DrSea

Princess customer service has always been....well you know...you're platinum 

3 hours ago, Cloud9 Bob said:

Was it in a recent video he made??

He said it during the video where he says Virgin is doing month stays for 10k. It came out like yesterday 

I heard from the shiplife YouTuber that the owners of Virgin Voyages is trying to sell off the cruise line. I tried to Google it but didn't come up with anything. Anyone have any info on this? Thanks

On 4/14/2024 at 1:37 PM, TRLD said:

Back before Princess went away from traditional dining times. You had pretty much the outcome in cruises out of the US, Europe, Asia.

 

Early dining would fill up first, late dining less full. Then when they first went to anytime they had 2 dining rooms for traditional early, with one anytime, then after the first dining period one dining room switched from fixed to anytime leaving only 1 late traditional dining room. 

 

For the couple of years before Princess did away with traditional the traditional dining rooms seemed to have far fewer people in then with many either switching out from fixed or just not showing up.

 

Seemed more Princess reacting to passengers wants and norms.

 

Many did not like the dining times they were assigned, or did not like the rigidity. Some wanted only 2 tops or dif not like the table mates assigned to their table. Also the increase in specialty dining increased the number of those skipping their traditional dining spots.

 

In the end the demand for traditional dropped over the years and the industry changed, except for a percentage that wanted the formality and consistency of traditional dining.

 

It will be interesting how many select traditional dining on the Sun now that it is offered again as well as the new changes coming in Sept.

 

 

I remember how empty the fixed dinning room was. Let's see if Princess will succeed this time. I have my doubts 

16 hours ago, Torfamm said:

It’s always surprising to me that so many people go wait in line when they could just send a message and continue their time.

Thanks for your understanding.

There are many issues where it cannot be solved via the app. Especially on cruises that are 4 days or less bc it requires 48 hours or more for them to get to it.

I had to stand in line because they couldn't solve it. 

My most helpful tip is to just give up on app. It never works. One step forward and 10 steps back. 

16 hours ago, Torfamm said:

If so then maybe only using the phone to call housekeeping is best. 

 

If you do need to contact Guest Services again, there’s no need to wait in line. You can just send them a message using the Crew Chat feature in the app 

I had to stand in line for something else. But multiple people were in line for that fee. I saw at least 3 different parties have to get it changed

3 hours ago, TM said:

On our last cruise a New York strip steak was on the always available menu every night.  Although quite frankly I thought it was tasteless.  I would much prefer a good ribeye, but that would be cost prohibitive for Princess to have available on a nightly basis.

I was on the discovery princess 15 days ago and there was not always a steak option nightly without an up charge 

15 hours ago, Torfamm said:

There has been no charge for ordering those items in the app or by phone in my experience, nor is there supposed to be from what I’ve been told. If you were charged the OceanNow activation fee, it was in error.

 

That brings me to what I find to be helpful features in the app. Being able to see and screenshot your folio is both helpful and saves a ton of paper.

Also, if you do have any issues, crew chat is a great way to resolve them without having to physically visit guest services.

The front desk said that ocean now fee is correct if you order just the sharps container on the discovery Princess 2.5 weeks ago. 

Don't say you weren't warned when standing in line for 30 min to try to remove that fee 

My thoughts are that this is like Carnivals situation. 

The app is trash, and it is somehow getting worst. 

You can locate your shipmate, and that is the only thing useful thing about it.

Also, if you use your app to order towels or a sharps container, you will have to pay the 15 dollar service fee. Just ask your room Stewart for it

On 4/14/2024 at 3:35 PM, TRLD said:

Even on Princess cruises is Europe demand for earlier dining has seemed to be higher. Probably because even in Europe north American passengers tend to make up a majority of passengers.

On 4/14/2024 at 4:31 PM, Cruise Raider said:

I really think it may have more to do with the ages of the passengers onboard and where they come from.  When we were younger, we couldn’t understand how people wanted to eat dinner at 6:00 PM, much less at 4:30 PM. Our preferred time to start dinner was at 8:00 or even 8:30 PM.  Now that we are older, we prefer the earliest dining time available.  At home, we’re known to be done with dinner by 4:00 PM and wish the specialty restaurants would offer the same menu at lunchtime, even if it’s at the same cost.  
Perhaps that is why the cruisleines are trying to attract more and more younger crowds, as their key demographic is aging.  
Anyway, it may be all anecdotal but we tend to see more people that are our age (seniors) seated for the earlier dining times than we used to when we ate later in the evening. 
Lately, we’ve skipped out of even going to the MDR for dinner and just get little snacks at either the PES lounge, food delivery, the buffet or at Alfredo’s for a bowl of soup.  We have larger lunches and smaller dinners with each passing year.  

Both age and nationality are factors. Hence we have multivariate analysis. 

7 hours ago, TheMichael said:

The problem with assigned times is that almost everybody wants early. The average cruise passenger wants dinner at 5:30 and a seat in the theatre for the 7pm show.
 

“Anytime”/“My Time” is a way to deflect blame to one’s fellow passengers, rather than in the cruise line for not building ships in which the MDR would somehow hold 3k passengers. (They already complain that the theater is too small - if some folks had their way, half of ships’ indoor space would be the MDR and the other half would be the Theater.)

In the US, the earlier dining times are preferred. In Europe,  it's the later times that are preferred. So it depends on the pax of that sailing

On 4/12/2024 at 1:25 PM, MacMadame said:

I didn't say assigned times cost more money. I said that cruise lines that still cruise in the old ways cost more money. Assigned times is just one place where things have changed, there is also turndown service, the midnight buffet, all drinks except alcohol, and all activities included in the fare, etc.

Thank you for the clarification 

On 4/12/2024 at 4:26 PM, stevenr597 said:

I would imagine that assigned times would actually cost less money.  Put less strain and give more efficiency to the waiters and kitchen in that they would not have to be preparing multiple dishes at the same time. 

I spoke to one of the managers on another cruise line and found out that it does cost more money to have the flexible dining schedule. It is because you have to flex up the staff when there is more demand. 

12 hours ago, MacMadame said:

And assigned time!

 

I've been thinking about this. From what I see, there are cruise lines that are much closer to the Good Old Days than others. Ones with dress codes that are enforced, ones that have assigned dining times, ones where much more is included. But they COST. They cost more than I want to pay. So my guess is that if Princess brought some of these things back, they'd have to raise prices to the point where many of us wouldn't book with them.

Why would having assigned times cost more money? If anything it would save more money bc you wouldn't have to flex up the wait staff.

I could never go back to assigned times. It's why I favored NCL when they first came out with freestyle cruising. Now it means nothing since almost everyone does it.

On 4/8/2024 at 12:14 PM, Pickels said:

Ok, but if you can’t find a menu selection that you like or can eat in the MDR, what are you going to do?  Skip a meal?

I have. I've gone to bed hungry. Helps me to save calories for another night 

It can sunny and a little warm to cold and rainy at the next port. If you can pack efficiently for both extremes, then yeah one carry on. But jackets can get bulky. Ymmv

I have walked in with board shorts and flip flops on last night. A small percentage do. I have never been stopped

On 4/2/2024 at 4:14 AM, Beamafar said:

 

As for adding a charge for a second mains, MSC has introduced a charge of $5 on their US sailings. 

This means I'll never sail on MSC

The food on princess hasn't been to my liking in a while. But it's bc they cut back on the beef options 👎👎

2 minutes ago, memoak said:

HAL. Be prepared to go to sleep at 8:00

7 if you want to tell the youths to get off your lawn.

Jk

@ OP, the MDR is bustling at 530. Just thought you should know 

I was on the discovery princess 5 days ago. I got both types of butter. I didn't think much of it bc I don't eat bread 

We are so privileged that we can debate about of butter preferences. God bless America 

2 hours ago, iankh said:

 

I wrote to customer service four times, which was four opportunities for them to respond and provide the email address for whom to contact. I fully acknowledge that the onus is on the passengers to be honest about their needs. That I did four times. The onus is then on the cruise line to respond to those inquiries. In this case, silence spoke volumes. It's very important that my previous experience with being told to "eat at your own risk" created the initial framing of my distrust. The lack of a response to four inquiries, simply built on that distrust and solidified it.

 

I posted on the board today because a friend, who is a very loyal Platinum Princess member, urged me to do so. I know that he loves Princess and always raves about their cruises. It was he who convinced me to try Princess again. He thought it was an experience I should share.

I would go with HAL. Why give Princess money to have them ignore you? 

Hate HAL, but ymmv

On 4/2/2024 at 7:07 AM, CrazyTrain2 said:

Shhh, Don't tell the cruise lines but the uplift on cabins is for suckers. If you take the cost differential and put it towards experiences you'll come out way ahead.

 

In the olden cruising days, balconies were very limited. most cabins on a ship were inside.  I love sailing inside.  It is so restful and no worries about somebody smoking on their balcony, talking loudly or playing music.  When I want the sit quietly outside the ship offers so many options not the 10x5' cell called a balcony.

 

You will NEVER sleep so well as in an inside cabin.  

 

Let the dog piling begin from the Sweet Suite crowd, but this sailor can afford any cabin on the ship and still chooses an interior cabin.

Shhhh, keep it a secret

My vote is for balcony so that you can save the inside room for me at a low fare