Just Back From The Grand - There is a tender problem

[cnmiranda]

(Since Carnival owns Princess, that makes little sense to me.) The Liberty carries 2694 pax at capacity, and the Grand 2600.

 

As a Princess Cruises Officer I like to correct some misconceptions. It is very easy to compare ships on paper, it is also easy to compare the situation of two ships in the same port on the same day and conclude that if one ship experiences problems that the other does not, that it must be crew performance that caused the problems.

 

These assumptions are generally wrong though; the fact that Carnival owns Princess does not mean they are run by the same people. Both companies are operated separately and in fact as Carnival owns many of the piers in many resorts (especially in Mexico) it means that their ships get priority when two ships from respective companies are berthed together (as recently happened in Galveston). Also Carnival owns the Puerto Maya pier in Cozumel and therefore even though the pier was destroyed in the hurricane it means their tenders get priority, hence less problems in those situations.

 

Furthermore, looking at the brochure of one ship and quoting the figure that it carries 2600 passengers gives a false sense of the ship’s capacity. Last week the Grand Princess sailed with 2938 passengers and all ships sail with different figures almost each and every cruise. Figures given in brochures are based on 2 people sharing a cabin in standard cabins or 4 persons in such allocated cabins. As there can be occasions where a high number of passengers are children (as with the Grand Princess currently) the number of passengers rises as cabins host more than usual figures.

 

 

Just curious, how do you feel about passenger's shore excursions being cancelled after a 2 hour wait onboard? And how do you feel about traveler's shore excusions being cut short because the tendering problem? This seems to be a Grand Princess specific problem as no other cruise lines in the same port are reporting the 2+ hour long waits. I've cruised with Princess 4 times prior (including the Grand) and never had a tendering problem. Do you know what Princess is doing to remedy the situation? Thanks for your response.

[johnny cruise]

 

 

Just curious, how do you feel about passenger's shore excursions being cancelled after a 2 hour wait onboard? And how do you feel about traveler's shore excusions being cut short because the tendering problem? This seems to be a Grand Princess specific problem as no other cruise lines in the same port are reporting the 2+ hour long waits. I've cruised with Princess 4 times prior (including the Grand) and never had a tendering problem. Do you know what Princess is doing to remedy the situation? Thanks for your response.

 

 

Belive me its the star princess to

[Hlitner]

It is not surpising to hear a Princess Officer defend his employer. Most of us would do the same. I would be curious as to the recent experience of that officer in cruising on other ships of other cruise lines. I do like Princess (read my review of a recent Sea Princess Cruise) and am Platinum in the Captains Circle. We also have 2 more Princess cruises (totally 31 days) booked for the next 4 months. However, Princess does seem to have some problems including tendering operations. Why? Perhaps the officer can give us some answers. Perhaps that officer can also explain why Princess cannot make a decent cup of coffee (unless you want to buy in a bar) and why the line feels it must charge for ice cream. For many experienced cruisers it is the little things that drive the ultimate decision on who and where to cruise. With the economy doing well and cruise bookings at an all time high, the cruise lines are currently in the drivers seat. But that situation will not last forever. Most of us have long memories.

 

Hank

[Guest AdmiralNelson]

It is not surpising to hear a Princess Officer defend his employer. Most of us would do the same. I would be curious as to the recent experience of that officer in cruising on other ships of other cruise lines. I do like Princess (read my review of a recent Sea Princess Cruise) and am Platinum in the Captains Circle. We also have 2 more Princess cruises (totally 31 days) booked for the next 4 months. However, Princess does seem to have some problems including tendering operations. Why? Perhaps the officer can give us some answers. Perhaps that officer can also explain why Princess cannot make a decent cup of coffee (unless you want to buy in a bar) and why the line feels it must charge for ice cream. For many experienced cruisers it is the little things that drive the ultimate decision on who and where to cruise. With the economy doing well and cruise bookings at an all time high, the cruise lines are currently in the drivers seat. But that situation will not last forever. Most of us have long memories.

 

It's always a shame when a tour is cancelled, as I don't get involved in that area I can only say that what I know about cancelled tours is usually down to weather. Obviously the early tendering problems will have come into that and I can understand how frustrating it is.

 

I can tell you that the tendering situation onboard the Grand has improved a lot and will continue to improve over the weeks. The tendering on our current voyage was much improved, due to the ship getting used to operations in this area. You have to remember the ship is run by people and it takes time for people to get used to new itineraries (even in normal situations, never mind in these difficult times). Also the tendering problem is not just a Princess problem. When you have 7 (or more) ships in Grand Cayman everybody will have problems.

 

As for cruising with other cruise lines. There are many differences and then there are things that are the same. Princess has some of the nicest ships in it's market. I was blown away when I joined my first Princess ship after leaving another major cruiseline. Also it's a little more 'refined' than Carnival but I would say on a par with NCL. RCCL and Celebrity are aimed at a different market I think.

 

I had to laugh about the coffee comment! I am not a coffee drinker so cannot comment on the coffee but I find that I can only get a good cup of tea when I’m at home (or Starbucks!) Shame on me but I didn’t know that passengers had to pay for ice cream! I know it’s free on carnival and NCL, however only normal soft machined ice cream, the ice cream on Princess is much better with lots of coverings and the choice of hard or soft scoop!

 

However, Princess offers other things for free that others don’t. As a Platinum member you get free internet all cruise long, Carnival and NCL do not. Not to mention express check-in, priority tender tickets and more! In fact Carnival only this year started to recognize their returning guests. They introduced gold and platinum cards early this year, however, there is no rewards with these cards like there is on Princess.

 

Like I said, there are good things about all the lines, maybe if you put it all together, you would have the best line ever!

[Cindy]

I've been following this thread closely since I will be on the Grand again in March. Hopefully many of the problems that have been encountered with tendering will be ironed out by then.

 

I know that the staff and crew of a ship turn over fairly frequently, but the comments I've read concerning the attitude of the staff on the Grand are a complete contrast to my experiences both on the Grand last March and on the Sea Princess several years ago. On both of those cruises I found every staff member I came in contact with to be courteous and dedicated to the passengers' needs.

 

Unfortunately last March my husband and I needed to have a lot of contact with the purser's staff when my father unexpectedly passed away and we had to disembark the ship early. Without exception, the staff of the Grand made sure we had access to what we needed, including helping us with plane reservations when the internet connection was balky, use of the phone at the purser's desk, and hauling our luggage all the way to the end of the pier in Cozumel and seeing us into a taxi to the airport before saying good-bye. I was impressed with the way we were treated by staff and crew alike. I only hope the Princess employees we encounter this March are as personable and professional as those we dealt with last March.

 

That said, I think problems tends to bring out the worst in some people, especially when they've paid a lot of money for something and things go awry. We missed Grand Cayman completely last year due to high winds and heavy seas. Some of the passenger behavior I witnessed when Captain Proctor announced we wouldn't be stopping in Cayman was horrendous. There was plenty of abusive language being directed at employees at both the purser's desk and the shore excursion desk. I never heard any Princess personnel respond negatively, but I remember wondering how much they could take before one of them gave it right back.

 

I'm not sure what I'm trying to say, except maybe it cuts both ways. I agree the tendering situation is unacceptable and needs to be corrected...immediately. I agree the Princess staff should be professional and concerned when their guests' have valid complaints. I also know that when 2,600+ passengers are involved there are going to be some that handle bad situations better than others, and guests should also handle themselves appropriately.

[fishinjules]

I too have been following this thread very closely as we leave 1/28/06. I have been looking forward to this cruise. We did a cruise with NCL last January and it was a joke. We figured that we would stick to Princess since that has always been excellent for us in Alaska. I guess since Princess seems to own soo much in Alaska, I have never had any problems. But then Princess always docks in Alaska. I guess I was kind of hoping that we would do the same in the Carribean. Guess I was wrong. As far as changing to roatan, we did that last year with NCL and it was not worth getting off the ship. Just my impression of it. So I sit and pray that Princess gets a handle on the tendering before I get there. I can always HOPE! :)

Julie

 

[TravelnAl]

On southbound Alaska itinereries last year, there was tendering in Ketchikan.

 

It worked well.

[cnmiranda]

I've been following this thread closely since I will be on the Grand again in March. Hopefully many of the problems that have been encountered with tendering will be ironed out by then.

 

I know that the staff and crew of a ship turn over fairly frequently, but the comments I've read concerning the attitude of the staff on the Grand are a complete contrast to my experiences both on the Grand last March and on the Sea Princess several years ago. On both of those cruises I found every staff member I came in contact with to be courteous and dedicated to the passengers' needs.

 

Unfortunately last March my husband and I needed to have a lot of contact with the purser's staff when my father unexpectedly passed away and we had to disembark the ship early. Without exception, the staff of the Grand made sure we had access to what we needed, including helping us with plane reservations when the internet connection was balky, use of the phone at the purser's desk, and hauling our luggage all the way to the end of the pier in Cozumel and seeing us into a taxi to the airport before saying good-bye. I was impressed with the way we were treated by staff and crew alike. I only hope the Princess employees we encounter this March are as personable and professional as those we dealt with last March.

 

That said, I think problems tends to bring out the worst in some people, especially when they've paid a lot of money for something and things go awry. We missed Grand Cayman completely last year due to high winds and heavy seas. Some of the passenger behavior I witnessed when Captain Proctor announced we wouldn't be stopping in Cayman was horrendous. There was plenty of abusive language being directed at employees at both the purser's desk and the shore excursion desk. I never heard any Princess personnel respond negatively, but I remember wondering how much they could take before one of them gave it right back.

 

I'm not sure what I'm trying to say, except maybe it cuts both ways. I agree the tendering situation is unacceptable and needs to be corrected...immediately. I agree the Princess staff should be professional and concerned when their guests' have valid complaints. I also know that when 2,600+ passengers are involved there are going to be some that handle bad situations better than others, and guests should also handle themselves appropriately.

 

 

I think there's a big difference here, these people are already in port but cannot get off the ship. Many people had to wait hours to take the tender or wait for hours at the meeting point only to find out their excursion has been cancelled due to said tendering problems. Then you are left with only a few hours to see the city, after sitting there on the boat for a good part of the day. I think most understand ports will be cancelled due to weather but these tendering issues go way further than the norm, especially since Princess has been operating as a cruise line for many years and should foresee these types of situations:) That said I have faith that the cruise line will remedy the situation as soon as possible.

[cnmiranda]

another double post

[Coral]

On southbound Alaska itinereries last year' date=' there was tendering in Ketchikan.

 

It worked well.[/quote']

 

Not all Southbound itineriers tendered in Ketchikan. We were on the Sun Princess and we did not tender. Out of my 5 times in Ketchikan on Princess - (3 Southbound), it was just one year when we were on the Coral Princess that we had to tender in Ketchikan -- all other ports we docked and all other ships we docked. We also tendered in Juneau on the Radiance.

[mii]

Coral is right.It all depends on how many ships are in port. Sitka is always a tendered port but I have also been to Ketchikan 3 times and twice we docked and once tendered. It just dpends on how many ships are in.

 

Marilyn

[TexasMom2]

Just off the Grand yesterday so I can update you on tender operations for Cayman and Cozumel. We took a ship's tour in Belize so I don't have any first-hand information for that port. At Cayman, I got in line for tender tickets at 10:15 (11:00 was the posted time to get tickets in the Vista Lounge). I ended up with tickets 244-247. Tendering started at about 11:50 and we got ashore by 12:30 and took a taxi to 7-Mile Beach. We got back to the tender dock about 3:30 and must have hit it just right because we practically walked onto a tender with no line. There was an unfortunate accident on our tender. A woman carrying an infant slipped as she was stepping onto the ship and fell flat on her back. She had a tight grip on the baby who was unhurt, but she couldn't break her fall. She cut her leg and was bleeding but we couldn't stay to see if she needed assistance as we were ushered through security to get out of the way of other passengers trying to get off the tender. We had a fairly easy time of it in Cayman, but that is due in part because we knew to get in line early from these boards. There were tons of people complaining that they were unable to get off the ship because it was so late when their tender numbers were finally called.

 

In Cozumel, I got in line at 9:00 for tickets which were to be given out at 10:00. The line started moving at 9:50 and I ended up with tickets 124-128. However they didn't announce our numbers until almost 11:00. We were on a huge local tender that took a long time to fill, but we were glad to be on it and not having to wait to get off the ship. The line was long for the return and we waited about 30 minutes, but each tender held a lot of people. Disembarkation of the tender was a little wild with people crowding the aisles to get position for the stairs. We kept our seats until the tender was almost empty. I wish there was an orderly way to do this.

 

Bottom line....the situation seems to be improving slightly, but the key is to get in line early for tickets. I was not happy to stand in line, but I ended up meeting some really nice people and the wait went quickly with good conversation.

[Hulagirl]

We were also on the Grand last week with TexasMom. I really don't understand why people weren't able to get off the ship in Grand Cayman. We were on the first tender off the ship, did our shopping and got back about 2:30. When we got back on board there wasn't a single person in line to tender over to the island, so I don't understand why anyone was complaining they couldn't get off the ship. When we got in line to go back, 1 very large tender pulled in and also one of the ship tenders completely full. I just don't understand why anyone was complaining about not being able to go in. They would have had plenty of time to go over and spend some time.

 

Now in Cozumel we did have to wait in a line to go back to the ship. But I think what was slowing up the operation here was they had two people dressed up in Mayan clothing and the ships people where using that as a photo op. This really slowed the whole thing down. We just walked right past and got on the tender. Here they were using all sorts of tenders and we were on one of the ferrys that runs from Cozumel to Cancun. These hold a lot of people, but take time to fill and unload. It was pretty choppy here and was a little unnerving getting off the ferry onto the ship.

 

There was a lot of complaining going on the whole cruise due to the embarkation process at the Hotel Galvez that day. This really seemed to set the ton for many people on the cruise last week. It was a mess and Princess credited everyone on the ship with $50 to their shipboard account. If you didn't use it, it wasn't refunded to you, but was a goodwill gesture on their part for the mess at the beginning.

 

Hopefully things will start going smoother, but tendering can be a pain no matter what. It seems like there are more ships in Grand Cayman now because there are fewer in Cozumel, so more tenders are going for all ships. All in all though, we had a great time on our cruise. Can't wait for the next one.

 

Hulagirl

[scootepie66]

Thanks Texasmom2 and Hulagirl it is through reviews like yours that can help us prepare (take a book/cards, good attitude while we wait for tender tickets) and get excited for our trip next month. No one likes to wait in lines for stuff but it seems like no matter where you go a cruise, amusement park museums and yes even grocery stores it is a necessary evil. Women have been taught this lesson for years by having to stand in line to use the restroom. :)

[lindnet]

I was on the RCCL Rhapsody of the Seas that same week. We tendered into Grand Cayman and Cozumel and had no problems. It was all very well organized and the process didn't take long at all. Sounds to me like the problem lies with Princess?

[negc]

 

There was a lot of complaining going on the whole cruise due to the embarkation process at the Hotel Galvez that day. This really seemed to set the ton for many people on the cruise last week. It was a mess and Princess credited everyone on the ship with $50 to their shipboard account. If you didn't use it, it wasn't refunded to you, but was a goodwill gesture on their part for the mess at the beginning.

Hulagirl

 

At least it appears that they acknowledged the problem and went a ways towards making amends. However, I wonder how could it happen that anyone would "not use" the credit. Wouldn't it have offset a good portion of their gratuities?

[fishinjules]

Thanks for the great update. I kind of figured that it would soon get easier. I too will get in line early. This trip can only be what I make it and I plan to get off early and have a great time!

Julie

 

[carma7007]

Hey Hula Girl

Good to see you had another wonderful time on your trips. I was actually just checking because I remembered that you were traveling during this time.

 

We moved, to Northern Ca during the summer about a month after our trip to Alaska.

 

I think we are doing Hawaii this summer instead of a cruise. Looking into a Med. cruise in the future. Any advice?

Have a Happy New Year

Carma

[Hulagirl]

I do think every cruise is what you make of it also and agree that you will have a wonderful time, Julie.

 

Yes, there were problems with embarkation and with tendering, but we had a wonderful time and didn't let it bother us at all. The smartest thing we did was when we got the letter from Princess telling us that embarkation would be at the Hotel Galvez, was move our reservations to this hotel for our nights there before the cruise. It wasn't our first choice, but turned out to be fine. We also were smart in not taking Princess's transfer to the pier later after checking in. We were told they would have busses to take everyone whether you had a transfer or not, but we opted to call for a taxi. Jeff's Taxi in Galveston was the best people we could have found. We rode with them the night before back and forth to Moody Gardens and then that morning to the ship. We were on the ship by 11:40 and eating by noon. First time I've ever been in the Horizon court when it was basically empty on embarkation day. We just had things fall into place for us with our choices and we had absolutely not complaints at all. I know others had long lines to stand in, and I do feel for them completely, but I'm glad we did what we did.

 

Agree that it would be difficult not to use the $50 shipboard credit. I was told that this was given to each and every person on the ship including down to the youngest babies. I'm presuming they would also have an account on the ship, but never having traveled with anyone so young I wasn't sure. We were told it was a non-refundable credit for all. I truly commend Princess for taking this action to try and help smooth peoples frustrations. It was unfortunate for all these people to get their first taste of cruising with Princess this way and I do hope they give them another chance.

 

I do think the tendering problems have gotten better, but there are a lot of ships all tendering at the same times and it get congested. The lines for the 2 RCI and Carnival ship in Grand Cayman looked also to be a nightmare. They were clear down the street and around part of a cornder there when we tendered in last week. So they too had to have been having slow tendering problems also. Just too many ships in a small port and that causes slowdowns. We had a great time and did what we wanted to do.

 

Carma!!!! So glad to see you here. I had no idea you were going to move after our Alaska cruise. Sounds like you have been busy. Love Hawaii and agree that going there during the summer would be good. We used to go every year, but haven't the past 2 summers. We did Princess in the Med from Barcelona to Istanbul in 2001 and loved the cruise. Just remember in the summer it is very hot, but I think you would love it. Sailing into Venice is something not to be forgotten. Let me know what you plan!

 

Hulagirl

[PINEVIEW01]

The Liberty carries 2694 pax at capacity, and the Grand 2600.

-gina-

Actually:

110,000 tons

952 feet in length

116 feet wide

Passengers: 2,974

Crew: 1,160

Registry: Panama

 

From the Carnival Web site and that is based on double occupancy. So at full capacity she carries over 3,000:)

[bjkTX]

"Women have been taught this lesson for years by having to stand in line to use the restroom."

 

For this guy you have solved one of lifes greatest riddles - how can my DW stand in line for hours and not complain.

[DrivesLikeMario]

We were also on the Grand last week - 12/17 to 12/24. Here's the way to avoid tender lines: pay for a suite. With our priority tender tickets, it was a breeze to get on the tenders.

 

The longest we waited was for 10 mins. while the ship's crew tried to get the tender ramp attached to the tender (waves were making it very tough for the first tender). We literally did not have a problem tendering last week in ANY of the ports, either getting to land or coming back to the ship. It's all in how you work it, IMO. We chose to come back to the ship when most people were just getting off. We were doing everything the very opposite of the crowds and it worked really well.

 

I also think Princess went over and above by giving everyone a $50 shipboard credit. That's about $150,000 that Princess gave back on our sailing. That's a big loss of revenue on a ship that DIDN'T earn much in the casino, the bars or in the shops. (Where was everyone and what were they doing? :confused: )

[Cookiesbykk]

Do those in mini-suites also get priority tenders or just full suites?

Karen

[johnny cruise]

Do those in mini-suites also get priority tenders or just full suites?

Karen

 

 

No.

 

JC

[DrivesLikeMario]

No, just those in categories: GS, PS, OS, PH, and VS that I know of, sorry.