Princess changes

[darnoc23]

Hi All,

Been a loyal Princess member for a while but my latest experiences with them especially in booking and customer relations, I'm starting to lose hope (can't find the words).  So I booked a cruise, thinking the price would be down if there's a big box sale event that started today.  Surprisingly the fare was much cheaper so I booked it immediately. This is what occurred and if someone can confirm:

 

1. I originally had a courtesy hold for the same voyage.  Speaking with a rep, I'm not able to view quotes on EZ air unless there was a booking, which she said she can place a courtesy hold.  Since I have FCC, the FCC automatically paid for some of the fare.  The courtesy hold expired and when I booked today, I saw my FCC was less than before.  I was informed I was charged a cancellation fee since the voyage is in July.  I've placed courtesy holds before and let them expire and was never charged cancellation fees since courtesy holds require no deposits.  But since I had an FCC that was automatically used for payment, I was deducted a cancellation fee with no refund.  Is this correct?
2. I booked for a Princess Plus package.  When I received my confirmation sheet, it didn't show the package as being purchased.  Prior to me making the payment I verified that included promos which had the princess plus package.  Upon calling Princess about this, they mentioned there was no Princess Plus package and I would have to pay an additional $3,700 to add it.  I mentioned purchasing the drink and wifi individually is much cheaper!!  What other actions can I take?  I booked with a package but now I'm told I would have to pay extra.  So side note and advise to everyone, take a screen shot of the promos you got prior to payment.  
3. I asked if this voyage was eligible for the teacher's discount which they confirmed it was.  Then they gave me a price quote much higher than my booking?  I thought the teachers discount can be applied on top of other promos/discounts?
4. To add I'm still waiting on refunds from February and have emailed all of the escalations that was recommended here, but no response.  

 

Any advice appreciated.  TIA. 

[darnoc23]

Ugh, I was so excited about the rate I saw in Princess, I didn't even check the actual big box sites.  Appears to be cheaper with the package. 😞  Don't know if I should even try going through the hassle of cancelling my existing one. 

[dickinson]

Not sure why you would be charged a cancellation fee when you didn't appear to cancel anything.  I would call back and have them explain.  Also I would let them know what happened and ask to speak with a supervisor or customer relations about the fact you wanted Princess plus and don't appear to have it.  Ask them to listen to the call.  

 

FYI - you can see EZ Air pricing without a booking.  

[Astro Flyer]

1 hour ago, darnoc23 said:

Been a loyal Princess member for a while but my latest experiences with them especially in booking and customer relations, I'm starting to lose hope (can't find the words).

I’ve been a Princess loyalist since 1988 however based on more recent experiences I’m losing trust in their ability to fairly treat passengers (now referred to as guests) and I’m very disappointed in them. So sorry that you are having to deal with these issues & hopefully there’ll be a relatively easy solution to the Princess failure to treat you properly.

 

I’ve taken screenshots of things yet too often that doesn’t result in correcting issues. Despite the claims by their SVP of Sales that first line staff are being given the authority to correct problems I have not read about that being implemented.

 

[Shelly97060]

It sounds like whoever you spoke with applied your FCC as a deposit and BOOKED the cruise,  this is different than a courtesy hold.   You should call and ask to speak with a supervisor, explain what happened and see if they can assist you.

 

as for EZair quotes you cannot book EZair until you have a deposited booking but you can go on to the Princess website and find the cruise you are interested in and look at EZair that way.

 

sorry you are dealing with this.

[coo359a2]

48 minutes ago, dickinson said:

Not sure why you would be charged a cancellation fee when you didn't appear to cancel anything.  I would call back and have them explain.  Also I would let them know what happened and ask to speak with a supervisor or customer relations about the fact you wanted Princess plus and don't appear to have it.  Ask them to listen to the call.  

 

FYI - you can see EZ Air pricing without a booking.  

Can you let me know how you see EZ Air without an actual booking.  I must be doing something out of order as I've never seen that option.

[Astro Flyer]

33 minutes ago, coo359a2 said:

Can you let me know how you see EZ Air without an actual booking.  I must be doing something out of order as I've never seen that option.

 

• Select a cruise to view details
• Select Flight Quotes
• Select flight options (date; class; stops; airline; airports; departure and/or return)

[darnoc23]

12 minutes ago, Astro Flyer said:

 

• Select a cruise to view details
• Select Flight Quotes
• Select flight options (date; class; stops; airline; airports; departure and/or return)

OMG!!  If the person I spoke with just gave me those bullet points you provided, issue #1 would be non existent.  I forgot which page we were both looking at, but the instructions had it at booking details not cruise details.  Which explains why she thought I had to be booked.  After over 20 cruises, now I know . 🙂  Thank you.

[darnoc23]

58 minutes ago, Shelly97060 said:

It sounds like whoever you spoke with applied your FCC as a deposit and BOOKED the cruise,  this is different than a courtesy hold.   You should call and ask to speak with a supervisor, explain what happened and see if they can assist you.

 

as for EZair quotes you cannot book EZair until you have a deposited booking but you can go on to the Princess website and find the cruise you are interested in and look at EZair that way.

 

sorry you are dealing with this.

Thank you.  I'm going to try customer relations as soon as they open Saturday.  The wait has been two hours long to get to them these days, even at 6am PST.  

[darnoc23]

1 hour ago, Astro Flyer said:

I’ve been a Princess loyalist since 1988 however based on more recent experiences I’m losing trust in their ability to fairly treat passengers (now referred to as guests) and I’m very disappointed in them. So sorry that you are having to deal with these issues & hopefully there’ll be a relatively easy solution to the Princess failure to treat you properly.

 

I’ve taken screenshots of things yet too often that doesn’t result in correcting issues. Despite the claims by their SVP of Sales that first line staff are being given the authority to correct problems I have not read about that being implemented.

 

Thanks for the feedback.  Interesting and sad news about having to take screen shots to cover oneself but even then no resolution.  

[Astro Flyer]

40 minutes ago, darnoc23 said:

OMG!!  If the person I spoke with just gave me those bullet points you provided, issue #1 would be non existent.  I forgot which page we were both looking at, but the instructions had it at booking details not cruise details.  Which explains why she thought I had to be booked.  After over 20 cruises, now I know . 🙂  Thank you.

You’re welcome…I’ve likely spent more time on their website than that rep. 😉

 

Although I neglected to add the last step…”Get A Quote” in the green box. ☺️

 

[Coral]

2 hours ago, darnoc23 said:

Thank you.  I'm going to try customer relations as soon as they open Saturday.  The wait has been two hours long to get to them these days, even at 6am PST.  

I doubt Customer Relations is available on Saturday.

[darnoc23]

19 hours ago, Coral said:

I doubt Customer Relations is available on Saturday.

Confirmed, per chat.  Crossing my fingers...

 

---

6:00 AM to 6:00 PM Monday through Friday
8:00 AM to 5:00 PM Saturday
Closed - Sunday

[brisalta]

20 minutes ago, darnoc23 said:

Confirmed, per chat.  Crossing my fingers...

 

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6:00 AM to 6:00 PM Monday through Friday
8:00 AM to 5:00 PM Saturday
Closed - Sunday

 

Try calling now.

[Thrak]

1 hour ago, brisalta said:

 

Try calling now.

 

So very tired of this hold music...

[KKB]

2 hours ago, darnoc23 said:

Confirmed, per chat.  Crossing my fingers...

 

---

6:00 AM to 6:00 PM Monday through Friday
8:00 AM to 5:00 PM Saturday
Closed - Sunday

Do Live Chat.

It is quick & efficient.

They have canceled bookings, adjusted prices, added insurance. 

The only things they couldn't help with was a Medallion app issue & a cruise booked via a casino offer.

[Coral]

2 hours ago, darnoc23 said:

Confirmed, per chat.  Crossing my fingers...

 

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6:00 AM to 6:00 PM Monday through Friday
8:00 AM to 5:00 PM Saturday
Closed - Sunday

I literally am surprised. In the past, they were not open on weekends.

[Thrak]

3 hours ago, KKB said:

Do Live Chat.

It is quick & efficient.

They have canceled bookings, adjusted prices, added insurance. 

The only things they couldn't help with was a Medallion app issue & a cruise booked via a casino offer.

Chat has  helped me a little but anything that's not incredibly simple they try to transfer me to another person. I then sit on hold forever before finally being disconnected. I am soooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo sick of being on hold and then getting cut off.

[MsSoCalCruiser]

1 hour ago, Thrak said:

Chat has  helped me a little but anything that's not incredibly simple they try to transfer me to another person. I then sit on hold forever before finally being disconnected. I am soooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo sick of being on hold and then getting cut off.

I had that happen before after holding for a few hours and I was so upset that I wanted to throw my phone across the room.  

[darnoc23]

Well, I tried calling on Saturday early.  Waited 3 hours!!!  Now I'm starting to wander if they were even open and got transferred to customer relations for nothing.  

[Steelers36]

19 hours ago, MsSoCalCruiser said:

I had that happen before after holding for a few hours and I was so upset that I wanted to throw my phone across the room.  

I keep old phones around just for that purpose.

[Steelers36]

23 hours ago, Coral said:

I literally am surprised. In the past, they were not open on weekends.

 

36 minutes ago, darnoc23 said:

Well, I tried calling on Saturday early.  Waited 3 hours!!!  Now I'm starting to wander if they were even open and got transferred to customer relations for nothing.  

 

I believe what was posted was the regular customer service hours and not the actual CR dept hours.  I have to agree with @Coral - I don't think the CR team is there on weekends.  Perhaps a skeleton person or two?  I do think they have reservation escalation people there on weekends.

 

[Sailor75]

After reading these comments I don't know how any of you could be loyal to Princess.

[Thrak]

I called again yesterday afternoon in another attempt to purchase post-cruise FCD. After maybe 25 minutes on hold I got a live person who told me she couldn't help with the problem. She gave me another number with a direct extension. I haven't called it yet as I'm certain it connects to a Princess Cruise Planner. I was contacted by one of them back in December of 2018 and he thought I had only finished one cruise, informed me he was my personal cruise planner, and had assigned me a Captain's Circle Number. I informed him the I was already had a Captain's Circle Number, was Elite status with Princess, and that he was most definitely not my personal cruise planner. I never heard from him again until just recently when we returned from our last cruise in May. Since then I have been constantly bombarded with emails from him with emails "reminding me" to complete my booking (I don't have one pending) and to "not let my vacation get away", etc. GAH!!!

 

The number the Princess person gave me yesterday is the same number as his with a different extension so I'm extremely hesitant to call and ask to purchase the post-cruise FCD. Being bombarded (several times a week) by emails from the other guy I told to go away and leave me alone back in 2018 I'm afraid I'll just end up with two of them hassling me all the time.

 

Does anybody have a suggestion as to how I can call the new person, accomplish what I want, and then also make both of them leave me alone?  I have a TA that we always use and are happy with. I don't want to change my preferences so as to not receive any email from Princess. I just want the PCP (previously PVP) to leave me alone.

[coo359a2]

9 minutes ago, Sailor75 said:

After reading these comments I don't know how any of you could be loyal to Princess.

Of continue to cruise with Princess.