it through your TA.

 

Years ago, I booked a cruise through a TA almost a year in advance. They quoted me a price, sent me a final payment statement for that price, and confirmed final payment was received in writing. Two weeks later, they said they'd made an accounting error and if I didn't pay an additional @$950 by the end of the day, my booking would be canceled. I called the cruise line and tried to confirm that my cruise was paid for but they couldn't help me. It was awful. It was through a TA found through a competitive quote system. TAs make mistakes. Sometimes huge ones. If you book though a TA, then your beef is with them.

 

I know you don't want "woulda, coulda, shoulda" but always print out your Travel Summary. That's your documentation/confirmation that whatever your ordered or paid for is in the Princess system.

[richsea]

I think you’re wrong here. From the tone of his posts, sounds like the OP might have been escalatingly rude and disrespectful.

 

I think the biggest mistake here was letting a dispute over $20 ruin a cruise that probably cost 100 times that.

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Forums

Showmewhere the OP said it ruined their cruise. I missed that.

[jagsfan]

Someone in customer service on the ship should have the power to instantly resolve a $20 dispute.

 

 

 

Otherwise, they should drop service from their name.

 

 

 

Whatever happened to empowerment?

Someone on every Customer Service team on land or sea should be empowered to make decisions to settle a minor problem immediately.

For OP to be required to perform never ending tasks to prove his case was ridiculous and time wasting for everyone.

Customer Service took a very minor problem and turned it into a major failure on their part.

To add insult to injury, they provided OP with bottled water with the caveat they might charge him for it.

Would I be ticked by the whole thing? Yes.

However, I would have been made happier about the whole thing by accepting a couple of specialty dinners and closed the case.

 

 

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[KruzeKrazy!]

so a beautiful vacation, you let 21 dollars upset you?

Seriously . . . I drank 3 cases of water just reading the lengthy original post . . . ! [emoji4]

 

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[Times Prince]

We were on the Dec 10-20 Royal Princess cruise and noted that, even though we had an Elite mini-bar, there was still two (2) 500 ml bottles of water and one (1) liter bottle of water provided in our cabin that were an onboard charge if used. We used our "free" water and then used one of the "for sale" bottles, later exchanging a minibar item for a small water, and replacing the one used from the "for sale" stock. Our steward didn't charge us for any use of the "for sale" bottles at the time (we did use one later and were charged on the last cruise day).

 

Assuming the "for sale" bottles were present in all cabins, it would be reasonable to believe that bottled water was available while waiting for delivery of the purchased package.

[lolane1]

Whatever happened to empowerment?

Someone on every Customer Service team on land or sea should be empowered to make decisions to settle a minor problem immediately.

For OP to be required to perform never ending tasks to prove his case was ridiculous and time wasting for everyone.

Customer Service took a very minor problem and turned it into a major failure on their part.

To add insult to injury, they provided OP with bottled water with the caveat they might charge him for it.

Would I be ticked by the whole thing? Yes.

However, I would have been made happier about the whole thing by accepting a couple of specialty dinners and closed the case.

 

I don't think Princess should give 20 dollars worth of water to anyone who says they paid for it without proof. (nor would I run back to my supermarket and say that I know I had water in my cart but it wasn't there when I got home and it isn't on my receipt and then ask for a replacement free) It really is up to the OP to prove it. TA needed to straighten this out. And if they gave it to me and said I might be charged, fine. I would straighten it out later. I am absolutely defending Princess on this one. And then I would be thrilled with the free specialty dinner.

 

I thought I ordered water once years ago and it wasn't in my room. I checked with CS and they said I didn't order it. I just figured something went wrong and didn't make a fuss. And it turned out, somehow I must have put in in my cart but never paid for it. Live and learn. I bought a couple of bottles of water in port and then ran up to buffet and filled as needed. No problem. It's water.............

 

To call it a major customer service fail is stretching it. I woud actually be surprised that customer service didn't suggest that the OP contact their travel agent since it supposedly was added to their fare.

Edited January 2, 2018 by lolane1

[Coral]

so a beautiful vacation, you let 21 dollars upset you?

 

On the other hand, Princess probably has lost a potential returning customer for $2 (probably cost of water for them as I bought similar water locally for $4).

 

I am not in the corner that is blaming the TA on this. Who knows what went wrong and where. I think she added it to the booking when speaking with Princess and her TA (3 way call) and paid for it at the time of booking.