- Report: #242302
Complaint Review: Princess Cruises - Santa Clarita California
-
Author Confirmed
Why?
Princess Cruises
24305 Town Center Drive Santa Clarita, 91355 California, U.S.A.
Phone:
661-753-0000
Web:
N/A
Categories:
Business Rating:
(0)
Tell us has your experience with this business or person been good?
Buyer Beware! Princess Cruises Spells RIP OFF And MOST DANGEROUS!! Santa Clarita, California
*Author of original report: One More Time........
*Consumer Comment: Ports
*Consumer Comment: Ports
*Consumer Comment: Ports
*Consumer Comment: Ports
*Consumer Comment: Oooook....
*Consumer Suggestion: Be Responsible for Your Vacation!
*Author of original report: Thanks Jennifer
*Author of original report: What's your point, ELAINE FROM IDAHO??
*Consumer Comment: silly question
W. R.
Age: 47
Occupation: Self Employed
Number of Cruises: 4
Sailing Date: January 26th, 2007
Buyer Beware! It is with great dismay I write to you about our horrendous Hawaiian Hell cruise aboard the Island Princess on 1/262/10/2007. It began with impossible and very over priced air arrangements through them (copy of complaint letter enclosed) and ended with the worst cruise ever. The cruise included more price gauging of passengers while at sea.
Where do I begin? I'm still numb from the experience. We boarded what was to be a dream vacation of a lifetime along with my parents, John (78) and Susan (76). The first week at sea was nothing other than treacherous. We were deliberately and purposefully taken into the eye of a storm.
I believe the captain of the ship to be incompetent as the crew had nothing good to say about him and he was the main subject of the comedians that entertained us nightly as most of our other entertainment had been cancelled due to illness since the ship was quarantined due to the noro-virus that the Captain announced we had deliberately brought on board and spread amongst ourselves only to learn that most of the crew was ill and had been ill prior to us boarding just as when we disembarked quarantined crew members were still onboard, yes, and in time giving it to the newly boarded passengers that departed on 2/10/07! This is a public health and safety risk!
The first week I spent in our cabin vomiting from seasickness as there were over 90 mile and hour winds and waves that rocked the ship for 72 hours straight without stopping. People were vomiting in the halls, being quarantined and most of the 70+ year old crowd became extremely ill. One woman suffered a heart attack and the coast guard took her off in Honolulu.
After our Captain cancelled our first port and also after learning via crew members that Princess was fully aware of this tsunami-like storm prior to our voyage I went to the Passenger Services Desk trying to get the name and number of the person in charge so we could obtain information, details, communication about what was going on. Their clerks would not give me any information.
It took me 3 days to receive the email for their passenger services dept., after submitting 2 letter's into the US mail bin requesting information and lodging complaints their standard form letter came back with the email and address information on it. All we were told by passenger services at the time was that their Los Angeles Office was working on trying to salvage this voyage by either offering an overnight Honolulu or increasing our stay in Ensenada. Apparently they were fully aware of the severity of the damage done to passengers vacations, they were working on it!.
NOTHING was done by their LA office or anyone for that matter, in fact the gal that told me this did so in a huffy, angry manner and adding that this is what we contractually agreed to when taking a Princess Cruise. The passenger services desk needed a major overhaul in my opinion.
Other crew members tried to keep smiles on their faces and be as attentive as humanly possible in spite of working around the clock and ready to keel over from exhaustion. They did their best under dire circumstances; our beef is with upper management, the decision makers. The ones who chose to do NOTHING and jeopardized our safety, health and well being by deliberately driving us directly into harms way.
We understand about mother nature but I am here to tell you that we had the same crew that was on the previous voyage and they told us that the conditions were worse coming back to LAX to pick us up! What is this saying? It's saying that Princess Cruise Lines knowingly, deliberately and purposefully put all of our lives at risk when allowing voyage 2703 to depart on 1/26/07 knowing full well there were Tsunami-like conditions at sea.
They didn't once offer change of dates, refunds, and offer warnings of rough seas or storms once in Hawaii. Heck, they didn't even refund the dock fee's we paid for the cancelled islands we never docked in! With technology what it is today nobody will convince me that this could not have been avoided. Most of the crew didn't have a day off the ship in a month! This is inhumane to say the least.
My point being, where was PLAN B??? Why did they never try to re-route us and pick up the cancelled islands? Why not go around the storm. They certainly had the time to figure out a plan as at this point they were aware of it for 6 days prior to us boarding the ship and 10 days prior to us reaching our first Island! The captain instead of docking in HNL and paying a dock fee opted to shove 2,000 passengers dream vacations where it did not belong instead.
We were at sea for 7 days and nights waving to the islands from the ship instead of disembarking. While at sea this extended period of time what does the incompetent captain order? He orders that the stakes in the Casino be doubled! Talk about price gauging passengers who had just lost 2 islands of their vacations, did he offer any comps or do anything for us? NO, he doubled the stakes in the Casino?
Princess has been a complete and utter rip-off beginning with the air arrangements which came to $557 p/p. This would cover air travel to Europe not to LAX from DFW!!! He cancelled Maui and Kaui the 2 most Beautiful Islands. He could have gone around the storm at this point and docked in Kona or HNL and re-routed us picking up the lost Islands but he chose to DO NOTHING except ruin everyone's vacations and create unnecessary illness. The crew was already ill prior to our boarding just as they were when we disembarked and the NEW VICTIMS boarded!
The crew became so ill that our Anytime dining became RESERVATION only with waits up to 2 hours on some evenings. Our entertainment was often cancelled and we had the same comedian most nights his gig was to trash the cruise line, Captain and he came out with his face masked and rubber gloves on, emphasizing the degree of illness onboard and pointing out the incompetence of the Captain and main decision maker.
We were unable to use the swimming pools or Jacuzzi's due to the water splashing out of them and many days unable to go on deck all together due to the yellow emergency taped entrances/exits the same you would see in a crime scene indicating it was unsafe to go on deck. It was a nightmare.
There were close to 200 passengers and crew with the virus at all times. Always newly reported cases were sprouting up every day according to letters we would receive from the medical staff, announcements and crew members that confided in us. The virus last's approx 3 days and every 3 days there would be another 150-200 reported cases making all cases over a 15nt duration close to 1,000!
The casino was closed intermittently due to illness, long lines for food, the crew had to serve our food to us even in the buffet lines at one point my 78 year old father had some bad eggs as they were cold in the middle, he felt ill, thought he had salmonella went to the medical department and was quarantined as a preventative measure so to top off all the rest of it he was confined to his cabin for the last 3 nights of the cruise when he had no fever just an upset stomach from undercooked, runny eggs.
They would not acknowledge food poisoning even when the dining room came down with it one evening according to several passengers. Everyone that ate the seafood pasta had food poisoning but the ship quarantined them and said they had the virus instead!
I wrote 2 letters and 1 email while onboard to their passenger services dept., and so far received the pat response, ALL DECISIONS WERE BASED ON SAFETY and DUE TO THE STORM WHICH WE HAD NO CONTROL OVER. I'm sure all weather reports for that time period and as much as 10 days prior to our launching will back my claims as the crew members were ill, frustrated, embarrassed by their captain evidenced by them rolling their eyes when he would try to make an announcement with his limited English skills. Communication was pretty much nonexistent. One crew member confided that this Captain was a temporary one.
I request that you do a full investigation on behalf of all the passengers of this ship especially the seniors and handicapped passengers those who cannot fight for themselves. I wonder now how many of them never made it off the ship. How many deaths incurred unnecessarily only to increase the Carnival Corporations bottom line? SHAME on them for jeopardizing so many innocent lives.
Princess Cruises never compensated us for ruining our voyage nor will they admit to any wrong doing, they have not even refunded the dock fee's that we paid for on the Islands we missed. The travel agent on the other hand has apologized and offered us a 5% discount on our next cruise which I can assure you will not be anytime soon if ever. Not unless Princess steps up to the plate and rectifies this wrong. Which should include disciplining this captain, their chief decision maker at sea.
They are supposed to be the professionals. This is their business and to take so many people out knowingly and jeopardize their health and well being deliberately simply to line their pockets is an outrage and won't go unchallenged.
My claim is for trip interruption on the air tickets along with the first 7 days of our trip and 2 missed ports. The second week we were gravely inconvenienced due to so much illness of the crew. Entertainment cancelled, long waits for food, always worrying about catching the dreaded virus, All the people around us ill sneezing and coughing. In our opinion, this trip should be refunded. We won't get our vacation time back and most likely won't get back to Hawaii.SHAME ON PRINCESS CRUISES. 75% of our cruise was ruined by their negligence and poor decision making.
Again, they knowingly and deliberately took us out into the eye of a storm, this storm didn't just happen and they did NOTHING to work around it or salvage it. It was business as usual for the Carnival Corporation. There are people getting sick as sea as I type this to you because as we disembarked on 2/10/07 they had numerous quarantined crew members onboard.
I wonder if their Captain is now on his microphone blaming the new passengers/victims for deliberately bringing the virus on board and circulating it amongst themselves as he did with us when he knew full well that the virus was already onboard to begin with and has been for quite some time!
What an outrage. We only had Lobster 1 night out of 15 and we had to wait in line for 2 hours! Some, "Anytime Dining!" We hope you will help us.
TRAVEL AT YOUR OWN RISK!!
**To Date, Princess has done NOTHING to compensate the passengers of voyage 2703 for this most dangerous nightmare and stick by their "BAD WEATHER" loop hole**they continuously SKIRT the REAL ISSUE that they Knowingly put all of the passengers in Harms way and never re routed nor intend to re route in the future should there be a typhoon or tsunami their protocol is to CONTINUE AS PLANNED, never devising from the schedule NO MATTER HOW DANGEROUS or TREACHEROUS THE SEA's may be!!!*
W. R.
Fort Worth, Texas
U.S.A.
Age: 47
Occupation: Self Employed
Number of Cruises: 4
Sailing Date: January 26th, 2007
Buyer Beware! It is with great dismay I write to you about our horrendous Hawaiian Hell cruise aboard the Island Princess on 1/262/10/2007. It began with impossible and very over priced air arrangements through them (copy of complaint letter enclosed) and ended with the worst cruise ever. The cruise included more price gauging of passengers while at sea.
Where do I begin? I'm still numb from the experience. We boarded what was to be a dream vacation of a lifetime along with my parents, John (78) and Susan (76). The first week at sea was nothing other than treacherous. We were deliberately and purposefully taken into the eye of a storm.
I believe the captain of the ship to be incompetent as the crew had nothing good to say about him and he was the main subject of the comedians that entertained us nightly as most of our other entertainment had been cancelled due to illness since the ship was quarantined due to the noro-virus that the Captain announced we had deliberately brought on board and spread amongst ourselves only to learn that most of the crew was ill and had been ill prior to us boarding just as when we disembarked quarantined crew members were still onboard, yes, and in time giving it to the newly boarded passengers that departed on 2/10/07! This is a public health and safety risk!
The first week I spent in our cabin vomiting from seasickness as there were over 90 mile and hour winds and waves that rocked the ship for 72 hours straight without stopping. People were vomiting in the halls, being quarantined and most of the 70+ year old crowd became extremely ill. One woman suffered a heart attack and the coast guard took her off in Honolulu.
After our Captain cancelled our first port and also after learning via crew members that Princess was fully aware of this tsunami-like storm prior to our voyage I went to the Passenger Services Desk trying to get the name and number of the person in charge so we could obtain information, details, communication about what was going on. Their clerks would not give me any information.
It took me 3 days to receive the email for their passenger services dept., after submitting 2 letter's into the US mail bin requesting information and lodging complaints their standard form letter came back with the email and address information on it. All we were told by passenger services at the time was that their Los Angeles Office was working on trying to salvage this voyage by either offering an overnight Honolulu or increasing our stay in Ensenada. Apparently they were fully aware of the severity of the damage done to passengers vacations, they were working on it!.
NOTHING was done by their LA office or anyone for that matter, in fact the gal that told me this did so in a huffy, angry manner and adding that this is what we contractually agreed to when taking a Princess Cruise. The passenger services desk needed a major overhaul in my opinion.
Other crew members tried to keep smiles on their faces and be as attentive as humanly possible in spite of working around the clock and ready to keel over from exhaustion. They did their best under dire circumstances; our beef is with upper management, the decision makers. The ones who chose to do NOTHING and jeopardized our safety, health and well being by deliberately driving us directly into harms way.
We understand about mother nature but I am here to tell you that we had the same crew that was on the previous voyage and they told us that the conditions were worse coming back to LAX to pick us up! What is this saying? It's saying that Princess Cruise Lines knowingly, deliberately and purposefully put all of our lives at risk when allowing voyage 2703 to depart on 1/26/07 knowing full well there were Tsunami-like conditions at sea.
They didn't once offer change of dates, refunds, and offer warnings of rough seas or storms once in Hawaii. Heck, they didn't even refund the dock fee's we paid for the cancelled islands we never docked in! With technology what it is today nobody will convince me that this could not have been avoided. Most of the crew didn't have a day off the ship in a month! This is inhumane to say the least.
My point being, where was PLAN B??? Why did they never try to re-route us and pick up the cancelled islands? Why not go around the storm. They certainly had the time to figure out a plan as at this point they were aware of it for 6 days prior to us boarding the ship and 10 days prior to us reaching our first Island! The captain instead of docking in HNL and paying a dock fee opted to shove 2,000 passengers dream vacations where it did not belong instead.
We were at sea for 7 days and nights waving to the islands from the ship instead of disembarking. While at sea this extended period of time what does the incompetent captain order? He orders that the stakes in the Casino be doubled! Talk about price gauging passengers who had just lost 2 islands of their vacations, did he offer any comps or do anything for us? NO, he doubled the stakes in the Casino?
Princess has been a complete and utter rip-off beginning with the air arrangements which came to $557 p/p. This would cover air travel to Europe not to LAX from DFW!!! He cancelled Maui and Kaui the 2 most Beautiful Islands. He could have gone around the storm at this point and docked in Kona or HNL and re-routed us picking up the lost Islands but he chose to DO NOTHING except ruin everyone's vacations and create unnecessary illness. The crew was already ill prior to our boarding just as they were when we disembarked and the NEW VICTIMS boarded!
The crew became so ill that our Anytime dining became RESERVATION only with waits up to 2 hours on some evenings. Our entertainment was often cancelled and we had the same comedian most nights his gig was to trash the cruise line, Captain and he came out with his face masked and rubber gloves on, emphasizing the degree of illness onboard and pointing out the incompetence of the Captain and main decision maker.
We were unable to use the swimming pools or Jacuzzi's due to the water splashing out of them and many days unable to go on deck all together due to the yellow emergency taped entrances/exits the same you would see in a crime scene indicating it was unsafe to go on deck. It was a nightmare.
There were close to 200 passengers and crew with the virus at all times. Always newly reported cases were sprouting up every day according to letters we would receive from the medical staff, announcements and crew members that confided in us. The virus last's approx 3 days and every 3 days there would be another 150-200 reported cases making all cases over a 15nt duration close to 1,000!
The casino was closed intermittently due to illness, long lines for food, the crew had to serve our food to us even in the buffet lines at one point my 78 year old father had some bad eggs as they were cold in the middle, he felt ill, thought he had salmonella went to the medical department and was quarantined as a preventative measure so to top off all the rest of it he was confined to his cabin for the last 3 nights of the cruise when he had no fever just an upset stomach from undercooked, runny eggs.
They would not acknowledge food poisoning even when the dining room came down with it one evening according to several passengers. Everyone that ate the seafood pasta had food poisoning but the ship quarantined them and said they had the virus instead!
I wrote 2 letters and 1 email while onboard to their passenger services dept., and so far received the pat response, ALL DECISIONS WERE BASED ON SAFETY and DUE TO THE STORM WHICH WE HAD NO CONTROL OVER. I'm sure all weather reports for that time period and as much as 10 days prior to our launching will back my claims as the crew members were ill, frustrated, embarrassed by their captain evidenced by them rolling their eyes when he would try to make an announcement with his limited English skills. Communication was pretty much nonexistent. One crew member confided that this Captain was a temporary one.
I request that you do a full investigation on behalf of all the passengers of this ship especially the seniors and handicapped passengers those who cannot fight for themselves. I wonder now how many of them never made it off the ship. How many deaths incurred unnecessarily only to increase the Carnival Corporations bottom line? SHAME on them for jeopardizing so many innocent lives.
Princess Cruises never compensated us for ruining our voyage nor will they admit to any wrong doing, they have not even refunded the dock fee's that we paid for on the Islands we missed. The travel agent on the other hand has apologized and offered us a 5% discount on our next cruise which I can assure you will not be anytime soon if ever. Not unless Princess steps up to the plate and rectifies this wrong. Which should include disciplining this captain, their chief decision maker at sea.
They are supposed to be the professionals. This is their business and to take so many people out knowingly and jeopardize their health and well being deliberately simply to line their pockets is an outrage and won't go unchallenged.
My claim is for trip interruption on the air tickets along with the first 7 days of our trip and 2 missed ports. The second week we were gravely inconvenienced due to so much illness of the crew. Entertainment cancelled, long waits for food, always worrying about catching the dreaded virus, All the people around us ill sneezing and coughing. In our opinion, this trip should be refunded. We won't get our vacation time back and most likely won't get back to Hawaii.SHAME ON PRINCESS CRUISES. 75% of our cruise was ruined by their negligence and poor decision making.
Again, they knowingly and deliberately took us out into the eye of a storm, this storm didn't just happen and they did NOTHING to work around it or salvage it. It was business as usual for the Carnival Corporation. There are people getting sick as sea as I type this to you because as we disembarked on 2/10/07 they had numerous quarantined crew members onboard.
I wonder if their Captain is now on his microphone blaming the new passengers/victims for deliberately bringing the virus on board and circulating it amongst themselves as he did with us when he knew full well that the virus was already onboard to begin with and has been for quite some time!
What an outrage. We only had Lobster 1 night out of 15 and we had to wait in line for 2 hours! Some, "Anytime Dining!" We hope you will help us.
TRAVEL AT YOUR OWN RISK!!
**To Date, Princess has done NOTHING to compensate the passengers of voyage 2703 for this most dangerous nightmare and stick by their "BAD WEATHER" loop hole**they continuously SKIRT the REAL ISSUE that they Knowingly put all of the passengers in Harms way and never re routed nor intend to re route in the future should there be a typhoon or tsunami their protocol is to CONTINUE AS PLANNED, never devising from the schedule NO MATTER HOW DANGEROUS or TREACHEROUS THE SEA's may be!!!*
W. R.
Fort Worth, Texas
U.S.A.
10 Updates & Rebuttals
Hard Work
Mesa,Arizona,
U.S.A.
silly question
#2Consumer Comment
Mon, August 04, 2008
If the storm had lasted that long before you got on the ship, why did you get on? I travel frequently and it is very easy to check the current and predicted weather in my destinations.
W. R.
Fort Worth,Texas,
U.S.A.
Thanks Jennifer
#3Author of original report
Fri, April 06, 2007
Jennifer:
We were told by employee's of the line that the captain could have docked in Honolulu and overnighted us there but decided not to. That it would cost the line $50,000 to do so but he opted not to. They make over $50,000 in a weeks worth of Bingo alone and average $300,000 per voyage in casino revenues and this infuriated most of the passengers.
As stated, the crew were not just talking they were singing. I won't name names as why jeopardize their jobs they went through worse hell than we did, of course they weren't paying what the passengers were paying to be there.
To top it off once we were were finally on land and able to speak to the residents of Hawaii they said it was even longer than the 1 week of storms it was 10 days.
My point is they knew way in advance and could have offered options.
They chose to DO NOTHING.
I've been on 4 cruises prior to this one and enjoyed them all immensely with NO COMPLAINTS (ELAINE FROM IDAHO) this was a nightmare and unless you've experienced a cruise gone awry it's really hard for any of your to understand not that I think anyone would even care to walk in our shoes. They literally, were removing passengers via coast guard. One had a heart attack.
This was not just about bad weather. I read 2 reports on cruise bruise that re iterated my claim of under reported numbers but I no longer see it listed there???? don't know why either. I've emailed them to inquire. Sam, what were the names of the sites you checked?? I'd appreciate being able to read other reports. All the people I know that have complained have done so via the line only and we all got the same tough lucky charlie letter's. and some are disputing with their credit card companies.
yes, Jennifer, I know how large and how strong these ships are do you know what it's like to fall from your bed due to the rocking? I'm telling you this was how bad it was. I could not leave the cabin for 4 days. Everytime I stood up my stomach left my body! People were being flown from side to side in the halls and the decks were taped off with yellow crime scene tape. nobody was allowed on deck. the water in the swimming pools and jacuzzis was splashing out. you could not use most of the ammenities.
it was a total disaster. crew were dropping like flies. heck, if I were them I'd say I had NORO just to have a day off! They had been working by the end of this cruise for a month without a day off and putting in 20 hour shifts to compensate for the ill crew.
any h*o it is obvious no matter what I say the die hard cruisers will jeer and jab.
enjoy your cruising.
should this happen to you..
remember these words...
Jennifer if that's the case then why all the lies? why was their passengers services people tellin everyone at the front desk that their LA office was working on it. why did they mention we might overnight in HNL? or spend more time in Ensenada? That this was a high priority in the LA office. then 7 days later. NOTHING!
I mean, this was coming from THEIR PEOPLE! They did absolutely nothing, further more they doubled the stakes in the casino when we couldn't dock. I thought there would be mutiny that day. many of the older gentlemen went through the roof and demanded something be done and eventually it was they lowered them back down. PEOPLE were NOT HAPPY AT ALL. This is their business? They deal in vacations and dreams and they truly failed on this voyage. They can improve greatly.
I'm not whining here I'm alerting the public of what happens when things go wrong. so they can make a more informed decision as where their vacation dollars go and how far to check for weather. you literally need to contact that country for a report, don't rely on the news from home that's for sure.
No, Jennifer, I didn't realize the port fee's were only $25 which would make $100 for our party of 4.
Does it sound accurately reported to you when entire departments were closed on the ship? due to NORO? when lines for dinner were 2.5 hours long?? I think not.
Jennifer
Levittown,New York,
U.S.A.
Ports
#4Consumer Comment
Fri, April 06, 2007
Ports for cruises are booked a long time in advance and when there is bad weather, it is not always possible for a Plan B. Their choice is to cancel the cruise, reroute if possible (meaning change the order of the planned ports) or cruise to an entirely new destination. A new destination is problematic because it is usually a destination not normally used at that time of year.
Once cruise line took a beating because the chose to go to Canada instead of the warmer climate they were supposed to go to.
On foreign flagged ships, like Princess, this is further complicated by the Jones Act which says they must go to at least one foreign port. I was on a cruise last year that was supposed to go to Cape Canaveral, Miami and then the Bahamas. Because of weather, we reversed the ports and went to the Bahamas first.
One final thought, you say you were deliberately taken took you into the eye of a storm. Do you think any cruise line is going to make a decision that is going to put their ship, their employees and their passengers into harm? Do you have any idea how much a ship costs? No, these decisions are not made lightly!
As far as your claim that they under reported the cases of Noro. By law, they must report every case of Noro that they treat. This is the caveat! Many people don't go to the medical center and therefore the case is not reported to the crew and ultimately the CDC. People are afraid they will be quarantined so they try to treat the symptoms themselves and become little Typhoid Marys further spreading the virus. Others think that it's only sea sickness and don't go for treatment.
As far as the port fees go, you do realize they will only be about $25. The actual port fees are minimal. The rest is government fees and taxes.
Jennifer
Levittown,New York,
U.S.A.
Ports
#5Consumer Comment
Fri, April 06, 2007
Ports for cruises are booked a long time in advance and when there is bad weather, it is not always possible for a Plan B. Their choice is to cancel the cruise, reroute if possible (meaning change the order of the planned ports) or cruise to an entirely new destination. A new destination is problematic because it is usually a destination not normally used at that time of year.
Once cruise line took a beating because the chose to go to Canada instead of the warmer climate they were supposed to go to.
On foreign flagged ships, like Princess, this is further complicated by the Jones Act which says they must go to at least one foreign port. I was on a cruise last year that was supposed to go to Cape Canaveral, Miami and then the Bahamas. Because of weather, we reversed the ports and went to the Bahamas first.
One final thought, you say you were deliberately taken took you into the eye of a storm. Do you think any cruise line is going to make a decision that is going to put their ship, their employees and their passengers into harm? Do you have any idea how much a ship costs? No, these decisions are not made lightly!
As far as your claim that they under reported the cases of Noro. By law, they must report every case of Noro that they treat. This is the caveat! Many people don't go to the medical center and therefore the case is not reported to the crew and ultimately the CDC. People are afraid they will be quarantined so they try to treat the symptoms themselves and become little Typhoid Marys further spreading the virus. Others think that it's only sea sickness and don't go for treatment.
As far as the port fees go, you do realize they will only be about $25. The actual port fees are minimal. The rest is government fees and taxes.
Jennifer
Levittown,New York,
U.S.A.
Ports
#6Consumer Comment
Fri, April 06, 2007
Ports for cruises are booked a long time in advance and when there is bad weather, it is not always possible for a Plan B. Their choice is to cancel the cruise, reroute if possible (meaning change the order of the planned ports) or cruise to an entirely new destination. A new destination is problematic because it is usually a destination not normally used at that time of year.
Once cruise line took a beating because the chose to go to Canada instead of the warmer climate they were supposed to go to.
On foreign flagged ships, like Princess, this is further complicated by the Jones Act which says they must go to at least one foreign port. I was on a cruise last year that was supposed to go to Cape Canaveral, Miami and then the Bahamas. Because of weather, we reversed the ports and went to the Bahamas first.
One final thought, you say you were deliberately taken took you into the eye of a storm. Do you think any cruise line is going to make a decision that is going to put their ship, their employees and their passengers into harm? Do you have any idea how much a ship costs? No, these decisions are not made lightly!
As far as your claim that they under reported the cases of Noro. By law, they must report every case of Noro that they treat. This is the caveat! Many people don't go to the medical center and therefore the case is not reported to the crew and ultimately the CDC. People are afraid they will be quarantined so they try to treat the symptoms themselves and become little Typhoid Marys further spreading the virus. Others think that it's only sea sickness and don't go for treatment.
As far as the port fees go, you do realize they will only be about $25. The actual port fees are minimal. The rest is government fees and taxes.
Jennifer
Levittown,New York,
U.S.A.
Ports
#7Consumer Comment
Fri, April 06, 2007
Ports for cruises are booked a long time in advance and when there is bad weather, it is not always possible for a Plan B. Their choice is to cancel the cruise, reroute if possible (meaning change the order of the planned ports) or cruise to an entirely new destination. A new destination is problematic because it is usually a destination not normally used at that time of year.
Once cruise line took a beating because the chose to go to Canada instead of the warmer climate they were supposed to go to.
On foreign flagged ships, like Princess, this is further complicated by the Jones Act which says they must go to at least one foreign port. I was on a cruise last year that was supposed to go to Cape Canaveral, Miami and then the Bahamas. Because of weather, we reversed the ports and went to the Bahamas first.
One final thought, you say you were deliberately taken took you into the eye of a storm. Do you think any cruise line is going to make a decision that is going to put their ship, their employees and their passengers into harm? Do you have any idea how much a ship costs? No, these decisions are not made lightly!
As far as your claim that they under reported the cases of Noro. By law, they must report every case of Noro that they treat. This is the caveat! Many people don't go to the medical center and therefore the case is not reported to the crew and ultimately the CDC. People are afraid they will be quarantined so they try to treat the symptoms themselves and become little Typhoid Marys further spreading the virus. Others think that it's only sea sickness and don't go for treatment.
As far as the port fees go, you do realize they will only be about $25. The actual port fees are minimal. The rest is government fees and taxes.
Regina
Fort Worth,Texas,
U.S.A.
One More Time........
#8Author of original report
Fri, April 06, 2007
Once more, Honest Sam, it wasn't about a sudden storm but a storm that had been in existence for a minimum of 7 days prior to our departing. It was the same crew for God's Sake! They were more disgusted with this captain than the passengers. There was NO communication and when there was you couldn't understand the guy, the crew would roll their eyes in disgust and they said he was new and temporary and they were very embarrassed. I got my information, Sir, from the Crew. The numbers of NORO were severely under reported by the Line.......check out the cruise bruise dot come site once more and you will read a report about how severely under reported the numbers were.
It was a nightmare. I'm not trying to portray anything except what happened. I'm still in touch with many of the passengers and do have many copies of their complaint letters to the line as we had promised to keep in touch. Many were well experienced cruisers and they had never in their lives experienced anything like this. It was a real mess. So, again, honest Sam. Unless you were there you really need not comment unless the sole purpose is to infuriate further which, to be honest after that ordeal nothing would ever bother me again. Like I said, I hope this never happens to you, it was a real eye opener as to how poorly they respond during a crisis. I would not have complained if they were honest and offered refunds or change of dates due to the bad weather since I spent most of the time puking in the cabin.
I mean, why go. Many peopole there saved their entire lives or for several years for their hawaiin cruise of a lifetime many will never get to go back and I really felt for them to be that disappointed when other arrangements could have been made to accomodate everyone. they could have re routed the ship around the storm but all they cared about was lining their pockets and doubling the stakes in the casino when we hadn't been off the ship in 7 days. 13 for the crew they were dropping like flies. they closed the casino, cancelled shows, long lines for food, food had to be served we could no longer serve ourselves at the buffet, if anyone became ill no matter what the reason they were quarantined, several people in cabins near to ours NEVER got off the ship they were quarantined the entire 15 days and most of the dining room had food poisoning on the seafood pasta night and they were all quarantined as they would not acknowledge food poisoning and you are going to say, I'm portraying........give me a break, honest Sam, whoever you are.......if you were on that ship you would be complaining too! 10 people I know stopped payment on via their credit cards and are disputing the charges but we paid in full in October....so again, MS. know it all from Idaho, we are not the kind of people looking for a hand out we're the people that give them but whats right is right and whats wrong is wrong.
So, your saying, Sam if there's a tsunami at sea or a typhoon and the line has adequate time in advance to make alternate arrangements and they decide to just care about their bottom line and steer you right into that typhoon or tsunami then that's alright by honest Sam.....the safety of the passengers shouldnt be considered it's just BUSINESS AS USUAL. Wow! Where do you people come from???
Honest Sam
Bay Area,California,
U.S.A.
Oooook....
#9Consumer Comment
Thu, April 05, 2007
"If you were not on Voyage 2703 and are not a cruise line representative then what business do you have responding to my email? "
You post on a public compalint site and wonder why people respond to your "email."
What did you expect?
Anyways to be fair it does sound like the cruise did have a few problems, mostly due to weather - hardly the control of the cruise line.
I took a peek at the following page to get an understanding of what happened on that voyage:
(((ROR REDACTED LINK FOR SECURITY PURPOSES)))(Don't know if the links will stay, if not take a look at the cruise critic website in the member review area for Island Princess in January)
Out of 4 reviews, 3 are very positive and take the weather (which is obviously beyond the control of the cruise line) in stride. The 4th like you complains about the weather, blaming the captain and it goes downhill from there.
As for the noro outbreak, stats according to the Center for Disease Control show 9% of passengers and 4% of crew coming down with it.
Elevated numbers, but hardly the picture you tried to portray.
CLICK here to see why Rip-off Report, as a matter of policy, deleted either a phone number, link or e-mail address from this Report.
Regina
Fort Worth,Texas,
U.S.A.
What's your point, ELAINE FROM IDAHO??
#10Author of original report
Thu, April 05, 2007
Dear Elaine From Idaho:
If you were not on Voyage 2703 and are not a cruise line representative then what business do you have responding to my email? I won't respond to any of your other judgements or accusations as THEY SPEAK VOLUMES for your character or lack of as a person.
Both the cruise line and the travel agent that specializes in cruises lied to us and hundreds of other passengers that shared similar story's. When I asked them about the rainy/stormy season, I was told..."The worst is over by Thanksgiving", many others were told it was over by Christmas... this was told to me by a Princess reservations representative. The owner of the travel agency at least apologized and offered us a 5% discount on our next cruise, when he found out that his representative also lied and stated that it was not the rainy/stormy season. Not that we'll be taking one any time soon, if ever after this nightmare. Until you've walked in our shoes you really need to Jam one of those big Idaho's in your big mouth!
Princess just sticks to the YOU CAN'T CONTROL THE WEATHER. I can assure you if this were a sudden storm we would not have complained.
The storm was in existence for a week prior to our vogage and there WAS NO PLAN B. We missed 2 ports, Maui and Kauai and THEY KEPT THE PORT CHARGES!!! How low is that. That is outright stealing!
Enjoy your next cruise, ELAINE FROM IDAHO! This cruise line LOVES PEOPLE of your mentality! That's how they literally get away with murder!
If I were you, I would educate myself further before opening my big mouth and berating victims of Princess Cruises. Why not check out: (((ROR REDACTED LINK FOR SECURITY PURPOSES))) and see how severely under reported the amount of ill passengers/crew your less than honorable cruise line reported. They are crooks and thieves and could care less about the safety or well being of their passengers. This was a real eye opener on how they respond during a crisis and how they skirt the REAL ISSUE, which was NO PLAN B.
I am very happy you have not experienced such a disaster at sea, Elaine from Idaho, we haven't either,until this voyage, but when you do, I also hope someone as ignorant of the facts as you are doesn't become a pointless cheerleader for the Line and completely unsympathetic to what you have been through.
Although, I'm old enough to know, WE REAP WHAT WE SEW and what goes around comes around and usually ten fold.......
Stick with peeling those potato's ELAINE FROM IDAHO!!!
RESPUDFULLY YOURS,
CLICK here to see why Rip-off Report, as a matter of policy, deleted either a phone number, link or e-mail address from this Report.
Elaine
Boise,Idaho,
U.S.A.
Be Responsible for Your Vacation!
#11Consumer Suggestion
Wed, April 04, 2007
I have nothing but praise for Princess Cruises. Safety was of utmost concern. I think you should be a bit upset with your travel agent who should have 1) warned you about weather issues during the time of year you went and 2) advised you what the better deal was relative to purchasing air fare. It's not always the best deal to go with the cruise line; sometimes its best to buy an airline ticket separately, which is what I did. And despite your language, captains of these multi-million dollar ships are not incompetent. But of course, they aren't hired to wait hand-and-foot on a single whiney passenger, either. How is weather related issues the fault of the captain? Boy, you are giving him a lot of authority! And if the cruise line had cancelled the cruise, wouldn't you be posting that they cancelled with no warning! Of course you would!
Since this is the SECOND time I've seen your post (with a new date of authoring) - I think that you are a professional complainer, probably had a great trip and are trying to get your money back. If I were Princess, I probably would credit you some money back...and ban you from cruising with them again.
You go, Princess! I hope to be cruising with you again soon. It was by far the best vacation I've ever had!
