Done with Princess

[BBurnsG550]

After 17 cruises with Princess, we're done with this cruise line.

 

Let me explain.  We were scheduled for a 15 day Hawai'i cruise in April of 2020 when the pandemic forced Princess to cancel the trip.  We chose the refund option and Princess offered us a 25% future cruise credit to use WHEN THE PANDEMIC WAS OVER as an incentive to sail again.  Now that the silliness truly has passed, we started looking at cruises for later this year and settled on an Atlantic crossing this fall.

 

Imagine our surprise when we talked to our Princess cruise coordinator and discussed applying our cruise credit to this itinerary.  "That cruise had to be booked AND sailed by the end of 2022 to get that credit." We NEVER received ANY notice that was the case.  We never received any reminder emails saying "hey, don't forget your cruise credit and you have to use it by the end of 2022."  Zip. Zero. Nada.  And according to the federal government, the pandemic still wasn't OVER by the end of 2022.

 

We were referred to a "Customer Care" rep earlier today to discuss the matter.  It was quite possibly the rudest "customer service" phone call I'd ever experienced in my life.  It was five minutes of snark, condescension, and disdain with no acceptable resolution to our issue and the agent refused to give us his last name or to route our call to a supervisor by claiming he WAS the supervisor.

 

Needless to say, we called our rep back immediately and cancelled the $30,000 cruise we were planning and assured her we wouldn't be sailing with Princess again.  
 

We had been kicking around the idea of trying some other lines.  This was a sign from the universe to go ahead and do that.

 

Flame away.

 

 

[eclue]

Hope you find the other lines more accommodating.....there appear to be many issues with all cruise lines since the Pandemic....

Good luck!

 

[Thrak]

You might want to send a (politely worded) inquiry to: customerrelations@princesscruises.com

 

Other points of contact to attempt resolution are:

 

Princess Cruises Executive Contacts

 

Primary Contact
Collin Steinke
Director, Customer Relations
24305 Town Center Drive
Santa Clarita, CA 91355
csteinke@princesscruises.com

 

Secondary Contact
Lorna Warren
Vice President Guest Services
24305 Town Center Drive
Santa Clarita, CA 91355
lwarren@princesscruises.com

 

Chief Executive
John Padgett
President
24305 Town Center Drive
Santa Clarita, CA 91355
jpadgett@princess.com

Also, try  padgett@HAGroup.com - I have been told this is the only address that he actually uses but I have no personal info on that subject.

Edited March 28, 2023 by Thrak

[PurpleTraveller]

I am surprised that your original notification didn't state the book by and sail by dates for your FCC as mine did. Princess told me that they are not extending the expiry date of goodwill FCC's but I am in Australia. However nothing excuses rude customer service and I'm sorry this has happened to you. I sailed with Celebrity last year and had such a wonderful time I have another two cruises booked with them for 2024. Good Luck with your future cruising! 🛳️

 

Edited March 28, 2023 by PurpleTraveller

[Lady Arwen]

Did your FCC have a date of expiry attached to it?   I doubt if it said “when the pandemic was over” give us a call.  Your CVP should have helped you out with a reminder, but clearly it was overlooked.  I know it’s frustrating for you, but I doubt if any other cruise line was giving out FCCs without expiry dates.  Sorry that you’ve experienced some rude behaviour from a Princess rep.  That’s just inexcusable.  I hope that you enjoy your next cruise with whichever line you choose.  We, personally love Celebrity.

Edited March 28, 2023 by Lady Arwen

[Sea Hag]

I don't understand some of this. It was communicated very clearly to us when our FCC would expire. Very clearly. Also, that expiration date clearly showed up in our account on princess.com. I'm not sure how you didn't get any notification and couldn't see it in your account. Sorry for your experience with the rude customer rep.

[Thrak]

4 minutes ago, Sea Hag said:

I don't understand some of this. It was communicated very clearly to us when our FCC would expire. Very clearly. Also, that expiration date clearly showed up in our account on princess.com. I'm not sure how you didn't get any notification and couldn't see it in your account. Sorry for your experience with the rude customer rep.

 

I agree that it should have shown clearly in the account online. Of course, one would have to have looked for it there. It would have been in the same place as other Future Cruise Credits.

[DHP1]

If you log in to your Princess account and select credits, you will see when that specific credit will expired. 

[mom says]

OP, I think it has clearly been shown by PPs that the expiry date was there for you to see. And it's up to you to remain aware of it. No one is going to hold your hand for this, nor should they. As for any rudeness you may have empncountered, since we don't have both sides of the call, I'll not voice an opinion. Best of luck on all your future Voyages.

[BBurnsG550]

When the credit was first offered, there was ZERO mention of an expiration date. There were NO reminder emails.  Given that we had no desire to sail while the Covid policies were in place, we had zero reason to even look at our Princess account until only a few weeks ago when we started looking at itineraries, safe in the (mistaken) notion that we had nearly $3000 in cruise credits waiting for us.

 

Regardless, the attitude of the "customer service" rep is what finished us.  You can make the case that it was on us to know about the expiration date.  But there is ZERO excuse for the horrendous attitude and downright RUDE treatment from "Steven" at Princess Customer Care.  I absolutely wish I had recorded the call.

 

Thank you Thrak for the posted information. 

[memoak]

Did you never log in to your account on Princess.com. All of our credits of any kind whether that are FCC’s Casino free play offers OBC’s or FCD’s all show earned date and must book by date

[bobontheblue]

When we had a few issues with Princess both onboard and customer support. I contacted Collin Steinke directly through email. I felt my concerns were met and above all listened to. A swift resolution was met and all parties I believe were satisfied. 

 There is nothing wrong with looking at other cruise lines. However if the chat boards are any indication no one line is perfect. Happy sailing.

[Tedferg]

2 hours ago, BBurnsG550 said:

 

 Now that the silliness truly has passed,

What 'silliness' are you referring to?

[Yehootu]

28 minutes ago, BBurnsG550 said:

When the credit was first offered, there was ZERO mention of an expiration date. There were NO reminder emails.  Given that we had no desire to sail while the Covid policies were in place, we had zero reason to even look at our Princess account until only a few weeks ago when we started looking at itineraries, safe in the (mistaken) notion that we had nearly $3000 in cruise credits waiting for us.

 

Regardless, the attitude of the "customer service" rep is what finished us.  You can make the case that it was on us to know about the expiration date.  But there is ZERO excuse for the horrendous attitude and downright RUDE treatment from "Steven" at Princess Customer Care.  I absolutely wish I had recorded the call.

 

Thank you Thrak for the posted information. 

We are currently on a 03/17/2023 cruise where I was able to move our FCC to. Follow up and see what can be done. It's true one bad apple can spoil the whole bunch....But then again there's always tomm.

[DHP1]

We were in a similar situation with FCC. Our cruise was cancel during Covid and was given 1 year extension to use it. So, we book another cruise with that credit and that cruise was cancel and again another year was extended and then we finally use it last year because the expiry date was December 31, 2022. During all this time, the expiry date was always shown. We had closed to $2,000 and no way I was going to lose it. 
When our cruises were cancel during Covid, we were told in writing the expiry date.

[DHP1]

32 minutes ago, BBurnsG550 said:

When the credit was first offered, there was ZERO mention of an expiration date. There were NO reminder emails.  Given that we had no desire to sail while the Covid policies were in place, we had zero reason to even look at our Princess account until only a few weeks ago when we started looking at itineraries, safe in the (mistaken) notion that we had nearly $3000 in cruise credits waiting for us.

 

Regardless, the attitude of the "customer service" rep is what finished us.  You can make the case that it was on us to know about the expiration date.  But there is ZERO excuse for the horrendous attitude and downright RUDE treatment from "Steven" at Princess Customer Care.  I absolutely wish I had recorded the call.

 

Thank you Thrak for the posted information. 

We received an e-mail regarding the 3 options for cancel cruise. Plus, it was noted in Princess website. We chose FCC and it did mention the expiry date 

[wallyj]

42 minutes ago, BBurnsG550 said:

When the credit was first offered, there was ZERO mention of an expiration date. There were NO reminder emails.  Given that we had no desire to sail while the Covid policies were in place, we had zero reason to even look at our Princess account until only a few weeks ago when we started looking at itineraries, safe in the (mistaken) notion that we had nearly $3000 in cruise credits waiting for us.

 

Regardless, the attitude of the "customer service" rep is what finished us.  You can make the case that it was on us to know about the expiration date.  But there is ZERO excuse for the horrendous attitude and downright RUDE treatment from "Steven" at Princess Customer Care.  I absolutely wish I had recorded the call.

 

Thank you Thrak for the posted information. 

Please clarify, as I thought as this silliness was winding down, you would never lose your Principle (what you paid to princess), but only the ‘bonus’ FCC in your case 25%?

 

FCC’s and expiration’s have been discussed extensively on these boards, so you must have not be paying attention.
 

So Princess restarted sailing here on the west coast September 2021, so sailings on Princess has resumed for at least 18 months! Yes, people were still hesitant to sail and many that did enjoyed very low occupancy sailings they will not likely experience in the near future.

 

It is unfortunate you most likely have lost your ‘bonus’ FCC, and you have some responsibility to own up to it, I would be surprised if you lost your base cruise FCC, as if that expired should be refunded.

 

There is no excuse for rude customer service. Sounds like you got one of those bad apples or someone having an off day.

Edited March 29, 2023 by wallyj

[GonzoWCS]

Oh dang.

 

Cheers

[Kellyansapansa]

14 minutes ago, DHP1 said:

We were in a similar situation with FCC. Our cruise was cancel during Covid and was given 1 year extension to use it. So, we book another cruise with that credit and that cruise was cancel and again another year was extended and then we finally use it last year because the expiry date was December 31, 2022. During all this time, the expiry date was always shown. We had closed to $2,000 and no way I was going to lose it. 
When our cruises were cancel during Covid, we were told in writing the expiry date.

This is what we experienced. There was a very clear notice on the initial email notifying us of the cruise cancellation, that the credit needed to be booked and sailed by specified dates. As those dates came and went, and multiple cruises were booked and cancelled (by Princess), we contacted Princess and received multiple extensions. We were finally able to sail using the credit in February this year.

[BBurnsG550]

As I pointed out earlier, we never received a clear indication on the original offer that there was an expiration date, we had no reason to go on Princess.com during the pandemic, and we never received a single communication from Princess about their policy, an impending expiration of a substantial credit, or even a "hey, how are you, when would you like to cruise again" marketing email.  Epic fail.  The attitude of the "customer service" rep today was EPIC fail.  
 

But it's all good.  We just booked a larger cabin on a longer cruise on roughly the same itinerary with a comparable cruise line at about the same time frame for 2/3rds the price.  
 

I'll miss the fettuccine alfredo though....

 

Happy cruising. Out.

[Guardsy]

19 minutes ago, BBurnsG550 said:

As I pointed out earlier, we never received a clear indication on the original offer that there was an expiration date, we had no reason to go on Princess.com during the pandemic, and we never received a single communication from Princess about their policy, an impending expiration of a substantial credit, or even a "hey, how are you, when would you like to cruise again" marketing email.  Epic fail.  The attitude of the "customer service" rep today was EPIC fail.  
 

But it's all good.  We just booked a larger cabin on a longer cruise on roughly the same itinerary with a comparable cruise line at about the same time frame for 2/3rds the price.  
 

I'll miss the fettuccine alfredo though....

 

Happy cruising. Out.

Bye-bye.

[cruzsnooze]

5 hours ago, BBurnsG550 said:

 

 

Needless to say, we called our rep back immediately and cancelled the $30,000 cruise we were planning and assured her we wouldn't be sailing with Princess again.  
 

 

 

 

What TransAtlantic crossing costs $30,000. Most TS's are cheaper because of few ports.

[Ombud]

5 hours ago, BBurnsG550 said:

After 17 cruises with Princess, we're done with this cruise line.

 

Let me explain.  We were scheduled for a 15 day Hawai'i cruise in April of 2020 when the pandemic forced Princess to cancel the trip.  We chose the refund option and Princess offered us a 25% future cruise credit to use WHEN THE PANDEMIC WAS OVER as an incentive to sail again.  Now that the silliness truly has passed, we started looking at cruises for later this year and settled on an Atlantic crossing this fall.

I also had that same option .... full refund to the method of payment + 25% Goodwill FCC and it was clearly listed online when that would expire. Too bad you didn't look AFTER cruising restarted way WAY back on July 25, 2021 but at least you didn't lose any $$s

[billco]

28 minutes ago, BBurnsG550 said:

As I pointed out earlier, we never received a clear indication on the original offer that there was an expiration date, we had no reason to go on Princess.com during the pandemic, and we never received a single communication from Princess about their policy, an impending expiration of a substantial credit, or even a "hey, how are you, when would you like to cruise again" marketing email.  Epic fail.  The attitude of the "customer service" rep today was EPIC fail.  
 

But it's all good.  We just booked a larger cabin on a longer cruise on roughly the same itinerary with a comparable cruise line at about the same time frame for 2/3rds the price.  
 

I'll miss the fettuccine alfredo though....

 

Happy cruising. Out.

I suspect you were as rude to CS as they were to you. Doesn’t matter whether you were notified or not. The FCCs expired on a certain date and nothing was going to reinstate them. If it had been me, I would have said my bad,Didn’t know that. I’ll pay more attention next time.

[memoak]

25 minutes ago, cruzsnooze said:

What TransAtlantic crossing costs $30,000. Most TS's are cheaper because of few ports.

 

16 minutes ago, billco said:

I suspect you were as rude to CS as they were to you. Doesn’t matter whether you were notified or not. The FCCs expired on a certain date and nothing was going to reinstate them. If it had been me, I would have said my bad,Didn’t know that. I’ll pay more attention next time.

Yes I have a 21 day trans Atlantic booked for next year for 2 people bingo a full suite with Princess Plus for under $20,000.  I can’t imagine what would cost $30,000 unless it was a sky suite