Beware! Princess Shore Excursions Policy of Waiting

[Coral]

I've often wondered about this. We generally (almost always) buy travel insurance. If we didn't make it back to the ship in time due to our own lateness, would that qualify as a reimbursable trip interruption event with most policies?

 

I have read other accounts of people missing the ship due to traffic or due to losing track of time and their travel insurance did cover their expenses to catch up with the ship. In the cases I have read, it was not a cheap experience either.

[skarletohara]

I always take my birth certificate AND a passport when traveling to Mexico since either one will get me out of the country. I take one or the other

with me and leave one doc in the safe.

 

In the olden days I always used to make photocopies of my birth certificate, too.

 

During the last cruise we went on a tour in PV to Las Caletas and originally

I was only going to bring like $40 or so and then something told me to take a credit card, docs, et cet. I was concerned that something like the above

poster's situation could happen and was afraid of what would happen if

we were stranded with NO money, no credit card! Yikes.

 

It is also for the above-poster's poor experience in Venezuela that I will refuse to debark in Venezuela if we ever go there. I've heard too many

bad things about Isla Margarita-Venezuela.

[Catnip]

There is another issue which I think should be brought to the attention of the Chairman of the Board of Carnival Corporation and to the attention of the President of Princess Cruises - and that is the lack of assistance from the port agent. That man had the power to inform the ship that you were there and he did not! His lack of action was unconscionable. I am sure that Princess pays his company big bucks to be Port Agent.

 

I was thinking the exact same thing!!!!!!!! :)

[gatour]

Catnip,

 

I concur the Port Agent seemed to be lacking, one of the things that I have noticed about Princess is that they still make a point of metioning the Port Agent in each port. Why bother mentioning them if they don't actually do anything.

[sultan_sfo]

Sorry to hear about such agonizing experience. We put a copy of our passport in each of our suitcases as well.

 

Remember that the insurance has a maximum amount payable for each "category". Trip Interruption usually has a max of the unused portion of the trip if the interruption is for an allowable reason. Hardly anyone bothers to read the policy fine print until a claim has to be made. /Sultan

[montgomeryfamily]

Originally Posted by Charliesmom
There is another issue which I think should be brought to the attention of the Chairman of the Board of Carnival Corporation and to the attention of the President of Princess Cruises - and that is the lack of assistance from the port agent. That man had the power to inform the ship that you were there and he did not! His lack of action was unconscionable. I am sure that Princess pays his company big bucks to be Port Agent. 

 

I also agree. In addition, I think that the lack of attention and concern regarding your absence should also be brought to their attention. You were missing all of those days and no one noticed except for the cabin steward who apparently didn't even report it. :eek:

 

Right now RCI is on the hot seat for its management (or rather alleged mismanagement) of the way missing passengers are addressed by the cruise line. Princess has not been in the limelight on this issue, but this case could certainly change that. I would think that Princess would want to make things right with you and would also appreciate an opportunity to adopt policies which deal with the issues you have raised and/or retrain to emphasis existing policies as to how such matters should be handled.

[Pam in CA]

Yeah... Isla Margarita is one port where you don't want to be left behind. There is limited transportation in and out and you'll pay a fortune (as you discovered.) Several years ago when we were there, a couple decided to go to the beach on their own. Not a good idea. They missed the ship and our itinerary was a full transit through the Panama Canal and the next port, our final disembarkation in Acapulco. Don't know if they ever caught up.

[Cruisin' Chick]

I was wondering why the Port Agent was so unhelpful too. Scary.

[jnc411]

Oh my goodness, that is soooooo scary. I don't even want to think about it. Just everything went wrong for you. We have always taken ship sponsored excursions, thinking that we could not be left behind. But now I know better. and will be ever so careful from now on. As Largin suggested, copy of passports , each carrying one, two credit cards, each carrying one, and some cash for emergency. We will be on the Sea Princess next month and yes we will be stopping at Isla Margarita, we haven't booked an excursion as yet , and now I am not sure. We were just going to go to the beach near the pier and the straw market, is that do-able and is it safe ? I saw something on the destinations board about that, but if this is a bad idea, please speak up. Thank you for posting this and I hope you get some answers from Princess , this was a nightmare.

Cori

[lahoban]

I'm so glad you are safe and home. I learned a good lesson.

 

In regards to it being the first post. I am a cosmotologist and talk to people all day long. Not once in my conversation's about cruising has anyone ever heard of cruise critic. And I spend alot of time talking about cruises with alot of people who have been on many. I alway's tell them about this site.

[ccrain]

As far as bringing a copy of our passport with us when in port... that copy won't get you on a flight, it will only expedite the process in obtaining a new passport. There was a thread a few years ago on this board that was somewhat similar to this thread. There were several couples involved and most had copies of their passports. They had to wait for new passsports to be issued but the hitch was, because they weren't in a place where their passports could be issued, they had to travel a distance to get them. Their experiences on the way were frightful!

 

Sandy

 

That's what I always thought. A real passport will get you home, a copy may get you a new passport, but not very quickly.

[hugger]

you with your complaint. I was a T.A. for 16 years and have had clients experience such problems. In the event that you did book with a T.A. they should also get involved in this case. They have sales reps that they deal with whom should be able to get your complaint to the proper people.

I would also send a letter to the President of Carnival Corp with a return receipt requiring a signature so that you know who accepts this letter.

I would hope that your Travel Agent will go to bat for you on this matter.

If both of you make enough noise something should be done.

Don't give up - keep sending complaint's as they don't want the bad PR.

You may also want to get a local investigative reporter involved (from a local news station).

Good Luck

[Polar Bear]

Very Scary...so glad that you made it okay... write to Princess's head office..it may help or it may not...now I do not if we will go on our shore tour ...last April we just stayed on the beach.

[EAC]

Glad you made it back. Thanks for the heads up. We were just on the Caribbean Princess where we checked in and out, and they also paged apparently for missing people before leaving. Definitely sounds like the Port Agent was not very helpful. I have also seen times in which the ship was pulling out, and I understand people got some pilot boats to take them out at a fairly expensive cost. Will remember to stay closer to the group. I';ve usually taken ID but will now consider carrying a small copy of the passport.

 

I would also think if you kept after Princess you will get satisfaction.

[Cruise-a-holic444]

Wow- really scary story. This is probably a "dumb" question, but could you have called the Grand's emergency number?

[Cruisin' Chick]

In looking at your saga (to try to summarize for the hubby), I was wondering did your bus pull up to the tender area?

[Princess Chatterer]

The minute you said "we became separated from the group" I tuned out. Let me assure all readers of this forum that if you STAY with your late arriving Princess excusion group the ship will wait.

[MV21]

The minute you said "we became separated from the group" I tuned out.

 

I believe Snurp explained the details of how this (quite reasonably happened). But you are right, this thread will not be of any use to those amongst us who have never got lost in a crowd, lost someone in a crowd, or missed someone in a crowd.

 

Richard

[Coral]

That's what I always thought. A real passport will get you home, a copy may get you a new passport, but not very quickly.

 

This is correct. Though half a dozen one, three fourths another. I personally have spoken to dozens of people who have had their purses/wallets stolen in port with all of their credit cards/id/passports.

 

My Embassy friend who gave me the advice was referring to when I was in Italy on a land trip and the gypsies were out in full force and stealing purses and wallets. It was much easier from their stand point to tell people to carry copies with them and to keep the passports in a safe place (in a safe) as opposed to your body.

 

One could argue either way which is more likely - missing the ship or having your wallet/purse stolen. I personally think I stand a better chance of having my purse stolen in a port then missing the ship. One has to decide what chances they are willing to take.

[Coral]

The minute you said "we became separated from the group" I tuned out. Let me assure all readers of this forum that if you STAY with your late arriving Princess excusion group the ship will wait.

 

This is correct!. We were 45 minutes late getting back to the ship in Ketchikan. There were only 4 of us on this excursion (we joined up with many others who were on a Crystal cruise for this excursion) and they did wait for us (and we didn't have a guide with us).

[lisiamc]

Wow, what a nightmare! I'm sorry this happened to you, but glad everything came out OK in the end. Thank you for sharing your story - I will add a few new things to my usual precautions!

 

Lisa

[ccrain]

This is correct. Though half a dozen one, three fourths another. I personally have spoken to dozens of people who have had their purses/wallets stolen in port with all of their credit cards/id/passports.

 

My Embassy friend who gave me the advice was referring to when I was in Italy on a land trip and the gypsies were out in full force and stealing purses and wallets. It was much easier from their stand point to tell people to carry copies with them and to keep the passports in a safe place (in a safe) as opposed to your body.

 

One could argue either way which is more likely - missing the ship or having your wallet/purse stolen. I personally think I stand a better chance of having my purse stolen in a port then missing the ship. One has to decide what chances they are willing to take.

 

Another precaution we take is that all documents, cards, etc. are in money belts under our clothing (or in waterproof snorkeling wallets). No critical items in backpack or purses or tote bags.

 

I agree that having items stolen is more likely than missing the ship, but having secured those items most carefully, the next most likely event is missing the ship!

 

Always be prepared for the unexpected and plan on being self sufficient when the need arises. I even check and print out maps to airports, embassies, banks and flight schedules prior to a trip just in case I need to find something in a hurry, without an internet connection.

[ccrain]

I hope the OP keeps us up to date on this one.

 

Its going to be very easy for Princess or the tour operator to claim that the OP wandered off shopping and just lost track of time.

 

On the other hand, I've seen the crush of the tender wars on Grand Cayman, albiet with only 4 ships in port and I have heard of upwards of 7 at one time, and one could easily get separated from their group if you're not careful.

 

It will be interesting how Princess handles this one.

[Coral]

Another precaution we take is that all documents, cards, etc. are in money belts under our clothing (or in waterproof snorkeling wallets). No critical items in backpack or purses or tote bags.

 

I agree that having items stolen is more likely than missing the ship, but having secured those items most carefully, the next most likely event is missing the ship!

 

Always be prepared for the unexpected and plan on being self sufficient when the need arises. I even check and print out maps to airports, embassies, banks and flight schedules prior to a trip just in case I need to find something in a hurry, without an internet connection.

 

You are a very well prepared traveler! I am impressed. Your point about money belts under your clothes is very important.

 

The one thing I did learn in Italy was that gypsies were very good at stealing contents inside of those fanny packs that are worn around the waist and over clothing. They would go up to someone and slit the bottom of the fanny pack (and steal everything in it) while two of their friends would distract the person. I saw this many times - I couldn't believe it.

 

Whenever I fly internationally, I always wear one of those around the neck packs which has a credit card and my passport and is very slim and hardly seen under my shirt.

[Princess Chatterer]

The captain held the Sun's departure for my tour group in St. Lucia for maybe an hour because one of the two boats in our excursion broke down during the excursion and had to be towed by our boat. The Princess excursion lady was unhappily waiting for us, clip board in hand, at the dock. The excursion boats had radios so I believe the ship could have been aware ahead of time of the delay, but who knows. We heard that the Captain was mad because he had to pay extra port fees.

 

We did stay with our group at all times and thankfully Princess was 100% looking out for us.