Earthquake near Santiago Chile -- Princess Sailings and Passengers

[Coral]

What about the people that didn't have Princess insurance is Princess giving them a cruise credit?

Ontario Cruiser:confused:

 

Hopefully they have a 3rd party insurance.

[smithgem]

I agree with you on this. Princess is NOT in a no-win situation. They can easily win by 1.) picking up the people for the March 2 cruise who have managed to get to Santiago (darn few, I'm guessing) and putting them in cabins vacated by those few people who wanted to disembark in Valaparaiso on March 2; 2.) offering people who stay on the current cruise a deeply discounted cruise back to Buenos Aires; and 3.) telling anyone who can't make it to Santiago that their cruise fare will be refunded (insurance or not).

 

This way the Star has many (probably mostly) full cabins, there is still some on board revenue coming in, and most importantly, Princess is doing the right thing. Why burden the few flights in and out of Santiago with cruise passengers...maybe ex-pats and emergency workers have a greater need for those few seats.

 

Princess chooses to operate in a country that has just sustained a huge disaster; it is unrealistic to imagine that they are going to come through this unscathed. But the greater loss will be in the long term if people are treated poorly at a time of disaster.

 

JMHO, of course.

 

PescadoAmarillo is right, this is what Princess should do.

We are booked on the Norwegian Sun sailing from Argentina on March 27 to arrive in Valaparaiso on April 11. Not sure what we should do now / the Sun is leaving today on our same itinerary but they have not announced yet if they are going to make port changes to that cruise.

[WeBeGone]

This thread is so interesting. Thanks to all for the information and opinions.

 

I just want to lighten the mood temporarily by relating a phone call I got from a client 15 minutes ago. She's scheduled to sail from Galveston to Cozumel on March 15th. She called to cancel her cruise because she's afraid of the earthquake and the tsunami. :eek: Bless her heart. I did my best to calm her but finally I told her, as nicely as I could without laughing, to look at a map. I taught a little lesson in geography and hopefully she'll calm down and go on the cruise. On the other hand, she may in fact cancel which will be a first "cancelled due to tsunami fear". :D

[cwn]

Glad to heard the Star is staying over a day.

 

Princess is having as hard a time as the present and the new passengers in coming up with a plan. They are dependent on Chile as to what they can do and when they can do it.

 

From reports on the other thread on the Roll Call, seems as the port area is not affected too much. The main buildings at the airport are torn up, but the runways are fine. Given our experience in Capetown airport, which is operating out of large tents due to reconstruction, I am sure as soon as something can be arranged for, the Santiago airport will open. The highway, again according to people in Val waiting for the ship, is OK. So it is back to the government of Chile giving the go ahead. Unfortunatelly for the passengers who are safe on the ship and comfortable at home and for Princess caught up in the after effects, these people are the least of Chiles worries. As a company, I can see why Princess hasn't said any thing definite, they just aren't sure what will happen when yet, but as a passenger I would be very upset. I feel for everyone in this mess.

 

The Star was on a 12-14 day cruise to Val, they were 3/4 of the way through and probably were getting near needing to be resuppied, going on was probably a better option if their suppies were in tact at the port....given report from people on the ground that seems to be the case since the port was 300mi or so from the harest hit areas.

 

Just a thought, anyone on the 30+ day cruise and/or wanting to salavage some of this cruise might look into trying to catch up with the ship in Ushuaia. It is a good sized airport with 6 to t10 flights a day from Santiago and even better given the earthquake ,BA, AR. It is an interesting place and has several good hotels. We flew from Houston to Ushuaia several years ago to take the Polar Star to Antarctica and spent two days pre cruise.

 

Just a quick check on Travelosity shows open seats on AA and United from the EastCoast and Houston to BA and then on LAN and AeroLingus to Ushuaia arriving before the ship can get there. Also showed open seats arriving on the 5th in Santiago..?? Once the ship docks in the morning Mar 2, and the air port finally opens, things hopefully will be clearer..... for everyone. Those of you who are still waiting it out might check the airlines again.

 

Good Luck

[sackman]

I wonder if the Star will have any difficulty re-fueling.

[kkorman]

http://www.fotos.emol.com/?G_ID=13641#

 

That certainly gives some perspective to the scope of the damage.

[gooch47]

So Princess has NOT offered the March 2 passengers a refund? I thought I read that they had.

 

Excellent question about the supplies. I think, though, that maybe the people of Valparaiso could benefit from them, too.

[yelp]

So Princess has NOT offered the March 2 passengers a refund? I thought I read that they had.

 

No, not even a credit (even though they've acknowledged on the phone that most passengers were not going to be able to fly in before 3/5 or 3/6 due to the backlog at the makeshift terminal for the damaged airport).

 

Just found photos of the airport that Princess wants us to fly into: http://www.fotos.emol.com/?G_ID=13641# :( (Click each photo to see the next photo)

[YYC F/A]

..

 

Just a thought, anyone on the 30+ day cruise and/or wanting to salavage some of this cruise might look into trying to catch up with the ship in Ushuaia. It is a good sized airport with 6 to t10 flights a day from Santiago and even better given the earthquake ,BA, AR. It is an interesting place and has several good hotels. We flew from Houston to Ushuaia several years ago to take the Polar Star to Antarctica and spent two days pre cruise.

 

Just a quick check on Travelosity shows open seats on AA and United from the EastCoast and Houston to BA and then on LAN and AeroLingus to Ushuaia arriving before the ship can get there. Also showed open seats arriving on the 5th in Santiago..?? Once the ship docks in the morning Mar 2, and the air port finally opens, things hopefully will be clearer..... for everyone. Those of you who are still waiting it out might check the airlines again.

 

Good Luck

 

Thanks for the update and information.

 

Just to add to this, I did talk to Princess Cruises emergency en route travel department about this in Santa Clarita, CA. They expressly stated (as of 2pm PST today) that passengers should NOT make plans to join the ship at other ports at this time as Princess is now no longer able to guarantee that they vessel will call at this other ports. This is presumably because they don't know how long they will be staying in Valparaiso now and so will doubtless have to chop out ports to maintain the schedule out of Buenos Aires up to Fort Lauderdale.

 

Hopefully once they know the departure date for sure, then the revised itinerary will be confirmed for those looking to catch up at a later port. It is certainly true as cwn has posted that Ushuaia is probably the best 'intermediate' point out of all of them for flight access etc. so once itinerary/dates are 100% confirmed then perhaps a good option.

[billet]

So Princess has NOT offered the March 2 passengers a refund? I thought I read that they had.

 

Excellent question about the supplies. I think, though, that maybe the people of Valparaiso could benefit from them, too.

 

That is why insurance is recommended.

[DougH]

I booked my air thru Princess on American Airlines. Last word both my TA and I had from Princess was that "I "was supposed to arrange flights directly with AA. American says they cannot get me to Santiago on either the 2nd or the 3rd. Earliest they could get me to Punta Arenas was a day after the ship arriveed. (on the original schedule) I mentioned to the Princess rep that I had changed my flights to meet the ship in Buenos Aires on the 13th and was told that at this point they have no idea where or when the ship would be in any particular port and that I was premature in changing flights. So what do they expect me to do?

[TravelerThom]

... Lima, Peru, is the nearest large city with a large airport, but too far away...

Actually Lima is more than twice as far from Santiago as Buenos Aires [2447km versus 1129km].

 

Thom

[Digital Cruiser]

I booked my air thru Princess on American Airlines. Last word both my TA and I had from Princess was that "I "was supposed to arrange flights directly with AA. American says they cannot get me to Santiago on either the 2nd or the 3rd. Earliest they could get me to Punta Arenas was a day after the ship arriveed. (on the original schedule) I mentioned to the Princess rep that I had changed my flights to meet the ship in Buenos Aires on the 13th and was told that at this point they have no idea where or when the ship would be in any particular port and that I was premature in changing flights. So what do they expect me to do?

 

 

If Princess is managing your flights, let them make your arrangements. If they can't get you to a port mutually agreed on. If you strike out on your own, they wont be responsible for independent air arrangements that go south on you.

 

Might not be what you want hear, but strictly under Princess air, they'll get you there or compensate you. Again, don't strike out on your own. Also, only you or your TA should be the point of contact. Multiple inquiries from different sources. Is a sure way to have communication issues, delays, or just negative responses to color your experience. Let them help you or not help, as its in their court now.

 

Its out of your hands, so sit tight and stay positive.

[TravelerThom]

Lan Chile has posted { http://www.lan.com/about_us/noticias/index_contingencia-en-us.html } this afternoon that they will have limited [15%] service at SCL tomorrow. Some return to service, but not likely to be enough to make much difference to the Star for quite awhile.

 

Thom

[Princess Chatterer]

http://www.fotos.emol.com/?G_ID=13641#

 

Here's the latest link to the airport damage photos

 

http://www.fotos.emol.com/index.asp?G_ID=13641

[marylandcrab]

DougH

 

We booked our own air to Santiago and that flight was cancelled. There is no way that we can get to Santiago for either the 2 or the 3rd of March. I have tried!!! Therefore I have booked a reasonable air fare to Rio as we are on the 32 day cruise. I chose Rio as that is where the cruise ends and the new passengers embark and it is an overnight stop. If I remember correctly Princess was selling this cruise from BA also, so hopefully you will be OK. If they arrive late you might have to spend a night in a hotel.

 

We hope to see everyone at the M & G after Rio:D

[Conelectric]

My mom just called me from the Star (unfortunately left a message). She said everything is fine and they will be staying on the ship one extra day(so far) before they can leave. I know she had Princess do her air.

Lenny

[Digital Cruiser]

If Princess is managing your flights, let them make your arrangements. If they can't get you to a port mutually agreed on. If you strike out on your own, they wont be responsible for independent air arrangements that go south on you.

 

Might not be what you want hear, but strictly under Princess air, they'll get you there or compensate you. Again, don't strike out on your own. Also, only you or your TA should be the point of contact. Multiple inquiries from different sources. Is a sure way to have communication issues, delays, or just negative responses to color your experience. Let them help you or not help, as its in their court now.

 

Its out of your hands, so sit tight and stay positive.

 

My apologies for the typos, I was mobile at the time.

 

 

I wanted to elaborate a bit on the Air through a cruise line; specifically Princess in this case. Any suggestions about booking your own arrangements is strictly at the discretion of the passenger if they want to pursue that course of action to make it to the port as per the current schedule.

 

That being said, if the cruise line is managing your air schedule and they are not being as responsive as they could be and you're essentially left in limbo; you're best letting it run its course.

 

If Princess drops the ball on getting you to the ship or to an agreed upon port and rate; that is ALL on Princess and they'll make it right with you regardless of whether you purchased the protection plan; the responsibility was to get you there or make it right. The latter half of this however takes some time to play out and requires frustratingly for some people; no action to be taken on their part.

 

 

They'll be discouraging people from making arrangements to the two next ports currently, as the itinerary is not stable anymore. I'd recommend people with air through Princess NOT book ahead to those ports on their own; and instead allow Princess to schedule it over the next few days or compensates them if they are unable to find a compromise with said passengers.

 

Port agents at the consecutive ports on this itinerary are stating that they're getting routing information from fleets from various countries en route to SCL to provide assistance. Ships not on current schedules may be redirected and current ships with schedules may be advised to proceed ahead to the next port for assistance.

 

If you can arrive on Mar 2 or 3rd; then do so. If you cannot but are willing to go and have air through Princess; just wait and allow them to run through the process as best they can. You might be a little grumpy for all the delays, but you'll either be reunited with the ship and on your way or getting your money/credit if Princess managed your air.

 

 

Don't do anything you can't 100% bank on working and not in writing right now; you'll just have an uphill battle later trying to convince customer relations the extra hotel nights and air booked on your own to Ushuaia without having it explicitly documented by their air team...is something they should pay for.

[DougH]

If Princess is managing your flights, let them make your arrangements. If they can't get you to a port mutually agreed on. If you strike out on your own, they wont be responsible for independent air arrangements that go south on you.

 

Might not be what you want hear, but strictly under Princess air, they'll get you there or compensate you. Again, don't strike out on your own. Also, only you or your TA should be the point of contact. Multiple inquiries from different sources. Is a sure way to have communication issues, delays, or just negative responses to color your experience. Let them help you or not help, as its in their court now.

 

Its out of your hands, so sit tight and stay positive.

 

That would be great advice but up until 10 minutes ago, for 2 1/2 days every Princess rep both myself and my TA talked to said it was MY responsibility to get to the ship even though flights were booked thru Princess air. And Princess has not contacted me either by email or phone yet, all contact was made by me or my TA not Princess

[Toto2Kansas]

That would be great advice but up until 10 minutes ago, for 2 1/2 days every Princess rep both myself and my TA talked to said it was MY responsibility to get to the ship even though flights were booked thru Princess air. And Princess has not contacted me either by email or phone yet, all contact was made by me or my TA not Princess

 

Doug, I have to say, that really stinks. :( I guess that goes to show us all that even if you booked your air through the cruise line, they have no control over the flights and you still have to find a way to the ship yourself if something happens.

 

Best of luck on this and I hope you find a way to catch up to the ship.

[Coral]

Doug, I have to say, that really stinks. :( I guess that goes to show us all that even if you booked your air through the cruise line, they have no control over the flights and you still have to find a way to the ship yourself if something happens.

 

Best of luck on this and I hope you find a way to catch up to the ship.

 

I agree! I have not seen so many frustrated and disappointed travel agents and loyal Princess cruisers go through so much and not get any help from Princess like this ever before.

[RickEk]

I agree! I have not seen so many frustrated and disappointed travel agents and loyal Princess cruisers go through so much and not get any help from Princess like this ever before.

 

I don't know, but I think this is a horrific situation... I'm sure Princess is doing what they can... What do you want them to do?? Full refunds for everyone?? I think folks should cut them some slack and let's see how this plays out. Whatever they do won't satisfy some folks... It's truly a no-win... for everyone. Let's hope for the best...

[DougH]

I don't know, but I think this is a horrific situation... I'm sure Princess is doing what they can... What do you want them to do?? Full refunds for everyone?? I think folks should cut them some slack and let's see how this plays out. Whatever they do won't satisfy some folks... It's truly a no-win... for everyone. Let's hope for the best...

 

A phone call or email from Princess to me even if it just said we are working on the problem and will contact you when we have a solution would help quite a bit. My flights were to leave 2 1/2 days ago and I'm supposed to be thousands of miles away from where I am right now but board the ship tomorrow or incure penalites or deal with insurance claims with NO conatct of any kind from Princess kind of leaves a bad taste.

 

This is my 28th Princess cruise and I would have hoped that would have at least merited a phone call saying we are trying to figure things out for you.

[yelp]

I'm sure Princess is doing what they can... What do you want them to do?? Full refunds for everyone?? I think folks should cut them some slack and let's see how this plays out. Whatever they do won't satisfy some folks... It's truly a no-win... for everyone. Let's hope for the best...

 

Rick,

Princess acknowledged that almost none of the passengers were going to be able to fly there in time for the departure, but has insisted on saying that it's up to the passenger to be there for the departure. That's "doing what they can"?

 

Princess is going to lose money in one way or another for this trip because there are going to be so few passengers on the ship. Why not just do the right thing and "lose money" by giving a credit for future travel (so they keep their customers), rather than lose money AND lose these loyal customers? Giving credit would be an investment. (And that's from a business/profit perspective, not just the customer service perspective.)

[Coral]

I don't know, but I think this is a horrific situation... I'm sure Princess is doing what they can... What do you want them to do?? Full refunds for everyone?? I think folks should cut them some slack and let's see how this plays out. Whatever they do won't satisfy some folks... It's truly a no-win... for everyone. Let's hope for the best...

 

What should they do - maybe work with their passengers and their travel agents???? Not one person has posted that Princess has tried to work with them. Princess is almost acting like an earthquake didn't happen and all weekend kept stating "We will cruise on the 2nd on schedule"......

 

IMO - you can often tell the character of a company on how they handle a situation in a crisis. Princess is not handling this situation/crisis well.