Royal Princess Misses April 30 Disembarkation in LeHavre

[rocklinmom]

So it sounds like they had to help the Le Havre embarking passengers get to the ship at SOU. But Le Havre disembarking passengers were out of luck unless they had Princess Air (I always book my own air) or Princess Platinum Insurance? I do get that as elite. So presumably with that coverage we could get help rebooking our home flights if our disembarkation port was missed?

[Coffeeluvr05]

This is interesting to me because we were on a European Cruise last year in April and our last port stop was supposed to be Le Havre. When we were Zebrugge there was an announcement that we would not be porting in Le Havre due to a worker strike at the port. I was devastated. Another couple mentioned that this was the 3rd time they haven’t made it to Paris. The wife was so upset. Now after my experience and hearing others. I’m likely going to avoid cruises that stop in Le Havre for fear of disappointment. I would be way more upset if it was our disembarkation port and I was left to figure out how to get myself home. That just doesn’t seem right.

 

 

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[cruisestitch]

It’s worth it to remind readers of this thread that the 300 passengers who planned to disembark in France fell into two categories.

 

Some had booked the trip as a 14 day voyage ending in Le Havre, while others had booked it as a 15 day voyage with a deviation to allow the early disembarking.

 

Thus there were two distinct issues from the same event.

 

I had friends on board who fell into each of the two categories and were being told quite different things by staff on board—it took a while for them to work out why the difference !

 

To make matters worse, some had booked their air with Princess, some had not. So really there were at least four categories of affected disembarking passengers!

[riclop]

Not a good end to the trip.

[Omega1]

I'm not that familiar with the UK's and EU's "package holiday" provisions

other than those folks whinge about the higher prices they pay because

of them.

 

 

But the rest of us agreed to Princess' standard Passage Contract

 

 

Perhaps you clicked right by that without reading?

 

No such thing as a ‘standard passage contract’ as the contract differs according to legislation in each country where the cruise is sold. The cruise contract I agree to states it is governed by English law.

So, no, I didn’t ‘click right by that without reading’.

[Haboob]

No such thing as a ‘standard passage contract’ as the contract differs according to legislation in each country where the cruise is sold. The cruise contract I agree to states it is governed by English law.

So, no, I didn’t ‘click right by that without reading’.

 

Ah! Good.

 

 

Always wondered if you folks who had to pay extra to be a UK sale and be under the

UK "package holiday" regulations were getting their money's worth.

 

Never mind us folks who signed the --OK, "vanillia" ;)-- Passage Contract.

Did the "package holiday" regs help you? How?

[Jimbo59]

 

Princess made really odd air arrangements, though, routing some people through Zurich to Paris, others via Moscow, Oslo, etc. and most not getting there till midnight or so on the 30th.

 

I don’t understand. I booked Princess EZ Air. I got the exact non-stop flights I wanted. Does this mean that Princess EZ Air will change flights after booking?

[sunsetbeachgal]

I don’t understand. I booked Princess EZ Air. I got the exact non-stop flights I wanted. Does this mean that Princess EZ Air will change flights after booking?

 

 

 

Princess EZAir does not make changes, the airlines do. If the airline makes time, flight number or any other change then it will be changed in EZAir

 

 

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[cityguy300]

This is interesting to me because we were on a European Cruise last year in April and our last port stop was supposed to be Le Havre. When we were Zebrugge there was an announcement that we would not be porting in Le Havre due to a worker strike at the port. I was devastated. Another couple mentioned that this was the 3rd time they haven’t made it to Paris. The wife was so upset. Now after my experience and hearing others. I’m likely going to avoid cruises that stop in Le Havre for fear of disappointment. I would be way more upset if it was our disembarkation port and I was left to figure out how to get myself home. That just doesn’t seem right.

 

I was on the same cruise as you -- the one between the transatlantic and the first regular 12-day British Isles cruise (don't know why they called it "European Capitals," I think the only capital on the whole itinerary was Dublin).

 

I'm doing the BI itinerary this summer, and even though I was a bit reluctant to repeat the first few ports again, I liked that we would make up last year's missed Le Havre port. Only now I'm reading threads that suggest it and Guernsey (which we had a great weather day on) are actually missed a lot, so who knows (FYI, I heard our Le Havre "strike" never even happened and we could have made the port).

 

I wonder if all the people I see making expensive, independent plans for Le Havre (usually D-Day beach tours) on the roll calls realize this is the case. I certainly hope they made refundable plans. I can't imagine how ticked I would be to miss the same port three times in a row like the couple you spoke with. Granted, if they were that keen to see Paris, they really should have booked a separate trip or pre/post-cruise visit by now anyway -- I would have stopped counting on the ship after the second miss.

 

Meanwhile, here's hoping a missed Southampton stop isn't ever in the cards, unless the ship is willing to depart 95% empty!

[cityguy300]

I don’t understand. I booked Princess EZ Air. I got the exact non-stop flights I wanted. Does this mean that Princess EZ Air will change flights after booking?

 

I believe the person you were replying to was talking about the alternate arrangements that had to be made after the ship missed Le Havre. The embarking passengers who took EZ Air may have made it to Paris just fine on their original flights, but they still needed transport onwards to Southampton. Conversely, the ones who were supposed to disembark a day earlier were given strange routings back to Paris, and may or may not have been able to make their original EZ Air flights home.

[antsp]

Ah! Good.

 

 

Always wondered if you folks who had to pay extra to be a UK sale and be under the

UK "package holiday" regulations were getting their money's worth.

 

Never mind us folks who signed the --OK, "vanillia" ;)-- Passage Contract.

Did the "package holiday" regs help you? How?

Don't assume we pay more, for the last few years Princess prices have been cheaper in the UK

[Haboob]

Don't assume we pay more, for the last few years Princess prices have been cheaper in the UK

 

Data indicate otherwise, but you dodged the question:

 

What did the "package holiday" regs do for you this time?

[Omega1]

Ah! Good.

 

 

Always wondered if you folks who had to pay extra to be a UK sale and be under the

UK "package holiday" regulations were getting their money's worth.

 

Never mind us folks who signed the --OK, "vanillia" ;)-- Passage Contract.

Did the "package holiday" regs help you? How?

 

Never had to invoke my rights under package tour regs - all my Princess cruises have gone to plan. Nice to know we wouldn’t be in same predicament as OP. Hope OP is able is able to recover additional costs through insurance.

[tv24]

I don’t understand. I booked Princess EZ Air. I got the exact non-stop flights I wanted. Does this mean that Princess EZ Air will change flights after booking?

 

This was a sentence that was taken from one of my postings. I was describing the arrangements that Princess made for passengers who had booked return home air through Princess and who were scheduled to disembark in LeHavre, but who were dumped in Southampton. These were the arrangements that we heard for some PAX who needed to get to Paris CDG from Heathrow after the disembarkation in Southampton. Yes, it is confusing and strange, especially when there were seats available on British Air for direct flights to Paris. I guess Princess had some low-cost arrangement thru another airline, probably KLM/AF/Delta.

[The Wilkies]

Meanwhile, here's hoping a missed Southampton stop isn't ever in the cards, unless the ship is willing to depart 95% empty!

 

A little aside from the main subject.

 

Many, many moons ago, the Southampton dockers went on strike. All the passengers on our cruise, Canberra (remember her) flew to Cherbourg from either Bournemouth or Southampton. Likewise the incoming passengers flew the other way. All organised within a couple of days. We had a phone call telling us where to report and what time. Luggage taken off us and taken by coach to appropriate airport.

 

Remember one lady who was so afraid of flying she always went on cruises from the UK. She ended up almost paralytic which was the only way she would get on the plane.

[antsp]

Data indicate otherwise, but you dodged the question:

 

What did the "package holiday" regs do for you this time?

I didn’t dodge the question, I wasn’t on the ship. I have access to USA and a UK princess account and can book via either. Out of my last 5 cruises on 1 cruise I have sailed on was cheaper in the US

[royerhouse]

:oWow! I guess the moral of these stories is you’d better have a few thousand in reserve AFTER you pay for the cruise just in case you end up stranded! I always buy insurance, but at the end of a cruise, you don’t expect to spend another thousand or so extra just to get home!

[tothemall&beyond]

I don’t understand. I booked Princess EZ Air. I got the exact non-stop flights I wanted. Does this mean that Princess EZ Air will change flights after booking?

 

No - people (like us) had EZ Air FROM Paris to home, but I'm talking about how Princess got people TO Paris from Southampton.

[tothemall&beyond]

This was a sentence that was taken from one of my postings. I was describing the arrangements that Princess made for passengers who had booked return home air through Princess and who were scheduled to disembark in LeHavre, but who were dumped in Southampton. These were the arrangements that we heard for some PAX who needed to get to Paris CDG from Heathrow after the disembarkation in Southampton. Yes, it is confusing and strange, especially when there were seats available on British Air for direct flights to Paris. I guess Princess had some low-cost arrangement thru another airline, probably KLM/AF/Delta.

 

They put us on a 78 seat twin prop FlyBe Airlines (real name) over the English Channel from SOU to CDG. Scary!

[Haboob]

No - people (like us) had EZ Air FROM Paris to home, but I'm talking about how Princess got people TO Paris from Southampton.

 

Were "transfers" available, and did it make a difference if you'd bought them (not just EZ

Air)?

[pbprincesscruiser]

I suspect they ferried the embarking passengers because while the cruise contract may provide cover for them concerning disembarking passengers I do not think that it does for embarking passengers. I suspect that if someone said I was at the port, the ship never came, I want a refund they just might have to do so. Thus the ferrying embarking passengers, but not disembarking.

 

We were to embark in LeHavre. We took a ferry from Lehavre to Portsmouth at 5 pm on the 30th. We did not receive any assistance from Princess. Had to research and make our own arrangements.

[pbprincesscruiser]

So it sounds like they had to help the Le Havre embarking passengers get to the ship at SOU. But Le Havre disembarking passengers were out of luck unless they had Princess Air (I always book my own air) or Princess Platinum Insurance? I do get that as elite. So presumably with that coverage we could get help rebooking our home flights if our disembarkation port was missed?

 

Princess did not help the embarking Le Havre passengers. We were on our own.

[pbprincesscruiser]

Exactly! Princess would need to get you on and off the ship at your booked embarkation/disembarkation port. If that port is missed, they would need to get you back to that port. And I also wonder how they would handle missing an embarkation port...I guess they would get you to the next port of call? It will be interesting to see if this happens this summer with the passengers embarking in Le Havre.

 

You're on your own to get to the next port!

[PescadoAmarillo]

We were to embark in LeHavre. We took a ferry from Lehavre to Portsmouth at 5 pm on the 30th. We did not receive any assistance from Princess. Had to research and make our own arrangements.

That is shocking. I’m sorry you went through this.

[caribill]

We were to embark in LeHavre. We took a ferry from Lehavre to Portsmouth at 5 pm on the 30th. We did not receive any assistance from Princess. Had to research and make our own arrangements.

 

Princess did not help the embarking Le Havre passengers. We were on our own.

 

In my mind Princess owes you

a) a refund for the cruise day you missed

b) expenses you had getting to the ship in the UK