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Pied Piper Cruises


Luke916
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....I never understand why people expect the hosts to babysit...

 

You'll note from my previous quotes that I am a PP fan and not a chronic bitcher, so don't take this as anything but a minor bitch in the midst of my almost always hoorays for PP:

Babysit, no. But they are, by definition, hosts. As such, they make very few mistakes in my eyes, but we've been on a couple of PP cruises (among many other PP cruises) on which ALL the hosts sat at their own table all together! Hosting each other? :confused: That is, fortunately, not the usual case. On the better PP cruises, the host(s) were spread among the various tables and when there was only one host, he ate at the same table each night but made the rounds to the other tables, spending adequate time chatting with the other guests. So much better, and very much appreciated.

Sympathizing with the fellow who had to jump from table-to-table to find empty seats rather than stay stuck at a table for 4, I'll point out that having to jump around like that means you can't develop any rapport with the waiters. We would hate that because most waiters take pride in knowing that, for example, you'll want iced tea every night, a few sprigs of mint and your steak "medium". That's not all that important, but it is a nice enhancement you'll miss if you don't sit at the same table every night.

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  • 3 weeks later...
Hi, not booked with PP but heard that there is a PP group going to be on board , how easy is it to join in the fun?

 

Sam

 

Unfortunately Sam, you won't be allowed into any of PP's private parties (usually a welcoming and farewell get together in a closed bar). But I'm sure any family you do meet will be welcoming.

We've been on a TA with Cunard but without PP and they had a FOD meet everyday, open to everyone, so you should meet some others there.

Have a great time.

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Hi, not booked with PP but heard that there is a PP group going to be on board , how easy is it to join in the fun?

 

Sam

 

As R&A said, you won't be able to attend PP functions onboard (cruise line restriction) but you will have changes to mingle with them in the Commodore Club and G32 - the unofficial gay bars on QM2. :)

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Are these PP cruises taken by hot men looking for casual encounters? Or is it mainly for monogamous older couples?

The main desire of PP cruisers in my experience is to travel with like minded people to interesting places. The cruisers run the gamut of all age levels. Many are coupled, many are single, many are interesting. Like real life. All mix well and, yes, all are hot.

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  • 4 weeks later...
Went on first PP cruise Valparaiso to Buenos Aires had a great time with some wonderful people. Bruce hosted and did a terrific job. Met guys from Mexico, UK, USA, Canada and Virginia. Had to travel on my own. This time my hubby will going with me on Solstice thru PP on cruise Australia/New Zealand in January '14. We'll be in AKL on 2nd and leave SYD on 19th of Jan. Maybe will reunite with guys I met before. Hope so. Anyone from SoCal going? We live in Chula Vista.

 

Hi,

We are Mark and Ric from San Francisco and will be on the Solstice for the Jan 3, 2014 sailing from Auckland to Sydney, and we also booked through PP. We'll meet you at the first get together. This will be our second PP cruise - the first was Panama Canal in Oct 2012. The cruise was fun, and mixed reviews on the host. For the upcoming cruise we were wondering how many people are in the PP group, but PP doesn't provide that information. I hope there are enough to justify having a host. We know of 2 other couples who booked thru PP. We're flying to Auckland on Dec 26 and staying with friends for a few days, and then a few days in Auckland. We did this itinerary in 2012 with Princess and really enjoyed the cruise and ports. We weren't able to see the fjords due to bad weather and we're looking forward to seeing the Sounds this time.

Mark

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Mark and Ric, Brian from PP said there will be a host, but did not provide any idea of how many people will be on that cruise. We arrive on Jan 1 into Auckland after spending New Years Eve in Sydney. We are looking forward to a wonderful cruise. Our first time in New Zealand.

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Mark and Ric, Brian from PP said there will be a host, but did not provide any idea of how many people will be on that cruise. We arrive on Jan 1 into Auckland after spending New Years Eve in Sydney. We are looking forward to a wonderful cruise. Our first time in New Zealand.

 

Thanks for the info, Darrell. Neither Bob nor I have been there before. Looking forward to it. Be great if Bruce were to be host. He's a super guy. Mark mentioned that they had bad weather on last cruise and missed fjords. Keep fingers crossed. Fjords are main reason for our interest in this cruise. Looking forward to meeting you. Any idea when we get suggested excursions from PP? Fred.

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I don't know that Pied Piper does much in the way of excursions. We have booked a few with Celebrity and will go out on our own in several ports as it seems the ship will be close to town.

 

Weather can make a big difference. I too hope we get lucky with that.

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  • 4 weeks later...

They have to be the single worse travel agency in the country. The owner of the company has no social skills, lies to customers and then tries to make it your fault that they made a mistake or ignores you all together.

 

My experience with them was, I was overcharged and was asked to contact Robert, their accountant. It turns out Robert doesn't exist and was the owner Derek. Who ignored my email showing that he overcharged me. When I brought this to his attention I was told I was being rude. It took weeks for them to acknowledge they would pay me back. Keep in mind they never apologized or even said they made the mistake.

 

When I wasn't paid back, 2 weeks later I put a dispute in with my credit card company. They went after Celebrity Cruises who then went after Pied Piper. That was when I was finally contacted by Derek of Pied Piper, who demanded I stop my dispute immediately.

 

He wanted immediate action for something he did wrong, but accused me of being nasty to his make believe employee. I did cancel my dispute after a call from the accounting department at Celebrity Cruises. The woman there told me how she was belittled and scolded because she was allowing me to continue my dispute. She was as nice as could be, something that Derek of Pied Piper doesn't know anything about.

 

While on the cruise I heard one nightmare of a story after another, all to do with the lack of customer service from Pied Piper. I did encourage them all to post something, somewhere online about their experience with this so-called travel agency. My table of 8 turned into a table of 13, that should of held no more than 10-12 people. Never mind half of our group had our cabins changed without informing us. And if we hadn't found this out for ourselves, we would of arrived to the ship with this having happened.

 

I did go on the cruise and had a great time with a group of friends. We all said we would never book with Pied Piper again. Nor did we participate in any of their events while on the ship.

 

This travel agency is run by a social misfit, who hired a group of social misfits. They don't know the first thing about handling people face-to-face or over the phone. They ignore indecent acts by their group members and flaunt themselves to other cruise passengers not in their group. They feel as a large group on a ship they are above the rules of the cruise line, and carry themselves so.

 

Stay clear of this travel agency whether your a customer or traveling on a ship the same time one of their groups are. Check out their travel calendar and book a different ship or timeframe.

 

http://piedpipertravel.com/gaygroupcruises/cruise-calendar.php

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They have to be the single worse travel agency in the country. The owner of the company has no social skills, lies to customers and then tries to make it your fault that they made a mistake or ignores you all together.

 

Not my experiences at all. Of course I don't expect much from them but to book me and maybe say hello and host a party or 2. I certainly don't need babysat and someone to fix my dining arrangements. If I find dining arrangements not to my liking, I moved to another table to meet more friends. I was amazed how many nights I'd see entire empty tables in MDR or half filled tables. It was nice to join a new group and dil in the missing seats. If you read any of my posts, i'm all about "PERSONAL RESPONSIBILITY" and handling the little things on my own like a big boy.

 

I can say all my communication with PP was answered promptly, accurately and all changes requested were handled the same. A requested cabin upgrade and change and payment was handled within 20 minutes on a saturday afternoon even when I found a suite open I wanted.

 

I enjoyed meeting several of the hosts and certainly can't cast a broad net they are all social misfits. They are in fact the social butterflies making the rest of us social, why I choose pied piper. True Derek himself may be at the tail end of the Social Hosts, but the rest more than make up for Derek.

 

Clearly you had an issue of some sort, and let it cloud the rest of the trip. A credit card dispute is simple task to handle, if there's a double bill, just call card company and that's that. let the process work. You talk to CC company and they talk to PP and Celebrity. There is no reason for you to have to get in that loop if you follow the cc dispute process properly, so its possible that caused further delay in the dispute process.

 

And cruise lines OFTEN move cabins around for many reasons, sometimes to accommodate families with children where the line requires them in adjoining or side-by side cabins as an example, or perhaps on a not-full sailing as this was, maybe some cabins needed deep cleaning or some sort of maintenance putting the room out-of-order requiring a swap. It's allowed in the contract of sailing we all agree to.

 

I'd love to hear more about the ongoing regular nightmares you had to experience - maybe then I would have to reconsider my support for PP based on further facts. I'm having a hard time trying to figure out what sort of possible scenario could happen that would be PP's fault rather then the cruise line once the ship left port - especially given you say you whose to not participate in any further PP activities on the cruise. I assume a cabin swap or dining arrangement issue aren't of the size or urgency to be deemed "nightmares". Its possibly these nightmares that are more worth this rant and posting to give better reason and significance to this.

 

In any case, you weren't happy, that's too bad, please find another group to sail with as I found the entire experience and group to be among the best vacations of my life and am eagerly awaiting next year with Pied Piper. This happy group doesn't need any negative nellies sailing with us.

Edited by cle-guy
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I just came back from the 20123 Celebrity reflection Post Thanksgiving cruise. Yes, I booked with PP as well as 10 other cabins of friends. We all encountered problems before the cruise with communication and unprofessional conduct with PP. There were also numerous facebook posts detailing similar experiences.

 

I have the time of my life ON this cruise, but it had nothing to do with Pied Piper. The private parties they hosted were unorganized and we walked out laughing. The pool deck dance parties were a joke also - horrible sound system and no DJ. It sounded like gay 101 music on a CD. The only benefit I saw was the Leslie Jordon show which only PP people could get into. (Leslie Jordon was wonderful!)

 

I found the PP staff click-ish and stuck up, I never saw them mix/mingle like you would expect. I called a PP rep during the cruise to ask about events and got ATTITUDE. He also asked 3 times "who is this?" - each time telling him my name and cabin number. The excellent time we had was due SOLELY to Celebrity Cruise line and that there were 850 gay guys on board.

 

I do not book excursions unless in foreign countries. Anyone with 1/2 a brain can do it themselves cheaper and easier. I did hear the PP excursions were not PP at all - they had other non-PP passengers within the buses. I am sure PP must have received commissions off the excursions of PP passengers too, that's why they promoted them.

 

I think people expect more from PP than they do. They really are just in it for the $$$$, it is very obvious when you look at it. They are a Travel Agency, not a tour operator/host. They DO misrepresent themselves and lead people to believe they are RSVP or Atlantis. But, they are only a Travel Agency getting commission off everyone booking through them. I calculated their commission at low side of $200k for this cruise. (850 guys at 25% comm) - not including excursions, drink packages, etc.. The base cruise price is cheaper through PP, but I did learn that Celebrity will give groups of 10+ cabins the similar discounts. It seriously looked to me like 850 guys paid for 10+ PP employees, 1 celebrity and 2 bad strippers to get a free cruise (suites on deck 14 btw). I personally will never book through PP again, but would book independently with the cruise line on an advertised PP cruise.

 

Is it worth it too you? It may be to you to be included in "the group", but don't think you are actually getting something besides a faux gold lapel pin. You are on your own. I have also never heard of a horror story with Pied Piper, just unprofessional behavior not typical within the gay travel business. So use your own judgement.

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I've done a few PP cruises and know what they offer on a cruise. It is minimal what you do get and that's fine. But the lack of any customer service to the point of them lying and trying to cheat me out of money and then denying it is another thing.

 

I choose to not participate in the PP events only because I choose to hang out with my group of friends and I knew most of the events are unorganized. Although this year's Post Thanksgiving cruise was much less organized for PP.

 

The only decent PP event is usually the hired talent, but not always. The staff use to at least pretend they cared about their customers. This was shown in the fact the PP hospitality desk hours were greatly reduced.

 

The PP excursions are advertised that they are for PP guest only. So if you know there are non PP guest on a PP excursion, then PP isn't telling the truth, again.

 

And the PP cruise base prices aren't always cheaper, they just don't include the port fees, which Celebrity does. Add them in and the price could be ± $5-15 in favor of either company. They aren't always cheaper, another false claim.

 

Maybe PP should worry about the behavior of their guest on the Post Thanksgiving cruise and stop pretending its an Atlantis cruise, which is a charter cruise. This doesn't seem to effect the owner Derek and PP's reputation with other non PP passengers.

 

And did Derek walk around the Fantasy party asking for drink tickets back from anyone not planning on using them. So he could get his money back from Celebrity. I gave mine away to someone that went to the party.

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First off, Welcome to Cruise Critic! The community here will have many opinions and bits of advice to help your cruising along the way!

 

Yes, PP is in business to make money, that's what businesses, even travel agents do so they can support employees and their lives and families. Not sure why that is wrong...25% commission seems a bit strong.....but I have no real information on what they pay. I do know that UK gravel agents get 7% as I have seen a fellow traveler share his actual TA invoice from X to the TA. But I don't know what US ones get. I figured 10% or 15%. So they made 200k on this you think, they figure 25k went to entertainment costs (it may be even more as I'm unsure what Leslie charges, and certain he has many needs within his contract as far as his rider and extra expenses - I come from entertainment having booked many music and comedy acts), 175 to split among the staff and to pay bills (what does new york office rent cost anyway?). 10 staff on this cruise for them, and not sure how many work the full year for them. so that's really only 17k per staff member, not really an awesome job. Yes income comes form other cruses in the year, but none as large as this. I believe in businesses making a profit, what can I say. I admire their business model!

 

As to PP being in the suites on 14, I watched the suite inventory daily on this (at final payment, there were still 37 unbooked suites and at one point the Signature Suites on 14 were cheaper than the sky suites), and can tell you they only nabbed them after final payments and looked like they were going to sail empty. I know the last signature suite wasn't taken till about 7 days prior to sailing. Refllection was there untill final payments. And I'm certain it was Celebrity who upgraded them to the cabins that were going to sail empty, being that PP does at least 10 cruses a year with X and this big one annually, so I see nothing wrong with X upgrading a good and loyal customer who drives business to them. And I know they also had 2 hosts share cabins, so 1 got sofa bed got the bedroom for those that did stay in the signature suites.

 

Yes we can all arrange our own excursions, probably cheaper. This is the 1st thing a new cruiser learns. People pay a premium for excursions organized by a 3rd party but also get the safety of knowing that if an excursion runs late or has an issue, the ship will wait. Also allows people to use any OBC they receive to pay for excursions.

 

I don't think PP holds themselves out as RSVP or Atlantis at all. In fact I booked with them because they whole vibe seemed to be the polar opposite of an Atlantis cruise. I've already noted my communication with them has been great, even receiving replies on saturdays. In fact today I got the Cunard flyer in email, and have already had 2 emails back and forth regarding that. It is unfortunate your experience has been so different.

 

All this considered, I see no reason NOT to book thru PP again, even if one doesn't feel they got any value from the extras. At least the initial cabin fare was less than the standard price, and you get to attend the private parties which I agree are nothing special, especially in the BIG group. The cheaper price in itself is reason enough to book.

 

I would agree PP shines with the smaller groups they handle and the big group is an anomaly to their normal thing, but clearly it's become an annual event for many and I look forward to making it my annual vacation as well.

 

As to calling them in their cabins while sailing why didn't you use the hospitality suite that was set up. It's there SPECIFICALLY for this reason. Maybe they were napping and you woke them from a nap, the hospitality suite was there to split the load among their staff for a reason.

 

Everyone has different expectations and views of service. Mine is much different than yours was and it's unfortunate you weren't satisfied.

Edited by cle-guy
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And did Derek walk around the Fantasy party asking for drink tickets back from anyone not planning on using them. So he could get his money back from Celebrity. I gave mine away to someone that went to the party.

 

Forst off, Welcome to Cruise Critic! Your quest for knowledge all things cruise is just starting.

 

Curious how would you know this is the reason? Typically something like that, they would pay celebrity AFTER the fact for any coupons people presented when buying drinks. Celebrity wouldn't sell a big old block of them outright so many of us had drink packages there was really no need to even have the coupons really so especially not smart to pay for them all up front knowing most aren't needed.

 

The tickets were made by PP themselves and printed themselves, not by celebrity.....

 

Is it possible he was collecting to let people without a drink package use them?

Edited by cle-guy
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I have been on 3 cruises booked through Pied Piper and have another one scheduled for June, 2014. I have enjoyed each one, have had good service through Pied Piper, and have met many enjoyable new travel companions as a result. I am someone who keeps looking at prices and cabin vacancies regularly so I request a number of changes for every cruise. The staff (and usually Derek) have been very responsive and polite to my every change request. In my price review, I generally get a much better price when booking through Pied Piper than directly with the cruise line or another on line travel company. I would not want someone who is looking for a cruise (particularly solo travelers as am I) to overlook booking with Pied Piper based solely on the negative comments on this board. Obviously different people view things differently!

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  • 2 months later...

I'm just back from my first cruise with Pied Piper. This was my 21st cruise; 16 of my cruises were either RSVP or Atlantis. The other four were independently booked.

 

Regarding pricing, Pied Piper was about $8 cheaper all in, so cost is not a factor.

 

Their customer service -- especially in matters of accounting -- is a disgrace. I prefer to pay for my vacations as multiple small payments. It's easier for me to budget it that way. Atlantis automates this; Pied Piper doesn't. That's fine -- I'm happy to email periodically and request that they charge a certain amount and apply it to my account. I did this monthly after booking, including a couple of times when I asked that the payment be applied half to my account and half to my boyfriend.

 

When I asked for an accounting of the payments and how they were applied, I was told that they were too busy working on another cruise. Six weeks later I asked again and was told they were still too busy. I did not EVER get an accounting of my payments.

 

WORSE...I got an email (not a invoice -- an email) asking for my final payment just before the due date, assuring me that all the payments were handled properly and verifying that this was the final amount. I instructed them on how to apply it (half to my credit card, half to my boyfriend), assuming that was it. NO, it wasn't. A few days later, they came back asking for an additional $300 even though they had said that the amount was final. Again, there was no acounting for what they'd already charged us.

 

Service? Non-existent. They provide no support for flights or for hotels before or after the cruise.

 

On-board hosting? Laughable. The "hosts" (three cute, young things) kept completely to themselves on the shore excursions and aboard. Derek and (presumably) the rest of the Pied Piper senior staff was seated in the dining room AT THE TABLE NEXT TO ME. No one ever bothered to get up, walk over, and say hello.

 

I will also point out that we were a group of 23 people that were all new to Pied Piper. After two of us booked cabins initially, everyone else decided to join in. After we brought Pied Piper well over $30,000 in business, there wasn't even the TINIEST acknowledgement.

 

I will not ever do business with Pied Piper again.

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