How Cruise Lines Handle Adversity - Another Princess Tale

I MAKE frequent reference here to our experience with serious adversity on a Princess Cruise 12 years ago. I keep thinking I am going to link back to the story, only to find that I have never really told the entire story; just made references to it. I am posting this as much as anything, to make a reference I can link to, rather than retelling the story every time it becomes relevant to another post.

How did our captain address the situation and at a higher level, how did Princess Cruise Lines address it?- magnificently

IN THE telling, I will also reference to a post I did spend some time and detail on last year, recounting the story of another group of passengers who experienced a nightmare - partly of their own doing. But it isn't their conduct that is the point I will be trying to make. Rather, it is the reponse of the Cruise line to an adverse situation.

FOR BOOKENDS, in my view, there are really only two ways to address adversity: head on with the best solution you can reasonably come up with; or negatively, blaming others and bullying anybody who gets in your way. There are, of course, going to be plenty of situations where the parties could take a meet in the middle approach. So here is the story of the "right way" (in my ever so humble opinion 😇) to address adversity.

IN SEPTEMBER 2013, we boarded the newest Princess "flagship," the newest and greatest: "Royal Princess." Truly a marvel in design with modern propulsion sytems, a 3,500 passenger capacity, and beautiful, state-of-the-art (for the time) amenities. It was our first Mediterranean cruise and our first time in Europe. We had high anticipation. And for the first 1/2 of the cruise, they were met - and then some. We spend several days in Venice before boarding. That is a pretty auspicous start and a hard act to follow. But with stops in Kudasisi (for Ancient Ephesus), Istanbul (the cradle of western civilization, Athens (The Acropolis - among other amazing sights), and the picture-perfect island of Mykonos, they really lived up to the hype.

in my view, there are really only two ways to address adversity: head on with the best solution you can reasonably come up with; or negatively, blaming others and bullying anybody who gets in your way

THEN THINGS went south. Our first inkling (and it really didn't seem like a big deal at the time - maybe it was or maybe it wasn't related to the later catastrophic failure) was when we learned that we would not depart Mykonos at our sheduled sailing because the motor to lift the anchor had died. It took them some 4 1/2 hours to fix it and we finally sailed away late that evening. We were assured that we had plenty of time to arrive at our next scheduled port on time. As a photographer, I was keying on this stop. Naples and more importantly to me: The Amalfi Coast. From Mykonos, we had a scheduled sea day. Things were going swimmingly. Then suddenly around noon, everything went silent and all power went off. It restared a couple times, but they couldn't fix it. We had visions of a Carnival ship floating adrift with sewer water in the halls and days before rescue. Actually, those visions were only fleeting - but they did ocurr.

HERE IS where we get to the point of the post. How did our captain address the situation and at a higher level, how did Princess Cruise Lines address it? The answer is: magnificently. If I were writing a text on how to address a similar catastrophe, the Princess response would serve as my model. When this first ocurred, the ship Captain was on the P.A. system very shortly after things began to happen. First he informed us that the ship (I did some later research and these systems are now mandated by international maritime rules) was equipped with an emergency power system which would not only run essentials (lights, refrigeration and cooking equipment, bathroom amenities, air conditioning and the like), but would also provide propulsion power - albeit at a reduced thrust (the ship had a rated speed of 22 knots and we only were able to go around 8 knots under emergency power - but we could move). At this point, he indicated that it seemed obvious that we would be late arriving in the port of Naples. They were trying to fix it but wouldn't know. He promised to get back to us with a report the first thing in the morning. In the meantime, they offered free drinks to all aboard (just one - not unlimited, mind you 😏).

And that is how you deal with an adverse crisis

TRUE TO his word, the Captain reported to us at about 10:00 the next morning. They had been working all night on the problem and had been in touch with Princess management and engineers and it was clear that they were not going to be able to fix the problem. They had collectively made the decision to cancel the second half of the cruise. They realized they couldn't safely continue. It was - at first reaction - a pretty crushing disappointment. But it was what it was and they were making the right decision. Now the compelling question was: how were they going to handle things. Here is the "clinic" on how to address adversity. First, a complete (not just 1/2) refund of 100% of cruise fare. Second, a 25% discount on any future booked Princess Cruise within the next 24 months. Third, and this is where things get interesting, but at Princess' expense they would make arrangements to fly everyone home. In our case, that meant we paid the airfare over and (back - we had round trip), and our out of pocket for our stay in Venice, and a 6 day cruise at no cost. It got better (if that is possible). The ship would not arrive in Naples until late that evening, but until we were able to get accomodations to fly home, the ship would remain in port and we would remain entitled to use all of its facilities. Stay in our stateroom. Dine in the resaurants. Drink in the bars. Come and go on and off the ship as we pleased.

WHEN WE got our "itinerary" from the cruise line, we didn't like it. It did not get us back to our originating airport, and it had us getting up a 2:00 a.m. to board a bus to Rome, at least 2 hours away. Here is where (and why) I recommend that you book cruises through a Travel Agent. We calledour travel agent. She told us to sit tight. A couple hours later, she called us back with the "new" itinerary she had negotiated for us. An extra day in Naples. And, it turns out, Business/First Class tickets on Alitalia which got us back to our originating airport. And Princess told us to keep track of our out-of-pocket expenses and turn them in to be reimbursed. They would reimburse all reasonable expenses. We did. Everything. Cab fare to Rome. Overnight airport hotel. Meals when not aboard the ship.Any and every out of pocket expense we had. We turned them in and Princess paid us. No. Questions. Asked.

AND THAT is how you deal with an adverse crisis. There is little doubt that Princess experienced heavy losses in this instance. They essentially lost the revenue for a 3500 passenger cruise for 12 days, in addition to the costs of airfare and other things (like reimbursing us for out-of-pockets). What they gained though from their swift and aggressive response to the crisis was so much goodwill. And there was very little (if any) bad publicity. While we tend to cruise another line more, we would have zero hesitancy to book a Princess cruise if the itinerary and circumstances served.

And that is how you don't deal with an adverse crisis

I ALLUDED to the opposite approach that could be taken by a cruise line. Hardly an "apples to apples" comparison, but still instructive, was the incident that ocurred on a Norwegian Cruise Lines cruise in South Africa last year. I am linking to to my blog post "Somebody Missed The Boat," here rather than recount it. I had plenty to say in my dedicated blog to this situation. The short story is that a small group of friends and family were late getting back to port. It was not a cruise-sponsored excursion and the rules are very clear. They were at fault. The ship need not feel compelled to wait for them. But from there, the circumstances suggested that there was a reasonable line and an unreasonable line to take. The cruise line chose the latter. There is a point where you are there to serve the customers. There are some extentuating and unclear factors on both sides, but the overall takeaway I got was that the cruise line took an absolutely unreasonable stance. And that is how you don't deal with an adverse crisis. I'll let you read the story on my earlier post and draw your own conclusions.