Erin

Age: 28
Occupation: Clerk
Number of Cruises: 2
Cruise Line: Princess
Ship: Grand
Sailing Date: February 29th, 2004
Itinerary: Western Caribbean

To Whom It May Concern:

Here is a copy of the complaint I made to Princess after our stay. Their reply was a $200 credit on our next cruise which expires April 2005. Not good enough if you ask me.

I would like to formally submit a complaint regarding the Grand Princess cruise I took February 29th to March 7th, 2004. My room number was Dolphin 610.

Ever single night of our vacation the ceiling in our Mini-Suite creaked so loudly we barely slept. The first night we just let it go thinking it was due to rough seas… by the second night of our seven night cruise the creaking had kept me up for two nights. I contacted the Purser’s Desk and they sent someone up. The maintenance man said there was nothing he could do at that time, that he would return the next day. At that, I attempted another nights sleep unsuccessfully. The Purser’s Deck offered us a down-grade to an inside cabin on another floor. Insulted by this offer as I’d looked forward to waking up to my balcony, we declined. We were provided complimentary earplugs for the remainder of our voyage. By the third evening we had several maintenance people coming in and out of our room while we were trying to relax, we asked the maintenance crew to come back later. Upon our return the creaking continued. By the fifth night we were told there was nothing else that could be done, the creaking would continue even on calm seas.

I don’t know if you can even begin to imagine my frustration and stress while sailing on the Grand Princess. I had looked forward and counted down the days till we would be at sea. We traveled all the way from Vancouver, BC to venture aboard the Grand and see the Western Caribbean. We left our two young children for a romantic vacation of our own. To our dismay the vacation was far from romantic and relaxing. The persistent creaking from the ceiling was so annoying that it kept us awake several times throughout every single night. Both of us were in bad moods come morning and more tired than ever come the evening. I was really looking forward to the ship as I liked the feeling of being rocked to sleep by the motion of the water, but that did not happen for us.

We booked this cruise because we loved cruising. We first sailed the Carnival Destiny last year and were overwhelmed with the comfort of our room and the relaxing feel of having an outside cabin balcony. We didn’t think twice about cruising the second time, especially after hearing Princess was a step above. I no longer have any desire to risk cruising again. We spend our hard-earned savings to afford the mini-suite and were assured it was one of the best rooms and locations on the ship. And so it seemed in the booklet.

Your cruise line came highly recommended from my parents who are frequent cruisers and affiliated with corporate cruisers that used your line in the past. I did read many positive reviews about the Grand Princess before setting sail. Because of the amount of research I did, the last thing I expected were sleepless nights, I assumed the ship would be solid enough to deal with such noises. We just feel really let down by the whole experience, your slogan, “Where I Belong” didn’t ring true.

We are very disappointed with the lack of service and compensation received while aboard the Grand Princess. Once we lost our sleep everything else just seemed to get worse… By the time we arrived back in Ft. Lauderdale we were first off the ship and couldn’t wait to get home to our own beds to relax and sleep.

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