Royal Princess delay leaving Vancouver / 9.14.2019

[shipsealand]

Thanks for the update.  So far only word from Princess for us on the 12 day Alaska is the boarding tomorrow 4:30- 6:30 PM, which obviously can't happen.

 

Dear Princess Guest:

We look forward to welcoming you aboard Royal Princess for your upcoming cruise.

Please be advised that Royal Princess's arrival into Los Angeles on Tuesday, September 17 will be delayed due to a departure delay from Vancouver on her current cruise.

As a result, check-in for your cruise will now be from 4:30 PM to 6:30 PM. Priority check-in will be available to guests with a Preferred Boarding Pass within the allocated check-in times. If you have booked a Princess Cruise Plus Package or Princess Transfer, your check-in time will be provided at your hotel or airport. Boarding will commence shortly after check-in. 

To ease terminal congestion, we will operate a revised progressive embarkation schedule.

4:30 PM - Lido & Riviera Decks: Cabins on these decks begin with L & R
5:15 PM - Baja & Caribe Decks: Cabins on these decks begin with B & C    
6:00 PM - Emerald & Marina Decks: Cabins on these decks begin with E & M  
6:30 PM - Aloha Deck: Cabins on this deck begin with A   

Please do not arrive at the pier prior to your scheduled check-in time as the terminal will be closed until disembarkation is complete. Guests who arrive at the pier early may drop off their luggage and enjoy the surrounding area. All guests must be checked in by 7:00 PM. The ship will sail at 8:00 PM.

We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause and thank you for your attention to this important message. The entire staff and crew of Royal Princess look forward to welcoming you on board.

Sincerely,

Princess Cruises 

Notice: This is an automated email; please do not reply as this mailbox is not monitored.

[Ombud]

18 hours ago, ceilidh1 said:

Sorry - couldn’t get it to rotate!

 

Glad we have EZ Air

Rotated .... great reason to use EZAIR 

[shipsealand]

Good thing we have this board to keep us up to date.  The most recent word from Princess for the 12 day Alaska was yesterday 5:06 PM.  Thanks for all the replies.

[cr8tiv1]

Thank you Ombud for rotating the image.  I was too lazy to do it myself.  Makes for much easier reading.

[ceilidh1]

8 minutes ago, cr8tiv1 said:

Thank you Ombud for rotating the image.  I was too lazy to do it myself.  Makes for much easier reading.

Yes - thanks for that! I tried everything my end but cruise critic didn’t want to play nice!

[ceilidh1]

37 minutes ago, shipsealand said:

Thanks for the update.  So far only word from Princess for us on the 12 day Alaska is the boarding tomorrow 4:30- 6:30 PM, which obviously can't happen.

 

Dear Princess Guest:

We look forward to welcoming you aboard Royal Princess for your upcoming cruise.

Please be advised that Royal Princess's arrival into Los Angeles on Tuesday, September 17 will be delayed due to a departure delay from Vancouver on her current cruise.

As a result, check-in for your cruise will now be from 4:30 PM to 6:30 PM. Priority check-in will be available to guests with a Preferred Boarding Pass within the allocated check-in times. If you have booked a Princess Cruise Plus Package or Princess Transfer, your check-in time will be provided at your hotel or airport. Boarding will commence shortly after check-in. 

To ease terminal congestion, we will operate a revised progressive embarkation schedule.

4:30 PM - Lido & Riviera Decks: Cabins on these decks begin with L & R
5:15 PM - Baja & Caribe Decks: Cabins on these decks begin with B & C    
6:00 PM - Emerald & Marina Decks: Cabins on these decks begin with E & M  
6:30 PM - Aloha Deck: Cabins on this deck begin with A   

Please do not arrive at the pier prior to your scheduled check-in time as the terminal will be closed until disembarkation is complete. Guests who arrive at the pier early may drop off their luggage and enjoy the surrounding area. All guests must be checked in by 7:00 PM. The ship will sail at 8:00 PM.

We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause and thank you for your attention to this important message. The entire staff and crew of Royal Princess look forward to welcoming you on board.

Sincerely,

Princess Cruises 

Notice: This is an automated email; please do not reply as this mailbox is not monitored.

Yes, I doubt the ship will be cleared by 4:30 given the last disembark group has that time! The notice also says we need to be out of stateroom at noon - can’t see that happening either, to be honest! 99% of folks have self carry so not likely going to lug bags around with them for 3-4 hours! 

 

We have a disembark group of 4:15pmbut have no word on our EZ Air flight yet....wondering when I should start to panic! Lol

[idahospud]

5 minutes ago, ceilidh1 said:

wondering when I should start to panic! Lol

Just don't read Yellow Fish Cruises' blog post from when they disembarked the ship last year in Shanghai! 

[ceilidh1]

Just got the info for our rebooked EZAir flights. Our direct 3 hour flight from LAX to YVR has now become a flight with a stop and plane change in Seattle. We get back to YVR at midnight. Ugh. Not ideal with two kids but at least it hasn’t cost me anything extra and I didn’t have to scramble to make the changes myself. It would s what it is...

[senior lady]

thank goodness for Ezair

 

[ceilidh1]

2 minutes ago, senior lady said:

thank goodness for Ezair

 

For sure! I wouldn’t have chosen this flight but happy to have been taken care of!

[Icebowlpacker]

Leaving tomorrow on the 12 day Alaska cruise on Royal...last week we got notification that the Royal wouldn’t be allowing passengers to disembark at Victoria and now the departure from San Pedro has been pushed back from 4pm to 6pm and now 8 pm, which will be a stretch based on 2pm arrival into San Pedro. Our letter states that’s guests will receive $25 onboard credit for the delay, but hopefully this isn’t a preview of how this trip will be going...

[Colo Cruiser]

1 minute ago, Icebowlpacker said:

Leaving tomorrow on the 12 day Alaska cruise on Royal...last week we got notification that the Royal wouldn’t be allowing passengers to disembark at Victoria and now the departure from San Pedro has been pushed back from 4pm to 6pm and now 8 pm, which will be a stretch based on 2pm arrival into San Pedro. Our letter states that’s guests will receive $25 onboard credit for the delay, but hopefully this isn’t a preview of how this trip will be going...

Yeah but you will be on a cruise regardless.😎

[donswife]

12 hours ago, JAT0303 said:

We're in the Royal Princess now and had to rebook our flights which cost us $800.  There was $400 in chweange fees so out the original $408 cost + $800 for the same flights at a later time.

 

Travel insurance won't cover because it's a common carrier issue and I confirmed with them this morning.

 

On the phone now with Princess on shore to try to work it out.....

We are in a similar situation,  with our visa card insurance,  which only covers trip delayed by severe weather or strike. Did you hear back from princess?

[ceilidh1]

13 hours ago, Colo Cruiser said:

Yeah but you will be on a cruise regardless.😎

Hmmm....wonder if the drink package still applies today? I could get in a few more before being kicked off at 4pm!

[JAT0303]

12 hours ago, donswife said:

We are in a similar situation,  with our visa card insurance,  which only covers trip delayed by severe weather or strike. Did you hear back from princess?

 

No, no letter last night as I was told.  I'll send in a claim to the email address we were given to submit claims when they moved the departure up last week.

 

Funny thing is we're off Catalina now so essentially at the cruise port....

[donswife]

On 9/17/2019 at 10:07 AM, JAT0303 said:

 

No, no letter last night as I was told.  I'll send in a claim to the email address we were given to submit claims when they moved the departure up last week.

 

Funny thing is we're off Catalina now so essentially at the cruise port....

What e-mail address did you use? I could not find one in the notice I got, maybe because it was filtered through the travel agency?

[ceilidh1]

On 9/16/2019 at 7:19 PM, Colo Cruiser said:

Yeah but you will be on a cruise regardless.

[ceilidh1]

Hope everyone made it safely home! We were in the second walk off group and San Pedro was an absolute mess! Lines for cabs, shuttles, Uber, and much confusion! After an hour wait we finally got the princess shuttle to the airport! Lots of delays with our flights and finally made it home by 2am! Sigh!

 

Still a fun trip and we had a blast!

[LongToSeeTheSea]

24 minutes ago, ceilidh1 said:

Hope everyone made it safely home! We were in the second walk off group and San Pedro was an absolute mess! Lines for cabs, shuttles, Uber, and much confusion! After an hour wait we finally got the princess shuttle to the airport! Lots of delays with our flights and finally made it home by 2am! Sigh!

 

Still a fun trip and we had a blast!

 

You’re right...total chaos once you got outside!  Our car was at a garage at LAX, so we used a car service (Blacklane)...so glad we did.  Taxi line was insane and we heard that Uber/Lyft we’re dropping rides once they realized where the pickup was.   Still a great trip...Vancouver is such a beautiful city...even in the rain.  We drove up to Whistler on Thursday before the cruise in the rain and it was a blast.   Having sailed many times on Regal and spending 21 days on Majestic...Royal Princess is a great ship with an excellent crew!  Looking forward to Sky TA in November! 🚢⚓️👍🏻😎

[JAT0303]

6 hours ago, donswife said:

What e-mail address did you use? I could not find one in the notice I got, maybe because it was filtered through the travel agency?

 

Here's a copy of the e-mail that was sent before the cruise.  There is a link to a site for information under the Independent Air section (sorry, I thought it was an e-mail address at first).

 

Dear Princess Guest:

 

 

Please be advised that due to newly updated speed restrictions to safeguard the marine life in the area, we must allow more time for the passage to Los Angeles from Vancouver. Royal Princess will now sail from Vancouver at 3:30 PM on Saturday, September 14, 2019, and will arrive in Los Angeles at 8:30 AM on Tuesday, September 17, 2019. In Vancouver, all guests must be aboard by 3:00 PM.

As a result of this change, our embarkation flight guideline in Vancouver has changed. The latest flight arrival time on Saturday, September 14 is now 12:30 PM. Our disembarkation flight guideline in Los Angeles has not changed, and we still recommend flights depart Los Angeles no earlier than 12:30 PM on Tuesday, September 17.

Guests with Princess EZair
If your Princess EZair arrives later than this time, we will be rebooking your flight and contacting you shortly to discuss your arrangements. Please visit the Cruise Personalizer at www.princess.com/cruisepersonalizer to review your new flight schedule before departure.

Guests with independent air arrangements
If you have already booked an independent flight that will arrive later than this time, we recommend you rebook your flight to an earlier arrival time. We understand you may incur unexpected expenses for air change fees as a result of this change. Please visit https://www.princess.com/refund-request/ for details on submitted a refund request.

If you have any questions, please contact us at 1-800-774-6237 (North America), 0344 3388663 (UK), 13 24 88 (Australia), or 0800 780717 (New Zealand) to discuss your arrangements.

We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause and thank you for your attention to this important message. The entire staff and crew of Royal Princess look forward to welcoming you on board.

Sincerely,

Princess Cruises

[donswife]

Thank you Jennifer. I hope you get some reimbursement. I called our Visa travel protection, and they said they only cover trip interruption with a common carrier if it is due to severe weather or a strike. Very frustrating. We didn't use EZ air because we wanted to fly home same day out of Long Beach, and they wouldn't do it. Also, we like Southwest for domestic flights (until we can afford business or first class!).

 

[xlxo]

On 9/18/2019 at 6:22 PM, LongToSeeTheSea said:

You’re right...total chaos once you got outside!  Our car was at a garage at LAX, so we used a car service (Blacklane)...so glad we did.  Taxi line was insane and we heard that Uber/Lyft we’re dropping rides once they realized where the pickup was.

I was in the first debarkation group trying to get to the airport....

• 2:25pm walkoff
• 2:35pm exited terminal.... where's the taxi line?  Why are a few hundred people queuing on a traffic Island?  Duh?
  • found the Super shuttle next to the cab line.... said he was totally full and not taking any walk-ons
  • second Super shuttle showed up around 3:15pm.  I could see people abandoning the cab lines and swamping the blue bus as he was pulling into the lane.  It was like anarchy
  • felt like there would be one cab showing up every 5 minutes to hoards of cruisers walking out of the terminal.
  • taxi's were fighting their way to pickup passengers with ride hailing vehicles blocking the lanes.
• 3:25pm finally got into a cab.  I notice several cabs showing up after we were loaded.
• 3:55pm got to airport.  So glad the highway traffic congestion was minimal.  Got a good driver.

They say Vancouver is a bad cruise port for taxi service.  Somehow I think San Pedro taxi service is worse for a new cruiser never being to LA.  There is no clear signage for where the taxi's are when you exit the terminal.  The guy in the yellow shirt is not visible in the crowds.  Kinda surprised the yellow shirt guy was not interested in knowing my destination where I was willing to split ride with others going to the airport.

 

Is this LA's idea of fun watching cruisers in desperation trying to make their flights?

 

How are other's experience on leaving the terminal?  What was it like if you were debarkation group 20 or so?

[JAT0303]

On 9/17/2019 at 10:07 AM, JAT0303 said:

 

No, no letter last night as I was told.  I'll send in a claim to the email address we were given to submit claims when they moved the departure up last week.

 

Funny thing is we're off Catalina now so essentially at the cruise port....

 

Just to close the loop for everyone on the issue of reimbursement for additional airfare costs...

 

I sent in a reimbursement request to Customer Relations as directed when I called again to ask about the process after the cruise.   I just received a call from a very nice Princess Customer Services representative.  She said they would be reimbursing me for the additional $806 in airfare costs and I should expect a check in 4 -6 weeks.  

 

I'm very happy that this was handled so quickly and the information I submitted was sufficient to demonstrate the additional costs!