Major itinerary change

[New2cruise2022]

9 hours ago, Paddymunich said:

I totally respect that you mostly enjoy the cruising itself, and all that the ship has to offer.

But the business model and the promise is different.

Princess themselves on their website (pages "new to cruising") present cruising as, in that order, the travel ("best of destinations", "waking up in the morning in the world's most exciting and interesting cities"), then the value (that includes gastronomy, entertainment and activities).

As I've written before, unexpected and unavoidable changes are acceptable (last summer it happened to us in the fjords due to storms in the North Sea).

Ditching two highly interesting ports for two very secondary ones months in advance (7 in my case) isn't. And I should be offered the possibility to change or cancel the booking.

Actually, I should be informed to start with (I haven't received any email so far).

I'll nevertheless certainly enjoy the cruise and also certainly not check Princess' offer when I look at booking my next cruise. I'll let them know why. I strongly believe in the consumer's power. If we all stop buying their product, they might adapt their conditions.

There is some bad marketing at play here, but the best known secret in the cruising industry is that the company can change the ports or cancel the ports as needed/wanted. Sometimes it’s bad customer service, sometimes it is response to circumstances out of their control — port congestion, labor strikes/disputes in port, political difficulties and war, crime, weather. My point is that there are more reliable ways to reach a specific destination than cruising. Pick any airline and there isn’t a well-known rule or history of airlines shrugging off the destination you have in mind. You buy a ticket/fare to get to a specific destination — without equivocation. Yes, weather and unforeseen circumstances can still prevent passengers from reaching their destination, but the business model of airlines is — if we fail to get you there, you get a refund or future travel credit. If I lived in a country where the business policy wasn’t a refund when an itinerary changed, I would look for insurance options or choose a different mode of transportation. 

[New2cruise2022]

9 hours ago, Paddymunich said:

I totally respect that you mostly enjoy the cruising itself, and all that the ship has to offer.

But the business model and the promise is different.

Princess themselves on their website (pages "new to cruising") present cruising as, in that order, the travel ("best of destinations", "waking up in the morning in the world's most exciting and interesting cities"), then the value (that includes gastronomy, entertainment and activities).

As I've written before, unexpected and unavoidable changes are acceptable (last summer it happened to us in the fjords due to storms in the North Sea).

Ditching two highly interesting ports for two very secondary ones months in advance (7 in my case) isn't. And I should be offered the possibility to change or cancel the booking.

Actually, I should be informed to start with (I haven't received any email so far).

I'll nevertheless certainly enjoy the cruise and also certainly not check Princess' offer when I look at booking my next cruise. I'll let them know why. I strongly believe in the consumer's power. If we all stop buying their product, they might adapt their conditions.

Specifically, the complaint is with the refund policy. But it seems like people know there isn’t a full refund. In the US, this isn’t a concern. The passenger has until the time of full payment to cancel and receive a full refund.