shall we accept gesture of goodwill?

[rachel58]

My DH and I did an Island Princess partial transit of Panama canal in November.We had a great cruise and had no complaints of any importance.There was how ever one incident that marred things slightly.On day 3 of the cruise my DH ordered a creme brulee for desert(his favorite)while eating it he bit into something hard which turned out to be a bit of the dish the desert was cooked in!It was painful at the time.We called the head waiter from anytime dining,then a whole delegation of chefs came out from the kitchen to apologise and ask our room number.DH was not sure if the crown was cracked and for a few days the tooth was sensitve.For 2 days we heard nothing from the staff on the 3rd day we found 7 chocolate straberries in our room with a note saying we should enjoy these "delights" as apology for any inconvenience!This we felt was almost insulting,so he wrote a letter on board to customer services, we felt the very least someone should have rung to see how the tooth was!

On the last day on board we had a letter from Princess saying we should write to customer relations as they could do no more.We did this after a visit to our dentist,who said the crown was intact. Last week we received a letter from Princes with a FCC for 150 pound sterling as an expresson of their goodwill.My question is shall we accept this(,even tho' I dont see any cruises on the horizon at the moment(cant afford one) and be grateful the tooth was ok or carry on fighting what will probably be a losing battle

[caribill]

My question is shall we accept this(,even tho' I dont see any cruises on the horizon at the moment(cant afford one) and be grateful the tooth was ok or carry on fighting what will probably be a losing battle

 

I am not sure what you want Princess to do, especially since there is no lasting damage.

[rugbypopsie]

I would accept it graciously....while the incident was unfortunate, they have acknowledged that and you have years to use the FCC letter...and in any case its beats a few strawberries.:)

 

 

[rachel58]

I thought perhaps cash 150 instead of non transferable futur cruise credit!?

[VegasPier]

My DH and I did an Island Princess partial transit of Panama canal in November.We had a great cruise and had no complaints of any importance.There was how ever one incident that marred things slightly.On day 3 of the cruise my DH ordered a creme brulee for desert(his favorite)while eating it he bit into something hard which turned out to be a bit of the dish the desert was cooked in!It was painful at the time.We called the head waiter from anytime dining,then a whole delegation of chefs came out from the kitchen to apologise and ask our room number.DH was not sure if the crown was cracked and for a few days the tooth was sensitve.For 2 days we heard nothing from the staff on the 3rd day we found 7 chocolate straberries in our room with a note saying we should enjoy these "delights" as apology for any inconvenience!This we felt was almost insulting,so he wrote a letter on board to customer services, we felt the very least someone should have rung to see how the tooth was!

On the last day on board we had a letter from Princess saying we should write to customer relations as they could do no more.We did this after a visit to our dentist,who said the crown was intact. Last week we received a letter from Princes with a FCC for 150 pound sterling as an expresson of their goodwill.My question is shall we accept this(,even tho' I dont see any cruises on the horizon at the moment(cant afford one) and be grateful the tooth was ok or carry on fighting what will probably be a losing battle

 

This is must be a joke. You are kidding aren’t you? Just what kind of compensation do you think is appropriate for this non-event? One hundred fifty pounds, which is $241, seems like a more than generous “I’m sorry” message.

I think that you should send Princess a nice thank you note of your own.

 

Cheers, VegasPier

[hansi]

My DH and I did an Island Princess partial transit of Panama canal in November.We had a great cruise and had no complaints of any importance.There was how ever one incident that marred things slightly.On day 3 of the cruise my DH ordered a creme brulee for desert(his favorite)while eating it he bit into something hard which turned out to be a bit of the dish the desert was cooked in!It was painful at the time.We called the head waiter from anytime dining,then a whole delegation of chefs came out from the kitchen to apologise and ask our room number.DH was not sure if the crown was cracked and for a few days the tooth was sensitve.For 2 days we heard nothing from the staff on the 3rd day we found 7 chocolate straberries in our room with a note saying we should enjoy these "delights" as apology for any inconvenience!This we felt was almost insulting,so he wrote a letter on board to customer services, we felt the very least someone should have rung to see how the tooth was!

On the last day on board we had a letter from Princess saying we should write to customer relations as they could do no more.We did this after a visit to our dentist,who said the crown was intact. Last week we received a letter from Princes with a FCC for 150 pound sterling as an expresson of their goodwill.My question is shall we accept this(,even tho' I dont see any cruises on the horizon at the moment(cant afford one) and be grateful the tooth was ok or carry on fighting what will probably be a losing battle

 

 

 

Why? What were you expecting? A free cruise and compensation? Really!!!!

[Tedirene]

Rachel58,

 

In view of the fact there was no lasting damage to DH's teeth, I would be inclined to accept the FCC. As rugbypopsie says, it beats the hell out of chocolate strawberries and I assume you have four years to take your next cruise.

[CHOOSE-2-CRUISE]

A sign of the times? sigh....

[rachel58]

No one said anything about free cruises!I just asked an opinion!Thank you to those who gave an opinion without a sarcastic comment.

The FCC was only untill 2012 not 4 years.

[rugbypopsie]

No one said anything about free cruises!I just asked an opinion!Thank you to those who gave an opinion without a sarcastic comment.

The FCC was only untill 2012 not 4 years.

 

I think that it is unfortunate that any question these days or review with any type of negative observation draws rude and ill considered responses.:mad:

 

The lady asked a reasonable question she was entitled to a reasoned response. It is not like she is blaming the ship for missed ports due to weather conditions and expecting a free cruise.

 

Please don't let the rude responses put you off posting on the boards.

 

Hopefully you can pick up a last minute cruise at a great price and enjoy your FCC. I like creme brulee too preferably without the plate:eek:

[paul929207]

I would accept it.

[CHOOSE-2-CRUISE]

I think that it is unfortunate that any question these days or review with any type of negative observation draws rude and ill considered responses.:mad:

 

The lady asked a reasonable question she was entitled to a reasoned response. It is not like she is blaming the ship for missed ports due to weather conditions and expecting a free cruise.

 

Please don't let the rude responses put you off posting on the boards.

 

Hopefully you can pick up a last minute cruise at a great price and enjoy your FCC. I like creme brulee too preferably without the plate:eek:

 

 

If people ask for other peoples unbiased opinions then unbiased opinions will be received, if people want to receive opinions which are CENSORED so as not to offend the said thread author, then what would be the point??? Please don't be offended by the replies, they are of course, only peoples opinions and surely will help you in reaching a decision.

[Coral]

Let me ask you what you would expect from a land based restaurant?

 

I think what Princess offered is as good as you are going to get. This really could have happened anywhere and other places would not have been as forgiving.

[rachel58]

I agree that this is as good as could get,however if I had a meal in a land based restaurant and the plate was cracked and some of the plate was in the food I would at the very least expect not to have to pay for my meal!It was just luck the tooth was not broken and we did not have a huge dentist bill.

[Hopperhop]

Yes, I would certainly accept what they are offering. There is no reason not to.

[Coral]

I agree that this is as good as could get,however if I had a meal in a land based restaurant and the plate was cracked and some of the plate was in the food I would at the very least expect not to have to pay for my meal!It was just luck the tooth was not broken and we did not have a huge dentist bill.

 

$150 OBC is better than $15 in cash IMO.

[Ethel5]

I agree that this is as good as could get,however if I had a meal in a land based restaurant and the plate was cracked and some of the plate was in the food I would at the very least expect not to have to pay for my meal!It was just luck the tooth was not broken and we did not have a huge dentist bill.

 

Sounds like you're expecting Princess to refund the cost of your cruise. If that's the case, I think you should settle for the FCC and forget it.

[regnig]

I agree that this is as good as could get,however if I had a meal in a land based restaurant and the plate was cracked and some of the plate was in the food I would at the very least expect not to have to pay for my meal!It was just luck the tooth was not broken and we did not have a huge dentist bill.

 

I do believe that $241 more than pays for your meal. Were I you I would graciously accept the reparation. As you said, no permanent damage or cost was suffered. BTB, did you eat the strawberries?

[cynbar]

I agree, I would accept the offer. If there had been lasting damage to the tooth or expensive dental bills, that would be another thing entirely. Generally there have to be damages to get much in terms of compensation.

[PrincessNancy]

Send your dentist bill to Princess to be paid. Have Princess remove the FCC and compensate you for the bill instead. Let them know that you will not be taking a cruise anytime soon and would prefer that your husband be compensated for his trip to the dentist.

[davekathy]

My DH and I did an Island Princess partial transit of Panama canal in November.We had a great cruise and had no complaints of any importance.There was how ever one incident that marred things slightly.On day 3 of the cruise my DH ordered a creme brulee for desert(his favorite)while eating it he bit into something hard which turned out to be a bit of the dish the desert was cooked in!It was painful at the time.We called the head waiter from anytime dining,then a whole delegation of chefs came out from the kitchen to apologise and ask our room number.DH was not sure if the crown was cracked and for a few days the tooth was sensitve.For 2 days we heard nothing from the staff on the 3rd day we found 7 chocolate straberries in our room with a note saying we should enjoy these "delights" as apology for any inconvenience!This we felt was almost insulting,so he wrote a letter on board to customer services, we felt the very least someone should have rung to see how the tooth was!

On the last day on board we had a letter from Princess saying we should write to customer relations as they could do no more.We did this after a visit to our dentist,who said the crown was intact. Last week we received a letter from Princes with a FCC for 150 pound sterling as an expresson of their goodwill.My question is shall we accept this(,even tho' I dont see any cruises on the horizon at the moment(cant afford one) and be grateful the tooth was ok or carry on fighting what will probably be a losing battle

 

Without a doubt accept it. If you choose not to Cruise between now and 2012 you are out nothing. Chocolate covered strawberries would have sealed the deal for me. Glad you enjoyed your Cruise.

[uppitycats]

I think you've received more than enough compensation for this non-event. I would have stopped with the apologies and strawberries, unless the tooth was actually cracked, and I had dental bills to fix it. Then I would have pursued something more.

[Toto2Kansas]

Since there was no 'actual' damage from the incident, I feel this and the strawberries was a very nice offer. Princess does not usually offer cash for something like this (in fact, they rarely offer a cash refund for any problem, but offer OBC or Cruise Credit on a future cruise), which in fact turned out to be a slight problem at the time with no harm done in the end.

If you don't accept the offer, then forget about it, as it won't get any better than this. Whether you cruise again or not, you received satisfaction, as in a sense, they admited they were at fault. But if you are holding out for cash, you will have a very very long wait, as it will not be offered. I hope the rest of the cruise met your expectations! :)

[chrysalis]

Send your dentist bill to Princess to be paid. Have Princess remove the FCC and compensate you for the bill instead. Let them know that you will not be taking a cruise anytime soon and would prefer that your husband be compensated for his trip to the dentist.

 

I suspect that since they are in the UK, there will be no denist's bill.

[jff50]

Send your dentist bill to Princess to be paid. Have Princess remove the FCC and compensate you for the bill instead. Let them know that you will not be taking a cruise anytime soon and would prefer that your husband be compensated for his trip to the dentist.

I like the idea of sending the dentist's bill to Princess. I'd also think it would be appropriate to keep the FCC for the discomfort and inconvenience. I also think a little personal follow-up from Princess (a note and plate of strawberries is not very personal) would have been appropriate.

 

Princess (and other cruise lines) really play up their customer service in all their promotional material. I don't think that they deliver on it to the extent that they play it up. The real test of good customer service is when something like this happens--and Princess fell short (especially when they were at fault for something as egregious as a potentially harmful foreign object in the food and the resultant discomfort). I think that they should have done a better job of following up, and should have had the authority to offer a credit to be used on that cruise. A FCC that requires you to give more money to Princess is a pretty lame form of compensation.

 

Unfortunately, I think that lack of onboard accountability and a subsequent FCC is the expected response from any cruise line--they are very reluctant to part with cash, unless forced to do so. While I think that Princess fell short, I don't think they are any different than other mainstream cruise lines in this respect.