Disappointed in Princess C/S

1st time cruising with Princess, all previous with Disney. Is C/S with Princess always bad, or have I just selected wrong days to call? Air transportation messed-up (changed times w/o notification), no help in changing transportation (air or shuttle), no help in getting hotel. Booked through Princess because of "EZ Air". The only answer I got was "we can't do anything", or "we don't refund". I truly hope that cruise staff is much better that C/S staff.

No, it is not always bad service. I will say this as to your "EZ air" issue....that is an airline issue not Princess. They are no different then booking with a third party vendor. I leave Friday for LA and did not book EZ Air and both Delta and United changed my flight times and flight numbers without notification. Delta finally emailed 2 weeks after I discovered it and United's first change was sent an email 30 days later and have yet to receive an email about the latest change I found last week! United chose to cancel multiple flights leaving Vancouver leaving me no options and they could have cared less.

It would be helpful if OP could be more specific re: problem issues. Also, did you book directly with Princess, or thru a travel agent.

I have cruised many times with Princess, booked directly with Princess, and have found the C/S people more than willing to try to resolve problems/concerns.

I am sorry you have had this experience but airlines frequently change the times of the flight and you should have received notification from the airline itself. Princess has no control over this. I have also changed air many times before the airline was paid but once paid for, it's a done deal. Again, Princess has no control over that. The good thing with EZAir is that it can be changed until 45 days out.

Prior to the 45 days, I have called Princess and made changes to my air many, many times. Did you book flexible or restricted fares and are you within 45 days of sail?

I can see where you would have wanted a seamless experience, but I find that air travel presents so many uncontrollable variables that I always arrange it myself. There are times when a C/S rep says that there is nothing they can do, and they are telling the truth.

Can you explain what you mean by no help in getting a hotel? If you book a pre or post cruise hotel package with Princess they handle all your hotel arrangements and transfers. Other than their packages Princess does not offer advice on privately booked hotels.

Yes they can be bad. There are many discussions here on CC about it.

I can sum it up by saying call 3 times and you will get 3 different answers. :(

Unless you have restricted air and are past final payment.......

It is usually very easy to change EZ Air on your own through the Princess website. "change/modify flights".

 

Is C/S with Princess always bad...

As far as eZAir is concerned, you need to be proactive. eZAir's pricing for international travel has been excellent recently, but their service is just terrible IMHO. Book flights yourself on the Princess website and then monitor those flights on the airlines' sites. Check the airlines' site on a regular basis for flight changes...call the airline directly if they make a change to your itinerary that doesn't work for you.

1st time cruising with Princess, all previous with Disney. Is C/S with Princess always bad, or have I just selected wrong days to call? Air transportation messed-up (changed times w/o notification), no help in changing transportation (air or shuttle), no help in getting hotel. Booked through Princess because of "EZ Air". The only answer I got was "we can't do anything", or "we don't refund". I truly hope that cruise staff is much better that C/S staff.

what do you mean by no help in changing shuttle? that should be an easy fix.

do you mean a princess hotel or one of your choosing? customer service will have information for the princess hotels. i find there isn't much help in getting a hotel as they are often fully booked and overpriced. you are often better off doing this yourself.

what are you hoping for a refund for?

colo cruiser has it spot on with shoreside customer service. call again. there are good csr's but there are also less knowledgeable ones. and yes, i find the ship's personnel more helpful.

Delta changed a 2.5 hour Sacramento to Seattle to Fairbanks flight to a 19 hour flight - Sacramento to Los Angeles to Minneapolis/St. Paul to Fairbanks - without notice. I found the change on my own by checking the flight to be sure it was still in place. I didn't book through EZ Air but even if I had Princess can't control that sort of idiocy. (I finally got it fixed!)

Like many companies, customer service can vary from "OMG that's great!" all the way to "who peed in your Cheerios this morning?" Any time I have had an issue with Princess when dealing with anybody on the phone I just called back 10 minutes later, got someone else, and ended up with a big "Thank You!" due to excellent service. There are a few bad eggs but mostly I have had great luck with customer service at Princess.

(This reminds me to check - again - my flight for October. Booking way in advance tends to be subject to changes.)

Delta changed a 2.5 hour Sacramento to Fairbanks flight to a 19 hour flight - Sacramento to Los Angeles to Minneapolis/St. Paul to Fairbanks - without notice. I found the change on my own by checking the flight to be sure it was still in place. I didn't book through EZ Air but even if I had Princess can't control that sort of idiocy. (I finally got it fixed!)

Delta is notorious for that sort of thing, plus changing assigned seats. And yet, I still book with them. Have to watch them like a hawk.

At least I never witnessed them dragging a passenger off, or hitting a mother with a stroller!

Once, I did see the lots of parts of the plane near where I was sitting held together with duck tape. Boy, I had fun with that. Had the flight attendants hysterical with laughter once I got started. No, they didn't drag me off! But later treated me to a drink for the comedy routine.

Oh, and yeah, I provided the entertainment while we were delayed an hour on the tarmac.

Gotta love Delta...................

We had a "great" experience on Southwest. I flew with a friend who is severely disabled. We left San Diego and flew to Sacramento. When we arrived they gave us the "good new, bad news" routine. The "good news" was that they knew where his wheelchair was. The "bad news" was that it was still in San Diego. D'Oh! Gotta love the airlines... :eek:

Hi,all flight changes are emailed to the 3rd party agent ie easyair or in our case expedia,who in turn should contact you immediately.If the 3rd party do not contact you with the alternative options they are incompetant.You cannot deal with the airline directly regarding these problems.Cheers,Brian.

You cannot deal with the airline directly regarding these problems.

Very recently I noticed a change in an American Airlines flight...I called American and they changed the flight in question. I then called eZAir to notify them of the change.

I now find American and Delta very easy to work with when there's a flight change. This has not always been the case.

Hi,all flight changes are emailed to the 3rd party agent ie easyair or in our case expedia,who in turn should contact you immediately.If the 3rd party do not contact you with the alternative options they are incompetant.You cannot deal with the airline directly regarding these problems.Cheers,Brian.

It still requires the air carrier to send an email to the third part vendor....like I said....30 days before United ever notified me of a 2 hr change in flight departure and still no email from last weeks change and I booked direct. They have my personal email, business email, husbands email and all cell numbers.....

Hi,we flew LHR-SEA and on the following day 1300 hrs SEA-FAI with Delta via expedia.Delta cancelled the 2nd flight 4 months in advance,expedia informed us that Delta were putting us on the 2200hrs flight and do we want to change.We decided to accept and spend more time in Seattle and we even saw the northern lights coming into Fairbanks,so all was ok in the end.Our communication with our 3rd party was very good.I cant see the advantage in Easyair if they dont do their job and organise different options,cheers,Brian.

I can only add my two cents re: EZAir flights. We are booked on Alaska cruisetour next month and did book flights many months ago. Delta did make many changes, although minor. Sometimes we were notified via email and sometimes not. Most serious change was conflicting times which prevented us from making our connection to home (flight #1 landed AFTER flight #2 left). We were not notified, I happened to check the flights on my own (thank you Thrak). First call went to Princess and they said the only flight they could give us was a red eye from Vancouver. I said no. Was then told anything else would require me to pay additional $$$. I was NOT a happy camper. Called back next day, explained again the situation, was connected to EZAir person who had me on hold while they spoke to airlines. Bottom line is that they changed airlines coming back with very acceptable flights. Let them know of previous experience and they were very apologetic and I had to mention also that their rep spoke very broken English and we had severe trouble communicating. So, as of now, 4.5 weeks out, we're still okay. Would recommend calling back to address your issues. Good luck!

No, it is not always bad service. I will say this as to your "EZ air" issue....that is an airline issue not Princess. They are no different then booking with a third party vendor. I leave Friday for LA and did not book EZ Air and both Delta and United changed my flight times and flight numbers without notification. Delta finally emailed 2 weeks after I discovered it and United's first change was sent an email 30 days later and have yet to receive an email about the latest change I found last week! United chose to cancel multiple flights leaving Vancouver leaving me no options and they could have cared less.

I used American Express Travel and they have notified me of flight time changes. Perhaps you need another TA.

I used American Express Travel and they have notified me of flight time changes. Perhaps you need another TA.

Lol....you may want to read further. I booked direct. Fyi....I book flights regularly....as in weekly.

Lol....you may want to read further. I booked direct. Fyi....I book flights regularly....as in weekly.