- Report: #1381951
Complaint Review: Princess Cruise Lines - Nationwide
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Author Confirmed
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Princess Cruise Lines
Nationwide, USA
Phone:
1-800-774-6237
Web:
www.Princess.com
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Princess Cruise Lines Rude staff who are ignorant of the product they are paid to sell Santa Clarita California
We are 20 time cruisers. Two years ago we decided to try Princess on a 28 day Hawaii, South Pacific cruise. It was wonderful. Since we had always wanted to go to Alaska, based on the great trip we had had to the Pacific, we booked a mini-suite with Princess for a 14 day land/sea trip. Since it was a dream cruise for us, we booked and planned for a year and a half. We were so excited. Then a few days before the departure we were offered an upsell to "Club Class". We were told that we would receive essentially the same perks as Suites receive. We were to dine in a separate area. We were to have expedited boarding and debarkation. We were to have a nicer mini-suite than those in the remainder of the ship. And we were to have an upgraded bed. I told the lady that all of that sounded good, but that since it was an Alaska cruise, and rain was likely, what was more important than all of that was that I wanted a covered balcony. I had read that that one was not covered. She said, "Sir, I have been on that ship and I assure you that it will be a covered balcony." So I took the upsell. So that was the plan.
Now for the reality. When we got on board we did not know exactly how the "Club Class" thing worked so we stopped by guest relations to ask. He did not know either so he dug out a brochure and read me the same thing that the corporate lady read me when she sold me the upsell. I asked about how the dining worked. He said that our card showed "Club Class", which it did, and that we should just go to the dining room listed on the card and we would be taken care of. We left the desk and went to our cabin, and what did we find? A balcony with no cover whatsoever. The deck above us had a half cover. The deck above that had a full cover. But the thing that was of supreme importance on a rainy Alaska cruise was missing. We were assured we would have a covered balcony and we did not. And not only that, but the room was atrocious. The carpet was soiled. There was grout missing out of the walls and floor in the bathroom. The balcony was rusted and dirty...and no wonder since it did not have a cover. We were totally bummed out. OK, so now we do what we were told at the desk to do for dinner. We went according to directions and were seated at a regular table with 8 other people who knew each other. We were the only strangers. And it was nothing to do with Club Class. But since we had done what we were told, and since that was what was on our cards, we didn't pursue it further.
We just assumed that they had booked us incorrectly because we didn't have the balcony promised. We didn't have the dining arrangement that was promised. We just assumed it was a mix up and Princess would take care of it when we got back. The only thing that was according to what was promised was that we did get a nicer bed. But the upsell was anything but an upgrade. It was a downgrade. No covered balcony, no upgraded dining experience and the nastiest room that we have stayed in on our 20 cruises. So, now, we come home and contact Princess about all of this. We assume they will see that a mistake was made and at least refund the upsell price since we got none of the benefits. But did they do that? No.Not even close.
Scott, from corporate Princess, had the audacity to call and argue with me that my balcony was covered. When I reminded him that I had just spent a week in the cabin and he hadn't, he as much as called me a liar. And right up until I had had enough and hung up, he persisted in his assertion that the balcony is covered. There is a website that you can go to that tells what is covered and what is not. cruisedeckplans.com/Princess/odell/res76zxu/princessbalconies/id4.html If you go there you will find that D511 does not have a covered balcony. I had read it before I bought the upsell, but when the lady said the list was wrong and that she personally knew that it was covered, I took her word for it since she represented the company, and the other site was just a man who made a list. Thing is, he was right and she was wrong. He was right, and Scott was wrong. And Scott was not only wrong, but rude, and as I said, as much as called me a liar who was just trying to get more out of them. His offer, to "make things right" was to refund a grand total of $99. I told him that he was not going to purchase a clear conscience for Princess for $99. I told him to keep his money. I had had enough of his rudeness and I finally just hung up.
So, am I writing this out of anger? Possibly, to some extent. But it is anger over how I was treated. The review is not tainted. The event is exactly as I described it. Princess took our money with an assurance that we would get a covered balcony and other perks which we never received. I learned after we got home that we needed to go to the Anytime dining room for the Club dining. But we missed out on that because of more false information given to us by a Princess representative who should have known. So, to conclude. Did we have a bad trip. Well, we loved Alaska and cruising through the passage. The land portion was beyond amazing. But we were totally ripped off by Princess on the cruise portion. And to top it off we were then treated rudely by Corporate Princess, and pretty much accused of lying in order to get more out of them. I didn't need to get more out of them. I don't mean this to sound the way it will sound, but I don't know how else to say it. I am a doctor. The money was never the issue. Principle was the issue. We were sold something with false assurances and it diminished the quality of our cruise and then we were made out to be the bad guys. We will continue to cruise, but never again on Princess.
