Sky Princess Arriving Early in Southampton

[wowzz]

We are cruising out of Southampton on Sky this Saturday (April 1st)

Just seen on the roll call that Sky is cutting out two ports, and heading straight for Southampton,  aiming to arrive on Thursday instead of Saturday, due to some horrendous weather forecast over the next few days.

Can't imagine it will be much fun onboard during the next 72 hours.

[TK42799]

Good day,

Currently on-board Sky, just had a medical evacuation off the coast of Lisbon, weather is fantastic. However, you are correct in that we were told early yesterday that due to a depression in the Atlantic, our first port of call (Morocco) would be bypassed in order to arrive in Southampton prior to the storm. Additionally, just prior to dinner we were then told that our second port (Spain) would also be bypassed. Our excursions have been refunded as they were booked through Princess. Difficult to sail pass areas with the current weather being great however, no one can fault them being proactive when safety is concerned. Here’s hoping we don’t experience the rough weather being forecast. 🤞

[Oceansaway17]

I will miss watching the SKY leave Port Everglades and playing the Love Boat theme.

I guess Sky is one of the few ships that left FLA in March for Europe.

A lot of ships scatter to Europe of Alaska mid April

[Ron the Rev]

Well I guess if you have to stay onboard in Southampton from Thursday  you will  be offered a selection of excursions in the old country. We join the ship on 1st April so please don't drink all the camus☺️

[snoodqueen]

And we have been given a whopping $100 US as non refundable OBC for missing 2 of 3 ports.  Very poor Princess.  How cheap of you.

[wowzz]

26 minutes ago, snoodqueen said:

And we have been given a whopping $100 US as non refundable OBC for missing 2 of 3 ports.  Very poor Princess.  How cheap of you.

I assume you will be able to claim for the two missed ports on your insurance  ? 

I know it doesn't help the disappointment, but with our policy we would get £300 (c$360) per person for the two missed ports.

[GonzoWCS]

9 hours ago, TK42799 said:

Good day,

Currently on-board Sky, just had a medical evacuation off the coast of Lisbon, weather is fantastic. However, you are correct in that we were told early yesterday that due to a depression in the Atlantic, our first port of call (Morocco) would be bypassed in order to arrive in Southampton prior to the storm. Additionally, just prior to dinner we were then told that our second port (Spain) would also be bypassed. Our excursions have been refunded as they were booked through Princess. Difficult to sail pass areas with the current weather being great however, no one can fault them being proactive when safety is concerned. Here’s hoping we don’t experience the rough weather being forecast. 🤞

Thanks for the information, and please make the best on your cruise.  We missed ports in the English Channel, and Pacific due to weather in the past.  Not fun but it happens.

 

Cheers

[texasjones]

29 minutes ago, snoodqueen said:

And we have been given a whopping $100 US as non refundable OBC for missing 2 of 3 ports.  Very poor Princess.  How cheap of you.

Completely agree, as do many of the passengers we've spoken with. The $100 "goodwill gesture" is insulting, especially since it's (A) non-refundable and (B) the onboard shops and casino will be closed in Southampton. Regardless of the reason, cancelling 2 of 3 ports and shortening a 14-day cruise to 12 days + 1.5 days docked in Southampton is more than a little "disappointing" (as the letter we received from the captain calls it).

 

And yes, I understand the contract of carriage absolves Princess from having to pay compensation for changes to our itinerary. But I'd like to think anyone would be frustrated when a 14-day cruise is upended and effectively shortened. Things happen, sure. But when they do, you should expect the operator to make a good faith effort to fairly compensate passengers for said "disappointments" (especially when the operator in question has a market cap of $11.7 billion and stands to save a small fortune on fuel costs by bypassing two ports and docking early). Makes you wonder where companies like Princess draw the line. And if you think we're being unreasonable or compensation-greedy, ask yourself: What if your 14-day cruise was shortened by 2 days? 5 days? 10 days? Would you be happy with $100 in non-refundable OBC as total compensation? I suspect the answer is "no".

 

We have three suites onboard for the family; the $300 we'll be receiving in non-refundable OBC amounts to a ~1.5% discount to our total fare. Not exactly a fair recompense in our opinion, but others may disagree. Princess certainly does. 

[wowzz]

6 hours ago, texasjones said:

Completely agree, as do many of the passengers we've spoken with. The $100 "goodwill gesture" is insulting, especially since it's (A) non-refundable and (B) the onboard shops and casino will be closed in Southampton. Regardless of the reason, cancelling 2 of 3 ports and shortening a 14-day cruise to 12 days + 1.5 days docked in Southampton is more than a little "disappointing" (as the letter we received from the captain calls it).

 

And yes, I understand the contract of carriage absolves Princess from having to pay compensation for changes to our itinerary. But I'd like to think anyone would be frustrated when a 14-day cruise is upended and effectively shortened. Things happen, sure. But when they do, you should expect the operator to make a good faith effort to fairly compensate passengers for said "disappointments" (especially when the operator in question has a market cap of $11.7 billion and stands to save a small fortune on fuel costs by bypassing two ports and docking early). Makes you wonder where companies like Princess draw the line. And if you think we're being unreasonable or compensation-greedy, ask yourself: What if your 14-day cruise was shortened by 2 days? 5 days? 10 days? Would you be happy with $100 in non-refundable OBC as total compensation? I suspect the answer is "no".

 

We have three suites onboard for the family; the $300 we'll be receiving in non-refundable OBC amounts to a ~1.5% discount to our total fare. Not exactly a fair recompense in our opinion, but others may disagree. Princess certainly does. 

I'm sorry, but with gale force winds and heavy seas forecast,  what exactly did you expect Princess to do ? Carry on regardless? 

Bad weather happens. You are at sea in March - always a problematic time for a TA. 

Your insurance will offset some of your disappointment with the level  of obc .

I understand your disappointment,  but feel you are being somewhat irrational in what you expect Princess to do in the circumstances.

[texasjones]

2 hours ago, wowzz said:

I'm sorry, but with gale force winds and heavy seas forecast,  what exactly did you expect Princess to do ? Carry on regardless? 

Bad weather happens. You are at sea in March - always a problematic time for a TA. 

Your insurance will offset some of your disappointment with the level  of obc .

I understand your disappointment,  but feel you are being somewhat irrational in what you expect Princess to do in the circumstances.

Oh no, you misunderstand me! Of course the safety of those onboard is paramount -- above all else. We watched the captain's informative weather update last night; continuing along our originally scheduled route would have been dangerous. The crew made the right call. Our complaint lies with Princess HQ/corporate. Once the crew made the decision to head for Southampton early, a group of Princess suits met to determine what, if any, compensation should be offered for the weather disruptions. The crew would not have been involved in this decision. Given the extent of the disruptions, and from a pure customer relations/retention standpoint, we feel their offer of compensation should have been higher. 

 

There's a reason why companies offer its customers compensation when things go wrong, even when they have no obligation to do so. Proportionate compensation reflects a company's empathy and has the potential to drive customer loyalty and satisfaction. Princess took the opposite approach here, choosing instead to prioritize its bottom line. For us, and considering the enormous amount of fuel Princess is saving by returning to Southampton early, $100 in compensation is inadequate. I think (hope?) we can all agree it's not a great look when a multibillion dollar cruise operator -- however innocent -- profits by cutting one of its voyages short.

[wowzz]

34 minutes ago, texasjones said:

I think (hope?) we can all agree it's not a great look when a multibillion dollar cruise operator -- however innocent -- profits by cutting one of its voyages short.

Sorry, I have to disagree. You chose to take a TA cruise at a time of year notorious for bad weather. They still got you safely to the UK.

No different to a flight being diverted due to bad weather.

Princess looked after you, and, despite what you say have not cut your cruise short,  because you can still use all the facilities on the ship on Friday in Southampton. 

Why not take the opportunity to visit Salisbury or Winchester ?

So, no sympathy from me I'm afraid. 

[david63]

Your cruise has not been cut short - it is still the same length. All that has happened is that you have missed two scheduled ports and had one added (Southampton). You are still on the ship with all the facilities.

 

Your $100 will be taken off your final account so you benefit in that respect.

 

Yes it is always disappointing when things don't work out as expected but these things happen in all walks of life and especially when cruising.

[snoodqueen]

Wow!  You people really don't understand what we onboard are saying and texasjones so eloquently explained.  This isn't my first cruise, my first TA through the Bay of Biscay or the first time ports have been missed.  The point you are missing is the amount that Princess deems is acceptable and as previously stated, more than once, it is NON REFUNDABLE.  If we don't spend it, we lose it.  I don't know what kind of insurance UK people get but our travel insurance does not cover missed ports.  I am done with this thread.  

[wowzz]

43 minutes ago, snoodqueen said:

Wow!  You people really don't understand what we onboard are saying and texasjones so eloquently explained.  This isn't my first cruise, my first TA through the Bay of Biscay or the first time ports have been missed.  The point you are missing is the amount that Princess deems is acceptable and as previously stated, more than once, it is NON REFUNDABLE.  If we don't spend it, we lose it.  I don't know what kind of insurance UK people get but our travel insurance does not cover missed ports.  I am done with this thread.  

Sorry, I still don't see why Princess should give you compensation for something that was outside of their control. They didn't have to give you anything ! So we will just have to agree to disagree.

As an aside, missed port cover is pretty common  - perhaps you should change your insurance provider. 

 

[PrincessLuver]

15 hours ago, snoodqueen said:

And we have been given a whopping $100 US as non refundable OBC for missing 2 of 3 ports.  Very poor Princess.  How cheap of you.

 

Certainly cheap.  We were on a 30 day cruise of the Baltic and TA to NYV about 5 years ago and our shipped missed a port in Iceland to avoid a storm.  Everyone on the ship receive a letter that they would receive 1/3 of their cruise fare back.  I could not believe it but within two days there was a huge chunk of change in our Captain Circle account in the form of OBC good for two years.  It was 1/3 of what we had paid for a 30 day cruise. 🙂 Times certainly have changed.

[silvertreveller]

Not wishing to "take sides" in the debate but this happen to some US friends in Nov (storm Ian ?) and they took $100 into the casino and came out with $600 !! Maybe the Gods are on the side of Princess passengers.

Hope you all enjoy your stay in the UK and safe journeys 

[sunviking90]

I’m very sorry this happened to you and must have been very disappointing. We’ve missed a ports due to weather twice on HAL and only got back port charges. It honestly never occurred to me to expect anything more as we all know and it’s been repeated often that the cruise contract gets you from A to B and nothing else is guaranteed. I didn’t even know of the possible travel insurance compensation. Nice to know for the future. I would have been really disappointed in the situation, but pretty happy at $100 OBC. 
And don’t think I’m a Princess super fan. I’m still waiting for a reply for my complaint 2 months ago when our 15 day cruise had only 7 days of food and shortages were rampant.

[molly-patch]

4 hours ago, wowzz said:

Sorry, I have to disagree. You chose to take a TA cruise at a time of year notorious for bad weather. They still got you safely to the UK.

No different to a flight being diverted due to bad weather.

Princess looked after you, and, despite what you say have not cut your cruise short,  because you can still use all the facilities on the ship on Friday in Southampton. 

Why not take the opportunity to visit Salisbury or Winchester ?

So, no sympathy from me I'm afraid. 

Can’t believe Princess would sell a cruise a time of year that is notorious for bad weather 🙄

[wowzz]

11 minutes ago, molly-patch said:

Can’t believe Princess would sell a cruise a time of year that is notorious for bad weather 🙄

Well, the ship has to come to Europe some time! 

[david63]

17 minutes ago, molly-patch said:

Can’t believe Princess would sell a cruise a time of year that is notorious for bad weather

There is no guaranteed good time to cross the Atlantic - especially when you have to cross the bay of Biscay. The Bay can be rough in the height of summer and like a millpond in the middle of winter.

[molly-patch]

10 minutes ago, wowzz said:

Well, the ship has to come to Europe some time! 

It sure does and Princess should compensate passengers properly when the notorious weather hits 🙁

[david63]

2 minutes ago, molly-patch said:

Princess should compensate passengers properly when the notorious weather hits

Why?

 

Isn't that why you have travel insurance, for such eventualities?

Edited March 29, 2023 by david63

[wowzz]

Just now, molly-patch said:

It sure does and Princess should compensate passengers properly when the notorious weather hits 🙁

Why ?- it's an Act of God, and outside the control of Princess. It's a chance everyone takes when booking a TA.

[molly-patch]

2 minutes ago, wowzz said:

Why ?- it's an Act of God, and outside the control of Princess. It's a chance everyone takes when booking a TA.

It is also a chance that Princess takes by taking on paying passengers.  It’s a risk taken by the service provider not the fault of the consumer.  $100 dollars non refundable OBC is a complete joke.  

[wowzz]

Just now, molly-patch said:

It is also a chance that Princess takes by taking on paying passengers.  It’s a risk taken by the service provider not the fault of the consumer.  $100 dollars non refundable OBC is a complete joke.  

It is not a chance taken by Princess. They have done exactly what they had to do. Got their passengers safely from the US to Southampton. 

Plenty of compensation available from individual insurance companies.