Complaint Review: Princess Cruises - Nationwide

Signed up for several Princess tours on a cruise of the Baltic sea (Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Russia, Germany).  The first tour in Norway was good, although it was a long bus ride and there seemed to be a lot of time left for shopping - not really what I like to pay for.  The second tour, of Sweden, sounded like a boat tour.  I was really surpised when the entire tour consisted of a bus ride.  Again, pricey for what I got.  I talked to several other passengers and they all thought it was going to be a boat tour as well.

Third tour, in Estonia, I entered the bus and there were cards on each seat with a number to call in case you got separated from the tour. It was clearly a sign. At the first stop, the guide gave us ten minutes to tour an amazing church with a myriad of stained glass windows.  A passenger asked if we could have a little more time and she replied, "You want four minutes, OK".  When the ten minutes were up we had to find her on the street where we promptly walked off to a little area with a view and then proceeded to 'shop' for 45 minutes while she sat in a cafe and drank her coffee.  Apparently, that was more important than stained glass and mosaic murals.

She never counted, so she didn't know she had left a Chinese couple behind in the church (nor did she care).  We got back to the bus and there they were.  

We proceeded to a small palace and at the end of her tour she gave us ten minutes to tour the upstairs where there were some phenomenal sculptures.  Most of the older passengers headed outside where there wasn't any seating.  I took lots of pictures, had trouble finding the exit, and went to the appointed place.  I was three minutes late (as evidenced by the time stamp on my photos).

The group was nowhere in sight.  I tried to find the bus on my own that was parked some distance, got a little lost, but when I found it they were no longer there.  I tried calling the number but there was no answer (middle of the day) or my phone didn't work - foreign country - although I did have an international plan.  I WAS LEFT BEHIND.  

I walked several miles through an industrial area to get back to the ship.  Fortunately, I hadn't left anything on the bus.

Keep in mind, this is a foreign country (Estonia) where most of the people do not speak English, I can't read road signs, and if it hadn't been for the girl at the museum who provided me with a map and an explanation, I wouldn't have made it back before the ship left.  The walk was much further than it looked due to construction and water.

I might have been able to pay $20.00 for a taxi (according to the card the tour gave me), assuming my phone would have worked to reach them, but I didn't have local currency or Euros with me and not sure they took dollars.  Clearly, this tour left people behind frequently.

Apparently, if you take a Princess tour, the ship won't leave if the tour doesn't get back (their big selling point), but the tour will happily leave you.  Two days later, a Princess tour left a family behind in Berlin (a very expensive 60-mile taxi ride).

After that, I used a private tour company for two private tours - one in Germany and a two-day tour of St. Petersburg (SPB). They were fabulous!  They were less expensive!  They counted the people and didn't sit down while you went off to do whatever (although they did provide time to get some souvenirs). They didn't leave anyone behind!  

The worst was, when I complained (via a paper form), Princess had someone call my stateroom, and leave a message on the answering machine, that basically said they spoke to the tour guide and I was clearly lying, the tour guide had waited ten minutes for me, and there was a number I could have called.  No 'call me if you wish to discuss this further'. No apologies. No "we'll make sure this doesn't happen to someone else."  

I was not asking for my money back; I just kept thinking what if this had been my elderly mother (and I'm no spring chicken).  I was with a tour because I am a 60-year old woman touring alone!  To be left alone in a foreign country is a really indescribable scary feeling.  You don't even know where to start.

To be treated less than courteously made it worse.  As a result, I will never take a Princess cruise again.  It isn't the line it once was and Customer Service doesn't exist (I feel the same way about Carnival who owns Princess).  It makes me truly reticent to take a Holland America cruise again (also owned by Carnival).