Ronnieslady

12 hours ago, 93yearsyoung said:

 

You walked right in after clearing the airport like screening area where they x-ray your carry on bags I presume you mean. How long was the wait there? Does anyone know if that is TSA manning that or is that a terminal/cruise line ground crew?

The TSA is not manning the x-ray machines. They are  Just  security type people, that work for the terminal.
 We walked right into the Elite- Suite waiting room after going thru that x-ray area.  You make a sharp left unless that room is too full.(depending on what time you get there)  Then there are people around showing you where to go.  Make sure you show them your Suite proof.   We waited about 5 minutes before the girl escorted us to our suite.  Someone just  posted that the Grand is the only ship that escorts you to your Suite.   Thats a real shame.   It would  be a great way for Princess to up their reputation, without costing them a penny.   Hopefully they will take a hint!!

The last 2 cruises we took out of San Pedro Nov. 2021 & April 2022 , we got there about 10:30am . We were Green with our Medallions & we walked right in, showed our travel pass to the nice lady @ the door & went right up the escalator. Then we waited about 2 minutes & showed that lady our vaccination & negative tests &  passports . She gave us a little sign that said Suite. Then we went thru that security thing like @ the airport. Then as we entered the Elite- Suite room this young girl comes up to us & has a list & confirmed our names & Suite # & tells us she will be escorting us to our Suite. The Elite room was already full, with just a few seats left.  It wasn’t even 11:00 yet.  About 5 minutes later she takes all our carry-ones & says follow me & of course we did. No one had even started boarding yet.  She made us feel very special.   We were the very 1st to board it was great.  Both sailings were on the Grand.  We have sailed over 30 cruises with Princess & always in a full suite, but we have never been escorted.  The last one in April we were 200 passengers under being completely full.

   So yes, it does help to be in a full suite.  Was it a fluke? Or because we were early? We always get to the terminal early.  Or is it something Princess is doing now when in a suite, I don’t know. Hopefully 93yearsyoung will be lucky like we were.

   The very worst boarding we ever had was in Ft. Lauderdale.  We said never again.  What a circus.  

On 7/8/2022 at 6:59 AM, deultgen said:

We were on the Ruby in February.  Nice 5 tiled lounges steam rooms, showers, etc.  For 99% of the people on the cruise, it is not worth it, but for us, its worth it a couple days a week.  

A few years ago & before Covid on the Ruby & the Crown the 5 beds  were always taken at about 2:30 & around 3:00 .  We were in a full suite, but the passengers that paid for the pass were upset when they were full.  Also no place to sit & wait in that particular room.  This was a Panama & Hawaii cruises.  
I even asked the girls @ the desk if anyone could just use the beds. And they said no.  But all the passengers that get massages  are entitled to use the beds also.  Passengers would leave their towels on the beds & sometimes we didn’t know if they had gone to the rest room & were coming back or in the sauna & coming back.  Some would stay for hours & sleep. 

   IMO both of those ships seem to overbook those passes.  Even though they say they only have a limited number to sell.  The $ comes 1st. 

On 7/5/2022 at 7:37 PM, OldTymeCruiser said:

Do you work for princess? I would expect for what i am paying full transparency. 

Princess is probably saving some money cutting back their Production Shows   Did anyone say “cutbacks “ , there you go .

     “   Transparency  “    Princess doesn’t know that word.

2 hours ago, antsp said:

You've got Covid, so now you can't for a while, time to live again 

That’s not true of the 

latest 2 newest Variants here in California, from what I was just reading.  You can keep getting them over & over.    There is no vaccine yet for these latest Variants.  They are supposed to be working on it. Very easy to catch, but not too serious only a few deaths. 

6 hours ago, latebloomer56 said:

And we are on the next sailing October 4th. to Hawaii fingers crossed.

Us too 😎

Any of you TA’s please post,   if you get any news ahead .  We would all appreciate it if & when you get any info.

Thanks so much 

On 6/4/2022 at 8:18 AM, ehogan said:

Not surprised in the least at the masking order. On our northbound portion of the Grand to Alaska on May 11 masking was perhaps at 60% in all venues on the ship.  On the southbound May 18 trip on the Grand mask wearing was perhaps at 2%.  By the end of the May 18 cruise coughing and sneezing was everywhere.  Venues such as the Explorer lounge were often standing room only, social distancing and surface cleaning (except for the Horizon) did not exist, elevators were often at capacity. There was a delay at disembarkation and everyone had been funnelled into hallways and lounges in close proximity.  
 

We did have a change of 800 passengers in Whittier May 18, many of them had come from the Denali portion, so perhaps Covid had been incubating with that group?

 

 

That cruise sounds just like the cruise we took April 4, 15 days Hawaii R/T from LA. on the Grand.   Very little masking, events in Explorer’s Lounge standing room only & dance floor was over packed & the cruise staff were pulling people down to the already crowded dance floor.  They were body to body dancing & singing, NO MASKING.   I was shocked.  It was like a teenager rager.  Staff wanted you to forget all about Covid.  At 

the Easter service they had in Explorer’s lounge, their wasn’t anyone not coughing, sneezing & hacking, which was the day before disembarkation.  After taking every precaution I was positive the day we disembarked.  My lungs are still not right, Dr said husband & I both have the long Covid.  We both still feel like crap, but while we were positive that 1st week we had very light symptoms.  Go figure!
We don’t regret going on the cruise. We loved it, but we loved the 10 day cruise we took in November where masks were mandatory & the Grand had only less than 600 passengers onboard, where we didn’t even get a cold. No coughing, sneezing, & hacking @ the end of that cruise.  

,  

 

 

14 hours ago, Ken the cruiser said:

Not on the Caribbean Princess. We’ve only had 2 reported passenger cases since we set sail and this is our last full day on our 18 day PC cruise.

Someone’s not telling the truth. Either the CDC or the cruise ships namely Caribbean Princess. According  to their ( Caribbean Princess)  reports of cases  to the CDC they have been & still are in the ORANGE as of 5/12/2022 the latest report.  Check the report from the CDC yourself.     

I just looked back @ some old bookings & in the past it was the beginning of May.  Of course these are not regular times.  
      Hoping any of you TA’s will let us know when you hear .  PLEASE, PLEASE.     WE WOULD REALLY APPRECIATE IT!

I would love to know also ❓

I think the OP will win the dispute with the credit card company.  The bank will try to reach out to Princess to see their side of the story.   American Express told me if they don’t hear back from Princess,  we win.   And do you think Princess will get back to the bank, with everything that is going on right now.    Not in a million years .   I hope the OP follows thru with the credit card company.  Princess for sure will not.

On 4/23/2022 at 9:27 AM, Mphk said:

I sent this letter to Princess a couple of weeks ago.  They have chosen not to respond or acknowledge it in any way.  I would like to post a copy here in the hope that someone at Princess is paying attention.  What I really hope can be accomplished here is for the new president to understand the necessity of integrity and transparency to the passengers, as well as supplying what was promised.

 

I would like to bring your attention to some issues during our recent cruise.  We were on Sky Princess leaving Fort Lauderdale on March 12^th for the trans Atlantic relocation cruise.  We arrived in Southampton on March 28^th.  This was our 39^th Princess cruise and I feel compelled to bring to your attention a number of items.  This was our 4^th cruise since December 2021 so please do not try to use Covid as an excuse.

We were scheduled to embark between 12 PM and 1 PM.  We arrived about 12:30 and found hundreds of people in line to embark.  The embarkation process was very good and quite speedy but we were all in the terminal together with no social distancing.  This is likely a contributing factor to all the Covid cases we ended up with on board and the reason we missed the highlight of the trip, Casa Blanca.

We purchased the all inclusive package with drinks, gratuities and high speed internet.  Shortly before the cruise, we received an email stating that high speed internet may be “spotty” during the crossing and that Princess was refunding us $10.00 per day as a shipboard credit.  In fact, internet was virtually non existent from the time we got on the ship to the time we got off.  We had little to no internet at dock in Fort Lauderdale and it did not get any better.  We make our arrangements around services we can get to meet our needs.  We paid for internet and we needed internet.  Just telling us at the last minute “oh well” just do without is not an answer.  It is up to us to use the service for the purposes we see fit and it is up to Princess to provide the services they promise and charge us for.  Giving us back the money doesn’t help.  Princess knew before we left dock that the service was not just “spotty” but was unavailable.  We paid for this service with cash, a shipboard credit means we have to purchase things that we do not need to use up this credit.  It was a non refundable credit.  Also, we paid full price for this service, giving us a $10.00 shipboard credit does not cost Princess $10.00 a day.  When we spend it, it includes your markup so you get the money one way or the other.  This is unacceptable.  We paid for this in good faith.  Please do not try to tell me it is because of satellite coverage over the Atlantic. 

The morning that we reached Funchal we received a letter in our stateroom indicating that everyone had to fill out an online form to receive a QR code to enter mainland Portugal.  We went to the guest services desk and asked how we were supposed to complete the form with no internet.  They told us that they thought everyone would go ashore and find internet there.  In the terminal building there was free internet but there were hundreds of people trying to access it.  We spent the better part of our morning walking around Funchal trying to find internet to complete the form.  That is not the way we expect to spend our shore days.  Especially since we had missed the previous port of The Azores.

About a day before we were scheduled to reach Morocco (Princess’ title for this cruise) we were advised that Morocco was not accepting any cruise ships.  It seems more likely that because of all the covid onboard, they would not accept us.  It was greatly disappointing.

When we boarded Sky Princess we were in cabin C432.  We opened the balcony door and the noise in the cabin was overwhelming.  We thought it was the wind blowing in and just closed the door.  It turns our that when the door was open many pieces of the cabin ceiling, such as near the recessed light, were loose and making noise.  This went on for about 3 days.  We paid for a balcony cabin so we could use the balcony and get some fresh air.  Leaving the door closed for 16 days was not an option.  We made a recording of the noise and went to the guest services desk.  We were served by Mario who did a wonderful job.  He found us another cabin on the same deck.  When we went to see it, the noise was the same.  He found us another one on Riviera deck and this one was fine.  We had to go to all the inconvenience of moving.  We found that throughout the ship there are many rattles and creaks.  We were on Regal in December and did not find any of these problems.

For the first few days the staff members were ensuring that everyone going to the buffet washed their hands.  They also ensured that the tables were properly marked and cleaned. That stopped after a few days.  People just wandered in and out without any sanitary measures at all.  Again, likely a contributing factor to why we had to miss Morocco. 

When we mentioned these things to officers they talked a good game.  They said how important the protocols are to them but then we would watch them stand by and do nothing when the protocols were not followed by the staff or the passengers.  One passenger got on the elevator with other people and no mask and told everyone that she had 24 hours free.  She said the medical staff had placed her husband in quarantine pending a test and they just let her roam around.

We found that the buffet on this ship is not in keeping with the other ships.  On Sky, the most variety was at lunch time and not at dinner.  We finally had to change our time for our main meal to lunch.  The variety was very limited at any time.  The same thing was being served over and over, day after day.  I also have never seen a Princess ship that has a large Asian section on a daily basis.  The quality of the food was okay but it was not up to Princess standards.  Again, we were on Regal and Caribbean in the last couple of months and the buffet was far superior.

There is no Crooners bar on Sky and we, among many other passengers, missed it greatly. 

To say that the Medallion app is less than useful is an understatement.  It is an expensive, glorified room key.  It did not work for most of the cruise.  The staff at the bars etc. were asking for room numbers.  We could not use it to order food or drinks.  We could not use it to view our account.  We could not use it to book tours.  We just could not use it.  It is unclear to me why you would introduce an app that is so clearly not ready for use.  Seems like a sure fire way to upset the passengers instead of waiting until you have a viable plan. This was our 5^th medallion cruise and it has never worked properly.  It makes Princess look very inept.  Just one more thing we were promised that does not work.

We took the Princess shuttle from Southampton to Victoria Station in England.  There was no social distancing and no protocols in place.  Again, Princess talks about it, but they don’t follow through.

We find that it seems to be a Princess mantra that lying to the passengers is the best course of action.  When you ask a question or try to get information, you are usually presented with a lie.  When you bring to their attention that you know they are lying, they just rework the lie. For example, we paid for specialty dinners prior to the cruise.  When I went and printed the bill, I found that we were charged again.  Okay, mistakes happen.  I went to guest services and asked if we paid on a credit card if we made reservations from shore.  I was told yes.  I then explain I was charged again.  I was then told we were not charged until the actual time of service.  I had to then take the time to check my credit card statement on shore, and yes, we paid in advance.  I went back and was told “you should know you needed a voucher.”  He told me to talk to my cabin steward.  I told him he should talk to my cabin steward as he was making up different excuses by the minute and it would not be a very good idea for them to have me contact Princess for the refund.  This is just one example of the inaccuracies that we are told.  Again, for example, the internet access.  Why can Princess not just be up front and straight forward?  This conduct has been going on for years but as your service deteriorates, the lies grow.

Princess has seen fit to start removing little perks from the Elite passengers.  Little things like the toiletry bags, internet minutes etc.  Those of us who have been loyal seem to be the ones to pay for Princess’ loses during covid.  These issues with internet etc. will be the breaking point for many of us.  You have left us with little to stay loyal to Princess for.  If you cannot at least provide the things that you promise and that we pay for in good faith, then I see no reason to continue cruising with Princess.  There are many other cruise lines out there.

We are booked on one more cruise with Princess.  We are on Island Princess for the trans Atlantic relocation on May 26^th   Fort Lauderdale to Southampton.  We have sailed on Island 5 or 6 times so we are very familiar with the ship and the services so this will be a good comparison.  If we do not find an improvement this coming cruise, we are sorry to say it will be our last on Princess.

Thank you
Charles and Mary Kent

Try this email. customerrelations@princesscruises.com.  I think you will get a response. I did when I used this a few months ago.  You might not like their answer. I sure didn’t. But @ least you will know they received it.

1 hour ago, VibeGuy said:

It’s rare there’s anything happening in Fusion past 10:30 or so, so those guests must have a very different definition of “late into the night”. My bigger concern about aft balconies on Emerald at the moment is that promenade starboard aft is being used for crew smoking at night and it can really be smelled in some cabins.  

It’s a shame the Grand is using the whole aft on deck 7 (unusable for passengers) for crew to smoke any time day & night.  All the aft balconies are effected.   Such a shame!!

14 hours ago, caribill said:

It is time for Princess to stop blaming all the problems on supply chain and the pandemic. Princess needs to again provide the vacation experience that they promise and that passengers pay for.

I agree 💯%.  One of the problems is , they are having a hard time running these cruises on a shoestring.  Although they are giving it one hell of a try.

But @ what expense .  Hey Princess,   passengers are noticing things that are lacking. It’s a real shame.

2 hours ago, jwattle said:

 

Are you going to seagull  every complimentary thread with this? Just curious... Since you were so miserable, is it safe to surmise that you are no longer using Princess?

Not sure I know what complimentary thread you me.   Yes, we will still use Princess, as I’m sure they are all having the same problems.     I am just disappointed that there was such a turn down in 4 months for the same ship.    You & I know the lines know what to expect way ahead of time . I’m bewildered by there lack of preparations. When they seem to state in writing otherwise.

I don’t blame you at all for those complaints.  I really hate the way they are never truthful once you get on the ship.  Like the secrecies about what the Covid #s .   Come on we are all adults & not children we can handle the truth.  But sadly it is never given.  My goodness they tell us  our location . Just tell us how many are sick.  Either they hide it also from the crew or they must make the crew feel like if they are found giving any info away they will be fired on the spot.   They make us feel like we are in Russia where we no nothing.  We just got off the Grand on the 19th. It was a 15 dayer. When we were disembarking the porter in the terminal told us we were on the news because of the amount of Covid cases.  I could have told everyone on that ship there had to be about 50% of the passengers & crew had Covid.   Those last few days everyone was doing that deep barking phlegm type cough, including me. I tested positive when I got home & I felt  like crap with the worst cough in my 72 years. My husband tested negative,  but has a very bad cold. For us it was not a good time for Princess to lift the mask mandate & be sailing almost full for 15 days. I bet Hawaii hates us now. 
I hope none of you or any in your group  caught Covid on your cruise . If you didn’t you can say that was the best part of your cruise @ least.

     You should do the email thing to Princess. It might take up to 6 weeks to contact you. They might give you a call.  In your email tell them to call you.  

3 hours ago, cr8tiv1 said:

 

In my opinion, Club Class IS worth all that it is made out to be.  I appreciated the smaller tables socially distanced.  The wait staff seemed to be a better ratio.  My food came out fast and hot.  No wait time for any time dining.  There were a few other positive take aways.  But everyone has their own value of services.

 

Kudos to Savio and Nancy (my wait staff),  Jennifer at the door.  AND Ricardo the Assistant Manager.  There were many others that also filled in as needed.  They worked seamlessly as a good team would be.  

We had Freddie & Nancy in Club Class. They were not easy to get.  If you didn’t get there @ 4:45 & get in line you most likely had  to wait unless you were Okay with one of those little tables that were very close to each other.   Were you on this cruise ?? I would have liked to have met you because I always like the info you give..  We are supposed to be on Hawaii cruise in October on the Sapphire.  Unless one of us has to go to the Hospital from this News Famous cruise we were on.  All of our friends are calling & asking if we were on the Grand with all the Covid cases.  And here I always thought the Crown was always the sick ship.  We are also scheduled for next April on the Crown to Hawaii.  I am kind of wondering if Hawaii knows about all our cases & what they think.  They might do some rethinking about letting us on their beautiful island for a while.  One of the things I hate about these Covid cruises is they never tell us what’s going on as far as the # of cases.  Or at least the ones that have been reported. I would not be surprised if it was 50% even though not that many had symptoms .
Maybe one of these days we will meet on a Hawaii cruise.  

41 minutes ago, crimlarks said:

Sorry to hear about the bad experience some foks had, and especially coming down with Covid.  We'll likely spend a lot of time on our balcony and will wear N95 masks whenever outside of our room.  Of course eating cannot be done with a mask, so there's definitely risk there.  But we're not backing out now.  

Have a wonderful cruise, and wear your mask nice & tight.  

50 minutes ago, HBCcruiser said:

You keep posting this everywhere connected to the Grand April 4th sailing. I’m sorry you had a rough time, but many of us did not. We mostly enjoyed the cruise, staff, entertainment and food. It’s very subjective and why I like to do LIVE reviews. People can get one opinion/perspective of a cruise.
 

Not everyone got COVID on this sailing. Some of us have had it before. MANY ships, not just Princess, are reporting COVID due to the current strain being very contagious. https://www.cruzely.com/cruise-ship-covid-status-tracker-daily-update-chart-news-and-possible-cases/?amp&fbclid=IwAR274oKnXnkxKB3sX-oifbbP_G1Utyv_8vXNALLnj6yfb-54t8U--RARLrg   COVID is here to stay. Thank goodness the variants are not as deadly as they were in the beginning. 

 

You have the same chance of getting sick if you fly to a resort - they just don’t test like cruising requires. IMO getting sick is a chance we take when we travel. We have always taken precautions like wiping down our suite with virus killing medical wipes, washing hands constantly, using tissues to open doors, not using the buffet, maintaining social distancing, using stairs and washy-washy…to avoid getting sick (I hate getting Noro). I agree people need to make travel decisions based on their current health conditions and be willing to take the risk.
 

As they say, “Life is not a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in a well preserved body, but rather to skid in broadside, thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and loudly proclaiming, “Wow what a ride!”

 

Happy cruising!

I’m sorry, but are you saying you thought the food was up to par & the entertainment.❓ I personally loved Callie, the Entertainment Director. He must have had his hands full.   but I didn’t enjoy the real cruise Director that was out with Covid.  I guess I couldn’t help comparing this cruise with the one we took last November ,10day Grand .  That extra entree in Club Class was repeated a few times which was unexpected & ours was way off except the shrimp,  ( food shortage maybe) never in the past. The Club Class was always full then & I asked the Maitre d how are you going to handle this when the ship sails almost full.  He said I don’t know.  That was for sure honest. I appreciate that. 
Im sorry if I offended you. I didn’t mean to.  I did want to tell you , you did a wonderful job posting all those photos of the menus, food & scenery & up to the minute of what was happening .  It was 

lots of work & was appreciated by all.  Most of the crew was wonderful, but some not as friendly as normal.  But I guess these are not normal times.  
  That last paragraph you wrote  is why we chose to cruise.  Hopefully we both don’t  end up in the hospital. We are pretty sick right now.  Maybe my mask wasn’t tight enough.  My fault I don’t blame Princess, except for that crowded Explorers Lounge 50s& 60s party I wrote about.  
Thanks for all you did,

Grace 
 

16 hours ago, crimlarks said:

Thanks for taking the time for all these live posts!  I just read thru all of them today; didn't realize Cruise Critic had this feature before.  My wife & I are doing back to back Panama Canal cruises on the Island Princess - Ft Lauderdale to LA leaves on 4/27, arrives in LA 5/11, then turns around and goes back to Ft Lauderdale arriving back on 5/26.  Our first cruse since 2019.  I was really curious to see what the experience is like now and your posts have helped make us feel more confident about our upcoming cruises.  My wife is immune compromised, but we both had our second booster shots recently so we figured this was as good a time as any to go for it.  We will be bringing N95 masks.

Anyway, thanks again for all your posts.  Just wonderful.

Steve & Connie

You might want to read another passenger’s version of this same cruise since your wife is immune compromised. So that way you might be prepared.   I know how you feel,  my husband has inherited asthma & is 75 & boosted.  He has a very bad cold that started 2 days after being home, but tested negative twice since we have been back.  Me, not so lucky I’m double boosted, but have come down with Covid.  Tested positive right when we got home.  This is the worst cough I’ve ever had & I feel crappy. Besides this post which I copied & pasted below, you might want to tap on my CC name & read some of the other things I said.   ::    

You might have dodged a bullet. We loved this cruise but,  This is my story about this cruise you missed: 

My version is a little less glorified.  I realize Princess  has to makeup up lots of lost money, but I didn’t really think  it would be so obvious. Also many passengers  were sailing using their FCCs that will  expire the end of this year.  I will touch on a few things. Please ask if you want more details, or specifics. No embarkation lunch in the MDR.  They said because they were short staffed.  But I thought how did they think they were going to serve dinner❓
   We were in Club Class dining.  There was always many dishes to order,  but most of them was NOT anywhere up to par, or what we were given  last November on the same ship. Many items were room temp that should never have been, like Lamb,  beef sticks , prime rib & many fish dishes.  Prime rib was very gristly & couldn’t be chewed.  Many were talking about it.  Over  half had to be throw out.  The Mahi-mahi was very dry & way over cooked.  The romaine lettuce in the Caesar salad sometimes tasted like it was the core, but there was no core in it, Weird. The chicken you couldn’t chew.  No chicken in the chicken salad they have @ International Cafe .  Just chopped up Apples.  

       Entertainment mostly lacking, but with a few exceptions, like Carlos Oscar, British Invasion & Soul or Motown.  We didn’t go to the other production show Stardust. We already knew it wasn’t our kind of music, but was told it didn’t have any story, just singers singing different songs.   The Entertainment Director did the best he could with what he had to work with.  Most of his helpers were sweet girls, but couldn’t speak very good English & didn’t know what they were doing.  For instance, the poor girl running the golf that was continuing everyday, didn’t know anything @ all about golf. That’s what she told my DH.   The only exception was DJ Lovely, but she couldn’t do everything. I bet she wished she could.  
          I heard this cruise was on the news & rightly so.  There’s no caring or enforcing anything about Covid precautions once you are on the ship.  That’s definitely the feeling they wanted people to get.   It’s a free for all.  By the last few days you could hear passengers with that deep barking cough with lots of phlegm, sneezing,  people holding their throat like they were in pain.  I am sure the crew was glad to get rid of us.  No one would dare report they had any symptoms, who wants to go in quarantine & ruin their fun.  I’m sure about half of the 2200 passengers that disembarked in LA. had Covid or will.   My DH has a nice big cold, but is testing negative.  Me even with all precautions & double boosted has Covid & testing positive.  Never had a cough like this before.   This was a bad time for Princess to start sailing almost full on 15 day cruises with No masking.  
So if you want to get Covid or just plain don’t care if you get sick , then sail, because in my opinion there’s no way to not get it unless you stay in your cabin & not go anywhere. 

2 hours ago, jwattle said:

They have a set length of time for quarantine, same as anyone else. I do think that their protocols may not be as rigid as I would like, but that they do follow them. I know personnel onboard and they do not take shortcuts; they do follow their protocols. Yes, I do trust them. The news was one snapshot of, I believe, one group's story. The "live from" didn't show an outbreak. Pretty much all the cruise lines are experiencing Covid.

As for staffing: all of the cruise lines are competing for the same people, and a lot less of them are wanting to come back right now. The lines are having to get creative and competitive to motivate them, between Covid and time away from families with this newer generation of employees, plus the fact that getting crews vaxed isn't always as easy in other countries.

And no, HBC doesn't work for Princess, neither do I for that matter. That's a hell of an accusation to level at someone and I would suggest you walk it back a bit. You're talking to and about people with some years as well as experience posting on these boards; we also have breadth of experience.

Some of us may have just had a different and better cruise experience and / or attitude, and to call yours "true" implies that theirs wasn't.

 

You said it all in your 1st paragraph.  Which gives me a slant of where your opinions come from.  There’s no point in arguing, that they are not my opinions.  Isn’t that what makes the world go round, as they say. 

2 hours ago, shellbeachjim said:

We talked to a few of the quarantined crew members and they were not allowed to come back early. Also, some had to quarantine if they had been in close contact with someone who had tested positive.
 

I wore my mask whenever I was moving about the ship. I can’t say that of most people on the cruise. The mask wearing was sporadic at best. 

That’s really nice to hear.    We were maskers also.   But still got sick.  

2 hours ago, jwattle said:

It's rather rude to call your version less glorified; maybe call it your version or your perception; they had their cruise, you had yours...it definitely doesn't invalidate their experience...

No matter how short-staffed, they would not shorten crew quarantine if they were sick. You're really reaching with that one...

I see what you mean about their experience. And I do agree with that. But sometimes when I was reading I almost had the feeling someone was working for Princess.   I’m not  sure I’m reaching. Was the crew that went back to work negative with a PCR test?. Or just asymptomatic ? Do you trust what Princess tells us onboard or even puts in writing??  I have been reading many posts here on CC besides the news.  I’m sorry to say Princess has money to make & to do  that they have to protect their reputation & cutback everything they can.  They have been in the Orange for quite sometime.  And had plenty of time to bring in extra help & train them also.   

49 minutes ago, shellbeachjim said:

As far as I’m concerned, they should ban smoking in the casino. The smell coming out of the elevators on deck 6 was just awful whenever the casino was open. We had mostly good dinners in club class, although there were a few misses. There were also a number of crew members who were under quarantine when we boarded which definitely caused some service issues. 

Maybe they let them come back early because they were so short handed & that is why all the cases. And did they quarantine all their friends that they were around.  That’s the reason everyone was having that deep real phlegm hacking   cough & , sneezing .  I even saw passengers holding their throats with a pretty miserable look on their faces by about the 11th day . 
We were in Club Class also being in a suite.  many of my meals were especially the main dishes were room temperature.   I noticed they didn’t want people waiting by the door in Club Class, when there was no table available.  They asked that people come back.  Probably so as not to show other passengers that even though it’s Club Class we still had to wait .  Princess knew they would be under staffed due to break outs & sailing almost full. In November when we were on the Grand (with under 600 passengers)  I asked that maitre d

how they were going to handle it when more passengers were on board . He said he didn’t know & didn’t seem to think it would be any busier.  
So glad you had better luck with the things you ordered in Club Class.