Anyone else had their new year plans ruined by Princess?

[AmoMondo]

My cousin and i were booked on a 2 week New Year cruise in Southern Caribbean on the Caribbean princess. I've cruised may times but this was to be my cousin's first. we were so looking forward to escaping the dreadful Scottish weather. Imagine our disappointment when our TA told us today that princess have decided to put the ship into dry dock at this time and are cancelling our cruise. Just can't believe they'd decide to put a ship in to dry dock at what must be one of the busiest times of year and after they've been selling cruises for months for it! Still waiting to hear what alternatives they can come up with but my TA says there won't be a lot of choice as most cruises at that time of year are already booked up! Very unhappy now

[Druke I]

Caribbean Princess and her sisters are very large ships - and few drydocks can accomodate them.

 

Sometimes a drydock "frees up", and Princess takes advantage of it.

 

Annoying of course, but **** happens.

[Carolyn R]

Just alter your schedule a little, I am booked for a b2b Jan 25 and Feb 2, the first two sailings after the dry dock. Book it fast as the prices have been going up daily due to the spanking new ship.

[Colo Cruiser]

My cousin and i were booked on a 2 week New Year cruise in Southern Caribbean on the Caribbean princess. I've cruised may times but this was to be my cousin's first. we were so looking forward to escaping the dreadful Scottish weather. Imagine our disappointment when our TA told us today that princess have decided to put the ship into dry dock at this time and are cancelling our cruise. Just can't believe they'd decide to put a ship in to dry dock at what must be one of the busiest times of year and after they've been selling cruises for months for it! Still waiting to hear what alternatives they can come up with but my TA says there won't be a lot of choice as most cruises at that time of year are already booked up! Very unhappy now

 

The dry dock was scheduled for April of this year but that was canceled and the time was filled with 3/4 day cruises.

Unfortunately you can't please everyone and as stated above Princess has to move when an opening arises. :)

[Cruise Junky]

Not much you can do about it. But, they didn't actually cancel the new years cruise did they? I thought they cancelled the one after new years so you could still go for one week or go a week earlier and go for Christmas and New Year. From Miami there's lots of caribbean islands or Mexico that you could get to easily for the second week.

[Coral]

They cancelled the 7 night sailing after New Years though some booked a 14 night cruise which includes the New Years and the week after. It sounds like the OP booked a 14 night cruise.

[Oh2Travel]

With nearly 8 months to go, I'm confident that you can find an alternate cruise to take. Do some research-you may be pleasantly surprised.

[caribill]

Just alter your schedule a little, I am booked for a b2b Jan 25 and Feb 2, the first two sailings after the dry dock. Book it fast as the prices have been going up daily due to the spanking new ship.

 

I would expect Princess to transfer the reservation to an alternate cruise (same itinerary) at no change in price.

[drakes2]

We were booked on a B2B Jan 11 and 18 and have now switched to the 25th and Feb. 1st sailing. No, Princess will not guarantee pricing as they have compensated with OBC's for each week. The second week was only an extra $50 but I was very lucky to get an excellent price on airfare so came out ahead after all.

I would expect Princess to transfer the reservation to an alternate cruise (same itinerary) at no change in price.

[Scubachick84]

I was booked on the Jan 4 and 11th B2B. I am now rebooked for Jan 25th and Feb 1st. Seems like it's a toss up as to what Princess will give you as compensation. We each received a $100 OBC and got the price held over for the new booking. I think it's awful it took them this long to contact you though, we heard weeks ago.

[Colo Cruiser]

Who sets the level of Cruise Critic Pettiness??? :cool:

 

That is what the board is for. :)

[jaynak]

Sorry that Princess personally picked on you to ruin your New Year cruise. :rolleyes:

Stuff Happens. :eek:

 

CHASETF: I certainly hope that if you ever book a cruise a year ahead of time and have it cancelled 'on you' you will be as gracious as you are expecting the OP to be.

 

COLOCRUISERS comments may be 100% correct but that doesn't remove the hurt of having something you are deeply anticipating cancelled. In our case we book OVER a year ahead because of our work/school schedules, then we book air and hotel to correspond. If our cruise was cancelled we would also be devastated. I just don't see the point of being so mean spirited and rushing to defend Princess as many have done in this thread. Perhaps if Princess came up with an alternative and re-arranged flights and hotels for inconvenienced passenger it might help - however they seem to just drop the cancel-bomb in many cases.

 

It wouldn't matter to me if Princess cancelled my cruise 1 year or 6 months or 3 months ahead, I would still have a whole of other plans resting on it that would now be ruined. I realize the cruise lines have 'no obligation' to fulfill their 'contract' with me so I just book and hold my breath every time.

 

Good Luck with new plans to the OP and better luck next time.... Jayna K

[happy cruzer]

I too would be very disappointed. Hopefully your TA will be more helpful and come up with some ideas of what Princess can offer as a replacement. I would start looking at the calendar and where the different Princess ships are myself and come up with some ideas that might work for me. Princess should offer come compensation but this far out it may not be major. I would ask for the same pricing on another holiday sailing, an OBC or maybe a cabin upgrade. Good Luck and please let us know how they treat you.

[Host Caroline]

Well there's not much left here after all the rude snipey comments, is there? :confused: :rolleyes:

Personally I'd be very disappointed if a holiday cruise was cancelled on me even though I would def. rebook on another ship if possible. I'm sure the OP traveling as far as they were etc. is even more inconvenienced than some of us who don't live that far from ports we can more easily drive/fly to.

So let's play nice or.....

[DrivesLikeMario]

I do hope you, and your TA, are working quickly to re-book something else during that same time frame. Although I can totally understand your disappointment, look at it this way - it may be an opportunity to go on another cruise line or a different Princess ship that you haven't tried yet or visit islands you haven't seen.

 

Good luck with it & hopefully, you'll still be able to escape that cold winter you have in Edinburgh.

[kkpcruiser]

Hi

I have 2 cabins reserved on the January 3, or 4, 2008 CB ( have no clue since it no longer is on MY PRINCESS. Yesterday i was searching something randomly and saw the January date for the CB drydock.

 

My travel agent who booked this, has since left her fulltime posiiton to take a better job but is handling all her customers on part time basis ( which i can now see won't work). I emailed her this weekend and she said she will go in tommorow to check on it and knew nothing about it.

 

What ticks me off is that i have an email address registered with My Princess and i have heard nothing of this cancellation through that venue.

 

I signed in and it shows no cruises booked and no messages. Really bad communication on the part of Princess. I am wondering how you were notified of the cancelled cruise.

 

Not a happy camper right now since this news was announced over a month ago.

 

I would appreciate any info on how this was handled for others

Thanks

Karen

[Toto2Kansas]

Hi

 

What ticks me off is that i have an email address registered with My Princess and i have heard nothing of this cancellation through that venue.

Karen

 

So sorry you just found out about this. :(

 

Keep in mind though, that if you booked through a travel agent, it is up to them to contact and communicate with you, Princess will not discuss your booking or any part of it with you if you didn't book direct. It was not up to them to email you of this cancellation, but up to your travel agent to pass the information along to their clients.

Shame on your travel agent for not knowing about this and contacting you immediately. She isn't paying too close attention it seems.

[cactusrose]

So sorry you just found out about this. :(

 

Keep in mind though, that if you booked through a travel agent, it is up to them to contact and communicate with you, Princess will not discuss your booking or any part of it with you if you didn't book direct. It was not up to them to email you of this cancellation, but up to your travel agent to pass the information along to their clients.

Shame on your travel agent for not knowing about this and contacting you immediately. She isn't paying too close attention it seems.

 

Toto, It's not necessarily the fault of the TA. I've had two cruises canceled and my TA was not informed. I actually found out on cruise critic before she knew about the cancellation. It was more than a month until Princess sent out information to the TAs. Princess isn't always the quickest to disseminate information.

 

To the OP. I'm so sorry this has happened to you. From personal experience, I know how disappointed you must be. I hope it works out for you and you can find a replacement so that your holidays aren't ruined

[kkpcruiser]

Toto and cactus:

Thanks for the support. I will be intersted in what the TA has to say come tomorrow. I do understand that if the booking is made through the TA, Princess won't communicate with me. Not sure i agree with that policy but that is one reason i just didn't call Princess today to find out what happened.

 

The BIG problem is that i booked the Grand suite as a surprise for my husband for our 30th anniversary. Needless to say that is one cabin type per ship per cruise so the liklihood of finding one open anytime around this is non-existant. I booked this the week bookings opened for Jan 2009.

 

In addition, not being notified almost one and one-half months after the announcement while others have been notified, leaves even less of a possibility of rebooking in a suite type accomodation as others who have been notified i am sure have acted quickly to rebook based on availability.

[cactusrose]

kkpcruiser, loosing the Grand Suite and ruining your anniversary plans is like adding salt to the wound. I truly feel for you and understand your frustration.

[Toto2Kansas]

The BIG problem is that i booked the Grand suite as a surprise for my husband for our 30th anniversary. Needless to say that is one cabin type per ship per cruise so the liklihood of finding one open anytime around this is non-existant. I booked this the week bookings opened for Jan 2009.

 

In addition, not being notified almost one and one-half months after the announcement while others have been notified, leaves even less of a possibility of rebooking in a suite type accomodation as others who have been notified i am sure have acted quickly to rebook based on availability.

 

OH NO, that makes it even worse than just a cancelled cruise (and I didn't think it could get any worse than that), I am so sorry to hear this. After all that planning...........................I am so sorry. :(

[Pam in CA]

Unfortunately, these things happen. :( I've had it happen to me and my cruise was cancelled 10 days before cruising for the Christmas holidays. I had my hotel, my air -- everything was all set. It was supposed to be the Coral Princess' first 10-day Panama Canal cruise and the ship was delivered late to Princess. I heard about it first on the CC boards and even my TA didn't know about it. Obviously, final payment had been made months before but Princess refunded my money to my credit card within 3 days. I booked a 7-day Caribbean cruise on Explorer of the Seas and had to cancel my flights and book completely new ones for almost $1K/pp since all flights from Boston to FL were sold out at pretty much any price. The 7-day cruise was a lot less money than the Coral so it all added up to about the same amount. We had a wonderful time.

 

So, I understand and sympathize with your disappointment but there are other cruises out there and when it comes down to it, the people you are with are more important than what ship you're on.

[green.herbs]

Its kinda sad that princess is doing this... This happened to us in 2007 when we were booked on the Carnival Miracle, so we went with Princess instead!

[Pam in CA]

Its kinda sad that princess is doing this... This happened to us in 2007 when we were booked on the Carnival Miracle, so we went with Princess instead!

You are right... it is sad. But then there were a lot of disappointed people who expected to cruise on the CB this Spring after dry dock and were looking forward to the renovations. You can probably do a search to see the moaning and groaning. Princess is planning to make substantial updates to the CB and the number of dry dock facilities with available dates and within cruising distance are limited.

 

I should think people would be happy that Princess is making these updates -- they've been whining for them for months.