Princess To Drop Bridge Games

[JEH]

DW came home from the Bridge Club and said that as of May 2014 Princess would no longer be having Bridge Masters aboard to run the afternoon bridge sessions. A club member whose friend cruises with Princess told him he had heard this on a recent cruise. I find this distressing as DW might infringe on my afternoon nap time. Any updates would be appreciated.

[By The Bay]

DW came home from the Bridge Club and said that as of May 2014 Princess would no longer be having Bridge Masters aboard to run the afternoon bridge sessions. A club member whose friend cruises with Princess told him he had heard this on a recent cruise. I find this distressing as DW might infringe on my afternoon nap time. Any updates would be appreciated.

I look forward to the bridge games whilst at sea. Hope it doesn't happen.:(

[paul929207]

We also enjoy the afternoon games.

[skynight]

On the Emerald Princess 10 nighters this January there was cards in the Crown Grill during the afternoon, but it wasn't hosted, and you had to make your own groups. No bridge master. My understanding, though not confirmed, is that Princess will not have hosted cards on short cruises. FYI, the CD mentioned that these type repetitive itineraries will no longer have special lecturers for the scholarship at sea program. Any lectures will be provided by Princess staff that may have special knowledge, such as a navigational lecture by one of the bridge officers. They will bring special people on board for cruises like transatlantics and other longer voyages.

[mr green]

If this is true, then my days with Princess may be numbered. On my next cruise I will make my thoughts known to the person in charge of 'Future Cruises!'

 

john

[Pia1913]

I heard this while on the Crown in December, from someone who is/was one of the bridge tutors. She told me they are eliminating it.

[Mapu]

On our 14 day Amazon Cruise with many sea days there wasn't a Bridge Director. The Bridge players were not very happy.

[RASHOPPER2]

I do not understand why they are doing this. The Bridge Directors are not paid. They simply get a free cruise. So the only price Princess is paying is the revenue from one cabin usually inside or oceanview. Doesn't seem the savings is enough for the lack of good will that is being generated.

[PLW0520]

Very sad news. I do hope they change their minds as we like to play bridge every sea day.

Edited February 13, 2014 by PLW0520
spelling error

[cruiserdru]

Glad my next cruise is already booked. DH lives for the bridge games and understands the importance of having someone there. That will be one more in his con column for cruises.

[paul929207]

After reading the above posts, I asked on the Princess Facebook page if these reports are true. Here is the answer:

 

"Hi Paul, though there will no longer be bridge directors starting on voyages starting this Spring, with the exception of World Cruises, the Cruise Director's staff will continue to support passenger non-hosted bridge play onboard. We hope that passengers will continue to gather for bridge fun!"

[Colo Cruiser]

I find this distressing as DW might infringe on my afternoon nap time. Any updates would be appreciated.

 

Dire circumstances indeed. :D

[Loonbeam]

My guess is that attendance overall has been dropping. I know the ACBL is way down in membership from what it used to be back when my dad played regularly. It seems poker has become the social card game of choice of younger players.

 

There has been a concerted effort to reintroduce the game at colleges over the past few years, no idea of the success rate.

 

I'm more surprised about the lack of lecturers on some itineraries.

[mr green]

IMO the real reason is that on each sea day, Princess has 'X' number of persons who are NOT spending money. In the good old days there would be a lecture in the morning, and bridge play in the afternoon.

 

john

[shredie]

Glad my next cruise is already booked. DH lives for the bridge games and understands the importance of having someone there. That will be one more in his con column for cruises.

I hear you. DH will be shopping other lines, I can promise that.

[BridgeMates]

We have always looked forward to the "directed" bridge lesson and play. Hate to hear that Princess isn't going to do it any more. We have had some excellent, hard working bridge instructors over the years (Armond and Paula come to mind).

Altho Princess has been my 1st choice, I'll have to think harder about Holland America, which hopefully will still have organized bridge on the 14+ day cruises. I can understand why they don't do it on short cruises but one little inside cabin for a few hundred dollars seems pretty short sighted to me.

[msmoger]

Just curious, does anyone know the policy on the other mass market cruise lines? My parents were avid bridge players. However, we're in our late fifties and don't have any friends that play bridge. Could it be that the numbers participating is dwindling to the point where it's just not cost effective enough to invest (even if it's just the cost of a cabin) in this position?

 

I'm not voicing an opinion. I'm just posing the question. BTW, I can verify the popularity of poker based on my nieces and nephews. I would think the cruise lines could easily parlay that into a significant revenue generator. ;);)

[BridgeMates]

There have been empty cabins on just about every repositioning/transatlantic cruise I've taken. They are usually the cheapest cruise prices available too. Again, I hope Princess will reconsider this decision.

Obviously cruises with lots of ports like the Med wouldn't really need an instructor, but it can get pretty boring on cruises with lots of sea days.

Guess they'll be cutting out the wonderful lectures next.

How can "I Come Back New" without my bridge and lectures......:eek:

[Loonbeam]

I suppose its also worth pointing out that techncially space used for Birdge could be used for other activities (assuming they are not in the card room).

 

Also, given the decline in interest, could they be having issues finding enough qualified people?

[geoherb]

I'm a regular duplicate bridge player at home. I won't miss having bridge directors on cruises. Even when they've had one, I've skipped out on the lessons because they're usually rudimentary and played infrequently in the organized games.

[Loonbeam]

Made some calls. Apparently this is part of an overall revamp of the whole instructor program at Princess to reflect dropping attendance at their scholarship programs. Wasn't able to get a lot of details, but basically on the shorter cruises, etc at times there were <10 people at venues.

 

They are focusing on having lecturers on the more exotic itineraries (like Panama Canal) and TAs and more of those will be locals brought on board where applicable. Longer term, more culinary programs will be added as these have proved exceptionally popular (working out the details with the chefs in terms of available time)

 

It's a combination of cost savings and just lack of general use. While the 'cost' was only the cabin and maybe a small stipend, if those instructors were only serving 20-30 pax on some cruises, it kind of makes sense. Stinks if its your program being cut, of course, but it affects a relatively small number overall of Princess Pax and frees up venues for other things (like Port Shopping shows!- That by the way is me snarking, not part of the notes I got).

 

Also longer term is the idea of hiring CD staff who also have a knowledge specialty and leveraging them.

[shredie]

Just curious, does anyone know the policy on the other mass market cruise lines? My parents were avid bridge players. However, we're in our late fifties and don't have any friends that play bridge. Could it be that the numbers participating is dwindling to the point where it's just not cost effective enough to invest (even if it's just the cost of a cabin) in this position?

 

Let me know when you are cruising so I can book the same one. ;) My husband is all kinds of upset about this decision. He loves the bridge games, lessons and all. It is one of the main reasons he has liked Princess. He would have been bored silly on our TA last summer if hadn't had bridge on those sea days.

 

You know there will be more "educational" shopping programs and more art auctions and "end of cruise" sales in the space they free up.

[Mud_Shark]

This Fall will be our first cruise ever (going to Hawaii on the Grand). I was looking forward to the bridge games and instruction. I haven't played it since I left home in the late 70s. My parents taught me the game back then as a teenager and I loved it, but then I joined the Airforce where pinochle was the game of choice. Without instruction and tutoring, I would be lost in the game today.

 

Don

[swan86]

I was on the Royal last June. I was surprised that there was a very small game-card-library room. I don't know where you would have lessons on the Royal. A restaurant would have to be used.

Betsy

[PLW0520]

Every cruise we have been on the bridge games were held in one of the dining rooms or Sabatinis. On our AUS/NZ cruise there was large group of bridge players. We had a husband and wife team of directors and because there were so many levels of players they divided the group and she took the novice players and he directed the games for the rest of us. One day we had twelve tables in our section. We were looking at cruising to Hawaii next year but won't be doing it on Princess if there is no bridge.