Warning about using ship's services to send postal mail

[Aussie Gal]

I have a gripe with Princess that occurred in Tahiti earlier this year. Our last port was Bora Bora and to get the sales tax or GST refunded, we had to hand in to the front office our receipts and stamped addressed envelope which they in turn were going to give to the Tahitian Customs Officials before they left the ship. This was the rule for everyone on board who had bought goods over a certain amount in Tahiti.

 

I am not sure what happened but we certainly did not receive the monies due to us from Tahiti. It wasn't a huge amount, something like $30 or $40 and as months have now passed I have given up on ever receiving the refund. I have now become very wary of handing anything over to anyone in the Front Office.

 

Jennie

[Whoo]

We had a similar experience. On our Panama Canal cruise in 2008, not a single postcard made it to any of our friends or relatives. I spent time picking out nice postcards in the ports, and when I tried to mail them on the ship the purser's office said they had run out of stamps but I could just pay them for the postage and they would apply the stamps when they got more at the next port and mail them at that time. I remember paying $7 or $8 for the postage (other countries have higher postage rates than the U.S.).

 

On other cruises if we were able to purchase the stamps on the ship or on shore, and had the postage affixed to the postcard - those postcards eventually arrived.

 

Now you really have me wondering if this is a money-making scam that some employees are running. Doesn't seem worth it to lose a job over, but if someone did this several times a day the $$ could add up.

[rollingstone]

We were on this same transatlantic plus the cruise before that. We mailed 4 postcards & our friends mailed over 20. Of the 24, only 1 did not arrive. I think it is probably due to the local post offices.

Last year we mailed a postcard from our hotel in Rio.(at the desk) The postcard was sent in a bag to the hotels branch in New York (we assume) & sent from there to our friend's house with a US stamp on it! So we gave the hotel $2.00 and got a 30 cent stamp! Now that was a scam.

Our friend who worked at the post office told us to always write USA in large letters on the postcard

[celem]

You failed to mention how you mailed them. Did you give them to Customer Service unstamped and pay them to stamp and mail? Or did you apply stamps and give them to Customer Service? Or did you mail them at Post Offices?

 

My suspicion of foul play is only with paying Customer Service to stamp and mail, and probably not with the Customer Service desk employees but probably with whoever is tasked with actually taking mail to the post office.

 

We were on this same transatlantic plus the cruise before that. We mailed 4 postcards & our friends mailed over 20. Of the 24, only 1 did not arrive. ...

[BruceMuzz]

Before making accusations, assumptions, and pointing fingers, one needs to understand how mail service works on a cruise ship.

 

Just before a ship leaves a port, the Ship's Agent visits the Purser to collect any number of required forms and papers, and collect any mail that needs to go out.

If letters/cards are not stamped, the Purser pays the Agent for the required postage. The Agent is then trusted to follow up.

 

A few decades ago, when people paid far more for a cruise than they do today, the Ship's agents were paid quite a bit of money for their services.

In today's age of cost cutting to keep the cruise fares down the "back of house" people have taken the brunt of pain from the cuts.

Crew salaries and perks have been stripped away, and those Agents receive only a fraction of what we used to pay them.

They have far fewer people doing the same jobs, and those people are paid just a small fraction of what they used to get.

Are they still dependable? Sometimes.

Are they as honest as they used to be? Sometimes.

Do they take our postage money and throw away the postcards? Sometimes.

[madelinerose]

.. there was corruption or fraud. ... then I suspect that the cash was pocketed and the postcards discarded. ... then I suspect that the postcards were discarded to merely avoid work.

 

 

 

Lots of assumptions...prove it. ;)

[lovevacadays]

One thing to note. Postcards and letters sent non air-mail rate are transported by the next available cargo ship when a container is full, THEN into the US mail system.

 

It's entirely possible items mailed in October 2011 will arrive in Feb 2012 or later.

 

Wow! Very interesting.

[celem]

Lots of assumptions...prove it. ;)

 

Different ports, different countries, different port agents - the only thing in common is the ship. Yes, I assume that the problem is with ship's personnel, but Princess is ultimately liable for the services that they sell and Princess needs to investigate. My purpose for this post is to warn others that something is very wrong and to not trust delivery of unstamped mail given to Customer Service for them to apply with postage and post at the next port.

[celem]

Princess called me yesterday and left a message on my answering machine. They were responding to a letter that I wrote outlining the problem much as I did in the initial post here. I did not request a response or reimbursement. I merely asked that they investigate the matter. In the telephone message, the Princess representative stated that when the ship docks that the ship's accumulated mail is taken to the post office. He did not say that they used an intermediary, such as a port agent but rather said "we" take it.

 

In any case, Princess is now aware of the issue and hopefully they will investigate the matter sufficiently so as to make sure that future passengers will not experience such problems.

 

Different ports, different countries, different port agents - the only thing in common is the ship. Yes, I assume that the problem is with ship's personnel, but Princess is ultimately liable for the services that they sell and Princess needs to investigate. My purpose for this post is to warn others that something is very wrong and to not trust delivery of unstamped mail given to Customer Service for them to apply with postage and post at the next port.

[piper28]

I'm a little skeptical that it's some agent pocketing the money. Keep in mind, if that person was ever caught, it'd be grounds for immediate termination. If you're going to be caught stealing money, I don't think the amount being paid for postage is likely to be enough to make it worth losing ones job.

 

International post card mail can definitely be a somewhat unreliable thing. Yeah, it's odd that it's every one you sent, but who knows, maybe they'll still show up. I know we've gotten postcards we'd sent a *long* time after we sent them.

[celem]

Eight months later and NONE of the missing postcards have been delivered. Given that 3 different countries were involved, with different agents. The only common element was the ship's personnel.

 

Remember - three post offices in three countries for ~15 cards - none arrived except the one that I put a stamp on.

 

I now put this issue to rest and will post no more on this topic. Blame who you will but I will never again hand ship's personnel unstamped mail with an expectation of it being delivered.