Make sure to keep checking that your booking is in order!

[azbirdmom]

13 hours ago, ldubs said:

It is easy to get angry with the customer facing people at the other end of the phone.  Let's not forget it is Princess management who is not providing the needed training and who should be blamed for these kinds of mess-ups.   

Actually it is Princess management that is to blame for outsourcing something as critical as customer service to another company who then fulfilled that obligation in the Philippines.  And they have been hearing about what a disaster this is but seemingly aren't doing anything to change the situation.

[Jnsplace1]

I had a change on my cruise, and was notified by email.   I know that they had some issues with their account management system a few months back, I had to escalate mine as I was not getting notifications of my purchases.

 

So I guess I'm glad the notifications work, now......

[kpgibbs]

You say you lost $400.  I would NOT let Princess get away with this.  I have seen people say Princess has made an error and now it can't be fixed.  I find that very hard to believe.  Everything can be fixed.  

[ldubs]

1 hour ago, azbirdmom said:

Actually it is Princess management that is to blame for outsourcing something as critical as customer service to another company who then fulfilled that obligation in the Philippines.  And they have been hearing about what a disaster this is but seemingly aren't doing anything to change the situation.

 

The issue is not the location of the call center. It is the poor training provided to the customer facing staff.  Other than overblown linguistic issues, the results would be no better if the call center were populated with untrained people somewhere in America.    

[azbirdmom]

54 minutes ago, ldubs said:

 

The issue is not the location of the call center. It is the poor training provided to the customer facing staff.  Other than overblown linguistic issues, the results would be no better if the call center were populated with untrained people somewhere in America.    

Yes that is true but it's not just the training but also empowering them to solve simple issues.  The major problems started IMO after they moved the call center offshore hence my comment about it but there are lots or things behind that.  I honestly could care less where the person is located if they can resolve my issues AND if I can understand what they are saying to me.  A pretty low bar that Princess reps frequently cannot clear...

[pompeii]

I agree 100% with keeping an eye on your bookings.  A few months ago, with no notification or reason whatsoever, Princess removed my fcd's from my two upcoming bookings and then tried to reapply them.  But they reapplied them backwards and put the fcd with the oldest date on the booking I made the most recently, which would have been fine except then I had only recently-purchased fcd's to put on my older booking.  And the rule is that the purchase of the deposit has to predate the booking.  So I also lost my $150 obc for that cruise.

 

I didn't notice it for about a month because 1) I was on the other cruise in S. America and Antarctica, and 2) I knew I hadn't made any changes and so wasn't checking my obc or deposits to see if they changed.  

 

When I saw it after I returned from the Antarctica cruise, I contacted my pvp who said there was nothing she could do because the oldest deposit had already been "used" on the cruise I just got back from and they couldn't backdate the other deposit.  She said to contact customer service and ask if they could possibly do something for me as a courtesy. I was able to find out the date they took the deposits off, but she would not say who did it or the reason why.  The funny thing is that they did not touch my husband's deposits, only mine.  I had to push quite a bit and insist that she contact customer service herself without me wasting my time going back and forth begging them for a "courtesy".  After all, this was not my mistake or my doing.  I got an email from her a few days later saying she had reached out on my behalf, and then a month or so later they reinstated my deposit and $150 obc.  

 

So yes, keep an eye on your bookings because Princess can do some strange things.  

 

[Steelers36]

On 4/22/2024 at 3:01 PM, LACruiser88 said:

We avoid dealing directly with Princess by using a FANTASTIC Travel Agent.  She deals with any and all issues that may arise.  Much less stress for us at the same cost.

In my case, it's for much less cost as well.

[Steelers36]

On 4/22/2024 at 3:18 PM, Lady Arwen said:

We use a Princess CVP and never have issues.  Any changes, regardless of the nature, she gets it done in mere minutes.  I’ve never sat on hold, spoken to an agent that I don’t understand, had my booking cancelled and I’ve never been stressed or upset.  
 

If you don’t have a reliable travel agent or CVP, please do yourself a favour and reach out to one or the other.  No cost for either one, but their service is invaluable.  Our CVP has been doing our bookings for years and I wouldn’t know what to do without her.  Sorry, for your experience.  I can’t imagine how stressful it must have been.  I hope you enjoy your cruise!

@Jetswdo, I agree.  If you are not going to engage with an independent/third-party TA (preferably one that offers fare discounts), then by all means you should work with a Princess CVP (an internal TA) and not the horrid offshore service.

[Steelers36]

19 hours ago, Kat915 said:

I do a lot of my cruise planning at night and I don't want to deal with a TA.

So do I.  I basically use my TA(s) as order takers.  I don't need them to find me a cruise and make arrangements.

[Fl0wbee]

"Your call may be monitored and recorded for quality assurance and training"

[Shelly97060]

On 4/22/2024 at 2:05 PM, Bandman said:

This is our first time on Princess. Booked 2 cabins. One for us, and one for my Mom. So far: They had my mom’s birthdate wrong on her booking!  They added the princess plus package to my mom’s booking(We don’t drink. Never even discussed this package). Then noticed my wife’s age was wrong on the travel summary! Guess what? Her birthday was wrong too.  
 

 

 Having the birthdate correct is important.  You always want your exact name and birthdate to match your travel documents (ie passports). If you haven’t already done so you should confirm the information is correct.
 

 If you used a TA have them go into the booking and correct the birthdate if necessary. if you booked through Princess contact them asap and ask that they confirm the birthdates are correct in the bookings. 

Edited Saturday at 05:07 AM by Shelly97060

[happy42cruise]

I TOTALLY AGREE TO START CHECKING ALL YOUR BOOKED CRUISES!!! Sorry it's so long but I wanted to warn everyone.

Here's my story from yesterday.  I decided to take a look at the cruise I booked in Jun 2023 for Dec 2024 on the Sun.  Everything has been paid in full since Jun 2023 & I've been checking it & looking at it from time to time & it's been all good until yesterday morning at 2:30am when all I did was click on packages to just check the cost.  When I did a large banner came up & said "Congratulations you've purchased the Premier Package!".  UHH, I didn't agree to purchase anything, but when I went to check my payments it now showed a shortfall of $1209.60 due on Jun 15, 2023.  This is a 14 day cruise so that amount is not correct for either package so that's not why my cruise fare went up $604.80pp.  I immediately called & emailed my CVP but went ahead & paid it because I was concerned the Princess booking computer would cancel my booking.  My CVP has escalated it to her supervisor, who has escalated it to her supervisor, & I think it went higher than that.  My CVP said they can see there was a change on 4/22/24 which is apparently when they started this new Sanctuary Collection change.  Don't get me wrong, if I can have the premier pkg for 14 days for 2 of us at $1209.60 I'll be thrilled but I really don't see that happening.  OH, also after I paid I got a survey request about my excursion booking which we have NO excursions booked for this cruise & I never even looked at that tab.

 

SO keep checking!!! Their systems are messed up & thing are getting changed without warning!  Another example is the error that allowed a whole bunch of people to book mini suites at no charge that now have 3 days to either accept an interior at no charge, pay to upgrade, or if they don't respond by 5/6 they will forfeit the $200 deposit.

[sfpd3000]

We had a similar experience a few months ago.  The Princess promotion was ending on a Sunday that we wanted to take advantage of and since our travel agent doesn't work weekends, we had to call and book with Princess directly.  Got everything booked with no issues.  We just happened to check the website the day after, and saw that our cabin that we had already was AVAILABLE.  Called Princess again, and found out that our reservation had been cancelled.  No email, no notification, no nothing.  If we hadn't gone onto the website and looked, we would have assumed our booking was still good.