And we’re off! Well, not quite. We have booked and paid for a cruise on the Regal Princess. Princess has been our cruise line of choice for the last 12 years. Unfortunately, we are so far with this booking.
Why Are We Unhappy with Princess Cruises Customer Service?
The first complaint is that, although the cruise is not sold out, they will not assign us a cabin. And yes we chose and paid to pick our own cabin. We booked the deluxe balcony to guarantee that we would have a couch and a chair in a cabin in a great location. No guarantee of that now.
My second complaint is the gutting of the loyalty program. Until this cruise, we had received a nice package of free internet minutes. These minutes covered our needs just fine. Now we must pay for internet for the entire cruise, if we want any access at all. Yes we get it for half price, but that still is a lot more than the free we had! Yes, we emailed Princess regarding our concerns, and didn’t even get a reply.
It now appears that we cannot even pre-purchase wifi at the reduced rate as there are ” No Plans Available To Purchase” through the medallion app. It would seem that the only option will be to pay the inflated price for wifi after we board the ship. Very annoying.
The Princess Sales Pitches
I have received a number of emails offering me an upgrade package that covers my gratuities, a single internet connection, soft drinks, fancy coffee and some alcohol. The package must be purchased for everyone in the cabin. Since, I don’t drink alcohol, and my wife has one glass of wine with supper, the alcohol package is basically worthless. Every time I visit the site or use the app, the offer is right there in my face. Shades of NCL.
I was not impressed to receive a cabin upgrade option emailed to me almost as soon as we paid for the cruise in full. This is not run by Princess, but some third party site. Not keen on trusting them with my info, even if I can bid successfully. As an aside, I saw a new booking that didn’t even pay a single supplement for a club class mini suite, while I who booked months ago, can only bid a minimum of $280 for an opportunity to get upgraded. The site suggests that this is a very weak bid and not likely successful. Loyalty obviously is not rewarded by Princess.
Conclusion
We have been loyal Princess cruisers for many years. This will be my thirteenth and fourteenth cruise with them, but you may have detected a hint of a negative vibe building. You would be correct. We have another cruise booked for the summer, we haven’t cancelled yet because we are taking my daughter and her hubby, but that could be our last Princess Cruise. I’ll post more on my feelings toward Princess once we have completed this cruise and seen how they now operate.
