Anyone else having second thoughts about booking Princess at the mo??

I had been thinking of booking a last-minute cruise on Sea Princess out of Brisbane this summer, but all of these technical troubles they've been having, and the complaints some passengers have made about lack of communication, make me worried...

Any ship can have a breakdown, we all know that. It's more the lack of communication, to allow passengers to plan, that troubles me.

And if they cancel a departure, there are so many other expenses beyond the cruise fare that I'd get no refund on (eg travel insurance, dog kennelling).

My main reason for sailing Princess is the Brisbane departure. So much more convenient to just pile everything in the car and drive over to the port.

So if I ended up having to fly to Sydney to get on Sea Princess (for example), I might as well do HAL, as I prefer a number of things about HAL, especially the beds (I have a bad back, and my last Sun Princess bed dipped in the middle and to one side).

Sun Princess also chuntered across the Tasman at low speed, due to engine troubles. Sadly, Brisbane seems to be where old cruise ships go to die. ;)

I will say one thing for Princess though... they have lots of balconies and they do give good discounts to past cruisers, I've been offered as much as $500 off. HAL just gives you a drink coaster. ;)

What do others think? Have you been happy with Princess's communication when things went wrong?

Hi smalldog

We are booked on the Fijian Jewells cruise in December so I have read with interest about the problems with Sea Princess. I am not personally worried about our cruise, I understand from a friend who is cruising later in October that she is out of dry dock so I hope the problems have been resolved. I can't comment on the communication from Princess re the problems of course, but I gather from the message boards that some people have been quite unhappy.

I completely agree with you re departing from Brisbane, so much simplier than having to fly to Sydney! We have only done 3 cruises, and have loved them all. I think if you go with the flow and stay positive, you tend to have a fantastic holiday.

All the best with whatever you decide.

Regards

Polly

No, I just made a booking on Sea Princess.

As you say, things can go wrong - in the majority of times they don't.

While they weren't great with handling it early on, I don't think their communications generally were worse than average... though maybe the cruise industry sets low standards ;-).

And as for compensation, their response to those the most affected (except apparently Sydneysiders at the interim stage! :-( ) was decent and upfront.

Best you go with someone you have confidence with though. For something that you should look forward to, it's better to book where you would feel positive, if this gives you sufficient concern. You don't want to spend the next x months worrying.

Best you go with someone you have confidence with though. For something that you should look forward to, it's better to book where you would feel positive, if this gives you sufficient concern. You don't want to spend the next x months worrying.

Very true.

I think it puts all 3 ships down here in doubt...it's perception ofcourse but as they say perception is reality for a lot of people...

I had been thinking of booking a last-minute cruise on Sea Princess out of Brisbane this summer, but all of these technical troubles they've been having, and the complaints some passengers have made about lack of communication, make me worried...

 

Any ship can have a breakdown, we all know that. It's more the lack of communication, to allow passengers to plan, that troubles me.

 

And if they cancel a departure, there are so many other expenses beyond the cruise fare that I'd get no refund on (eg travel insurance, dog kennelling).

 

My main reason for sailing Princess is the Brisbane departure. So much more convenient to just pile everything in the car and drive over to the port.

 

So if I ended up having to fly to Sydney to get on Sea Princess (for example), I might as well do HAL, as I prefer a number of things about HAL, especially the beds (I have a bad back, and my last Sun Princess bed dipped in the middle and to one side).

 

Sun Princess also chuntered across the Tasman at low speed, due to engine troubles. Sadly, Brisbane seems to be where old cruise ships go to die. ;)

 

I will say one thing for Princess though... they have lots of balconies and they do give good discounts to past cruisers, I've been offered as much as $500 off. HAL just gives you a drink coaster. ;)

 

What do others think? Have you been happy with Princess's communication when things went wrong?

cruising from your home port is good as it saves you time and money but if you booked on p&o or RCI from Brisbane you could have the same problem with breakdowns and i'm sure they would treat you just as well as princess

Yes, because my small ship of choice, Ocean Princess is for sale.

I think if you go with the flow and stay positive, you tend to have a fantastic holiday.

True, Polly. I hope your cruise goes ahead as planned, and goes well. :)

For something that you should look forward to, it's better to book where you would feel positive, if this gives you sufficient concern. You don't want to spend the next x months worrying.

Yes, it's definitely put me off. I've even been thinking of just having a land-based holiday instead. But a cruise is definitely an exceptionally relaxing holiday. Hope your Sea Princess voyage is successful, and no further troubles. :)

cruising from your home port is good as it saves you time and money but if you booked on p&o or RCI from Brisbane you could have the same problem with breakdowns and i'm sure they would treat you just as well as princess

Home port is wonderful. Not a big fan of the style of P&O or RCI unfortunately, although I know many who enjoy them -- otherwise I'd give them a go.

We do get Cunard into town once or twice a year, but it's usually one way, so you've always got to fly to or from somewhere. I wouldn't mind that except that international one-way flights are far more expensive than half of a return.

THanks for your thoughts. :)

I absolutely would not book a Sea Princess cruise having experienced a cruise on it last June.

Would that stop me booking a different ship with them, No.

I just feel they really let everyone down on how they handled the problems with the Sea Princess, not being truthful and trying to evade answering any questions. I would have been spitting chips if I was on one of the cruises that lost a number of port calls and also the people that missed out on their cruise totally.

Yes, because my small ship of choice, Ocean Princess is for sale.

I like small ships, too. The cost sends me back to the big ones, alas. But one day... ;)

I see from your signature that you did the Alaskan marine highway. How was it? Did you organise it yourself, or use some kind of tour?

I asked about it when I was over there on HAL in 2009. I was very tempted to go back and do the journey on the ferries, but I haven't done so yet. I love connecting with local people and lifestyle, but the sheer convenience of not having to pack-unpack every day sways me back towards the cruise ships.

I absolutely would not book a Sea Princess cruise having experienced a cruise on it last June.

 

Would that stop me booking a different ship with them, No.

 

I just feel they really let everyone down on how they handled the problems with the Sea Princess, not being truthful and trying to evade answering any questions. I would have been spitting chips if I was on one of the cruises that lost a number of port calls and also the people that missed out on their cruise totally.

Thanks for the warning. So you think it is a ship-specific problem, rather than the whole line?

I absolutely would not book a Sea Princess cruise having experienced a cruise on it last June.

 

Would that stop me booking a different ship with them, No.

 

I just feel they really let everyone down on how they handled the problems with the Sea Princess, not being truthful and trying to evade answering any questions. I would have been spitting chips if I was on one of the cruises that lost a number of port calls and also the people that missed out on their cruise totally.

Having sailed on Sea Princess in July I would have no hesitation in booking a cruise on her again, our changes were handled professionally and I have no problems booking again.:D

After a long time out of actions and spending a week in the dry dock, Sea Princess would have to be in a tip top condition - probably the best out of all 3 sisters (Dawn and Sun).

If Princess couldn't fix her up after this long period time, then something must be really wrong with either Princess or Sea Princess or both!

I like small ships, too. The cost sends me back to the big ones, alas. But one day... ;)

 

I see from your signature that you did the Alaskan marine highway. How was it? Did you organise it yourself, or use some kind of tour?

 

I asked about it when I was over there on HAL in 2009. I was very tempted to go back and do the journey on the ferries, but I haven't done so yet. I love connecting with local people and lifestyle, but the sheer convenience of not having to pack-unpack every day sways me back towards the cruise ships.

Yes, organised it myself on the internet. Easy. Did three lots of big land content (tour, truck camper and car hire), combined with three nights at each port of call. Taxis meet the ferries which sometimes stop a little out of town. Fabulous relaxing way to see Alaska and meet the Alaskan people. Like you, I want to return.

I like small ships, too. The cost sends me back to the big ones, alas. But one day... ;)

 

I see from your signature that you did the Alaskan marine highway. How was it? Did you organise it yourself, or use some kind of tour?

 

I asked about it when I was over there on HAL in 2009. I was very tempted to go back and do the journey on the ferries, but I haven't done so yet. I love connecting with local people and lifestyle, but the sheer convenience of not having to pack-unpack every day sways me back towards the cruise ships.

I looked at doing that trip on the ferries when we went to Alaska with my mum-in-law and her brother (both in their 70s). The timetable I looked at wasn't convenient. In a couple of ports we would have disembarked in the evening, then had to get to accommodation with our luggage, sight-see the next day then head off on the ferry the next night. It all seemed too much bother. We went on a cruiseship from Vancouver to Seward (Anchorage) then hired a motorhome for a two-week trip around Alaska. It was fantastic.:)

Personally I wouldn't hesitate to book Princess. It seems all lines have problems at times and to be honest none of them deal with them to everyone's satisfaction.

It seems that during the recent Sea Princess fiasco they thought they could work through it and decided that rather than tell people what was gong on they'd shut up and not stress people, and risk cruises being cancelled, was that the right call? I don't think so, but if they'd got through it it may have been.

Celebrity had the disaster in the change relating to selling Century, did they deal with t well, IMO no.

Carnival reently had a late disembark in Sydney because of a medical emergency and a problem with a tug, I knew few people on board that trip some think Carnival dealt with it all well others were really upset.

I have been following the events regarding the Sea Princess. I think the company dealt with it reasonably well. It would seem that they hoped (on expert advice) that the necessary repairs would be done in time - firstly in Fremantle (then that proved not to be correct) then in Sydney before the next cruise. This proved not to be so. Maybe if anyone is at fault it is the technical people who advised management that the repairs could be done in the specified time. I don't believe Princess was "lying" in not telling people earlier that the NZ cruise would be cancelled. They genuinely didn't know as they were (correctly) relying on the advice of their technical team. This turned out to be an error. This happens not only with ships, but with all types of machinery - cars, household appliances etc. It just happens that here it was a larger job and it affected a lot of people. I am sure Princess management were very unhappy about the situation - even more unhappy than the passengers who couldn't go on their expected cruise. After all, they are in the business of giving people a good holiday on their ships. The end result was bad for PR and it would have cost the company dearly.

Now that the major repair has been done on Sea Princess, I wouldn't hesitate to book on her. We are planning to cruise on the ship in November.

Other problems happen. A few years ago we booked on the Celebrity Millenium from Sydney to USA via Hawaii (b2b cruises). The company decided not to bring the ship to Australia so our TA advised us the cruise was cancelled. It took us several months to get our deposits refunded and it was quite a lot of money (two people for two cruises). There was no extra compensation. I do accept that we had a couple of months' notice so it was quite different from the Sea Princess situation, but with Princess, they didn't have any choice.

On another occasion many years ago our extended family booked 4-day cruise to 'nowhere' out of Brisbane, booking with a TA. We paid and got the tickets. The weekend before the cruise, I looked carefully at the tickets and found they were for a different cruise on a different date!! The company had cancelled the cruise we wanted and substituted it with a totally different itinerary and date that clashed with other commitments we had. The TA apparently just booked by cruise number, not mentioning the date (as we had when we booked with her). Four days before our expected cruise we phoned her to get it sorted out. We did get a refund, but no extra compensation.

Sorry for the long stories. I am making the point that cancellations happen for all sorts of reasons. In the case of the Sea Princess, I am sure that the company did everything they could to avoid the cancellations. If they weren't trying to avoid it, they would have cancelled the NZ cruise much earlier. :)

In 1999 I booked to go on Spirit of Tasmania, first time on a boat for the bride, it broke down some weeks before we were due to travel, the day I left Newcastle to drive to Melbourne was the first sailing after the repairs and when I left Newcastle all they could say was "We hope that your trip will be on, but if anything goes wrong this trip yours will be cancelled."

Really what more could they say.

People sometimes forget that they are dealing with a complex piece of machinery and things go wrong.

If Princess had taken Sea Princess out at the first sign of a problem it would still have meant a number of cruises cancelled. As I understand it, if it had been withdrawn from service at the first sign of a problem it would have been oyut of service even longer as between the first recognition that there was a problem and repair the parts needed were being assembled.

There is nothing wrong with Princess at the moment and I continue to book and sail with them.

Sea Princess issues were just lousy customer service and someone in their "bean counter" department really needs to be fired over that incident. It is unacceptable to leave a ship in service for so long in a semi broken down state and let the passengers itineraries suffer. That was just poor form on Princess part.

Personally I would never contemplate booking a ship like Sea Princess, Sun Princess or Dawn Princess for a longer voyage so the ship is out of the question for me booking in the first place. With Princess the only ships I would personally sail on are the Golden Princess, Star Princess, Diamond Princess, Sapphire Princess, Coral Princess and Island Princess.

I absolutely would not book a Sea Princess cruise having experienced a cruise on it last June.

 

Would that stop me booking a different ship with them, No.

 

I just feel they really let everyone down on how they handled the problems with the Sea Princess, not being truthful and trying to evade answering any questions. I would have been spitting chips if I was on one of the cruises that lost a number of port calls and also the people that missed out on their cruise totally.

I was one of the people affected by loss of port calls on one cruise and then cancelled cruise for the next. Would I book with them again, YES (apart from the fact that I have to spend my free future cruise credit) They handled the cancelled cruise with professionalism and the staff should be commended for the help they gave the passengers. Yes, some people were a bit upset with the flights that had been arranged for them but to try and get 2000 people home from Perth must not have been easy. Ships do at times have problems, just like planes that have flights cancelled. In todays market where we expect costs to be kept to a minimum, companies need to keep their equipment working 24/7 - they cant just pull a ship out of service for 6 months waiting for a part to be made. Think of all the disappointed cruisers there would have been then! So, yes, I would definitely book with them again because I know if something did happen they would do the best they could to sort it out.

I was one of the people affected by loss of port calls on one cruise and then cancelled cruise for the next. Would I book with them again, YES (apart from the fact that I have to spend my free future cruise credit) They handled the cancelled cruise with professionalism and the staff should be commended for the help they gave the passengers. Yes, some people were a bit upset with the flights that had been arranged for them but to try and get 2000 people home from Perth must not have been easy. Ships do at times have problems, just like planes that have flights cancelled. In todays market where we expect costs to be kept to a minimum, companies need to keep their equipment working 24/7 - they cant just pull a ship out of service for 6 months waiting for a part to be made. Think of all the disappointed cruisers there would have been then! So, yes, I would definitely book with them again because I know if something did happen they would do the best they could to sort it out.

Good to know about how the staff handled the situation.:)

Thanks Rickays for the information.

Karryl

Have sailed on the Sea Prinny and loved her. Disappointed to read the issues that happened in Singapore then continued to plague her.

The technical people would be the ones advocating to get her fixed, the bean counters wanting every dollar squeezed out of the poor girl would be insisting they keep cruising & not tell the cash cows their cruises are impacted. I can only imagine the frustration of the engineers on board trying to keep the old girl from killing herself under the hammering needed to reach various ports. :(

But yes, I'd sail with her again. I just fine Princess pretty dear.

Yes, we would book with Princess again and again even though we acknowledge that the "Three Sisters" are nearly beyond their time they are still beautiful ships with an onboard culture and professionalism that we have found hard to beat with other lines

Would we fly again with Malaysian Airlines??? Yes we would and mainly for the same or similar reasons we will keep sailing with Princess

Wherever we receive good service we will return again and again

John

Yes, organised it myself on the internet. Easy. Did three lots of big land content (tour, truck camper and car hire), combined with three nights at each port of call. Taxis meet the ferries which sometimes stop a little out of town. Fabulous relaxing way to see Alaska and meet the Alaskan people. Like you, I want to return.

Sounds wonderful. While I enjoyed my cruise there very much, I found it frustrating that I didn't have longer in each place. But only the high-end cruise companies stay longer than a day in each port. So I must think again about the ferries...