Has Princess lost some of it's luster??

[mamkmm2]

Exactly! You put the mixed feelings I'm having after our Ruby Alaska cruise last week into words. We enjoyed the cruise, but there were so many little disappointments that have us questioning our fall Baltic/ta b2 b, and our 2017 LA Tahiti cruises. We'll most likely stay with Princess, but we remarked that many first timers probably wouldn't be coming back--and we certainly can understand it.

 

Hmm. I don't think it would be first timers not returning. First timers are agog at everything. Since they don't know something has changed for them it will be all new and fresh and exciting.

 

I see most "complaints" ... or call them concerns ... coming from the well experienced cruisers. They compare the way things "used to be," or they are irritated about unmet expectations in service, or things their level should give them but was cancelled or altered for some reason, etc.

 

I've rarely met anyone that is a new or nearly new cruiser that compares things quite that way.

[MsSoCalCruiser]

yes some of the "luster" has disappeared But... I've lost some luster too.:)

 

 

Andy: 41 days to go

 

Made me laugh :D

[MTJSR]

It is the sign of the times. For any industry and/or company to survive you MUST adapt. And people must adapt to the changing times as well.

 

Wow, so all of the ships sailing the high seas must be cookie cutter in their product delivery and service, or fail? There is NO market for upscale? Seriously?

[cruisequeen4ever]

We've noticed cutbacks. I'm much quicker to excuse them than DH. To me, Princess is still an outstanding product. I do miss flawless service with a smile. From what I read on each of the cruise line's forums, there are cutbacks on all of the lines. Cruising is still a better value than a land vacation and still my preferred means of vacationing.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums mobile app

[mamkmm2]

Wow, so all of the ships sailing the high seas must be cookie cutter in their product delivery and service, or fail? There is NO market for upscale? Seriously?

 

Reading is not your forte is it? Did I say cookie cutter? Read that term in any of my posts? Nope.

 

Reread the quote. Cruise lines, in order to survive, must adapt. I see a lot of people bemoaning the loss "of the way things used to be." Sounds like song lyrics out of some chick flick from the 80s.

 

Face it, if regular life, grocery store prices, housing prices, fuel prices, employment practices and the prices of most goods and services are not the same as they "used to be" then nothing else in this life is going to be that way either.

 

And yes, to continue to offer some services the cruise lines do they will (and are from other complaints on CC) increase prices. They need to find mass market appeal. Smaller cruise lines are getting absorbed by the larger parent companies and it will cause a streamlining effect in order to prevent costs from going so high that you start to lose significant customer base.

 

I see the various cruise lines trying different things to address this "luxury" issue that crops up all the time. And even then it causes strife and complaints ... either it is not enough, it costs too much, or it is too exclusionary. :rolleyes:

[cruise2relax]

We have been cruising with Princess since 2002 at a rate of about two voyages a year. While I agree that various aspects of the experience have changed including more on board pay options for services (many of which we do not partake in) and some unfortunate backsliding on dining room menu choices, it is always important for me to note that I am consistently paying per day what I did in 2002. That cannot be said for much in this life. In order to accomplish and maintain those price points, I can live with some services becoming fee based and so I lost my frogs legs and king crab. I will live and continue to cruise.

[land lover]

Well it sure regained its luster with me this last weekend after returning from a shorty RCI 4 day best of BC out of WA.

Edited May 26, 2016 by land lover

[koikat]

I started sailing with Carnival in 2000 and Princess shortly afterwards. My last cruise was with Carnival Glory in Feb and prior to that Ruby Princess in Nov. 2015. I had so much fun on the Glory! The staff was extremely friendly and engaging. I don't know how they did it, but they always addressed me by my last name. I had been sailing Princess exclusively for the last two years and I thought, I needed a break. I am so glad that I went back to Carnival. Although I have an upcoming Alaska trip on Ruby Princess in August. Princess cruises tends to be more sedate and calming. Carnival just has more "life". Bottom line, all the cruise lines have scaled back, but nothing that takes the pleasure away from cruising. I am platinum level on both cruise lines.

[keithm]

My sister is currently on the Carnival Dream, she emailed me this morning and said they were disappointed that there were no table cloths in the dining room, your cabin is attended to only once a day, and the staff no longer have time to talk or joke with you, she asked if I noticed these things last year when I cruised on Princess in Alaska. My answer to her was no, not at all! Has it changed with Princess? We go on a cruise to feel pampered, I think it would be a big mistake for cruise lines to cut corners in this way. What are your thoughts?

That's why we call Carnival the "double wide" of the sea! Sorry, but dropping linens & such is like going to a cheesy Applebee's for dinner(NO thanks!). We did a 14 day B2B on the Regal this past Feb. It wasn't quite up to the standard of our usual 14 days on Celebrity Eclipse, but it was still very enjoyable(some trashy pax not withstanding)We'd book them again just for the fabulous staff. Some of the best we ever had. Made us feel like family! If our 2017 Eclipse trip drops in quality, we'll look to Princess again.

[lovevacadays]

I first cruised with Princess in 1997. I loved that cruise. I still love my Princess cruises. Actually, I think there are some great changes with all of the different options there are now onboard. And, the many different ships to choose from.:):):)

[riclop]

Yes they all have.

[baldercash]

I agree most have lost luster but Azamara and Oceania have gotten better then when we first sailed them, Princess, RC, X and Norwegian not so much.

[ar1950]

.............................

 

New bedding that puts my body in contact with something that contacted someone else's body last night...............................

 

As far as our bedding experience. We sailed on the Ruby to Hawaii in January and had the new mattresses, but, not the new bed linens. Same pillows, bottom sheet, and completely enclosed duvet as we had on previous cruises. We saw your comments on your blog, and later on here, about the way the new bed linens were on the Emerald. So when we did the Panama on the Coral this month we were especially interested to see what the bedding was like.

 

What we found was: The new mattresses, with a bottom sheet, a full top sheet and then the partially covered duvet (it was the same as having a blanket on top with a top sheet under it). The partial covered duvet made the duvet a little like a bedspread with only the cover needing washing between guests. I guess what I am saying is possibly being a new bedding system that your cabin steward (and probably all of them) had not been fully trained on how it worked or they were missing some things (like the top sheet). By the way, we had the four new pillows on the Coral cruise, all too soft :(.

 

I guess my point is that, as with all things new, the consistency between ships my vary a bit.

 

Edit here. I originally wasn't going to mention this, but, we had plenty of towels and also had note paper and pens on both cruises. Hopefully your experience was a temporary, ship specific, issue. We will keep our fingers crossed.

Edited May 27, 2016 by ar1950