Princess Cruise Lines
Reviews and Complaints

On March 5th 2013, I booked a 7-day cruise trip to Alaska from May 12 to May 19 2013 (departure at Pier 91, Seattle WA) for three passengers, my girlfriend, her mom, and I.
After booking the cruise trip, we received the booking confirmation and travel information via email saying that “Non-US or Canadian citizens may require the temporary visa.” (My girlfriend and her mom are not US or Canadian citizens.) Since this is the first cruise trip we had, we didn’t know how to properly prepare for the trip. So on March 7, 2013, we called the Princess customer service line: [protected] regarding to questions about preparation for the trip, especially the visa requirement. During the call, a male employee of Princess cruise asked questions about our visa and passport status. He checked our itinerary and firmly told us that, “according to your itinerary, you don’t need a visa, since the only stop in Canada is at Victoria port. As long as you stay on the boat, you should be fine.”
We believed that the Princess Cruise employee (They are called “cruise consultant”.) has been properly trained and would provide customers with accurate information. Therefore, we didn’t worry about the visa anymore and further booked flights from Los Angeles to Seattle for all three passengers.
While doing the cruise online registration, there was information regarding to the visa requirement, saying that a Canadian Temporary resident Visa must be obtained regardless of whether you choose to remain on board or on shore. We were confused because it’s contradictory to what we have been advised by the cruise consultant on Mar 7th, 2013. Therefore on April 7, 2013 morning, we called Princess Customer Service line at [protected] again to confirm our visa requirement. The phone call was made at 9:07AM, lasting for 4 minutes. A female employee informed us that as long as we confirmed with their agent that we don’t need a visa, we will be fine. After making the call, we felt safe in our mind that we should be fine according to the cruise employee’s advice.
We flew from Los Angeles to Seattle and stayed there for a night and Unfortunately on May12 2013 2:00 PM, we went to Seattle Pier 91 to board on the Golden Princess cruise. It is mother’s day and However, we were denied boarding due to the reason that we didn’t have proper documentation. We have been told by Princess Cruise check-in employee that Temporary Canadian Visa is required, which is completely contradictory to what we have been advised by the cruise consultant on the phone before.
We spent $2, 022 on the cruise trip along, as well as round-trip travel expense, totaling around $3, 638. However, we didn’t get any service, but we were frustrated and upset.
Since the whole problem started with the incorrect advice from Princess Cruise’s improperly trained employee, we requested Princess to reschedule a same trip for us without additional cost and reimburse our travel expense incurred from Los Angeles to Seattle including flight fares and taxi expenses.
We tried to contact with cruise customer relation on the phone. They transferred us from one person to another. In two hours, we talked to 6 different people but no one offered to resolve our issue. . Instead of investigating or retrieving the call record, they insisted no refund and no reschedule, and told us to pay another $ 2, 000 to rebook a trip.
On the morning of 05/14/13, we called Ms. Lisa Brack, Manager of Customer Relation at [protected] and discussed the issue. However, Ms. Lisa Brack never admitted that the customers were given wrong information from the Princess employee and never bother to verify the phone records. She attempted to avoid questions from the customers. Adding insult to injury, Ms. Lisa Brack hanged up on us. Such behavior is unacceptable and unforgivable to any customers.
Because o f Princess employee’s misconduct, we suffered significant monetary losses and emotional damage. What we are asking for is reasonable. However Princess Customer Relations denied the employee’ misconduct and their responsibility to customer. We are so exhausted fighting with Princess. Therefore, we are filing a complaint to pursue the justice and fairness as we are dealing with this unethical and unreliable big corporation.

We took a cruise with Princess Cruises scheduled from 27-31 Oct 2012. Although Hurricane Sandy was already predicted, we still sailed. We did get travel insurance. Instead of going to Bermuda, we ended up in Boston, MA. I had a military onboard credit, but had to chase Princess repeatedly to get it. We were kept on the ship 2 extra days to get back to NY, Princess added 2 extra days of tip to our bill even though Princess was the reason we stayed (they could have paid these tipdays). Lotus Spa offered a $35 weight loss solution, instead it was like a time share come on to sell us $1K of algae and herbs. At the end of this Princess refused to refund 1 penny of our fare. Beware cruise companies!

Our Princess travel cruise tour experience

June 2012 – I booked our dream Alaskan cruise / land tour, travel fight reservations and excursions all through Princess Cruises. We wanted everything to be simple and to be taken care of by and through Princess. Princess told me things would be easier, smoother and less hassle if we booked everything through them, so I did. Princess also suggested that I purchase travel insurance in case of some unforeseen event that could alter our vacation travel plans. I was informed that we would be covered for events such as air delays, major illness, family emergency; etc…At no time was it explained or was I offered a higher level of travel insurance coverage. I was under the impression that I had full travel insurance coverage. Princess informed me that the Travel insurance would take care of everything.

August 2012 – After reading the fine print regarding the arrival time into Vancouver needing to be by 2:00 pm and seeing that our flight arrived at 1:59pm, I called Princess and expressed concern with the tight time frame. Princess assured me not to worry and that I have travel insurance if something were to happen, and that they would take care of everything.

It is my personnel opinion even though I am not a professional travel advisor that Princess should have suggested to arrive one day before departure in case of flight delays or luggage issues.

Sept 1, 2012 - Arrived at Fresno airport at 6:30am for 9:27am departure. By 10:00am United announced that the flight was delayed. Even thought the departure information on the board at FAT still stated flight on time. It was evident that we would not make our connecting flight to Vancouver and not make Vancouver by 2:00pm. I immediately called Princess, they stated to continue to try and get there by 3:30pm. This would still give us time to board the ship. I discussed with Princess about canceling the trip and wanting to reschedule for another week. We did not want to start a vacation that we had saved and dreamed of taking for decades off this way. At this point they told us that our insurance only covers 75% of the Cruise fare only. I was shocked and in tears. Princess stated they will not cancel the trip because that would leave an empty room on the ship. They stated they cannot sail with an empty room and lose money. Additionally, Princess stated that ‘the system’ was not showing that our flight was delayed so they would not cancel. A United supervisor at Fresno actually talked to the Princess representative on the phone and assured her the flight was delayed through ATC and weather delays in San Francisco. There was a lot of confusion with our air booking stating the airline as Air Canada but operated by United. After many frustrating and confusing conversations regarding our situation, and whether to continue to travel on or not, we had little choice other that to continue to San Francisco hoping our connecting flight was also delayed and we could still make it to Vancouver by 3:30 as Princess had informed me. So at the last minute we boarded the flight with one checked bag and 2 carry on bags. In the cabin of the airplane with our 2 carry on bags the flight attendant stated that all overhead compartments were full and took our 2 carry on bags off the airplane to be loaded under the plane.

Upon arrival into San Francisco we waited by the plane to collect our 2 carry on bags. The bags were not there. No one had any idea where our carry on bags with all our medications were. These medications included; insulin and other diabetic medications, high blood pressure medication, anti-depressants, and medications for migraines. We entered into the madness of San Francisco Air Terminal and standing in massive lines waited to determine if we could still make our connecting flight and wondering where our carry on bags were. By this time we have missed our connecting flight and also do not know where our checked bag is. We really can not continue this trip if we have no checked or carry on bags that contain all our daily medications. I made numerous phone calls to Princess and Oncall International during this time. Every time I called I received different information. By this time it is clear that we will not be able to meet the ship in Vancouver. In tears and pleading with many United representatives the plan changes to try and catch up with the ship in Ketchikan if we can find our carry on and checked bags. It just kept going from bad to worse. This is not how we envisioned our trip. We were on the phone with Princess asking for assistance and direction. Again we were told to try to find a way to get from San Francisco to Ketchikan and hope that someone could find our bags. This was no easy task. United personal did not wish to assist us to find new flights or to located our checked bag and our 2 missing carry on bags. Many Untied personal actually told us, ‘it’s not my job’. I again turned to Princess for assistance, only to receive no assistance other than try to get to Ketchikan. I really do not know how to put into words the nightmare and sequence of events that occurred with our stay in the San Francisco Air Terminal and our conversations with Princess. All Princess did was to keep assuring us that everything would be taken care of.

After hours of lines, waiting, frustrating personnel and so much miss information we finally had a plan to fly from San Francisco to Seattle and then Seattle to Ketchikan. We still have no luggage, which also means no medications. Believe me by now we are in need of these medications. I am trying to see if there is a pharmacy in Ketchikan and see if I can get on call doctors (because it is Saturday and a holiday weekend) to send prescriptions. I am also trying to see what medicines I have extra at home and see if someone can go to my home and possibly overnight to Ketchikan. What a mess. Not relaxing at all.

They are trying to find our checked bag and see if it is on its way to Vancouver. If the luggage continued to Vancouver on the delayed flight it will miss the ship. We are also are still trying to figure out how our carry on bags disappeared. If they were not left in Fresno and did not come with us to San Francisco where could they be? When we left Fresno on the delayed flight to San Francisco two flights walked out the same gate. One flight walked to the left to San Francisco and one flight to the right to Vegas. Our thought was once the flight attendant removed our bags from the cabin of the airplane and placed our carry on bags outside the airplane, someone had to of picked up our bags and walked them over to the Vegas flight and placed the bags on the Vegas flight. Sounds crazy, but after many, many hours in San Francisco we finally convinced someone to check Vegas. To shorten the drama, they did locate the bags in Vegas. Now they just need to work on getting the bags to us. Remember these carry on bags have all our daily medications which I am in desperate need of by this time, not to mention the obvious, clothes. Princess told us that the insurance covers us to purchase $ 500.00 of clothing. I suppose it is something, but how do you shop for clothing on board and in tourist ports. Not many places to purchase underware, bathing suits or cocktail dress in Alaska ports. In addition my husband wears big and tall. There would be absolutely no place to purchase clothing to fit him. I wear petite which is not as hard to find, I guess I could have purchased women’s size small, tried to wash and shrink them to fit. Let’s face it, we need our luggage or we have to go home.

Princess informed us that we would be responsible for our lodging in Seattle and they would take care of us upon arrival in Ketchikan and arrange lodging and then get us to the ship. They did let us know to keep our receipts and we could be reimbursed up to $500.00. I asked the question $500.00 per person, per day, per what? No one could answer that question.

Lodging in Seattle was no easy task. This happened to be Labor Day weekend and we were told that the largest convention ever in Seattle was also taking place. There was one lady in baggage claim that was on the phone for literally 3 ½ hours trying to locate us a hotel room while we were waiting to locate our luggage. Finally the news came in that our luggage should arrive at midnight. What a long frustrating day. There were absolutely no rooms in Seattle no matter what the cost. Finally she located us a hotel with one room left in Tacoma, which is 60 miles to the south. After paying a rather large cab fare, we checked into the last room.

September 2, 2012 - Of course we had to now pay another transport fare back to Seattle airport to catch the flight to Ketchikan not to mention pay another checked bag fee. Princess told us they would meet us at the airport in Ketchikan and take us to the hotel they use, Cape Fox. We arrived in Ketchikan and are waiting for Princess, called Princess, and wait longer for Princess to pick us up. No Princess to pick us up. Finally we paid the fee to take the ferry across and found transportation to Cape Fox Lodge. Princess did not take care of our transportation or lodging accommodations. We had to do everything on our own. Called Princess again and informed them that we were at the Cape Fox Lodge. They stated that they would pick us up in the morning and transport us to the ship.

September 3, 2012 - What a surprise when they did not show up and we again had to make our own transportation arrangements to the ship and pay for all expenses on our own still not knowing what $500.00 coverage actually means. At this point the fees we have occurred to catch up to the ship far exceed $500.00.

Because of Princess not picking us up we now are left with a very tight schedule to make our scheduled excursion in Ketchikan, which we were told could not be canceled. Not very relaxing. So, on day 3 of what was supposed to be a relaxing, enjoyable time of our life we finally boarded the ship, totally exhausted and frustrated. We missed the first formal night, have 5 messages on our phone that we did not show for our schedule Lotus Spa treatments. I had specifically asked Princess on day one of this nightmare to please let the Lotus spa be aware of our situation and cancel our Spa appointments for September 2, 2012. According to the Lotus Spa, Princess never let them know. If we ever needed a relaxing spa treatment, now would be the time.

We tried very hard to put the past terrible days behind us and move forward. After all we have saved up for this trip for a long time. This was to celebrate my 50th birthday and our 32nd wedding anniversary. We wanted to make this an experience to remember. We had just hoped for different memories than we got.

Prior to our trip I called and ordered the upgraded unlimited soda / mocktail beverage package per person, per day. I clarified that we wanted to order alcohol in our room and use the beverage package to order room service for the sodas and mocktails. We wished to stay in our room and mix our own drinks. I was told that if I purchased this drink package we could do this. Well upon finally boarding the ship on day 3 we wanted to order the mocktails, have a drink and try to unwind and relax. I called room service and was told that I can not order this. I had to go up to a bar and get the mocktails. This is not what I was originally told or what we wanted to do. We wanted to be able to stay in the room and not have to go up to a bar. Just more frustrating mis information from Princess. Also, no one has ever mentioned being credited for the days that we were not on ship since this package was a per person, per day charge. Because of the inconvenience of having to leave the room to get the mixer we only used this service twice.

September 4 – 6, 2012 - In an effort to move forward and put the all past frustrations, miss-communications and contradictory information from Princess behind us we contacted the ship regarding receiving compensation. We were told that someone would call us in our room. No one called us, no personnel contact from anyone. The next day we finally received a letter stating that we would be issued a minor credit for the days missed on ship. They took the total cost of the cruise per person and divided by 12 days. The total trip was 12 days, 7 on ship which includes all meals and 5 on land that does not include any meals. It should be pretty obvious that the days on ship that include all the meals are worth more. We needed to discuss this with a person and explain are concern. I called again and asked if we could discuss the minimal credit issued with someone and explain all the problems that we had experienced with Princess. We were told that someone would be in touch. Someone did finally call and left us a message on the phone but neglected to leave us a phone number to call her back. So it appears that no one wishes to hear or address our concerns. We walk to a customer service desk and finally are put in touch with a person we think can assist us. Unfortunately she states there is nothing she can or anyone else on the ship can do. She stated that we need to speak to the corporate office. I asked to call and talk to them and she continues to explain that we have to wait until after the cruise. So much for trying to deal with all the horrific past and move forward. This issue is still un-resolved and will follow us though out our trip and back home. We were extremely disappointed that no one would or could assist us. We left the desk feeling very insignificant, unimportant and far from the ‘relax and rejuvenating’ motto of Princess. It was very obvious that no one really wished to assist us. On board the crew always had a smile on their face and always greeted us pleasantly, but that was all we got, all lip service, no actual caring, concern or action. It all seemed so phony.

We did try to relax at the Lotus Spa. Unfortunately the thermal steams rooms were not working. We tried some treatments to assist with relaxation; I myself tried a couple of massages to help relax. The therapist said that I have so many stress knots and tightness in my shoulders and neck, there was little she could do.

Seriously, by now we are anything but relaxed. All the stress and frustration from Princess not following through with any thing they told us on the phone is now wearing us out. We are so worn out our immune system is also worn out and we are now sick. Sniffling, coughing, chest congestion, and sore throats, we still try to more forward and try to enjoy the remainder of the trip. The weather and the excursions were good; of course these are things that Princess does not control. Some of our dining was good; other times we ordered items that never came to the table. We are so worn out it is not even worth mentioning. At this point we do not expect anything from Princess.

Sept 10, 2012 Upon arrival in Denali we check into the lodge and find that we are assigned a room with two double beds. This does not work for us. My husband is 6’4” and needs a larger bed to be able to sleep diagonally to have feet room. This was requested pre-cruise. They did manage to find us another room in the older part of the lodge. So we hauled our luggage from building 11 to building 4, not a short distance, especially being worn out and sick
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While in Denali our brand new video HD camcorder (purchased specifically for this trip) has now been stole. All of the video and pictures that we had taken so far are forever gone. I reported this to the Registration desk and asked to file a police report, but all I got was a lodge lost and found paper to complete. Seriously what else can go wrong?

Sept 13, 2012 - We are so looking forward to the end of our trip. We want this nightmare over and to go home, knowing that we have a lot of catch up and hard work ahead of us from being gone for two weeks. We arrive at the Fairbanks airport at 5:30am for the 8:00am departure to Anchorage. We are informed by Alaskan Air that they can see that we have tickets, but no money has been transferred to pay for the tickets. We cannot get home. The Alaskan Airlines representative explains that someone must have made a mistake somewhere and someone has not paid for the airline tickets. I have all the confirmation numbers and paid airfare documentation with me. This information does not seem to help. She begins a 2 hour conversation which includes hold time and transfer time between Air Canada and United and back to Air Canada and back to United and back to Air Canada….you get the picture. She stated she does not get worked up or mad, but this was too much. She could not get any assistance from anyone. While she was on the phone I myself contacted Princess and explained the situation. I was told that Princess can not help me with this and I need to work with the airlines, she then proceeded to hang up. So with 20 minutes before our flight departs and still needing to pass through TSA we have two options, stay in Fairbanks another night or however long it takes for someone to straighten things out, or pay for the flight home out of pocket. We need to get home, so we paid the $565.30 per person for the exact same flights home that we had already booked and paid for through Princess in June. We just can not believe it.

So we are finally on our journey home. Frustrated, disappointed, sick, lets be honest mad as hell having incurred almost $ 3000.00 out of pocket expenses to cover all this mess, with no guarantee of return compensation for the out of pocket expenses or credits for the delays and lack of Princess assistance. We can not wait to get home. On our first layover in anchorage I again contacted Princess. I spoke with Juliette. She entered a Post Cruise incident for us regarding the return travel issue only. Juliette was helpful and assured us that we would be compensated for the $ 565.30 per person flight home charges.

September 14, 2012 - We are finally home and trying to recover. I called Princess again. Spoke to a Becky Hooser. I briefly told her our story, as if this story could be told briefly. The representive stated that she has heard all these issues before, just never to the same person on the same trip. She informed us to write everything up and to file additional Post Cruise incidents. There will be three separate incidents:

Incident 1 – Initial flight delays pre cruise and lack of Princess assistance
Incident 2 – Lost / Delay in Luggage
Incident 3 – Return flight charges
Additional Concern – Lack of adequate compensation from Princess for days missed

Please keep in mind that for us to even have any chance of receiving reimbursements or compensation for all this mess is totally up to us. I currently have receipts and paperwork laid out across the floor. It will take a great deal of time to sort through all this and to document all the stuff that has happened. I will be filing claims that require a lot of information and can only assume this will take months to straighten out. This nightmare is not over. The time to sort out, explain, make copies, prepare and file claims will take much more time than the cruise tour of 12 days. We both work very hard and have jobs that demand our time over and above the normal 8 to 5 jobs. I am sure that all this mess will require time away from our jobs.

Princess keep telling us it will be ok, they will take care of things. Well it was not, and they did not take care of things. We are extremely disappointed and based on our experience, would never recommend Princess to anyone. All we can do now is to take the time and do all the paper work and wait to see if we do indeed get any compensation. Even though the weather was good and the scenery was beautiful, we truly regret ever taking this trip. The stress of this all far exceeds any minimal beauty we saw. We could have stayed home, watched Alaskan documentaries and seen good weather and beautiful scenery with no stress.
Days Missed Refund

Princess sent us a letter day 5 of our passage stating that we would receive $274.82 per person for the days missed on board.

Total cost of $1649.00 per person for 12 days; 7 days on ship meals included and 5 days on land, meals NOT included.

Average cost per day for food based on Princess menu prices in McKinley, Denali, and Fairbanks.

Breakfast $12.00 plus $3.00 beverage = $15.00 plus 20% tip of 3.00 = $18.00
Lunch $15.00 plus $3.00 beverage = $18.00 plus 20% tip of 3.60 = $21.60
Dinner $22.00 plus $3.00 beverage = $25.00 plus 20% tip of 5.00 = $30.00
Meal cost per person per day $69.90

Remove cost of 7 days meals from total to get cost of lodging alone

7 days meals per person = $489.30

$1649.00 cost of total cruise per person
$ 489.30 minus 7 days meals
$1159.70 is cost of lodging alone for 12 days

$ 96.64 is cost of lodging alone per day

$ 96.64 cost of lodging per day per person
$ 69.90 cost of meals per day per person
$ 166.54 is cost of meals and lodging per day per person

$ 166.54 times 2 days missed = $ 333.08 for passenger 1
$ 166.54 times 2 days missed = $ 333.08 for passenger 2

$ 666.16 = the cost of meals and lodging for 2 days for 2 passengers. This is the base amount that should be credited to our account.

Additional amounts to be credited would be our Unlimited Soda & More Package which is
$ 8.05 per person per day. $ 32.20 for two people for two days missed.

I would like Princess to consider refunding the total package of $ 119.00 being that we purchased this package based on the information we received on the phone which was that we could order these beverages (sodas / mocktails) as room service to our room. We wished to mix our own drinks in our room. Upon arrival on board we were told that we could not do this. So we received incorrect information by which we purchased this package. We did not wish to leave our room and go to the bar to receive our drinks. I believe that we only used this service twice.

Inconvenience, Pain and Suffering, Extreme Disappointment, Frustration, Anger
These would be some of ways that we would describe our experience with Princess. We do realize that Princess cannot control flight delays, but they certainly should have experience and expertise in assisting passengers with advice, information and smooth transitions to join the ship. Unfortunately we did not experience any assistance from Princess.

Suggestions of ways that Princess can improve
1. Upon booking our flights reservations, with all Princesses travel experience they should of suggested arriving a day early instead of booking us to arrive one minute before the 2:00 pm. arrival deadline.
2. Upon selling us the travel insurance, they should have explained that there are two different plans and explained the coverage.
3. Upon first contact to Princess and notification of flight delay, should have assisted us with alternate travel options.
4. Upon continued contact to Princess and notifications of delays and lost luggage, should have assisted us with airline flights and hotel lodging until we boarded the ship on day 3.
5. Princess did state that they would take care of all arrangements in Ketchikan and would pick us up at the airport. Princess never showed or took care of any lodging arrangements. They did not even show up to take us to the ship. Princess should at least follow through with the things they stated that they would take care of.
6. Princess should have contacted us in person and discussed compensation for the time missed on the ship. Instead we were told that we have to wait until after the trip to discuss compensation.

I can only hope that we had an isolated experience and that Princess does not usually leave there passengers fending for themselves. I hope that Princess can adjust procedures and learn to assist passengers better after hearing our bad experience. I hope that Princess will consider all our troubles and offer a fair compensation for our experiences. If you have any questions or would like further information, please contact us at xxx-xxx-xxxx.

I've applied for vacancy at this cruise line and was accepted, before I could start working I had to do some paperwork which included paying around $500 in order to speed things up. Salary was way more that I've ever hoped for so I sent that money via Western Union but ever since somebody collected that cash I haven't heard of this company again... It was scam.

On February 9, 2010, my wife and I boarded the Diamond Princess in Auckland, New Zealand, bound for Melbourne and Sydney, Australia. Booking No. XT9Q3D

On the morning of February 18, 2010, while still at sea and on the Diamond Princess, I ate breakfast at the Horizon Court buffet, and I subsequently became ill, with a stomachache and diarrhea. I had eaten only food prepared and served on the Diamond Princess. Before eating breakfast I felt fine and I was in good health.

After I became ill my wife and I stayed in our state room, while I tried to recover, but I did not improve. Later on February 18th I reported my medical condition to the ship’s Medical Center. The ship’s nurse took down my information and treated me for Acute Gastroenteritis.

The ship’s nurse also instructed me to return to my state room, and to not disembark the ship even though the ship was to dock at Melbourne. She said I was strictly prohibited from stepping outside of my state room, and she said that if I did so I would be expelled from the ship at my own expense. I was confined by the ship’s nurse to my room for 24 hours until the evening next day, February 19th, after the ship left Melbourne.

The nurse did not make it clear to me why I was not permitted to go ashore in Melbourne, or why I was confined to my room for so long. As a result, the confinement felt like a kind of involuntary detention.

While I recovered, on February 18 and 19, my wife had to tend to me. She could not, moreover, go on shore alone while the Diamond Princess was in Melbourne. As a result, my wife and I both missed our only chance to visit Melbourne.

Melbourne was, for us, a dream destination and a key reason we paid for the Diamond Princess cruise. We spent thousands of dollars in air fare from the U.S., in addition to the cruise fees, to see Melbourne. Because of the food poisoning I contracted on the Diamond Princess, however, my wife and I were denied the opportunity to disembark and visit the city. Due to the cost and distances involved, we will not have another chance to visit Melbourne.

I have requested Princess either to give me a refund, or grant me the equivalent in credit toward a future cruise, as compensation for the loss that my wife and I incurred due to food poisoning directly caused by the Princess Cruises. However, Princess denied its responsibility and refused to compensate us anything. I and my wife will never take a cruise with Princess again in the future. There are a lot of cruise lines providing much better service and are more responsible than Princess. Why do we bother to travel with an irresponsible cruise line like Princess.

My wife and I recently cruised on the Golden Princess to Alaska from Seattle.While the scenery was beautiful, the ship was lovely, and we received, for the most part, excellent service, unfortunately our vacation was marred by the following experience.

Upon arriving in our stateroom on Saturday, my wife looked through the excursion tickets that were left in our room. (We had booked the cruise and all of our tour excursions through our travel agent.) She mentioned that everything appeared to be in order except that there were no tickets for the zip line tour that I was supposed to be taking in Juneau with my brother and nephew. The steward suggested we visit the excursion/tour desk to doublecheck our plans and my wife said she wasn’t worried. She had the confirmation, information and printouts from our travel agent about ALL the tours. The steward said it was always a good idea to check in with the travel desk.

We decided the next day to visit the excursion desk to ask a few questions since we were first- time cruisers and there were some procedures we were not familiar with. For example, we had several vouchers in our room that said we had received several $100 credits for tours from our travel agent. However, we assumed that this money appeared as a credit until we actually went on the excursions. Still, we just wanted to doublecheck as it was Sunday, we were at sea and unable to contact our travel agent.

We spoke with a woman at the tour/excursion desk and explained our questions about the ‘credit’ appearing on our account as well as the zip line confirmation. This is where the problems began. She looked over the paperwork that my wife had from our travel agent and said several times, “The zip line tour is not confirmed.” She seemed confused by the printouts that we had. My wife pointed out several times that there was indeed a booking number for the zip line tour and asked if perhaps we would not get tickets for this particular tour as it was not affiliated with Princess. There were clear directions written on the printout for how to meet this tour in Juneau. The agent continued insisting that we were not booked for a zip line tour, suggested that perhaps the credit on our account was for this tour because for whatever reason it was not confirmed, and seemed to indicate that if we were, in fact, booked on any tour she would have record of it.

My wife and I did not make a decision at the time but went back to our room to discuss it and look over our paperwork again. We felt like our email confirmation was clear enough but were confused by the agent's inability to explain our ‘credit’ and by her insistence that our confirmation/booking numbers were not valid. We finally figured that the tour/excursion specialists on the ship dealt with these things all the time and that they would know what is and is not confirmed. I decided to go down to the desk and try again to clarify the situation. Because my 10 year old nephew was really excited about this zip line tour, I didn’t want to take any chances.

The same agent, again, insisted that the paperwork we had did not indicate any sort of confirmation on the zip line/canopy tour. Although I felt a little unsettled about it, I decided to trust the expertise of the tour/excursion professionals on board believing that they knew better than I and went ahead and authorized charges for the zip line/canopy tour. My wife in the meantime had sent an email to our travel agent asking about the credit and verifying that for whatever reason, our zip line tour had not been confirmed at the last minute.

The following day my brother, nephew and myself went on this tour in Juneau and had a wonderful time thinking the matter was resolved. However, during the tour my wife received a call from the other zip line company asking where we were. We had been double booked after all. The tour desk was closed when we got back to the ship that evening so there was nothing we could do at that point. The next morning (the previous day had been a holiday) my wife received a message from our travel agent saying that we were absolutely confirmed on the first zip line tour and that any credit on our account was for excursions we had already paid for.

Although irritated at this point, I thought that this was a very clear misunderstanding and that once explained this matter could be quickly resolved. Due to a translation or training issue, the tour desk agent had led us to believe that our paperwork was not valid and we were not booked on a tour when we were. Basically, we had pre-paid the zip line tour with our travel agent and then paid again on board for another tour. I stopped in at the tour desk that evening and asked for the manager.

When I was finally able to speak to the tour manager the next day he looked at my paperwork and “straight away” recognized that we were booked and confirmed on a zip line tour that was not affiliated with Princess. He agreed that his staff had made an error in telling us we were not confirmed and should have immediately seen it was not a Princess tour. He also confirmed that the credit that had appeared on our account was for tours booked with Princess. Why the other agent could not have seen and explained this was not addressed but he insinuated that there were language issues and said that sometimes things got "lost in translation". The manager said he would get back to me later that evening with some sort of resolution. However, he called and said he needed more time.

We heard nothing on until the very last day of our trip and I had to seek out the manager again which I knew wasn't a good sign. At this point, he claimed that although he understood the confusion he (Princess) believed that our travel agent was at fault for booking with a non-Princess company, suggested that this was rare, and indicated that Princess’s official position was that our travel agent should have ‘better explained’ the procedures to us. While he did credit us $200, he claims this was the ‘best he could do’ under the circumstances. (He did admit that he felt it was their mistake and we were entitled to a refund) He gave us the information to lodge a formal complaint with their customer relations department which we immediately did upon on our return.
Today after speaking to Customer Relations, they made it clear that a) it is our problem and we should have better understood our own paperwork and that b) we will not be refunded any money and c) they didn't agree with the tour desk manager giving us any refund including the $200 he gave us.

This matter could have easily been resolved while we were on board and our vacation would not have been tainted by this incident. To blame our travel agent for the incompetence of their employees is ridiculous and to take advantage of first time cruisers in this way is unethical. Basically they are saying that their cruise passengers cannot trust what they are told by Princess employees?

Our directions were very clear and we did not question them until we were told by the tour desk personnel that our confirmation/booking information was not valid. If this agent was confused or not clear about what she was seeing she should have consulted her manager for assistance. While we wanted to believe that this was an innocent mistake based on inexperience, it appears that Princess might be in the business of cheating its customers then having the audacity to blame them for following directions/advice given by its employees. We were only originally questioning procedures and did not question our confirmation until their employee told us our paperwork was not valid.

Do not cruise with them. We met a man later who had been charged 6X for a helicopter excursion rather than for an excursion for 6 people. He was fighting that. We are going to continue to fight this but at this point its not even about the $ anymore. They shouldn't get away with cheating their customers in this way. (We are blowing up twitter, facebook and my wife's blog with this story and I am posting in every place I can.)

My newlywed wife and I recently took a trip on Princess Cruise lines...neither one of us will recommend them to ANYONE in the future. Upon Disembarkment we didn't have our luggage and didn't receive it until the second day (evening) of our honeymoon cruise. We were on our own basically to get the clothes we arrived in laundered in order to have something to wear at our first port. At our 1st port we inquired as to if our luggage had been located and when we could expect it. (No answer). So in order to "enjoy" the first day of our cruise we did some shopping for swim suits, shorts, shirts, evening wear (just for that day) and spent close to $250 just in case we didn't get our luggage that day. We were given a $50 room credit for laundry service and to help cover some expense of our in town shopping for that days clothing.

We eventually got our luggage after dinner that evening. We were still upset with the situation but tried to put it behind us and enjoy the remainder of our trip. Upon returning home I made some inquiries as to additional reimbursement due to having to spend money just to have something to wear...because they didn't have our baggage. I was basically told that they (princess cruise lines) were not monitarily responsible for "delays" in baggage getting to our room. SERIOUSLY?!?! The luggage is put in your charge at the airport terminal and it never gets to the ship until our 2nd night on the ship and you are NOT responsible? WTF! So far they refuse to issue any type of monitary refund or cover our clothing expenses at our first port of call.

BTW...This is the third cruise line I have traveled with and it is by far the worst. Not that they were "bad" but the quality of food wasn't as expected, the wait staff wasn't as polite (esp. in the buffet areas) and overall just not as good of an experience as I have had on Carnival and Royal Carribean. Not to mention the whole luggage fiasco...and we weren't the only ones with issues of this type. I was in line with several dozen people who had no idea where there luggage was either. The was a mountain of unclaimed bags by the customer service desk that people were looking through to see if they could find there stuff on there own. How unprofessional is that?

Don't use princess...go with a different cruise line.

Or, our cruise from hell...

We recently went on a cruise to alaska aboard the new ship star, princess cruise lines. We went with four other very good friends. We waited 3 years for what we thought would a really fabulous vacation. We had to reschedule from 3 years ago due to a death in the family. We were so looking forward to this cruise.

What a disappointment it was!

The star may be big and beautiful, but it is totally lacking in service and entertainment. The variety of entertainment wasn't great and the waiters in the dining room were for the most part rude! This cruise was soooo boring, people were walking around like we were all at a funeral!

The 3 day land tour at the end of the cruise was awful. They spend all the time herding you around like cattle or making you wait hours to be transferred to another location again. Things are not planned out well, not to mention they keep your luggage overnight at 2 locations and you don't have access to it.

By the time you get to the airport, you wonder has anybody gone through it? Not a good way to handle luggage!

The other two couples we traveled with are not happy either. We wouldn't recommend princess cruise lines to an enemy, if we had any that is.

Our advice... Cruise with another line!

They provided terrible service, applied illegal charges on my final bill, and the long lines made it impossible to dispute them without missing my plane upon disembarking.

Also, they leave for the tours earlier than stated on the ticket. They stated 8:30 am. But even though we arrived at 8:20 am, they stated we missed our tour and refused to give us a refund.

Just awful public relations there. Go with Holland America or another great line. Leave this company behind.

Grab your depends and set sail on the Grand Princess, my wife (41), two children 13 & 15 and I (41) took our second cruise this year and WOW what a mistake to have chosen princess to celebrate Christmas and New Years December 20 thru January 2, 2010-11. The same food was served for 14 days or re-cycled into a new dish and called something new; the hot food was cold and the cold food hot. The atmosphere on the ship bordered a retirement home and the nite life consisted of bingo.
The staff was adequate as long as you didn’t have an issue that required anything besides clean towels in your state room. One last negative before I mention the positive, if they mentioned Diamonds International one more time I was going to jump overboard.
(The chain of jewelry stores they own and have at least five of on every island and are so over priced it’s tragic that people would fall for this scam)

The islands we visited will leave a beautiful lasting memory for my family to remember and the majority of the island population loved the tourists. So if you are ok with using the ship as a floating hotel and want to be in bed by 9pm then this is the cruise line is for you.

Stayed overnight in ships sick bay. Transferred to hospital in Panama. Received bill from Princess for hospital charges, with some duplications added as extra charge. Also received a bill from Norton Lilly through Princess for $3, 500.00 for me and $1, 000.00 for my wife for medical services. Absolutely no medical services were rendered through these people. I requested itemization of charges from the Norton Lilly bill and received no reply. Sent them registered letter later requesting this and was told that I would have to pay this bill, but they would not give me specifics of what they claim of service rendered.

Do not ever use princess cruise to book your air for a cruise. We paid princess ~$500 for a one day extension in auckland at the end of our cruise. Princess booked us on a 6:15a. M. Flight that day which required a 3:30 a. M. Transport to the airport. We tried to rebook ourselves so we could use the extention and princess said we would forfeit 75% of our air fare if we did. When we pushed them to rebook, they said there would be a $2200 "rebooking fee." I personally verified that there were multiple alternate flights available all the way up to our return which permitted princess to meet the terms of our contract. Even though we paid $351.66 for their "vacation protection", they have totally refused to refund for this un-met part of our contract. This was compounded by their using 4 separate flights both for departure and return (The return 4 segments took 36 hours). Our first connection during departure had an unmakeable connect time (Which we managed to modify ourselves with help from the airline). It is obvious that this is strictly a low cost bean counting organization which will totally disregard contractural obligations.

We were on a 7 day cruise in the Caribbean, and being only 21 at the time, i had to carry my own personal ID around with me so i could get served drinks. Regardless of the "A" that they print on your tag (because they "could have messed up and printed an A"). When I sat down in a pub to have a cigarette, the bartender came up to me and yelled at me "you cant be in here!" when i asked him why he said "because youre not 21!" i said "actually, yes I am" i threw my id at him and walked away. I got decent service from just ONE employee on the entire cruise. There is hardly anyone on the outer decks to take drink orders. The dinner staff do not take the time to get to know their tables. There were 15 of us, with 3 different tables and 3 different waiters, we all had medioker service, no one went out of their way to make the trip extraordinary like they do on other cruise lines (I have been on 2 other lines prior to Princess).
Not to mention this cruise line was 100% NOT wheelchair accessible. Having a paraplegic with us on our trip, he had to be accompanied by one of us at all times as there were huge lips at the bottom of every door that he needed help with. Other cruiselines will have small lips on the outer decks, however inside the ship, they are all flat and have automatic doors. He could get over the lips himself, but with the heavy doors that you have to open as well, it was impossible for anyone in a chair to get around by themselves.
They did not have a ramp at the docking ports. They simpy had stairs that they threw a thick mat over. At the port that had too steep of stairs to throw a mat over they had the "stair climber" which is a complete joke. The sides do not come off so anyone in a chair cannot transfer over to it. They have to be lifted up by their "trained" wheelchair helpers. They are not trained for paraplegics. they are trained for elderly people and people with walking difficulties. When I asked them why they do not have a ramp they said "because the water is so shallow here, we would have to have 50 feet of ramp, " so i simply told them to get 50 ft of ramp! When we finally got through the hassle of the stair climber, not to mention the stares from every onlooker and employee... Royal Caribbean cruise line was parked beside ours, WITH 50 FEET OF RAMP!
They had not one wheelchair accessible excursion on any of the 6 ports that we stopped at. The theatre had stairs going down them, with wheelchair seating at the top. Which would have been alright, except for one it was a terrible view, and for two, there was a spot for a wheelchair, and then a permant seat... so if anyone in a chair wanted to go watch a show, they could only sit with one person. On every other ship we have been on (5 to be exact), the theatre had a slight incline instead of stairs, so one in a wheelchair could sit at the end of the aisle and still be able to have decent seating and watch the show with as many people as they wanted.
Princess is a joke of a cruise line. They did not have entertaining shows, or activities. They had ripped this ship in two and added 500 rooms, however they did not add more restaurants, make the theatre bigger (there were people standing every night), or add anything, besides the rooms. It was completely overcrowded. Just a joke of a cruise ship and cruise line. When you file complaints after the fact, not one person contacts you back or gives you the time of day. I would not recommend this cruise line to anyone, especially if they are travelling with a wheelchair!

here is a copy of the letter we sent to princess... just read it and see how they treat passingers, you wont believe the horrible trip we had...I hope this gets out to a lot of people and the word gets out there, because the company doesn't seem to care ... Dear Mr. Buckelew, Oct.25, 2009

My name is Randolph Lowery and my partners name is Gerardo DiTraglia. The purpose of this letter is to enlighten you as to the incompetents of your officers and crew onboard the Emerald Princess transatlantic voyage Sept.23, 2009 through Oct.11, 2009. As businessmen and frequent cruisers we can assure you that we know what to expect and what not to expect from the crew of a cruise ship!

This was, without a doubt, the worst experience we have ever had on a cruise. The ship its self was beautiful, however; the crew made it a terrible experience. Your cruise director, Lisa Ball, was very condescending making it clear she felt superior toward the passengers, forgetting that they make her job and salary possible. We were appalled.

On our first day aboard Emerald Princess, we toured the ship while waiting for our luggage to reach our stateroom, when our luggage arrived we unpacked, then we decided to go to the sauna and relax, as a gentleman was doing when we toured, however; when we arrived a girl at the desk told us it was not available to us, because all hands were delivering luggage and they were short staffed, She said it is never open until the second day of the cruise. I asked her about the gentleman using it when we toured earlyer, she kept insisting that no one was in there and it was closed.

Here are a few other reasons we were unhappy and had such a horrible experience with Emerald Princess

OVER CHARGED ; Next we tried to purchasing cigarettes from the store. What a fiasco, the computer was down, the clerk hand wrote our receipt, two days later a printout of our bill showed we were charged $1, 372.93 for the two cartons of cigarettes, their receipt was gone, lost, no longer attached to the other paperwork. When asked about it, we were told it was an error. We can understand someone making an error, but when you work in the store that sells cigarettes, you should know they don't cost $686.46 per carton! Why not fix it then and there, rather then have the passenger have to find out about such a careless mistake. We were assured that there was only a hold on the money, A call to our bank confirmed they had most definately debited $ 1'372.93 from our account to your cruise line! This took days to correct, and many costly phone calls and frayed nerves.

MUSIC; There was classical music playing thru out the ship, we can understand in the piazza, resturants and cafe's. Out by the pools on the deck was the same broing music, people were bored unmotivated, We asked the crew working on the deck about it, they said Lisa had changed it on the first leg of the cruise when some old guy had complained about the music. We were told by your staff (it's really killing us go make a complaint)And we could tell it really was effecting the moral of the crew on the pool decks, they were very unmotivated, there for not motivating us, not selling us. There for us not partying, having a good time and buying drinks. Isn't it all about making the sale ? So we went to the pursers desk they referred us to Lisa Ball, We asked if there was anyway for some variety in the music, she said she couldn't just change the music like that, it had to be uploaded and would take 5 days, and then says she caters to her larger demographics on the ship. (Well we all paid for a vacation)!

BUFFET; One evening they had appetizers of mozzarella balls garnished with cherrie tomatoes, then on top of the mozzarella balls anchovie paste and an anchovie. Gerardo asked if he could please have some mozzarella balls without the anchovies, they gave him some, we went to our table began to eat, Gerardo spits out the mozzarella balls they were spoiled ! we go to the chef to tell him, he says there fine I'm Italian I know, Gerardo says I don't care what you are I'm Italian too and I'm telling you they are spoied. The chef smells them says there fine, Gerardo insisted that he eat one, he did and you should of seen the look on his face trying to swallow it, as if it were fresh. Then he has the nerve to say (well things go bad on a 17 day cruise) Well we go and try to finish dinner after that, when done we passed thru the other dinning room both the chefs were sitting there and said, hey guys were sorry about that, but we weren't on that line in the kitchen. Well if you are the head chef aren't you over all the lines in the kitchen? Then he has the nerve to say in Italian to Gerardo ( Comunque sia, gli americani mangiano tutto!) which when translated means;( by the way you Americans will eat anything!) We were appalled. Later that same evening, being that we didn't really eat dinner, thought we would go get some cookies and tea, when we looked at the buffet they hadn't removed the spoiled mozzarella balls, they were still there for people to eat and get sick!

ICELAND; In port we always go do our own thing, we do not like being part of any tours. We were told by friends we had to go to the Blue lagoon. So we went to a travel agent in Iceland and got a bus and tickets to the Blue Lagoon. Later a tour buss from princess with all the elderly and some crew members shows up. Everyone was enjoying how wonderful the geothermal seawater was. We stayed out there until the last bus was leaving to take us back to town, we loved it. Well upon returning we were out buy the pool and one of your photographers comes up and says did you guys see the video ? I got you in it! Well first off we weren't on the ship, which we know on every ship we have been on they video the cruise. Also we weren't on an Emerald Princess Tour, any other line we have sailed with when videoing someplace in a port you are asked to sign a release form. We feel very violated of our rites, We do not want to be affiliated with Princess Cruise line whatsoever!
This matter is being looked into.

SAFTY DURING RUFF SEAS; We hit ruff seas, on any other cruise we have been on when we hit ruff seas you always would see an officer checking on the deck. Not so on your line.!There was the problem of constantly flooded decks and no one even trying to squeegie them off. I asked why doesn't any one squeegie the deck, never really got an answer. They just had the yellow cones out. Water was splashing two decks up out of the pool, no one seemed to care, the deck hands were just standing around with there arms crossed. Those same elderly people Ms Ball was talking about catering to were having to tred a river of water, most with canes and walkers trying to get to the buffet. Also there were pieces of wood just floating on the deck that had broken off of the wall, I watched that wood float out there for more then two hours, in all that time not one of your crew members stopped to pick it up, if one of those elderly people would of hit that it all would of been over for them .All of the people that smoked had to stay in one little corner on the deck, the water was two inches deep and actually going in the automatic doors that lead to the staterooms. I asked why didn't they drain the pool, no one seemed to know. So I asked who was in charge of the deck always getting told someone different. So again I go to the pursers desk they said it had to come to the bridge. Finally after that someone comes out and takes some pictures and then they drain the pools. Safety should of really been the priority being the ages of most of the passangers.

TINDER TO GREENLAND; We all had to get tickets and sit in the theater to wait to be called, they had only two running, it took almost two hours to get on one. While waiting there were two guys that were buddy buddy with Lisa Balls little side kick Hollywood. Well he comes up puts his arms around them wispers, then one follows him back to the white doors for staff only, then a few minutes later the other one. He snuck them out and put them on the tender, So I said to Gerardo screw this and went to see and it went rite down to the tinder. So I went up to Lisa and told her She said oh no! as if he would never do something like that, I said ok then why are there two empty chairs next to ours ? she didn't say anything . I told her I wanted to talk to someone she said I would have to go to the pursers desk and that they would just refer us to her. I told her I waned to speak to the Captian, she says in her condescending way ( I can assure you that you will never speak with the Captain) But Kuzan took us to talk with Martin Ford, he said he would follow up when we got to port, but unfortunately nothing could be done on the cruise it would have to happen at the home office on land.We told him we were going to follow up as well.

BARS CLOSED; The lounges were closed early, one evening at 12:30 the casino closed so we went up to the skywalker lounge, being it's the only bar you can smoke in. We were told upon entering they had called last call and were closed, looking over to the bar to the left where you could smoke was crew members sitting there drinking . We could understand if they had already locked the bottles, but they hadn't. We feel they should of said we have called last call we can serve you one drink but we are locking up. So again back to the pursers desk. The next day Tim the food and bev manager calls says he asked but no one in the bar could recall last night ( they all cover for eachother)

Mr Buckelew,
we feel the officers working under you are not doing there jobs, probably not to the expectation that you would want. Knowing its all about the passangers experiences. This cruise was the worst experience ever! With what Lisa said about catering to the larger demografic, we feel this cruise should of been advertised as a seniors cruise! We spoke with many people on the cruise who still had life in them and were totally bored and dissapointed with your staff, saying the same as us they would never cruise with Princess or any of your other lines.We can assure that we (WILL NEVER) cruise with any of your cruies lines ever! And there are other cruise lines out there.We also feel we were ripped off, lost 18 days, We would of rather stayed home and worked those 18 days. Just to think about the money we lost while held captive on your ship. It would of been better to of stayed home.As we said we are business owners, we are also in the service industry, we cater to a very extensive client base. Here are just a few so you can see the kind of clients we are used to catering to: Martine Rothblatt, Terence Witt, Tessy Princess of Luxembourg, Bobby Dall they can all be googled, along with attorneys, doctors, media, pilots and also captains of ships! So for us to of been treated and talked down to the way we were is unexcusable.
The reason we addressed this letter to you Mr. Buckelew is we feel you need to know whats going on underneath you. We hope this letter makes it to you, We would like to hear back from you personally in this matter ...Randolph Lowery & Gerardo DiTraglia

November 2, 2009

To: Mr. Alan Buckelow and Customer Relations
Princess Cruises

From: Miriam Gordon

Booking Number- XH3X2Q

This Letter is my complaint of everything that happen and the issues and problems that occurred on the Emerald Princess during my vacation from 10-18-2009 to 10-25-2009. I will go into complete detail about everything that happens from the first day to the last.

On October 18th, 2009 it was my birthday when I called princess cruise and also my travel agency told them more then once it was my birthday when my reservations was made it was noted, I even called so many times to make sure. Once on the ship I noticed that on everyone’s door but mine had balloons. I had No balloons, No singing Happy Birthday to me at dinner and No cake they forgot me but not everyone else. They did not even realize it until I complained. I was told that my room steward was the person that forgot. I’m going to blame where the blame belongs on Princess Cruise and David Pearce the executive housekeeper who is suppose to check to make sure everything is perfect and done correctly. This room steward is a hard worker, I feel she is over worked but in spite of this she always speaks “Hello I hope you have a nice dinner or enjoy yourself always with a smile. Always good morning with a smile. Long hours but she speaks always and that smile just makes you feel to smile back. She realized once I complained she felt so bad she was sorry it happened, and I understand why over worked and long hours and I can only guess how much you pay them shame on you these poor people. So once again I Blame princess cruise. By the way my room was always spotless, clean towels. Being the cruise send me flowers after they made a mistake that admits it was the cruises fault and flowers just does not get it when the problems continued. At the end of the cruise I received a make a difference card, I say my room steward made a difference to me for the reason she showed me how sorry she was about my birthday and she is a very very hard worker. This lady is the only one that said she was sorry out of all the other problems that I had not any of your staff on the ship said they was sorry that caused the problems.

Photo Gallery the next issue and problem that I had on your ship. I’m a person with a disability on this day that I walked to the photo gallery my ankles was very swollen it was very hard for me to walk when I reached the photo gallery they just closed it which I understand however when I tried to explain my situation to Lisa to please try to understand how much my feet hurt and that I had a very hard time to walk here she could look at my feet and ankles and see how big they was. I ask her to please show my pictures to me. Lisa made the choice not to be understanding and considerate and still said NO I ask her to call her supervisor more then once as she made me wait and wait sitting on my walker I got to the point I felt I was waiting to long and I ask Lisa what should I do? She responded back in a very harsh voice and her words not nice at all and her tone of voice was very disturbing to me she said you can wait if you want to or you can leave it was my prerogative in such a nasty tone of voice basically she was saying damn if you do damn if you don’t, her don’t care attitude. I was in tears for the reason this lady has no idea how I felt with feet swollen and the pain I was in I could not excuse her for talking to me like that I really think that she could have been more understanding and should have been nicer. Later I was near the purser desk and one of Lisa coworkers came over to me and told me how sorry she felt that Lisa did that to me. But how come Lisa did not come to me and apologize.

This is the third issue Amanda Coulter was sitting at the captain circle host desk on deck six near the purser desk. I walked over to Amanda asking if she could please help me. St. Thomas has a Jewish Temple that I would like to go see so I was asking her for help and ask her for information about the Temple, she responded “I don’t know” your staff famous words “I don’t know” then I asked Amanda since you don’t know please call someone that might know and can help me the phone was in front of her never picking it up not even a attempting to try to pick it up so I asked her again she just sat there and looked at me like I was asking to much from her or I was stupid for asking her to help me. I thought that your staff was here to help us or at least try I was wrong I guess on this ship we are on our own way not only this lady Don’t know anything but there was more then a few of your staff that I asked where is this place and the answer I heard was I don’t know. Amanda was not busy I was the only person there so it could not be that she was to busy. I then asked her if she had a problem with this Temple or my religion. I felt I gave her enough time if she was going to help me she never did instead she burst out in tears at the time I had No idea why and what did I say to her I had no clue I walked away from her because this was not normal way to act when that’s all I did was ask for help when she just sat there and did nothing I ask a question that’s all and I asked her nicely to please get someone else that maybe can help me she did nothing at all. She picked up the phone then and was crying to some one I was in the pursers line to cash a travelers check I was standing in line when I looked over at her and there was a man wearing all white she was talking to him and then I saw her leave before she left she pointed me out in the line and this man came over to me name unknown and this lady named Kusan was there also he said for me to go into this office now in a stern tone in his voice and so did Kusan Furrer get in the office Now! I said I will not until I finish cashing this check then I will go not before not before and that’s what I did as this man stood there and watched me like a criminal, embarrassed me in front of other passengers all because this Amanda lied and was untruthful about what was really said she added her own words in this what I never said to her and this man and Kusan believed her even before they ask me anything I was being treated like a criminal? This was handled in a wrong manner she told this man that I called her antis emetic and I never said that to her at all she added those words on her own, she lied. When I did go into the office I learned who Kusan was the senior assistant purser when I went into the office at that time I was asked what did happen and I told them the truth what I said to her. I will say this you allow your staff to lie about what passengers say I refuse to believe you allow this type of action to happen what kind of people you hire on your ship. Two days later I went back to speak to Kusan in the office my thoughts was this lady lied about what was said because I was her escape goat I feel she really did not want work at this area where she was so she lied about what I said to her to get out of there maybe she was bored. I’m wondering what is your policy on employees that lie and are untruthful and make up and turn something around such like she did here and use her own words that she added to this. And made Kusan and the other gentleman harass me and made me feel like a criminal. At this point I wished I never went on this cruise. It will be interesting how you are going to handle this and repair this to make me see different about your cruise line and this is not how your employees are and I can have a great time and stress free like I was suppose to.

When I was in the office talking to Kusan about the pool I was telling her that I could not get into the pool because of my knees I could not climb down or up the ladder but I would love to get into the pool however no one ever let me know that there was a lift there to get into the pool no staff let me know this, a passenger let me know this however I feel this should have been told to me by your staff.

There is one more thing that I and Kusan talked about in the office I have psoriasis on my legs and before I went on your ship it was clearing up a lot but when all this stress from your employees it caused me to have a bad out break that’s what stress does when you have this, ask Kusan she knew because someone in her family has the same thing I have, and we talked about it. I’m blaming Princess cruises for my psoriasis outbreak.

I and Kusan also spoke about the other issues that I had that’s all I got was they spoke to them and how sorry they are this happen that’s not good enough for me my 3 days so far I had problems 3 separate problems my cruise was ruined I told Kusan I’m not happy at all. I went on your cruise line in good faith I heard how nice it was I say they was wrong at this point I know there is better cruise lines out there that stand behind there name.

There is one more problem that I had on your ship I will tell you about after I tell you about the food the dining room that I was in the food was very bad did not enjoy it at all I have been on other cruises and I know that it could had been a lot better. Only two times I was sitting with other people to enjoy and have a conversations the other times I had to sit alone wish I did not enjoy at all. I went to dine at Sabatini’s the food was great but even there I had a problem I had to call over the head waiter I was finished with my hot appetizers I was left to sit there for 15 to 20 minutes just waiting I was going to get up and leave I paid extra $20 to get served not to sit there and wait and being over looked terrible service.
The production shows was greattttttttttt excellent. Make sure you keep them on it was fun, enjoyable keeps you interested to the end.

I mentioned this above there was several persons on your ship that when asked by a passenger where this is or where that is there famous words are I don’t know how can a person work on this ship day after day not know? Or is it that they don’t want to tell you so they say I don’t know. Really think you poorly train your staff they have no manners, they lie, they are dishonest, they are inconsiderate, they are not nice, your ship is very poorly run and most of all you have dirty nasty help that can’t leave there hands off of passengers and touch you without permission with that said I now will tell you about this issue like they say saving the best for last.

On October 24, 2009 between 8:15pm to 9:00pm I was at the dinner buffet come to find out they ran out of Prime rib because once again very poorly ran and really should of cooked enough or did they run out then you should of cooked something equal not pork roast cook something everyone eats give a choice. I myself do not eat pork all the time. I did complain to the head man wearing a suit walking around and to the head cook.

I was sitting to my table trying to eat this terrible food that I did not enjoy I was told if I did not like it to go get a pizza or a burger I did go without dinner that night the veggie burgers are so bad I throw it in the garbage. Back to when I was sitting to my table at the buffet one of your kitchen help was talking to me about the food matter of fact he was the one and told the cook I would like to speak to him about the food. As I was sitting in my chair picking at my food I noticed that your kitchen help kept touching my shoulder I did not get his name and that was my choice after he kept touching my shoulder and many times I tried to move my chair when he was to close to the back of my chair touching my back I tried to scoot my chair forward so he would not touch my back I tried my best to not cause a scene I have a bad temper at times. Yes I could of said no and to stop but knowing me I would had raised my voice or I could of hit him but then what I would be the one in trouble I thought about it and made the choice to leave when he left and before he came back I would be gone and that’s what I did I called the man with the suit over I complained again about the food he took my plate away and I left. That does not excuse your poorly run ship and your staff to do as they please and to touch the passengers without permission it is not ok and yes I could of complained but what would I get other then I spoke to him and I’m sorry just like all the other problems I had on your ship. If you would like to pursue this matter with this person that can’t leave his hands where they belong I would and if you would like to take this to a legal level I would do that to I guess we can find out his name if you like I remember his face and we could narrow it down to the staff working that time I was there, it was only one buffet open at the time I was there so it should not be so hard. I have plenty of time to take this matter to a legal level if you like it is your choice.

I really hope that this is all the complaints I hope that I did not forget anything if something comes in my mind believe me I will send it in writing via computer right away.

I still I’m very unhappy about the cruise it was ruined and it should of never happen I went on your ship as my intentions was to relax and have fun it did not happen like a planned I was under more stress on the ship it caused health problems with my psoriasis. I feel like you took my hard earned money that I had to saved for this cruise. You do not train your staff enough to handle problems that arise in a correct manner and I hope you settle this other then a letter of we are sorry I will not accept it as all I’m going to get. After all this was your fault due to your unruly staff. I was asked what I would like to make me happy I would like my money back I’m willing to except another cruise on another ship I’m willing to give you another chance to show me all of your staff knows how to act in a civil manner and since you ruined my cruise. There is one more thing that I and Kusan agreed upon is the pictures that I picked out was supposed to go to Kusan and she is supposed to send them to Santa Clarita, CA I have no idea who she send them to or what department they went to can you please find out for me, here is all her info Kusan Furrer Senior Assistant Purser, Princess Cruises, 24844 Avenue Rockefeller, Santa Clarita, CA. [protected] {661} 753-0000 who ever has the pictures please me Miriam Gordon Please feel free to contact me if you have any questions.

Thank you,
Miriam Gordon

Smoking on the Island Princess

Princess fails to protect non-smokers from the well-known negative health consequences of second-hand cigarette, cigar, and pipe smoke.

Princess makes no effort to enforce the minimal rules they do have. If you point out a violation of the rules to the Pursers office, they will listen to you and do nothing. Security people who are supposed to enforce the rules can see people smoking in non-smoking eating areas - and not say or do anything. I understand that Princess employees don’t want to hassle customers, but letting smokers pollute the air wherever they want is grossly unfair to non-smokers.

There is so much Princess and other cruise lines could easily do to make things better - like have all smoking cabins on the Port side and all non-smoking cabins on the Starboard side; and restrict smoking in public rooms to enclosed designated areas. Celebrity and RCI have taken a step in the right direction by banning smoking in cabins and on balconies, but more is required!

P&O Cruises Australia seems to be leading the way in limiting smoking on cruise ships. Their policy is: “In the interest of our passengers' health, safety and enjoyment during their cruising holiday, smoking is not permitted indoors, including in cabins, suites and on private balconies. This is in line with Australian standards. Outdoor smoking venues will be published in the Pacific Daily on board your cruise” (see www.pocruises.co.nz/AlreadyBooked/CruiseHandbook/Pages/SmokingPolicy.aspx).

The smoking policies of most cruise lines can be found at: http://www.shipdetective.com/ships/programs/smoking_policies.htm . Princess is not alone in catering to smokers and disregarding the health, safety and enjoyment of non-smokers.

Princess wants to pretend that sensitivity to tobacco smoke is just a matter of personal preference and opinion – not a real health and safety issue. You would think the Star Princess fire of March 23, 2006 would have made it abundantly clear to Princess management how dangerous smoking in cabins and on balconies is to the physical safety of passengers, crew, and the ship itself. See http://www.cruisecritic.com/news/news.cfm?ID=1576 for details of the horrific fire.

Princess once told us in a letter that cruise ships were not like airplanes, and that passengers could not be expected to wait for the next Port to smoke. I would respond that smoking is completely optional, and treatment options are available for those wishing to quit smoking. Breathing fresh air is not optional; in fact, it is an absolute necessity for people with respiratory issues like Asthma, and is generally necessary for everyone’s good health – including smokers.

Princess says that smoking is prohibited in dinning areas and theaters. However, when smoking is allowed in cabins, the clothing of smokers is saturated with the stench of stale smoke that goes with them throughout the ship. The stench lingers for a long time after the smoker leaves the area. This definitely affected our enjoyment of public areas.

Some public areas are divided into smoking and non-smoking sides. This ridiculous approach results in the whole area being filled with cigarette smoke. The only effective way to control the spread of cigarette smoke in public areas is to eliminate it at the source. Otherwise, you should label the public areas as Smoking Only.

Non-smokers pay the same price as smokers for a cruise. But smokers have the power to prevent non-smokers from enjoying most of the ship’s features by the simple act of smoking and polluting the air in an area. If cruise lines were fair, they would charge non-smoking passengers substantially less because they cannot enjoy the ship as much as smokers.

Cruise ships seem to be the last refuge of smokers. Smokers think nothing about lighting-up in the presence of non-smokers. They often seem to enjoy exposing others to their second-hand smoke. Cruise line management is extremely reluctant to offend the sensibilities of smokers. They don’t seem to realize how many non-smoking customers they are loosing after each trip. According to the CDC, only 19.8 of U.S. adults smoked cigarettes in 2007. Cruise management had better start being concerned about the sensibilities of the 80% of the population that don’t smoke, if they want to remain a growing industry.

Princess management doesn’t want to know what their customers think about their smoking policy. They could easily find out by including smoking in the things they put in their evaluation questionnaire, like:

v Should smoking continue to be allowed in cabins?
v Should smoking continue to be allowed on balconies?
v Should smoking continue to be allowed in bars and lounges?
v Should smoking continue to be allowed on the Promenade Deck?
v How effective is enforcement of the Smoking Policy of this ship?
v Does allowing smoking on this ship negatively impact your enjoyment of the cruise?
v Does smoking on this ship negatively impact your health?
v Does allowing smoking on this ship cause you to be concerned about the safety of cruising?
v What could we do to reduce the impact of smoking on you?
v How important is it for you to be able to smoke on this ship?
v Should smoking be banned on this ship?

Princess could easily ask these questions if they were interested in what their customers thought about smoking. The fact that they don’t ask any smoking questions tells me how desperate they are to allow smoking in spite of their fiduciary duty to the stockholders. They don’t ask the questions because they don’t want to know the results that would probably require them to take actions to limit or band smoking. By not asking any questions, management can pretend that everything is fine, and that they are not aware of any serious problem allowing smoking causes their customers. This is folly on steroids!

Princess needs to join the rest of the civilized world and highly restrict smoking on ships so that non-smokers are not continually subjected to the stench and health impacts of second hand smoke, the potential of spending many hours/days in a life boat, or worse - cancer from second smoke or death by fire.

I personally favor an absolute ban of any type of smoking on cruise ships – with violators removed from the ship at the next Port (like they do for drug possession or use). My wife and I have decided to boycott Princess until they completely ban smoking on their cruise ships. The perks of being Platinum means nothing compared to the stench of cigarette smoke.

Princess changed the entire itinerary for their Mexican cruise to include the coast of California. Offered no compensation, no shipboard credit, no ability to reschedule, nada. These guys are as greedy as they come.

I went on a three hour tour with my friend Mary Anne, a professor, a skipper and a millionaire. The tour was fine at first, but then there was this big storm that blew us off course. We ended up stranded on an Island for several years before we were rescued. There we made our own hut and learned how to survive for 25 years before we were rescued. To our surprise the world changed. I considered writing you a letter but my friend told me about something called "email" where you can send a reply directly by email and not pay postage, which is good since the price of the stamp and everything else went up in the 25 years we were stranded.

I don't think that I will take your boat tour again.