Princess Cruises

9/12/2024 3 pm EST

Juneau Alaska Cruise. I have much more granular detail than written herein listed.

It is in writing, photocopies, invoices, chat lines, customer service, review boards and appeals all related to an incident that happened on our cruise. I gave Princess Cruise every opportunity to return the money that is rightfully mine or to accept that I would write this review. They preferred that I write the review so here it goes.

On our cruise, we had the fancy meals and drinks package. On the first night that we went to a fancy restaurant.

The waiter staff liked us. Later, Ship Management personally came up to my wife and I and invited us to be their personal guests to sit at the Officer's table and receive top service and complementary top notch meals and wine on them. In return, they asked that we provide an honest 5 star review in that the ship / restaurant bonus scale is based on these reviews. I advised them of our meal / drink plan and we were assured that there would be no extra charge applied.

Next night, we returned. We were expected. We were seated at the Officer's table and treated to an excellent meal and wine. I again asked about the cost of this meal and wine because I do not want to pay for them and will only order them if they are in fact at no extra charge.

Restaurant Management confirmed no extra charge. I got the name of the Restaurant Manager, Service Manager, Senior Waiter, Junior Waiter and Sommelier in writing to ascertain they could not pull a fast one and bill me later and so that I can list them by name in a 5 star positive review. Yes, we got Super A+ food, drink and service. We were not able to finish our wine bottles.

Management said they would put our wine on ice and that we could return tomorrow for another complimentary top notch meal on them. Next day, they called us to confirm what time we would be there. We went. Again, same staff.

Wine bottles already waiting for us. Again, I asked about the cost and was again told that we are their special guests, individually selected among the patrons and that there will be no charge for the upscale meal and wine. Once again, we ate like King and Queen. Got another invitation to the next night.

Next day, Management tracked us down using that tracking device they give us to personally confirm our arrangements and yes, we went again. This time, they gave us a super duper meal with a steak from the steak house brought personally to me by the Steak House Restaurant Manager and similar story with the Seafood Restaurant Manager for my wife and her meal. Absolute awesome meal and wine again "on the house as their special guests" while seated at the Manager's table just outside the Manager's Office. This repeated for a fourth night ending with written notes by the staff, their names, photographs, hugs and kisses for best wishes, hoping that we were 5 star satisfied as their specially selected guests and hopefully resulting in a 5 star stellar positive review.

Perfect. A few days later, we got the Stateroom account summary and got charged top dollar for every item. What is this we asked? I contacted Princess Cruise multiple times via their chat line, their customer service line, follow up email, follow-up documentation and several back and forth phone calls from Princess Cruise Management and Appeals Boards.

They said they "looked into it" and denied that any of this happened and refused to reimburse my wife and me for these extra charges. Essentially, although I have all the paperwork, chats and supporting documentation and follow up in writing, they denied that any of this ever occurred. What? Did this paper documentation from Princess Cruise stationary with all persons involved named on the stationary come out of thin air?

No. The company made an executive decision to keep my money and say that they don't have any of the original documents on file. Is it my fault that they did not document everything into their computer? They would not allow me to go to their computer to input it myself so I know it got in.

Basically, they intentionally, deliberately or word of your choice tried to pull a fast one, make some extra money and "buy a 5 star positive review". They offered me a complementary $75 credit to come onto another cruise to what, get screwed by them again. I refused. On 9/12/2024, I gave them 1 final chance to be honest and ethical and give me back my money by 9/19/2024 2 pm EST or to accept that I will write this review in detail.

Their representative said the week wait is a waste of time and that they will not refund my money. Ergo, here I am, approximately 1 hour later, submitting this fully factual and verifiable review.

Senior Management, top down, chose to keep money that does not belong to them and risk getting a negative review rather than give me my money that legitimately belongs to me. Now, I will contact the Credit Card Company and the Better Business Bureau.

Princess Cruise Lines, the Titanic of customer relations when it comes to refunds. My wife and I bought a package from Princess (Promotions) - and we paid our initial down payment, as well as made one for my sister to ensure she would get the same deal as she was going on the trip with us. Princess was supposed to bill my sister for the rest, but they just kept billing us despite multiple contacts from my sister to change the billing. In the end, my sister couldn't go on the trip. Her health became an issue as well as multiple instances of Princess customer disservice. She called and cancelled in plenty of time. Since we paid for both packages (over $5,500 per package), we should be able to use it. Easy fix, but no, this is Princess where they screw you royally!

Princess Cruises cancellation experts = the atomic bombs to good public relations. Getting a refund requires you to basically walk a mile barefoot across hot coals while carrying two leaky gasoline cans. Oh, did I mention in the middle of the walk, you have to stop and do the Hokey Pokey - while singing it backwards?

What do the cancellation experts say when the customer claims ignorance of this ludicrous expectation? We're so sorry our agent must have forgot to mention that when you signed up. Oh well, it's in the contract. It's not our fault if you didn't read it because you trusted us. That sin is on you. Sucks to be you.

People in *** get cold water more often than a Princess customer gets a just refund. Horrible Service is a staple of Princess. It's not just me. The BBB has over 60 pages of complaints, other sites have hundreds of complaints. Here are a couple enlightening quotes from other customers:

'Princess had decided to flush passenger satisfaction and any appearance of commitment to their customers down the toilet. Sort of a burial at sea it seems.'

'Waited over a month for a reply, only to receive a full dismissal of her concerns.'

'Princess Cruise Lines is without doubt the worst company I have ever had to deal with.

I was lied to by the staff in the buffet I asked for a take out cup for my coffee I was told they don't have them on the ship, that came from a manger on the buffet floor 14. Later I saw people with the paper cups with lids.

The first time I asked the man at the service desk if I could have a low salt diet he said they don't offer it, the next morning I asked a lady at the service desk and she did it for me. The food on the entire ship was awful. The first show was good the rest of the shows we walked out after 15 mins. The best part of the cruise was Christopher the room stewart.

Rueben ,Fraj, Michael and Hammit in the vivaldi dining room This was my first princess cruise and my last I would not recommend Princess to anyone it was a terrible experience and a waste of money. The three day land was the worst the cabins were filthy. All we did was ride a bus for hours to the cabin had little time in each place and we were on the road again.

Extremely disappointed with Princess and there is more to tell about the excursion the advertising is misleading My name is Carol Comitino I sailed on 8/31/24 The Sapphire Princess I also came home with covid. Do you think maybe you can do a better job or do you like to disappoint people by the way the best of my trip was the time I spent in Vancouver before boarding.

I called Princess to book a trip for my daughter and me to Alaska. We chose Princess because my parents were gold members and had enjoyed it.

We were transferred to Princess Promotions, who quoted a package cost of $4,700 which included hotel credits, onboard credit of $150, and a FCC of $3,000, which I interpreted as a credit for a future cruise beyond the one I was booking. I paid in installments, totaling $4,500, as Princess did not charge me the last payment, but when I tried to use the credit on another cruise, they informed me it had already been used on the original cruise. I asked several times, including their executive escalation team, how a $4,700 package that I paid $4,500 for includes a $3,000 credit, and they kept sending me the same form which stated that it cost $4,700, credit applied, and my out-of-pocket expense was $1,700. I provided all my credit card statements proving I paid $4,500 and they still maintained that the credit was used.

I don't think I have ever experienced such a transaction. Eventually, I gave up (which I assume was their plan) and filed a complaint with the Better Business Bureau. The cruise itself was okay, except our shower did not drain, and the service and quality at the steakhouse were terrible. We also upgraded to a balcony and premier package.

I would not book through Princess Promotions again. However, the hotel credits were useful.

Well I just dont know where to begin. We registered to go on an Alaskan cruise and we were torn between Princess and Norwegian.

We elected to try the Princess Discovery because it was the newer boat. Let me tell you about this boat. The labeling is terrible. When you get off the elevator you see a picture of the boat that you can use your medallion to see where you are.

However, you dont know which is port or starboard, bow or stern on the boat. Unless you are on the 15th floor or higher or 6 or 7, you cant see outside. So you have to walk down the hallway for a ways to make that determination. Keep in mind that I am ex-navy so this should be a no brainer for me.

When you get off the elevator, you should see a port and starboard arrow as well as fore and aft. In the buffet room, everything is so common that if you dont memorize your location, you will forget where you are seated and cant find your party. To find a restaurant, your medallion will tell you which floor and which end of the boat. Supposedly it will tell you how to get there but that is all a big lie.

For example the Ketchikan restaurant is 6 floor aft but the directions dont tell you that you have to go up one or down one, then go aft then go down one and aft. Whoever designed this boat should be crucified. The geometry of the boat is the worst I have ever seen.

Lets talk about the medallions. We didnt even know about the medallions or how to acquire them until 4 weeks before the cruise.

We were not informed. We just heard through the grapevine. The App and the website are convoluted and dont work well together. I have never seen such a cluster **** in all my life.

If your medallion quits responding, you cant get in your room. This happened 3 times.

When we first got on board, we had to go to guest services to fix the interface between our phones and the internet. We had to do this four times between the two of us.

We were forced to buy two drink packages when my wife doesnt drink. That alone will keep me off this wreck of a boat next time.

I should be able to get a nonalcoholic package for her and an alcoholic package for me. You talk about a major rip off. There should be a law against that.

No one told us that you needed to make dinner reservations ahead of time. When we got on board we couldnt sit down at a dinner table (other than the buffet) unless you wanted to eat at 9 pm at night.

Again, communication failure extraordinaire.

All of our excursions were rushed, truncated, or partially missed because the boat just had to get underway. The Juneau bike ride was grossly misrepresented. The excursion was supposed to be a scenic bike ride through all the supposedly beauty of Juneau. 95 % of the ride was through the ghettos of Juneau.

We paid over 200.00 for this. What a rip-off.

I was told by our recruiter to NOT forget about our 100.00 on board credit. I asked him what we could spend it on. He suggested upgrading one of our meals with a fancy meal.

I elected to by my wife a 100.00 bottle of perfume. Later I find out after the purchase that my on board credit was absorbed up front. What an embarrassment that was with my wife. That credit was not revealed to me until I asked about it a guest services.

It did not show up on my folio until the end of the trip.

Medical: The trouble is you cant find Medical unless you use the amidships elevator. The directions on board this vessel absolutely SUCK! I had to ask three times how to get to medical the first time.

There are no personal freezers in the rooms. If you need a freezer for certain meds, you have to take it all the way to medical and store it there.

This is an absolute bunch of BS.

When you go to a specialty store like to get a massage or something, you can get out unless you buy something due to the high pressure sales.

They said the gym was on the 17th floor. It was, however, they failed to tell you that in order to get in, you have to go down the starboard side. If you walk down the port, you are screwed because the door is locked on the port side. Again, directions suck!

The only thing good about this cruise was the food, the people who served it and housekeeping, I would award this cruise company with a negative 1 if I could.

The only people that would get a decent score here are these folks.

I could list 10 or 15 more inadequacies / short comings but this will do. Unless you love stress, discontent, misinformation, and rip-offs, stay off this boat.

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Back in June, 2024 I was contacted by Princess Promotions (PP) with a package offer. We had used Princess Cruises several times so we agreed.

We put a deposit down ($3,000 US) and agreed to monthly payments for 14 months. This has turned out to be a big mistake. We were promised many things with the package and since we had planned to take at least two more cruises this seemed ideal. When I went to book our first cruise we were informed that we had to pay off our plan.

We had been told that we could use the plan while paying for it. I decided to cancel the plan. I was contacted by PP and told they would mark our file so we could use the plan while paying for it. Since our supposed Cruise advisor was not advising, they also gave us another advisor.

In the interim the price had gone up and we were stuck paying about $1,300 more for our Panama Canal cruise. On August 1st the original advisor called to inform us that we had been sold a US plan but we are in Canada so we had to get a new Canadian plan. This would cost us more ($3,400 US) and the terms changed. We agreed and pointed out that we had already paid $3,000 US and asked about getting the money back.

We were, by the advisor, that he would make it happen quickly. We are now at August 23rd and despite numerous calls and emails I am still waiting for my refund. I have been promised different things at different times. First it was 7 to 15 days (Passed); then it was 7 to 22 days (Also passed), recently it was that I should get it by August 30th.

On August 9th, after all of the false promises and other problems, my wife and I asked to cancel our plan. In Ontario you can do this within 10 days with no issue, Princess obviously don't know this or don't care. As of today (23rd or August) our plan still exists and our trip is still booked. I have taken steps to go around PP and recover my money asking the credit card company to cancel the charges.

I am writing this to warn users to be very careful is using PP. Take many notes, hold them to their promises and if they make misleading statements or fail to keep their promises get out.

I was on a cruise to Alaska on Discovery Princess that left Seattle on August 10, 2024. It was my daughter-in-law's idea, so the three of us went together.

This was the first time for me, and I did enjoy most of it.

I went to a talk about Acupuncture, and it sounded like something I would like to try. I met with her, and she said she could fix my drop foot, help me to lose weight, get rid of the pain in my back and knee, and help with my depression. I am a 75-year-old widowed, disabled veteran, and I'm lonely.

She did two sessions that evening and three the next day. My back was better, but the pain was back in two days. She told me that all my issues would be gone for a year and if I took her herbs, they would be gone for three years. Well, nothing has changed, and I am no better off than before her treatments.

During all the sessions she would rub my cheek with the back of her fingers and tell me how cute I was.

In my opinion, it was all snake oil medicine, and she took advantage of a lonely old man.

It was all elder abuse, and I have stopped payment on the over 10,000 in charges with the bank. I want the charges for all this reversed.

Back in June 2024, I was contacted by Princess Promotions (PP) with a package offer. We had used Princess Cruises several times, so we agreed.

We put down a deposit of $3,000 US and agreed to make monthly payments for 14 months. This ended up being a big mistake. We were promised many things with the package and since we planned to take at least two more cruises, this seemed ideal. When I went to book our first cruise, we were informed that we needed to pay off our plan.

We were told that we could use the plan while still making payments. I decided to cancel the plan. I was contacted by PP and told they would modify our file so we could use the plan while still making payments. Since our supposed Cruise Advisor was not advising, they assigned us a different one.

However, the price had increased in the interim, and we ended up paying an additional $1,300 for our Panama Canal cruise. On August 1, the original advisor called to inform that we had been sold a US plan, but since we live in Canada, we had to get a new Canadian plan. This would cost us more ($3,400 US) and the terms had changed. We agreed, pointing out that we had already paid $3,000 US, and asked about a refund.

We were assured by the advisor that he would expedite the process. On August 23, despite making numerous calls and sending countless emails, I am still waiting for my refund. I have been given multiple timelines - first it was 7 to 15 days (passed), then it was 7 to 22 days (also passed). Most recently, it was suggested that I should receive it by August 30.

On August 9, after the multitude of false promises and other issues, my wife and I decided to cancel our plan. In Ontario you can do this within 10 days with no issue - Princess clearly either doesn't know this or doesn't care. As of today (August 23), our plan still exists and our trip is still booked. I am pursuing all available routes to recover my money, including requesting the credit card company to cancel the charges.

I am sharing this experience as a crucial warning for others regarding Princess Promotions.

Document your interactions carefully, hold them accountable to their promises and, should they make false statements or fail to deliver, don't hesitate to extricate yourself. Speak up and let others know your experience.