Let's talk this (Diamond problem)up & scare people

[dorotha]

into canceling... ;then the Upgrade Fairy can visit those of us who think it's all part of the adventure!

[sue d. miller]

Well you are right!! Everyone who got off the ship, and all the ones that were crabby, missed a great cruise!! Anything can go wrong at any time on any ship. You have to be adaptable. Because of weather you can miss the ship, miss a port, have rough seas,have a different itinerary, get rained out, get seasick. A ship is like a vehicle also. Something can break, act funny, slow down. If you want to cruise, be aware that anything can happen. Then go, and have the time of your life, no matter what happens.

 

Sue

7 days on Star Princess 10/24

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[bjkTX]

I agree with Sue. I just wish Princess had done a better job of handling ALL the problems that we had on the May 15th Alaska cruise. A little bit of information from Princess as we stood in line 3 1/2 hours to get on, or 4 hours to get off, or the internet being down 3 days, or the power and water going off, or the "staff" people that would help us get hotels when we missed our flight that sent us to the airport and dropped us off with no other information or help. If I did business that way I'd be out of business - all they had to do was explain and follow-up - they did neither.

[Guest]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR> If I did business that way I'd be out of business - all they had to do was explain and follow-up - they did neither. <HR></BLOCKQUOTE> It’s unfortunate that Princess didn’t meet your expectations, but think of the logistical issues handling 2600 people unexpectedly. Something is bound to go wrong. Princess doesn’t do this kind of contingency business every day – if they did, you can bet there would have been no inconveniences…but when something this major happens, it does affect things.

 

-------------------------

Sun Princess, 03/2004; Pacific Princess, 07/2003; Star Princess, 05/2003; Grand Princess, 10/2002; Grand Princess, 10/2002; Sun Princess, 05/2001; Sun Princess, 04/2001; Sun Princess, 09/2000; Sun Princess, 09/2000; Regal Princess, 10/1999; Sun Princess, 08/1998; Holiday, 05/1998; Westerdam, 09/1997; Regal Princess, 11/1996; Royal Odyssey, 09/1995; Starward, 11/1993

 

 

[spongerob]

I can understand some frustration, but I'm having a little difficulty with the complaints. In one post you said you were put up in a hotel, in this one you make it sound like you were dropped at the airport and left to your own devices. Maybe I'm reading it wrong, but it's hard to address comments like this when the story seems to be blown out of proportion with each re-telling.

 

Embarkation problems - been there, done that. Sometimes the desire to get on board the ship as soon as humanly possible means that you walk into lines and delays. Often this is out of the cruise line's control. I agree that being updated as to the status would be a good thing.

 

Diamond Princess is a new ship and probably experiencing some new ship blues. Again, frustrating, but not a deal-breaker if the problems are intermittent.

 

Internet connections from ships are notoriously unreliable. Bad weather can cause the satellite connection to fail, as can a host of other reasons. It's not like you're at work and need the internet to look busy, after all.

 

Cruise lines are no more immune to bad days than anyone else. No matter how much is done and the competence displayed, there will always be those who make the situation worse by losing their tempers and demanding special attention. Again, the frustrations are understandable, but I think more experienced travelers understand that a little understanding and patience with the staff trying their best to handle the situation is in everyone's best interests. Threats and recriminations do little but increase everyones' stress.

 

Completed:

Sea Princess, Royal Princess, Grand Princess (3X), Caribbean Princess, Golden Princess

Coming up:

Tahitian Princess Oct 14/04

Caribbean Princess redux 6/25/05

[WCAB]

Could be that Princess could not give the individual attention, they would have liked because of the time contraints. It would be nice if they would do a little PR work for those of you that had to stand in lines, miss flights and such, once things are back to normal. If they do, please post as it would be nice to hear about the other side of the coin.

 

Carnival Spirit-Hawaii

[bjkTX]

To follow-up on what I said previously ....all I said was a little communication would have helped. I don't care how busy they are - they certainly had more than enough time to tell us about all the jewelry stores at every port, over and over again - a 1 minute announcement about what caused us to stand in line 3 1/5 hours (with no one moving) wouldn't seem like a lot to ask.

 

I agree internet connections are iffy - and if the weather hadn't been perfect all 3 days, I wouldn't have even raised the issue about it being down 3 days with no explanation.

 

Yes they put us up in a hotel - we had to call the hotel and make arrangements, they told us everything would be handled at the dock which they weren't, all of us were wandering around trying to find all the "help" they told us would be there. We made it work, they could have made it easier.

 

I go back to my first comment - it would have been nice if they had done a better job of communicating when there was a problem.