Copied from CC board

[alanmal]

A friend of mine who will be going with us (a group of 4 couples), has just had a “SCREW YOU” incident with Princess Cruise lines.

They made 2 separate air arrangements for him and his wife. The first one, was Phoenix to Miami to Lima for a pre cruise to Macho Pichu. And from Rio to Miami to Phoenix. The second one was from Phenoix to Miami to Lima nd from Rio to JFK to Miami to Phinoex.

They cancelled the first one and stuck him with the second one. When contacting them they said to him,  to bad  we made a mistake and you have to live with what we gave you.

Another thing that we (him and I ), on our post tour to Rio, have discovered is that, which they will not tell you about, you are only allowed one bag at  44 lbs for the flight  from Buenos Airies to Iguazu  Falls, with the 2 local airlines. And from Iguasso (Brazilian side) to Rio, they only allow you 33lbs. This weight is per person, one bag each.

The argentinian airlines charge as of now $1.12 per lb over the 44 lbs. The Brazilian Airlines (TAM) charges by the distance, not the weight.

I figured that at 2 bags per person at 50 lbs each bag the cost to get the bags from Buanos aAries to Rio would ber for the first leg $128.00 USD and for the second leg at their calculations of the same amoun of bags and weights would be $400.00, for a total of  $512.00 as of today. They say in their documents,”excess baggage fees MAY apply”.

When I talked to them they said “we have no control over local vendors” I said how about having them make some sort of baggage land shipments” and there reply was “It is not our job” So like some people say Princess could care less about the passengers.

[obendus]

A friend of mine who will be going with us (a group of 4 couples), has just had a “SCREW YOU” incident with Princess Cruise lines.

They made 2 separate air arrangements for him and his wife. The first one, was Phoenix to Miami to Lima for a pre cruise to Macho Pichu. And from Rio to Miami to Phoenix. The second one was from Phenoix to Miami to Lima nd from Rio to JFK to Miami to Phinoex.

They cancelled the first one and stuck him with the second one. When contacting them they said to him,  to bad  we made a mistake and you have to live with what we gave you.

Another thing that we (him and I ), on our post tour to Rio, have discovered is that, which they will not tell you about, you are only allowed one bag at  44 lbs for the flight  from Buenos Airies to Iguazu  Falls, with the 2 local airlines. And from Iguasso (Brazilian side) to Rio, they only allow you 33lbs. This weight is per person, one bag each.

The argentinian airlines charge as of now $1.12 per lb over the 44 lbs. The Brazilian Airlines (TAM) charges by the distance, not the weight.

I figured that at 2 bags per person at 50 lbs each bag the cost to get the bags from Buanos aAries to Rio would ber for the first leg $128.00 USD and for the second leg at their calculations of the same amoun of bags and weights would be $400.00, for a total of  $512.00 as of today. They say in their documents,”excess baggage fees MAY apply”.

When I talked to them they said “we have no control over local vendors” I said how about having them make some sort of baggage land shipments” and there reply was “It is not our job” So like some people say Princess could care less about the passengers.

I can sense that the baggage 'shipping services' could enjoy an explosion in business.
Not just the charges, but multiple loading and transferring increases the chance of
loss or damage substantially. The weight limitations and chances for theft are
also concerning.

[f-mattox]

Agreed!  The Princess "Baggage Valet Service" starting at $90 from home to stateroom is starting to look better and better.

[Liz1]

I read the OP's post on CC and the replies. It was pointed out that Princess does not control the baggage allowances of the various airlines. As to the change of schedule, this does happen when booking through the Princess program - it has just happened to us.  However, as I understand it if you paid an additional 50.00 pp you can pick and choose a bit more with the Princess Fliight coordinators.

We have used the Valet service it is convenient BUT it is costly - the $90 rate is only available if you live close to the dock area - we are in Sacramento and it will cost us $150 each way to ship our luggage to LA. That's one bag from 30 to 50 lbs.

[f-mattox]

You can pay the $50.00 and customize your flights; but that still dosen't protect you from flight changes and cancellations.

[Princess Cruiser]

The baggage weight issue on Iguazu Falls has been a well discussed issue on cruise discussion boards.  Too bad that Princess or your T.A. didn't give you a heads up.  Fortunately for future Princess cruisers taking excursions to Iguazu  Falls you have now forewarned them right here on Princess Chatter.

[Suzy Cruisy]

I agree with all the later posts, but particularly want to thank Liz for giving an example of the shipping charge 'starting at $90'.   I am on the QM2 in Sept, and was strongly considering shipping a bag to NY from CA.  I'm going JetBlue, which of course has a second bag charge.  I also have a few pre-cruise days in NY and I thought shipping the formalwear would be convenient.  I'll have to rethink that.

Also, with the Iguazzu Falls flights - the baggage limits are given in the pre-cruise packet.  One of my  clients called me up freaking on this in a prior year.  I didn't know as I don't get the see a copy of the pre-cruise info.  So, I most certainly am going to tell clients about it when they book the cruisetour now.  I still think it's worth going on the CT though. 

Also, with the air, it's SO challenging now.  When you have Princess air without deviation, they have the option of changing your air at will until it's ticketed.  So, you should not complain.  If you want something specific, you must deviate.

As f-mattox said though, this still won't help you if the AIRLINE cancels or changes the flight you deviated to.  And, in this day and age, flight schedules are being changed and cut back ALL OVER.   Flying to our cruises is going to become more and more challenging.

[Seattlite]

Ditto what Suzy said about cancellations--we had that happen on our Tahiti to Hawaii cruise.  Princess stopped contracting with Hawaiian Air, so they switched us to a flight on Northwest instead.  Luckily it was still a direct flight and at almost the exact same time as our original flight.  And we had paid for the deviation (we had a non-Princess post-cruise stay on that one).