Just got bumped off the cruise we booked because a company bought it out???

[samfeline]

Has anyone experienced what we just had happen...we were working on my husband's retirement trip to New Zealand and Australia--6 week trip. New Zealand was the cruise portion and Australia was the land portion that we researched and put together. We booked this cruise around New Zealand a few months ago, got our mileage flight tickets--business class, which in this day and age are difficult to come by and were in the process of putting our money down for the Australia portion of the trip and then we get a call from the travel agent that had booked our cruise and she told us someone or a company had chartered our Princess Cruise ship and we were bumped off our cruise and told we could go on the same cruise two weeks later. We did not get any notification from Princess Cruise lines personally saying they were sorry for the inconvenience...we did not get any extra compensation like a voucher saying we could get an upgrade on our room in the future or a ship credit voucher...Nothing. This cruise line totally inconvienced us and we no longer can visit New Zealand because of our Australia land tour. Cruise lines don't offer that many New Zealand only cruises and they did not have any other choices for our time period. Our mileage flight tickets could not be used. It is very discomforting to see how a major cruise line like Princess can do this to people and not really care about how it might affect a person's trip. Traveling from the United States to Australia isn't something one does that often. We have been on previous cruises with Princess and have enjoyed that particular cruise line; but, we will never use them again. Has anyone ever experienced anything like this before? Just curious.

[1025cruise]

All lines charter. Its big money. Usually, its done with enough time for you to make new plans. If the only reason you are going to no longer cruise Princess is due to this, you might as well forget looking at other lines, as all lines do this.

 

With that said, since you worked with a travel agent, Princess would not contact you. They would contact your TA who is then to contact you. Now, I would be talking to your TA to get Princess to give you something for your inconvenience.

[sail7seas]

Unfortunately, most cruise lines do this. They make a lot of money on charters and it is always disappointing to those who are bumped.

 

Your TA should work on getting your air arrangements handled. You should not be out considerably funds due to Princess doing a charter.

 

Good luck.

I see this is your first post. Please come back and let us know how it works out for you.

Welcome to CC.

[Hlitner]

ARGH. To use simple language this kind of situation just SUCKS! But has been already posted, it has become an all too common problem as cruise lines continue to accept (and market) charters. Once upon a time the cruise lines rarely booked a charter less then 11 months in advance to help early bookers and not have issues with those who have already booked and paid for their air (this can usually be done 330 days in advance). But lately there seems to be a trend (by many lines) where they no longer have any consideration for their early bookers (often their most loyal customers).

 

Bottom line is that all the cruise lines promote early bookings (through marketing and incentives) and then have no conscience about screwing those same early bookers.

 

Hank

[luddite]

Happened to us, we weren't real happy.

Nothing to be done.

[CruiseGirlKS]

That happened to me on my very first cruise. I was so mad.

[MermaidWatcher]

All lines charter. Its big money. Usually, its done with enough time for you to make new plans. If the only reason you are going to no longer cruise Princess is due to this, you might as well forget looking at other lines, as all lines do this.

With that said, since you worked with a travel agent, Princess would not contact you. They would contact your TA who is then to contact you. Now, I would be talking to your TA to get Princess to give you something for your inconvenience.

 

While that is very true, when it happens to you, it becomes personal. I would feel the exact same way, and with their being no shortage of brand options in the industry, probably would also not patronize that brand again myself. Do they care, no, but I would know it, and feel that I had at least taken some token action to satisfy my frustration.

[sail7seas]

Has anyone experienced what we just had happen...we were working on my husband's retirement trip to New Zealand and Australia--6 week trip. New Zealand was the cruise portion and Australia was the land portion that we researched and put together. We booked this cruise around New Zealand a few months ago, got our mileage flight tickets--business class, which in this day and age are difficult to come by and were in the process of putting our money down for the Australia portion of the trip and then we get a call from the travel agent that had booked our cruise and she told us someone or a company had chartered our Princess Cruise ship and we were bumped off our cruise and told we could go on the same cruise two weeks later. We did not get any notification from Princess Cruise lines personally saying they were sorry for the inconvenience...we did not get any extra compensation like a voucher saying we could get an upgrade on our room in the future or a ship credit voucher...Nothing. This cruise line totally inconvienced us and we no longer can visit New Zealand because of our Australia land tour. Cruise lines don't offer that many New Zealand only cruises and they did not have any other choices for our time period. Our mileage flight tickets could not be used. It is very discomforting to see how a major cruise line like Princess can do this to people and not really care about how it might affect a person's trip. Traveling from the United States to Australia isn't something one does that often. We have been on previous cruises with Princess and have enjoyed that particular cruise line; but, we will never use them again. Has anyone ever experienced anything like this before? Just curious.

 

 

 

When you book with a TA, all communication between you and the cruise line goes through the TA. Princess will not contact you directly per their agreements with TA's.

 

 

(my underline)

[Reader0108598]

Has anyone experienced what we just had happen...we were working on my husband's retirement trip to New Zealand and Australia--6 week trip. New Zealand was the cruise portion and Australia was the land portion that we researched and put together. We booked this cruise around New Zealand a few months ago, got our mileage flight tickets--business class, which in this day and age are difficult to come by and were in the process of putting our money down for the Australia portion of the trip and then we get a call from the travel agent that had booked our cruise and she told us someone or a company had chartered our Princess Cruise ship and we were bumped off our cruise and told we could go on the same cruise two weeks later. We did not get any notification from Princess Cruise lines personally saying they were sorry for the inconvenience...we did not get any extra compensation like a voucher saying we could get an upgrade on our room in the future or a ship credit voucher...Nothing. This cruise line totally inconvienced us and we no longer can visit New Zealand because of our Australia land tour. Cruise lines don't offer that many New Zealand only cruises and they did not have any other choices for our time period. Our mileage flight tickets could not be used. It is very discomforting to see how a major cruise line like Princess can do this to people and not really care about how it might affect a person's trip. Traveling from the United States to Australia isn't something one does that often. We have been on previous cruises with Princess and have enjoyed that particular cruise line; but, we will never use them again. Has anyone ever experienced anything like this before? Just curious.

 

 

I feel for you, that does suck!:(

[geospyder]

We currently have an Asian B2B2B starting in March of 2015. Within the last month or so the first cruise and more recently the second cruise have disappeared. TA has not received any info from the cruise line and the cruise line has not contacted anyone on the cruises, but lots of rumors floating around :confused: One of the rumors is the dreaded charter rumor. One of the other rumors is "down for inventory check". Needless to say we're hoping for the inventory check :)

[MCC retired]

This is a case where having a TA should benefit you . If that TA is any good they will be fighting on your behalf for compensation (hopefully she is already working on it?). A good TA that hopefully is a Top Producer for Princess will have contacts .

It stinks since it is a 1 time itinerary , but a charter is too good for any CL to pass on.

[greatam]

Has anyone experienced what we just had happen...we were working on my husband's retirement trip to New Zealand and Australia--6 week trip. New Zealand was the cruise portion and Australia was the land portion that we researched and put together. We booked this cruise around New Zealand a few months ago, got our mileage flight tickets--business class, which in this day and age are difficult to come by and were in the process of putting our money down for the Australia portion of the trip and then we get a call from the travel agent that had booked our cruise and she told us someone or a company had chartered our Princess Cruise ship and we were bumped off our cruise and told we could go on the same cruise two weeks later. We did not get any notification from Princess Cruise lines personally saying they were sorry for the inconvenience...we did not get any extra compensation like a voucher saying we could get an upgrade on our room in the future or a ship credit voucher...Nothing. This cruise line totally inconvienced us and we no longer can visit New Zealand because of our Australia land tour. Cruise lines don't offer that many New Zealand only cruises and they did not have any other choices for our time period. Our mileage flight tickets could not be used. It is very discomforting to see how a major cruise line like Princess can do this to people and not really care about how it might affect a person's trip. Traveling from the United States to Australia isn't something one does that often. We have been on previous cruises with Princess and have enjoyed that particular cruise line; but, we will never use them again. Has anyone ever experienced anything like this before? Just curious.

 

Just a couple of things. If you could do the NZ cruise two weeks later, then do your Australia land first. Just flop the trip around. Is there a reason you can't just flip the trip around?

 

Rebooking the award airline tickets may take some doing but should be workable if you are flexible. AND the cruise line through your TA should be reimbursing any miles "redeposit" fees or change fees.

[LHT28]

Are there any other cruise lines that do a similar cruise in your time frame so that you could still use the award tickets ?

 

I like the suggestion of flipping the land trip so you might still do both

 

Very annoying when you have made all the plans

[greatam]

Are there any other cruise lines that do a similar cruise in your time frame so that you could still use the award tickets ?

 

I like the suggestion of flipping the land trip so you might still do both

 

Very annoying when you have made all the plans

 

If I read the OP correctly, they HAVEN'T booked the land portion yet. Were just getting ready to when they found out their ship was chartered. But were offered the NZ cruise two weeks later. Unless there was a special event in Australia that you would miss by flipping the trip, I would want the land trip first anyhow. Nothing like getting on a ship and just chillin' out after being on the go for a couple of weeks with all the hotel changes. JMHO

Edited January 26, 2014 by greatam

[Lionesss]

Years ago when we booked our Mariner of the Seas cruise out of Port Canavaral, we were looking at booking the Freedom of the Seas out of Miami.

 

We are so lucky we stayed with the Mariner because that Freedom sailing was bought out by Nickelodean, and all cruisers had the opportunity to re-book at the new HIGHER price or be credited there money.

 

Some of those original cruisers joined us on the Mariner.

 

At least there was an option besides cancelling.

 

Sea Ya

Edited January 26, 2014 by Lionesss

[boulders]

Have a look at Holland America and see if their New Zealand cruises suit you. IMO, their cruises are nicer than Princess.

[cherylandtk]

As others have said, your TA will have to be the one to go to bat for you in contacting Princess. When this sort of thing has happened before, Princess has been very good in paying for your costs...but you have to ask, and provide proof of your costs. Mileage airfare has no actual cost, but they will pay for your miles to be redeposited. If you have non-refundable costs such as hotel deposits, they will cover that sort of thing. Depending on how far in advance this happens, they may or may not offer onboard credit for moving to different date. The more inconvenienced you are by having to change other arrangements, the more likely they are to offer something. But unless your TA nicely brings all this to their attention, they won't know and will assume you are simply flying over, taking the cruise and returning home.

 

Be sure to put your request to your TA in writing (email is fine) so you have a record, and request that the TA puts all of the Princess offers and responses to you in writing as well. A good TA will do this almost without asking, but some are better than others. You may want to write a very concise note to your TA that specifically lists all the NR costs, any additional expenses to be incurred (such as having to spend an extra night in a hotel if you flip flop the cruise and land portions); everything that you want Princess do for you. Take all emotion out of the note, this is a financial transaction you are negotiating, not an emotional plea. If you ask politely, I am sure you will get a polite response which will likely be sufficient.

[SPacificbound]

Has anyone experienced what we just had happen...we were working on my husband's retirement trip to New Zealand and Australia--6 week trip. New Zealand was the cruise portion and Australia was the land portion that we researched and put together. We booked this cruise around New Zealand a few months ago, got our mileage flight tickets--business class, which in this day and age are difficult to come by and were in the process of putting our money down for the Australia portion of the trip and then we get a call from the travel agent that had booked our cruise and she told us someone or a company had chartered our Princess Cruise ship and we were bumped off our cruise and told we could go on the same cruise two weeks later. We did not get any notification from Princess Cruise lines personally saying they were sorry for the inconvenience...we did not get any extra compensation like a voucher saying we could get an upgrade on our room in the future or a ship credit voucher...Nothing. This cruise line totally inconvienced us and we no longer can visit New Zealand because of our Australia land tour. Cruise lines don't offer that many New Zealand only cruises and they did not have any other choices for our time period. Our mileage flight tickets could not be used. It is very discomforting to see how a major cruise line like Princess can do this to people and not really care about how it might affect a person's trip. Traveling from the United States to Australia isn't something one does that often. We have been on previous cruises with Princess and have enjoyed that particular cruise line; but, we will never use them again. Has anyone ever experienced anything like this before? Just curious.

 

While I totally understand your being very upset and unhappy, let me ask you a question? How much time do you have for this trip?

 

The reason I ask is my husband and I traveled New Zealand and Australia in 2013 and I really recommend you see New Zealand by land not by cruise. It is an absolutely beautiful country and a cruise cannot do it justice. The people of New Zealand are very friendly, helpful and happy, and I can understand why, they live in heaven.

[cruisemom42]

Have a look at Holland America and see if their New Zealand cruises suit you. IMO, their cruises are nicer than Princess.

 

Because Holland America never bumps folks off for charters.....:rolleyes:

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1973901&highlight=charter

[dsrdsrdsr]

This doesn't happen in Britain, because if you tear up a contract in Britain you have to pay all reasonable foreseeable expenses incurred by the other party. So any cruise company that tried this game would have to reimburse you for all flights and other travel arrangements you'd already made.

 

Shame US law doesn't work that way. I'm sure there are many aspects of law better over there than over here, but on this matter the UK has it right. Take it up with your congressman.

[Talisker92]

I can sympathize with samfeline. We booked a Russian River cruise, followed by a Princess Holy Land cruise. We used miles to book Business Class seats many months ahead. LA- Moscow, St. Petersburg to London, London to Athens, Rome to London, London to LA. It was an immense undertaking because there are so few Business Class mileage seats.

My TA got notified that the Holy Land cruise was now doing the Black Sea because of the unrest in Egypt.

Well, as you can imagine that threw everything into a cocked hat. I had to cancel the cruise, cancel some of the flights, and try to get a Business Class flight back to LA after our Russian cruise.

I am sure they deserve some sort of compensation.

[kydems]

If you don't mind who you cruise with there are a lot of NZ cruises. Many leave from Sydney but that should be easy to organise. We cruised around NZ with Celebrity in march 2013. All the cruise lines seem to follow the same itinerary. Hope you can sort out your issues Australia and New Zealand are certainly worth the bother.

[baronessk]

This doesn't happen in Britain, because if you tear up a contract in Britain you have to pay all reasonable foreseeable expenses incurred by the other party. So any cruise company that tried this game would have to reimburse you for all flights and other travel arrangements you'd already made.

 

Shame US law doesn't work that way. I'm sure there are many aspects of law better over there than over here, but on this matter the UK has it right. Take it up with your congressman

 

In the UK ........if you cancel the cruise before final payment you don't get your deposit back

Who should you take that one up with?????? In the US, we get our deposit back!

Edited January 27, 2014 by baronessk

[Algebralovr]

This doesn't happen in Britain, because if you tear up a contract in Britain you have to pay all reasonable foreseeable expenses incurred by the other party. So any cruise company that tried this game would have to reimburse you for all flights and other travel arrangements you'd already made.

 

Shame US law doesn't work that way. I'm sure there are many aspects of law better over there than over here, but on this matter the UK has it right. Take it up with your congressman.

 

Yes, it does happen in Britain, because you book the same cruises we do from the US! In fact there have been people from the UK complaining on these boards just as much as people from the US and elsewhere.

OP, the cruise line should reimburse you any expenses you have already incurred that are not refundable. Please contact your TA t make it happen.

[Cruisin' Chick]

As others have said, your TA will have to be the one to go to bat for you in contacting Princess. When this sort of thing has happened before, Princess has been very good in paying for your costs...but you have to ask, and provide proof of your costs. Mileage airfare has no actual cost, but they will pay for your miles to be redeposited. If you have non-refundable costs such as hotel deposits, they will cover that sort of thing. Depending on how far in advance this happens, they may or may not offer onboard credit for moving to different date. The more inconvenienced you are by having to change other arrangements, the more likely they are to offer something. But unless your TA nicely brings all this to their attention, they won't know and will assume you are simply flying over, taking the cruise and returning home.

 

Be sure to put your request to your TA in writing (email is fine) so you have a record, and request that the TA puts all of the Princess offers and responses to you in writing as well. A good TA will do this almost without asking, but some are better than others. You may want to write a very concise note to your TA that specifically lists all the NR costs, any additional expenses to be incurred (such as having to spend an extra night in a hotel if you flip flop the cruise and land portions); everything that you want Princess do for you. Take all emotion out of the note, this is a financial transaction you are negotiating, not an emotional plea. If you ask politely, I am sure you will get a polite response which will likely be sufficient.

 

Scan any documents you have -- mileage receipts or whatever -- and attached to your email to your TA, following the advice above. Be concise and don't list unnecessary info. See what the agent can do with that. Good luck.