Beware Princess Weddings!

[Tara818]

I love Princess cruise line, so naturally I trusted their wedding department. What a joke! I had cancelled my princess wedding after only 5 days bc of the horrible customer service. (I am not even going to get into all that here. trust me it was bad!) In the contract it says you lose the license fee ($245) and $150 adminstrative costs if you cancel. Fine, I could handle that just to be rid of them. Well, I get a call at work today, they are keeping $540, saying they will not refund the St. Thomas court cost! That is the money they would have paid the court in April 08 bc my wedding is on a holiday. I asked for a supervisor, and shocker, was transfered to a voicemail. Never, ever in my life have I been treated this poorly by a company! Be aware they can change anything you agree on, its in your contraact, including wedding location and time. I think its a scam, they have you pay everything up front, then the unleash the horrible customer service hoping you'll cancel! They made $540 off me in 5 days! I feel sick!

[Crown08]

I'm not trying to be insensitive, but to say they are running a scam is just ridiculous. All brides on this board know that they won't have their wedding location and time confirmed until 2 weeks prior. You said yourself that all of this is in your contract. I am by no means a TWE cheerleader as I've had my own share of ups and downs with them, but I think you're being a little unfair.

 

Good luck with your wedding planning... wherever it takes you.

[ShedQueen77]

I might just be a dork, but what holiday in April were you getting married on? I can't think of one right off the top of my head besides April Fools Day?! :D

 

Seriously though....Does Princess contract out through TWE like RCI, Carnival, and NCL? I cancelled my Carnival wedding and went with a private coordinator. I received a full refund without any administrative fees or anything like that. I also hadn't applied for my license yet. I kept trying to call them because I had questions about the application and couldn't get ahold of anyone! TWE also overinflates the price of the marriage licenses. They were going to charge me $300 for a Barbados marriage license that only costs about $120 (it was somewhere in that range...can't recall right off hand the exact amount). Because, you know it must cost $180 for their hard work in pushing the papers. :rolleyes:

 

I'm sorry that you also had to go through the cruiseline wedding ringer. Did you arrange your wedding through an on-island coordinator then?

[Tara818]

I'm not trying to be insensitive, but to say they are running a scam is just ridiculous. All brides on this board know that they won't have their wedding location and time confirmed until 2 weeks prior. You said yourself that all of this is in your contract. I am by no means a TWE cheerleader as I've had my own share of ups and downs with them, but I think you're being a little unfair.

 

Good luck with your wedding planning... wherever it takes you.

 

It wasnt that simple.. they said they would do Magens, and the day after they received my payment they said no. Also, it was the way I was spoken too. I was treated very poorly. I feel like I was scammed, I think this company could care less if you cancel or not. They earned $540 off of me for doing nothing. Im sure there are people who have great experiences, however I did not. I think this company is a joke.

[Tara818]

I might just be a dork, but what holiday in April were you getting married on? I can't think of one right off the top of my head besides April Fools Day?! :D

 

Seriously though....Does Princess contract out through TWE like RCI, Carnival, and NCL? I cancelled my Carnival wedding and went with a private coordinator. I received a full refund without any administrative fees or anything like that. I also hadn't applied for my license yet. I kept trying to call them because I had questions about the application and couldn't get ahold of anyone! TWE also overinflates the price of the marriage licenses. They were going to charge me $300 for a Barbados marriage license that only costs about $120 (it was somewhere in that range...can't recall right off hand the exact amount). Because, you know it must cost $180 for their hard work in pushing the papers. :rolleyes:

 

I'm sorry that you also had to go through the cruiseline wedding ringer. Did you arrange your wedding through an on-island coordinator then?

 

Im going thru weddings the island way. The holiday is Carnival, April 27- who knew! I feel much better about the compnay i am going with now. They can actually answer my quesions and are much cheaper...still burns losing all that money!

[PrincessBride82006]

Yes Princess contracts with TWE as well.

 

And don't forget that sometimes the fee for marriage license includes things above and beyond just the license. For my At Sea wedding, the coordinators had to advertise something in a local Bermuda paper well in advance of the wedding. So the fee for my license included advertisement fees, as well as the actual license fee, and postage and all that jazz.

 

 

So I just looked at my original Princess Wedding guidelines and their cancellation policy states that prior to 60 days there will be a full refund for cancellation (in writing) minus $150 for a booking fee and maybe the fee for the licensing process. Also according to my document that fee for St. Thomas is $240.

 

So my advice to you would be to pull out your Wedding Guidelines, and all the documents. Draft them a cancellation letter (if you haven't already) and demand back the money that you feel you deserve. Going by my documents, I think you might be out $390....not $540. Make sure you are communicating with them via snail mail so there is documentation and contact legal aid if you feel you want to take it that far.

 

Good luck.

[sas80]

I'm not trying to be insensitive, but to say they are running a scam is just ridiculous. All brides on this board know that they won't have their wedding location and time confirmed until 2 weeks prior. You said yourself that all of this is in your contract. I am by no means a TWE cheerleader as I've had my own share of ups and downs with them, but I think you're being a little unfair.

 

Good luck with your wedding planning... wherever it takes you.

 

Nope, they SUCK! They wont even entertain your questions or give you the time of day because you dont have a signed contract and, when you do obligate yourself to them they unleash their wretchd customer service skills on you.

I can see why you would call it a scam!

They suck!

[Tara818]

I just had a supervisor return my call... they are refunding my court cost. The supervisor had quote " No idea why" two reps called me yesterday saying I was responsible for $540...Does anyone know what is going on over there? I am so glad im not dealing with these clowns. $395 is fair and what was in the contract. Im happy now. I have a planner I can actually call with questions! Imagine that! lol ... Magens bay here I come!

[Alaskabride]

I am sorry for all of your trouble with TWE/Wedding Experience. So far I have been lucky and have had no problems, but I am having a very simple wedding at sea, so the details are pretty basic. I have heard both good and bad about this company. The one thing that I see pretty regularly on this board is that even though their communication is horrible most everyone seems to have a beautiful wedding. Good luck with your new planner and I wish you the best!!

[VABride110607]

I had the same issue with Royal Romance which is under the wedding experience and I took it as far as the manager, because they didn't do anything with the courts at that time (10 months after we booked the wedding) and I was adamant about getting the 300 dollar license fee back. They refunded it after a few trying:mad: phone calls, but I agree with you.... IT IS A RIP OFF! The license fee in Barbados is 75 and they need 300 because why? I know some people have a great experience with them but it seems like they are more trouble than I was willing to deal with!

 

I am so much happier with our new planner and wish you the best of luck in your planning!:)

[StlGal]

I can't agree more about the horrible customer service & sky high prices.

 

My fiance (now husband) and I had orginally booked with RR/TWE, sent in our deposit of around $500 I believe. We ended up cancelling and they wanted to keep the entire deposit, saying that $300 was for the fees that they had to pay to obtain the marriage license. Funny thing about this is it was still over a year away from the wedding date, and we had not even provided them with any documents (birth certificates, etc) in order to obtain our marriage license. So after three different conversations with three different supervisors, we finally got all of our money except for $200 back.

 

But that's a pretty paycheck for them for doing nothing!!! :mad: :mad: :mad:

 

We ended up going with a local wedding coordinator out of Ocho Rios, Jamaica - www.tropicalweddingsjamaica.com. Our wedding was last Wednesday, 6/6/07 and was absolutely PERFECT!!! We received twice as much for our money & the customer service was terrific. We couldn't have asked for anything more. :D :D

[NYgirl23]

That sucks that you did not have a good experience with TWE.

Like you said, many people have had a great experience with them (myself included), but there are people that work over there that dont really know what they are doing...

 

As for the fine print about them changing your wedding date or place, it happens sometimes and they have no control over it...it happened to me and they did an amazing job to switch everything last minute. (2 weeks before the cruise, Princess changed their itinerary, and TWE fixed everything in a day or two)

 

Good luck and hope everything works out!

[rebeccalouise]

there was a girl on the Princess site a few months back that seemed very nice. She was assured of all the details prior to the wedding and at the last minute they changed virtually every detail. Even the flowers were wrong, etc. They were supposed to have "Just Married" decorations on the cabin door and they had to fight for these. In the end, the girl was so deflated over her wedding. It was sad to hear and she really tried hard to get someone to listen to her on board and was met with complete and utter disinterest. I don't know if scam is the right word- Just not good business. I wouldn't get married on a cruise after what I heard.

[flhokie]

I am getting married at Sea on the Grand Princess in April 2008. The decision was based on the idea of wanting to do something different, not having to worry about every little detail (and in turn stressing about little things) and the fact that the reasonable prices made it much, much less expensive than a comparable wedding at home.

 

Except for one issue when Princess decided to cancel the sailing we were originally scheduled to be married on (Princess decided to send the ship to Europe 2 weeks early), I can't complain about the service. When I've emailed questions to them I have had answers the same day. As far as changes go, they make it very clear from the beginning that everything is subject to change and that details (location, etc.) won't be available until very close to the sailing date.

 

On this board I've only seen one review of a wedding (through TWE) that has not turned out well in the end, despite pre-cruise challenges with the TWE.

[diannaallen72@verizon.net]

I just got back yesterday and I cannot say enough about the poor customer service, lack of coordination and complete disrespect from the wedding experience. I had booked my wedding back in January, paid in full on the day of booking the cruise and wedding with certain upgrades. I also explained that I would be requesting more upgrades. I was told thank you for booking (via emial) with the NCL wedding experience and that was the last of the gratitude from them. They have no experience and comunication. If it was not for my travel agent, NCL corporate headquarters and the owner of the travel agent that I used, my wedding would have been a complete mess. I could go into details but trust me when I say I agree with the comment "Scam". I have had conversations with 6 different people at twe all of which were handling my wedding. why so many, I have no idea. I was assured that all of my concerns were taking care of and I would have a wonderful wedding. Well the 2 wedding coordinators that I had to pay for because of the amount of people did not show up until 1 hour before my wedding and there was only 1 not the 2 I had paid for. I was also told via email on many occasions that the 2 coordinators would be onboard in Bermuda as soon as the ship was cleared through customs (that was at 8:20), I was also told by the NCL Group Services Coordinator that I should wait in my suite until TWE arrived so that we could go over everything. Well they showed up 1 hour before the wedding, I did not see Bermuda and she had to be rushed down to the spa where I was getting my here done. Also, just a little investigative work, the people that come aboard where not even TWE employees, they are from a company call the bridal suite. She had no idea that I had been having a problem with TWE, so I showed her my trustee emails dating back to january and she showed my hers which showed TWE telling her to be on board at 1:00 for a 2:00 wedding. No details were discussed with her and she had no idea about situation. My feeling is, if the owner of a company, NCL's vice president of marketing, sales and development, and myself complain about the lack of customer service, planning and total drop the ball attitude, wouldn't you think they would make sure details as small as they are (this is there job remember, not mine) would be completed and they would have supplied what they promised. NO!! The only reason my wedding finished the way it did is because a company that TWE outsourced showed up and scrambled to start and complete details and NCL did the food, liqour (open bar for 2 hours) and location. So I ask you this, what did the close to $6,000 just for the wedding itself pay for. That does not include the other 23 people that attended the cruise and 5 of those we paid for by us. As for me I plan on making sure that other people understand that TWE does not produce what they promise, they themselves are not even the people that do the work, they outsource it and have alot of issues with misrepresentation. Now I have to deal with them on things we paid for that did not get done (ie, 150 for additional wedding coordinator). Once they get your money they do nothing. Very sad they this should be happening on such a day. Dianna

[ShedQueen77]

I had the same issue with Royal Romance which is under the wedding experience and I took it as far as the manager, because they didn't do anything with the courts at that time (10 months after we booked the wedding) and I was adamant about getting the 300 dollar license fee back. They refunded it after a few trying:mad: phone calls, but I agree with you.... IT IS A RIP OFF! The license fee in Barbados is 75 and they need 300 because why? I know some people have a great experience with them but it seems like they are more trouble than I was willing to deal with!

 

I am so much happier with our new planner and wish you the best of luck in your planning!:)

 

Ah ha....so you noticed that nice overinflated license fee as well? :) I caught that as soon as they sent me paperwork. Thank goodness I tried to ask questions about it before I sent the money. After 2 weeks of leaving messages, I never got a call back so I just refunded my package cost through Carnival and that was, thank goodness again, the end of my TWE dealings.

[CruiseGal23]

I'm sorry to hear that everyone is having such a bad experience with TWE, but I must top all of your experiences with my own horrible one. I'm sailing in 12 days and STILL have not been able to get confirmation of my wedding details. Instead of having a stressfree engagement period, I've spent a lot of it on the phone and leaving messages (which are not returned), writing emails (which are ignored) and being tossed around. I appreciated the fact that they were behind and completely forgave them for their 60-45 day guarantee. When I call, NO ONE ever answers the phone. I don't even call everyday. It's about 4 times a week, but nothing is getting done. When this is all over, I will NEVER ever recommend this company to anyone. In fact, I hope engaged couples are smart enough to check the forums before simply booking because of the convenience.

The only helpful people are at Princess, however, they can't do much, b/c they are not apart of this wedding planning. :mad:

[CruiseGal23]

It's 12 days until sailing and I STILL don't have my confirmation details. I have plenty of ignored emails, unresponded voicemails, and being passed around from TWE rep to TWE rep though. NEVER ever have I experienced such horrible service! :mad:

[diannaallen72@verizon.net]

I just returned from my NCL cruise out of NY and had to use TWE for my wedding. Without going into much detail (I can if you would like me to), TWE did nothing from day one, we spent close to $12,000.00 for the cruise and wedding with upgrades to the wedding, open bar, food etc. and TWE was dispicable. We planned and paid in full for our wedding and cruise back in January 2007. As soon as they get your money they send you a thank you/welcome/congrats letter then you never hear from them until they send you an email requesting that I should have sent them back something. When I asked them to point me in the right direction so that I may fill out the necessary paperwork and send it back to them, there reply was always.... "someone should have sent that to you", well they did not and this happened all of the time. Even the marriage license they dropped the ball on. My husband had to ask the minister when he arrived if the marriage would be a legal one. So, without all the gory details (and I can go into them) they destroyed my wedding. This is not the only complainent they have. I spoke with the atty generals office of southern florida and they informed me that TWE has others and is showing a "pattern". I spoke with 5 different people at TWE experience during my coordination of our wedding and none of them did anything they should have. The outsourced the coordinator in bermuda but never told us so she had no details of my wedding and was asking me questions 50 minutes before me wedding when she showed up on the ship and then came back to me 15 minutes before the wedding with more questions. The photographer was rushing and was rude, left early and when I asked him to take a picture of my 25 traveling friends and family and bolted. We did also speak with the other couple on the cruise ship that got married on the island and they and their families were all to quick to tell us about therr horrific dealings with the wedding experience. If you would like more details and problems we came across let me know. Dianna (diannaallen72@verizon.net)

[mandabear]

Hey FLHokie- I think we wanted to get married on the same cruise! I was ready to book and then they moved the Crown to Europe...Now I'm on the Caribbean Princess in May!

[Diamond Girl]

I have posted on this forum before. My daughter was supposed to get married on the Crown Princess August 10, 2007. To make a long story short, she cancelled with TWE about 3 weeks ago when they told her the 2 hour reception she had been told she could have, would be reduced to one hour. Thankfully she had not yet made any payments on her reception. TWE threatened to charge her credit card for the balance. Fortunately, my daughter had cancelled that credit card a few months earlier.

Her fiance called up the South Miami Consumer Protection Agency and informed them of what TWE had done and they said they would try to help. I believe this is what prompted a call from a Ginette at TWE who said she was a manager. She asked what she could do to make things better and my daughter told her it was too late - that they had made different arrangements for their wedding. This Ginette apologized for how things were handled and because of that, she said that TWE would refund the ceremony fee as well as the $150 administrative fee that they usually keep if anyone cancels. We were all keeping our fingers crossed that this would happen and today my daughter received a check in the mail from TWE for $1,734.

[Diamond Girl]

It's 12 days until sailing and I STILL don't have my confirmation details. I have plenty of ignored emails, unresponded voicemails, and being passed around from TWE rep to TWE rep though. NEVER ever have I experienced such horrible service! :mad:

 

I spoke to a Ginette at TWE who is supposed to be a manager. I did not call using their toll free #, I used 305-421-1260. If you can't get through to her, you can follow the prompt to speak to the office manager, Kathy Raymond. Maybe she can get someone to give you some answers.

Good Luck!

[ShedQueen77]

It's 12 days until sailing and I STILL don't have my confirmation details. I have plenty of ignored emails, unresponded voicemails, and being passed around from TWE rep to TWE rep though. NEVER ever have I experienced such horrible service! :mad:

 

OMG!! I really don't even know what to say or how to help. I just wanted you to know that I felt your pain and that I'm rooting for you to have a fantastic wedding day despite TWE's gross incompetence.

 

Keep calling!! Call every 15 minutes if you have to. Tell whoever answers the phone that you are sailing in 12 days and you need your information NOW. Don't let them pass you off. Tell them if they can't help you, put someone on the phone who CAN. Tell them NO VOICEMAILS; you want a live person. At this point, I don't think I'd even worry about coming off as a b**ch!!! 12 days before the wedding and no help is COMPLETELY ridiculous and totally unacceptable. Keep us posted!