jacketwatch

13 hours ago, molly1995 said:

I keep reading reviews on how terrible the food is on the Ruby Princess and now I'm getting cold feet and buyers remorse.   The pictures of food don't look good either. Any have anything good to report. Also heard the pickle ball court was too small to play on.

We have been on 20 cruises over four different lines and six on Princess. The most recent was just a month ago on the Crown Princess out of San Francisco. I can’t really say that the food has been bad on any of them. It’s always pretty good to me. Do you remember that this is Bank because they are cooking for so many people. However, they do a very good job. I think you’ll be perfectly fine.

BTW this is the first time I have had experience using the Princess medallion. It worked very well. I really do like it. 

10 minutes ago, Paula_MacFan said:

 

I understood that from your initial post, but was responding to this comment:  

 

At that point I wouldn't waste time with someone you clearly thought/knew was misinformed, and would consult the source (Princess website).

 

Bottom line you ate in the MDR and appear to have enjoyed the rest of your cruise. It's good you shared your experience here as a cautionary tale about Princess reps, although I (like @memoak) have never heard a CVP use the title 'Tripadvisor'.

 

I did call Princess again. They assure me they do not use third-party people to be an advisor or a rep or whatever term you want to use. 
 

Yes, in any case, it all worked out in the end. If you look at one of the messages above (Suekel) seems to be more a bigger issue. 
 

I always thought that once we got on board, things would be fine. The service was what I have become used to and it was excellent. 

2 minutes ago, Bemidji Ty said:

• It appears that the issue is not that the correct info is readily available, but rather that false information is being given by phone support staff.  You can read that the OP dined in the MDR with the full understanding that this was included. 
•  
• If I ever get my brother on a cruise, it would be his first.  He is likely to accept without question whatever the incompetent phone support folks may tell him. 

That is exactly the point. 
Thank you. 
OK I was the one who got the call first from Luke at Princess, him being the advisor. I was asking him about dining reservations, and that’s when he gave me the misinformation about the only venue being available for free dining was the buffet. 

2 minutes ago, Paula_MacFan said:

I understand your frustration with being given incorrect information by a rep; however, Princess dining is explained on their website.  

 

Included dining:  https://www.princess.com/en-us/ships-and-experience/onboard-experience/food-and-dining/whats-included

 

Other tabs on that same page describe specialty dining and other options.  The website has detailed deck plans if there is any confusion over what venues are available on each ship.

 

I get that people like to talk to a real person, but at the same time there is a large amount of easily accessible information on the Princess website that might be a good starting point before calling someone on the phone. 
 

Actually, they were the first ones to contact me. I was trying to make a dining reservation with them and this is how I got the information or should I say misinformation. 
 

I think that anybody in Customer Service for Cruises should know something so basic as to what venues are included for dining with your fare. 
 

Just imagine how many people they have turned off by giving such gross misinformation. 

 

It’s not just Princess. I’ve had horrible experiences with X and Royal  CS as well. 

May I know what email you used? I’d like to contact them as well.

Larry 

Actually, he sounded like he was from Great Britain. 
 

He was assigned to me by Princess and the number he called from was a Princess number. This was not a third-party. And don’t forget I called Princess back myself and talk to another person there who said the same thing. These people are definitely from Princess. 

We recently completed this cruise out of San Francisco with stops in Santa Barbara, LA, San Diego, and Ensanada Mexico. As usual everything on board, which is fine. I was very impressed with the service overall.
 

however, I was very disappointed with the service from my so-called Tripadvisor beforehand. He was assigned by Princess to us and he told us that the only place that we could have our meals without a cost was the horizon buffet. I couldn’t believe this I asked him to check with the supervisor and he said when he got back to me that is the case. I called again and spoke to somebody else and she also told me that the only free meals were in the horizon buffet. So I called my travel agent who called Princess and of course this is not true. We ended up having our meals in the Michelangelo dining room at 7 PM every day and we were treated very well.

I called My advisor back and I said you really need to double check this. This simply can’t be true. I told him to ask another supervisor. He did and he got back to me and he confirmed that indeed we can have our meals in one of the main dining rooms. However, I can’t believe that two separate people with princess would tell us the only place we can eat free is in the buffet. I really don’t know if this is general incompetence or that they’re trying to upsell dining packages.  
 

I must say that we’ve cruised other lines as well and my experience seems to be that once you’re on the ship, you’re treated very well though how you are treated when calling CS is spotty to say the least. 
 

has anybody else had this experience about being told you cannot eat free except and then horizon Court? 
 

Thank you. 
 

Good afternoon. On 20 April, we will be going on the crown princess out of San Francisco. my friend has a daughter in San Francisco who is going to meet us there. She says there’s more than one pier. Does anybody know what Peter uses? Thank you!

Thank you 😊 

We start out of SF actually.

We have been awarded to the USS, Missouri and Honolulu. 
 

We live near Chicago and have been to the museum of science and industry where they have the captured World War II German submarine do U 505. That’s incredible just to be on that thing and see how those poor guys had to endure such cramped and basically unhygienic and filthy conditions. 

We’ve seen the USS Yorktown in Patriots Point, Charleston, SC. My uncle served on it in WW II. 

Wow! That sounds wonderful. I assume the Midway museum is actually a ship? Is this correct? I would love to be able to go on it if so.

my uncle served in the Navy in World War II and we were able to go on the USS Yorktown, which is in Charleston South Carolina, at Patriots point.

Thank you again for some great ideas!

Thank you for the replies.
 

It’s no wonder I couldn’t find much in the way of private tour guys for these ports.

I did look at Viator who we used for our Iceland cruise a couple years ago but this time I found their prices really high. 
 

I did see one excursion offered by the ship for Los Angeles, which I think it’s pretty good for us. We go to the place where they have the walk of fame and we have two hours to walk around so I think I like that.

If we can just stroll into town in San Diego and Santa Barbara, that may be good enough. I don’t think our friends who are going with us. Want to be energetic about this. My friend does have Parkinson’s and he can’t get around. It’s not that easy for him. 
 

We definitely are going to take a ships tour in Ensenada, though we haven’t decided which one yet.

Again, thank you for the replies.

Larry 

Hello. We will be doing a cruise of the California coast in April. We have stops in San Diego, Los Angeles, Santa Barbara, and Ensenada Mexico. Specifically for the US ports, will there be tour guides or private tour people available once we get off the ship like they usually are for just about everywhere else? we usually prefer just to get off when we feel like and wing it. I haven’t been able to find anything such available, but I would imagine there should be. What is your experience with getting off in these ports and meeting people to sell you tours?
 

Thank you.

Larry 

Actually, two cruise planners gave me the information about free dining at the buffet only. Yes two. 
 

it was the person at the 800 number or general number who gave me the right information.

Well, I just don’t know how people are trained anymore.

I should’ve come here first. 😂

You know, it’s utterly amazing that you can get incorrect information like what I got from at least three different people from Princess and get the correct information here.

thank you again!

I actually found on the app and I can make reservations for the main dining room so I called the cruise planner back and I said please double check. He had said he talk to visor and I said talk to another one! 
he did that and then he confirmed the main dining room. The funny thing is I talked to another cruise planner, and she said the same thing as he did. I have no idea what they’re doing. I called the main 800 number and the cruise planner number and was told that yes I can go to the main dining room and in fact she tried to help me make reservations for those venues. 

we can only use pizza twice for our casual dining. Is it true that we can only have pizza twice without paying for it? 
Thank you again very much! 

I was just informed by my cruise planner and other cruise planners that the only available dining for us on our cruise in April out of San Francisco is in the horizon buffet. They were telling me that everything else is extra. We have the Princess plus package which includes Wi-Fi, a beverage, package and gratuities. It also includes dining at two casual restaurants. Do you mean to tell me that you cannot go to anyone of the other main dining venues anymore?

Thank you

Thank you for the replies! 

Hello;

we are a party of six who will be cruising out of Reykjavik in June with stops in tree ports in Iceland, Isafjordur, Akureyri and Sefdisfjordur.  Usually tour operators are in ports but can anyone confirm if thius is true for these ports?  

Thank you

Larry 

I hope so too. its a port stop which I hope is close to the beach as it seems the best places are there. Looks scrumptious! I like to try local foods and wash them down with local beer too. 😂 No point in going so far and drinking what I can get here. 🍺

Thank you

We will be having a port stop in T and T and seems bake and shark is a go to quintessential meal here. There are many places that serves this, Richards, Richards, Daphnes just to name  few so can anyone recommend a restaurant to try this T and T creation? 

Thank you.

Larry .

Wow!  We were on the Feb. 3 cruise which stopped in Qatar. Glad we had a chance. Our scheduled stop in Bahrain was canceled but that was due to security concerns.