BigTimeCruiser

Anyone know what's up with Princess. Our Princess Vacation Planner left the company last December. I have NOT had an email or telephone call letting us know if Princess has assigned us a new Vacation Planner. I'm surprised with this lack of interest in our business. Don't want to try to call them and get in the Que for a 4 hour wait. Does anyone know if they still have dedicated Vacation Planners?

11 minutes ago, cattman said:

Yep, just got off the phone with Princess, as of today it is indeed still 1 day for Antigen, 3 days for PCR.

 

Looks like we will be cancelling our May 4 Discovery cruise..

Thanks for the info.

17 hours ago, erber said:

https://tc.canada.ca/en/marine-transportation/marine-safety/ship-safety-bulletins/measures-support-safe-cruise-travel-canada-ssb-no-18-2021-modified-april-1-2022

 

This link details pre cruise testing requirements for passengers embarking onships having any ports  in Canada. This regulation is what specifies the PCR test within 72 hours of boarding the ship or an antigen test within 2 days of boarding. 

 

arriveCAN is a separate issue and is not consistent with this regulation. Princess isn't consistent either. It is clear there is a lot of confusion as the requirements are not all consistent with each other. Hopefully it will all be figured out and clarified soon. 

This is interesting.  I just looked at the Princess web site and here are the requirements they say which are different than what Canada is saying for Antigen testing.  1 day instead of 2.  So, I suspect Princess is wrong!

"Voyages that include Canada:
Based on current Canadian requirements for cruising, all guests ages five and above will require a medically observed negative viral COVID-19 test result taken before boarding:

• Within 1 day for Antigen
• Within 3 days for PCR"

How soon before embarkation will the Arrival Time (Early, Mid, or Late) open up on the Medallion for selection?  

Looks like the Medallion site is having problems or down again.

It looks like Princess isn't able to handle the administrative side of their business.  I can remember the days when a Request For Shareholder Benefit was accomplished within hours.  Not anymore.  Here is the Automatic Reply I received from Princess this morning:

"Thank you for submitting your request for Carnival Corporation Shareholder Benefits.  Due to current high volumes, please allow up to 21 days for processing.  You will receive a confirmation once the benefit has been applied to your booking.  

Princess Cruises"

Here is some information about the ship's coin.  Link To Cruise Critic Article

I emailed two (2) Requests For Shareholder Benefit 6 days ago.  Nothing has been posted to my account.  Guess it is taking much longer than before.

Pandaw announced this morning that they will be closing their operations.  Here is the Link to Press Release

They also sent an email to customers holding bookings and encouraged  them to contact their credit card company.

Same here.  Can't add any excursions to a cruise, because I can't view them.  Nothing seems to be working today.

18 hours ago, PescadoAmarillo said:

I’ve said for years that the Captains Circle would be eliminated in a heartbeat if Princess could just fill their ships with first time cruisers. I guess we’ll see if that 80% repeater rate drops in the future. 

Yes, it will be interesting to see how many long time Princess customers return.

6 hours ago, PescadoAmarillo said:

We will definitely cruise less, although, to be fair, we were already going to cruise less. But that sentence in an email cost us $1000 just this year alone.  We have a budget (albeit a sizable one) for cruising, and this change means we will cruise fewer days. We also have FCDs with two other cruise lines, and some of that budget will definitely be spent on cruises with them. 

We agree with you guys.  I just went out and repurchased our RCL shares so we can explore their offerings, since we have status with them.  We were very loyal to Princess for many, many years; however, it's time to start shopping for what is the best value and look at the loyalty benefits of each cruise line.  Time to get out the spreadsheet and do some analysis of where the best opportunities are for future cruising.

Still broken for me this morning.

Thanks to both CineGraphic and azbirdmom!  This was the form I was looking for.😀

Does anyone have a link to the Shareholder Benefit Request Form that can be completed online?  Thanks.

39 minutes ago, cactusrose said:

Does anyone know if the Vacation Planners work on commission? 

Yes.  You must keep your booking with them for 30 days or they won't get anything.

3 hours ago, Coral said:

I didn't use a FCD on my cruise (I was out). I also booked and made final payment at the same time. Time will tell. I do know my TA contacted Princess in April to find out my refund amount (as I had several air reductions) to make sure their amount was the same as my records. That amount was correct. So there are records somewhere.

 

Glad you got your funds! What a relief.

Surprise, surprise!!!  In the mail today, we received $200 for 2 of the 4 FCDs we used for the cancelled cruises.  Princess is using some processing company out of Maine.  So, hopefully, we will get a check in the next couple of days for the 2 remaining FCDs.

12 minutes ago, Coral said:

The dispute and refund are both showing on both of my credit cards right now. Not sure if I need to contact the credit card. Though my refund is short $200 so I am waiting for Princes to respond to the dispute. Princess split my refund in a weird way also between the credit cards (so much for carefully figuring this out manually). 

We are in a similar situation.  Today have received refunds to our credit card for two cruises that Princess canceled in March.  Not sure if this is because of our credit card dispute or whether Princess did this.  However, we are each short $100 for each cruise totalling $400.  There are no postings in our accounts about our $400 in FCDs.  The FCDs that we used for each of these bookings have not been credited back to our accounts and of course are no longer showing in the accounts.  

March 30th, NO..

I read on Cruise Industry News this morning that NCL will be installing Medical Grade H-13 HEPA air filters on their ships. I hope Princess Cruises follows suit to prevent most virus from being passed between staterooms and the hallways.  https://www.cruiseindustrynews.com/cruise-news/23033-norwegian-cruise-line-releases-new-health-protocols.html

We had two FCCs posted in our Princess accounts yesterday for the 15 Mar and 30 Mar cruises that Princess canceled. However, they are still holding our funds we paid for each of the 15 day cruises.  Nothing has been returned to our Princess VISA card yet!

We had two FCCs posted in our Princess accounts yesterday for the 15 Mar and 30 Mar cruises that Princess canceled. However, they are still holding our funds we paid for each of the 15 day cruises.

If you didn't hear about Princess announcing their layoffs, here is the article from March 15th  https://signalscv.com/2020/05/princess-cruises-announces-layoffs-furloughs-for-50-of-california-workforce-due-to-covid-19/

No, March 18th

I called Princess yesterday to inquire about our multiple refunds for cancelled cruises and reimbursement of expenses that we submitted.  The reimbursement of expenses was to get us home from Fort Lauderdale when they terminated all cruises, as per the letter Princess delivered to our stateroom prior to disembarkation.  The Princess representative took the two booking numbers and looked them up.  She informed me that no processing for my cancelled cruises or other reimbursements had begun.  I advised her that I had submitted them on 18 March 2020.  She advised me that they were paying these claims as soon as possible.  I then asked her how long will it be before I see a refund and there was silence on the other end of the telephone.  She said they are working on them now.  I then asked her if she personally knew of anyone who had actually been reimbursed and she said, NO.