MitzyA

Is this Chef's Table going to be available on the AmaVida in October?

Husband and I will be cruising with Ama for the first time in October. We chose the Douro River land/cruise for our adventure. I have a few questions:

1. What time are the meals?

2. What's the typical cost of a massage?

3. Are there laundry services aboard? Cost?

Thanks!

I just had to cancel a cruise with Princess for my 96 yr. old father and my sister who was traveling with him. He has prostate cancer and the doctor said he couldn't travel at this time because of new complications. Dad had purchased Princess Vacation Protection (Platinum, he's Elite) and also booked air through Princess. When I completed the claim for insurance I had to phone our Princess Vacation Planner for the figures to claim. It was then I was informed that United Airlines had retained $250 per air ticket for cancellation fees and the remaining $417 per ticket balance has been issued as a credit towards future travel with United. And it has to be used within 12 months or lost forever. I discussed this with my Princess representative and was advised I may want to phone United and "plea" for a refund. It's doubtful my Dad will ever travel again, so may as well consider that the over $1200 he paid for 2 airfares is gone. Even if United were kind and elected to refund...how? Dad paid for the cruise and air with one credit card direct to Princess.

 

I phoned Princess for a second time today and spoke with a Supervisor who said the same. It's pretty much been left up to me to "plea" the case with United. I can't believe they promote buying air direct through them, but are quick to pass the buck on this, when it should be very left easy for the customer to make one simple claim that takes care of everything.

12/19/2013 UPDATE:

I did "plea my case" with United Airlines. There's a refund request form on the United website, along with a variety of pop down reasons. The reason I chose was medical, and in the comments box I explained my Dad's age and the doubt that he would ever use the ticket credit. UAL responded once and asked for a Doctor's statement (they didn't accept the Dr. statement that was onthe form for the cruise insurance). Dad's physician did write a statement for UAL, which I submitted.

It took about 1-2 weeks for processing, and surprised me when we received an email from UAL that the refund had been approved and credit would be made to the credit card used to purchase the tickets. We waited nearly a month for this credit to show up on Dad's credit card. It never did. This is where it gets really messy, so I won't bore with all the inside/outside details.

UAL did indeed credit the refund (over a $1200), but the card used to purchase the tickets was a Princess corporate credit card that's used to purchase batches of passenger tickets at one time. I discussed this matter with the UAL Refunds Department and they were the ones who told me Princess had received the refund.

Now I was left with "plea my case" with Princess to recover the refunded air ticket money from them.

I put all of this into writing and sent the letter to my Personal Cruise Planner at Princess. He can't help much, but forwarded my letter to Customer Relations. I didn't so much as receive an acknowledgement from Customer Relations they'd seen my letter. After 9 days of nothing, let's just say I raised this issue to a level within the company that Customer Relations would prefer not to hear from, and advised my Personal Cruise Planner that I'd done this. I really don't know whether the Planner had influence or someone up above directed Customer Relations to do something, but I received a phone call within 2 hours from a Post-Cruise Customer Relations person who was personally handling the issue.

One day later I received a second phone call from the same person notifying me they'd found the refunded ticket(s) on their account and in turn will be refunding the credit card used to make final payment on the cruise.

So -- yes, you can get a ticket refund from at least United Airlines if you apply for it, and submit a valid document detailing why you should get the refund. However (a big however) be prepared to find this refund at Princess and demand they return the money, if United tells you it's been approved and refunded.

I just had to cancel a cruise with Princess for my 96 yr. old father and my sister who was traveling with him. He has prostate cancer and the doctor said he couldn't travel at this time because of new complications. Dad had purchased Princess Vacation Protection (Platinum, he's Elite) and also booked air through Princess. When I completed the claim for insurance I had to phone our Princess Vacation Planner for the figures to claim. It was then I was informed that United Airlines had retained $250 per air ticket for cancellation fees and the remaining $417 per ticket balance has been issued as a credit towards future travel with United. And it has to be used within 12 months or lost forever. I discussed this with my Princess representative and was advised I may want to phone United and "plea" for a refund. It's doubtful my Dad will ever travel again, so may as well consider that the over $1200 he paid for 2 airfares is gone. Even if United were kind and elected to refund...how? Dad paid for the cruise and air with one credit card direct to Princess.

I phoned Princess for a second time today and spoke with a Supervisor who said the same. It's pretty much been left up to me to "plea" the case with United. I can't believe they promote buying air direct through them, but are quick to pass the buck on this, when it should be very left easy for the customer to make one simple claim that takes care of everything.