Princess Has Taken a Wrong Turn With Good Spirits

[caribill]

15 hours ago, Mackenzie1 said:

 

Thanks for your suggestion. We have asked the staff to mute the promotional videos in the morning, and they have, but Princess has the videos as a ship activity in the Lobby Bar from 5:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. and from 8:00 p.m. to 10:00 p.m., which makes asking them to mute the videos more awkward, even no one is in the Lobby Bar during these times, anyway. 

 

Just think of the bar staff that has to endure that video four hours each evening, seven days a week.

[reedprincess]

We're currently on Crown, which also has the Good Spirits setup 

What's disappointing is that you can only get the GS cocktails during the GS hour or two a night. So, it's not actually a bar/venue per se but a one hour event  twice some nights and two hours others. (Currently 7 and 9pm for the timings) Yet the bartenders are dressed in th GS outfit all day/night, the video screen is loopng all day/night, etc 

So, given the timings and such, it's very very poorly attended - the very first night they held it had the 8 bar seats full along with most of the seating area - but since then, maybe 5 people at the bar and the tables have lots of empty seats, etc 

Of course, we're on a very port intensive sailing - but then couldn't they adjust timings or such?

 

And we're the demographic they're likely attempting to appeal to, and we were really looking forward to trying something new  - and we're totally turned off by the timings and the restrictions on when you can actually get the cocktails.  

Very not impressed after all. 

 

(PS absolutely no self respecting St Lucian would drink that abomination of a cocktail they have listed as the Great Pumpkin and as being inspired by the market in Castries. It is absolutely not something we would drink at all! Lol). 

[paradiselivin1]

We use that area on occasion but the new setup doesn't appeal when you're simply looking to chill with a drink...

[Mackenzie1]

8 hours ago, 4cats4me said:

We weren’t fans of the Good Spirit, either, primarily because we wanted to enjoy our drink and then we’re hit up with a sales promo and long winded explanation by our bar server, and I didn’t appreciate the upsell at a late hour when we just wanted to chill.  

Only two drinks appealed to us on that menu, too. They were beta testing the GS on the Royal in April.   Also, I thought it was SO tacky that they listed it as an activity in the Patter. Really? Um, not really.  A bartender explains over the P A system via a headset, how he makes each good spirits drink.  Just kind of an odd deal altogéther I thought.  

 

That said, I believe goodcspirits would be appropriate in the daytime, but it kinda of killed the nighttime ambience that we’ve been accustomed to. 

 

One reason passengers use the Lobby Bar as overflow for the International Cafe and Premium Coffee center is that the original Grand Class Princess ships were designed for 2,500 passengers. The Star Princess, which holds around 2,500 passengers, is an example of the original Grand Class design. When Princess added the Riviera deck to later Grand Class ships, along with other design changes, it increased the capacity to around 3,500 passengers. These changes reduced the amount of open space per passenger, which has resulted in overcrowding in the Atrium area, particularly on sea days. Changing the Lobby bar to Good Spirits won’t change this dynamic. One thought would be to open the Skywalkers lounge for all day use for knitters, card players, and book readers. I know some use Skywalkers for these purposes now, but it’s not advertised for these purpose in the Princess Patter.

[KCsealegs]

Personally, I enjoyed Good Spirits on the Royal Princess. The videos they screen pertain to the drink they are mixing. If someone orders a “Sandia En Fuego” drink, the camera shows the bartender mixing the drink while he describes what he is doing. Then they screen a video from one of the destinations that inspired the drink. It’s entertaining to watch, but if you are there with friends it’s easy to tune out. 

[cruisequeen4ever]

I like the new anchor theme, and we did enjoy the videos once. I wouldn’t wanna see them over and over, though. The drinks seemed really appealing on paper but didn’t taste that special.

[reedprincess]

22 hours ago, KCsealegs said:

Personally, I enjoyed Good Spirits on the Royal Princess. The videos they screen pertain to the drink they are mixing. If someone orders a “Sandia En Fuego” drink, the camera shows the bartender mixing the drink while he describes what he is doing. Then they screen a video from one of the destinations that inspired the drink. It’s entertaining to watch, but if you are there with friends it’s easy to tune out. 

Thsts absolutely not how it's happening here on Crown 

The bartender essentially is picking the drinks for each performance, and the camera isn't following him at all.

And the video is on a loop all day/night. 

Given you can only get one of the Good Spirits cocktails during the performance time, and the bartender is essentially picking the drinks versus being able to order freely - it's definitely not a venue for us, at least here on Crown.

If it was more open, etc then it would be something right up our alley but the restrictions are too much to make it worthwhile, at least for now aboard. 

 

[pris993]

another example of princess provided cheap entertainment (ie. video) obviously this goes even further with a sales pitch... 

[Ombud]

If the purpose behind the neverending ads at GS was to drive me to Vines for the wine & chocolate flight @ $15 or Crooners, it worked. Instead of quiet sudoku I'm enjoying 3 wine samplers paired with 3 chocolates. 

[Mackenzie1]

2 hours ago, Ombud said:

If the purpose behind the neverending ads at GS was to drive me to Vines for the wine & chocolate flight @ $15 or Crooners, it worked. Instead of quiet sudoku I'm enjoying 3 wine samplers paired with 3 chocolates. 

 

You’re so funny!  It worked with me, too. The Lobby Bar videos drove me to Crooners, and now I’m enjoying their $13 glass of champagne!  LOL!

[Host CJSKIDS]

1 hour ago, Mackenzie1 said:

 

You’re so funny!  It worked with me, too. The Lobby Bar videos drove me to Crooners, and now I’m enjoying their $13 glass of champagne!  LOL!

 

Crooners is my favorite bar on all the ships.  I hope you are enjoying it there.  Have a glass for me!!

[Mackenzie1]

4 minutes ago, Host CJSKIDS said:

 

Crooners is my favorite bar on all the ships.  I hope you are enjoying it there.  Have a glass for me!!

 

Will do, Host!

[happy cruzer]

 

Sounds like PCL is trying to provide a venue like other lines do that specializes in unique Cocktails with hipper/noisier vibe.  Most of the other major cruise lines have them so PCL needs to have a spot to compete.  As long as they provide other venues, then offering one that is focused for that market should be ok.   But they probably need to hone their execution from reports so far.  Look forward to seeing how it is going in a few weeks.

[Mackenzie1]

14 minutes ago, happy cruzer said:

 

Sounds like PCL is trying to provide a venue like other lines do that specializes in unique Cocktails with hipper/noisier vibe.  Most of the other major cruise lines have them so PCL needs to have a spot to compete.  As long as they provide other venues, then offering one that is focused for that market should be ok.   But they probably need to hone their execution from reports so far.  Look forward to seeing how it is going in a few weeks.

 

Unfortunately, the execution is not the problem. The problem is that Princess has cut out almost all entertainment in the Atrium in the evenings, and substituted the bartenders and promotional videos as entertainment. People who want a drink with entertainment have left the Atrium for Crooners and the Wheelhouse bar. Last night the Atrium was deserted, except for one table of four in the Lobby Bar who were actually enjoying the drinks with the bartender as entertainment. 

 

My speculation is that in hopes of increasing net income, Princess has cut the entertainment budget, leaving the Atrium without entertainment in hopes that everyone will crowd into the Lobby Bar and enjoy the promotional videos and the bartenders as entertainment with their drinks. It’s not working out like that, though, and the cuts in the entertainment budget may be counter productive if Princess is making substantially less revenue in the Atrium because of the lack of traditional entertainment. Another cut back in entertainment on this cruise is that there have only been two evening production shows instead of three. Princess will be repeating one of the production shows as a matinee today because of the passenger angst of those who were not able to see the evening show because of the lack of seating. That may be only for this cruise, though. 

[happy cruzer]

Sooooo, a report from the Crown Princess.  Good Spirits seems to be working.  The videos only play when a drink is ordered and at a fairly low volume.  The area is filled with people enjoying various activities including no alcohol at all.  Crooners and Wheelhouse are filled as well.

 

Philippe is mixing the special drinks and doing a great job.  Sitting at the bar and enjoying the special cocktails was great.

 

The atrium area has been crowded on this TA but a little patience and a seat appears.

[Asquare]

There is a lot to unpack in this thread.  We were on the Royal in April and enjoyed Good Spirits.  Since I had the PBP I made it a priority to try all of the drinks offered and received a free T-Shirt and the lovely recipe cards for each drink.  I enjoyed the drinks so much that I stocked up my home bar to prepare them for my friends. (with the exception or the pumpkin and apple one)

The bartenders did their demo's and sent out greetings to the recipient of the drink and the videos were on so low that you could barely hear them unless you were paying attention.  Yes, it was a pain to have to plan to be there for the designated time for the special drinks but other times it was just a bar.  There was entertainment in the atrium between the bar times and in the evenings and Good Spirits served as the band's break.  That bar was always busy.  It is a prime people watching venue!

[HappyCruiserettu]

On 8/23/2019 at 11:52 AM, Mackenzie1 said:

 

I’m not expecting Princess to change anything. Someone has made this decision, and Princess will defend it. I’ll let the revenue numbers speak for themselves. On the one hand, for this cruise, Princess has had little entertainment in the Atrium, so Princess will save on entertainment expenses, but there will be a drop in bar revenue.

I'm glad know that they have cut some of the entertainment in the atrium. I have complained on previous cruises. I don't think it's necessary to have something going on in Piazza all the time. Sometimes, it's nice just to hang out and chill.Typo Having (especially, loud) activities going on all day is detrimental. Don't mind the classical trio, or piano stylists and such.

Edited October 21, 2019 by HappyCruiserettu
Typo