Princess Canceled Without Notice

[MDP409]

We had booked our 23rd cruise, this time with Princess which we've sailed with a few time previously, but not recently.

 

We received a confirmation PDF for our Reserve, Mini-Suite, and had begun planning our excursions.

 

A couple of weeks later, I logged into Princess to book some excursions that we had decided on, and low and behold there was not an active reservation on our account.

 

After a few chats & phone calls, all I could find out was that Princess never changed the provided credit card for the initial deposit, and subsequently canceled the reservation without notice... No phone calls nor emails.  The best the Princess could tell me was that I could rebook the cruise again on their website.  Which would have been fine if they still have a Reserve level suite available, which they didn't.

 

A few days after my last unfruitful attempt to get Princess to correct their mistake, I get a phone call from Princess, and I have a nice guy on the phone asking why I canceled...  So after going back over all the details that I didn't cancel, Princess did and didn't even have the courtesy to notify me before hand so the situation could be address -- Like telling them to simply process the credit card they had on file.

 

So, we ended the call with him saying he would see what could be done, and that he would get back with me.  He did, but said that Princess was unable to do anything.

 

I understand that mistakes happen and that technical glitches occur.  What matters is what companies do when mistakes/glitches happen, and in this case Princess didn't even try to make things right.

 

There are plenty of choices for where to spend my hard earned dollars, and there is no point in doing business with a company that doesn't even attempt to fix their mistakes.

[clarky213]

If there are no Mini-Suites available, what do you expect them to do, throw someone else out!

Best you could hope for is go on a waitlist for when someone cancels.

[MDP409]

1 minute ago, clarky213 said:

If there are no Mini-Suites available, what do you expect them to do, throw someone else out!

Best you could hope for is go on a waitlist for when someone cancels.

My real issue is they canceled without attempting to notify me.  And then didn't attempt to make things right.   There a were mini-suites available, just not Reserve level that have slightly bigger balconies (no big deal) but come with other benefits.  I offered to take a standard mini-suite if they would provide the other benefits which I would pay the Reserve level room price... forgoing the slightly better room.  But their system wouldn't allow that... I'd even been happy with some specialty dining  or other other non-room benefits...

Mistakes happen, but the nature of the person/company is evident by how they handle their mistakes.

[pompeii]

Did your confirmation show a deposit?  I don’t think it’s possible any longer to hold a cruise without a deposit, and to the best of my knowledge Princess doesn’t keep credit card information on file on your account. Did you book the cruise yourself on the website or call in or have your TA do it?  Strange situation. 

[Host CJSKIDS]

Firstly,  welcome to Cruise Critic.

 

Did you book directly with Princess, via their website or on a call with them? I would call back and ask to speak with a supervisor.  If you have the pdf proof and an email showing your booking, it will show the deposit taken as well as what the remaining balance is.  Did you receive the booking email from them?  

 

 

 

[MDP409]

I forwarded the confirmation PDF back to their rep and they escalated it internally, but I didn't speak to the supervisor myself.  They came back with "nothing we can do".

 

So, I'm done with Princess, plenty of other cruise lines to give our business to.

[Arizona Wildcat]

Not sure what anyone here can do.  Not enough details about your booking.  You indicated our have a pdf.  Is this a confirmation of your booking?  Or?  You said your credit card was never charged.   Was the number you gave Princess correct or some other issue with payment of your deposit?

Lots of other questions such as did you book on line?  Why did you not contact Princess within a couple days if you did not receive an email confirmation of your booking?

Next time you book travel suggest a TA or if with Princess a CVP.

[MDP409]

The PDF referenced was confirmation PDF attached their booking confirmation email which I received a few minutes after finalizing the booking online...  So I thought I was good to go.

 

Princess had a back-end technical problem and never charged the card.  But they failed to notify me before summarily canceling the booking without notice.  They had the card info, and I authorized the payment when finalizing the booking -- Wouldn't have received the confirmation email with PDF if I hadn't... they just had a processing glitch and didn't run the CC.

-- I checked with CC company and no charge was even attempted.

 

Again problems happen, it is what you do when they happen that matters.

[Sprocket]

Our very first cruise with Princess was a casino comp offer.  I paid on booking all the required taxes and fees etc and the casino was supposed to pay their portion within a certain time frame which they did not.

I just happened to be checking our booking and like yours it was gone and our cabin was back in inventory.  Fortunately I was able to hold it and call when they opened and had it reinstated.  And no they did not notify me either and it was very stressful.  The casino now pays when the reservation is made as it happened to quite a few people.

You can try messaging Princess through Instagram though not much they can do if that cabin category is no longer available.  But until our upcoming cruise sold out different Cabana mini suite cabins were popping in and out of inventory so keep an eye out especially around final payment date.

 

I did ask for Specialty dining for the 2 of us and the agent on the phone was shocked when it was approved.  We did lose some other benefits but we were on the ship.

 

 

Edited Tuesday at 10:42 PM by Sprocket

[Senga]

@MDP409  Sorry but why didn't YOU check to make sure the deposit went through on your credit card?  

[ldtr1]

22 hours ago, MDP409 said:

The PDF referenced was confirmation PDF attached their booking confirmation email which I received a few minutes after finalizing the booking online...  So I thought I was good to go.

 

Princess had a back-end technical problem and never charged the card.  But they failed to notify me before summarily canceling the booking without notice.  They had the card info, and I authorized the payment when finalizing the booking -- Wouldn't have received the confirmation email with PDF if I hadn't... they just had a processing glitch and didn't run the CC.

-- I checked with CC company and no charge was even attempted.

 

Again problems happen, it is what you do when they happen that matters.

If a booking is made, and a charge not credited against the booking the system will treat like a hold, that did not have a deposit on it and will cancel without any notification being made once the deadline, often 24 hours passes.

 

Did the confirmation you were mailed show the amount of the deposit and remaining amount due?

Edited 19 hours ago by ldtr1