Am I being unreasonable?

[mommykim]

Hello all,

Ok, I am stuck and I would love your opinions. My husband and I sailed on the Island Princess for Xmas New Years 15 days to Hawaii. There was a VERY unruly family onboard who simply refused to parent their children and Princess chose not to make them take responsibility. My main complaint about the cruise was that the kids from this family had rooms down the hall from us (with no parent in it) and they would knock on our door or stand in front of our door having conversations until 2 or 3am and then start again at about 7am the next morning. They made it impossible to sleep. It was bad enough that on either day 2 or 3 of the cruise I went to the Pursers desk and asked to be changed to ANY room. I had a balcony but was willing to give it up to get some sleep. was told the ship was sold out and there was nowhere to move us. Being a holiday cruise I was not really surprised.

The knocking and talking continued for about 12 of the 15 days we were on the cruise. I complained but nothing was done. Starting about day 5 of the cruise I asked for an appointment with the Passenger Services Manager. It took them until the very last day of the cruise to finally give us a metting with the First Purser who when he heard our problem actually laughed as he DID have a cabin he could have moved us to but no one bothered to tell him about us. It appears the problem with these kids was so bad they had stopped writing down the complaints. He tols us we'd have a story to tell our friends and offered to buy us a free drink. I felt all in all it was a pretty crudy way to treat a couple on their 24th Princess cruise.

When I got home from the cruise I wrote a letter of complaint and got back a letter that basically said I'm sorry you were not happy but I hope your next cruise is better. When I called to ask if thise was a proper response to our problem I was informed that it wasa form letter and that i I want something specific I have to ask for it. I sent another lettering saying that I had shown loyalty to Princess and that I felt pretty ill used by the ship's company and that I honestly felt that some type of refund was in order. I specifically said I did not expect a full refund or anythinmg close to that but that them having a room we could have moved to and us not having a complete nights sleep in at least 12 nights off a 15 night cruise deserves something. I got back another letter offering me a $300 shipboard credit on a future cruise.

I just feel this is not enough. To make matters worse I've gotten emails from an attorney who told me the family that terorized our cruise was the same family that Princess got sued over on the same cruise the year before. Shjould I write again or am I wasting my breath? When I try calling no one wants to talk to me.

[bubbadog]

did you talk to the kids and ask them?,did you talk to the parents ?,sometimes this does work,did u call the desk while kids were outside your door?,im sorry you had to deal with this,hopefully this wont happen again:rolleyes:

[mommykim]

did you talk to the kids and ask them?,did you talk to the parents ?,sometimes this does work,did u call the desk while kids were outside your door?,im sorry you had to deal with this,hopefully this wont happen again:rolleyes:

I did all of the above as did a lot of other people. The parents just said we're on vacation leave us alone and the kids would cuss us out in Spanish. We were on a first name basis with the yellow shirt security but they could do nothing but move the kids who would come back a few minutes later. As far as the Pursers desk by the middle of the cruise they would just say they'd send someone but we'd call 4 or 5 more times and no one ever came.

[Toto2Kansas]

I can tell you from past experience that if/when you have a problem on the ship, you don't take no for an answer. You have to make sure you talk to someone in charge if you get the run-a-round. Cruise lines are famous for not getting back to you until the last or second to the last day of the cruise, too late to solve the problem you put up with for two weeks.

 

Personally, I think that is probably the best offer you can get. You can keep trying, but I doubt it will do any good.

 

A horrible experience, I feel your pain. But if you ever run into a problem again, find someway to contact (in this case the hotel manager) no matter how long it takes. You will get much more satisfaction while onboard then after your return home.

 

Maybe this is always why I pack earplugs, just in case.

 

Again, sorry, it sounds like a nitemare.

[bdwyer]

but if Princess is being sued for the behavior of this family on the same cruise in 2004, and they chose to allow them back on to terrorize people in 2005, maybe you should contact the attorney handling the 2004 suit and join in - apparently Princess is weighing the cost of disgruntled passengers against what they make off of this disruptive family and at this point the family is winning. No one should have to tolerate what you and others did!

[JLC@SD]

Am I being unreasonable?

 

Not at all

 

Unfortunately there are parents like this who just don't care whether their kids are monsters.

 

After the first few complaint went unresolved, I would have been collecting names of the non responsive crew, and kept going up the line with those names, until I reached the Captain.

 

After a few days of no help from the crew responsible to resolve this problems, you have to get tough with their suppervisiors.

[mommykim]

 

After a few days of no help from the crew responsible to resolve this problems, you have to get tough with their suppervisiors.

The Captain was well aware of the problem as were all the officers at the Captain's Luncheon. Princess chose not to do anything about the people as they were spending a fortune on booze and gambling plus they had the majority of the large suites on the cruise. When we tried to talk to anyone other than the pursers staff or cruise staff we were just told to make an appointment that was not available. I don't know if it's true or not but the Passenger Services manager was not at the Captain's lunch and I'm told it was because he did not want to talk about these people. At each table where I know they were brought up the subject was immediately changed with nothing productive being said.

[S.S.Oceanlover]

I can tell you from past experience that if/when you have a problem on the ship, you don't take no for an answer. You have to make sure you talk to someone in charge if you get the run-a-round. Cruise lines are famous for not getting back to you until the last or second to the last day of the cruise, too late to solve the problem you put up with for two weeks.

 

Personally, I think that is probably the best offer you can get. You can keep trying, but I doubt it will do any good.

 

A horrible experience, I feel your pain. But if you ever run into a problem again, find someway to contact (in this case the hotel manager) no matter how long it takes. You will get much more satisfaction while onboard then after your return home.

 

Maybe this is always why I pack earplugs, just in case.

 

Again, sorry, it sounds like a nitemare.

 

I read a thread on here in the past where the pursers desk was unresponsive. After awhile the guy got fed up and took his blanket and pillow down to the pursers office and took up residence there. They took care of his problems right away! I don't think I would have it in me to do that but it worked for him.

 

Bill

[kruisey]

I read a thread on here in the past where the pursers desk was unresponsive. After awhile the guy got fed up and took his blanket and pillow down to the pursers office and took up residence there. They took care of his problems right away! I don't think I would have it in me to do that but it worked for him.

 

Bill

I had noises and bangs above my cabin 12.45AM....the last shake and bang nearly threw me out of bed.....(Horizon Court was above me).

I put on my robe ,slippers over my PJ's and marched down to the pursers office.I said 'Look at me in my PJ's and slippers reason ect'....I had two security guards come up with me.....we even went up to the Horizon court and spoke to the staff there....never got shaken out of bed again....All was at peace. Guess the sight of funny very mature FOP person like me appearing at the desk after midnight was something they didnot wish to be repeated.....One advantage of being a FOP:D

[mommykim]

I put on my robe ,slippers over my PJ's and marched down to the pursers office.I said 'Look at me in my PJ's and slippers reason ect'....I had two security guards come up with me.....we even went up to the Horizon court and spoke to the staff there....never got shaken out of bed again....All was at peace. Guess the sight of funny very mature FOP person like me appearing at the desk after midnight was something they didnot wish to be repeated.....One advantage of being a FOP:D

This is one thing we did not try but I know when we were on the Golden in 1995 the toilet in our cabin did not work at all for the first 4 days of the cruise. All our complaining did nothing until one morning about 6am hubby had to .... and to do so we had to walk up 3 flights of stairs to the nearest public one. Without thinking about it he did so in his BVD's and everyone else's complaining got the toilet fixed. It didn't hurt that he did it on Easter Sunday right by where the early morning service was :p What's funny is that I never wrote a complaint letter to Princess about that cruise because they took care of us on the ship.

[chasetf]

The Captain was well aware of the problem as were all the officers at the Captain's Luncheon. Princess chose not to do anything about the people as they were spending a fortune on booze and gambling plus they had the majority of the large suites on the cruise. When we tried to talk to anyone other than the pursers staff or cruise staff we were just told to make an appointment that was not available. I don't know if it's true or not but the Passenger Services manager was not at the Captain's lunch and I'm told it was because he did not want to talk about these people. At each table where I know they were brought up the subject was immediately changed with nothing productive being said.

Did anyone ever consider given that if you knew where there parents were, why not go bang on their door at 3am to let them know at that time what was going on. :mad:

 

Another good reason to avoid family time on cruise ships...

[GottoCruise]

What a nightmare! So sorry - It's a shame that this family was not blacklisted and Princess allowed them to book after their first disruptive cruise!

 

SBC $$ is not the answer , but if it will 'make you feel better' go for it!

 

I would like to see this family denied boarding on any future Princess cruise :mad:

[Coral]

Looking back - I think you probably should have pursued more action while on the ship to try to prevent this from happening each evening. I definitely agree that Princess dropped the ball on this one (at several stages). I would have kept calling down to say the area was loud and asked for security.

 

We had a situation on RCCL Radiance where we were in a Suite and had a door bell. I am usually an early to bed, early riser and at about 11:00pm, some kids kept ringing our door bell along with the other door bells of the other suites on our floor. I called the Purser's desk after the 2nd or 3rd time and their response was "kids will be kids". I ended up making 4 calls to the Purser's Office and the other people on the floor also made several calls (they had young kids/babies who they had put to sleep and kept being awakened by the door bells) and eventually they put a Security Person up there but this was after my 4th call and others making several calls. I wrote to RCCL about this and other issues and received a "sorry you didn't enjoy your cruise letter". I also was disappointed with RCCL attitude (at many levels).

 

So now I know better to be persistent.

 

Sorry you had that experience. I think once a call is made, it should be pursed immediately.

[nanalady]

How absolutely horrible for you! I agree that this inconsiderate group should definetly be blacklisted from further cruises. It's the parents fault for obviously thinking that if you can afford mutiple luxury suites, you own the whole ship. I don't know if it would really be fair to punish kids that haven't been shown what proper behavior is - but, your experience has made me consider bringing along a can of pepper spray on my upcoming cruise.:eek: I bet they wouldn't knock on my door again!

[Mmm...coffee!]

I think you should take the credit and just chalk the whole episode up to a bad experience with people who have more money than manners. There isn't a lot anyone can do in a case like this short of escalating the situation to a level where it could get very ugly. These kinds of things happen everywhere from time to time. We had a similar experience on a holiday cruise and decided that we will just avoid that season in the future.

[UKLady]

Nanalady - you really made me laugh with your idea of pepper spray :D

 

I know this wont help the op but might help people in the future or at least give someone a smile.

 

This wasnt on a cruise but in a resort with a similar situation. Our room had a large area outside with seating, this served no purpose other than to provide a late night area where a group of teenagers liked to hang out. This in itself didnt bother us until it got to 4am and there was lots of noise banging on doors etc.

 

Reception did nothing despite numerous complaints nor did the parents.

 

We tried the phoning and banging on the parents door at 4am but they just didnt answer.

 

So on the fifth night we went out and sat on the seats to. We starting joining in with the conversation which totally freaked them out. But they still did not move, just went very quiet. Then my parter had a genious idea and kissed me, we started to 'make out' - the sight of two adults doing this was enough 'gross' them out and we didnt see them sat outside our door again.

 

To the op I hope you get a resolution that your happy with, but I wouldnt let it drag on too long as your just prolonging the stress you felt on your holiday, that cant be good for you

[Coolmama_1]

Nanalady - you really made me laugh with your idea of pepper spray :D

 

I know this wont help the op but might help people in the future or at least give someone a smile.

 

This wasnt on a cruise but in a resort with a similar situation. Our room had a large area outside with seating, this served no purpose other than to provide a late night area where a group of teenagers liked to hang out. This in itself didnt bother us until it got to 4am and there was lots of noise banging on doors etc.

 

Reception did nothing despite numerous complaints nor did the parents.

 

We tried the phoning and banging on the parents door at 4am but they just didnt answer.

 

So on the fifth night we went out and sat on the seats to. We starting joining in with the conversation which totally freaked them out. But they still did not move, just went very quiet. Then my parter had a genious idea and kissed me, we started to 'make out' - the sight of two adults doing this was enough 'gross' them out and we didnt see them sat outside our door again.

 

To the op I hope you get a resolution that your happy with, but I wouldnt let it drag on too long as your just prolonging the stress you felt on your holiday, that cant be good for you

 

Too funny! Good for you!

[FamilyGuy1010]

From what I can tell, you have done the right thing by booking your next two cruises on Celebrity. Did you tell Princess that?

 

Is there any way to find out the name of this family? It would be great to avoid any cruises on which they have booked cabins.

[joanne1]

I remember hearing about that cruise last year (huge threads on here about it) and we had friends on that cruise. According to stories the kids threw a chair and part of the table tennis board over the balcony into the water, running up and down the rows during the shows, etc. and nothing was done. According to our friends they ran the entire ship. If this is the same family (kind of sounds that way) what are they doing sailing with Princess when they are suing them?

 

This is a problem when parents can't be parents!

[sunflower1972]

mommykim: I feel your pain and I believe I have read a long thread with your CC roll call group on this cruise...my advise is to keep on them. It is not right for a group to overrun a ship and the remaining passengers made to deal with it. IF I'm correct is this not the same family who placed one of their kids on a railing and they fell overboard while in port??????There is just no accounting for somes stupidity!

Keep on them....this group sounded totally destructive in the posts I read.

[bdjam]

If at all possible, anytime anyone encounters a situation they don’t feel has been resolved on board, they should get documentation. It may not have been possible in this situation, but at least it could chronicle the events. It should be signed by whomever you deal with on board. Having that documentation means you’ve got something to discuss with the land-side office when you send your letter.

It seems this is the second year in a row for Island Princess to have this group on board at Christmas, and if the cruise line allows the ruckus to continue, they should be made aware of it – often. I would have spent those sleepless hours down at the Purser’s desk escalating the complaint until there was some resolution. I think it difficult for the cruise line to do anything short of refunding the price of your cruise at this point.

Short of that, I’d do what mmm…coffee suggests and take the credit and remember not to book Island Princess at that time of year – and tell all your friends the same.

[Fairsailing]

Wow. Talk about an awful situation. Hopefully your next cruise will be better.

 

Reading this thread is getting me all warmed up for those inevitable postings about the "Spring Break Cruise From Hell" Stand by, folks, they're coming in a few weeks....

[GottaLuvCruising]

I understand your frustration. Princess really needs to blacklist this family and not allow them to sail again. It is a shame that they didn't take action while the morons were on board. But at this time, I doubt there is anything you can do. If I'm ever in a similar situation, I'll learn from your experience and pursue resolution very aggressively.

[DesrtDrmr]

Wow, I am SO glad we weren't on this cruise either of the past two Holiday Seasons. We were on in April, and it was lovely.

I think people should keep posting reminders to NOT BOOK the Christmas cruise on the Island Princess, because of this disruptive and undisciplined family. Maybe if the bookings drop off, something will be done. It isn't right that everyone should be penalized for the bad behavior of a few jerks. This is an expensive cruise, and for many, a once in a lifetime type cruise.

[Logie]

I think you should take the credit and just chalk the whole episode up to a bad experience with people who have more money than manners. There isn't a lot anyone can do in a case like this short of escalating the situation to a level where it could get very ugly. These kinds of things happen everywhere from time to time. We had a similar experience on a holiday cruise and decided that we will just avoid that season in the future.

 

I agree just take the credit and run, it's too bad you can't transfer it to your two Celebrity cruises you have booked. I think the situation was horrible and I also hope this family gets on the "Do not book" list. Sorry to hear your story.