After Cruise Survey

[geoherb]

I just filled out the survey from the link emailed to me. We disembarked from the Ruby on Thursday. Those of you who read my live thread know that we had a problem with the shore excursion desk. I mentioned that in my survey. Does Princess contact passengers who report problems on the survey? The shore excursion manager sent me a letter saying that he was unable to get in touch with the tour operator and that he would be forwarding my complaint to Princess' offices in California. I wonder how long I should wait until I follow up on my own in case Princess doesn't respond.

 

P.S. My complaint was that the tour we received did not match the description. It was the Tulum Mayan Ruins and Beach Break. The beach was closed due to rough surf, so we missed out on that portion of the excursion. The shore excursion desk rep told me that the weather isn't Princess' fault. I told him it wasn't ours either. The beach break was schedule to be 90 minutes of our excursion. It was the reason I chose that excursion instead of the other one that goes to Tulum. In addition, if we had been told earlier that the beach was closed, we would have left a lot of things on the bus. As it was, we carried heavy bags around the excursion with our beach towels, change of clothes, suntan lotion, etc. I'm hoping my complaint will improve the operation of that tour so that future passengers are told when the beach is closed before they get off the bus.

[paul929207]

Since it is a post cruise survey, I would think the responses for a given cruise are put together. I doubt that individual complaints would be passed on unless they were significant. If you want to pursue the tour complaint I would not count on the survey being of any help.

Edited March 22, 2014 by paul929207

[skynight]

You will not get any response from comments made on the cruise survey. Comments are consolidated and passed on to the departments.

 

Here is something you should be aware of regarding tours. In my experience Princess always takes the position that any issue is the fault of the tour operator. This is just an excuse. Although not the same for all operators and all ports Princess and their shore agents retain about 35% to 45% of the amount paid as their share for booking the tours. It's not a small amount and Princess needs to take some responsibility for the quality and content of the tour they sold. Seems you should get 1/2 back as you only received half the tour.

[caribill]

Do not expect any response from Princess from the after-cruise surbey comments. Also for the information sent from the ship's tour desk to Princess do not expect any response other than "we are sorry you were disappointed and hope to see you soon on another Princess cruise" letter.

 

I suggest sending a letter to Princess customer service explaining how the tour did not meet the description. That may get more of a response.

[Colo Cruiser]

I agree, I would send the letter. ;)

[boomerone]

I just filled out the survey from the link emailed to me. We disembarked from the Ruby on Thursday. Those of you who read my live thread know that we had a problem with the shore excursion desk. I mentioned that in my survey. Does Princess contact passengers who report problems on the survey? The shore excursion manager sent me a letter saying that he was unable to get in touch with the tour operator and that he would be forwarding my complaint to Princess' offices in California. I wonder how long I should wait until I follow up on my own in case Princess doesn't respond.

 

P.S. My complaint was that the tour we received did not match the description. It was the Tulum Mayan Ruins and Beach Break. The beach was closed due to rough surf, so we missed out on that portion of the excursion. The shore excursion desk rep told me that the weather isn't Princess' fault. I told him it wasn't ours either. The beach break was schedule to be 90 minutes of our excursion. It was the reason I chose that excursion instead of the other one that goes to Tulum. In addition, if we had been told earlier that the beach was closed, we would have left a lot of things on the bus. As it was, we carried heavy bags around the excursion with our beach towels, change of clothes, suntan lotion, etc. I'm hoping my complaint will improve the operation of that tour so that future passengers are told when the beach is closed before they get off the bus.

I firmly believe the way to handle a gripe from a shore excursion is to immediately address the issue with the shore excursion supervisor as soon as you return to the ship. Don't wait several days or longer to square things away and don't think the post-cruise survey will fix your gripe. On a recent shorex in Spain our guide did not tell us where our bus would be for the return to the ship. When I pressed her for the location of the bus she said "no problem, just meet me at X at time Y. We returned to X about 10 minutes early and saw a number of fellow cruisers milling about in the rain waiting for the guide. X was in a spacious town square but on that day a large number of students were in the square protesting something. X was very crowded and there were about 7 exits from the square leading down streets and alleyways. to wherever one might find a bus. Seeing we had 10 minutes time before departing X we slipped around the corner not more than 75 feet from X to check out a shop or two. We returned to location X precisely at time Y and could not find a soul from our group. The guide was not carrying a flag or bright unique umbrella to identify her in the crowd. If she had one we would have seen her walking away from the square. Not knowing which way to go to find the bus we stayed at location X until the guide returned about 15 minutes later. That was a frustrating and anxious 15 minutes. She admitted to not taking an accurate count of the people on her tour but would not admit she had left early. We got back to the bus to a somewhat miffed group of fellow passengers and it was embarrassing. We were not late for the departure from X, the group simply was herded back to the bus earlier than the stated time. I went to the shorex desk, stated our case to a very receptive officer and received a partial credit for that excursion on the spot without even asking for one. Tip of the hat to Princess for our satisfactory and reasonable resolution. My advice with shorex gripes is to stay civil with the guides and ship personnel, have your ducks lined up and don't have unrealistic expectations. Next time, if a guide does not have a flag we will make sure we maintain visual contact of the meeting location a few minutes prior to the stated departure time.

Edited March 22, 2014 by boomerone
additional comment

[Colo Cruiser]

I firmly believe the way to handle a gripe from a shore excursion is to immediately address the issue with the shore excursion supervisor as soon as you return to the ship. Don't wait several days or longer to square things away and don't think the post-cruise survey will fix your gripe. of the meeting location a few minutes prior to the stated departure time.

 

 

They did address it onboard with the Excursion manager.

[geoherb]

Thanks. One of my complaints now is that the shore excursion manager didn't handle my complaint immediately, or at least during the last two full days we were on the cruise. His excuse in the letter we received on the last afternoon was that he had not heard back from the tour operator. I think the manager should have the authority to make an offer, and it sounds like some of them handle complaints better.

[RickEk]

I just filled out the survey from the link emailed to me. We disembarked from the Ruby on Thursday. Those of you who read my live thread know that we had a problem with the shore excursion desk. I mentioned that in my survey. Does Princess contact passengers who report problems on the survey? The shore excursion manager sent me a letter saying that he was unable to get in touch with the tour operator and that he would be forwarding my complaint to Princess' offices in California. I wonder how long I should wait until I follow up on my own in case Princess doesn't respond.

 

P.S. My complaint was that the tour we received did not match the description. It was the Tulum Mayan Ruins and Beach Break. The beach was closed due to rough surf, so we missed out on that portion of the excursion. The shore excursion desk rep told me that the weather isn't Princess' fault. I told him it wasn't ours either. The beach break was schedule to be 90 minutes of our excursion. It was the reason I chose that excursion instead of the other one that goes to Tulum. In addition, if we had been told earlier that the beach was closed, we would have left a lot of things on the bus. As it was, we carried heavy bags around the excursion with our beach towels, change of clothes, suntan lotion, etc. I'm hoping my complaint will improve the operation of that tour so that future passengers are told when the beach is closed before they get off the bus.

 

I took this excursion in December. I took one look at the "beach" from above and decided to not even venture down the stairs. The beach was tiny... and just not my idea of a relaxing time at the beach. As that was my decision, I didn't even think of protesting to the shore excursion desk... I ended up wandering around the ruins for the rest of the time there.

 

Here's a pic of the "beach"...

[abbydancer2003]

When we did the Caribbean Maiden on the Royal my husband mentioned things he didn't like on his survey. Someone at Princess actually called and talked to him about it.

[Times Prince]

Here is something you should be aware of regarding tours. In my experience Princess always takes the position that any issue is the fault of the tour operator. This is just an excuse. Although not the same for all operators and all ports Princess and their shore agents retain about 35% to 45% of the amount paid as their share for booking the tours. It's not a small amount and Princess needs to take some responsibility for the quality and content of the tour they sold. Seems you should get 1/2 back as you only received half the tour.

Our experience differs, and even if the issue is the fault of the tour operator, Princess has taken responsibility. We once reported some safety issues and, although they were out of Princess' control and we did not ask for compensation, we were compensated for part of the tour cost.

 

We have, however, found that not all Princess Excursion desks follow the same general guidelines (they are people, and subject to error). Having a post cruise transfer pre-purchased, we once signed up for a post cruise excursion which ended at the airport. Normally (on many other Princess ships) the excursion desk will refund the transfer cost, and then charge the excursion cost, however this one refused to do so, saying the transfer was non-refundable. We ended up eating the cost of the transfer, and attributed that issue to the people at that particular excursion desk, writing up this and other excursion related issues on the post cruise survey, from which we received no further response.