Just another complaining Brit.

[MV21]

Here's a suggestion. Buy a few Carnival shares then you can voice your upset in person (or via the web link) at the next AGM.

 

Peter

 

Perhaps we should get organised!!! Instead of being complaining Brits on Cruise Critic we could all buy a few shares and hijack the AGM. It's a thought isn't it?

[Goldryder]

Being yet another Brit cruiser on here, I have to say that I have an absolutely superb TA who is UK based and who matches the US pricing whenever he can...even if that means him losing some or all his commission....he handles the whole package, even when the cruise is booked direct from the cruise line and then transferred to him afterwards. I have recommended this TA to several people and they have all been extremely happy with the one to one service he gives, nothing is ever too much for him to do so I am very happy to stay with him for the rest of my 'cruising career' :)

[phillipahain]

Have you ever tried to do that at an AGM

 

The small investor even in a clutch of them gets ousted /shouted down by the Big Boys

 

The big City Investors are perfectly happy so long as the profits rooll in they dont care how or why

 

Princess scam on higher UK prices and charging 3% or4% and converting to Sterling is just one arm in this

 

Most people will not complain and thats how they get away with it

 

However if you already have a Dollar Account which of nessecity means you have to have a fair Dollar balance in it the last thing you want is a Sterling debit hitting it with all the accompanying charges

[ourlol]

Buy a few Carnival shares

 

We've got some!

 

Laura

[minke]

Only 9 postal days to go now untill we fly out & still no documents. Aussies & USA have had theirs for 5-8 weeks before sail date!

[Esprit]

Have you ever tried to do that at an AGM

 

The small investor even in a clutch of them gets ousted /shouted down by the Big Boys

 

 

I was at the AGM in 2005 (Southampton) and put two questions to the board. No problem whatsoever. The QE2 terminal was full of small investors (who were mostly cruisers too). You can chat with the directors after the official proceedings have finished.

 

You get one or two of the "old school" whinging about the good old P&O days. Always good for a laugh!

 

I'll be there next year.

 

Peter

[phillipahain]

Wow .....very civilised maybe time to buy a few shares then

[Flipper133]

Question for Suron

 

I see in one of your posts that you refer to membership of the Captains Circle. I had thought that membership of this group was available for North Americans only - thats what it tells you on the Princess site.

 

What am I missing? Seems to me that customers from outside Nth America are being treated as 2nd Class....the irony is that Princess has its roots in the dear old UK P&O line.

[terrierjohn]

Question for Suron

 

I see in one of your posts that you refer to membership of the Captains Circle. I had thought that membership of this group was available for North Americans only - thats what it tells you on the Princess site.

 

What am I missing? Seems to me that customers from outside Nth America are being treated as 2nd Class....the irony is that Princess has its roots in the dear old UK P&O line.

Flipper, Once you have sailed with Princess you are automatically a member of the captains circle, certainly in the UK, and It does have some perks, it frequently gives you a two category upgrade at the time of booking, if you are booking from a new brochure before the early booking discount cut off date. On this latest cruise we only paid for a BD cabin but got a BB cabin, not a massive benefit but every little helps to offset the higher UK prices.

John.

[Flipper133]

Hi John

 

Yup, I've read the various benefits of Captains Circle membership...but here is the page from the Sapphire web site

 

 

Registered Members, please sign in.

Email

 

Password

 

Forgot Your Password >>

 

Non-Registered Members, please register for access to the Circle Center.

 

Please note, this program is available to U.S. and Canadian residents only.

 

This is why I wondered how UK customers can become members

 

I cruised Princess Sapphire last year and I am booked again for next February.

 

Cheers

[peterv]

Hi John

 

Yup, I've read the various benefits of Captains Circle membership...but here is the page from the Sapphire web site

 

 

Registered Members, please sign in.

Email

 

Password

 

Forgot Your Password >>

 

Non-Registered Members, please register for access to the Circle Center.

 

Please note, this program is available to U.S. and Canadian residents only.

 

This is why I wondered how UK customers can become members

 

I cruised Princess Sapphire last year and I am booked again for next February.

 

Cheers

 

We can become members because there is a separate UK Captain's Circle programme. I have both a US and a UK captain's circle number, what I find odd is that there is no online version of the UK CC, even thought the UK website states that they are working on it. The only difference that I can see is that it has a different CC number, all the benefits are exactly the same.

 

Cheers,

Peter

[peterv]

Perhaps we should get organised!!! Instead of being complaining Brits on Cruise Critic we could all buy a few shares and hijack the AGM. It's a thought isn't it?

 

I concur, I think we should ALL show up and ask the same questions as a group, much less likely to be ignored. I was planning on attending as well.

 

Cheers,

Peter

[victravellers]

In OZ we do not even have the benefit of captains circle. This is my first cruise, so i appreciated we do not qualify yet anyway, but a phone call to Princess in Australia confirmed this. We do not get any benefits from captains circle regardless of how many cruises we take.:(

[rykersdad]

Princess had an answer to a similar query a few weeks ago. It was that

'Everything costs more in the U.K.', or words to that effect. Unfortunately we have the a problem in Canada, it might be called the 'Sinking U.S. Dollar' to which we do not get the correct exchange. No wish to offend, just telling it how it is. john

 

Haaa Haaaa :D :D just found this thread........... SO true... do you think anyone knows it yet?????:D

[stellalimelight]

JLC@SD What Tea???? Never had a decent cup of tea in the US yet., must be the water.

 

Another divergence from the main thread, not only are we "ripped off" with cruise costs but the latest report is the US government is "thinking" about reintroducing visa's for UK visitors, should we reciprocate????

 

 

To get a good cup of tea in the US you have to ask if they have English or Irish tea. Many restaurants here serve English or Irish breakfast tea (I get that even if it is not breakfast).

 

In answer to your second question. Yes. If we are going to ask countries whom we have allowed for years to come in without visas, then I think it is only fair that we have to do the same.

 

 

Shelley

 

 

P.S. I haven't been U.K. in years, but I understand you can now get a good cup of coffee.

[stellalimelight]

I say we all band together with our Brit, Aussie, Canadian comrades and stand up and revolt. Rumor has it we used to be good at it:) I think it is terrible that there should be such a discrepancy in booking, availabilty, fares, etc.

 

I am not sure what can be done short of getting a massive amount of all of you not to book a cruise on any of the lines that do this for a whole year. As you know it is all about money. I say bring on the protests. Hey I know. We could get a huge group of us to go the AGM and we could pretend we were in the Parliment and boo and hiss when the CEO of Princess won't take our questions or give us an answer we don't like.

 

 

Here is one Yank rooting for you. (This has got my Irish up)

 

Shelley

[Brian Raine]

Flipper 133 if you look at Princess CO UK Captains table page it states you cannot access the US C T pages. However if you attempt to book a cruise on line it asks you for your CT details.

With reference to obtaining an upgrade on booking , utilising your CT membership, this has never happened to us.

On our last Princess cruise we had a long discussion with the Cruise Director about some of the perceived or otherwise declines in overall service and practises. Minor things mostly , his reply was " it is reationalisation within the company" my response was "more like cost cutting"

In the end we agreed to disagree.

I believe the end product is , however big a cruise company gets the more the passengers suffer, as the mantra of profits profits prevails.

One final question , what is going to happen to the cruise industry when all of these monster ships arrive within the next 2/3 years, there is only so many people want to cruise. Having seen 6/7 cruisers lined up outside one carribean island and the tenders bombing around making it look like a California interstate /M25 in rush hour,the mind boggles.

[QueenofScreen]

Shelley

 

 

P.S. I haven't been U.K. in years, but I understand you can now get a good cup of coffee.

 

Now Shelley, I wouldn't go that far!! The only good coffee is in Canada/Italy:D

[tech]

I would be very happy to be able to have my onboard purchases that are priced in dollars paid in pounds.

 

With the exchange rate that would make my onboard account quite small.

 

Then onshore purchases would be priced in dollars in many cases and you have converted your pounds to dollars ..how could you not be getting a good bargain ?

 

If you come for a visit in America, aren't you finding that your money is buying almost twice as much ?

 

As to charging Americans extra to enter UK, I doubt that would bother

many. The Americans that can afford to visit can afford the extra.

 

The majority of us at this point cannot visit because the pound is almost twice the dollar. I would love to visit the home village of my grandfather but cannot because the rate of exchange makes it impossible.

 

We as ordinary people did not cause this dollar decline but are suffering because of it. Be upset with our government and corporations but not the common working person. It is not a picnic for us.

 

As to whining, well, all humor aside...any of us that can cruise are so very fortunate. The economy is not that great and many people are not able to vacation, let alone a cruise.

 

it would be interesting to see what would happen if the cruiselines all switched to pounds for payment.

 

I wonder what the mix of passengers onboard would be then ? Many countries cannot stand up to the British pound. You should consider yourselves lucky.

[terrierjohn]

I would be very happy to be able to have my onboard purchases that are priced in dollars paid in pounds.

 

With the exchange rate that would make my onboard account quite small.

.

tech, you're missing the point, it's not the paying in pounds we are complaining about, but the poor exchange rate that Princess use. All our US dollar spending is eventually converted to pounds, but we would prefer that a more competitive exchange rate is used, and in fact for those of us using a card that does not charge commission, then we definitely want our card issuer to do the conversion and not Princess.

As to the current weak state of the dollar, you have our sympathy, in years past when sterling was the weakest currency we all remember how this affected our overses holidays.

John.

[kruisey]

Princess has told me that from January 2007 Canadian Customers can only book in Canadian Dollars if they book with Princess direct. WE have to go through a third party a TA in the USA to get the booking in US$.

Princesses exchange rate for 2007 is $1.15...for 2008$2.11.

I have heard rumours that it will be par by 2008.

Princess has never given me any explanation for their exchange rate and why they insist that we have to book in Canadian dollars.

When one visits the USA or makes a future reservation I pay with a Canadian Credit card and get billed in USA$ no questions ever asked......then my Credit card Company convert which is of a lower rate than Princess uses..

Princess must price their cruises in advance and use their set exchange rate for we foreigners:D for 12 months.

Why don't they just bill in USA dollars and leave the exchange rates to our Card Companies and Banks...it would be much easier for everyone all around.

I am a dual/ UK Canadian citizen and when I visit UK many many products cost twice as much as they do over here.......I have empathy with your frustations

[phillipahain]

Kruisekey

 

I agree with you I cant understand why Princess insist on this crazy exchange nonsense

 

No other cruise line does it as far as i can understand or have experienced

 

I am a bit perplexed though by you saying that things in the Uk cost twice as much as Canada ,,,,,,,,,,,I agree many things in the USA are the same price in Dollars as they are in pounds in the UK so currently thats means nearly USA prices are about 60% of the UK

 

But during our trip in Canada last year i certainly did not think there was much difference between Canadian and UK prices

 

I sure wish UK incomes and tax situation matched those of USA though

[kruisey]

Kruisekey

 

I agree with you I cant understand why Princess insist on this crazy exchange nonsense

 

No other cruise line does it as far as i can understand or have experienced

 

I am a bit perplexed though by you saying that things in the Uk cost twice as much as Canada ,,,,,,,,,,,I agree many things in the USA are the same price in Dollars as they are in pounds in the UK so currently thats means nearly USA prices are about 60% of the UK

 

But during our trip in Canada last year i certainly did not think there was much difference between Canadian and UK prices

 

I sure wish UK incomes and tax situation matched those of USA though

I was in the UK for 3 and a half months last year....looking after my mum 93...until could arrange good home care for her (Luckily she has now) so was doing all the shopping.......I paid $2.18 exchange rate for one English pound.....

 

In the cafes the prices were higher. Found womens clothing alot more expensive than in Canada .

In M&S which I love to shop in:) 1 ladies article of clothing cost 25 pounds which I usually only pay $20 for in Canada thats just one example.

Regarding Princess they should leave foreign exchange up to the Card Companies and banks.One less item for them to worry about.......Big plus keep all their Foreign :D customers happy

[VonS]

Can someone please explain why we in the UK always seem to draw the short straw when it comes to cruise pricing.

When the exotics brochure was released in the US in April I noted from the Princess website that the price for a balcony cabin on cruise T718 (2007) had reduced by $100pp from the 2006 price, and at that time the exchange rate was USD 1.75/£. However the same cruise in the new UK exotics brochure has increased by £86pp, and Sterling is now 13% higher at USD 1.89/£. In addition the head start internal flight from Manchester to Heathrow has increased from £50pp to £99pp, the funny thing is I would probably pay double if Princess were to offer direct intercontinental flights from Manchester, in fact anything to avoid being routed through Heathrow especially on the return leg.

Ah well maybe my extortionate price is helping to reduce my American cousins' cost, and there was I assuming we Brits had stopped subsidising our American colonials back in 1776!!!!

 

Why is it that some Brits cannot express their dismay with Princess without making nasty comments about the United States of America? Still angry about the Boston Tea Party? Or, does the War of 1812 still have you down? I don't get your totally irrational statements as to WHO was subsidising WHO previous to 1776! Read a proper history book before making such ridiculous statements!

[MV21]

Why is it that some Brits cannot express their dismay with Princess without making nasty comments about the United States of America? Still angry about the Boston Tea Party? Or, does the War of 1812 still have you down? I don't get your totally irrational statements as to WHO was subsidising WHO previous to 1776! Read a proper history book before making such ridiculous statements!

 

This is the problem with text based discussions and therefore the internet per se. It all depends on how one receives the communication. I suggest an experiment is in order:

Say the comment about subsidising colonials in the previous post in a gruff voice! Lo and behold it apears rude and nasty. Now say it again but with a smile in your voice - this time it is a piece of harmless banter.

A lot of the disagreements on this board are because we can't hear the tone of voice being used.

I always try and here the comments as though they are being spoken over a glass of wine before dinner on a Princess ship. It helps me to smile and give the person the benefit of the doubt.

 

On the other hand there are times when people are just damn rude... (mostly Americans!!!) (JOKE!!!)