Nicole Irani

Age: 27
Occupation: Teacher
Number of Cruises: 1
Cruise Line: Princess
Ship: Grand Princess
Sailing Date: January 4th, 2004
Itinerary: Western Caribbean
Princess Cruise Line Was Horrible

We recently had the displeasure of celebrating our honeymoon on Princess Cruise Line. We were on the Grand Princess from 1/04/04 to 1/11/04 without our luggage or adequate help from your Purser’s staff. On 1/04/04, we arrived by bus, a bus transfer that was offered by Princess Cruises, at the Princess Pier with our luggage. A Princess representative who greeted us told us to take our carryon luggage to check in and told us that the rest of our luggage would be delivered to our room. We checked in and waited, but our luggage never arrived at our room.

We visited the Purser’s desk a dozen times the first evening and each time we were treated as if we were bothering them and our missing luggage was a waste of their time. The last time that evening we visited the desk was at midnight and the man told us he could not help us and if we were that concerned we should check outside each door on each floor for the luggage. I explained to him that this was our honeymoon and we did not have any clothes to enjoy it with so far. He said again, there was nothing he could do. We asked to fill out the missing luggage form mentioned in the cabin book, but he said we should come back the next day to fill it out.

The next day we docked at Princess Cays. My husband and I started our day putting on our dirty clothes and revisiting the Purser’s desk. The gentleman we spoke to on 1/05/04 was much more helpful and allowed us to fill out the form. He told us we should had filled out the form the night before and apologized for the laziness of his colleagues. We were told that the Senior Assistant Purser would look into it and we should go and enjoy ourselves. Unfortunately, we only had jeans and sweaters and the store would not sell us anything. Since the staff delayed explaining to us where our luggage could be or help us in finding information, we were unaware that we would have to buy clothes from the store before we docked. Luckily, a nice passenger on board offered us clothes since the staff was brushing us off. The passenger told us she was appalled at the behavior and attitudes she saw us getting from the staff.

In order to enjoy ourselves we had to buy all new clothes at Princess Cays. Throughout the cruise, we had to cancel excursions because we did not have proper clothing, we had to go to dinner in the same clothes repeatedly, we could not enjoy some of the activities on board since we did not proper clothing, we felt dirty and sad throughout the honeymoon, and we were angered at the rudeness we received due to the cruise line’s mistake. Three days into the cruise, we were offered free laundry service; before that, we were not offered anything. My husband was offered a tuxedo for formal night, but I had to spend $200 more on clothes to wear.

We are extremely disappointed in the way were treated throughout the whole ordeal. It was our honeymoon; we spent a lot of money to be there yet the Purser’s staff treated us as if we were coral at the bottom of the ship. My husband mentioned, to Elizabeth Williams, that he had read the 10 commandments of Princess Cruise Lines in the cabin book one of the first commandments said something similar to this, “A Princess Cruise Line Representative would never tell a cruiser no, but would find the answer out if s/he could did not know the answer.” This was not the case for us unfortunately. From the moment we entered the ship all we heard was no from the Purser’s staff. They were surprisingly unwilling to help us out in finding our luggage, clothes to wear, or a honeymoon to enjoy. As representatives of Princess Cruise Lines it was up to them to keep us in the know regarding our luggage and to make our stay more comfortable. We were left feeling as if our lost luggage was a nuisance and we were the shipwrecked honeymooners aboard the “Black Pearl.”

The cruise line lost our luggage and we still do not have it. We were blamed, the airlines were blamed and finally four days into the trip the manager from the Purser’s admitted that Princess lost the luggage; however, she could not locate the luggage. She supposedly worked on finding it without any success. Unfortunately, she did not keep us posted on the results and she would not return our phone calls throughout the trip. We met with her once, but she would not meet with us again.

All together, we spent at least a $1000 on new clothes in order to enjoy ourselves. We lost our shoes, our casual and work clothes, along with other irreplaceable items. All we got in return was a disappointing honeymoon and rude customer service. To top it all off, the last day there we asked if they could give us a complimentary bag in order to get our “new” clothing home (since they admittedly lost our luggage) and we again heard their favorite word, NO! My husband and I had to bring our clothing home in a plastic bag from the boutique that did not close. The Purser’s would not even give us rope or string to tie the bag with in order to keep it closed. I was astounded at their ignorance.

This was supposed to be a wonderful honeymoon that was ruined by the uncourteous and obnoxious Purser’s staff of Princess Cruise Lines. I am disappointed in the treatment we had to endure from them as well as the fact that we still do not have satisfaction, or a conclusion, in our search for our luggage.

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