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Princess does not love me anymore?


whiterose
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With more than 350 days on Princess it really hurts to think they don't want us to sail with them again. This April we were on the Star for 28 days and mostly it was a very good cruise. Because I have a severe hearing loss I was upset that almost none of the movies and programs on the TV were closed captioned. That meant I could not even watch a movie in our cabin. Obviously I could not expect to hear the shows, movies, MUTS and other forms of entertainment but I did expect to be able to enjoy captioned movies on the TV.

 

I talked to the front desk staff several times but they could not do anything about the TV captioning and their attitude was "please go away and don't bother me anymore". I filled out comment cards and they said they would forward them to LA but I never heard back. My travel agent forwarded an email to Princess Access and I emailed them myself but no answer.

 

Now when I go on My Princess I cannot see any Special Deals and we have not received one single email or snailmail cruise offer or any mail at all from Princess since we got back. Before we got them every week it seemed.

 

Any suggestions? Anyone at Princess who might listen and give me the courtesy of a reply?

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With more than 350 days on Princess it really hurts to think they don't want us to sail with them again. This April we were on the Star for 28 days and mostly it was a very good cruise. Because I have a severe hearing loss I was upset that almost none of the movies and programs on the TV were closed captioned. That meant I could not even watch a movie in our cabin. Obviously I could not expect to hear the shows, movies, MUTS and other forms of entertainment but I did expect to be able to enjoy captioned movies on the TV.

 

I talked to the front desk staff several times but they could not do anything about the TV captioning and their attitude was "please go away and don't bother me anymore". I filled out comment cards and they said they would forward them to LA but I never heard back. My travel agent forwarded an email to Princess Access and I emailed them myself but no answer.

 

Now when I go on My Princess I cannot see any Special Deals and we have not received one single email or snailmail cruise offer or any mail at all from Princess since we got back. Before we got them every week it seemed.

 

Any suggestions? Anyone at Princess who might listen and give me the courtesy of a reply?

 

 

Given that it states on Princess website that in-cabin movies feature closed captioning you have a legitimate complaint regarding the lack of that feature on your recent cruise and Guest Service attitude towards your inquiries . Though I personally believe that all in-room TV programing should have the close captioned feature Princess does not mention that all in-cabin TV programing has that feature so to have expected that might have been an unrealistic expectation.

 

Following was copied directly from Princess' website :

Sight and Hearing Disabilities

Guests with sight and hearing disabilities will find vessels equipped with such helpful features as Braille elevator call buttons, audible arrival sounds and infrared listening assistance systems in the Princess theaters. ADA "all in one" kits are available upon request -- featuring telephone amplifiers, visual smoke detectors, door knock sensors, text telephones (TDD) and other aids.
In-cabin movies feature close captioning,
and ship libraries feature a selection of books on tape.

 

Regarding deals and emails really don't think this has anything to do with your recent complaint. Rather it's just happens to be coincidental and your more aware of the lack therefore due to the timing of your complaint.

 

Hope you receive a favorable reply from Princess .

Edited by xxoocruiser
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Do you book directly or through a TA?? When we had problems with Princess accessibility issues in the past, we also never received any response from our own complaints and contacts, but they did respond when our TA contacted them, and we got an apology and credit for another cruise. Worth a try...but in general we have also found them generally unconcerned and with poor staff training about disability needs....and we are Platinum too.

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We book through a TA and she forwarded my report of lack of access and rude behaviour by front desk staff. She sent it to her sales contact at Princess who then forwarded it "their office of compliance". That was 3 months ago and no response at all from Princess. A month ago I emailed the Princess Access Dept but have not had any reply.

 

At this point I'm most upset by the attitude of the front desk staff and the fact that Princess won't even acknowledge they received my complaint. If I'd had a nice apology and some sympathy right at the beginning (on the cruise) I would have just moved on.

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We book through a TA and she forwarded my report of lack of access and rude behaviour by front desk staff. She sent it to her sales contact at Princess who then forwarded it "their office of compliance". That was 3 months ago and no response at all from Princess. A month ago I emailed the Princess Access Dept but have not had any reply.

 

At this point I'm most upset by the attitude of the front desk staff and the fact that Princess won't even acknowledge they received my complaint. If I'd had a nice apology and some sympathy right at the beginning (on the cruise) I would have just moved on.

 

 

Try e-mailing costumer relations :confused:

 

<costumerrelations@princesscruises.com>

 

I've always had success with them!! ;)

 

Cato :)

 

 

Completed Cruises !

 

Pre-cruise Days - The Big Red Boat, 1993 ??

 

1st cruise - Coral Princess, 19 November 2008, 10 day Panama Canal, FLL to ACA

2nd cruise - Coral Princess, 15 May 2009, 3 day Repositioning, Los Angeles to Vancouver.

3rd cruise - Sapphire Princess, 25 November 2009? 7 day Mexican Riviera.

4th cruise - Golden Princes, 12 June 2010, 7 day Alaska. (Golden Anniversary Cruise)

5th Cruise - Island Princess, 04 October 2010, Vancouver - Los Angeles, Repositioning

6th cruise - Sapphire Princess, 05 January 2011, 10 day Mexican Riviera. LA to LA.

7th cruise - Golden Princess, 11 May 2011, 3 day, LA to Vancouver, Repositioning

8th cruise - Sapphire Princess, 14 May 2011, 1 day, Vancouver to Seattle, Repositioning

9th cruise - Coral Princess 19 May 2011 2 day, San Francisco to Vancouver, Repositioning

10th & 11th cruises - Coral Princess 02 July to 16 July 2011, round trip Vancouver - Whittier Alaska, B2B

12th & 13th cruises - Sapphire Princess, x2, Cabins, 18 Sep. 2011, 1 day, Seattle to Vancouver, Repositioning

14th & 15th cruises - Golden Princess, x2, Cabins, 24 Sep. 2011, 1 day, Seattle to Vancouver, Repositioning.

We have now reached Elite status with Princess Cruise Lines

16th cruise - Oasis of the Seas, 26 Nov. 2011, 7 day, Western Caribbean, Ft. Lauderdale, Ret.

17th & 18th cruises - Crown Princess B2B, 03 - 10 Dec & 10 - 17 Dec 2011, 14 Days, South & western Caribbean

19th cruise - Grand Princess, 31 Mar. - 07 April 2012, 7 Days, Eastern Caribbean, FLL - FLL

20th cruise - Island Princess, 06-16 June 2012, 10 day cruisetour Vancouver - Wittier

21th cruise - Emerald Princess, 16 day, 10 - 26 Sep. 2012, TA, Copenhagen - New York

22nd cruise - Carnival Ecstasy 10 - 14 January, 2013, 4 Day Bahamas, Port Canaveral Ret.

23rd cruise - Sapphire Princess 30 March - 06 April, 2013, 7 Day Coastal LA - LA

24th cruise - Coral Princess, 19 May - 22 May, 2013, 3 Day Repositioning Cruise, LA - Vancouver

25th cruise - Royal Princess 16 June - 05 July, 2013, 19 Day Inaugural cruise, Southampton - Venice.

 

 

Future & Hopeful Cruises !

( Already booked )

.

26th cruise - Royal Princess, 24 November - 01 December, 2013, 7 Day,Eastern Caribbean, Fort Lauderdale Ret.

27th cruise - Caribbean Princess, 29 Mar. - 05 Apr. 2014, 7 Day, Western Caribbean, Houston Ret.

28th cruise - Regal Princess, 02 June - 19 June, 2014, Venice - Barcelona, - Venice 17 days

29th cruise - Royal Princess 19 - 29 Dec, 2014, Christmas, Fort Lauderdale Ret.

30th cruise - Royal Princess 29 Dec - 08 Jan. 2014/2015, New Years, Fort Lauderdale. Ret.

 

 

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Thanks for all the tips. Earlier this week I emailed Customer Relations at Princess. Got the automatic reply saying most people get a response in one to two weeks. It will be interesting to see how long it takes for me to get a reply. I'll let you know what they say.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Princess is not accessible friendly:mad:. They have only one almost full time person who handles all accessibility issues for all the ships. Last u\year this one person was out on vacation for 4 days and Princess thought soo much about accessible needs to not have anyone handle any of the inquires, until that "new" person returned from vacation. We had to contact a manager who overseas the accessible issues and even then it was quite clear that they really don't care about challenged folks traveling on the Princess. We are Elite passengers and have been very loyal, however its clear that corporate just doesn't give a D... The on board folks try hard... With the exception of the knuckheads who never seem to be able to place a safe ramp down to the dock that allows for wheelchair or scooter access....:(:mad:

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whiterose: I hear you! I think it would have been a good idea if you had contacted the Access Compliance Specialist [Amber Moraco-661-284-4521] at Princess's home office before you boarded, you may have had a clearer picture and they would of been given a better opportunity to show you what would be offered to you while you were onboard.

It's what I do. I make my requests before I get onboard. I find out who the "go-to" person will be should I run into any problems and what my expcectations should be in resolving any issues. I make it clear what my needs will be and what will make me happy for my upcoming cruise.

I find Princess to be very receptive in responding to my requests and in making sure that my cruising experience is a good one. They really appreciate the heads-up! As does most public oriented businesses.

I know that we sometimes would rather not tell everybody everything about ourselves but it really helps when you're looking for special treatment of a specific issue.

I hope that your next cruise will be a better one for you

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No you didn't pry so no worries there. Okay here goes, I did in fact email Amber in Princess Access in advance and she arranged for me to have a special receiver for the FM listening system in the show lounge. So I do appreciate that she made that effort for me and the receiver did help to some extent. She told me that my cabin TV would have captioning.

 

The reason I got so upset on this 28 day cruise was that virtually none of the movies or shows on our cabin TV were closed captioned. The TV did display captions okay because once in a while I would actually come across a children's movie with captions. However, I estimate that 95% of the stuff shown was not captioned. This is so stupid because almost every TV show and movie is available with captions. For some reason Princess' supplier sends them the non captioned versions.

 

I knew that the Front Desk people could not wave a magic wand and make the captions appear but I would have loved a little sympathy or maybe even an apology from them. Instead they just said they would notify LA.

 

Now to add insult to injury, Access Services will not anwer my emails (3 months), Customer Relations has not answered the email I sent over 3 weeeks ago. I no longer get email or snailmail offers from Princess and before we used to get these on a regular basis. Because of my hearing loss I don't feel comfortable calling by phone.

 

When we first started sailing with Princess they had really nothing to offer passengers with hearing loss but the staff and crew went out of their way to be nice and do what they could to help me enjoy the cruise. I think the ships are now too big and the staff is too busy to take time to care.

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No you didn't pry so no worries there. Okay here goes, I did in fact email Amber in Princess Access in advance and she arranged for me to have a special receiver for the FM listening system in the show lounge. So I do appreciate that she made that effort for me and the receiver did help to some extent. She told me that my cabin TV would have captioning.

 

The reason I got so upset on this 28 day cruise was that virtually none of the movies or shows on our cabin TV were closed captioned. The TV did display captions okay because once in a while I would actually come across a children's movie with captions. However, I estimate that 95% of the stuff shown was not captioned. This is so stupid because almost every TV show and movie is available with captions. For some reason Princess' supplier sends them the non captioned versions.

 

I knew that the Front Desk people could not wave a magic wand and make the captions appear but I would have loved a little sympathy or maybe even an apology from them. Instead they just said they would notify LA.

 

Now to add insult to injury, Access Services will not anwer my emails (3 months), Customer Relations has not answered the email I sent over 3 weeeks ago. I no longer get email or snailmail offers from Princess and before we used to get these on a regular basis. Because of my hearing loss I don't feel comfortable calling by phone.

 

When we first started sailing with Princess they had really nothing to offer passengers with hearing loss but the staff and crew went out of their way to be nice and do what they could to help me enjoy the cruise. I think the ships are now too big and the staff is too busy to take time to care.

 

Again, I hear what you're saying! [i think I'm using up my "pun" quotient here.]

I found that Holland America was most responsive to the hearing impaired. They supplied a light that attached to the inside of the cabin door and when someone knocked on the door the light would blink. Also, they had inhancers for the movies, these were speakers [headsets] that you could wear to assist in hearing the movie, [if you are profoundly deaf this wouldn't help, of course.] The TV in my cabin had close captioning. Also NCL had a light that attached to the phone and the door [i just don't like the cruiseline!] And, HAL is not so convenient for me in terms of the piers they disembark from, etc.

I've found the crews onboard to be very responsive once they're told about my specific problem. You and I both know that nothings perfect and being hearing challenged can be a real connundrum in our society. We look so "normal!"

While onboard the Diamond Princess a crew member, in the Showroom actually approached me [i'm hard to miss because I do travel with a Hearing Dog] and asked me where I wanted to sit. She then left for about 10 minutes and came back with "reserved" signs for three seats exactly where I wanted them. It was so nice to know that I would be able to have the same seats every night and wouldn't have to struggle with lip reading from a "mile" away.

They would have notes delivered to my cabin, [we had a deal that they would leave the notes either under my door or in the same place they would leave the "Patter", their daily newspaper. Rather than expecting me to hear the phone or the knock on the door. I don't like close captioning on the TV or the movie screen [too distracting], because I'm a lip reader all those words flying across the screen can ruin the movie, for me!

Because Princess is the most responsive, I've made them my line of choice. I prefer their ships, food, destinations and crew above all others.....for now!

I hope that you too can find a comfort zone with cruising, it's such a great way to travel and see new places.

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Roz, many thanks for a very interesting and informative response. I like your suggestion to have someone on board I can go to if things go wrong - will definitely make that request next time I book with Princess. You must be a wizard at lip reading. I'm pretty good but it is so tiring and does not work for TV because so many people speak off camera. A reserved seat near the front would be fabulous. Not too close because then I get a stiff neck but maybe 4 rows back.

 

Up to now I've loved Princess but the attitude of the front desk staff really upset me on this last cruise. Like they are trained never to smile or show sympathy, and just want you to go away and stop bothering them.

 

On all 22 cruises over 15 years I've made the same suggestion about more captions on the TV programs but nothing changes. It's like they go out of their way to find movies that are not captioned. It would not cost anything extra to show the captioned version and it would make a lot of hard of hearing passengers happy.

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Roz, many thanks for a very interesting and informative response. I like your suggestion to have someone on board I can go to if things go wrong - will definitely make that request next time I book with Princess. You must be a wizard at lip reading. I'm pretty good but it is so tiring and does not work for TV because so many people speak off camera. A reserved seat near the front would be fabulous. Not too close because then I get a stiff neck but maybe 4 rows back.

 

Up to now I've loved Princess but the attitude of the front desk staff really upset me on this last cruise. Like they are trained never to smile or show sympathy, and just want you to go away and stop bothering them.

 

On all 22 cruises over 15 years I've made the same suggestion about more captions on the TV programs but nothing changes. It's like they go out of their way to find movies that are not captioned. It would not cost anything extra to show the captioned version and it would make a lot of hard of hearing passengers happy.

 

"Attitudes" can be a deal breaker for me. If you're displaying an "attitude" that just seems to be negative and your treating me like I'm a nuisance to you.....you may have to show me to your supervisor. The Hotel Manager onboard is your very best "go-to" person, if you're good and fair questions are being ignored by others.

Don't forget to tell the HM that you felt that you were being ignored and do have a clear solution to what would make you happy and your cruising experience a better one!

There will be someone to tell you, "sorry, she's in a meeting", or "she's attending to a very important problem right now" respond with, "well, I am not leaving this desk until I can speak directly to her/him." Amazing how they can find her very quickly knowing that you're not leaving and are clogging-up their ignorant system.

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  • 5 months later...

Agree that Princess is not very friendly when it comes to those of us with physical challenges. My daughter and I sailed on the Ruby last November,(usually sail HAL) could not believe that I had to drive my scooter through the smoking area to get to the handicap elevator, this with my oxygen cannula and poc on my cart.

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