Onboard Credit As A Gift Disaster

[Cruiser1976]

I need to get some opinions as to whether or not to make this an issue with Princess.

 

My employees recently purchased some onboard credit for me to use on my Aug sailing as a birthday gift. They requested the help of another manager to find out my cruise information. Since it would be obvious to me that something was up, the other manager just asked me for my sailing info (date, ship, itinerary) and told me my employees were planning something.

 

A day or two later, the same manger approached me to tell me that she took care of it, however, also explained to me that Princess gave her the name of the other person in the cabin (this was private info) as well as my booking number! I flipped when I heard this. There is no reason as to why this information needed to be given to someone just purchasing a gift, especially if Princess had my booking already up to give it out in the first place. I called Princess to complain and first got reservations who would not transfer me to Customer Relations until I explained the problem. When I did, she was very rude and kept saying "I'm not sure what you want from us". She finally, and rudely, transferred me to Customer Relations and I again explained the problem. The person I spoke with explained that the other name was given out to confirm cabin (in case there is more than one person on the ship with the same name). Now I can understand this (not happy about it but can understand), however, I still had a concern with the booking number being given out. I explained to her that this information in the wroing hands could allow someone to alter my reservation online or even add things to my cruise that would cost me money! They would also have access to my credit card and passport info. She agreed that this was something to look into and would address with reservations. I then asked her to just confirm that there was a credit on the account (but not tell me the amount since it was a gift :) ) and she stated that there was and it would not show on the website since it is a gift and there would be a card in my cabin with a message from my employees.

 

At this point, I was ready to drop the subject, however, the very same day, we get an email confirming the amount of the credit as well as the message from my staff that I was not supposed to see until August!

 

So, here is where you come in. Do I drop it or escalate it? This is the first time I will be cruising with Princess and can not say that I am very impressed with their lack of organization or the rudeness of the reservation staff (somethime, not always).

 

Does anyone have any thoughts (please hold the personal bashing if you feel the need) or has this happened to anyone before?

 

Thanks

[bjboothman]

I would have been very upset that Princess gave out your booking number and the name of your cabin-mate. What possible reason could there be for them to share the name of that person with the gift buyer? It could have been highly personal information. What if you were in the cabin alone --- they would not then have had the name of another person to "make sure it was the right cabin". And to give out your booking number allows people far too much access to your business by way of the cruise personalizer.

 

Honestly, I don't know what remedy there is for this. Is it worth fighting over? Only if it makes you feel better - what's done is done. Yes, if you reach the right person you might get them to reinforce rules that I feel sure are already in place. I'd bet you got an employee who didn't know what he/she was doing - and they may or may not be able to identify that employee to provide him/her with some performance counseling.

[smeyer418]

I need to get some opinions as to whether or not to make this an issue with Princess.

 

My employees recently purchased some onboard credit for me to use on my Aug sailing as a birthday gift. They requested the help of another manager to find out my cruise information. Since it would be obvious to me that something was up, the other manager just asked me for my sailing info (date, ship, itinerary) and told me my employees were planning something.

 

A day or two later, the same manger approached me to tell me that she took care of it, however, also explained to me that Princess gave her the name of the other person in the cabin (this was private info) as well as my booking number! I flipped when I heard this. There is no reason as to why this information needed to be given to someone just purchasing a gift, especially if Princess had my booking already up to give it out in the first place. I called Princess to complain and first got reservations who would not transfer me to Customer Relations until I explained the problem. When I did, she was very rude and kept saying "I'm not sure what you want from us". She finally, and rudely, transferred me to Customer Relations and I again explained the problem. The person I spoke with explained that the other name was given out to confirm cabin (in case there is more than one person on the ship with the same name). Now I can understand this (not happy about it but can understand), however, I still had a concern with the booking number being given out. I explained to her that this information in the wroing hands could allow someone to alter my reservation online or even add things to my cruise that would cost me money! They would also have access to my credit card and passport info. She agreed that this was something to look into and would address with reservations. I then asked her to just confirm that there was a credit on the account (but not tell me the amount since it was a gift :) ) and she stated that there was and it would not show on the website since it is a gift and there would be a card in my cabin with a message from my employees.

 

At this point, I was ready to drop the subject, however, the very same day, we get an email confirming the amount of the credit as well as the message from my staff that I was not supposed to see until August!

 

So, here is where you come in. Do I drop it or escalate it? This is the first time I will be cruising with Princess and can not say that I am very impressed with their lack of organization or the rudeness of the reservation staff (somethime, not always).

 

Does anyone have any thoughts (please hold the personal bashing if you feel the need) or has this happened to anyone before?

 

Thanks

 

Now you know why the cruise lines don't call people to tell them of changes. I agree with you that private info should be kept private but do you really think that people didn't already know? I would drop it...

[Ethel5]

I've given gifts and have been given gifts and have never had this happen. I think I would write a letter to passenger relations and explain what happened and ask that your info not be given out in the future or else!

[ForEternity]

I'm so sorry for your problems! I've sailed Princess once before and we had a great cruise, no problems. Unfortunately no matter how great a line is, they all can have problems (and rude employees...). I wouldn't worry about this issue being a sign of how your cruise may go.

 

I certainly think someone needs to be made aware of this problem. After all, hearing about problems is how they can improve their service. I would problably try to contact someone about it. They are supposed to keep "records" of every call, etc. so when you talk to someone, they should be able to pull up the info from your last call. I think it would be good for them to add the latest issue. Now, will they pass on that info to the right people to have it looked at for what not to do in the future? Who knows.... Of course there is nothing that can be done to resolve the problem, as the "damage" has already been done. Talking to the right person though, could be a big benefit. It's possible they would give you extra credit, bottle of wine, something of that sort. I wouldn't count on it...lol, but it's possible.

 

We were on a Celebrity cruise at Christmas and had ordered some things for my grandparents while on board. They messed it up BIG time, lots of trouble. After talking to the Pursers many times, with no success, we talked to the (not sure of her title..) manager of guest relations. She was extremely nice and took off the charges for the items that were messed up/delivered late, and sent champaign and wine. Of course this was once we were on board. I'm not sure if you could talk to the same type of person on the ship and get help.

 

Anyway...all that to say, I think it would be good for them to know about the problem. Even if nothing is done for you, it's worth them knowing to improve service and not do it again! (hopefully ;)) I hope it all works out well!

[rienreiter]

If it makes you any better, do not take it out strictly on Princess. Royal Caribbean has also done this.

 

The situation was not exactly the same though. At the beginning of this year, I was supposed to be going on a cruise with a couple of friends. They had asked me to provide them with my confirmation number so that they could call RCI and link the two reservations together. Well, they went out of town for two weeks so I decided to call RCI myself to link the 2 reservations. I did not know their conf. number but since I was going on the same ship, I knew the ship's name, sailing date, and of course, their full names. The res. agent proceeded to give me their conf. number. I had not asked for this info.; I just asked that my reservation be linked with theirs.

 

Now I do not know if all cruise lines are the same but I do know that with Princess and RCI, you can go online, input your name and conf. number and you have access to that reservation. Credit card info. only shows the last 4 digits. But all other personal information is shown.

 

Res. agents can get around this issue by asking you to provide the name of the passenger since you've already indicated the name of the ship and sailing date. They do not have to share the rest of the information with you such as reservation no. and names of others in the same cabin with you.

 

Regards,

[skarletohara]

sorry for the triple post.

[skarletohara]

triple post -- sorry

[skarletohara]

I'd drop it.

[Minybear]

I am really sorry this happened to you.

 

Does Princess have a confidentiality policy? I work at a hotel in Tucson and anyone that calls up regarding a guest and that person is not mentioned on the resv we cannot speak to them about anything regarding that guest because we have a confidentialty policy. You never know if someone is trying to get their identity or someone is stalking the guest. You dont know and you dont give out any info on that guest period!!

 

At this point you can definately complain. I would suggest writing a letter to Princess and see how Princess responds to you.

 

Good luck.

Minybear

[Cruiser1976]

Thanks for everyone's feedback. For the most part, I think I agree that I will at least send a letter to them addressing the problem. I'm not looking to get something out of this (but of course I would not turn it down if they offered either!), however, I would like them to use this experience to correct there procedure for the future.

 

Minybear, I agree with you. I am a former airline manager and the thought of giving out information like this was not only strictly forbidden but could also lead to a fine by the TSA. I'm surprised the cruise lines do not have similar practices.

 

ForEnernity, don't worry, I will not let this cloud my judgement of my first Princess cruise.

 

By the way, does anyone know of an email address for Cusomer Relations? I can't seem to find anything other than a mailing address on the website.

Thanks again!

[spongerob]

I think you had a perfect right to be upset that the booking number was given out, and I think you've done the right thing already by alerting CS to the problem you had. At this point, I'd drop it, but if you feel a follow-up letter is necessary I won't try to talk you out of it.

[MaryPoppinz]

This is a complaint I'd escalate a bit. There's a systemic problem that, as you point out, leaves people vulnerable. If I'm Princess...I want to know about this, so I can fix it.

[travelpeon]

I would make an attempt to contact the relevant party with your concerns and reasoning. Personally, I wouldn't ask for anything except for acknowledgment of the concern.

 

On a side note, my upcoming cruise is part of a large group and I think I recall Princess asked for some kid of booking/group #. *Checks notes* They asked for two codes, neither of which were the other group's booking #. This was done to associate meals? or to give booking credit to a certain person in our party (one of those book X cabins, get 1 cabin free deals?)

[Host CJSKIDS]

I would send an email at least to customer relations voicing your concerns. They need to know this is going on to make sure that it's not done again to someone in the future.

 

Their email address is passengerrelations@princesscruises.com

[Cruisin' Chick]

I would not only send an email to the above email address, but also send a snail-mail letter to the home office in Santa Clarita. This does seem like a serious breach of privacy. After all, hotels will not give you someone's room number or other info...they'll just connect you on the phone directly to the room.

[Casshew]

I would hate knowing that other people have my booking #!!

 

I don't think I would continue to call, but I would send a letter explaining reasonably, what transpired.

[Crown Prince]

Cruiser 1976. Passenger Relations only handles problems POST-cruise.

 

Since you are still pre-cruise, this should go through Customer Assistance.

 

A snail-mail letter is always best. ;)

[TinaLee]

Princess Cruises

(Corporate Headquarters)

24844 Avenue Rockefeller

Santa Clarita, CA 91355

[donna5]

Went through a Cruise Agency T.A. several years ago. Princess sent them faxes several times with their clients that were on the cruise. The fax had at the bottom each persons name and booking number. The idiots sent us and the others on the list the complete fax and did not block out the other customers. After receiving the first fax, I called the T.A.(owner) and informed her of that and apparently nothing was done because we received several more copies of the fax. Apparently there are quite a lot of clueless people(stupid). I can understand one mistake, but with I.D. theft you would think they would know better.

[Host CJSKIDS]

Cruiser 1976. Passenger Relations only handles problems POST-cruise.

 

Since you are still pre-cruise, this should go through Customer Assistance.

 

A snail-mail letter is always best. ;)

 

I have a problem with a booking that I haven't taken and Princess gave me passenger relations as who I had to both speak with and email. Are you telling me they're passing the buck and not sending me to the correct place?

[webecruzn2]

I would send an email at least to customer relations voicing your concerns. They need to know this is going on to make sure that it's not done again to someone in the future.

 

Their email address is passengerrelations@princesscruises.com

 

The above email no longer works. Does anyone have a current address?

[vince_g]

It would give anyone with the booking number access to your passport information (which is certainly not good), but not to your credit card information. That information is maksed on the Princess website.

 

Write to Princess and let them know what happened, so they can hopefully tighten up on that in the future, but be happy your coworkers wanted to do something nice for you, and just have a great cruise.

[pmcrusta]

This is why on roll calls I no longer give out cabin #. Had a reservation for a cruise messed with by a TA who wanted people for a group reservation. It's

to complicated to give the details. I had not given permission to do this. Because that's all it took a few years back if someone wanted to get you cruise information. You'd think now with the laws with identity theft the cruise lines would get up to speed. But it just goes to show you...if someone wants a bit of information they can get it no matter how many safe guards

you put to stop things. All it takes is one slip up and all the protection in the world to keep your identity safe is down the drain.

I agree go up the food chain and complain.

[jff50]

It doesn't sound like you got any acknowledgement of this issue/mistake, other than your phone conversations. I would escalate it, if for no other reason than to get some acknowledgement in writing.

 

There is a lot of information that people can access with your name and booking number. For example, they will know where you live and when you will be out of town. I think Princess willingness to provide this information is very disturbing.