Onboard Royal Princess?

[mthomp5]

42 minutes ago, ceilidh1 said:

Not only do I have the paperwork but I also have the card that is in the room at embarkation with the tumbler- there is absolutely no reason for them to have doubted we purchased the package. Yet they did! I do intend to write to customer relations about this - I’ve never had such bad service in the 12 years I have been cruising!

This is completely awful.  It seems like they have a brand new crew who needs training in customer service.  We’re boarding the Royal on 4/27 and really hope they get things worked out.  I sure hope they get your soda package issues corrected.  I’ve always been nervous about purchasing in advance of the cruise for reasons such as this.  Now I will definitely purchase once onboard.  

 

Did you eventually get a new bathrobe with a belt?

[ceilidh1]

1 hour ago, idahospud said:

Are they getting fountain drinks or cans for that kind of price?

Fountain drinks and mocktails. Cans are not covered by the package.

[ceilidh1]

1 hour ago, mthomp5 said:

This is completely awful.  It seems like they have a brand new crew who needs training in customer service.  We’re boarding the Royal on 4/27 and really hope they get things worked out.  I sure hope they get your soda package issues corrected.  I’ve always been nervous about purchasing in advance of the cruise for reasons such as this.  Now I will definitely purchase once onboard.  

 

Did you eventually get a new bathrobe with a belt?

This is the first time in 27 cruises that I have had an issue with any of the packages not being already applied to the account.

 

I did get a useable robe on day 4 (of a 7 day cruise....)

[mthomp5]

3 minutes ago, ceilidh1 said:

This is the first time in 27 cruises that I have had an issue with any of the packages not being already applied to the account.

 

I did get a useable robe on day 4 (of a 7 day cruise....)

Sure seems like they’re just learning the ropes and where things are!  

[idahospud]

12 minutes ago, ceilidh1 said:

Fountain drinks and mocktails. Cans are not covered by the package.

The charges must be for the mocktails then? I don't think the bartenders even have a key to charge fountain drinks.

[stvandy1]

1 hour ago, ceilidh1 said:

Not only do I have the paperwork but I also have the card that is in the room at embarkation with the tumbler- there is absolutely no reason for them to have doubted we purchased the package. Yet they did! I do intend to write to customer relations about this - I’ve never had such bad service in the 12 years I have been cruising!

My first cruise was October 2012 on the Carnival Inspirationout of Long Beach. Since then, cruising has been my favorite vacation. I go on number 6 on April 6th. Two with Carnival and 4 with Princess.I guess I’m just a newbie compared to you. It’s stupid that you received tumblers, but they’re not usable for your free card. I guessing that Guest Services is failing and Carla Ramos isn’t taking care of things. Yeah I understand your frustrations.

[stvandy1]

37 minutes ago, ceilidh1 said:

This is the first time in 27 cruises that I have had an issue with any of the packages not being already applied to the account.

 

I did get a useable robe on day 4 (of a 7 day cruise....)

My wife and I didn’t order robes because were too big. I did request one for my son and daughter in law in their stateroom. I hope they get ithem without any problems.

[stvandy1]

29 minutes ago, idahospud said:

The charges must be for the mocktails then? I don't think the bartenders even have a key to charge fountain drinks.

I thought all sodas are in cans. Whenever I got Fanta Orange in the MDR and Vines, they came to me in cans.

[4cats4me]

46 minutes ago, ceilidh1 said:

This is the first time in 27 cruises that I have had an issue with any of the packages not being already applied to the account.

 

I did get a useable robe on day 4 (of a 7 day cruise....)

 

Do you happen to know if there’s been a big changeover with crew, by any chance? Sounds like nobody has their act together.  We love the Royal and Regal and haven’t experienced these issues before, but many employees we’ve spoken with on other ships, like the Grand, have expressed their dissatisfaction  working on these larger ships like the Royal.  This is rather disconcerting that Guest Services won’t rectify the prepaid soda issues. Perhaps  You  should post on a social media forum to get this info out there so that others won’t pre purchase if Princess won’t honor their contract for soda purchase. 

 

Day 4 for a robe is completely unacceptable.   Hope I don’t end up in the same area with that steward next week. 

Edited March 28, 2019 by 4cats4me

[4cats4me]

3 minutes ago, stvandy1 said:

My wife and I didn’t order robes because were too big. I did request one for my son and daughter in law in their stateroom. I hope they get ithem without any problems.

 

99% of the time they aren’t in the room on arrival as they’re “always in the laundry” but we usually get one by evening turndown, even though they always say it will be the next day.  The last cruise robes were in the room on arrival. I think that was a first.  

[stvandy1]

1 minute ago, 4cats4me said:

 

Do you happen to know if there’s been a big changeover with crew, by any chance? Sounds like nobody has their act together.  We love the Royal and Regal and haven’t experienced these issues before, but many employees we’ve spoken with on other ships, like the Grand, have expressed their disdain work8ng on the larger ships like the Royal.  This is rather disconcerting that Guest Services won’t rectify the prepaid soda issues. Perhaps  You  should post on a social media forum to get this info out there so that others won’t pre purchase if Princess won’t honor their contract for soda purchase. 

 

Day 4 for a robe is completely unacceptable.   Hope I don’t end up in the same area with that steward next week. 

Same here. I have interior C715 and my son and DIL have C723 interior. Hope the steward that handles those staterooms are good. I have to request a sharps container from the steward when I board.

[idahospud]

37 minutes ago, stvandy1 said:

I thought all sodas are in cans. Whenever I got Fanta Orange in the MDR and Vines, they came to me in cans.

All the other sodas in beverage packages are now fountain drinks. That's a change in policy from in years past. Root beer (and orange, it sounds like) are in cans, but usually they will pour it into a glass with ice like they would with fountain drinks but not let you keep the can. Some bartenders do allow you to keep the can - depends on the bartender.

[stvandy1]

52 minutes ago, idahospud said:

All the other sodas in beverage packages are now fountain drinks. That's a change in policy from in years past. Root beer (and orange, it sounds like) are in cans, but usually they will pour it into a glass with ice like they would with fountain drinks but not let you keep the can. Some bartenders do allow you to keep the can - depends on the bartender.

That’s exactly what hey did. At the MDR, because the soda didn’t fit, they left the can and the glass with ice. I’m sure the servers recycled them for me.Root Beer must be a recent addition. It was never available to me before.

[Potstech]

We were on the Royal in October and were not happy with the voyage.  Someone charged $1000.00 to out account and it took 3 days to get it straight.  Only one person at Passenger Services knew what to do.  Twisted my ankle so I could not take an excursion priced at $190.00.  This was the day before. Could not cancel it because of some sort of 48 hour rule or by spending more money to go to the  medical Center.  This from a very rude Officer at the excursion desk.Several other similiar problems as others have experienced.

 

We wil be reluctant to sail on her again.

Edited March 28, 2019 by Potstech

[c-boy]

wonderful !

[USCcruisecrazy]

20 hours ago, greenie082756 said:

We will be on Royal April 6th.

 

I try really hard to not let negative or very positive posts affect me and our experiences.

I have really been looking forward to being on the Royal.

I hope that all the quirks are worked out. 

Thanks for posting.

 

 

That's the attitude you need to have.  Before every cruise, I look for recent posts about the ship.  If I internalized all of those, I'd never cruise again.  Truth is, (knock on wood), we have never had a bad cruise on Princess.  And, in fact, have only ever had very minor issues if any.  Maybe it's just good karma!

[Georgie562]

I feel for the people who are having bad experiences with the Royal but I can honestly say I'm excited for my upcoming Royal cruise on 4/27.  At the end of the day the cruise is what YOU make out of it . I'm also just excited to have a newer Princess larger ship here in the West Coast and to be able to sail. Can't wait!

[idahospud]

2 hours ago, Potstech said:

Twisted my ankle so I could not take an excursion priced at $190.00.  This was the day before. Could not cancel it because of some sort of 48 hour rule or by spending more money to go to the  medical Center.  

This is standard Princess policy, not just specific to the Royal.

 

Excursions have a closing time where no refunds are issued. If wanting a refund due to medical reasons you need to visit the medical center to get a note that you can't go to get the excursion refunded. We've had to do that before, and our travel insurance reimbursed the dr visit. 

Edited March 28, 2019 by idahospud

[ceilidh1]

1 hour ago, USCcruisecrazy said:

That's the attitude you need to have.  Before every cruise, I look for recent posts about the ship.  If I internalized all of those, I'd never cruise again.  Truth is, (knock on wood), we have never had a bad cruise on Princess.  And, in fact, have only ever had very minor issues if any.  Maybe it's just good karma!

I agree 100% and keep saying that this is the first time we have had any such problems with princess. Sure there are little things that may happen but they don’t spoil my cruise. Even this soda package thing is a minor inconvenience IF it had been handled correctly. My issue here is that the whole passenger services team are basically just shrugging off any responsibility and refusing to rectify the mistake. In effect, they are as good as calling me a liar as they do not believe I have the soda package - despite all the proof presented to them. This could have been fixed on day one. Instead, we have one day left and it still has not been fixed!

 

I hope your cruise goes without a hitch as I wouldn’t wish this crew of passenger services folks on anyone!

[USCcruisecrazy]

3 minutes ago, ceilidh1 said:

I agree 100% and keep saying that this is the first time we have had any such problems with princess. Sure there are little things that may happen but they don’t spoil my cruise. Even this soda package thing is a minor inconvenience IF it had been handled correctly. My issue here is that the whole passenger services team are basically just shrugging off any responsibility and refusing to rectify the mistake. In effect, they are as good as calling me a liar as they do not believe I have the soda package - despite all the proof presented to them. This could have been fixed on day one. Instead, we have one day left and it still has not been fixed!

 

I hope your cruise goes without a hitch as I wouldn’t wish this crew of passenger services folks on anyone!

I truly am sorry you are having to deal with that.  I'm not sure how they fix the Passenger Services desk unless they can start keeping experienced people on board.  I hope things get better!

[PescadoAmarillo]

I am very sorry you're having to deal with this frustration.

 

People on this board always say not to leave the ship with issues unresolved, and that's sage advice, but I'm not sure which is worse:  spending vacation time to straighten things out or weeks or months later trying to convince Customer Relations in Santa Clarita that something was handled incorrectly.

 

DH and I always say that with Princess PSD, we're guilty until proven innocent, and that only happens when they say so, despite having physical proof.

[ceilidh1]

1 hour ago, PescadoAmarillo said:

I am very sorry you're having to deal with this frustration.

 

People on this board always say not to leave the ship with issues unresolved, and that's sage advice, but I'm not sure which is worse:  spending vacation time to straighten things out or weeks or months later trying to convince Customer Relations in Santa Clarita that something was handled incorrectly.

 

DH and I always say that with Princess PSD, we're guilty until proven innocent, and that only happens when they say so, despite having physical proof.

You are spot on with this! I will not leave the desk tomorrow until I have proof that the charges have been removed. It has been frustrating wasting MY time trying to fix THEIR mistakes!

[drpack]

12 hours ago, stvandy1 said:

My wife and I didn’t order robes because were too big...

 

I hear you. You should see how I looked the first time I tried one on...

My wife is small though so I get one for her.

[Potstech]

3 hours ago, idahospud said:

This is standard Princess policy, not just specific to the Royal.

 

Excursions have a closing time where no refunds are issued. If wanting a refund due to medical reasons you need to visit the medical center to get a note that you can't go to get the excursion refunded. We've had to do that before, and our travel insurance reimbursed the dr visit. 

Policies seem to be up to interpretation lately on Princess.  Sorry but a rude officer that uses an excuse like that to a customer in pain late in the evening leaves a very bad taste in a traveller. Was not worth the hasdle of going to medical after they were closed only to be told put ice on it and keep it elevated and take ibuprofun for the pain.  And that would have meant several trips to different decks which would have only aggravated it more. All because of a policy. Not gonna happen. Thank good the excursion was paid with OBC. We could have used that for something else.

[ceilidh1]

This just keeps getting better! Trip number 7 to passenger services (by the way, they have now removed the elite and suite line so we all wait in the same line). I was told today by them that the drink charges are because mocktails other than the TWO specific ones listed on the new menu are not covered by the soda package! I honestly thought my head was going to explode- I’m sure those behind me could see the steam coming out of my ears. The look I gave him must have been sufficient as he told me that he would “make an exception “ and remove the charges! Exception???? Are you freaking kidding me? ALL my one kid drinks is chocolate-banana mocktails. He has never been charged before and wasn’t charged on this ship until yesterday. Now suddenly the rules have changed? I don’t think so!!!!!!