Princess Only Shore Excursions Confirmed

[nini]

31 minutes ago, cruzin4us said:

Why would any port want cruise ships to dock in their City if passengers can't go to their stores, support their vendors and bring money into their town?   It seems to me it wouldn't be worth the hassle for them to even allow a cruise ship to dock.   What am I missing here?

 

 

Agreed. However, possibly after the nightmare of the pandemic, they are desperate.

Can you imagine visiting a museum and the whole busload must stay together?

I can just see the tour guide saying, "Mrs. Penelope needs to use the little girl's room, so we must all go there and wait for her." and then, "Oops, we are out of time now".

[mcrcruiser]

No private shire excursions = No cruises  for us  . I am tired of living in a bubble & we are vaccinated . Ship only tours ,mask mandates ,social distancing   & what ever else they come  up with  for protocols  we leave it to others   just not our cup of tea  .The wide open spaces will welcome us 

[nini]

2 minutes ago, mcrcruiser said:

No private shire excursions = No cruises  for us  . I am tired of living in a bubble & we are vaccinated . Ship only tours ,mask mandates ,social distancing   & what ever else they come  up with  for protocols  we leave it to others   just not our cup of tea  .The wide open spaces will welcome us 

I hear ya! "They" said vaccination was the key........... really? When driving down I-5 in Washington state, the highway signs are now saying, "Vaccinated or not, Mask Up!"

 

We enjoy our travel trailer taking us to fabulous places.

[voljeep]

On 5/6/2021 at 2:08 PM, donaldsc said:

bring me a paper copy of the Patter every day.

that , or maybe having to stop by the purser's desk prior to going to your cabin ... having it delivered is much better

 

now about all those shopping ad flyers ... 

 

Princess will offer one free 'excursion' in every port - of course that excursion will be bubbled to include only the Princess 'trusted vendors' shopping extravagonzo ... a preview to be in the Princess theatre ...

[mcrcruiser]

3 minutes ago, nini said:

I hear ya! "They" said vaccination was the key........... really? When driving down I-5 in Washington state, the highway signs are now saying, "Vaccinated or not, Mask Up!"

 

We enjoy our travel trailer taking us to fabulous places.

  They can;t be serious why do people need masks out doors when vaccinated ?  A indoor situarion mat be needed but even then  I have a huge ?   my question is what control  over us are they after 

[mcrcruiser]

2 minutes ago, voljeep said:

that , or maybe having to stop by the purser's desk prior to going to your cabin ... having it delivered is much better

 

now about all those shopping ad flyers ... 

 

Princess will offer one free 'excursion' in every port - of course that excursion will be bubbled to include only the Princess 'trusted vendors' shopping extravagonzo ... a preview to be in the Princess theatre ...

Seems like the military  ,line up  & follow your orders 

[nini]

4 minutes ago, mcrcruiser said:

  They can;t be serious why do people need masks out doors when vaccinated ?  A indoor situarion mat be needed but even then  I have a huge ?   my question is what control  over us are they after 

We could have a lengthy "DEEP" discussion. BTW- I was born in San Diego!

We live .75 miles from the ocean in Washington state. We see people walking down the road by themselves with masks on and people driving by themselves with masks on. Most people I know have been vaccinated, especially here. Yes, we do get tourists.

[ontheweb]

1 hour ago, oskidunker said:

Fighting technology wont make your life better. Just a thought to consider. 

One year when we went out to dine for our wedding anniversary, instead of writing down our orders, the waitress used some sort of gadget that looked like a smart phone. We were sitting out on a deck with not too many people. It seemed like a long time and we had not received our orders. I looked into the restaurant, and many who were not there when we arrived were eating their dinners.

 

When we complained and were ready to walk out, they realized our waitress had never pressed send or whatever the expletive deleted she had needed to press. They finally got our order together. The manager came out and apologized profusely, and our dinner was comped.

 

Can you explain to me how technology improved the tried and true used forever method of waiters and waitresses writing down their orders?

 

[Redwing55]

2 hours ago, nini said:

I hear ya! "They" said vaccination was the key........... really? When driving down I-5 in Washington state, the highway signs are now saying, "Vaccinated or not, Mask Up!"

 

We enjoy our travel trailer taking us to fabulous places.

Didn't the CDC just issue a guidance that if vaccinated, masks aren't needed outdoors if one isn't in a crowd?  For the record I think the CDC is nuts.  Their policies aren't based on data.  Heck they also just agreed that Covid spreads through the air and not contact.  Other organizations had signed on to this awhile ago.  CDC's credibility continues to degrade almost daily.

[nini]

1 hour ago, ontheweb said:

One year when we went out to dine for our wedding anniversary, instead of writing down our orders, the waitress used some sort of gadget that looked like a smart phone. We were sitting out on a deck with not too many people. It seemed like a long time and we had not received our orders. I looked into the restaurant, and many who were not there when we arrived were eating their dinners.

 

When we complained and were ready to walk out, they realized our waitress had never pressed send or whatever the expletive deleted she had needed to press. They finally got our order together. The manager came out and apologized profusely, and our dinner was comped.

 

Can you explain to me how technology improved the tried and true used forever method of waiters and waitresses writing down their orders?

 

I really enjoyed working a s a server during my college years. Common sense would get your server to thinking- "Gee, where is their food?". I was also trained via a system. 1) Greet the customer as soon as you see them and acknowledge that you will be right with them. 2) Take the order 3) serve the beverages and food 4) Within a few minutes, a check in is necessary to make sure all is well with the order 5) Refilling beverages as needed 6) Clear dishes as needed and take dessert order 7) Deliver the check

Then customers will not fall through the cracks.

[nini]

30 minutes ago, Redwing55 said:

Didn't the CDC just issue a guidance that if vaccinated, masks aren't needed outdoors if one isn't in a crowd?  For the record I think the CDC is nuts.  Their policies aren't based on data.  Heck they also just agreed that Covid spreads through the air and not contact.  Other organizations had signed on to this awhile ago.  CDC's credibility continues to degrade almost daily.

Yup!

[wowzz]

4 hours ago, cruzin4us said:

Why would any port want cruise ships to dock in their City if passengers can't go to their stores, support their vendors and bring money into their town?   It seems to me it wouldn't be worth the hassle for them to even allow a cruise ship to dock.   What am I missing here?

 

Because the port authority will earn around $75000 from the ship docking,  plus all the local suppliers providing fresh produce to the ship. So, you are missing quite a lot! 

[beg3yrs]

3 hours ago, ontheweb said:

One year when we went out to dine for our wedding anniversary, instead of writing down our orders, the waitress used some sort of gadget that looked like a smart phone. We were sitting out on a deck with not too many people. It seemed like a long time and we had not received our orders. I looked into the restaurant, and many who were not there when we arrived were eating their dinners.

 

When we complained and were ready to walk out, they realized our waitress had never pressed send or whatever the expletive deleted she had needed to press. They finally got our order together. The manager came out and apologized profusely, and our dinner was comped.

 

Can you explain to me how technology improved the tried and true used forever method of waiters and waitresses writing down their orders?

 

The waiter or waitress could have also written down your order and then forgotten to take it to the kitchen. The problem wasn't the technology, it was the mistake made by a human.

 

I was at a restaurant the other night and our waiter asked if we wanted another round. We said yes and he entered it on his "gadget". We talked with him for a couple of minutes, he turned to go and there were our drinks being brought by a server. Very nice!

[Doug R.]

3 hours ago, ontheweb said:

One year when we went out to dine for our wedding anniversary, instead of writing down our orders, the waitress used some sort of gadget that looked like a smart phone. We were sitting out on a deck with not too many people. It seemed like a long time and we had not received our orders. I looked into the restaurant, and many who were not there when we arrived were eating their dinners.

 

When we complained and were ready to walk out, they realized our waitress had never pressed send or whatever the expletive deleted she had needed to press. They finally got our order together. The manager came out and apologized profusely, and our dinner was comped.

 

Can you explain to me how technology improved the tried and true used forever method of waiters and waitresses writing down their orders?

 

So one negative incident means the whole system is a failure? 🙄

[ontheweb]

3 hours ago, nini said:

I really enjoyed working a s a server during my college years. Common sense would get your server to thinking- "Gee, where is their food?". I was also trained via a system. 1) Greet the customer as soon as you see them and acknowledge that you will be right with them. 2) Take the order 3) serve the beverages and food 4) Within a few minutes, a check in is necessary to make sure all is well with the order 5) Refilling beverages as needed 6) Clear dishes as needed and take dessert order 7) Deliver the check

Then customers will not fall through the cracks.

The restaurant had a deck outside and a little creek that flows by it. We like to go by water when we go out to eat on our anniversary (the ones that were on cruises make that easy). We were one of the very few outside while the inside got busy. That contributed to her losing track of us. We had mentioned it  was our anniversary, and she was in tears when she decided she had ruined it.

[ontheweb]

1 hour ago, beg3yrs said:

The waiter or waitress could have also written down your order and then forgotten to take it to the kitchen. The problem wasn't the technology, it was the mistake made by a human.

 

I was at a restaurant the other night and our waiter asked if we wanted another round. We said yes and he entered it on his "gadget". We talked with him for a couple of minutes, he turned to go and there were our drinks being brought by a server. Very nice!

Believe me, she did not write it down. She depended on the new technology.

[ontheweb]

1 hour ago, Doug R. said:

So one negative incident means the whole system is a failure? 🙄

No, it means it is unnecessary as writing the order down has worked as long as there have been restaurants. It is an example of fixing a problem that does not exist in the name of worshipping technology.

[Steelers36]

12 hours ago, ontheweb said:

No, it means it is unnecessary as writing the order down has worked as long as there have been restaurants. It is an example of fixing a problem that does not exist in the name of worshipping technology.

With respect, the technology may not be simply a means to take and order and send it to the kitchen. 

 

There may be related software that tracks what dishes are being ordered, assist with inventory control, just for a couple of examples.  Yes, the same thing might be accomplished with paper orders, but then the details would have to be captured by keying into a software application.  Capturing data at source electronically can provide great efficiency and perhaps lead to more useful analysis of the business for the owner.  I am not in the restaurant business, but my career was in IT and just thinking of ideas and potential application, similar to other business situations. 

 

You might say that none of what I suggested enhances your meal experience, but it might indirectly by better food and service management.

[beg3yrs]

14 hours ago, ontheweb said:

Believe me, she did not write it down. She depended on the new technology.

You're not getting the point. Of course she didn't write it down, she had the new tech. My point was in the next sentence, it was a human mistake and it can be made with or without tech.

[ontheweb]

2 hours ago, Steelers36 said:

With respect, the technology may not be simply a means to take and order and send it to the kitchen. 

 

There may be related software that tracks what dishes are being ordered, assist with inventory control, just for a couple of examples.  Yes, the same thing might be accomplished with paper orders, but then the details would have to be captured by keying into a software application.  Capturing data at source electronically can provide great efficiency and perhaps lead to more useful analysis of the business for the owner.  I am not in the restaurant business, but my career was in IT and just thinking of ideas and potential application, similar to other business situations. 

 

You might say that none of what I suggested enhances your meal experience, but it might indirectly by better food and service management.

I'm glad you agree that none of it enhances the meal experience. And isn't the meal experience what brings customers to a restaurant? 

 

And if it has so many wonderful attributes for the business (outside of enhancing the customer's experience), why are almost all restaurants still having their wait staff use the old tried and true write down the orders method?

[ontheweb]

17 minutes ago, beg3yrs said:

You're not getting the point. Of course she didn't write it down, she had the new tech. My point was in the next sentence, it was a human mistake and it can be made with or without tech.

So you agree that the new tech does not help? Again I repeat it is a solution in search of a problem.

[beg3yrs]

16 minutes ago, ontheweb said:

So you agree that the new tech does not help? Again I repeat it is a solution in search of a problem.

Nope. The rest of my post pointed out how the new tech did help. Other posters have pointed out advantages as well.

 

OK, here's another advantage. DW ordered pork chops and the waiter was instantly informed that there was only one left. It could have been zero and we'd have immediately known to order something else.

 

Sorry, corporations are not going to invest in big bucks in new tech and employee training if it doesn't have a benefit. They count both objective measures (like cost savings) as well as more subjective ones like an enhanced customer experience as benefits.

 

I realize none of this will persuade you to even move your stance a little bit so unless you again try to pick and choose bits of my post to make it look like I said something I didn't, I'm done.

Edited May 9, 2021 by beg3yrs

[ontheweb]

Just now, beg3yrs said:

Nope. The rest of my post pointed out how the new tech did help. Other posters have pointed out advantages as well.

 

OK, here's another advantage. DW ordered pork chops and the waiter was instantly informed that there was only one left. It could have been zero and we'd have immediately known to order something else.

 

Sorry, corporations are not going to invest in big bucks in new tech and employee training if it doesn't have a benefit. They count both objective measures (like cost savings) as well as more subjective ones like an enhanced customer experience as benefits.

What percentage of restaurants do you think are now doing this versus those just having the wait staff write the order down the old fashioned way?

 

And I guess customer satisfaction does  not count because there are no other restaurants that we can take our business to. And I guess customer satisfaction does not count as there are no ways for me to write a review on the internet.

[donaldsc]

16 hours ago, ontheweb said:

Believe me, she did not write it down. She depended on the new technology.

 

All restaurants have had POS systems for years.  This whole discussion revolves how the POS information is entered into the system.  The new method which in this case failed is that the wait person enters the order into a POS station that they carry with them and in this instance, they forgot to press the "enter" button.  With the older systems, the wait person went to a POS data entry station and put the order in so that it could be printed at the kitchen.  If they had forgotten to press the "enter" button at the POS station, the same problem would have occurred.  It was a human error problem and not a technology problem and this whole extended discussion is just a meaningless tempest-in-a-teapot.

 

DON

[trvlwrld]

was the original post about restaurants or shore excursions?