Make sure to keep checking that your booking is in order!

[Jetswdo]

 Two days ago my nightmare with Princess began.  Let me first say I am Platinum level, and in the past, found Princess really easy to deal with before boarding.  Never had any issues.  UNFORTUNATELY UNTIL NOW!  I rarely complain about anything, but if this has happened to me, it could happen to you.   Here's what happened:  I wanted to change a dining reservation, that was all.  (Yes, I now know how to do it on the app)  After speaking for a couple of minutes with the agent who could barely speak English, and very distracting background noise, he said no problem and supposedly changed the reservation for me.  I then said, could he kindly email me a note with the correct date for the reservation.  So he said ok.  I then hung up.   5 minutes later I remembered I had another question so I called back again.  This time, another agent, again, hard to understand, and the distracting background noise once again.  I ask my question, and the agent said "your cruise has been cancelled"  and that I did that 4 minutes ago.  OMG!  I get hysterical and said I never did that, please fix this immediately.  I then get put on hold for the longest 5 minutes of my life.  Then the agent says ok, your reservation has been restored.  So after I calmed myself down, I then ask my question which was about a shore excursion.  The agent then tells me,  "Oh Oh, all you shore excursions have been cancelled!"  (I booked and paid for all months ago!)  So he slowly started to re book my excursions.  It turned out that two of the ones that I really really wanted, were now full.  I said yes, two of the people names are mine and my husband.!  Bottom line 3 agents later, those excursions were lost, due to no fault of my own.  The last agent that I spoke with, who actually spoke clearly and actually listenned to me, no distracting background noise, advised me to contact customer support on line and state all the facts of what happenned to me.  ( I did that, with no response that they even received my email)   Meantime,  for one of my cancelled excursions, I was able to find a similar one through Viator-- the other one could only be done with Princess, so we will be spending the day on board the ship, very disappointing.  So now, every day, I keep checking to make sure that our cruise isn't cancelled (I've paid for everything including flights, etc.  Anita

[smwg]

Wow. That's crazy.  I'm so sorry this happened!  😢

 

[Bemidji Ty]

Yikes.  I wouldn't be happy.  Sorry this happened to you.

[LACruiser88]

We avoid dealing directly with Princess by using a FANTASTIC Travel Agent.  She deals with any and all issues that may arise.  Much less stress for us at the same cost.

[Lady Arwen]

We use a Princess CVP and never have issues.  Any changes, regardless of the nature, she gets it done in mere minutes.  I’ve never sat on hold, spoken to an agent that I don’t understand, had my booking cancelled and I’ve never been stressed or upset.  
 

If you don’t have a reliable travel agent or CVP, please do yourself a favour and reach out to one or the other.  No cost for either one, but their service is invaluable.  Our CVP has been doing our bookings for years and I wouldn’t know what to do without her.  Sorry, for your experience.  I can’t imagine how stressful it must have been.  I hope you enjoy your cruise!

[skynight]

I would take the time to write an old fashioned letter to John Padgett. The way I see it this terrible episode was caused by Princess' unacceptable customer service, customer service personnel that don't fully understand the English language, customer service personnel that have limited English speaking knowledge, customer service personnel that are housed in noisy offices. Mr. Padgett needs to hear this from someone directly involved with this negative experience. E-mails, text, phone calls will not get the message through.

You might even wind up with some future cruise credits.

I had a simple change of address. I was not able to change it on line myself. The program would not allow it. Crazy for such a common thing. I kept getting the message contact Princess. I emailed them a number of times. It went on for months. I finally wrote a postal letter to John Padgett. A few weeks later I received a response and the address was changed. 

[FancyPants21]

What a scary story! Glad it was at least partially sorted.

 

We only ever use a TA now... get better prices too as well as someone who speaks English when we need them.

[memoak]

Just another could reason to use a US based CVP. Never use the off shore call centers. Our CVP takes care of everything 

[Alaska05]

Curious as to why you didn’t make the dining change on the app when u acknowledged it could be done. 

[Bandman]

This is our first time on Princess. Booked 2 cabins. One for us, and one for my Mom. So far: They had my mom’s birthdate wrong on her booking!  They added the princess plus package to my mom’s booking(We don’t drink. Never even discussed this package). Then noticed my wife’s age was wrong on the travel summary! Guess what? Her birthday was wrong too.  
 

Now… the app says I need to order our medallions, even though I already did this last week and it has shown so in the app… until today.  
 

Needless to say, I am NOT impressed and worried about my booking.  

[Donwoods123]

I have had success resolving customer service issues by emailing Collin Steinke.  His information is:

 

Collin Steinke
Director, Customer Relations
24305 Town Center Drive
Santa Clarita, CA 91355
csteinke@princesscruises.com

 

 

Might be worth a try.

[azbirdmom]

So sorry this happened to you.  It is definitely worth a try to send an email in about your experience as they may be able to restore what you lost.  Here's the list of current executive contacts courtesy of elliottdotorg

 

[Jetswdo]

Thanks for the names of who to email.  I will do this later today.   Just for the record:

 

 I am an older person and in the past of many cruises I have found it quite easy just to make a phone call to the cruise customer service.  This includes Princess.   I am a retired TA----I don't think this would have made any difference to the people who are implying that this situation was somehow my fault.

 

My point was that somehow an representative pushed the wrong key or something like that, which resulted in this fiasco. How asking a representative to just change reservation to another date would result in a cruise cancellation is beyond me.  And if this could happen to me,  it could happen to ANYONE,   At this point, I just want Princess to make this as right as they can. Yes I am very disappointed that the shore excursions people couldn't have extended themselves to contact the provider of the tours to reinstate our names- they can see that we booked these tours months ago. This does have me steamed!   

Thanks again for those of you who posted a SUPPORTiVE reponse-- makes me feel a little less alone on this .   Anita

[Paula_MacFan]

23 minutes ago, Jetswdo said:

Yes I am very disappointed that the shore excursions people couldn't have extended themselves to contact the provider of the tours to reinstate our names- they can see that we booked these tours months ago.

This doesn't help your problem but my Princess CVP told me last year that Princess no longer has a dedicated shore excursion department.  

[Jetswdo]

Unfortunately none of the listed persons at the customer relations phone numbers have those same emails as written above.  We calculated that we are out around $400- due to this fiasco.

If this somehow gets made right by Princess, I will post again.  In the meantime, we are trying to not let this ruin our cruise once we board the ship.  So now, everyday I am checking on the app that our cruise is still listed with us on it- I've completed the check in process- but then again, that didn't mean anything when that poorly trained representative managed to cancel our trip and excursions!

[azbirdmom]

19 minutes ago, Jetswdo said:

Unfortunately none of the listed persons at the customer relations phone numbers have those same emails as written above. 

 

Hmmm, not sure what you mean?  I have written to that group and have had a swift response from the Customer Relations area.  That is if you're referring to the email addresses that I posted in post 12 - they are all accurate.

[Kat915]

Sorry this happened to you.

 

I recently had bad experience multiple times with Princess customer service. English is their second language which never is an issue with me but it was this time and there was a lot of noise in the background. 

 

Once, Princess changed the cancellation terms so that my deposit was nonrefundable.  After talking to 4 customer service people who wouldn't let me talk to a supervisor, I finally  was able to talk to a supervisor. I only got my deposit back since I had the original invoice and emailed it to the supervisor. I asked the supervisor how I could ever trust the terms on original invoice if Princess willy nilly could change them at any time. He said I could call Princess.  Sure and waste hours on the phone. 

 

And then I wanted to  add my sister to my booking on a different cruise, but we needed an accessible room which was available. Instead of telling me it would be difficult to do this after final payment, they told me no one in customer service could do this and told me only the special needs department could help with getting that cabin. I sent an email to the special needs department as customer service directed me to and they of course told me a week later that a customer service person would have to assist with moving/ pricing cabins.

 

I like the flexibility of booking my own cruises online, but I WON'T DEAL WITH PRINCESS CUSTOMER SERVICE ANYMORE.

 

I will book online with other cruiselines or use CVP.  I do a lot of my cruise planning at night and I don't want to deal with a TA.

 

 

[ba5eline]

Everybody I've talked to on chat and via voice have been pretty terrible so far. Online chat agents keep saying they can't do anything to help me because the system is down - which feels like every single day or they have to escalate the issue but can't provide a reference/case # NOR will they call me back/email me back about the issue. Often they tell me to call in..... but on the phone, it's noisy and they don't speak English very fluently or have comprehension issues. This ultimately results in a lot of frustrating miscommunication.

[AZaTaz]

I am a little confused. Why do you say to keep checking that your book is in order?  Yours got changed after a call the customer service line, not out of clear blue sky. Yes customer service line makes many mistakes and is very frustrating, I refuse to ever call them again and will use CVP line instead.  You say you now check yours every day does that mean you call customer service every day?

[Coral]

I am so sorry this happened. Though I am not surprised at all. I dread calling Princess. I deal with a TA who I trust. 

 

I would email Customer Relations right away. You may want to post the shore excursion you lost. There are only a few I can think of that are "Princess only".

 

This is a great example that Princess needs to bring back their reservations and train them well!

Edited April 23 by Coral

[ldubs]

17 minutes ago, Coral said:

I am so sorry this happened. Though I am not surprised at all. I dread calling Princess. I deal with a TA who I trust. 

 

I would email Customer Relations right away. You may want to post the shore excursion you lost. There are only a few I can think of that are "Princess only".

 

This is a great example that Princess needs to bring back their reservations and train them well!

 

I suspect we are witnessing the rough transition from a full staffed customer relations/reservations desk and one done primarily via Apps or website tools.  

 

Sadly, customers shouldn't suffer with catastrophic mistakes like the OP's.   

[leck57]

On 4/23/2024 at 8:49 AM, Jetswdo said:

Thanks for the names of who to email.  I will do this later today.   Just for the record:

 

 I am an older person and in the past of many cruises I have found it quite easy just to make a phone call to the cruise customer service.  This includes Princess.   I am a retired TA----I don't think this would have made any difference to the people who are implying that this situation was somehow my fault.

 

 

Your story horrifies me and I'm certain you did anything wrong. How a cruise booking can just be cancelled without advice to the customer is beyond belief. In my case, I check the Personalizer every few days so if any of my cruises just disappeared I'd see it fairly quickly.

My minor, compared to yours, cancellation story is I recently had a shore excursion cancelled with no advice. When I just noticed I spoke to the Phillipines and although the staff there were friendly, the shore excursions are now full. I can accept things change but being told, I would expect should be routine.

Pleased you sorted out most of the mess and that too many years haven't been taken off your life. Not the lead in you want to a relaxing holiday.

[Coral]

12 minutes ago, leck57 said:

 

Your story horrifies me and I'm certain you did anything wrong. How a cruise booking can just be cancelled without advice to the customer is beyond belief.

I remember back in the 90's when one would call the airlines and confirm a flight. I remember doing that and the next day showing up for my flight only to find it was cancelled the day before (when I called to confirm the flight). You would have thought we had come a long way since then. Though Princess's technology has never been that great (nor has their telephone support). 

[ISABELLA]

Not as bad as OP story, but I can vouch that Princess is employing some incompetent people. We are booked on 14 days Med cruise and I booked EZ air with Princess. Before the cut off date price for air had dropped 2x. Got repriced, refund to be issued 7-10 days. 2 months later I found out that refund was never requested by the agent. Got my own TA involved, promised refund in a few days. Will see... 

[ldubs]

It is easy to get angry with the customer facing people at the other end of the phone.  Let's not forget it is Princess management who is not providing the needed training and who should be blamed for these kinds of mess-ups.