yndygo

Wow. Apparently it happens commonly enough that some CC'ers are rather blasé about it. :confused:

I can't imagine the reaction would be the same if you planned a vacation at a resort, paid deposits, and made all the plans and then the hotel called you and said "oops, no, now you can't come because we decided to cancel everyone's reservations except this one conference" and then you found out that the only way you could keep those vacation plans was to pay the same company 2-3 times as much to go to their hotel during another week.

It seems like an OBC would be a minor inconvenience for the cruiseline.

Travel Insurance that covers situations like this sounds like a good idea.

But of course,the main reason is the discount that you should receive from the T/A totaling 10%-12% when booking with Princess.Otherwise,there is no real reason,as stated you do all the work anyway!

Okay, now I'm wondering if I should have a little discussion with my TA. We are definitely NOT getting 10-12% less than I would've gotten booking directly and there are already a couple of other red flags that have come up - like getting the first confirmation letter then getting another one a week later that said "oh, the OBC listed on that last letter was $25 more than it really is... here is the right amount."

Are you guys really getting that much of a discount?

It is not uncommon to take 6 weeks to reply to a complaint/concern. Especially if they need to contact the ship for more information.

6 weeks?!? :eek: What are they doing... swimming after the ship and shouting the question at someone? ;)

Seriously, a courtesy response by an actual human being rather than an autoreply shouldn't take a month and a half. If so? They need to consider outsourcing their customer service to someone like getsatisfaction.com - because that kind of lack of response kills repeat business.

The cabin steward admitted going through the drawers looking for room service cards (so he says and I don't believe him). I reported it to his supervisor, and I took his tips off. First time we've ever done this. He made this an uncomfortable cruise for us. He yelled at me because DH threw the fruit basket order card into the garbage can. We asked him not to come into our cabin at night for a turn down, we like to play cards and have a glass of wine. He refused our request. So, end of our Star experience - no more for us on this ship.

That is SO disturbing!! :eek:

Why in heaven's name would a room steward refuse someone's request not to do turndown? He sounds incredibly creepy. I think I've been incredibly lucky never to have someone of that caliber and am terribly thankful you reported him. Someone who goes through your drawers, refuses your privacy and yells at you? Should not be working in that kind of position!! :mad:

This is the video I made of our Cabin .... Grand Princess E725 Mini Suite

I think I watched your video a dozen times before booking our Minisuite on Emerald Starboard for our May Ruby Alaska trip! :) Thanks again for posting it...that was totally the clincher!

Wow! I might have been able to do that in my twenties, but I would've been asleep sometime during dinner. Still... it's your vacation! Do what makes you happy!! :D

I'm looking forward to reading your recap. Surprising that they didn't include the wine flight though. Seems like they would.

Have fun!!

I did not demand a refund, Princess offered me the compensation. I doubt they would have made the first offer if this was not a known issue/problem experienced by other past passengers in E732.

My apologies!! The error was on my part in comprehension. I think I got confused by what others had posted. Certainly, if they offered? You should accept! And again, I'm appreciative of the fact that you posted about it. I sympathize with noise/sleeping issues. I did quite a bit of research myself and there's not always stuff out there about a given cabin.

If no one ever posted about things like this, then we'd all be the worse off for it. Some people aren't bothered by noise like that, some are (as I said, I'm in the latter category myself!)

Hopefully the next time you will be in a better location!! :D

As a noise-sensitive person, I'm actually glad the OP posted this. Because it was CC that helped me realize that I needed to *not* be in a minisuite on the portside on Emerald deck. It totally wouldn't bug DH or DD as they sleep through stuff like that, but even with a whitenoise machine, it's the bass that gets me everytime.

That said, I can't see demanding a refund from the cruiseline - since there are a ton of reviews out there about this very thing. Yes, the TA probably ought to be held to task for not saying anything about it, but Princess isn't going to stop having bands in the club b/c someone who is a noise-sensitive person books that cabin.

We had one cabin that had noise from the restaurant below at night *and* during the day b/c they did classes in there and used an obnoxious PA system. That one bugged me - but I just resolved not to book that cabin or area again.

Moving the band is kind of a funny image though! :)

In the 12 years or so we have been HH members it's been our experience it depends on who is working the desk when you ask. More often then not we have been given the points, as being polite and friendly seems to go along way. ;)

That has been my experience too. But then, there are pleasant and unpleasant people working everywhere, aren't there? It cannot hurt to ask! :)

But it sounds like OP got a good deal, so points or no points, it should be fine.

I actually booked our hotel directly through the HH website because I've always been such a fan of their rewards program. But the Rome situation that NavyVeteran mentioned sounds like a time when I would definitely book through Princess - points would be secondary to easy navigation in a foreign country! ;)

We just went through this whole question ourselves. I'm a huge Disney Cruise fan, but we opted for Princess for the upcoming Alaskan cruise. We are traveling with not only my DD but my folks and it's their first cruise so we were trying to find the right 'all ages' and 'for our family personalities' ship.

While I think Disney does an amazing job at having something for everyone, pricewise, it costs much more than a lot of the lines and the Wonder (much as I love her) definitely needs to go into dry dock, but won't until *after* she crosses back after this Summer's Alaska cruises. If she had already gone? I'd probably have been torn b/c it really is amazing.

But that said? I think given what you mentioned, you'd be good on any of the ones you brought up.

You should have no problem having Hilton add it onto your HH points. In my experience, you only have to let them know at the front desk to add your HH# to your account when you check in.

How anyone could be critical of that is beyond me!!

What an awesome turn of luck :)

You'll get on your Singapore cruise some day - but meanwhile, that is a total jackpot!

Enjoy your 2 "make up" cruises in the suites!!

I probably should call her more often but I hate to bother her. I email because I want to give her a chance to find the answer before I talk to her. I do have her cell number but most of this stuff hasn't been that urgent. She does have an answering service and does turn it over to another agent when she is gone.

 

I seriously have been thinking of finding a new one. I do book many cruises myself online the day the new ones come out and then transfer them to her. appreciate the replies

I am using a TA for this upcoming cruise for the first time in years. The last TA I used for a cruise (4 back) really messed things up. But I thought I'd give it a go again because I was looking at multiple lines and itineraries. That said, I did all the research myself. But I figured in this case it was better. But in the end I've booked my own flights and pre-cruise hotel and I'm wondering why I am using a TA.

That said - mine gets back to me on the same business day. I would absolutely not be using him if he didn't.

If you're doing all of the research and all of the work, why are you using a TA? Sounds like you might be better off doing it yourself and working directly with the cruiseline. :confused:

If she has so many customers that she can't make you a priority? You might want to find someone who could really use the business.

BabsinTX - I'll make a point to get them up then! :) Of course, it's not until May! But I totally get it. I went looking all over too! The views from the aft look divine!

Alaska is one of the cruises that for me is a 'must-have-balcony' because what I want to do is sit on my own balcony and watch the nature go by. Honestly, the cruising bit is more important to me than the port bits! :)

I have been looking for reasonably priced hotels for our May Alaska out of Seattle and found the currently-under-construction, opening March 12th Home2 Suites (by Hilton) hotel that's just a stone's throw from the airport. (Okay, short cab ride) and about 25-30min from Pier 91.

We needed 2 rooms since we're taking my folks with us and I have a food allergic kid - so I couldn't believe I could get 2 suites with kitchens for the same price as one room downtown. (For 1 night, $340 for 2 rooms taxes included) I'm willing to pay a bit more in cab fees to the port for the space. If you're going to stay for a few days, it might be a good option... But only if you're willing to cab up to the city.

http://home2suites3.hilton.com/en/hotels/washington/home2-suites-by-hilton-seattle-airport-SEAUKHT/index.html

:)

I can't find a hotel that could hold 8 of us. I gave up on looking for 3 separate rooms that were less than $200/night and thought I would try for one big room/suite. I need it to be somewhere along the Light Rail access point as my mother will not be able to walk far. We are flying in a day earlier than cruise and staying a day after. Help? Or any place that offers a free shuttle to the Light Rail and also from airport if the hotel is not close enough already. Am I reaching for stars here?

Have you tried looking on AirBnB? There are a number or houses/rentals in that area. You don't have your dates here, so it's tough to price things. But I have found some places that are closer to the airport that fit your criteria hotelwise for our May trip. Hipmunk.com does hotels as well as flights and is really useful... then check here to see what CCers think.

But it is coveted! :D

It's because CC'ers seemed to covet the Emerald over Dolphin that I went that route in the first place. :)

Thanks for all the input you guys. Sticking with my gut and your advice!

Oh my gosh!! Reading that made me wince in sympathy so many times!!

So glad you got home okay and that you are on the mend.

No more Christmas cruises for you!! Strictly relaxing and non-health-jeopardizing ones!!

Hope your Baltic is awesome!! :)

Thank you *so* much!! This is why I come here. No one has better cruising advice than the CC'ers!

Keeping my Emerald.

My folks will be in an aft on Baja - so I'll post pics of both when we get back. :D

I know there's a ton of debate about the Dolphin minisuite decks b/c they are uncovered and after reading a bunch of Cruise Critic posts, I opted to book E725 on the Emerald deck instead.

But now I'm second guessing myself. More research shows that it's above Club Fusion on the "quieter" side... only I'm totally annoyed by 'bass through the floor' (DH & DD can sleep through anything.) Apparently there's a smoking area "Starboard Aft" 2 floors down on the Promenade too? Does the smoke drift up or will the wind whisk that away? :eek:

The whole reason we're opting for a balcony is so I can sit on it and watch the views - and we're doing a mini b/c my daughter won't sleep in an upper so we are limited on location and would prefer the space.

Are the Dolphin deck balconies really that bad? It seems like it would be awesome to sit and watch the stars... but if it's raining? :confused:

If you've been in one or the other or just have a preference, I'd appreciate any input!! :)

Thanks in Advance!!