Fodor's Travel Talk Forums - Crown Princess Hawaii-questions/warning/advice

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Your very welcome Tracey- We had the 10 days at sea because of 5 days each way, we didn't miss any other ports. The trip was actually great except for the Christmas Island mishap. I am sorry to hear that Princess has changed it's equator crossing ceremony as when we first crossed with them back in 1993 it was very amuseing to watch and lasted over an hour. I will post if I hear anything back from them as I sent them a registered letter just this morning. Toto

Toto- Out of curiosity, how much of a discount did Princess give you on your return trip? We had heard they were offering "substantial " discounts on the return. Did they discount your second trip more than your first? Thanks Tracey

Tracey- Not much of a discount was given for doing this cruise round trip, which was actually very surprising. In fact Princess would not give any discount at all on the back to back and suggested that I book with a TA since they have more control over a back to back discount????? The ship was booked to capacity on each sailing and that might have had a lot to do with it. Plus the balcony cabins are always at a premium so they give very little discount on them. I do know that only half the cabins were sold on the next voyage from Hawaii to Mexico(9 days sailing) and those cabins could be booked while on board for a song. Anywhere from $20-$60 per day as they were trying to fill up the ship. The price depended on the type of cabin, inside, outside or balcony. I will tell you one thing though. This cruise has actually come down in price since we first did it back in 1993, which is good news to all of us. If they decide to again stop at Christmas Island we might look at this cruise again in a year or so, but if they don't, we won't even consider it. Toto

I periodically surf the forums from time to time and thought I'd thank for all your comments about Princess. I have been on Royal Caribbean, Celebrity x2, and Holland America with possible consideration to do the Dawn Princess- Hawaii/Tahiti in April 2003. Well, I have taken Princess off my list. Although I realize the comments made are individual and based on personal taste, something is definitely wrong when you have some many unhappy people. Monica

Monica: Please don't misunderstand! This is a fantastic cruise with some wonderful ports. Princess is a good cruise line and we still like them. We just aren't interested in 5 sea days (especially 10 sea days)as we were given on this last trip. These are our views and although we were unhappy at the treatment received with the cancelled port, we will probably (and I stress the probably) cruise on Princess again someday. If this cruise is on your "Dream List" I wouldn't take it off quite yet, play the wait and see game. After all, we are mostly talking about one cruise and one itinerary here that we were disatisfied with.

I feel like I have to chime in, too. We just did a similar trip, the Honolulu to Ensenada 9 day on the Crown Princess, and we had a mervelous time. We found the ship to be flawlessly clean, very well maintained, and we found the service to be everything we expected. We were always greeted with a smile and a "good morning" in the hallways (even by mechanical staff, etc), our room steward was attentive, our dining room service experience was very good. To be sure, the dining room food was merely good, not exceptional, but he Cabana Cafe buffet was very very good. Also, there was absolutely not word one mentioned to us by any staff about tipping, other than the disembarkation talk by the Cruise Director, and this issue was touched on at a very appropriate level. The only thing I would describe as a glitch was the 5 hr. trip from Ensenada to San Diego, with 3 hrs spent at the border, but this is a function of U.S. law, not Princess. Finally, the Crown Princess (a 12-year old ship) is leaving the fleet next month. I can't recall which ship is replacing it on this itinerary, but it's either a Grand or Sun class ship, much newer and nicer. Pat.

Toto, I hear you but I don't think I'm enough of a seasoned traveler to spend the possibility of 10 days at sea particularily if I booked specifically for the itinerary. I value the comments and understand they are personal opinion. Thanks Monica

Going back to the original question. Passengers were subjected to an extremely unpleasant experience and were not compensated to anyones satisfaction. Lately Princess has not been too accomodating. Passengers with problems have not been pleased with what Princess is doing to them. Paul

Hello to all yet again. I'm glad to see the display of "open minds". I too agree that if Princess were to come through and handle this appropriately I would cruise them again. I did call customer relations again this week. They confirmed it is 8 weeks since they recieved my original faxed complaint. They have repeatedly said there is a 4-6 week lag time on replies to complaints. They indicated my complaint is labeled "high priority" whatever that means. I told the representative that I currently have a holding booking with Princess and I am genuinely interested in booking a Med. trip with them for this summer. I told her that I know they are "very interested in selling that itinerary" (many are afraid of the med. they are having trouble filling the ships,heavy discounts etc.) I made it clear that if this issue was not resolved in 7 days that I would be calling again to cancel my holding booking and would never cruise Princess again. She said that she could not tell from the system if my complaint had been handled yet but that it was likely I would recieve a letter in the coming week. She also added that she would add my comments to the record. I'll keep everyone posted... Tracey

Thanks for keeping us posted Tracey, it will be interesting to see just what they end up doing about this problem. I sent a registered letter to Princess shortly after we returned which means (if what they tell you is true), I might hear back from them in another 4-6 months. Let's hope it doesn't take that long but believe it or not, although the letter was sent so as I would recieve a signature as to who received it, I have yet to receive that back and it was sent out 10 days ago. Hummmmm, maybe nobody wanted to sign for it. Will also keep you posted. Toto

Amazingly I finally got a letter from Princess, coincidentally dated the day of my last phone call. It appears to be actual correspondance, not a form letter, as specific things from my complaint letter are addressed. What's more amazing is that in my letter I explained in detail how we were told we would get a future cruise credit for $150, yet when I called reservations twice they said all of us already got shipboard credit. Which of course we did not. Like I posted here, I sent a letter explaining this, with copies of my folios and complaining that $150 was way too low. Well Princess reply was simply that there was nothing they could do about our trip, "weather and the effects of weather conditions prevented the vessel from completing the port call...the logistics of scheduling for cruiselines is very complex...while it may have been desirous to provide an alternate port for our passengers, port factors such as availability, accessibility and port authority regulations among others prevented execution of this option." (big words, impressive!) Then they continue, "All passengers were offered a cruise discount of $150 per person for use on a subsequent cruise. Please note that this is a discount for a future sailing and not an onboard credit" Okay, clearly this person didn't read my entire letter. These morons, (and I now feel comfortable calling them that) just told me what I've been asked to prove to them! Does customer service even talk to reservations? They finish by saying, "We are unable to honor your request for additional compensation, it is our hope that you will take advantage of our offer and decide to sail with us again." What are they nuts?! My letter is signed by a "research specialist". At this point I will be canceling my holding booking and am not cruising with them again. I haven't called yet because I know I'll probably get more stupidity that will make me nuts. There is only so much ignorance one can tolerate. By the way, instead of the med. cruise, I'm gonna cash in my frequent flyer miles I accrued on the Hawaii/tahiti trip and return to Hawaii to see the places I missed. This time by land! Let me know if anyone else has better luck! I'll let you know how it goes when I call to cancel my holding booking. Tracey

HI Tracey-I wanted to thank you for posting the response you got from Princess. I am sure that I will receive the same response although with the different circumstances, one never knows. If for some reason I hear back from them, which I really doubt, I will let you know. Thanks Again Toto