Statement from Princess Cruises:
Star Princess will end its current cruise in Valparaiso, Chile as scheduled on Tuesday morning, March 2. The cruise terminal is open and operational.
The airport there is operating on a very limited basis, and the vast majority of inbound and outbound flights have been cancelled. We are closely monitoring the situation.
Should the airport remain closed on Tuesday, we plan to keep Star Princess is Valparaiso for at least another 24 hours so our passengers who are unable to fly out, will be able to stay onboard until flight operations resume. Passengers who are already in Valparaiso will also be able to embark and stay on board the ship.
At this point we plan to operate the following cruise, which is sailing to Rio de Janeiro. We will keep passengers informed of any changes to the itinerary, but the earliest we would sail from Valparaiso would be Wednesday, March 3 at 6 pm.
Passengers who have booked their outbound or inbound air through Princess are being re-booked, and any modification to pre- or post packages have been taken care of.
For passengers onboard who had made independent travel plans in Valparaiso, we have assisted them by checking on the status of their hotel, and have provided them with this information.
This is a fluid situation and can change at any time. We are continuing to provide updates to our passengers as we receive new information.
In view of the severe damages incurred from the earthquake and the extensive cancellations of flights, Princess Cruise should take action to reschedule or cancel the cruise to assure the safety of its passengers. The region is experiencing chaos and human suffering beyond imagination
ReplyDeletePassengers would understand cancellation of the cruise in view of such human tragedy and devastation. The passengers should be supported to travel the same cruise at a near or future date when the country is given a chance to return to normalcy.
Thank you for your comment. I think Princess is doing the right thing by offering accommodations on the ship to passengers who are scheduled to depart.
ReplyDeleteAs they say in their statement, it's a fluid situation and I'm sure they'll do whatever they can to not put their passengers in harm's way.
I am a travel agent and I have a client scheduled to be on the next cruise out of Valparaiso. Princess has done nothing to accommodate my client. The air was booked through Princess with the promise that they would provide any service that is needed if there would be any interruptions. My last phone call to Princess after a 1 hour hold time I was told that the airlines are no longer speaking with Princess and if I wanted to get my client to the ship I was on my own. This is how they treat their passengers? Needless to say we are cancelling their cruise. What Princess should have done is cancelled this cruise to a later date and refund the money to their passengers.
ReplyDeleteI am one of a group of ten who have been booked since October '09 on the Star Princess cruise from Valparaiso to Rio. Our American Airline flights scheduled to leave Miami on Sunday, 2/28 were canceled and there was word from American earliest (and very tentative)that the Santiago Airport would open by Wednesday 3/3. There was rumor that the Star Princess was sailing on schedule....THERE HAS BEEN NO COMMUNICATIONS AT ALL FROM PRINCESS. All ten of us bought the travel insurance through Princess......and now we have learned that Princess will not honor the insurance only citing the "fine print"!!
ReplyDeleteIt is shocking that Princess is so greedy making money off a natural horrific disaster. God bless the Chileans who are suffering.