Bumped from the Denali Tundra Wilderness Tour

[adjustman]

I just returned from a Princess Cruise Tour of Alaska entitled Off The Beaten Path Tour # N/A 7 on the June 24 sailing of the Majestic Princess. I just wanted everyone to know that our group of 4 were bumped from the Tundra Wilderness tour without any notice from Princess. We were advised of this cancellation upon check in at the Denali Princess Wilderness Lodge. The party we were traveling with were downgraded to the Natural History Tour. The difference between the two tours is that the Tundra Wilderness Tour goes into the park up to mile post 43 while the History tour only goes to milepost 17. We were told the tour was over booked and thus the need to cancel it without any prior notice from Princess. In speaking with the people on our tour it appears the cancellations were decided on the basis of Princess Captain's Circle loyalty status. I spoke with 5 or six people who were bumped from the tour and all were first time cruisers. One woman i spoke to had booked the Tundra Wilderness Tour through Princess a year and a half prior to the vacation. She said this was her dream vacation and she wanted to see as much of Denali National Park as she could. But she was prevented from doing so. As a result of the failure of Princess to timely advise us of the cancellations we were not given the opportunity of booking alternative tours such the Denali Transit buses or a private Tour of the Park. If anyone booked the Tundra Wilderness Tour through Princess call Princess or the Lodge directly before you leave home so that you can make sure your tour has not been overbooked.  Seeing Denali was one of the reasons we had booked this cruise tour of Alaska. In taking 20 cruises with other cruise lines i have never had this happen to me and hopefully it will never happen again. Poor business practices from Princess. 

Edited July 10, 2023 by adjustman

[bafinegan]

Had a similar experience on our May Princess Royal cruise.  Our party of 4 had booked a whale watching tour in Juneau right after we booked- over a year out!.  Fast forward to the cruise, the other couple we were cruising with asked if we had gotten the letter about out excursion being cancelled.  I was like "what letter?"  We had been cancelled.  All 4 of us.  THE NIGHT BEFORE THE EXCURSION.  By the time the excursion desk had re-opened and we got to the counter, the only excursion left was a walking tour.  One of the main reasons we went to ALaska was to see whales.  Adding insult to injury, table mates at dinner the following night were raving about how many whales  they saw on this excursion.  Never really found out why we were bumped and no explanation as to why hubbs and I were never really notifed and given a chance to book another excursion.  We also are seasoned cruisers ( Viking-both river ad ocean, Disney, MSC and Carnival.  29 cruises in all) and have had excursions cancelled before, but because of circumstances.  Never been picked out because we were new to a line ( yea first with Princess).  So very disappointed not only by the cancelled excursion but the cavalier way it was handled.  

[LocoLoco1]

Overbooking Airline seats, hotel rooms etc. can indeed be maddening. If it’s any consolation… it wouldn’t have been THAT much more interesting. But unfortunate nonetheless. 

[Coral]

13 hours ago, bafinegan said:

Had a similar experience on our May Princess Royal cruise.  Our party of 4 had booked a whale watching tour in Juneau right after we booked- over a year out!.  Fast forward to the cruise, the other couple we were cruising with asked if we had gotten the letter about out excursion being cancelled.  I was like "what letter?"  We had been cancelled.  All 4 of us.  THE NIGHT BEFORE THE EXCURSION.  By the time the excursion desk had re-opened and we got to the counter, the only excursion left was a walking tour.  One of the main reasons we went to ALaska was to see whales.  Adding insult to injury, table mates at dinner the following night were raving about how many whales  they saw on this excursion.  Never really found out why we were bumped and no explanation as to why hubbs and I were never really notifed and given a chance to book another excursion.  We also are seasoned cruisers ( Viking-both river ad ocean, Disney, MSC and Carnival.  29 cruises in all) and have had excursions cancelled before, but because of circumstances.  Never been picked out because we were new to a line ( yea first with Princess).  So very disappointed not only by the cancelled excursion but the cavalier way it was handled.  

Did you pick up an excursion at the pier?

 

I am guessing it is possible that the vendor had technical difficulties with one of their ships and they had to cancel a portion of the passengers.

Edited July 11, 2023 by Coral

[bafinegan]

3 hours ago, Coral said:

Did you pick up an excursion at the pier?

 

I am guessing it is possible that the vendor had technical difficulties with one of their ships and they had to cancel a portion of the passengers.

Possibly, I don't know because I was never told.  Like I said, the way it was handled is what really bothered me.  I never got a notification, just saw the refund on my account.  

[Guest ldtr]

10 hours ago, LocoLoco1 said:

Overbooking Airline seats, hotel rooms etc. can indeed be maddening. If it’s any consolation… it wouldn’t have been THAT much more interesting. But unfortunate nonetheless. 

I suspect that the problem is not knowingly overlooking as it is vendor not being able to deliver the promised number of seats. The cruise lines book based upon what their excursion vendors commits to.

 

A lot of Alaskian businesses are still having problems finding all of the workers they need. Couple that with large numbers of ships in port. 4 in Ketchikan yesterday, 5 in Juneau today. Would have been 6 if the Ruby had not run into the dock.

[Guest ldtr]

5 hours ago, Coral said:

Did you pick up an excursion at the pier?

 

I am guessing it is possible that the vendor had technical difficulties with one of their ships and they had to cancel a portion of the passengers.

There is really no spare capacity.  A vehicle breaks, a worker gets sick, etc and excursions end up getting canceled.   Though there are still the smaller independent providers on the docks.

[Senga]

No matter the "excuse" very poor handling of the situation.

[PurpleTraveller]

On 7/11/2023 at 7:59 AM, bafinegan said:

Had a similar experience on our May Princess Royal cruise.  Our party of 4 had booked a whale watching tour in Juneau right after we booked- over a year out!.  Fast forward to the cruise, the other couple we were cruising with asked if we had gotten the letter about out excursion being cancelled.  I was like "what letter?"  We had been cancelled.  All 4 of us.  THE NIGHT BEFORE THE EXCURSION.  By the time the excursion desk had re-opened and we got to the counter, the only excursion left was a walking tour.  One of the main reasons we went to ALaska was to see whales.  Adding insult to injury, table mates at dinner the following night were raving about how many whales  they saw on this excursion.  Never really found out why we were bumped and no explanation as to why hubbs and I were never really notifed and given a chance to book another excursion.  We also are seasoned cruisers ( Viking-both river ad ocean, Disney, MSC and Carnival.  29 cruises in all) and have had excursions cancelled before, but because of circumstances.  Never been picked out because we were new to a line ( yea first with Princess).  So very disappointed not only by the cancelled excursion but the cavalier way it was handled.  

 

We also had a poor experience on our June 2 cruise on Crown Princess with the whale watching excursion we had booked for Icy Strait Point. When we first booked the excursion, when the excursions opened for booking, it was at 8.30am. A few months later it was changed to 9.30am without notifying us but I noticed on my Travel Summary. When we got on board and looked at the tickets the meeting time was 10.45am. Thinking that there had been an error I immediately went to the shore excursion desk only to be told that four whale watching excursions had been merged into one, once again with no notification. When I asked if there was another whale watching excursion in the afternoon I was told that the new time of 11.00am was the only whale watching excursion. As the time of 11.00am did not suit our plans for the day I had to cancel the excursion. Fortunately I was able to book a morning Wilderness Tour but was still disappointed to miss out on whale watching.

 

When in Ketchikan we met a couple who did a Princess whale watching excursion in Icy Strait Point at 2.00pm and the friends that they were travelling with had done a 2.30pm Princess whale watching excursion. Why I was not offered either of these options I do not know (maybe they were sold out) and the lack of communication from the shore excursion department was very poor. While circumstances change there is no excuse for the lack of communication (Princess can manage to send me numerous marketing emails each week). You should not have to wait until you are on board the ship or land tour to find out about changes or cancellations of tours booked through Princess. We have been on eleven Princess cruises so are not new to Princess.

 

Edited July 11, 2023 by PurpleTraveller

[bafinegan]

51 minutes ago, PurpleTraveller said:

 

We also had a poor experience on our June 2 cruise on Crown Princess with the whale watching excursion we had booked for Icy Strait Point. When we first booked the excursion, when the excursions opened for booking, it was at 8.30am. A few months later it was changed to 9.30am without notifying us but I noticed on my Travel Summary. When we got on board and looked at the tickets the meeting time was 10.45am. Thinking that there had been an error I immediately went to the shore excursion desk only to be told that four whale watching excursions had been merged into one, once again with no notification. When I asked if there was another whale watching excursion in the afternoon I was told that the new time of 11.00am was the only whale watching excursion. As the time of 11.00am did not suit our plans for the day I had to cancel the excursion. Fortunately I was able to book a morning Wilderness Tour but was still disappointed to miss out on whale watching.

 

When in Ketchikan we met a couple who did a Princess whale watching excursion in Icy Strait Point at 2.00pm and the friends that they were travelling with had done a 2.30pm Princess whale watching excursion. Why I was not offered either of these options I do not know (maybe they were sold out) and the lack of communication from the shore excursion department was very poor. While circumstances change there is no excuse for the lack of communication (Princess can manage to send me numerous marketing emails each week). You should not have to wait until you are on board the ship or land tour to find out about changes or cancellations of tours booked through Princess. We have been on eleven Princess cruises so are not new to Princess.

 

ANd that is exactly my point- stuff happens and stuff gets cancelled.  But it is how it is HANDLED is the key.  Princess dropped the ball in this instance IMHO.

[Louby-Lou]

We had a similar experience in 2016.  We were booked on the Connoisseur land / cruise tour which included the Tundra Wilderness tour.  About 6 weeks before Princess UK phoned to say the tour had been cancelled and we were now on the Natural History tour.  We were not happy - my first port of call was the CC roll call where I found that no-one else had been contacted.  Long story short - we had a refund for the missed tour and booked with Denali park direct for a longer tour on the same day.  That wasn't all!!  We organised our own flights and pre-cruise stay in Fairbanks so arrived at the Lodge at the start of the package to be told that we hadn't paid for the cruise - only the land tour (can you even do that?).  After an hour of arguing / phone calls they finally agreed that we had indeed paid!  Our welcome package had been sent to the airport although we had informed Princess of our travel arrangements.  When we met the guide, he told us that the Tundra Wilderness tour had not been cancelled and we were still on it!  We went with the one we had booked direct and were collected at the Wilderness Lodge (inappropriately named - neither in the wilderness nor our idea of a lodge)! As it was a longer tour we were not back in time for the dinner and show that night!

 

At the end of the week long tour we so wished we had hired a car and done our own tour!

[RetireNCruise]

Adjustman, OH NO!!  I spent an entire day, linking up with Costco and Princess to even FIND this Tundra Wilderness Tour.  I really don't want to land in Denali and find out we are not on the tour.  Princess 800 number, knows almost nothing about the Land Tour portion, they took forever to find out anything about the Wilderness Tour, which I wanted to upgraded.   Calling Denali Lodge.  Thanks for the warning.

 

UPDATE:  Just called Princess Denali.  She confirmed they have been making "adjustments", due to overbooking.  Confirmed as of today, we still have the Tundra Wilderness Tour booked ... hopeful Princess keeps our tours as booked.  

Edited July 15, 2023 by RetireNCruise

[puggymom]

I’m booked next year for a land/cruise tour. How do you book excursions for the land part and how do you upgrade to the Tundra tour?

[adjustman]

Does your cruise tour package include the Natural History tour of Denali? Our Off the Beaten Path Tour N/A included the Natural History tour. I called Princess cruises phone # and paid them the difference in price between the two tours. The Tundra Tour even appeared on our trip itinerary on the Princess website. So I thought we were booked on the tour. Apparently not. After we were bumped someone on our tour found out that you have to call the Denali Princess Lodge in order to upgrade. We thought were booked once we spoke with Princess. It turns out there is a disconnect between Princess Cruises and Princess Land tours. The lodge booked the Tundra Tour and Princess cruises booked people on the Tundra Tour so that they had overbooked this tour. How Princess Cruises decided who to bump from the tour remains unclear but everyone we spoke to, was a first-time Princess cruiser so it appears the decision was based on Captain's Circle Loyalty status. I had written Princess Customer Relations earlier this week asking this question, but Princess has never responded to my email. People on our tour were very upset over the way this was or was not handled. The Natural History Tour was a very good tour because the tour guide was in love with Denali. We thought it would have been even better if we were allowed to get much deeper into the park. You can book the Hop off Hop On Denali Transit buses but the transit buses are not guided tours. You have to reserve a transit bus. They leave from the Denali Bus terminal. Princess has shuttles as i understand it that go to the bus terminal from the Lodge. 

[Paula_MacFan]

4 hours ago, puggymom said:

I’m booked next year for a land/cruise tour. How do you book excursions for the land part and how do you upgrade to the Tundra tour?

Land tours can be booked from the Personalizer online when they become available. For our cruisetour in May 2024 the land tours aren't available yet but the cruise excursions are and we've already booked those. 

 

To upgrade your Denali land tour just call Princess. It took a 3 minute phone call for me to upgrade our tour with my CVP. Pretty easy.

[adjustman]

The Tundra tour was never posted on the Cruise Personlizer. That was why I had called Princess Cruises to upgrade. Princess made the reservation for us for the Tundra tour. But we were bumped the day before our tour. Somehow, we were not guaranteed a seat on the tour. One woman booked the Tundra tour through Princess Cruises a year and a half before our vacation and she was likewise bumped. Personally, I would call the lodge directly and see what they have to say. I would not rely on Princess Cruises. In 21 cruises with other lines, I have never had this happen to us. My last word on this subject. 

[Paula_MacFan]

4 hours ago, adjustman said:

The Tundra tour was never posted on the Cruise Personlizer. That was why I had called Princess Cruises to upgrade. Princess made the reservation for us for the Tundra tour. But we were bumped the day before our tour. Somehow, we were not guaranteed a seat on the tour. One woman booked the Tundra tour through Princess Cruises a year and a half before our vacation and she was likewise bumped. Personally, I would call the lodge directly and see what they have to say. I would not rely on Princess Cruises. In 21 cruises with other lines, I have never had this happen to us. My last word on this subject. 

I'm not sure if that was directed to me since I was responding to the person who asked about how to book land tours for the cruise tour. The land tours that aren't included in the package are listed in the Personalizer. Since the Denali History Tour and associated Wilderness Tours are part of the cruise tour package, they are not listed on the Personalizer. You have to contact Princess directly to make changes to tours included in the package. 

 

If I misunderstood your post then I apologize and you can ignore. 

[Purple Gallinule]

Totally unacceptable. I am Elite and I would never place myself before someone that had reserved that trip more than a year before! How could Princess ever expect those folks to come back to another cruise? That is just shoddy treatment!!!!!!!

[shirazcruiser]

We were on an Iceland cruise in May 2023 and I discovered some of our tours were either cancelled or moved to another time after members of our roll call posted that they had credits on their credit card. When I booked the excursions there were additional spaces available so overbooking wasn't the problem.  Princess has poor customer relations as they never contacted me regarding all of the changes and I had to review my excursions daily for changes.  I don't believe CC status had any bearing as we turned Elite on this sailing and were in a Penthouse suite.  Just plain bad service and lack of concern for passengers on a once in a lifetime cruise.  Celebrity always advises me when there are changes on our tours!