Princess debarkation policies for people in isolation are unacceptable! Shame on you, Princess!

[waltd]

Just now, Itchy&Scratchy said:

she already said - it was prohibitively expensive.

And so they sat in the Cold for 3 hours?   Put it on a credit card and when you get home fight it out with your travel insurance or Princess.   They are elderly. You don't sit in the cold for 3 hours.

[Sea Hag]

14 hours ago, mbglib said:

I agree, but what does one do to advocate?  Sounds like I am being snarky, but I would really like to know, no snark intended. 🙂

If you contact all the Princess departments and people, as you should, you may or may not ever hear back from them. Even if you do, it could be months. I fired off a complaint to customer relations only once, and although I did hear back it took so long that I'd forgotten I even sent it. I got a call from a very nice lady, whose job seems to be making the soreheads like me go away a bit happier.

 

Have you considered trying to take this to the online media? Companies these days seem to pay more attention to bad online reviews than they do to actual customer complaints.

[SCX22]

The more people write about this, the more this is sounds like a cash grab.

 

When one cruises, one agrees to the passage contract which pretty much waives all passenger rights and puts them at the mercy of the cruise line.  Even if this were to go to court, Princess mandates all litigation would have to happen in LA County, California.  

 

Medical records were produced by the ship staff.  The matter should be taken up with the insurance provider to make the person financially whole again.

 

It was the choice of the ill to sit and wait in the cold for 3 hours for a ride.

[memoak]

25 minutes ago, waltd said:

And so they sat in the Cold for 3 hours?   Put it on a credit card and when you get home fight it out with your travel insurance or Princess.   They are elderly. You don't sit in the cold for 3 hours.

We are in our 70’s. 40 degrees is pretty much our morning temperature when we go out for a walk

[Mary loves to travel]

I am sure this was very stressful for you, especially being so sick, worried, and running on next to no sleep.

I think I'm missing something, though, when you refer to being "treated like criminals".

Did you feel this way because you were escorted from your room?

 

Glad to hear you are better now.

Mary

Edited February 20 by Mary loves to travel

[Gatorinmd]

First I am sorry you had to go through this. It sounds like a horrible experience. If you don’t hear from Princess or get the run around, maybe try Elliot.org to assist you. I have linked their Princess website contacts page. Also on the top right there is a link for you to fill out form to request assistance. 

 

https://www.elliott.org/company-contacts/princess-cruise-lines/

[TRLD]

3 hours ago, Daniel A said:

No, but I don't need to experience something in order to recognize if it is extreme.  The late walk off you got is what the OP wanted and was refused.

 

Were you left stranded on a sidewalk in 40 degree weather when you were disembarked?  OP was.

No because we willing to pay for a taxi in 105 degree weather in southeast Asia.

 

Point is that there is a reason for the very early or very late departures, usually determined by immigration and the port.

[Steelers36]

3 hours ago, memoak said:

In 2022 we were among over 200 people who had been quarantined with covid and after standing in line to get off after everyone else was off we stood (no chairs) in a hallway outside the terminal for over 30 minutes before being put on buses to hotels that we had to pay for upfront and our luggage went to the wrong hotel which took another 12 hours to get resolved. I think they have actually gotten better since then. You can stay in your own cabin rather than being locked (yes locked) on a Covid deck

Got it, but I think Covid era situations are not really comparable to pre- or post-pandemic.  There was a lot of bad things happened to people during that time due to early ignorance, politics over science, etc. 

[mbglib]

15 hours ago, cr8tiv1 said:

 

This is a well thought out emergency plan. Would trip interruption/travel insurance cover all of these added expenses?  Would Princess Vacation Protection cover you considering you are now OFF the ship?

 

I feel for the OP.  When you are not feeling up to your game, your thoughts are muddied and struggling to stay on top of the emergency.  I hope you are on the mend.

It is definitely a good plan and in hindsight, what we should have done.  We were definitely not thinking straight.  I was still muddled from the dehydration, and, as it turned out and unbeknownst to me, my husband was in pain.  We ended up at another doctors in Houston that evening with my husband who has suspected kidney stones.  They ended up giving him pain and urged him to fly home the next day as planned unless he got worse.  We did and he is getting treatment this afternoon.  So his thinking was muddled too!  It has been a very unpleasant few days.

 

We didn't have Princess insurance, but our insurance is supposed to cover us from the time we leave home until we are back home.  We shall see.  They paid well the other time we had to make a claim.

[jagoffee]

5 hours ago, Itchy&Scratchy said:

she already said - it was prohibitively expensive.

Glad you are feeling better.

 

 

 

 

Edited February 20 by jagoffee

[Itchy&Scratchy]

37 minutes ago, jagoffee said:

Glad you are feeling better.

you may have meant this for OP. 🙂

[startedwithamouse]

Taxi, Uber or Lyft is always our plan B.

 

You could claim the Princess transfer amount on your insurance, as it was not reasonable to wait hours outside with an already documented illness.

[2and2]

20 hours ago, mbglib said:

Like I said, I understand the need, but don't agree with the procedures and feel being disembarked that early was pointless once I was outside the terminal and mixed with everyone else.  I even had to request a mask and did wear it until we got to our hotel room in Houston to try to protect others.

 

  Also, even when trying to contain an outbreak, to be required to walk that far around the outside of the terminal in the cold was unacceptable.  One of the people with Covid was in a wheelchair, but the other one and I were not.  Perhaps I could have requested it.  I did tell one of my "escorts" that I needed to rest, but he just urged me on.

Just kind of wondering how you knew those other people had COVID?. I know how cold it was, and how far that walk is. I am surprised you found a place to sit outside. There is very few places to rest and catch your breath.

[Steelers36]

34 minutes ago, startedwithamouse said:

Taxi, Uber or Lyft is always our plan B.

 

You could claim the Princess transfer amount on your insurance, as it was not reasonable to wait hours outside with an already documented illness.

I am 99% certain they had not booked a PCL transfer.

[memoak]

1 minute ago, Steelers36 said:

I am 99% certain they had not booked a PCL transfer.

Then what were they waiting on ?  If it was an independent service they should have been able to call and change time 

 

[Steelers36]

Just now, memoak said:

Then what were they waiting on ?  If it was an independent service they should have been able to call and change time 

 

An earlier post by the OP indicated that was not possible for some reason.

[memoak]

7 minutes ago, Steelers36 said:

An earlier post by the OP indicated that was not possible for some reason.

I would for sure like to know the reason. Disembarkation times are never guaranteed because things like Coast Guard, customs etc. can delay things or speed them up. We were on a b2b last year where the first leg did not finish disembarking until 11:00

[Steelers36]

9 minutes ago, memoak said:

I would for sure like to know the reason. Disembarkation times are never guaranteed because things like Coast Guard, customs etc. can delay things or speed them up. We were on a b2b last year where the first leg did not finish disembarking until 11:00

I hear you.  For me, any organization I have booked for ground transportation has flexibility in timing due to multiple vehicles and drivers.  Anyway, not our business and the OP has received more than enough sympathy and advice in this thread.

[PacnGoNow]

33 minutes ago, Steelers36 said:

An earlier post by the OP indicated that was not possible for some reason.

It was full already.

[Itchy&Scratchy]

31 minutes ago, memoak said:

I would for sure like to know the reason. Disembarkation times are never guaranteed because things like Coast Guard, customs etc. can delay things or speed them up. We were on a b2b last year where the first leg did not finish disembarking until 11:00

fully booked was the reason. 

[Ellipooh]

I do not intend to criticize, I’m just trying to put myself in OP’s place — what would I really have done? And would my plan have had any more success?

 

The answer to my first question is, I would have refused to move as instructed. Not at 0630 and not into 40° weather. I completely understand that the ship personnel were quite rude, obstinate, and unforgiving. But I can be that way too.
 

So that leads me to my second question: would refusing to budge have had a better result? Or would I simply have been arrested?

[NavyVeteran]

I hope OP's experience isn't the norm. I had a completely different experience.

 

DW and I got COVID three days before the end of our cruise on the Caribbean Princess from Quebec City to Fort Lauderdale last year. DW was sick and stayed in the medical center overnight. I had no symptoms. We were both isolated in our cabin until the end of the cruise. We received our medical records the day before disembarkation. On disembarkation morning, we waited in our cabin for a late departure. We had a very good breakfast delivered by room service that morning.

When it was time to leave, two people came to escort us off. We had requested wheelchair assistance for DW, so one of them had a wheelchair. There was a slight delay when I noticed the wheelchair was broken and they had to go get a replacement chair. They then took us off the ship through a private passageway bypassing lines and other passengers. We were planning to take a taxi to the airport. There was a long line of people waiting for taxis. We bypassed that line, and one of our escorts flagged down a taxi for us. We then took a taxi to the airport and boarded as normal.

Disembarkation day was the fifth day since the first symptoms. We both wore N95 masks the entire trip to try to avoid infecting others.

Unlike the treatment OP received, I thought the treatment we received was very reasonable and helpful.

 

I don't think the problem is that Princess has unacceptable disembarkation policies for people in isolation - I think the problem is that Princess does not have - or does not follow - consistent disembarkation policies. Different ships handle it differently. And they are also dependent on the port's policies and personnel, and different ports handle things differently. My experience was very acceptable - OP's was not.

Edited February 20 by NavyVeteran

[PacnGoNow]

3 minutes ago, NavyVeteran said:

I hope OP's experience isn't the norm. I had a completely different experience.

 

DW and I got COVID three days before the end of our cruise on the Caribbean Princess from Quebec City to Fort Lauderdale last year. DW was sick and stayed in the medical center overnight. I had no symptoms. We were both isolated in our cabin until the end of the cruise. We received our medical records the day before disembarkation. On disembarkation morning, we waited in our cabin for a late departure. We had a very good breakfast delivered by room service that morning.

When it was time to leave, two people came to escort us off. We had requested wheelchair assistance for DW, so one of them had a wheelchair. There was a slight delay when I noticed the wheelchair was broken and they had to go get a replacement chair. They then took us off the ship through a private passageway bypassing lines and other passengers. We were planning to take a taxi to the airport. There was a long line of people waiting for taxis. We bypassed that line, and one of our escorts flagged down a taxi for us. We then took a taxi to the airport and boarded as normal.

Disembarkation day was the fifth day since the first symptoms. We both wore N95 masks the entire trip to try to avoid infecting others.

Unlike the treatment OP received, I thought the treatment we received was very reasonable and helpful.

And that’s the way it should be handled.  Care and dignity.

 

Thank you for sharing.

[SCX22]

6 minutes ago, PacnGoNow said:

And that’s the way it should be handled.  Care and dignity.

 

 

Since the incident happened the night before disembarkation, the ship's staff did the OP a favor by producing the medical records STAT.  Unfortunately, having the escort wait for 3 hours in the cold with them wasn't an option either.  And the OP stated that at the time, ponying up extra cash to leave early didn't occur to them.

[MacMadame]

1 hour ago, Ellipooh said:

So that leads me to my second question: would refusing to budge have had a better result? Or would I simply have been arrested?

Probably arrested. 🤷‍♀️ 

 

I thought about it too and that's my conclusion. Though now that I know that they can disembark people after everyone else is off the ship, I might try to convince them that they need to let us do that. (Assuming disembarking later was better for me than doing it earlier.)

 

Most of us don't think we'll be sick on our cruise so knowing what the choices are and the procedures that are supposed to be followed is helpful.

 

53 minutes ago, NavyVeteran said:

I don't think the problem is that Princess has unacceptable disembarkation policies for people in isolation - I think the problem is that Princess does not have - or does not follow - consistent disembarkation policies. Different ships handle it differently. And they are also dependent on the port's policies and personnel, and different ports handle things differently. My experience was very acceptable - OP's was not.

I think OP's issue arose from getting sick the evening before disembarkation. For example, they couldn't get their medical records the night before because those records were in the middle of being generated.