I'm trying not to be a Karen but can I please speak to a manager !

[Luckybee]

I vented about the phone service once before and it certainly hasn't improved. I'm getting nowhere just trying to get a simple question answered regarding a shore excursion. I can't even get the agent to understand my question and it isn't complicated. I'm fortunate to have a land based casino free cruise, which if I was paying for I'd be reconsidering given what I've seen so far from the phone customer service.

Here is my question if anyone knows ..STT-295 excursion length says 4 1/2 hours...excursion detail says 45 min from ship to St John, 3 hours on St John and 45 minutes back...so far so good, which gives me 3 hours on St John which is enough time for me to go to Maho for snorkelling . But when one clicks to book the time of the excursion comes back as 10:30 am- 2:00 pm which is only 3 1/2 hours and not enough time on St John.

So the first agent tried to tell me that 10:30 -2 is 4 1/2 hours (seriously) and then when I insisted on being tranfered to someone who knew the excursions I of course was accidently on purpose disconnected. The 2nd agent told me I could get more clarification on the ship and that it was "somewhere in between 3 1/2and 4 1/2 hours and it would leave maybe/possibly 45 minutes before 10:30 to allow for traffic"....a bit difficult given

1. ship arrives in STT at 10 am and

2. "traffic" ? lol given it is a boat transfer...

It shouldnt be this difficult to decide if an excursion's timing would work for me or are my expectations too high ? To be fair I have only been on a feww cruises doing 99% land based trips...perhaps mass market cruising really isnt my cup of tea( or glass of wine:) ?

[Jadn13]

Are you set on doing a ship excursion?  

[Ombud]

 @Luckybee. Here a link to a Cruise Critic review of Princess' STT-295:

 

Edited June 17 by Ombud

[Luckybee]

Jadn13

No I'm not (but I am set on either Maho or Caneel Beach Club for the turtles) and thats why I'm trying to figure out timing. I quite liked the idea of not having to taxi to and from red hook and ferry as I do know that can be a pita. So the boat tranfer is attractive but I will need 3 hours on St John to make it work. 

Edited June 17 by Luckybee
adding name

[1emerald1]

I think Karen is a lovely name and don't like that it's associated with a demanding white female.  And no, my name is not Karen.

[dog]

IMO. It is not enough time for St John. Been there, done that.

Magen’s Bay, Mountain Top are quite nice.

 

Maho? St .Maarten?

Edited June 18 by dog

[riffatsea]

I don't understand why people keep asking questions on the phone?

Those people canNOT answer them!

Ask here or ask on Trip Adviser but never on the phone!!

 

[Luckybee]

2 hours ago, dog said:

IMO. It is not enough time for St John. Been there, done that.

Magen’s Bay, Mountain Top are quite nice.

 

Maho? St .Maarten?

I've been to St John/SaTT more than once. 3 hours on St John gives me enough time. 2 hours does not.

Maho Bay Beach on St John generally is very good for turtle snorkelling. So is the Caneel area. 

Not a huge fan of Magen's

[Luckybee]

2 hours ago, riffatsea said:

I don't understand why people keep asking questions on the phone?

Those people canNOT answer them!

Ask here or ask on Trip Adviser but never on the phone!!

 

I understand the sentiment but isn't that a sad state of affairs ?

[ldubs]

2 hours ago, riffatsea said:

I don't understand why people keep asking questions on the phone?

Those people canNOT answer them!

Ask here or ask on Trip Adviser but never on the phone!!

 

 

I don't think this question has been answered here either.   Seems the time frames are a little loosey goosey. 

[Kay S]

Call Princess twice, get three different answers.  Worst phone support going.

[cruzsnooze]

duoble post

Edited June 18 by cruzsnooze

[cruzsnooze]

17 hours ago, Luckybee said:

I vented about the phone service once before and it certainly hasn't improved. I'm getting nowhere just trying to get a simple question answered regarding a shore excursion. I can't even get the agent to understand my question and it isn't complicated. I'm fortunate to have a land based casino free cruise, which if I was paying for I'd be reconsidering given what I've seen so far from the phone customer service.

Here is my question if anyone knows ..STT-295 excursion length says 4 1/2 hours...excursion detail says 45 min from ship to St John, 3 hours on St John and 45 minutes back...so far so good, which gives me 3 hours on St John which is enough time for me to go to Maho for snorkelling . But when one clicks to book the time of the excursion comes back as 10:30 am- 2:00 pm which is only 3 1/2 hours and not enough time on St John.

So the first agent tried to tell me that 10:30 -2 is 4 1/2 hours (seriously) and then when I insisted on being tranfered to someone who knew the excursions I of course was accidently on purpose disconnected. The 2nd agent told me I could get more clarification on the ship and that it was "somewhere in between 3 1/2and 4 1/2 hours and it would leave maybe/possibly 45 minutes before 10:30 to allow for traffic"....a bit difficult given

1. ship arrives in STT at 10 am and

2. "traffic" ? lol given it is a boat transfer...

It shouldnt be this difficult to decide if an excursion's timing would work for me or are my expectations too high ? To be fair I have only been on a feww cruises doing 99% land based trips...perhaps mass market cruising really isnt my cup of tea( or glass of wine:) ?

You are a Karen demeaning people with this popular name

[Wishing on a star]

I am of no help...   But, I think this issue is more common than one might think!!!

Given you are familiar with this visit to St. John, you might want to re-consider doing it on your own.  Or, is there possibly ANY other operator offering these transfers?

 

We did the Princess excursion to Trunk Bay on St. John.   And while it went smoothly, the time on the island is woefully short!  I do not remember checking the time when we returned, but I do think it was a bit later than the Excursion Description.

 

Yes, the customer service is almost laughable...  but is NOT funny.   A serious problem.

 

No, I have no problem at all when people use the latest common social terms and phrases....  As long as they are valid and not just name-calling.   It happens...  So what...

[geoherb]

19 hours ago, Kay S said:

Call Princess twice, get three different answers.  Worst phone support going.

 

The email support isn't any better. I finally got an answer yesterday from a complaint I emailed in September 2022. It took 21 months, two weeks, and two days from the date I first contacted Princess.

[jeromep]

On 6/17/2024 at 5:23 PM, riffatsea said:

I don't understand why people keep asking questions on the phone?

Those people canNOT answer them!

Ask here or ask on Trip Adviser but never on the phone!!

 

 

When it comes to pre-booking excursions through Princess, or any other cruise line, I tend to do it on the web site, and I read the excursion details.  Overall experience has been that the segmented schedule that is presented online with the excursion description is accurate, and tour operators are very strict with sticking to their schedules.  So, if the timing of the tour, as presented online, doesn't fit with your expectations or needs, then it isn't right for you.

 

On 6/17/2024 at 7:36 PM, Luckybee said:

I understand the sentiment but isn't that a sad state of affairs ?

 

I don't expect call center operators to know anything that is beyond what is on their computer.  I know, I work in the periphery of call center operations.  While I don't like it that U.S. companies offshore their call centers, thus introducing the additional issue of staff that technically speaks English, but often times with heavy accents, limited vocabulary, and the use of colloquialisms which are not natural to North American English, I also get that the bean counters look at it only as a numbers issue and believe that all the gaps can be solved through technology (the staff overseas has never cruised, are barely living middle class in their society, they have no frame of reference for the questions that are coming in on the calls, no problem, IT can fix that).  Remember folks, bean counters are necessary, but just like HR staff and auditors, don't let them make business decisions, they always choose the wrong path based upon their limited viewpoint on their own operations.  Accountants, auditors, HR professionals are all the wrong people to make decisions about company strategy.  You know a company is being run by any of these groups if there are aspects about their customer service which really suck or product quality goes way down, etc.

 

Part of any call center system is a knowledge base system.  Ideally company information is fed into that system, and a skilled operator should be able to search it for answers.  This theory falls apart when the system doesn't contain enough information, the operator doesn't know what to search for, thus not finding the information they need, even though it is out there, or the operator just isn't in the mood to do the searching and thus makes a cursory effort, finds something to read off the screen which isn't really applicable, and gives up.  Most call centers operate with continual queues of callers waiting to be answered, so there is pressure in most of these call centers, most of them contract operations (Princess doesn't operate the call center, they contract it out to a company that does nothing but run call centers), to get calls handled and closed out and move onto the next caller as quickly as possible.  Contract call centers frequently commingle inbound calls from numerous unrelated companies.  This means that one minute an agent is answering a call for a credit card issuer, the next minute the call coming in is for a Princess customer, and the data and information change on their computer screen to reflect the company they are supposed to be representing for the incoming caller.  This adds to the difficulty of getting call center staff members skilled at handling calls.  The whole situation is a recipe for failure, but until Princess, or any other company that has outsource and offshored their call center operations actually can link lower financial performance to an ineffective call center, you are not likely to get any change.

 

A sad state of affairs, indeed.

[Mud_Shark]

We did this excursion last year (2023).  For us, it was just over 4.5 hours from start to finish.  We did our own thing, walking to Salomon beach with our own snorkel gear (there is a little bushwhacking involved to get there).  Not a particularly sandy beach, but walking distance, off the road network, and uncrowded.  We had "enough" time, but not a lot of time to enjoy there.  Was a good day.  I think if you take a taxi to another beach on St John from Cruz bay, the time waiting to travel to and from the beach will eat into your limited time, and you may feel a little rushed.

[ontheweb]

19 hours ago, cruzsnooze said:

You are a Karen demeaning people with this popular name

My SIL is named Karen, and is a nice person. Though it is possible that some of you might not like her because she works for the IRS. 😉🤦‍♂️