I recently completed a 10 day cruise on Sapphire Princess, sailing out from Singapore on February 28, 2019. I encountered some serious issues that I have not experienced on Princess before. While in the men's changeroom, I witnessed the spa staff give a master locker key to a passenger who claims he found his locker locked but he had not locked it. The passenger was allowed to use the master key in the men's changeroom unsupervised as spa staff said no male staff was available to accompany him. The passenger then opened the locker that he thought was his, found out it was not his and then promptly used the master key to open every locker near the one he thought was his, violating the privacy and security of property of the other passengers who had locked their belongings in the lockers. In addition, on two occasions when I was in the men's changeroom, once when I was in the sauna with another passenger also in the sauna and a second time when I was standing at the lockers while changing, I heard a woman's voice in the men's changeroom and found the female spa manager had entered the men's changeroom during operating hours unannounced and without any prior warning. I reported both the locker master key incident and the female spa manager intrusion into the men's changeroom to both the spa manager and front desk but did not see any serious response to the incidents from the ship (as shown by the spa manager intruding into the men's changeroom a second time when I was in there just a day or two after I reported the first intrusion). It was only after I e-mailed my cruise agent to complain and he passed on my complaint to Princess sales office that head office contacted the ship and arranged for the Customer Services Director to meet with me to explain they have reported the locker master key incident to the captain as a breach of security and that they have instructed the female spa manager not to enter the men's changeroom during operating hours. It was quite clear to me from my experience on this cruise that the spa manager and the ship was not taking these matters very seriously until head office contacted the ship and likely because I pointed out in my complaint that had a male spa staff member intruded into the women's changeroom unannounced while female guests were in the changeroom, there would likely have been a much more serious reaction.

The cruise would otherwise have been much better rated by me but this serious breach of security of property of other passengers by the careless release of the master locker key to a passenger unsupervised and the repeated intrusion of the female spa manager into the men's changeroom unannounced, and the initial tepid response from the ship and front desk does raise serious doubts in my mind about the attitude of Princess to very basic expectations of passengers to security of property and privacy.

I do want to credit the Customer Services Director Miguel Netto Rocha though with making every effort to reassure me the issues were being seriously dealt with and to ensure other aspects of my cruise met my expectations, once he became involved in the matter (he indicated he was off the ship when the incidents occurred and returned to the ship only the day before he met with me). He sent the supervisor of my cabin steward to drop in on me to make sure I was happy with my cabin cleaning and condition, and he did offer perhaps complimentary spa service but I declined the offer as I only use the gym, sauna and steam room and not the massage or salon services. He also gave me his card and his phone local number and asked me to call him with any other issues or concerns during the balance of my cruise. Read more