I Am Steaming Mad

[krufrank]

We are Platinum members so Princess and how they work is NOT unfamiliar to us. 
 

On Saturday June 3 we inquired about 7 Day Emerald to Mexican Riviera (round trip from LA). The nice man gave us a price: guarantee balcony, Premiere package, on board credit, casino credit ( we were using a casino offer), insurance and transfers. The price was decent. I asked for a 24 hour courtesy hold. Everything good so far. 

 

He sent an email with booking number, amount owed and by when. What wasn’t listed was any of the other things I had previously mentioned. 
 

I called back the next day to confirm price and package details and to pay. The Princess phone lines had a two hour wait. I left my info for a call back. It’s almost 6 hours later ( and close to our deadline for courtesy hold expiry). Finally they call. I can hear her clearly. She said her name and then kept repeating it - like it was a recording. Then they hung up. I tried calling back but still hours wait and this time no call back option. Fearing we would lose the deal I paid on-line. 
 

Called Princess today, Monday June 5, to get confirmation of our package because NONE of it was listed on our account or App. I was told that we did not pay for any of those things. I am furious. Ask for an escalation and point out they record everything and they need to go back and listen to what was offered and accepted verbally by us. They promise to escalate and someone will get back to me soon. Good grief. I paid over $4000, with casino offer ( 35% fare reduction + casino credit) for a balcony with no perks? Nope. Don’t want it. The initial cost was $2700 but raised to over $4K with all the perks. I would NEVER have paid that final price without any of the added packages. I’m afraid they’re going to screw me and, when I ask for my money back, I will be denied. If they don’t fix this, this WILL be our last cruise with them. 
 

Ok, now that I vented …does anyone here have any good suggestions of what we could do to get this fixed? Thank you for listening..

[Kay S]

This is how Princess intends to grow and become number one in the industry.  I think training of staff is at an all-time low (when they find the staff to hire.)

[Thrak]

The last two times I have spoken with someone from Princess I got two different women. Both had very strong accents and neither my wife or I could understand much of what they said. They also didn't seem to understand what I wanted and appeared to have very little knowledge regarding Princess or cruising. Both times there was noise in the background from dogs, children, and television. What a total crock. I used to have Princess on speed dial in my office and not only would I get through immediately, I got people in the US who at least had some clue and weren't working in a horribly noisy environment.

[Lady Arwen]

Another very good reason to use a Princess CVP or a TA.  I wouldn’t even dream of booking a cruise without our loyal and very knowledgeable CVP.  
So sorry you have to experience this level of ineptitude.  Fortunately, I have not had to deal with this issue.

Princess needs to do better.  People will start to look elsewhere for their cruise vacations if these problems with staff are not acknowledged and corrected.  In the meantime, get yourselves a good TA or CVP.  

[Dorinda]

Trying to speak to someone at Princess this morning...had 2 call backs so far and both of them were hard to understand - then the line went dead.  I think they just hang up.  I book through a TA but he says it takes him hours to speak to anyone and he doesn't want to try calling any more.

 

It's getting ridiculous. Sure wish I had a number for someone who is actually in Santa Clarita!

[mnocket]

Customer service seems to be pretty much a thing of the past for all companies.  I guess the younger generations accept the current situation as normal, but for those of us who are used to being able to call a company and have the call answered by a HUMAN who is knowledgeable about the products and able to answer questions, the current state of affairs is aggravating beyond belief.  

[Shippy]

To book with a casino discount....You NEED to book through the casino department !

[SargassoPirate]

I booked a 2025 cruise last week.  I put it on a courtesy hold since She Who Must Be Obeyed is going on this one and she had not yet risen for the day.  I received a confirmation email from Princess within minutes.

 

On the day that the deposit payment was due, I logged into my Princess.com account and made the payment.

 

Easy breezy.

 

In a few days, I transfer the booking to my warehouse club travel department and if any needs arise, such as a price drop, I'll call my TA and they can arm wrestle with Princess.

 

BTW, I'm a bit hard of hearing and couple that with a foreigner using a headset while working from home and I'll stick with doing it myself online.

 

 

 

[Fortunate 2 travel]

3 hours ago, krufrank said:

We are Platinum members so Princess and how they work is NOT unfamiliar to us. 
 

On Saturday June 3 we inquired about 7 Day Emerald to Mexican Riviera (round trip from LA). The nice man gave us a price: guarantee balcony, Premiere package, on board credit, casino credit ( we were using a casino offer), insurance and transfers. The price was decent. I asked for a 24 hour courtesy hold. Everything good so far. 

 

He sent an email with booking number, amount owed and by when. What wasn’t listed was any of the other things I had previously mentioned. 
 

I called back the next day to confirm price and package details and to pay. The Princess phone lines had a two hour wait. I left my info for a call back. It’s almost 6 hours later ( and close to our deadline for courtesy hold expiry). Finally they call. I can hear her clearly. She said her name and then kept repeating it - like it was a recording. Then they hung up. I tried calling back but still hours wait and this time no call back option. Fearing we would lose the deal I paid on-line. 
 

Called Princess today, Monday June 5, to get confirmation of our package because NONE of it was listed on our account or App. I was told that we did not pay for any of those things. I am furious. Ask for an escalation and point out they record everything and they need to go back and listen to what was offered and accepted verbally by us. They promise to escalate and someone will get back to me soon. Good grief. I paid over $4000, with casino offer ( 35% fare reduction + casino credit) for a balcony with no perks? Nope. Don’t want it. The initial cost was $2700 but raised to over $4K with all the perks. I would NEVER have paid that final price without any of the added packages. I’m afraid they’re going to screw me and, when I ask for my money back, I will be denied. If they don’t fix this, this WILL be our last cruise with them. 
 

Ok, now that I vented …does anyone here have any good suggestions of what we could do to get this fixed? Thank you for listening..

I have had luck getting through with the “chat” function.  I print the whole transcript out when I finish.  I fear customer service is a thing of the past. Not just with Princess, but most businesses.  I know call it “company service”.  

[vaborn2cruise]

I feel your pain. I’ve been trying all means (email, phone calls, Twitter) without success to reach someone at Corporate to resolve an issue with my upcoming Alaska cruise. Customer service has been absolutely no help. 

[Wblotner]

It’s hit all aspects of hospitality. I’m a diamond on Delta airlines and because so many people are new they often mess up and don’t understand the perks. I know princess has offshored to the Phillipines and even though I work with many people from there I still have some problems understanding some of the accents. Unfortunately institutional knowledge cannot be replaced.

[Buckeye10640]

43 minutes ago, Shippy said:

To book with a casino discount....You NEED to book through the casino department !

I have not done so in the last year,  but we have always booked our casino DISCOUNT (not free) cruises via our PVP.   And I thought I read recently they can now book casino offers (maybe PVPs but not the general support agents?)

[Steelers36]

3 hours ago, krufrank said:

We are Platinum members so Princess and how they work is NOT unfamiliar to us. 
 

On Saturday June 3 we inquired about 7 Day Emerald to Mexican Riviera (round trip from LA). The nice man gave us a price: guarantee balcony, Premiere package, on board credit, casino credit ( we were using a casino offer), insurance and transfers. The price was decent. I asked for a 24 hour courtesy hold. Everything good so far. 

 

He sent an email with booking number, amount owed and by when. What wasn’t listed was any of the other things I had previously mentioned. 
 

I called back the next day to confirm price and package details and to pay. The Princess phone lines had a two hour wait. I left my info for a call back. It’s almost 6 hours later ( and close to our deadline for courtesy hold expiry). Finally they call. I can hear her clearly. She said her name and then kept repeating it - like it was a recording. Then they hung up. I tried calling back but still hours wait and this time no call back option. Fearing we would lose the deal I paid on-line. 
 

Called Princess today, Monday June 5, to get confirmation of our package because NONE of it was listed on our account or App. I was told that we did not pay for any of those things. I am furious. Ask for an escalation and point out they record everything and they need to go back and listen to what was offered and accepted verbally by us. They promise to escalate and someone will get back to me soon. Good grief. I paid over $4000, with casino offer ( 35% fare reduction + casino credit) for a balcony with no perks? Nope. Don’t want it. The initial cost was $2700 but raised to over $4K with all the perks. I would NEVER have paid that final price without any of the added packages. I’m afraid they’re going to screw me and, when I ask for my money back, I will be denied. If they don’t fix this, this WILL be our last cruise with them. 
 

Ok, now that I vented …does anyone here have any good suggestions of what we could do to get this fixed? Thank you for listening..

On Saturday, were you speaking with the Casino dept?  Regardless, why not talk to them today?  BTW, Monday is the worst day to try and reach PCL.

 

Also, when is this voyage you were booking?  I have not seen a courtesy hold time period as short as you indicated.  It almost seems as you must have been within Final Payment Date period and had to pay in full and you were just given 24 hrs.  I would have asked for more since the next day was Sunday and hard to get "real" people that know something on a Sunday.

 

IDK what was all in your email, but if not a PCL booking confirmation PDF attached, he wouldn't necessarily list everything.  Did you login to Princess.com and access the booking in the Cruise Personalizer?  The Travel Summary would indicate everything you are getting.  You could also look under Onboard Services tab and Payments & Credits tab. 

 

If I play with your payment, it appears the PCL price in USD for what you booked would be ~$4500, less $1,120 for Premier Cruise Fare option.  So, perhaps about $3,400 for a regular Balcony, which is almost $350/pp/day and that seems quite high. 

 

Anyway, I hope this works out for you.  Normally, a guest gets a 3-day hold, but not if payment is due immediately.  Did you pre-shop the voyage yourself on Princess.com or another booking site?  

[krufrank]

1 hour ago, Shippy said:

To book with a casino discount....You NEED to book through the casino department !

Unfortunately, not any more.  They ask you to book through normal agents. Trust me, I tried. I also called casino department directly but their system re-routes me back to main agents - despite clicking on "booked a casino offer".  

[krufrank]

6 minutes ago, Steelers36 said:

On Saturday, were you speaking with the Casino dept?  Regardless, why not talk to them today?  BTW, Monday is the worst day to try and reach PCL.

 

Also, when is this voyage you were booking?  I have not seen a courtesy hold time period as short as you indicated.  It almost seems as you must have been within Final Payment Date period and had to pay in full and you were just given 24 hrs.  I would have asked for more since the next day was Sunday and hard to get "real" people that know something on a Sunday.

 

IDK what was all in your email, but if not a PCL booking confirmation PDF attached, he wouldn't necessarily list everything.  Did you login to Princess.com and access the booking in the Cruise Personalizer?  The Travel Summary would indicate everything you are getting.  You could also look under Onboard Services tab and Payments & Credits tab. 

 

If I play with your payment, it appears the PCL price in USD for what you booked would be ~$4500, less $1,120 for Premier Cruise Fare option.  So, perhaps about $3,400 for a regular Balcony, which is almost $350/pp/day and that seems quite high. 

 

Anyway, I hope this works out for you.  Normally, a guest gets a 3-day hold, but not if payment is due immediately.  Did you pre-shop the voyage yourself on Princess.com or another booking site?  

The cruise is for July 29 from LA, so well within the Final Payment Date. 

 

The reason I was calling back on Sunday was to: a) confirm what was verbally told to me on the phone (which I had written down for myself) because none of the extra packages were attached to the courtesy booking he gave me and b) to pay for the trip.  Like I said, I had just 24 hours to book the Casino Offer and I didn't want to miss the "great" price.  Unfortunately, Princess said the $4K was just for the balcony room - which is absolute crap!.

 

I just wrote above that I tried called Casino Dept. directly today but their system routes you back to the main agents - even when pushing the "already booked casino offer". LOL.  It feels like clowns are running the circus down there.

[Shippy]

6 minutes ago, krufrank said:

Unfortunately, not any more.  They ask you to book through normal agents. Trust me, I tried. I also called casino department directly but their system re-routes me back to main agents - despite clicking on "booked a casino offer".  

   I just booked one for November through the casino department....

[Happy2cruise]

1 hour ago, Shippy said:

To book with a casino discount....You NEED to book through the casino department !

We recently booked 3 cruises with a casino discount thru our CVP with no problems.

[Thrak]

3 hours ago, Lady Arwen said:

I wouldn’t even dream of booking a cruise without our loyal and very knowledgeable CVP.  

 

I always book the cruise myself. I only transfer it to my TA for a discount and for the absolutely excellent service he provides. For instance, I have used Princess gift cards from AARP to pay for much our next 3 cruises and the flights. My TA has been the one to sit on the phone waiting for Princess to pick up and then deal with applying the gift cards. If AARP gets it together to offer the cards again I'll be giving our TA another 13 cards to deal with to finish paying off those cruises. (Of course, I will then start buying more cards to pay for our cruise next April. It's hard to pass up buying $500 cards for $450...)

[Lady Arwen]

Whatever works!  Be it TA or CVP,  as long as we’re well taken care of without the the headaches.

[MissP22]

3 hours ago, Thrak said:

The last two times I have spoken with someone from Princess I got two different women. Both had very strong accents and neither my wife or I could understand much of what they said. They also didn't seem to understand what I wanted and appeared to have very little knowledge regarding Princess or cruising. Both times there was noise in the background from dogs, children, and television. What a total crock. I used to have Princess on speed dial in my office and not only would I get through immediately, I got people in the US who at least had some clue and weren't working in a horribly noisy environment.

I also have one heck of a problem understanding people with accents..... I though it was only me. 🙄

 

3 hours ago, Lady Arwen said:

Another very good reason to use a Princess CVP or a TA.  I wouldn’t even dream of booking a cruise without our loyal and very knowledgeable CVP.  
So sorry you have to experience this level of ineptitude.  Fortunately, I have not had to deal with this issue.

Princess needs to do better.  People will start to look elsewhere for their cruise vacations if these problems with staff are not acknowledged and corrected.  In the meantime, get yourselves a good TA or CVP.  

I think you're right about that one. If only to be able to talk to a person that can speak clearly & is knowledgeably. 

[dweeb]

2 hours ago, Dorinda said:

Trying to speak to someone at Princess this morning...had 2 call backs so far and both of them were hard to understand - then the line went dead.  I think they just hang up.  I book through a TA but he says it takes him hours to speak to anyone and he doesn't want to try calling any more.

 

It's getting ridiculous. Sure wish I had a number for someone who is actually in Santa Clarita!

 

 

Wow, When TA's don't want to book Princess cruises, It is serious!!!  I don't blame the TA though, why try to spend hours on the phone and not get anywhere.  I know, it's their job, but I guess if it is continually taking all their time to get a cruise booked properly and they aren't getting paid enough for the frustration.   Princess needs to wake up!!!!

[cr8tiv1]

2 hours ago, SargassoPirate said:

I booked a 2025 cruise last week.  I put it on a courtesy hold since She Who Must Be Obeyed is going on this one and she had not yet risen for the day.  I received a confirmation email from Princess within minutes.

 

On the day that the deposit payment was due, I logged into my Princess.com account and made the payment.

 

Easy breezy.

 

In a few days, I transfer the booking to my warehouse club travel department and if any needs arise, such as a price drop, I'll call my TA and they can arm wrestle with Princess.

 

BTW, I'm a bit hard of hearing and couple that with a foreigner using a headset while working from home and I'll stick with doing it myself online.

 

I thought you couldn't transfer a booking after you made final payment to Princess.  Good to know.

[Dorinda]

4 minutes ago, dweeb said:

 

 

Wow, When TA's don't want to book Princess cruises, It is serious!!!  I don't blame the TA though, why try to spend hours on the phone and not get anywhere.  I know, it's their job, but I guess if it is continually taking all their time to get a cruise booked properly and they aren't getting paid enough for the frustration.   Princess needs to wake up!!!!

Oh he'll book the cruise...he just doesn't want to spend hours on hold and then speaking with someone who has no info.

 

Today it took 3 call backs and over one hour to be told they couldn't help me.  Terrible hold music, too!

 

I tried the number for my vacation planner.  She's out of the office for a week.

 

As a shareholder, I hope Princess is saving one hell of a lot of money switching to a few folks in the Philippines who are hard to understand and who have no info.  

[PacnGoNow]

35 minutes ago, cr8tiv1 said:

 

I thought you couldn't transfer a booking after you made final payment to Princess.  Good to know.

He made a deposit not FP.

[krufrank]

On the phone with Casino Department (so they say) and they said that the Princess fellow who made the booking and offer made a mistake.  I said, why is that my problem - I paid exactly what was quoted but did not get what was offered?  They said they could do nothing about it.  But if they rebooked me without the credits and premium package it would $600 LESS than what I paid. So basically the guy overcharged me.  I said, just rebook me with that price and credit me that $600 as onboard credit. They said, not can't do that.  We have to cancel your booking and re-book it with a $400 charge. Can you believe this crap!

 

No supervisor is willing to call me back.

 

I finally got the name of the original booking agent and got them to connect me him directly.  Currently on the phone with him.