This is an offshore gambling enterprise that partners with the Barclay Card. They will both look for an opportunity to steal you blind. I feel sorry for the foreign students that they employ to work on their ship. If they take advantage of the passengers, you know they're also ripping off their hired help. Stay away from Barclay's credit cards and the Princess Cruise Line. I learned the hard way!

Our room was ransacked, digital camera went missing and other assorted happenings on our Star Princess Cruise, December 23, 2006.


My family and I were on the Star Princess in late December 2006.

We would like to relate a number of events that occurred on the ship that certainly do not bode well for Princess and their motto of Escape Completely.

Here is what we encountered:

Theft of Digital Camera

On December 25, 2006, somewhere between 4:50PM and 6:00PM a digital camera was stolen from our room.

My son and myself left our room at approximately 4:45PM and proceeded to go to a Trivia Contest on deck 7. My wife called room service and ordered a couple of pitchers of ice water and some cookies. Not thinking anything of it, she left with my daughter to go to the atrium to see the visit from Santa Claus that Princess had arranged. When they left, the camera, which belonged to my nine year old daughter, was lying on the bed in the cabin. Upon their return, it was no longer there.

When I returned to the room with my son, my wife related this to us and we searched the room from top to bottom, twice, but the camera could not be found. We did not want to be accusatory and wanted to be sure it was not anywhere in the room.

I went to the Purser's desk to report this and the Passenger Services Assistant called the Accommodation Desk Manager and asked that he meet us at the room.
This is where all sense of security fell apart.

Upon entering the room, the Accommodation Manager, with no prior notification or agreement on my part, immediately began a complete search of the room.

This was no ordinary search. Every piece of luggage was opened and searched. Every bit of our clothing that was still in two of our suitcases was touched and searched. All of our clothing in the closet was taken out and thrown back on the shelves. Our luggage, which was placed under the bed at embarkation, was now strewn around our room and never returned to it's original location.

I guess that since we were in international waters, he did not feel he should have any regard for a Princess customer's feelings, or their well being. Nor did he feel that he had to abide by any law, or have even one bit of decency. He did this all without asking, or any utterance of explanation.

The Accommodation Manager then came back with a Palm Pilot type of device, stuck a key-card in the room door key slot and was able to read who entered the room between the hours we were gone, as well as verifying our information.

Upon leaving the room, he left us with a sense of being totally violated and certainly without any sense of security on the ship. Honestly, the trip was ruined at that point and nothing could turn it around.

The next day, the Passenger Relation Officer on the Star Princess was non-responsive to our pleas for an update as he said that, the investigation was on-going. Surely by now they knew who entered the room from their room service staff!

Even when I told him that earlier in the afternoon on December 25, 2006, when walking to our room on the Dolphin deck, my son and I overheard another passenger asking the steward, or an assistant, if they by some chance had seen their pair of sneakers that were missing, the steward said he would contact Security about this. I thought that there might be some link but I guess it was never investigated, since I was promised an update but this never occurred.

It is not the cost of the camera that is upsetting. I have not even filed a Report of Loss or Damage as yet, since it states that this report, is not an admission of liability on the part of the company. Princess was wrong in this case, Princess is liable.

What is upsetting is the feeling of being searched like we were criminals, the complete lack of feeling of security on the ship and most importantly, the loss of memories and photos that my daughter once had.

Never once in my travels, approximately 75-100 hotel nights per year and 100 thousand miles per year in air travel, have I ever felt the need to put my valuables in the rooms safe. Princess, in one evening, changed that for me, for life.

Late Sailing

We were nearly five hours late in leaving Ft. Lauderdale which put us in Montego Bay nearly 5-6 hours late, arriving at approximately 1:00PM. This gave us about 3 hours off the ship to enjoy our day in Jamaica.

It was not enjoyable to say the least. Certainly, the 50 dollars credit per person that was afforded the passengers did not make up for nearly a lost day in Jamaica. This was compounded the next day when the captain informed us that, due to wind conditions, we would not be able to disembark in the Cayman Islands. Understandably, a safety decision by the Captain but by the time we got to Cozumel we had spent only three hours off the ship. Pretty frustrating to say the least.

Damaged Luggage

One of our pieces of luggage was damaged by the longshoremen and/or Princess in Ft. Lauderdale upon embarkation.

When I called the Pursers desk to ask how I would be able to get this fixed, I was told to bring it down to the Purser's desk. Why does a family who paid over $7,000 to cruise with Princess have to be inconvenienced and bring the luggage down to the desk by themselves? It shows a lack of common customer service on Princess' part.

The bottom line was that I brought it down myself and it was returned fixed in about 36 hours.

Amenities were not delivered.
We booked a Mini Suite (D115). Princess' website states in the description of the mini-suite that, Mini-Suites with balconies are larger than staterooms with balconies, with up to 536 sq. ft. Features a queen bed or two twins that convert to a queen-size bed, a separate sitting area with sofa bed and desk, and a bathtub with massage shower head. Amenities include Welcome champagne, Two TVs, Refrigerator and Walk-in closet.
When I called room service to find out where our welcome champagne was in the room I was told to call special services. I spoke with a gentleman named Joseph. He then spoke with Patricia, a Supervisor, and she stated that we were not entitled to it. I guess their website is incorrect?
Lotus Spa
This should not be called a spa. It should be called a health club or a gym, at best.
My wife had a massage and I did have a pedicure while on board.
We both were asked to wait in a general holding room, right outside the treadmills and other equipment, until we were called for our treatment. Usually, you would be put into an area away from the general public, at a real spa, and given a robe/slippers.
My pedicure was conducted by two different attendants who switched mid-treatment since the first attendant mistakenly thought I was her client. When approached by the second attendant, she left in a huff and to me this was very poor etiquette. Also, I had a small cut on my left leg and without inspection, or asking, she rubbed sea salt into the cut. Not a pleasant feeling, as you could imagine.
Photography Staff

A huge money maker for Princess I am sure but they are downright overbearing, arrogant, rude, disruptive and insensitive.

You could not go anywhere without a camera being pushed in your face or being stood in front of. While you were trying to walk somewhere without the photographer saying something to the effect of, come on get together for another photo. They waved their hands and tried aggressively to get us to let them take a photo at meals and shore stops, just about everywhere. Just about every meal was interrupted by a staff photographer. I was afraid to use the bathroom at times.

We spent $39.85 on photos on one day alone and upon looking at them more closely after getting home we saw that the photos were printed with the itinerary in the border that included Ocho Rios. This sailing did not include Ocho Rios we did not even stop there!

Internet

The Internet service provided on board is poor at best. Web pages take minutes, yes minutes to load. While I know they have a disclaimer posted regarding, speeds vary due to location, weather, etc. this is a poor way to make additional money on board. The speeds were in some cases I am sure slower than a 14.4k bps modem. We spent over $75.00 on this so-called service. Princess should either upgrade their service or not charge for it.


Other things:

Food was OK, nothing phenomenal, when cooking for 2600 people. The steakhouse, with an additional cover, was our best meal on board.

There were 700 kids on-board and the kids programs were great.

Final Conclusion: How did Princess Respond?
They told us they are not responsible for the theft, even though they 100% know who entered our room and took it.

They completely ignored the behavior of their employees when they searched our cabin in their response.

They apologized for all the other things.

They offered us a $50/person credit on our next Princess Cruise, like we will ever be on one of their ships again!

Follow up emails to Customer Service, Passenger relations, Princess Public Relations were all unanswered. They obviously do not care about their customers and their business.

The Bottom Line:
Think twice and then think again, before booking a Princess cruise, unless of course you do not feel you need a sense of security on board or in your cabin.