The cruise industry can't seem to get a break.
We've been following a situation that has been developing since last week's devastating earthquake in Chile, resulting in hundreds of deaths and the closure or damage of much of the Chilean infrastructure, including Santiago International Airport.
The problem? Star Princess was supposed to turn around in Valparaiso, Chile this week. Many passengers on the March 2nd voyage assumed they would be diverted to another port, and waited to hear more from Princess Cruises.
The word from Princess: make your way to Santiago, and then on to Valparaiso. The cruise is still on.
Santiago airport is operating at a very minimal level due to damage incurred in the magnitude 8.8 quake. Most commercial flights into the airport were canceled outright. Princess pushed the sail date from March 2nd to March 3rd, then to March 4th due to problems docking in Santiago, and disembarking current guests, many of whom can't go home either.
But Princess has a deal for them: pony up the cash. Princess actually charged paying passengers money to stay onboard from March 2nd to March 4th. $50 per person, per day, for inside and outside cabins, $75 per person, per day for balcony cabins or higher. In times of operational delays, most cruise lines usually take it on the chin as a gesture of goodwill.
Their reasoning? You'd be paying for a hotel anyway, so why not pay us?
In the meantime, reports on Cruisecritic have exploded with anger over Princess's handling of the situation, with many reporting finding out from their airlines first. A few even report their flights being canceled, and Princess still reporting that flights were operating as normal.
The most troublesome posts come from those who purchased their airfare with the line. Normally, the cruise line bears some semi-responsibility for getting your flights re-routed in order to join the ship. Not so this time: many guests report complete radio silence from Princess, or misinformation altogether. Some guests have been traveling since Saturday, reaching Santiago and Valparaiso after four to five days of air travel.
Princess says roughly 400 guests from the previous voyage elected to stay onboard for this voyage at the agreed upon daily rate being charged to their accounts in order to disembark in another port. They say an additional 700 guests from the March 2nd sailing managed to reach Santiago - a number that seems excessively high when, in previous statements, they have said less than 300 passengers (out of 2,600) made it to Santiago.
Passengers also report their insurance companies are advising them not to travel to Chile, as there is a government advisory cautioning against all unnecessary or leisure travel to that country. Which means if passengers do go, or attempt to go (as Princess wants them to), their insurance companies won't pay up. This will come as very bad news to all those who tried desperately to make their way to Santiago via Buenos Aires or Rio, or those who chose to fly on to the next port of call - only to have that port dropped when Princess announced the itinerary change earlier this week.
While we understand that there are situations well beyond Princess's control, it is odd that they seem to have little recognition, caring, or understanding of the situations faced by their passengers who stand not only to loose their vacation, but their money as well.
The line posted a Q&A with CruiseCritic yesterday - rather than clearing the issue up, it seems to be damaging their credibility further. Filled with boiler-plate responses and outright refusal to answer certain questions, the line is digging its heels in.
Star Princess did sail yesterday - almost nine hours late, due to Chilean immigration problems. No word on what effect this will have on the already-modified itinerary.
We've enjoyed - and will continue to enjoy - many wonderful vacations with Princess. Their reaction to this unforseen force majeure, however, has many passengers questioning the strange and sometimes bizarre motivations of the line.
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