Our horror story!!

[Greysword]

You always have friends here, smjj. Princess certainly is making the DCL October fisco seem not so bad, and the info on how bad a rating Princess and Carnival have makes alternative cruises look not quite as nice. Thank you for bring this to our attention!

Tera, Hey! I work near Lincoln and Park Meadows Dr, here in Lone Tree, and I lived a block up from here only a few weeks ago when my fiance and I consolidated our living space . It is great to hear you will be cruising on DCL soon, and we will try to keep the ship in decent condition for you

 

[Tera]

smjj-Hang in there!

Greyswood - Wow, you are close. I live right near County Line and Park Meadows Pkwy.

Since you'll be sailing before us, we want to hear all the details, well, since this is your honeymoon, maybe not all

 

[zalansky]

I hated to read this story...and am sad to say I am not shocked by the big Corporation covering their bases.
My husband and I sailed Princess for our honeymoon...we enjoyed ourselves but agreed the line was not our style. After reading this horror story, I would never, ever cruise Princess again. I am so sorry for your misfortune.

 

[Disneycrazymom]

There is no excuse for Princess to be acting this way. I was thinking of cruising with them next year to Alaska but now we will look into another line. I will not support any company that treats their clients that way. I hope you get your money returned.

 

[BibbidyBobbidyBoo]

I read this thread and I'm appalled! I mean not only are they willing to refund you at all... but to get the refund from the airfare and still not give it to you------- that is so wrong! That doesn't seem legal..they are doubly benefiting from your misfortune- that doesn't seem right at all- that's ripping you off even more! I'm so sorry you have gone through this! Definitely won't ever cruise with them!

 

[kellib36]

> 4. Put everything on a charge card.

I'm SO sorry about your experience.....I think I would have a major breakdown if this happened to me.....you and your wife must be awfully strong!! But I had to grin when I saw this one! Its absolutely true, but I just used my Disney Visa to book our cruise this month!!! (Last minute plans!) It just gave me a giggle that "Disney" may have to fight with their own cc co if I have a problem.....never thougth of it like that.....

And I agree that if you bought your airfare as part of a "package", a real package or implied, they gotta stand up and take care of you!

Good luck, Kellib36

 

[my3kids]

This is terrible. I thought all cruiselines promised that if you booked air with them, then they guaranteed you'd get on the ship. How can they do this???? I hope your attorney will get this debauckle straightened out.

I saw something else about Disney's helpfulness compared to other cruiselines. I know DCL cancelled a 3 night trip for a charter and I believe they are reimbursing any non refundable expenses??? Anyway, Holland America just cancelled a 7 night cruise and their only compensation was the offer of $40 off a future cruise!!!!!

 

[smjj]

We did put this cruise on our CC. The bank stated that if the cruise is 60 days past the posted statement date, its too late. We explained to them about the cruise line wanting their final payments more than 60 dats out and now we know why. The district manager for our bank called us and we explained it to him. He said he was shocked and would take this up with their settlement department to see if they would be willing to waive the 60 day rule since the purchased item was not used(our cruise) until March 14th. He hasn't got back with us yet. Princess also has restated they are not going to refund our airfare even though we requested the refund and the airlines refunded the money to them. It has supposely been turned over to Princess upper management for further review and our TA said it could take them 4 week. I think they are trying to wait us out. Our attorney also stated not to file our insurance claim as Princess has insisted we do. He stated this may get them off the hook for furture claims. He has requested from Princess travel insurance the master copy of the insurance policy. We are also filing with our State Attorney Generals office but the paper work is quite complicated and we have been filling it out for 2 days now..
Amberle3 has been a big help with PM's on things we can do and we thank her a lot. Not one person at our work on here on this board and others can understand why Princess is taking such a hard line on this. As repeat cruisers now cruising each year and the casino money we drop and the excursison we buy, you would think they would want to keep people like us cruising. Aren't we the kind oif people they want?? Again, thanks for all the help and support and I will keep you posted on the developments...smjj

 

[Mdtigger99]

Hi smjj

I'm really sorry to hear about all this. We've crused several times, mostly on DCL. We just cruised in March with DCL. If nothing else, I will not be crusing Princess after reading this.

 

[cjsmith]

As I'm reading this I'm cringing since my husband and I are finally cruising another line, Princess our of San Juan in October. Will I change my trip, no. I do remember just a few weeks ago we were all bashing DCL for cancelling the October cruise and allowing some company to have the whole ship therefore displacing those who had already booked their cruise. While I agree that Disney is wonderful, I've taken 4 cruises with them in the last year and a half, there are always screw ups with each and every company. There were those who responsed on that thread that just because Disney did this to these people, they weren't going to hold it against the company and boycott them. I think that what Disney did in this instance was horrible and though it angers me, I won't be boycotting them.

While I agree what Princess did to you in not refunding the cruise price was atroucious and I would use my lawyer to find out my rights, it seems to be that it was US Airways that really screwed you up. Disney may hold the ship from sailing for a short amount of time due to some planes getting in late, but they will not hold it for long. I'm sure in a similiar situation they would claim that you should have come in the day prior and not cut it so close. Now don't get me wrong, I'm not blaming you for flying in that same day, I'm simply stating that disney probably would have done the same thing. I only live 4 hours from the port, but I still stay by the port the night before since I can't control traffic accidents, etc and don't want to miss the ship.

 

[Greysword]

Given the response Disney had to the October cancelations, I would be willing to bet money that DCL would make this right with smjj, especially if he bought DCL insurance and airfare from them.

He may have missed the ship, but he would have probably been compensated for the lost time, money, and energy.

 

[smjj]

Latest update as of 30 minutes ago!! We went thru our regional bank manager to see if he could have some pull with the 60 day rule on the charge card posting date. He found out the reason they will not remove the charge from our card it that, now get this. Princess told the dispute dept. at Fifth Thrid where we bank that a service was provided(what service) it was not the the 60 day rule, it was because Princess told them they provided us a service to us. The regional manager said he argued with them as to what service was provided and hit a brick wall. He is also baffled and can't understand why this is happening. I am beginning to really think we are not going to get any money back. I think the bank dispute dept. simply felt it was better to turn down us than fight with Princess. Once again the consumer losses. We paid for a service that was not provided by a company that has a unsatisfactory rating the the BBB. An expensive lesson. At least we have the small staisfaction of knowing we cost them a few cruises and that was more than if they simply would have done right by us in the first place. These cruise contracts are too one sided. The cruise lines have all the rights and the consumer has none....smjj