Sky Princess, Mediterranean
1
On Monday 28th March 2021 we travelled to Southampton for our cruise on Sky Princess.
We arrived at 12:15 pm for our embarkation slot 12:30 to 13:00 hours and joined the end of a very long queue and stood outside in the cold (Medallion class ships quickest embarkation of any cruise line - see their web site).
No member of staff spoke to anyone in the queue until 14:15 when a staff member gave a short talk stating "the delay was due to an operational issue", and asked "if we were green lane on the app". When asked stated “there was no water or drinks available in the terminal due to Covid protocol"
There may not be water / drinks in the terminal but why weren't they available from the ship even at a cost?
We eventually got to the front of the queue at 14:45 to be informed that we had to have had a Covid test within the last 2 days, 3 days being too early, (not according to princess website for fully vaccinated passengers with booster jabs) so we went for another test.
We entered the terminal and had to sit away from other people (row next to the isolation area for ones with positive results - "we take Covid seriously"?) until our results came through.
Unfortunately my wife's result was positive and had to speak to a member of staff, and she was moved into the isolation area at 15:15.
The staff who ran this area had non existent customer service skills, and some to the point of being rude. We were given the standard letter for non sailing and one of the staff went off to get our bags. At 17:30 we were informed that our bags would not be unloaded as the hold was now closed. Our bags will be shipped to our home address when the ship returns in two weeks. (One bag was delivered after 19 days the other one is still enjoying its cruise after 42 days it could possibly be home after next Saturday or it could go on its fifth cruise). When do princess admit that they have lost it?
We were not offered refreshments, or any other assistance as listed in their protocol on the web site, we had been without food or drink since breakfast. I cannot believe the arrogance of the staff who are supposed to be part of princess care team.
We had a very long journey home, if we had known that the bags were not being offloaded we could have been on our way home 2 hours earlier!
Princess have never been the cheapest, but one of the best cruise lines available.
Now their customer service is atrocious, trying to get in touch with a complaint is almost impossible.
David
Post Date: 09/05/2022
