underwhelmed by Princess (Emerald)

[Wishing on a star]

Yes.... not  only laughable....  But totally offensive!!!

[Wishing on a star]

Not only the straws....  But we actually had problems actually getting TEA.

Again...  not acceptable.

[mthomp5]

13 hours ago, apeller said:

Our head waiter also informed us that  passengers  were" taking advantage" in the dining room and they had had to implement new rules. He told us that he made someone very unhappy because they could only get 2 lobsters at dinner, and if they wanted more, it was always available at the Crown Grill.  All the cutbacks were a result of passengers taking advantage. He also explained how Princess cares so much about the environment and has all but eliminated straws.  Of course he made sure we knew it wasn't about the money. The entire cruise our catch phrases were, "Don't take advantage", and "It's not about the money."

There was an earlier post (post #119) on the food cost per passenger per day for some of the cruise lines.  Makes you wonder who is “taking advantage” of who. 

[MTJSR]

52 minutes ago, mthomp5 said:

There was an earlier post (post #119) on the food cost per passenger per day for some of the cruise lines.  Makes you wonder who is “taking advantage” of who. 

 

Indeed!

 

I would write a full review of the Dec 19th cruise and all it's disappointments / issues, but people would just think I was making it up. I submitted an issues report day 12 onboard and I got a form letter that didn't even cover the main topic. Our entire table told the head waiter (bald head waiter in Bottechelli) and he quickly dismissed us and we never saw him at our table again. For this cruise Princess seemed completely tone deaf. 

Edited January 9, 2019 by MTJSR

[cruisingourmet]

23 minutes ago, MTJSR said:

 

Indeed!

 

I would write a full review of the Dec 19th cruise and all it's disappointments / issues, but people would just think I was making it up. I submitted an issues report day 12 onboard and I got a form letter that didn't even cover the main topic. Our entire table told the head waiter (bald head waiter in Bottechelli) and he quickly dismissed us and we never saw him at our table again. For this cruise Princess seemed completely tone deaf. 

 

Please do post a review since it would be on Topic.. I'd like to hear your observations.

[echoshipmate]

On 1/7/2019 at 8:35 PM, Griller said:

I have been cruising Princess for a long time now, and over 70 cruises and I would say that the last 10 cruises have seen a marked deterioration in food quality, menu choice and service.

The worst we had was Crown a couple of years ago, we will never sail on Crown again, even Pacific went downhill, the crew did the best they could with what they were sent but it was noticeably not as good as before.

However only 4 months ago we were on Regal and it was wonderful, so there seems to be the odd exception, I wish I knew how to forecast the great cruises ahead of time.

We are just about to go on Royal for 49 days, I so hope it will be OK, we don't have unrealistic expectations, and we didn't pay much for the cruise for various reasons but others will have paid at least double even for an inside or much much more for a balcony or suite and I hope they don't get to feel cheated by the accountants back in Santa Clarita buying the cheapest cuts.

I know I am a Carnival stockholder, quite a bit more than the nominal 100 shares, and I like the dividend but I need to feel it was honestly earned.with a value for money and good cruise experience for the passengers.

 

Griller, I totally agree with you. We have over 200 days with Princess, and Royal is our go to ship. Our last 5 cruises have been on her and have been very pleased with food, both in MDR and HC. We too will be on the 49 day around south America and are looking forward to another great experience on the Royal Princess.

[cruisingourmet]

Several of you who posted on here, were or are on the ship and had planned to review the cruise following the early December one. Please follow up so we can find out if this was just one poorly executed cruise or an actual tread,

[Casey12]

People don't cruise Princess for their food. I feel the same way about Celebrity also.

[RDC1]

1 hour ago, Casey12 said:

People don't cruise Princess for their food. I feel the same way about Celebrity also.

I don't think that you cruise any main stream cruise line for their food.  Hotel banquet at best, with more selection.

[joat]

On 12/26/2018 at 8:53 PM, cruisingourmet said:

Just got back from a 15 day Hawaii cruise out of Los Angeles and found it lacking in what a 4 Star

cruise line should be.

 

The ship itself is very disjointed with bad flow from bow to stern and many dead ends.

The daily activities are movies on the deck BIG WHOOP ! or activities where they want to sell jewelry.

Considering what a unique place Hawaii is they could have had many many lectures on

what to see and learn on this island state.

 

The food was HOSPITAL QUALITY bland and poorly prepared.

Having cruised over 20 times in last 6 years, I have had many experiences, I know food, as a writer

for a food magazine, and some of the culinary disasters were unforgivable. Below is Main Dining Room or Crown Grill

• pineapple salsa was catsup, horseradish and a small chunk of pineapple
• plain white rice as a side dish
• Steak Tartare served cooked (that is a crime) Crown Grill
• vegetables either served mushy or almost raw
• a mashed potato ball that was dry and crusty inedible
•  

This was the 1st time I ever wrote a letter to a ship's Exec Chef about the awful food in MDR (No Reply either)

Our Cabin creaked LOUDLY when ship was at sea constantly and  a letter to Hotel Director led to being shown adjacent

cabins that creaked too.

 

It seems that Princess is a shadow of the "Love Boat" which they re-run 24x7 and all the cost cutting and profit maximizing

have ruined a once nice cruise brand !

 

PRINCESS IS A 3 STAR CRUISE LINE .....MAKE NO MISTAKE

 

I just discovered your post.  We are booked for a short cruise on Emerald Princess down the Mexican coast and back to LAX, 17FEB - 24FEB.

We are normally Holland America Line cruisers but wanted to try another in the Carnival Corporation family of lines.  We are hoping Princess is near to HAL so that we can have more choices in routing.  If the food on our cruise is a lacking as you and others state, it will be our only cruise on Princess.

Last fall we tried Celebrity (knowing it is a part of the RCCL cruise line family) on the cautious recommendation from friends.  The itinerary was fine.  In the MD food was mediocre and before we were through the Panama Canal they were running out of items  (romaine lettuce for Caesar salad, ditto anchovies, serving strip steak and calling it Steak Diane, several wine selections--Oh, but we have xxxxx for double the price in our wine package).  Excursions through the ship were very, very rushed so the group could be taken t the next shopping op.  Service was very poor.  It seemed there was little or no training of the staff.

These things are what we had encountered on Royal Caribbean cruises years before and stopped using them.  We have now eliminated all RCCL lines from consideration.

Food quality in MD is very important to us.  I shall post the food impressions from our cruise which starts in ten days.

[Wishing on a star]

joat,  while I appreciate and respect your posts,  I just wanted to point out that there simply was NO romaine, anywhere at that time, not even on our Princess cruise in December, because of the recall and fear of contamination.   Our Ceaser salads were not made with romaine.  I actually had several of them, and they weren't bad!  (Except for one that just didn't seem to have more than few drops of dressing.)

 

People always say,  "well, food is subjective".  And, I will agree, this could not be more true.

And there are MANY people. (in the U.S.) who happily eat low quality, fake, processed, overly salted/MSG food, every single day.

I will just say that I am not that person...  I am aware of what I put in my body, and how it makes me feel, and if it is so loaded with sodium and fake/toxic ingredients that it makes me feel ill.

 

I know when quality and healthy items are just simply absent....  They were there before... but now, gone.

 

Others may not have this awareness.

I do.

 

 

[joat]

1 minute ago, Wishing on a star said:

joat,  while I appreciate and respect your posts,  I just wanted to point out that there simply was NO romaine, anywhere at that time, not even on our Princess cruise in December, because of the recall and fear of contamination.   Our Ceaser salads were not made with romaine.  I actually had several of them, and they weren't bad!  (Except for one that just didn't seem to have more than few drops of dressing.)

 

People always say,  "well, food is subjective".  And, I will agree, this could not be more true.

And there are MANY people. (in the U.S.) who happily eat low quality, fake, processed, overly salted/MSG food, every single day.

I will just say that I am not that person...  I am aware of what I put in my body, and how it makes me feel, and if it is so loaded with sodium and fake/toxic ingredients that it makes me feel ill.

 

I know when quality and healthy items are just simply absent....  They were there before... but now, gone.

 

Others may not have this awareness.

I do.

 

 

Thanks for your input.  However, the chef did not say the recall was the reason.  I asked.  The line just stocked poorly.  We were almost late in sailing because the line did not handle provisioning well.  Provisioning was the issue in wine stocks and liquors in the bars and in the quantity/quality of beef as well. 

I am a retired private chef and do know a couple of things about food and how to handle it.  Purification of food is a simple thing to do and is supposed to be standard procedure aboard ship.  Thus, if provisioning had been handled properly there would have been enough romaine for the two week length of the cruise.

Our friends, who had cautiously recommended this cruise, said the ship ran out of several things on their cruise as well (exact itinerary 8 months earlier).  It seems to be an RCCL practice.  It seems rather like a 'bait and switch' process.

We just will not sail on any of the RCCL lines.  The experiences have been consistent.

[Wishing on a star]

Thank you, joat!

 

[land lover]

OP.... my first cruise was 35 years ago I was a mere child😉the main purpose for us when cruising back then was  transportation to a destination. My expectations today are still the same and have almost always been met on close to 100 cruises......We never select a cruise line for food or service, I don't care how it is marketed...even a few "luxury" lines  we have traveled on cannot compare to land based experiences....

 

OP you are an "expert" foodie how many cruise ships have met your expectations? I certainly am not a foodie, but I can only name one ship Anthem of the Seas where we enjoyed their specialty restaurant Wonderland where I truly found food close to land based excellence.

 

BTW we have been on many cruises where food and drink is not available, just like we have experienced at land based restaurants on certain evenings.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited February 7, 2019 by land lover

[cruisingourmet]

4 minutes ago, land lover said:

 

 

OP you are an "expert" foodie how many cruise ships have met your expectations? I certainly am not a foodie, but I can only name one ship Anthem of the Seas where we enjoyed their specialty restaurant Wonderland where I truly found food close to land based excellence.

 

While no cruise line is perfect, I have found that Azamara, RCL & Celebrity do a pretty good job in the MDR.

I'd say Cunard, Princess, MSC were not as good in the Main Dining room.

 

Generally the specialty restaurants seem to offer better food and service, that is subjective but you are paying extra for a meal that you could have had for free.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[GUT2407]

4 hours ago, cruisingourmet said:

 

Specialty restraints cost more, so don’t use them. Is that what you mean by that last paragraph..

 

well maybe on land you eat all your meals in a soup kitchen, anything else costs more.

[cruisingourmet]

2 hours ago, GUT2407 said:

Specialty restraints cost more, so don’t use them. Is that what you mean by that last paragraph..

 

well maybe on land you eat all your meals in a soup kitchen, anything else costs more.

No

I would not call the Main Dining Room a "soup kitchen" and I eat at the specialty restaurants not because I find the MDR  bad, but I take long cruises, so just for variety of experience and unique offerings.