Princess- Please be HONEST with Us!

[nini]

First of all, Princess is our line of choice, however, we are very upset that Princess is not disclosing itinerary changes, or just cancelling.

There is at least one thread that addressess the conflict of Princess website itineraries versus what the Port Schedules are saying.

 

I am referring to the Mediterranean (Enchanted Princess) itineraries for 2021 and the ports of Pireaus (Athens) amd Civitavecchia (Rome).

Our itinerary DOES NOT include Athens and yet the Enchanted is in Athens more than Rome. The port schedule itinerary for our cruise date

is a very different itinerary and does not even stop in Rome. The whole reason we selected this itinerary is because we can explore Rome for

a few days pre- cruise. Greece was not a preference.

 

Anyway, I realize that the cruise lines are trying to get back in the swing of things and juggle finances, crew, many laws and restrictions; however,

Princess PLEASE just inform us!

 

Enchanted Princess Pireaus Scheule for 2021:

July 3, 24

August 14

September 4, 25

October 17

 

Civitavecchia Schedule for 2021:

August 7, 28

September 18

November 4

[AtlantaCruiser72]

At one point the Enchanted was scheduled to do a series of 3 unique 7 day sailings that could combined into 14 or 21 day cruises.  They were sold as 7 day BCN-FCO, FCO-ATH and ATH-BCN or 14 day BCN-ATH, FCO-BCN, or ATH-FCO or 21 days roundtrip BCN, FCO or ATH.  these port schedules could be outdated listings as remnants of the original plan, or Princess may be holding space "just in case" they cannot sail from FCO (Civitavecchia) and need to reposition a ship to ATH instead. 

 

A lot of uncertainty right now and port schedules are not always up to date or fully reliable

 

Edited May 1, 2021 by AtlantaCruiser72

[dog]

I looked at the Princess website for Enchanted September 25/21 , 7 day & 14 day cruise from Rome 

 

as you mentioned Athens is not a port for this cruise. 
 

as for the port websites, you cannot count on that being accurate either. 
 

my friends living in Rome and another in Tuscany tell me they are very nervous to have tourists come this summer/ fall with vaccination being very slow   Only on the 70 & older last week. 
 

so Princess maybe putting in place a backup plan using Athens. 
 

similar thing happened with me back in2011 with my Egypt port on/ off/ on again due to political issues. They used Malta as a backup plan, if needed. 
 

some very al

ost last minute changes. 
 

I hop it all works out for you. Have you considered moving to 2022?

[Shmoo here]

Princess- Please be HONEST with Us!

1 hour ago, nini said:

First of all, Princess is our line of choice, however, we are very upset that Princess is not disclosing itinerary changes, or just cancelling.

 

1 hour ago, nini said:

Princess PLEASE just inform us!

To be HONEST, cruise lines can (and do) change itineraries and/or cancel cruises all the time.  Often without prior notification.  It's usually mentioned in the cruise contract that you agree to when you book a cruise.  

[dog]

7 minutes ago, Shmoo here said:

Princess- Please be HONEST with Us!

 

To be HONEST, cruise lines can (and do) change itineraries and/or cancel cruises all the time.  Often without prior notification.  It's usually mentioned in the cruise contract that you agree to when you book a cruise.  

Rome is her embarkation port so she will get notifications about any changes on Princess schedule. Cannot make them hurry 

[nini]

1 hour ago, Shmoo here said:

Princess- Please be HONEST with Us!

 

To be HONEST, cruise lines can (and do) change itineraries and/or cancel cruises all the time.  Often without prior notification.  It's usually mentioned in the cruise contract that you agree to when you book a cruise.  

Really? Oh, you are so correct... I was born yesterday.

Most likely, the other responders are correct about Princess "holding a place" just in case it is needed.

However, customers do like to make educated arrangements. Without customers, there is no business.

[srpilo]

2 hours ago, nini said:

Really? Oh, you are so correct... I was born yesterday.

Most likely, the other responders are correct about Princess "holding a place" just in case it is needed.

However, customers do like to make educated arrangements. Without customers, there is no business.

 

+1

[OzKiwiJJ]

You're making one big assumption and that is that Princess, or any other cruise line, knows for certain what will happen in the next few months. The way this pandemic is still raging through Europe my guess is they are putting together a number of contingency plans in the hope that one of them might be able to go ahead. You may not know until very close to your cruise date.

 

As a  example Australia has done very well in controlling the spread of the virus but even here vacation plans aren't guaranteed until they actually happen. We didn't know whether our recent interstate trip would happen until 4 days before we were due to leave, and even then we had to leave a day earlier than originally planned to avoid a state border closure. Despite our low number of Covid cases our governments still won't commit to cruising recommencing here any time soon so I imagine Europe is being fairly cautious even though they are allowing some cruises to go ahead. 

[rdsqrl]

I'm bemused that someone would think port schedules are a more legitimate source of information than the business that actually owns the ship.  And it seems a rather cumbersome way of determining a cruise itinerary.  But, hey, you do you. 

 

[dog]

3 hours ago, rdsqrl said:

I'm bemused that someone would think port schedules are a more legitimate source of information than the business that actually owns the ship.  And it seems a rather cumbersome way of determining a cruise itinerary.  But, hey, you do you. 

 

Come on 

 

We are in this together. 

 

. I understand the position others are in taking the risk to fly to Europe from USA and expecting to cruise from Rome under current pandemic conditions.  It is stressful not knowing. 
 

Many of us choose a cruise for its itinerary and hope it stays as advertised, knowing that cruise lines can and do change ports right up to and during sailing.  
 

To OP, I know many others with similar concerns over the Rome to Israel cruise. 

[Steelers36]

16 hours ago, dog said:

my friends living in Rome and another in Tuscany tell me they are very nervous to have tourists come this summer/ fall with vaccination being very slow   Only on the 70 & older last week.

IF cruises are with vaccinated passengers, those folks should not be worried.  I suspect the nervousness comes from not knowing.

[beg3yrs]

11 hours ago, rdsqrl said:

I'm bemused that someone would think port schedules are a more legitimate source of information than the business that actually owns the ship.  And it seems a rather cumbersome way of determining a cruise itinerary.  But, hey, you do you. 

 

It comes from a lack of trust. Cruise lines don't like to show their cards early for multiple reasons. Planning and changing itineraries must be like making sausage, not nice to watch but good to enjoy the results. If potential customers see too much uncertainty they can bolt. Not only that, releasing changes too early and having to change them again causes problems too. Shareholders lose faith in corporate management and sell, lowering the stock price and so on.

 

This all causes anxiety in customers as a cruise is a big investment in time and money. So, with lack of information coming from the cruise line, some will go to other sources to see if they can get a better read of the tea leaves to help them make some decisions. And yes, some of the itinerary changes for Princess were successfully predicted long before any announcements were made.

[nini]

Thank you all...

What I DO KNOW, is that our ship is departing out of Athens and NOT Rome. This is not the Princess itinerary! It is in black and white on the port schedules. And the itinerary from the Athens port is not what we wanted.

So, if booking EZAir through Princess, this puts us landing in Rome, NOT Athens! And then what about hotel reservations? It is now 4 months before departure. And YES, I realize that thousands of other cruisers are barely weeks, if not days before final payments on numerous cruises.

And yes, I truly know that the cruise line can change all kinds of things. Recently, the ship for a different booked cruise was changed, as well as a deleted port with a substitution. However, this is over one year before the cruise itself.

 

I CAN HANDLE THE TRUTH! I just want it to be offered.

[dog]

So port schedule I looked at shows a 14 day cruise Rome to Barcelona Sept 18/21. 
on September 25/21 Enchanted is in Athens. 
 

I think you should phone Princess and ask what is happening. 
 

we are only trying to help you. 
 

be safe. Be kind. 

[dog]

All of this discussion in another thread

[jwattle]

8 hours ago, nini said:

Thank you all...

What I DO KNOW, is that our ship is departing out of Athens and NOT Rome. This is not the Princess itinerary! It is in black and white on the port schedules. And the itinerary from the Athens port is not what we wanted.

So, if booking EZAir through Princess, this puts us landing in Rome, NOT Athens! And then what about hotel reservations? It is now 4 months before departure. And YES, I realize that thousands of other cruisers are barely weeks, if not days before final payments on numerous cruises.

And yes, I truly know that the cruise line can change all kinds of things. Recently, the ship for a different booked cruise was changed, as well as a deleted port with a substitution. However, this is over one year before the cruise itself.

 

I CAN HANDLE THE TRUTH! I just want it to be offered.

I believe that you may still be departing as originally scheduled and Athens is a "just in case" regardless of the Athens port schedule.

[caribill]

10 hours ago, dog said:

 

I think you should phone Princess and ask what is happening. 
 

 

 

The rep you get on the phone has no knowledge of schedules at the various ports.

 

All the rep has access to is the same information we all do on the Princess web site.

 

Anyone at Princess who has better information than what is on the web site is not allowed to discuss that information with anyone outside the company.

[dog]

1 minute ago, caribill said:

 

The rep you get on the phone has no knowledge of schedules at the various ports.

 

All the rep has access to is the same information we all do on the Princess web site.

 

Anyone at Princess who has better information than what is on the web site is not allowed to discuss that information with anyone outside the company.

Please provide your source.

I have been successful in doing this through my phone call. A Supervisor may know something. 

[caribill]

58 minutes ago, dog said:

Please provide your source.

I have been successful in doing this through my phone call. A Supervisor may know something. 

 

Are you saying that the phone rep has access to the port schedules around the world?  My experience is that they cannot even tell me what side of an island the ship will dock when there are multiple possibilities.

 

And when the itinerary says NYC (Manhattan or Brooklyn), they cannot tell you which is the one for your cruise although you can get accurate info about that on the Princess Cruise Critic forum or by going to the Port of NYC web site.

 

- -

A supervisor will not pass on information to the public that is known internally but not officially announced as far as what cruises schedules are changed.

[Esprit]

I too am not convinced the port schedule for Athens is up to date. I think those dates currently showing relate to the original itineraries that Princess cancelled last October when they announced Civitavecchia as the new home port.

Tuesdays seem to be a common day when Carnival announce cruise brand changes so I’m hoping tomorrow or next Tuesday Princess confirm our Enchanted Princess 10 July sailing is cancelled. Otherwise I will pay the balance on 11 May and what will be, will be!

[Esprit]

According to CruiseMapper.com Enchanted Princess is not featured at all in the Piraeus schedule for July and August.

It does include Celebrity Apex which was a fairly recent itinerary change.

 

Edited May 3, 2021 by Esprit

[dog]

1 hour ago, caribill said:

 

Are you saying that the phone rep has access to the port schedules around the world?  My experience is that they cannot even tell me what side of an island the ship will dock when there are multiple possibilities.

 

And when the itinerary says NYC (Manhattan or Brooklyn), they cannot tell you which is the one for your cruise although you can get accurate info about that on the Princess Cruise Critic forum or by going to the Port of NYC web site.

 

- -

A supervisor will not pass on information to the public that is known internally but not officially announced as far as what cruises schedules are changed.

 

I want to thank you for always being on top of things  An invaluable resource to less experienced Princess cruisers.

 

thanks again.

[HappyCruiserettu]

On 5/1/2021 at 1:18 PM, nini said:

First of all, Princess is our line of choice, however, we are very upset that Princess is not disclosing itinerary changes, or just cancelling.

There is at least one thread that addressess the conflict of Princess website itineraries versus what the Port Schedules are saying.

 

Anyway, I realize that the cruise lines are trying to get back in the swing of things and juggle finances, crew, many laws and restrictions; however,

Princess PLEASE just inform us!

 

Enchanted Princess Pireaus Scheule for 2021:

July 3, 24

August 14

September 4, 25

October 17

 

Civitavecchia Schedule for 2021:

August 7, 28

September 18

November 4

Note the three-week intervals in those schedules. Now factor in the previous posting about the 7/14/21 night sailings. They are perfectly aligned.

[lstone19]

On 5/3/2021 at 5:42 PM, HappyCruiserettu said:

Note the three-week intervals in those schedules. Now factor in the previous posting about the 7/14/21 night sailings. They are perfectly aligned.

 

I have no idea where Nini got those port schedules in the OP but I'm guessing from some cruising website that is not up to date. That was the schedule prior to Sep 2020 which was when Princess cancelled the 7/14/21 night rotation from Rome to Athens to Barcelona to Rome that was traditionally run in the summer. However, when they cancelled that last September, they put out a schedule of 7-night cruises all from Rome. Now that appears to be being changed again as the current port schedule being posted by the port of Athens (their own website, not some cruising website that aggregates data) shows Enchanted Princess in Athens every Sunday from July 4 to Nov 14. On the other hand, Civitavecchia's (Rome's) port appears to still have the old schedule but only through July (no schedule published beyond then).

 

So we have three schedules being tossed about - the original Rome-Athens-Barcelona-Rome schedule that Princess cancelled, the every seven days from Rome schedule Princess is selling followed by it doing 11-night OW cruises between Rome and Barcelona in October and November, and the every seven days from Athens that the port of Athens is showing. Who know whether the second one or the third is right at this point.

[ChutChut]

On 5/2/2021 at 7:00 AM, Steelers36 said:

IF cruises are with vaccinated passengers, those folks should not be worried.  I suspect the nervousness comes from not knowing.

Vaccinated pax still can get Covid.