Our horror story!!

[Tera]

I agree with you crisi, I won't even think about using Princess aftering hearing this story.

 

[buzz&woody'smom]

and that is too bad bc I "was" actually thinking about looking into their new ship the Grand Bahama Princess or something like that but no I believe this is negative PR for them.......

 

[smjj]

Just wanted to say thanks to everyone replying to this thread.
The replies have really helped lift our spirits.
Our local TA at Wagonlits has been wonderful through all this. She has taken it to her boss who has taken it to her boss and her contact at Princess and still no luck. She is as upset as us and that means a lot to us that she cares so much. They at Wagonlits are all just stunned by Princess refusal to even buge a little and offer us anything except going through the Insurance carrier which at best if approved is a 75% credit on a furture cruise. Again, thanks to all and I will keep you posted and see you on cruise chat Friday night.....smjj

P.S. I aggree with the poster who said that Disney would not have allowed this to happen. They would have pulled some strings I am sure...

 

["Ginger"]

No Disney would not have left you.
We had a problem one year flying down on US Air on the day of the cruise. I had booked the flight myself so Disney really had nothing to do with it but I still called them crying my eyes out explaining what had happen. They told me to calm down and not to worry that they would make sure that we were on the ship at sailing time. Thanks to them we were, they held the last bus at MCO, had people waiting for us when we got off the plane to rush us through the airport to the bus. They could not have been any greater to us.
We now drive from Maryland to Fla. staying 2 nights at the Radisson before the cruise to relax abit.

I feel for you.

 

[smjj]

When filing a complaint with the California BBB where Princess Cruise Line has its headquarters, we found out something.
They have a un-satisfactory rating with the BBB. Many of the complaints filed listed the same problems we are having...smjj

 

[Tera]

Really? That's interesting to know. Hopefully this will get out so other people don't get screwed like you guys. I hope it works out for you.

 

[smjj]

Just a bump..smjj

 

[smjj]

Well, we faxed all our stuff to our attorney last week and he is reviewing it now. It does appear that they write these cruise aggrements up so that they have all the rights and the passengers have none. However, we are finding out that they can't make you sign away certain right garanteed to you by law. We also heard from our TA that Princess got the complaint from the BBB and are re-opening our file(we did not know it was closed). We are also noticing that everyone involved(airlines, TA and the insurance carrier seemed to be very sympthic to what happpend to us "except Princess" Maybe thats why they have a un-favorable rating with the BBB. I will keep you posted...smjj

 

[lbgraves]

Hopefully between your attorney & the BBB this will be resolved fairly to you & your DW. Thanks for keeping us posted. The sad thing is that alot of people do not check with the BBB before using a company.

 

[strawberryblonde]

<font color=darkviolet> Thanks so much for posting your story and bumping it up. I've just now read this thread for the first time and am so sorry this happened to you. I called Princess this morning looking into their Australia cruises in 2005, don't think I want to book with them now . Can anyone suggest another line who do Australia?</font>

 

[KYCruiseCrazy]

That is one of the very reasons that we drive down instead of flying. Not to mention it is a lot cheaper to rent and car and drive instead of paying for 3 to fly down. And of course my DW says that she will never set foot on a plane again. LOL

 

[smjj]

Well we found out yesterday we can't get the charges removed from our CC because it was more than 60 days. I wonder if that is why they require full payment 60 days out?? They(Princess) have thought of everything we are finding out. When something goes wrong, they have all the rights and we(passenger) have none...smjj

 

[EmmasGrammy]

That STINKS!!! Sorry you have had such bad luck!!!

 

[Greysword]

I did some surfing, and it seems Princess Cruises is owned by Carnival. They have lots of mainstream cruiselines such as Carnival, Princess, Holland America, Cunard, Windjammer, Seabourne, Costa, and a coupel others!

http://www.carnivalcorp.com/

You can see the list at the link above, as well as, contact info.

I looked up Carnival in Florida on the BBB website and Carnival Corporation has an unsatisfactory rating:

http://www.bbbsoutheastflorida.org/nis/newsearch2.asp?ID=1&strBCode=06330000&ComID=0633000021000334

Disney, on the other hand, has a Satisfactory rating:

http://www.orlando.bbb.org/nis/newsearch2.asp?ID=1&ComID=0733000027001349

I guess if you choose to sail on one of the other Carnival lines, you get the same treatment.

Sorry, smjj!

 

[smjj]

Well we found out today that we are probably not getting our airfare back either. I contacted the airlines about the refund. They processed it but since Princess sent the money to them on our behalf, USAirways sent it back to Princess. Our travel agent called Princess to verify they were going to forward the money to us and Princess said they do not refund airfares either. They would not even have this money if I had not contacted the airlines in the first place. I guess I just more money in their pockets. What a joke. This just is to much to handle. I think we need a WDW land package only fix.....smjj

 

[jrabbit]

Dang. From worse to worser (I know that's not a word, but it works!) So much for feeling "the love" from the Love Boat. You're getting screwed!

 

[Tera]

smjj - I'm sorry to hear about your problems. I'm sure people will think twice when they look into Princess and/or Carnival. Keep plugging at it and hopefully you'll get something out of this, not including heart attack, stroke or nervous breakdown

to Greysword! I'm in Littleton, actually closer to Lone Tree, so not far from you. Congrat's on your upcoming wedding. Also a Star Wars fan myself (I have a "room" ) We're cruising a few months after you

 

[lbgraves]

Now that is just theft by Princess IMO. The airline refunded the money & they in turn should be obligated to return the money to you.

 

[starwood]

it was a mad dash for the 120+ people back to main ticketing to try and get rescheduled. We were about 60th in line and it took us over 45 minutes to get to the front of the line

When our flight was cancelled to Orlando because of a violent thunderstorm - DH and I both got on our cell phones while we were standing in line to the reservation line. Before we got to the front of the line we were booked on a flight the next morning out of Philadelphia (not Newark where we were) arriving in Melbourne (not Orlando) and we had reservations on Amtrak to Philly plus a hotel room there and a rental car in Melbourne.

Most of the rooms in Philly were booked because they had the same thunderstorm.

By the time we finally arrived at the Contemporary the next day it had been over 24 hours since we left the house for a 2 1/2 hour flight.

 

[smjj]

Starwood:

Yeah we got on our cell phone also. The problem was that every flight they found for us was after the ship left port or was leaving in one case about 20 min. after we landed and they would not hold the ship for us. They tried to get us a flight the next day but again, the plane arrived at the ships first port stop about the same time the ship was pulling up anchor.

You know, I want to take this time to thank all the people who have read and responded to this thread. You have been very kind and supportive. I have been on the DIS for a couple of years now and can't go more than a day or so without coming to this site. I at first felt that this was maybe not the prober forum for this problem but I feel better knowing we have such supportive friends here on DIS. Again, thanks....smjj