BusyBea

njhorseman, I have no doubt you are correct.  I wasn't implying that there is any greater risk of credit card fraud in Cartagena than anywhere else in the world.  I was simply trying to warn people of a specific business where I know fraud occurred and hope that, by exercising greater vigilance than I did, they will avoid a long battle with their credit card company.  

11 hours ago, lilly4350 said:

Thanks for the heads-up.  We will be there in November and will remember to leave our CC locked away in our safe.

Your safe sounds like the very best place for your CC while in Cartagena. Have a wonderful trip!

8 hours ago, jagoffee said:

Obviously you want to submit the transfer earlier next time and not make a final payment directly to Princess before the final due date. 

That's what I would have normally done, but I booked just a few days before requesting the transfer.  It was a great last minute fare for Alaskan residents so I jumped on it to get the stateroom I wanted, then started looking around at TAs. You're right about not paying Princess until the final due date, although I'm not sure how much of this would have been avoided if I had done that.  The problem started well before I paid, when Princess transferred the booking to an unknown TA.  Now we have two separate booking numbers and are reserved in two staterooms!  I'm almost afraid to have my TA talk to Princess about the double booking; it might be safer just to leave it alone.  🙄

On 3/14/2019 at 4:30 AM, steelers36 said:

I, like you do all my own travel arrangements and if I shop for best provider and rate using travel websites, I then make a direct booking with my chosen provider.  But I just cannot ignore the discounts I can get when cruising.

 

2

Exactly what I do.  I've received great perks and have never had a problem prior to this.  That's why the ongoing issues with this transfer are so noteworthy.  

Jagofee, OP here... No, the wound was not self-inflicted.  Despite the fact that I sent a Transfer Request Form to Princess including all the correct information, Princess transferred my booking to an entirely unknown TA.  Please explain how I could possibly have inflicted that on myself.  When Princess told me it was too late to process the transfer prior to the booking deadline I paid Princess directly and let my travel agent know the situation.  My TA contacted Princess because she thought it was wrong for me to miss out on the extra perks she was offering simply because Princess couldn't manage the transfer correctly.  That was when Princess added the 2nd booking, then canceled my original booking and stateroom.  Yesterday things were back to us having the new booking but with our original stateroom.  Today we have two bookings again, with two separate staterooms.  My TA says she's never seen such a mess, and the people she worked with at Princess admitted that to her as well.  I've requested booking transfers to TAs before and my TA has handled transfers before. Before you assume that my problems were self-inflicted, you might want to consider the possibility that someone at Princess messed up big time.   

We recently returned from a Panama Canal cruise to find that our credit card had been fraudulently charged $1675 by a hotel in Cartagena. The charge was made one minute prior to a valid transaction at a beverage kiosk at the port, Cafe Puerto Cartagena.  Normally I would have paid cash for our drinks, but my brain was on autopilot and I pulled out my card without thinking.  The clerk took my card and it was out of my sight for a minute or so. That is certainly where the fraudulent charge took place because my card wasn't out of my sight at any other time and we didn't leave the port area.  

I spent the last month+ convincing our credit card company that I was on a cruise and therefore didn't require a room in Cartagena. They kept denying our fraud claim because the chip was present even though I hadn't signed anything nor used a pin. Thank goodness for Google maps and date, time, and location stamps on our photos so we were able to prove we were at the port at the time the charge was made, not at the hotel four miles away.

I'm fairly well-traveled and am usually very cautious, but I was tired and let my guard down.  Valuable lesson learned and I hope this will help others keep their wits about them when they visit the Port of Cartagena.

Reina del Mar, I got an email from Princess featuring a great fare but found only one stateroom left in the location and class I wanted. I used a Future Cruise Deposit to lock in the fare and stateroom, then switched to a TA to get some extra perks.  I believe it's a fairly common practice. You're absolutely right, there's more to go wrong as I discovered this time around!  

Update: My TA got everything worked out; the new/canceled booking was restored along with our stateroom reservation.  She was told by the two Princess staff who helped her that the reservation had been wrongly canceled, but had no idea why or by whom. They said all the paperwork had been in order from the beginning,  it should have been a straightforward transfer,  and they didn't know why whoever was previously working on it had such problems. 

Obviously, I'm relieved everything has worked out. I'll enjoy the cruise and hope my next booking experience goes more smoothly.

pms4104, I am the OP and I did use the new Transfer Request Form emailed directly to Revenue Support as per instructions.  My intent was perfectly clear and TA's information clearly listed.  Everything was done as Princess requested but they messed up.  

Geocruiser, glad things worked out for you.  I also had a problem not long ago involving a cancel for any reason insurance credit that took many phone calls and emails to finally resolve.  For my Alaska cruise,  the main problem with transferring my booking to my TA was that (according to my TA) Princess had transferred it to the wrong TA. Just as in your case, Princess tried to blame my TA.  We are platinum with Princess and have never had a problem until our last cruise and now this one. I'm starting to feel a bit nervous about Princess's ability to keep records straight or to acknowledge their own mistakes. 

Has anyone ever had Princess sell their paid-in-full stateroom out from under them?  I had been working last-minute to transfer my May 22 Alaska cruise on the Island Princess to a TA. There was a lot of miscommunication between all parties involved and I ended up making full payment directly to Princess three days before the final payment deadline.  A couple of days later I noticed two bookings for the same cruise on my Cruise Personalizer: my original booking and a new one. I called Princess and was told that they were still working with the travel agent and everything would be straightened out in a couple of days. That was a surprise since I've been told there can't be a transfer after final payment, plus I hadn't received any information about this from the TA (see what I mean about miscommunication!).

Yesterday, the second booking - along with my stateroom reservation - had disappeared and my original booking now says "stateroom to be assigned."  The stateroom is no longer available, and no similarly positioned staterooms are available in my category. I called and was offered an upgrade for $400+. Their excuse is that the reservation (which I didn't make) hadn't been paid by the deadline so it was canceled. No explanation of why my reserved stateroom was removed from my fully paid booking.

I sent Customer Relations a copy of my paid-in-full booking confirmation showing the stateroom number, along with an email asking them to fix the problem.  Has anyone had a similar experience?  I would like to demand my original stateroom back, but at this point Princess doesn't seem inclined to admit they made a mistake.

http://www.cruisetimetables.com/

Thanks for that information, 19Pamela68. CruiseTT, which I have used in the past, apparently isn't being kept current.