Princess is Not What it Was in the Past

[ABoatNerd]

Reduced value on cruises mirrors many other business sectors - food etc. Reduce size/nature of product or service but retain or increase price - latest scam is more pressured air in potato chip bags.

 

Our household simply fires the provider and follows up with an email to let them know.

 

Cruising has been reduced by 50% in our household due to the declining value and cruise line arrogance in the past 3 years. Used to be Celebrity, now Oceania. We have taken most of our future vacation budget which was for cruises and simply moved it to a spectacular new vehicle and purchased a more fabulous new house.

 

People should not assume cruisers are automatically accepting of the cruising changes.

[Pierlesscruisers]

One of my favorite quotes is from Lee Travino. "The older I get, the better I used to be". It may be appropriate for cruise memories.

 

Tom, there have been many good and fair comments, and probably a couple of unfair ones, but you get my award for the best comment/quote in the whole thread!! (y)(y)(y) If we're ever on a cruise together, I'll certainly buy you a drink!

 

Tom

[cruzsnooze]

Food is the major decline on Princess IMHO. I use club class which improves the service but the menu is the same as the MDR. The one dish made especially for club class does not have a significant impact on the meal. The perks on Princess for their top tier (elite) and suites are the worst of any mass market cruise line. I feel the value is eroding and although I still will sail with Princess sometimes I also am booked on higher end lines like Azamara. I plan to try Viking Ocean in the coming year too.

[USCcruisecrazy]

I appreciate the laugh reading these comments. I wonder what you folks eat every day in your apartment or townhouse or condo...because I always enjoy the food on Princess. Have I had better? Sure...when I go to a 5-star restaurant and pay in excess of $200 for a meal for my bride and I. You are on a ship cruising exotic parts of the world...enjoying a few fufu drinks (or drinks of your choice) and have no real cares in the world. What is to complain about? Yeah, I know, some people just complain because they can't enjoy the blessings they have received. I can hardly wait until our next cruise...really excited about next year when the Sky comes on line...that should be awesome! Relax and enjoy life and quit complaining over little things! Be thankful...or don't...enjoyment in life is up to you...and finding fault is as well!! That is all!!!

[MrMan]

Club Class...perfectly planned and implemented by Princess...decrease the level of service and quality of food in the mdr...and give passengers the option to pay extra to bring it back up to the level it may have been previously...:evilsmile:

 

 

 

Brilliant !:D

 

 

 

Exactly give customers the freedom to buy what they want allowing an overall cheap base price

 

 

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[Potstech]

Passengers are not what they were in the past. Things change either go along or be passed by.

[MrMan]

Reduced value on cruises mirrors many other business sectors - food etc. Reduce size/nature of product or service but retain or increase price - latest scam is more pressured air in potato chip bags.

 

Our household simply fires the provider and follows up with an email to let them know.

 

Cruising has been reduced by 50% in our household due to the declining value and cruise line arrogance in the past 3 years. Used to be Celebrity, now Oceania. We have taken most of our future vacation budget which was for cruises and simply moved it to a spectacular new vehicle and purchased a more fabulous new house.

 

People should not assume cruisers are automatically accepting of the cruising changes.

 

 

 

And Princess will replace you with a more profitable new cruiser that will buy drink package, specialty restaurant, photos etc.

 

 

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[Itchy&Scratchy]

Originally posted by Brad1185 Years ago I rated the food and service on Princess, RCI, Celebrity, Holland even Carnival a 10 out of 10. Years ago I rated NCL a 3 - 4 out of 10

 

Now I rate the above lines a 0 to 1 out of 10.

 

you must have impossibly high standards.

We've always had impeccable service on Princess. The food is great as well - trust me, I am a glutton and I personally go on cruises to EAT FANTASTIC FOOD.

 

And wow, your Viking's FREE internet isn't all that free. A 7 days cruise on Regal Princess for Thanksgiving is going to cost us $1,600 (inside) -$2,400 (balcony) total for the 3 of us. Viking cruise STARTS at $2,799 per person for the same month. Internet is simply included in the exorbitant price.

[Pierlesscruisers]

you must have impossibly high standards.

We've always had impeccable service on Princess. The food is great as well - trust me, I am a glutton and I personally go on cruises to EAT FANTASTIC FOOD.

 

And wow, your Viking's FREE internet isn't all that free. A 7 days cruise on Regal Princess for Thanksgiving is going to cost us $1,600 (inside) -$2,400 (balcony) total for the 3 of us. Viking cruise STARTS at $2,799 per person for the same month. Internet is simply included in the exorbitant price.

 

(y)(y)

 

Tom

[kendon]

Reduced value on cruises mirrors many other business sectors - food etc. Reduce size/nature of product or service but retain or increase price - latest scam is more pressured air in potato chip bags.

 

Our household simply fires the provider and follows up with an email to let them know.

 

Cruising has been reduced by 50% in our household due to the declining value and cruise line arrogance in the past 3 years. Used to be Celebrity, now Oceania. We have taken most of our future vacation budget which was for cruises and simply moved it to a spectacular new vehicle and purchased a more fabulous new house.

 

People should not assume cruisers are automatically accepting of the cruising changes.

 

Good post!

[kendon]

I appreciate the laugh reading these comments. I wonder what you folks eat every day in your apartment or townhouse or condo...because I always enjoy the food on Princess. Have I had better? Sure...when I go to a 5-star restaurant and pay in excess of $200 for a meal for my bride and I. You are on a ship cruising exotic parts of the world...enjoying a few fufu drinks (or drinks of your choice) and have no real cares in the world. What is to complain about? Yeah, I know, some people just complain because they can't enjoy the blessings they have received. I can hardly wait until our next cruise...really excited about next year when the Sky comes on line...that should be awesome! Relax and enjoy life and quit complaining over little things! Be thankful...or don't...enjoyment in life is up to you...and finding fault is as well!! That is all!!!

Of course we don't eat at home what we get on a Princess ship...how ridiculous. It's the decline in quality in a very short time that's the disappointment. We're not in a hurry to book with Princess like we used to be...in fact, after last month on the CB another cruise is not on our radar.

[myfuzzy]

Part of the reason Princess, nor anything else is "not what it was" is for the large part....US, the consumer. For those that can, remember back in the day when suits, ties and hats were the norm for men and hats and white glove, and pumps were the norm for the ladies. Going out on Sunday's were a big deal. Law enforcement, Doctors, Lawyers and Bankers were respected and looked up to. Now we are a confronting society, where we are so business savvy, we don't like something, we are in the business' face to demand satisfaction and don't care how we do it. Now try and enforce formal night..good luck..."I paid for my cruise and I will wear what I want, where I want" so what does a cruise line do...T off the customer and future business or look the other way and the NOT T'd off customer will brag that they got to wear swim trunks in the formal dining room on formal night. So going forward, why should I wear formal wear. So much for that. Food...that's totally another story...what I may find delicious, you may find horrible.....try and feed 3000+ people and see how many complaints you get...

 

 

Its pretty much a lose lose situation for the cruise lines...but, even with all the grumping, complaining, and threatening to sue...the are all making a PROFIT.

[sunsetbeachgal]

I think the value in cruising is still excellent for us. I’m fine with most of the dining room food, actually it’s the slow service I have more issues with. With the exception of one cruise, all of our cruises the past five years have been on Royal class. These ships have good options for dinner beyond the dining room, the wonderful dinner buffet, Alfredo’s and the two specialty dining venues.

 

In some ways I prefer the dinner buffet, making my own salad the way I like it, seeing the foods before selecting, pastas often made fresh in front of you, being able to try small amounts of things, etc. service in Horizon Court very good, tables readily available and you can dine whenever it makes sense for you with no waiting or fear of missing a show due to slow service.

 

 

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Edited August 15, 2018 by sunsetbeachgal

[msmoger]

I always see folks complaining about the service in the MDR being too slow. Frankly, I don't think we've ever experienced this. In fact, sometimes I find the service to be a bit rushed. We're almost never in a rush, we're on vacation.

 

In all fairness I should add that we always dine around 8:00 so the dining room is probably less busy. Also, we never share a table, so I assume that quickens things. However, even when the pace was a bit slower, we never have missed a show time.

 

Finally, when it comes to the specialty restaurants, I want to make an evening out of it. Definitely not in a rush.

[cruzsnooze]

you must have impossibly high standards.

We've always had impeccable service on Princess. The food is great as well - trust me, I am a glutton and I personally go on cruises to EAT FANTASTIC FOOD.

 

And wow, your Viking's FREE internet isn't all that free. A 7 days cruise on Regal Princess for Thanksgiving is going to cost us $1,600 (inside) -$2,400 (balcony) total for the 3 of us. Viking cruise STARTS at $2,799 per person for the same month. Internet is simply included in the exorbitant price.

Not a fair comparison because you forgot to add that Viking INCLUDES a shore excursion in EVERY port ($125.00 ish) and Gratuity and soda and alcohol and fewer passengers with higher ratios of crew to passenger. When I used Viking air they picked us at the airport and returned us to the airport no charge. If Value is added into the mix the disparity in price shrinks quite a bit.

[Griller]

Not a fair comparison because you forgot to add that Viking INCLUDES a shore excursion in EVERY port ($125.00 ish) and Gratuity and soda and alcohol and fewer passengers with higher ratios of crew to passenger. When I used Viking air they picked us at the airport and returned us to the airport no charge. If Value is added into the mix the disparity in price shrinks quite a bit.

 

I just booked SeaDream on a transatlantic 13 day from San Juan to Malaga, for just over $200 per day including drinks and grats and about a 1 to 1 crew/passenger ratio.

If you add up the fare the grats and the drinks its not too much more than Princess ask per day for many cruises even transatlantics which used to be cheap but now are not so much unless you book last minute if there is availability.

 

Bulgari toiletries in bathroom. Superb food and service. Its a different world in every way to Princess, sometimes less is more, less passengers, less waiting in line, less grumbling about anything.

Also - less entertainment. And no formal nights but everyone dresses nicely, no need to say no baseball caps or wifebeater shirts at dinner.

Edited August 15, 2018 by Griller

[styme123]

I'm pretty new to traveling and cruising and have only gone on 2 cruises, one with Princess and recently with NCL, so I don't have much of a cruising history as many of you, but if cruising on Princess or other lines have declined so much why do it or tolerate it and make excuses for why it has declined? I have another cruise booked for next year but after my recent one I'm wondering if I should just do land tours. For me, I save up all year to go on vacation and spend quite a bit for my budget. My next BI cruise in a balcony with excursions, pre/post hotels, flights spending money etc will be probably about $8-9,000 for 2 people. I could probably spend 2 weeks touring the British Isles on land for about the same and spend days in an area versus a half a day in port or possibly miss a port. I have to always book in the high season as a work in school so no real bargains. On my recent cruise I just felt like the staff just really didn't care to be friendly or make the service experience a special one. They just go through the motions to get us on the ship and off, ready for the next group. I work hard for my money as I'm sure most of us do, and really look forward to and plan the limited vacation time I get. I'm just not sure if cruising fits the bill for how I should spend my time and money. I guess I have till next summer's cruise to decide.:confused:

[Griller]

I'm pretty new to traveling and cruising and have only gone on 2 cruises, one with Princess and recently with NCL, so I don't have much of a cruising history as many of you, but if cruising on Princess or other lines have declined so much why do it or tolerate it and make excuses for why it has declined? I have another cruise booked for next year but after my recent one I'm wondering if I should just do land tours. For me, I save up all year to go on vacation and spend quite a bit for my budget. My next BI cruise in a balcony with excursions, pre/post hotels, flights spending money etc will be probably about $8-9,000 for 2 people. I could probably spend 2 weeks touring the British Isles on land for about the same and spend days in an area versus a half a day in port or possibly miss a port. I have to always book in the high season as a work in school so no real bargains. On my recent cruise I just felt like the staff just really didn't care to be friendly or make the service experience a special one. They just go through the motions to get us on the ship and off, ready for the next group. I work hard for my money as I'm sure most of us do, and really look forward to and plan the limited vacation time I get. I'm just not sure if cruising fits the bill for how I should spend my time and money. I guess I have till next summer's cruise to decide.:confused:

 

You are right, with bigger ships and reduced crew/passenger crew ratio its true that the crew do not engage with passengers like they used to.

Passengers are just profit earning opportunities for a mass market cruise line, not guests any more.

They come on board, the nickel and diming begins, the various departments all have on board spend targets and profitability to meet for that cruise, and work towards that.

Excursions, drinks packages, casino, photographs, pay extra dining, it all adds up. Without passengers spending on all those the fares would have to go up.

Its a cold hearted business and becoming increasingly inhuman, losing the personal touches.

 

No wonder some people remove the gratuities, just because they legally can, just like the cruiseline can legally do all sorts of other nasty things in the passage contract they made you agree to.

Passengers, just as you describe your experience, are feeling increasingly disconnected from the crew, so why would they care what the hardworking crew earn from gratuities.

Its a shame really. Didn't use to be like that.

 

However, why don't you try a small ship cruise and see how you like that? Different! Like it used to be! We love Windstar and SeaDream, totally better experience if you like friendly crew and human contact.

We still cruise big ships sometimes as well but ignore all the pressure to spend extra ***p..

[Pierlesscruisers]

I'm pretty new to traveling and cruising and have only gone on 2 cruises, one with Princess and recently with NCL, so I don't have much of a cruising history as many of you, but if cruising on Princess or other lines have declined so much why do it or tolerate it and make excuses for why it has declined? I have another cruise booked for next year but after my recent one I'm wondering if I should just do land tours. For me, I save up all year to go on vacation and spend quite a bit for my budget. My next BI cruise in a balcony with excursions, pre/post hotels, flights spending money etc will be probably about $8-9,000 for 2 people. I could probably spend 2 weeks touring the British Isles on land for about the same and spend days in an area versus a half a day in port or possibly miss a port. I have to always book in the high season as a work in school so no real bargains. On my recent cruise I just felt like the staff just really didn't care to be friendly or make the service experience a special one. They just go through the motions to get us on the ship and off, ready for the next group. I work hard for my money as I'm sure most of us do, and really look forward to and plan the limited vacation time I get. I'm just not sure if cruising fits the bill for how I should spend my time and money. I guess I have till next summer's cruise to decide.:confused:

 

First of all, I'd ask myself, "Did the 2 of us enjoy our 2 cruises?" Regardless of the line you were on, that is the only thing that counts. It doesn't matte what anybody on Cruise Critic, or I think, it's what you feel that counts. Some people will find something to complain about, no matter what it is. Others may enjoy their cruise no matter what happens so take everything you read here with the proverbial "grain of salt." I think that the last 2-3 sentences of what you posted really determines whether cruising is a good thing for you. It might be that the last ship you were on, no matter what line, might not have been having a good day, so to speak, maybe it is the way that line does things. In any event, I'm sorry that you didn't have that great an experience and hope that your next one leaves you feeling on top of the world! ;p

 

Tom

[PescadoAmarillo]

First of all, I'd ask myself, "Did the 2 of us enjoy our 2 cruises?" Regardless of the line you were on, that is the only thing that counts. It doesn't matter what anybody on Cruise Critic, or I think, it's what you feel that counts. Some people will find something to complain about, no matter what it is. Others may enjoy their cruise no matter what happens so take everything you read here with the proverbial "grain of salt."

This is so true. Sure Princess has cut back, and if it’s in an area that is important to THEM, I can see why some people would be disgruntled. So far, Princess hasn’t cut too deeply into the things that are important to us (though their beef offerings are getting close in DH’s mind). When they reach that point, we’ll move on. It’s a cruise line, not a relationship.

 

We just booked on a cruise line and a ship that is frequently dissed on CC. We simply aren’t concerned. The itinerary is perfection and it’s very port intensive. Worst case will be that the ship simply becomes transportation from one port to another. And maybe Princess will seem even better when we return. ;)

[Vineyard View]

Not a fair comparison because you forgot to add that Viking INCLUDES a shore excursion in EVERY port ($125.00 ish) and Gratuity and soda and alcohol and fewer passengers with higher ratios of crew to passenger. When I used Viking air they picked us at the airport and returned us to the airport no charge. If Value is added into the mix the disparity in price shrinks quite a bit.

 

Totally agree with this. We have sailed Viking both Rivers and Oceans. Completely different experience than the mass market lines in a very positive way. Ship with only 930pax, all balcony staterooms, large bathrooms, excellent meals, specialty restaurants at no charge, etc. If you truly add in all the ‘included’ extras that you pay for on mass market, and if you use those included, there is a much different end result than just looking at cost of cabin. We are not cruise excursions people no matter who the cruise line is, so I cannot add in that benefit when making a decision. However I enjoy having a couple glasses of wine with my meal on vacation, so wine/beer being included at meals is a benefit. We have another cruise with Viking scheduled later this year.

 

All that said, we book for itinerary. Next month is the Grand out of SFO so no flights for us. Yeah! I look at multiple cruise lines and weight it all out, not just cost of cabin. This will be our first time on Princess in several years. I don’t care if our meal isn’t rushed. I hope the food is better than I am reading on this thread, but I won’t be cooking it and we won’t be cleaning up after! I do know that No matter what, it will be a great week with my DH on a ship, being away, spending time together.

[styme123]

First of all, I'd ask myself, "Did the 2 of us enjoy our 2 cruises?" Regardless of the line you were on, that is the only thing that counts. It doesn't matte what anybody on Cruise Critic, or I think, it's what you feel that counts. Some people will find something to complain about, no matter what it is. Others may enjoy their cruise no matter what happens so take everything you read here with the proverbial "grain of salt." I think that the last 2-3 sentences of what you posted really determines whether cruising is a good thing for you. It might be that the last ship you were on, no matter what line, might not have been having a good day, so to speak, maybe it is the way that line does things. In any event, I'm sorry that you didn't have that great an experience and hope that your next one leaves you feeling on top of the world! ;p

 

Tom

Thank you for your reply, I was a little hesitant to send it as I didn't want others to feel that I was slamming cruising:). I think for me when I started to first look into cruising I got the brochures, read reviews, watched You-Tube videos you name it and started to form and idea or image about what cruising was going to be like. Now granted I'm not naive enough to think it would be just like the promotion videos but it should have some resemblance;). That's why after going on Princess we tried NCL to see if that was very different. Now after going on NCL, I prefer Princess. I think going forward I will think of the ships as more of a floating hotel for a port intensive itinerary. Like when we went to Alaska on Princess it made the most sense to cruise there instead of a land tour and I would do it that way again. We just got back from Bermuda with NCL and loved the port. We were thinking we might just fly there the next time (2hr flight for $350rt) and stay at a resort there. We would spend almost the same amount of money and have double the time there. There may be more vacation value for me that way. I think if I got a better vibe from the ship or the staff I would have put more value on that aspect of it, but like I said what it was really like and what they promote it as are two different things for me. The pool would be one example. Yes, I thought it would be crowded but not to the point that you couldn't even use it or the area around it and find a place to sit. It was a zoo. A few of the other venues were the same. It's nice that the ships have all these fun things but if you can't enjoy them or use them what good are they.

[USCcruisecrazy]

Of course we don't eat at home what we get on a Princess ship...how ridiculous. It's the decline in quality in a very short time that's the disappointment. We're not in a hurry to book with Princess like we used to be...in fact, after last month on the CB another cruise is not on our radar.

 

That would be a reasonable explanation, but the vast majority of comments on the food were not about it being good, just down from the past quality. The majority of comments make it sound like the food is barley tolerable. I can't remember ever having a bad meal in a MDR over the years. Our last cruise was a 7 day this past December on the Crown. Every meal in the MDR was great. The only meal we had that was sub-par was at Sabatini's...coming from a family with an Italian Restaurant, that is a poor excuse for Italian cuisine!

[Pierlesscruisers]

Thank you for your reply, I was a little hesitant to send it as I didn't want others to feel that I was slamming cruising:). I think for me when I started to first look into cruising I got the brochures, read reviews, watched You-Tube videos you name it and started to form and idea or image about what cruising was going to be like. Now granted I'm not naive enough to think it would be just like the promotion videos but it should have some resemblance;). That's why after going on Princess we tried NCL to see if that was very different. Now after going on NCL, I prefer Princess. I think going forward I will think of the ships as more of a floating hotel for a port intensive itinerary. Like when we went to Alaska on Princess it made the most sense to cruise there instead of a land tour and I would do it that way again. We just got back from Bermuda with NCL and loved the port. We were thinking we might just fly there the next time (2hr flight for $350rt) and stay at a resort there. We would spend almost the same amount of money and have double the time there. There may be more vacation value for me that way. I think if I got a better vibe from the ship or the staff I would have put more value on that aspect of it, but like I said what it was really like and what they promote it as are two different things for me. The pool would be one example. Yes, I thought it would be crowded but not to the point that you couldn't even use it or the area around it and find a place to sit. It was a zoo. A few of the other venues were the same. It's nice that the ships have all these fun things but if you can't enjoy them or use them what good are they.

 

Irene: Seems to me that you have a pretty good plan for figuring out what line to cruise, etc. It seems to me that there are so many different variations between different lines and different ships within lines that there certainly is no "hard and fast rule" about which line is best/worst that will work for everyone. With Princess, for example, you've got ships that vary in size from under 700 to 2000 to 4000+ so while someone might really not like one, they might love another. And food? That certainly isn't a "one size fits all" as people's tastes vary so widely. I'm a pretty basic eater while my wife is more adventurous in her tastes.

 

 

In any event, I hope you do enjoy your cruises and as I'm fond of saying, I hope that your next cruise is better than you last one but not as good as the one that comes after it!

 

Tom

[styme123]

Irene: Seems to me that you have a pretty good plan for figuring out what line to cruise, etc. It seems to me that there are so many different variations between different lines and different ships within lines that there certainly is no "hard and fast rule" about which line is best/worst that will work for everyone. With Princess, for example, you've got ships that vary in size from under 700 to 2000 to 4000+ so while someone might really not like one, they might love another. And food? That certainly isn't a "one size fits all" as people's tastes vary so widely. I'm a pretty basic eater while my wife is more adventurous in her tastes.

 

 

In any event, I hope you do enjoy your cruises and as I'm fond of saying, I hope that your next cruise is better than you last one but not as good as the one that comes after it!

 

Tom

Thank you:D Happy cruising to you as well.