Suite letdown

Just off our Alaskan cruise on the Grand. Second time in a full suite (window suite) and am pretty sure I will never book a suite again on Princess. Amenities are over promised and under delivered. I provided all my feedback in my cruise survey already. Just frustrated that I paid so much for this trip and Princess really fell short. I shouldn’t have to ask for things that are supposed to be provided as part of a suite booking.

 

Don’t get me wrong, I did not let it impact my enjoyment because we had a wonderful time. I just feel like I could have had the same experience and paid half the price like most everyone else!

 

Have you ever felt this way and what did you do? Or can anything really be done other than chalk it up to a lesson learned!

 

 

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That's my biggest fear in booking a suite, is will I be let down. We don't need a bathtub or an extra TV, so what does a suite offer us? We're elite status and get the mini bar, never had the need for more room to move about, we don't use the free laundry. What do we get that we can't get in a balcony cabin? /just wondering

I'm doing my first suite in January, I'm also elite. I do the laundry and it'll be nice that it's faster. I won't pay for Club Class so I'm looking forward to that. I'm looking forward to the expanded room service menu, the mimosa breakfast, the bowl of fruit, the free specialty dining and 2 mini bars to overlook the wake while we sail away from port.

An email to that address is useless. I know...never got anything.

Very odd. I got a follow up phone call that was very nice. Of course my correspondence was not combative. I have no idea what your correspondence was like or what the topic was. I can only go on my own experience although I have seen it posted by a couple of people elsewhere that they also got follow up phone calls from that address. Please note that the address I gave was not for customersupport@princess.com but was for customerrelations@princesscruises.com

That's my biggest fear in booking a suite, is will I be let down. We don't need a bathtub or an extra TV, so what does a suite offer us? We're elite status and get the mini bar, never had the need for more room to move about, we don't use the free laundry. What do we get that we can't get in a balcony cabin? /just wondering

More space and a bigger (sometimes much bigger) balcony. Plus Sabatinis for breakfast.

When we both worked we had limited vacation time but a very good income so we would treat ourselves to a suite. Now that we are retired we have lots of time but a more restricted income so we cruise in mini-suites which we enjoy. Like you, we are elite so lots of the suite perks are included already.

I'm a little confused. We had a window suite (HA).

We got tubes of shampoo, conditioner, and body wash, along with packages of cotton balls and q-tips. What else were we supposed to get?

Laundry turn around was 24 hours. Don't think we got fresh sheets daily. We did get stained sheets once and insisted that they be changed.

The fruit basket is...rather a waste. I can get fruit at the buffet rather than wasting half of that in the basket. The canapes were awful, and there were some tiny chocolates on formal night (no chocolate strawberries any more).

We never found out why we got the two small champagne bottles--guess that was part of the suite. The odd thing was that we did a B2B and these only came once.

We did order room service from the MDR twice in 14 nights.

Just off our Alaskan cruise on the Grand. Second time in a full suite (window suite) and am pretty sure I will never book a suite again on Princess. Amenities are over promised and under delivered. I provided all my feedback in my cruise survey already. Just frustrated that I paid so much for this trip and Princess really fell short. I shouldn’t have to ask for things that are supposed to be provided as part of a suite booking.

 

Don’t get me wrong, I did not let it impact my enjoyment because we had a wonderful time. I just feel like I could have had the same experience and paid half the price like most everyone else!

 

Have you ever felt this way and what did you do? Or can anything really be done other than chalk it up to a lesson learned!

 

 

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We always get a suite when available. We had to stay a"mini-suite" once cuz the "Suites" were all booked. Suites are better, and in my own humble opinion... worth the extra. I see lots of people on this site who stay in interior rooms, obstructed views, next to the nightclub, and or by a busy passage. To each their own I say... Lax et Lux.

dfdub is Lax et Lux Lingua Latina for light and easy?

We've never had our sheets changed daily in any cabin on any cruise. The schedule is to have them changed every 3-5 days, barring any obvious reason for changing them more often.

There have been multiple reports that the clause on the Suite Amenities flyer of Upgraded Turn Down Service specifically refers to changing the sheets daily.

Funny thing is, we had the same exact steward on this cruise as on the last one. I would have thought that were a demotion but he stated it was per his request.

It does surprise me when they put the lesser qualified stewards in the suites but it does happen.

My understanding is that Princess long, long ago stopped training and assigning their better/more experienced stewards specifically for Full Suites. Dating back to when they stopped having Butler service a good decade ago. Stewards now rotate throughout the ship, but most are desperate to trade down with a coworker to keep regular cabins when assigned to Suites.

I'm a little confused. We had a window suite (HA).

We got tubes of shampoo' date=' conditioner, and body wash, along with packages of cotton balls and q-tips. What else were we supposed to get?

[/quote']

 

According to the aforementioned Suite Amenities flyer: Bath salts and a soothing gel eye mask.

 

https://www.princess.com/downloads/pdf/ships/PrincessSuite_eFlyer.pdf

 

And while I do find the OP's feelings that they shouldn't have had to ask for what was supposed to be given in the first place a bit strong, on further perusal of the rest of this thread I wonder if I would feel the same should I ever move up to the Suite Life but have to then spend my time ferreting out most every simple item that I paid the fare for. At some point I imagine changing my M.O. to cruise less frequently but looking for the better onboard experience instead. This thread gives me pause in that regard.

I'm doing my first suite in January, I'm also elite. I do the laundry and it'll be nice that it's faster. I won't pay for Club Class so I'm looking forward to that. I'm looking forward to the expanded room service menu, the mimosa breakfast, the bowl of fruit, the free specialty dining and 2 mini bars to overlook the wake while we sail away from port.

Believe me with the price of suites you are definitely paying for the club class dining. We usually book mini suites and for the last 3 years we have accepted upsells to suites paying several thousand less than the suite lists for even after final payment date and yes club class and Sabatini's/Crown breakfast is a real treat.

That's my biggest fear in booking a suite, is will I be let down. We don't need a bathtub or an extra TV, so what does a suite offer us? We're elite status and get the mini bar, never had the need for more room to move about, we don't use the free laundry. What do we get that we can't get in a balcony cabin? /just wondering

If you are elite you will actually get 2 mini bars one as an elite perk and one as a suite perk. The specialty breakfast is beats the MDR and buffet all to heck and club class dining is a real treat. Also if you do long cruises (14 - 28 days) that laundry comes in very handy - although as elite you already get that perk the difference is that in a suite it will come back faster, especially if there are lots of elites on board

We fell in love with the grand class aft Vista suite. Yes most of the suite "perks" are marketing fluff IMHO. The only ones that matter to us are MDR room service, Sabatinis breakfast (really good), specialty restaurant meal included, laundry and priority tendering. (We are 1 cruise away from Elite)

We sailed with our 2 kids for years in an aft Vista suite. Big covered aft balcony, separate shower/tub and toilet. It is big enough for 4 in the cabin and usually cheaper than booking a CC mini and inside cabin.

I totally agree the cost cutting Princess has done may make financial sense for the stock holders but the experience has tanked compared to 10+ years ago. If you never cruised Princess maybe you wouldn't know there used to be upscale apps at the PES happy hour and so on. Now they even recently eliminated the BOGO, upped the price and limited the PBP. Our cruise in March 2019 will be on Norwegian.

No I would not book a Princess Window Full Suite especially if you are Elite or 2 in the cabin.

There have been multiple reports that the clause on the Suite Amenities flyer of Upgraded Turn Down Service specifically refers to changing the sheets daily.

 

 

 

 

My understanding is that Princess long, long ago stopped training and assigning their better/more experienced stewards specifically for Full Suites. Dating back to when they stopped having Butler service a good decade ago. Stewards now rotate throughout the ship, but most are desperate to trade down with a coworker to keep regular cabins when assigned to Suites.

 

 

 

According to the aforementioned Suite Amenities flyer: Bath salts and a soothing gel eye mask.

 

https://www.princess.com/downloads/pdf/ships/PrincessSuite_eFlyer.pdf

 

And while I do find the OP's feelings that they shouldn't have had to ask for what was supposed to be given in the first place a bit strong, on further perusal of the rest of this thread I wonder if I would feel the same should I ever move up to the Suite Life but have to then spend my time ferreting out most every simple item that I paid the fare for. At some point I imagine changing my M.O. to cruise less frequently but looking for the better onboard experience instead. This thread gives me pause in that regard.

OK, we got the small white bag labeled "Sleep" on each cruise. In April there were no bath salts, but I didn't feel I could argue as there is no tub in an HA suite (would have liked them for at home!) In August, we did get the bath salt cube on each leg, but it took me a while to figure out what it was. There is actually an item in that bag that I still haven't figured out. There also was an eye mask, although it is made of satin fabric, not "soothing gel."

We enjoyed the Club Class dining, and on all but one cruise, the specialty breakfast was great. Still, I probably wouldn't pay for this at full price, especially if I was elite.

OK' date=' we got the small white bag labeled "Sleep" on each cruise. In April there were no bath salts, but I didn't feel I could argue as there is no tub in an HA suite (would have liked them for at home!) In August, we did get the bath salt cube on each leg, but it took me a while to figure out what it was. There is actually an item in that bag that I still haven't figured out. There also was an eye mask, although it is made of satin fabric, not "soothing gel."

 

 

 

We enjoyed the Club Class dining, and on all but one cruise, the specialty breakfast was great. Still, I probably wouldn't pay for this at full price, especially if I was elite.[/quote']

 

 

 

The bath salts are in a covered metal jar that you scoop from. It’s not a take home sort of thing. Ours had about half of the salts solidified in a rusty mess so we just scooped from the top. It was kind of gross. Not suite like at all. LOL

 

 

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I will not make excuses for Princess. I hope you get your issues addressed . I do understand your disappointment given the price paid.

We do not book a suite, can't afford to. We book a mini. We do insist the bedding be changed daily and they do after we to talk to the supervisor of housekeeping for that deck.. Which we do the first day we arrive.

We have 26 cruises with Princess... had a not so good experience about 10 years ago, in the MDR, had a Head Waiter with a big attitude... we thought he was having a bad day, it would get better, never did. At the end of the cruise we decided never again, we change tables - do something different. My DH did complain to the Staff officer over the Hotel at the time, that resolved the initial issue but the head waiter attitude never improved.

Ref steward removing items from the cabin this is another thing that often happens.. as they sometimes attempt to start 1 or 2 days before your cruise over, getting ready for the next cruise. We anticipate that and make it clear this is not acceptable.

Our approach is we purchase a cabin that meets our needs, being clear on what we enjoy. Club Class does not appeal to us, we would prefer to go to the Crown Grill most nights. Most of what cruise lines market these days is just that, the savvy traveler can purchase what they like for less and enjoy it more by avoiding buying into the latest marketing pitch. I am just suggesting you probably can pay less and get what want just as easily.

Cabin steward see a lot of people, they have a job to do. They are clever at getting away with things unless you set limits. We do and it works.

We have had stewards who have told us they were being transfer to another ship at the next port, with the objective of getting us to pay them the extra tip (over and above the auto tip) day or two early... they never got transferred ... we paid the extra tip on the last day. Another clever trick... to collect in advance.

Happy cruising ... there are some great people working in the cruise business. By letting the steward know what you expect up front you can avoid disappointments. Most are very happy to provide the services you wish.

I recently complained of the same thing. I didn't get the MDR menus so what good is being able to order from those menu's. I didn't get water and had to call the first night for them. I didn't get toilet paper, what a joke my cabin steward was on the Golden last week, Sunny. Did you reduce your auto gratuity to a normal cabin because if you didn't you are paying for a service and amenity level you didn't receive

Oh my gosh....we had Sunny also. He was the king of forgetful! He removed our empty shampoo and conditioner containers but didn't leave new ones till we asked. He changed the beds, but put stained sheets on one of them (we insisted they be changed again!) He didn't leave toilet paper on the second spindle. I eventually took an extra roll from one of the public bathrooms and put it in a drawer in our room so we'd have it if the roll he left ran out! We never saw an MDR menu at the room.

He was the king of water--we got 2 waters every night, and they continued to pile up on the counter. Our laundry was never "same day" because he never got it out by 9am, but 24 hour service was fine with me.

No, we didn't reduce the tip. But no, I didn't tip extra.

dfdub is Lax et Lux Lingua Latina for light and easy?

Chad_O My latin primer says it is "relax and let live"

I will not make excuses for Princess. I hope you get your issues addressed . I do understand your disappointment given the price paid.

 

We do not book a suite, can't afford to. We book a mini. We do insist the bedding be changed daily and they do after we to talk to the supervisor of housekeeping for that deck.. Which we do the first day we arrive.

I'm always fascinated how folks behave on "land" - insisting on bedding be changed daily by talking to the supervisor of housekeeping - why not just ask the steward - does your maid change your bedding daily at home? :o

 

We do not book a suite, can't afford to. We book a mini. We do insist the bedding be changed daily and they do after we to talk to the supervisor of housekeeping for that deck.. Which we do the first day we arrive.

.

Why do you do this? Do you change it daily at home?

Why do you do this? Do you change it daily at home?

Very odd. I got a follow up phone call that was very nice. Of course my correspondence was not combative. I have no idea what your correspondence was like or what the topic was. I can only go on my own experience although I have seen it posted by a couple of people elsewhere that they also got follow up phone calls from that address. Please note that the address I gave was not for customersupport@princess.com but was for customerrelations@princesscruises.com

My post cruise letter was very polite. As an Elite passenger I should have had the courtesy of a phone call or email acknowledgement. Now I'm not sure which email address it was sent to, but the Princess customer service agent gave it to me. Just so disappointed in the sudden negative changes in the Princess experience.

This is completely wrong on the stewards side, the passenger has paid for his cabin until 8am on disembarkatday, to pre clear tidy out a room is wrong. Princess have cut back on the number of stewards so much they are forced into this.

Oh my gosh....we had Sunny also. He was the king of forgetful! He removed our empty shampoo and conditioner containers but didn't leave new ones till we asked. He changed the beds' date=' but put stained sheets on one of them (we insisted they be changed again!) He didn't leave toilet paper on the second spindle. I eventually took an extra roll from one of the public bathrooms and put it in a drawer in our room so we'd have it if the roll he left ran out! We never saw an MDR menu at the room.

 

He was the king of water--we got 2 waters every night, and they continued to pile up on the counter. Our laundry was never "same day" because he never got it out by 9am, but 24 hour service was fine with me.

 

No, we didn't reduce the tip. But no, I didn't tip extra.[/quote']

 

Sunny must have just left the Golden Window Suites. Our room steward arrived at 1 PM on embarkation day. Stealthy, efficient, really experienced.

 

Note: water is not delivered until the second night. I am guessing they figure you have it in the mini-bar. Learned from asking/previous experience.

 

I had a MDR menu every night for the next day.

 

Head waiter Dion in Crown Grill tried very hard to accommodate my breakfasts requests. I pre-ordered the minute steak (from MDR) on a couple of occasions. Salsa always included with my eggs. Another table asked for prawns for breakfast. Top notch servers all around.

 

I placed my laundry outside of my door at 8:45 AM and it was back the same day. Normally set it out then at turn down.

Have never sailed in a suite, but if I did - I’d be paying more for the experience and pampering vs. the actual perks or perceived value of the perks. I think the OP was disappointed in the overall experience and I don’t blame them. Every time you have to stop “vacationing” to seek out the person or department that dropped the ball, you’re tasked with something you shouldn’t be. I would imagine after a few “misses” it starts to have a cumulative affect. To me there’s something about having to ask or chase for what you’re expecting that diminishes the value or experience in a way that isn’t always easily remedied, even when the individual issues are (hopefully) addressed.

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I’m certainly sympathetic with the OP’s disappointment, it is justified. I’ve been on about 35 Princess cruises and service levels have declined. My advice in a situation like this is to persist with the effort to communicate directly with the hotel manager. On only one cruise was this necessary, our cabin had cold water only. I told my steward and went to pax service twice a day, but after 2 days still no hot water. At that point, went to pax service desk and said I would not leave until I spoke to hotel manager. Waited about 10 minutes, he met with me. Hot water was restored within an hour. Hotel manager later came to my cabin and apologized, gave us a nice bottle of wine and a credit on the bill for our inconvenience. Overall, I only spent a total of about 45 minutes complaining, but once I got the hotel manager, things resolved quickly.

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Sunny must have just left the Golden Window Suites. Our room steward arrived at 1 PM on embarkation day. Stealthy, efficient, really experienced.

 

Note: water is not delivered until the second night. I am guessing they figure you have it in the mini-bar. Learned from asking/previous experience.

 

I had a MDR menu every night for the next day.

 

Head waiter Dion in Crown Grill tried very hard to accommodate my breakfasts requests. I pre-ordered the minute steak (from MDR) on a couple of occasions. Salsa always included with my eggs. Another table asked for prawns for breakfast. Top notch servers all around.

 

I placed my laundry outside of my door at 8:45 AM and it was back the same day. Normally set it out then at turn down.

The head person in the Crown Grill changed at the start of the second leg of our cruise (8/18/18). There was an instantaneous improvement in quality with the new person in charge. I was actually shocked at that.

Sunny was a nice person, just not an efficient steward.

Sunny must have just left the Golden Window Suites. Our room steward arrived at 1 PM on embarkation day. Stealthy, efficient, really experienced.

 

Note: water is not delivered until the second night. I am guessing they figure you have it in the mini-bar. Learned from asking/previous experience.

 

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Note: Suite amenity lists water EVERY night so what part of first night is excluded from Every night. I trade the mini bar in so I don't have the option to use that water . I'm glad Sunny was replaced because I'm sailing on the Golden again in a window suite. I'll be glad there will be toilet paper.