Is Princess Trying Too Hard

[fishywood]

The good Mr. Shogun is exactly right. Princess appears to be studying the competiton far too hard when considering its marketing niche. The new Royal Princess is being built and sold as a "destination ship" rather than to fit in with its "Escape Completely" history--I predict that slogan will be gone soon. Just reading the press releases from Princess EVP Rai Caluori that go on and on about what Princess thinks its passengers will want in the immediate future lets you know that a massive rebranding is imminent.

 

There have been several contentious "dress code" threads the past couple weeks. Contributors to those threads were very vocal about how NCL and RC have essentially eliminated formal dining and that Princess must do so as well in order to keep up with the times. As angry as that makes me, it is a safe prediction that that is on the horizon.

In summary, it seem to me that Princess is so worried about recruiting and catering to a new class of Sheep that they have forgotten what made them a Good Shepherd in the first place.

[swedish weave]

Have cruised Princess 25 times and for the first time we are trying Royal Caribbean in about a week and Celebrity in March.

 

While we still love Princess, since Carnival took over we have seen many, many changes and not for the better. I personally do not blame Princess but I do blame their parent company Carnival. They are calling the shots and it seems Princess hands are tied.

 

This is just my personal opinion and you may not agree. I saw it happen when my husband's company was bought by another one. A good, profit making company, great place to work has turned into the complete opposite. Sounds like the Carnival purchase of Princess???????

 

 

Don't forget that Carnival is the largest and most successful cruise line in the world.

 

The companies that Carnival took over were not as successful, and Carnival has made the unpopular changes to keep them available for us to cruise.

 

Current changes are being made to allow the companies to remain palatable to the shareholders, and to remain in business. If they don't turn a profit, they will either change or disappear.

[Shogun]

Hi All

 

Recall what made you take your first Princess cruise, for me it was simple had been on other cruise lines was on another ship, when I saw my first Princess ship the Golden Princess knowing nothing about the line apart from that ship looked way better than the one I was on, I booked my first Princess cruise liked it booked another on the same ship

 

 

Now my next cruise is on the Royal Princess and it has taken me back to my Princess roots I want to see that ship,

 

We are now looking at booking another cruise and it will be on a Princess ship but its not becuase of the ports of call , or the ship,

 

its because of friends some who work for Princess and others looking to meet up,

 

now the sad thing is for Princess is if those crew moved to say HAL and our other two groups of friends were happy to go to HAl then we would not be looking at this Princess cruise.

 

yours Shogun

[hubofhockey]

I definintely believe that there is a stereotype Princess passenger and I'll note that the OP didn't include Celebrity as having a target market either and Celebrity is going after the same market. It's no coincidence that both lines (one followed the other) have similar anti-smoking rules in place to please the majority of that target market. We really enjoy our cruises on Princess, especially the itineraries. The atmosphere is relaxed and friendly and we like the ships. We also find it easy to meet people. People use these boards to complain and they complain about every line.

 

We would really like to try out X. We thought we would do so for a Baltics cruise. We also like the fact that their Baltics begins and ends in Amsterdam. But their 12-day cruise has four sea days and Princess 11-day cruise has only two. Looks like the decision was made for us for another Princess cruise.

[pablo222]

Don't forget that Carnival is the largest and most successful cruise line in the world.

 

And, MacDonald's is the largest and most successful resturant in the world.

[swedish weave]

And, MacDonald's is the largest and most successful resturant in the world.

 

And -- As with Carnival and their acquisitions, the product appeals to a very large segment of the population. Both companies strive to keep their products available at a fair price.

[pakarinen]

It is like everything else in the world economy. Just like when high end car manufacturers started lowering their brand to have models affordable to "everyman".

 

And airlines started flying cattle cars. LOL. Ironically, I prefer Southwest to the other majors, but I digress...

[Coral]

First - there are some nice restaurants that we frequent where I live. Over the past several years, they have not cut back. They have kept the same quality but raised prices to keep up increased costs that they have. If they had cut quality, they probably would no longer be a favorite restaurant in town.

 

Second - the Cruise Lines had to know (if it be a Carnival Corp lines or RCCL) that if they built a record amount of ships (larger then previously holding more passengers and a worse space ratio) in the last 12 years, that their would not be enough passengers to fill them unless they reduced costs and reduced fares. They had to know. Their goal had to bring cruising to the masses and in order to do such, they had to change the cruise experience (if it be food, entertainment). In my opinion, it is a decline. Others may think it is an improvement.

[monkeybench]

I think they are not trying hard enough... They were ranked equally with Celebrity back in the day. Now, many experts put both of these lines above Princess....

 

...Their goal had to bring cruising to the masses and in order to do such, they had to change the cruise experience...

 

+100 to everything Coral's had to say so far

[kkorman]

There is a very similar thread on the HAL board. I think CCL ran into a marketing issue when they acquired princess. 2 lines pretty much trying to have a similar place in the market along with Celebrity. There have been many negative changes to the on board experience on both lines and both have new builds either coming out or announced. Princess chose to market to just about everyone, instead of their base. (I am looking forward to the new ships) I have to think HAL will do the same.

 

For me, X marketing has worked and I booked 3 cruises with them yesterday. I will pay a premium to sail them over Princess. In fact, Princess has fallen behind RC as well in my line preference. So I agree with Coral, they are not trying hard enough!

[OCruisers]

Hi All

Is Princess trying too hard to please to wide a cruise market , do they need to focus more on a more limited section.

 

Princess has always tried to please a WIDE cruise market. No change from what Princess has always done! Pleasing a wide market has alway been the focus and seems to continue to be.

 

We like to "sleep around" on other lines from time to time ... but Princess is the best "ALL 'ROUND" for us.

 

LuLu

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[Coral]

 

For me, X marketing has worked and I booked 3 cruises with them yesterday. I will pay a premium to sail them over Princess. In fact, Princess has fallen behind RC as well in my line preference.

 

Of all the lines, I think Celebrity has played the game the best over the past several years. They were the last to expand their fleet. I think they were able to watch what the other lines were doing and when designing their new builds (S class) took it to the next level. For years, I think people thought they were foolish as they had no ships that they were building but the last laugh is on everyone else as the S Class receives nothing but praise.

[Cruise Junky]

Of all the lines, I think Celebrity has played the game the best over the past several years. They were the last to expand their fleet. I think they were able to watch what the other lines were doing and when designing their new builds (S class) took it to the next level. For years, I think people thought they were foolish as they had no ships that they were building but the last laugh is on everyone else as the S Class receives nothing but praise.

 

And have you seen the Promos this month...free drink packages on most cruises, book Europe you get free drink packages and $300 OBC.

[Coral]

Princess has always tried to please a WIDE cruise market. No change from what Princess has always done! Pleasing a wide market has alway been the focus and seems to continue to be.

 

I consider this Princess's "identity crisis". I think they did have a target clientele until they were acquired by Carnival Corp. Right now, they really don't know and try to please the masses.

 

I think Carnival Corp had somewhat an unusual situation as HAL and Princess were at the same level. They choose to keep HAL ships smaller with a better space ratio and decided to try to compete Princess with RCCL which meant Princess would lower their standards as they used to compete with Celebrity.

[kkorman]

And have you seen the Promos this month...free drink packages on most cruises, book Europe you get free drink packages and $300 OBC.

 

Cruise lines have 2 choices... First, offer on board incentives and maintain fare integrity or drop prices when ships don't fill... Which just pisses off the early bookers. This is a situation where RCI and CCL differ in approach as RCI does the first and CCL ones the later.

 

I think we can all agree that Europe is saturated as we saw with the incredibly cheap cruises that were sailing last year.

[kkorman]

Of all the lines, I think Celebrity has played the game the best over the past several years. They were the last to expand their fleet. I think they were able to watch what the other lines were doing and when designing their new builds (S class) took it to the next level. For years, I think people thought they were foolish as they had no ships that they were building but the last laugh is on everyone else as the S Class receives nothing but praise.

 

I was a Princess die hard until I tried the S class... As soon as I walked on, I felt like the ship was designed for me.

[OCruisers]

I consider this Princess's "identity crisis". I think they did have a target clientele until they were acquired by Carnival Corp. Right now, they really don't know and try to please the masses.

 

I think Carnival Corp had somewhat an unusual situation as HAL and Princess were at the same level. They choose to keep HAL ships smaller with a better space ratio and decided to try to compete Princess with RCCL which meant Princess would lower their standards as they used to compete with Celebrity.

 

Good thoughts. Guess we'll all have to wait and see how it all "comes out in the wash".

 

LuLu

~~~

[pris993]

I think they are not trying hard enough. They used to try to compete with Celebrity (and possibly HAL). They were ranked equally with Celebrity back in the day. Now, many experts put both of these lines above Princess.

 

I think they are spending more time on cut backs and trying to save money that they are declining the experience/quality and just trying to fill the ships so they can get onboard revenue.

 

They may be trying to hard to please those who give them "ratings" .

 

We are elite on Princess and elite on Celebrity. I have been on both Equinox and Eclipse and still prefer the Ruby Princess. Not sure I even want to go on the new Royal Princess -- it copies the things I like least about Celebrity's new ship and retains most of the Grand class interior layout, so is not offerring anything that excits me and a lot of X features that don't.

[4cats4me]

We have been loyal to princess and have enjoyed so much about the line, but in 2011 they made too many changes, not necessarily for the better, and our last princess cruise was in 2011 to Alaska where we noticed a serious decline in the food compared to the previous year. The cutbacks really started to show in 2010

We will sail princess in the future if the price is right, but for now, we've jumped ship :eek:to Celebrity again, and their promotions are excellent right now:)

[OCruisers]

They may be trying to hard to please those who give them "ratings" .

 

We are elite on Princess and elite on Celebrity. I have been on both Equinox and Eclipse and still prefer the Ruby Princess. Not sure I even want to go on the new Royal Princess -- it copies the things I like least about Celebrity's new ship and retains most of the Grand class interior layout, so is not offerring anything that excits me and a lot of X features that don't.

 

Glad you posted this. Thought I was the only one feeling this way.

 

LuLu

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[pcsunlover]

I've only sailed 5 times - with Royal Caribbean once and the rest with Princess. I felt much more relaxed on all of the Princess cruises. I don't have too many complaints about the food, and the ships are beautiful. The main thing I wish Princess would change is the entertainment at night. Why can't they have productions shows like they do on the Oasis and Allure (Hairspray, Chicago) instead of the same old song and dance numbers. NCL has the Blueman group which offers something different, and I think there may even be a cirque de solei type show too. I love everything else but the entertainment is getting a little tired.

[caribill]

Why can't they have productions shows like they do on the Oasis and Allure (Hairspray, Chicago) instead of the same old song and dance numbers.

 

A Broadway musical complete in the new Princess 30-minute show format. Can't wait to see that.

[Cruisin' Chick]

I can't speak from recent experience with Princess bub do have a couple of thoughts

 

1. Owned by CCL. I'm assuming that it didn't used to be. If that's the case, could it be that CCL has a 'Carnival' mentality and is trying to make Princess 1 step about Carnival instead of 5 steps above Carnival?

2. Competition - In Europe and especially in the Caribbean, there are so many ships available, that a shopper who isn't married to one line can shop by price - which means revenue goes down.

 

I'll be honest. I booked the cruise I sail on tomorrow because I hadn'ttt sailed on Princess in a long time and I thought that their ship and itinerary were better than what X was offering.

after reading these boards all summer, I'm a little apprehensive about what awaits but it is what it is. It's still a cruise, still the Panama Canal, and can it really be that bad??

 

Princess has been under the CCL umbrella for some ten years now.

[dmwnc1959]

Why can't they have productions shows like they do on the Oasis and Allure (Hairspray, Chicago) instead of the same old song and dance numbers. NCL has the Blueman group which offers something different, and I think there may even be a cirque de solei type show too. I love everything else but the entertainment is getting a little tired.

 

I saw CHICAGO on Allure of the Seas last month. I had never seen the movie nor did I know the plot of the show. It's was 90 minutes long and it was ABSOLUTELY AMAZING!!! It was simply the best show I have seen on any ship and on any cruise line, ever. Period. And after it was over I realized that it never felt like it was too long or boring. And definitely not the same song and dance 'Broadway' styled production shows other cruise lines push out there. Have to give them credit for thinking outside the box. Now other production shows have me asking 'Where's the beef?'. ;)

[Shogun]

Hi All

 

Question, If Carnival lets the brands

 

HAL, Carnival and Princess do there own thing, providing they make the return required, will they not all at some point become very similar,

 

does Carnival need to say

 

do your own thing but make your target cruiser

 

Carnival first time cruiser and under 30s budget cruising

 

Princess family 30 to 50 main stream

 

HAL 50 plus higher end

 

yours Shogun