Princess Cruise Lines Robs Elderly Lady of Lifelong Dream

I’ve tried about five different titles, seeking one over-the-top and dramatic enough to satisfy my sense of outrage. This one doesn’t, but I can’t think of anything better.

A 78 year old woman, living on a Social Security pension, saved for ten years to go on her dream cruise. She relied on Princess Cruise Lines for all her travel arrangements, including air travel. Some nitwit probably earning slightly more than minimum wage booked two elderly women with an itinerary which included three connecting flights, each way. What could go wrong? Mercifully, neither of these ladies broke a hip trying to get themselves to their next flight, but they missed one anyway because of mechanical difficulties. They missed the flight and missed the boat.

The cost of the cruise is non-refundable. Ten years of scrimping and saving, and she only got as far as Minneapolis. Doubtless Minneapolis is beautiful, but, cold as it is, they still don’t have glaciers. Princess Cruise Lines is all about refunds, though – when they’re on the receiving end. The airlines refunded this woman’s airfare - to Princess Cruise Lines. So Princess made quite a tidy little profit on this deal.

But Princess spokeswoman Julie Benson said the woman will not get the refunds; Princess keeps the combined total of $559.80. The cruise line negotiates fares and special refund conditions with the airlines, Benson said, and the line’s policy is an industry standard :“The cancellation penalty applies to the cruise, airfare, prepaid excursions and pre- or post-cruise packages.” Because the woman hadn’t bought travel insurance (her friend did), she gets nothing back.

Now, I agree that Princess Cruise Lines has every right to behave as they have. This is why travel insurance exists, and this is why her friend bought travel insurance. But for pity’s sake, this woman is 78 years old. She’s not going to have another chance to do this.

Just because you can do something, doesn’t mean you should. I’m pretty confident that they don’t fill up every boat, every time, and that they could have found some place to put her on a future cruise. Sometimes rules should be broken and policies bent for the greater good – in this case, not just the moral thing, but the practical thing could have been accomplished. It would have been far better, just from a PR standpoint, to find some solution to give this woman a cruise. Justice is good; mercy is better.

It would have been far better from an economical standpoint as well. They don’t know it, but it’s cost them at least $5,000. Last month a friend of ours asked me to help him arrange an Alaska cruise for him and a buddy. He wants us to go as well, although we hadn’t decided yet. (With four of us, it’s kind of a pricey vacation. We’ve wanted to do it for some time and I can’t make up my mind if this is the time.) I have been dutifully trying to come up with the best plan for him, and had pretty much decided on the Diamond Princess because it’s so new. Holland America, Celebrity, and Carnival all have Alaska cruises, and you can bet that I’ll book it with one of them after this. (In fact, Reggie, you know I love ya but as far as I’m concerned you can swim it before I help you board a Princess Cruise.) So Princess, that’s a minimum of $5k, but leaning toward $15,000 you won’t be getting from me and mine.

I don’t know what this decision will ultimately cost Princess Cruise Lines, but I don’t believe I’m the only one who feels like they could have figured out some way to help this woman have her dream without upsetting the balance of the universe. I’ve emailed CoGo at WaPo to see if anyone is collecting donations to get this woman a cruise; if they are I’ll update this post with the information.

h/t to Cheerful Iconoclast, who points out, ‘I have to say that if I were a competitor of Princess Cruises, I’d give the old lady a free cruise to Alaska. Then I’d have her tape a commercial saying “Princess Cruise Lines screwed me out of my money, but Cheerful Iconoclast Cruises treated me like a queen!”‘ They won’t make that commercial because they almost certainly have the same policies, but hopefully they have someone more astute making decisions who’d like to enjoy some great PR and that warm, fuzzy, ‘I did a good deed today’ feeling.