Did anyone have a problem getting to ship?

[maillady73]

I had a problem getting to a ship on time. Just wondering if anyone else has had the same/similiar problem and what had been done for them. I booked using an online service. Alaska cruise, monday to monday. I also used cruise line airfare. Planes were delayed due to mechanical problems. It was supposed to be 1 day and 2 planes. Leave phila. 11:30 am and arrive 5:00 pm in Anchorage. We arrived Tuesday, 7:30 pm. Couldn't get to ship until Thursday (first port) missed the glaciers and whales. (which is why we booked this particular ship) We wanted to cancel when we first knew we wouldn't make the boat. We were not going to get any money or credits (or so they told us).

[Toto2Kansas]

Princess is not in the flight business, but they will book your flights for you if you pay their going rate. They will assist you in 'catching up' to the ship if you miss it, but it is not their fault that your planes had mechanical problems as the planes do not belong to Princess Cruises.

If you read your cruise contract, it will explain to you that they are not responsible to refund any of your cruise if you miss the ship, even if you booked your flights through Princess.

Many people think that since they booked their flights through the cruise line that they will be reimbursed for any lost time on the ship if they should miss it. It just isn't true. Princess will help you 'catch up' at the next port and make these arrangements for you, but not much else.

Now, if you had trip insurance, you might follow that route and see if they will do anything for you.

 

Sorry you weren't able to arrive on time because of the delayed flights, but there just isn't much you are going to be able to do about this one, sorry.

[Pam in CA]

Princess will assist you in getting to the ship if it's at all possible. If you've missed days or want to cancel, you can submit that to your travel insurance.

 

Several years ago, I'd planned to arrive in San Juan the day before the cruise left but weather conditions here in Boston were so bad that I missed the ship. I wound up catching it in Martinique two days later. Even without insurance, my flights, hotel and food were all arranged for by AA since I had Princess air. I don't know if this type of assistance is still available -- after all, cruising is a lot less expensive now -- but that's what happened to me. At no time did I even consider canceling my cruise or not making the effort to get there, which was actually considerable.

[Coral]

Unfortunately this is a hard lesson learned. Most of us who have cruised before know that flying in the day of the cruise (especially to Anchorage) can be problematic and we often book our own flights and fly in a day or two before so that we don't miss the ship. On my first cruise, I flew in the day of the cruise - I did that just ONCE.

 

I hope you are able to make it back to Alaska one day and see what you have missed.

[Cruisin' Chick]

Whenever a newbie asks me for my biggest piece of advice for taking a cruise, I suggest a short cruise for the first one, and always try to fly in the day before. For our Alaskan cruise that started on a Sunday out of Seattle, we decided to take a train up the West Coast (our daughter had never been on a train). We wanted to get there at least a day ahead. And Amtrak is traditionally about four hours behind. So we left on a Thursday and got in just before midnight Friday night. Gave us a whole day to decompress and check out Seattle. And if there was a mechanical problem with the train (a few days later there was a fire in a tunnel that messed up passengers then), we would still have time to get into Seattle.

[dforeigner]

Would this be covered by travel insurance under the trip interruption clause?

[English Tim]

I am the type of person that likes to have stress free holidays, so when flying or cruising, unless travelling from a local departure point, I always book a hotel for the night before travelling. I realise this adds to the cost, although not very much, but it gives me peace of mind.

 

That said, I'm sorry you had this wretched start to your vacation.

[kryos]

I had a problem getting to a ship on time.

Travel insurance should cover you for "trip interruption" expenses ... i.e., missed cruise time, extra expenses incurred trying to get to the ship, etc.

 

Also, have you talked to Princess? Sometimes when you use the cruise line's air program, they will reimburse you if you lose some days of your cruise as a result of the flights they booked you on.

 

I would try these two sources in order to get reimbursed. If all else fails, you can try the airline. Even if they merely offer you some free future flight vouchers, it will at least be something.

 

Blue skies ...

 

--rita

[Globaliser]

Planes were delayed due to mechanical problems. It was supposed to be 1 day and 2 planes. Leave phila. 11:30 am and arrive 5:00 pm in Anchorage. We arrived Tuesday, 7:30 pm.

Unfortunately, this will sometimes happen when you're travelling. It's part of life. If you can persuade Princess to do something extra for you, that's great. But they have probably done all that they're obliged to do to help you catch up with the ship.

 

If you want to reduce the risk of it happening in the future, it'll cost you in the form of extra time (going early) and extra money (more hotel nights). There's always a trade-off, risk versus reward. But even then, nothing is ever guaranteed when you travel.

[geoherb]

... it'll cost you in the form of extra time (going early) and extra money (more hotel nights).

A lot of times we've been able to save money on airfare by arranging our own air travel. For instance, when we flew back after one cruise, it was more than $100 pp cheaper to fly back the day after the cruise ended. It was more than enough to pay for our hotel and meals.

[TexasMom2]

Good advice, don't use cruiseline air and go 1-2 days early. We're ditching Princess air to Tahiti because there's no advantage, not even price.