Is Princess becoming the new X?

[klfhngr]

I've been reading many posts and reviews and have seen many complaints regarding the quality of food, lack of assistant cabin steward and service along with other cutbacks on X. I've also been reading how Princess is improving its cuisine, it's service and so on. Is X downgrading while Princess is upgrading? Is the perception changing/swapping on these cruise lines?

 

I have both an X cruise and a Princess cruise booked, hence the 'research'....

[neverbeenhere]

Just passengers complaining. Things are changing all the time and people are complaining all the time about how it used to be better.

 

Cruise and enjoy.

[neverbeenhere]

But I liked the way Celebrity "used to" have white gloved staff. :D

[Colo Cruiser]

Gawd I hope not. :rolleyes:

[klfhngr]

Just passengers complaining. Things are changing all the time and people are complaining all the time about how it used to be better.

 

Cruise and enjoy.

 

True, things have changed drastically since my first cruise!

 

Will do!

[easyboy]

It would be better if you will actually experience what Princess has to offer. We have liked the Princess cuisine ever since.

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Forums

[klfhngr]

It would be better if you will actually experience what Princess has to offer. We have liked the Princess cuisine ever since.

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Forums

 

I'll be doing that in May and then in Oct..... Can't wait! Then I can respond to my own Thread, lol!

[trabeler]

We regularly sail on both Princess and X and have noticed a general decline on X in food quality/variety and some services (particularly cruise director staff type activities). Princess has stayed somewhat constant to us, but it is now an even match to us between X and Princess. We have a long sailing booked on both lines this year so perhaps our views will change. But for now we view both as fairly equivalent... which they weren't several years ago.

[Kartgv]

We've cruised extensively on both lines and always found them to be much more alike than different. We've seen a decline in all aspects of the cruise experience on both lines, though we still enjoy the cruising experience by trying to focus on the good things and ignoring small problems. If you look at several pages of threads on both boards, you'll see similar complaints on both. We've learned to lower our expectations over the years as things have changed, but are now ready to try moving up a level (Azamara, Oceania, etc.) and probably cruise less in the future.

[antsp]

We have only sailed princess and RCCL, how anyone can compare the two lines as equal is beyond me. Princess is far more refined than RCCL in every way. If princess as a business wants to snag other cruise line passengers I would imagine x is the line to go up against.after my last recent rccl cruise I will never sail with them again.

[OzKiwiJJ]

On the four Princess cruises we've done so far the quality of the meals varied, and I think that relates to whoever is the Exceutive Chef for that cruise. Our first cruise had excellent food, the second was quite poor, and the other two were good without being exceptional.

 

I thought the variety and quality of MDR meals on the one Celebrity cruise we have done so far were not as quite good as on Princess. Particularly the variety of appetisers - we seemed to cycle through the same choices at least twice on a 12 night cruise. We're going on Celebrity again in February so I'll see if anything has changed.

 

We did a last minute cruise on Carnival Legend recently and I was very impressed by the quality and variety of selections in the MDR. Better than Princess and when the menu said spicy, they meant spicy! :) But lobster cost extra. :(

Edited December 29, 2016 by OzKiwiJJ

[kitkat343]

Yes, we were also surprised by how good the food was on Carnival. We had first sailed on HAL, and were shocked to be happier with the food on Carnival (it seemed like Carnival used much less expensive ingredients and tried to make much less sophisticated dishes, but was able to execute them quite well as opposed to our first HAL cruise where more expensive ingredients and sophisticate dishes were not executed well. The food was better the second time on our HAL cruise, and amazing in their specialty restaurants). Honestly, we just liked the Carnival itinerary and went in expecting a party ship with terrible food and service but were pleasantly surprised by the fact that they did a fairly nice job with the food and the rooms since the cruise was dirt cheap.

Edited December 29, 2016 by kitkat343

[klfhngr]

From some of the recent posts, it seems like Princess might have 'caught' up to X... In regards to cuisine and service....

 

Regarding CCL cuisine, we too were impressed on the last cruise with her! We all thought that it was slightly better than Princess (based on my 2002 cruise) and WAY better than RCCL. In my opinion, RCCL is at the bottom with cuisine, food has gone down, and really quick! I'd cruise on RCCL only for the ship factor, that is it!

 

I saw some responses in regards to their 'favorite' cruise lines, but I really can't answer that, it all depends on what we're looking for, i.e., food, entertainment, activities, relaxation???? All of the above? Too many factors for me to make a favorites list.

 

I really hope that X hits the spot in May, if not, then the Ruby in Oct. will definitely help me in deciding who to cruise on for future cruises.

 

While I'm here, my list based on:

Food: CCL, Princess, RCCL

Entertainment: RCCL, CCL, Princess

Activities: CCL, RCCL, Princess

Service: Princess, CCL, RCCL

 

Once I go on X, I'll be able to squeeze her into the list above....

[riclop]

Princess is better then X any day.

[Cruise Junky]

Princess is better then X any day.

 

Except those that end in Y ;)

 

I switched to Celebrity after 11 on Princess. I don't want to openly bash Princess because they were good to us and are a good line but we're sticking with X for the foreseeable future.

[caribill]

Princess is becoming like X in another way, having different classes or service for higher paying passengers.

 

For example, on the Ruby which just introduced Club Class, only Club Class passengers can have lunch in the dining room on embarkation day.

[klfhngr]

Princess is becoming like X in another way, having different classes or service for higher paying passengers.

 

For example, on the Ruby which just introduced Club Class, only Club Class passengers can have lunch in the dining room on embarkation day.

 

New cruise line, Celebrity Princess!?? Lol....

[pablo222]

I've also been reading how Princess is improving its cuisine, it's service and so on.

 

What site was that?

[Dawniepoo]

If there's one thing I've learned over the years, it's that one person's perception can be completely different than another's. We love Princess, X, and RCCL. Norwegian? Not so much. But if you ask the next person, they think NCL is the bee's knees. I guess that's why they are all successful.

[spearmint]

We were loyal Celebrity cruisers for 22 cruises (although we did have two RCCL cruises, too). Finally, the drop in what they offer was too much. The menus have declined so much from our first cruise in 1999, that finally, in Nov. 2015 I had enough, especially when my wife who eats almost everything, began to totally agree with me.

 

I was/am a finicky eater who actually enjoyed trying new things with the fabulous Michel Roux menus. I morphed into one who chose some things with the Jaques Van Stadden menus but often chicken or salmon from the everyday menu. Finally, I was ordering the chicken, salmon and, once, the sirloin from the everyday menu almost every night. I don't know who replaced JVS but it is not good. When even the chicken came out unrecognizable in shape and somewhat tough, I had enough.

 

Last April we tried Regal Princess for a back-to-back and did the same in November 1016. We have just booked Royal Princess for ten days in February as the cost of a mini-suite was too good an offer. Even between April and November, the everyday Fettucine Alfredo is no longer served in that wonderful parmesan basket, and the sauce was slightly different, too. The same was true in Alfredo's (restaurant) with the great veal ravioli.... the sauce was somewhat different and I wondered if it weren't the exact same sauce. I raved over both dishes the first time and thought that they were OK the second time and will have them again, I think.

 

Celebrity used to brand itself as a "premium" line and, despite two RCCL cruises, and not having tried other lines but having followed Cruise Critic all along, I was sure that they might very well be "premium". They have dropped so many "little things" over the years, and with the noticeable decline in menus, they certainly are no longer in the premium category in my opinion. At this point, we are very happy with this class of Princess ship.

 

As an aside, I believe that Regal is a most lovely ship in its public spaces. It's ambience has that elegance that the early Celebrity ships used to have before the more modernistic Solstice class came along. And it is so nice to dance in the Piazza instead of the bottom of a stairwell with the band in the elevator shaft!

 

As often noted on these boards, food is subjective. That is true. But, so many members with different tastes are not wrong when they all note how much in decline the menu choices as well as the quality of those offerings have become.

 

Bill

Edited December 30, 2016 by spearmint

[klfhngr]

We were loyal Celebrity cruisers for 22 cruises (although we did have two RCCL cruises, too). Finally, the drop in what they offer was too much. The menus have declined so much from our first cruise in 1999, that finally, in Nov. 2015 I had enough, especially when my wife who eats almost everything, began to totally agree with me.

 

I was/am a finicky eater who actually enjoyed trying new things with the fabulous Michel Roux menus. I morphed into one who chose some things with the Jaques Van Stadden menus but often chicken or salmon from the everyday menu. Finally, I was ordering the chicken, salmon and, once, the sirloin from the everyday menu almost every night. I don't know who replaced JVS but it is not good. When even the chicken came out unrecognizable in shape and somewhat tough, I had enough.

 

Last April we tried Regal Princess for a back-to-back and did the same in November 1016. We have just booked Royal Princess for ten days in February as the cost of a mini-suite was too good an offer. Even between April and November, the everyday Fettucine Alfredo is no longer served in that wonderful parmesan basket, and the sauce was slightly different, too. The same was true in Alfredo's (restaurant) with the great veal ravioli.... the sauce was somewhat different and I wondered if it weren't the exact same sauce. I raved over both dishes the first time and thought that they were OK the second time and will have them again, I think.

 

Celebrity used to brand itself as a "premium" line and, despite two RCCL cruises, and not having tried other lines but having followed Cruise Critic all along, I was sure that they might very well be "premium". They have dropped so many "little things" over the years, and with the noticeable decline in menus, they certainly are no longer in the premium category in my opinion. At this point, we are very happy with this class of Princess ship.

 

As an aside, I believe that Regal is a most lovely ship in its public spaces. It's ambience has that elegance that the early Celebrity ships used to have before the more modernistic Solstice class came along. And it is so nice to dance in the Piazza instead of the bottom of a stairwell with the band in the elevator shaft!

 

As often noted on these boards, food is subjective. That is true. But, so many members with different tastes are not wrong when they all note how much in decline the menu choices as well as the quality of those offerings have become.

 

Bill

 

Great post and comment........

[Reader0108598]

Except those that end in Y ;)

 

I switched to Celebrity after 11 on Princess. I don't want to openly bash Princess because they were good to us and are a good line but we're sticking with X for the foreseeable future.

 

Just made Elite on our last cruise with Princess,I am looking at other lines for my next cruise!

Going to start mixing it up a bit more. I was not happy with Princess this last cruise. ....Something was just off .

 

Have sailed:

Royal Caribbean

Hal

Celebrity

Carnival

 

Reader

Edited December 30, 2016 by Reader0108598

[need2cruisesoon]

Just made Elite on our last cruise with Princess,I am looking at other lines for my next cruise!

Going to start mixing it up a bit more. I was not happy with Princess this last cruise. ....Something was just off .

 

Have sailed:

Royal Caribbean

Hal

Celebrity

Carnival

 

Reader

 

What other lines?

[Reader0108598]

What other lines?

 

 

Umm..lol

 

Royal Caribbean

Hal

Celebrity

Carnival

[keithm]

I've been reading many posts and reviews and have seen many complaints regarding the quality of food, lack of assistant cabin steward and service along with other cutbacks on X. I've also been reading how Princess is improving its cuisine, it's service and so on. Is X downgrading while Princess is upgrading? Is the perception changing/swapping on these cruise lines?

 

I have both an X cruise and a Princess cruise booked, hence the 'research'....

We did the Regal for a 14 day B2B in Feb. It was good, but still not up to the level of our 14 day Eclipse trips. We'll be back on the Eclipse this Jan.22. If it doesn't measure up, we'll look at Princess again. Not really into the B2B trips on Princess. The Caribbean Princess is starting some 14 day "Circle the Caribbean" trips. I'll wait for reviews.