Is Princess Nuts Or Is It Just Me???

[K D cruiser]

I just got off the phone with my TA. I tried to book the Nov. 1 Transatlantic on the Grand from Barcelona. I received a really good e-mail offer from Princess who dropped the rates to fill the ship.

 

The cruise is advertised as either a 15 day to Ft. Lauderdale (for disembarkation only) or a 17 day to Galveston. I wanted to purchase air from Princess because I would be travelling alone and didn't want to risk getting stranded someplace and missing the ship. Since I live near Atlanta, I wanted to leave the ship in Ft. Lauderdale. I can't go to Galveston because we already have air booked for a trip leaving that same day from Atlanta.

 

Because I wanted to leave the ship in Ft. Lauderdale, Princess will not book the air for me. They consider it a 17 day cruise to Galveston and all air booked through Princess is to Barcelona and from Galveston. I even offered to let them book a one way and make my own flight arrangements from Ft. Lauderdale to Atlanta, but they would not do that nor would they let me pay for the round trip and not use the return from Galveston.

 

Does any of this make sense to anyone? I ended up not booking the cruise because I didn't want to book my own air. Having been in London for our British Isles cruise in August when all he** broke loose, I know how easily flights can get cancelled, so I wanted the security of booking air through Princess.

 

Thanks for letting me rant. I guess they have their own rules to follow, but it just seems so ridiculous.

[Tom O.]

It does not make any sense to me, but at least there is an easy solution.

Just book your own flights, and you will most likely save some money too. If you are worried about getting stuck somewhere, just allow some extra time at each end of your cruise. It would be nice to spend a couple of days in Barcelona anyway.

[Jacqueline]

I wouldn't hesitate to book my own air. Travel insurance may help if you are a bit anxious.

It will be fun. Book it !

[DrivesLikeMario]

Book your own air, allow plenty of time for possible delays and get travel insurance and you're good to go! Don't let something like this hold you back from those terrific cruise rates!

[willysgrandma]

I'd gladly book my own air and if I were worried about delays, simply fly in a day early and stay at a hotel overnight.

[2ptu/000]

Please book your own air and arrive several days early in Barcelona. It is a marvelous city. If you book air through Princess and plane is delayed or canceled, the ship will leave anyway. They might wait a short time for a flight booked through Princess but not a long time. On a normal cruise Princess would get you to the next port and on the ship. Not sure how that would happen on a Transatlantic!

[K D cruiser]

When my husband and I cruise together, we always book our own air and fly in a day early, but since I would be going on this cruise alone, I thought I would feel safer just flying in the day of the cruise with Princess air, and then I wouldn't have to stay in a hotel alone in a foreign city.

 

I guess what makes me mad is the fact that I offered to pay for the round trip air with Princess and just not use the return from Galveston and pay extra for a ticket to fly home from Ft. Lauderdale, but they said "NO."

 

And now, that it's closer to departure, all of the airfares that I have checked would cost twice what the Princess air would be, plus the hotel, plus I would be paying for two people in the stateroom even though I would be alone. When you add it all up, the bargain cruise fare offer from Princess doesn't sound like such a bargain anymore.

 

Thanks for all of your suggestions. I guess I'll just have to pass on this one.

[Princess Patches]

I agree with the other posters. Spend a day or two in Barcelona and book your own airfare. Barcelona is a beautiful city and will worth a few days.

 

You also might try calling Princess back and ask to speak to a supervisor. You stated they wouldn't sell a oneway fare from your home city to Barcelona because you wanted to disembark the ship in Ft. Lauderdale rather than Galveston. There must be some passengers on that sailing who live in Texas or Louisiana who will only be using a oneway fare from their home city to Barcelona and using ground transportation upon their return to Galveston. It seems to me Princess must be offering oneway airfares from New Orleans, Houston and so on. It doesn't make sense that they wouldn't. Maybe you can get yourself to one of those cities on your own and then use the Princess airfare to fly overseas. Sometimes if you speak to someone else you get a different answer.

 

I am sailing on the November Transatlantic on the Golden. It sails from Rome to New Orleans and also allows you to disembark in Ft. Lauderdale. I purchased my own airfare but I asked about the Princess airfare when I booked several months ago. At that time they had airfares from either New Orleans or Ft. Lauderdale. Of course, that is a different ship and a different sailing but if they are going to let passengers disembark in Ft. Lauderdale it only makes sense to have Princess airfare available.

[cruiseryyc]

Book your air through a travel agent and then if anything goes wrong, they should do all the work for you to make if right.

[Casshew]

Hi KD, can't you talk to an air specialist instead of the regular reservations people? Sounds like princess is missing the boat on this one.

[spongerob]

Booking air through Princess doesn't really give you any recourse if there were some unforeseen problems that affected your travel schedule. They aren't really in the air travel business anyway, so you are likely better off making your own arrangements.

[K D cruiser]

My TA is a popular online agent who books a lot of cruises with Princess and I know a lot of people on this board use her. She called Princess twice about the air, so I have to believe that what they told her will stand. I also don't understand if they offer the option to disembark in Ft. Lauderdale, why don't they also offer a return flight from Ft. Lauderdale.

 

Unless it has something to do with the late booking and the fact that all of the places I checked for airfare just this afternoon were double what I was quoted for the Princess air and they just don't want to fool with it.

 

At any rate, I'm just going to try and forget about it and look for a different cruise for another time. Thanks everyone for listening.

[peteinsonj]

Book the air roundtrip -- just ue it one way and throw the other ticket away! Its done all the time --

 

Pete