Small Cutbacks Noticed

[JimmyVWine]

Let’s get one thing straight. There is NO SUCH THING as bad chocolate. It is either great, good, or not as good as others. But it is never bad!!!😁

Edited March 20, 2022 by JimmyVWine

[donaldsc]

4 hours ago, Lucky TGO said:

The cut-back that got me upset was when Princess sold you the older coffee cards.

You were told they would be good until you used all the punches on the card. ( They Lied) 😡

Princess made all the coffee cards expired and offered NO compensation for your card.

 

Tony

 

 

Totally agree on that point.  What I did when that happened was I made a big fuss and the grudgingly let me use the old cards.  It wasn't worth their bother to argue w me.

 

DON

[cruise.gal]

Just disembarked the Majestic today...so don't know if anyone has posted this previously...

As an Elite we always had 8 small bottles of liquor..soft drinks..etc. in the cabin upon our arrival.  Another passenger happened to mention that we only received 6 bottles of liquor.  Had not noticed because I don't drink alcoholic beverages and just exchange everything for bottles of water.  Maybe more downsizing?

One major problem though..smoking is again allowed in the casino.  Therefore...I didn't make my "donation" (nor will I) on any future cruises.

The crew has been wonderful and have mentioned that they are happy to be working again!

Also, one of the best shows I've ever seen on Princess is "Encore".

[Lucky TGO]

11 minutes ago, donaldsc said:

 

Totally agree on that point.  What I did when that happened was I made a big fuss and the grudgingly let me use the old cards.  It wasn't worth their bother to argue w me.

 

DON

Hi Don,

I’m happy you made out. 👍  I had two cards and no cruises booked so I gave them to some people that were go to Alaska. I’ll like to know how much money Princess made by canceling all the old cards. 
Tony

[Kmkub]

6 hours ago, Lucky TGO said:

The cut-back that got me upset was when Princess sold you the older coffee cards.

You were told they would be good until you used all the punches on the card. ( They Lied) 😡

Princess made all the coffee cards expired and offered NO compensation for your card.

 

Tony

 

This truly did upset me. A promise is a promise. Disney did the same thing, which is really BS. Forever means forever,; suck it up buttercup and grandfather these early promoters of your brand. 
 

I had 7 punches left.

Edited March 20, 2022 by Kmkub

[Mike45LC]

I can confirm, the only beef on tonight’s Main Dining Room menu was chili.

 

No turndown, no wet towels replaced, no trash cans emptied, no chocolates tonight. And Princess still promises nightly cabin service and chocolates for Club Class.

[caribill]

7 hours ago, Cruise Raider said:

 

I get why these things are important for some but we like cruising more now than we have in the past.  I think Princess is using their money more wisely and as a patron and stockholder, I can truly appreciate that.  I hate wastefulness and this seems to fit that philosophy better.  

 

"Penny-wise and pound-foolish" if by saving some $$$ with a bunch of cutbacks they are losing customers to other lines that provide the same experience at a lower cost.

[donaldsc]

2 hours ago, Mike45LC said:

I can confirm, the only beef on tonight’s Main Dining Room menu was chili.

 

No turndown, no wet towels replaced, no trash cans emptied, no chocolates tonight. And Princess still promises nightly cabin service and chocolates for Club Class.

 

Lets take chocolates as an example.  I don't really care about the chocolates but the math is easier. Assume chocolates cost 5 cents a piece and we have a really large ship with 3660 passengers so there are 1830 cabins and all are booked.  That is a cost of $640 per 7 day cruise or $32940 for the ship for the entire year assuming the ship is 100% booked for every single cruise.  Princess has 14 ships in her fleet so multiplying $32940 by 14 gives a maximum chocolate for the entire fleet for the entire year of $461,000.  Considering the amount of money that Princess takes in every year this is a trivial roundoff error.  It isn't a matter of money.  It is a matter that they just don't care.

 

DON

 

 

[WAvoyager]

5 minutes ago, donaldsc said:

It isn't a matter of money.  It is a matter that they just don't care.

I’m pretty sure it’s more accurate to say “it just isn’t a priority”.

 

obviously, Princess believes it’s one of the nice extra touches which contribute to the brand.  Otherwise they wouldn’t have done it in the first place, or mentioned it in their collateral.

 

Given everything that’s been going on, they have challenges in bringing it back (logistics, availability, staffing challenges, cost/profitability, take your pick.  So until it’s a higher priority compared to other issues, or they prioritize its worth over the cost of overcoming the challenge, it won’t come back.

[Coral]

The towel issue is related to having dry towels. For some reason - the towels how they are in the bathroom just do not dry properly. If I take a shower before dinner - I have wet towels in the morning. My way of getting around this on the last cruise when I did not have turn down service was to ask for double the amount of towels in the morning. This worked. 

 

I am ok with re-using towels for a few days but I want to have a dry towels after showering.

[JF - retired RRT]

14 hours ago, Lucky TGO said:

The cut-back that got me upset was when Princess sold you the older coffee cards.

You were told they would be good until you used all the punches on the card. ( They Lied) 😡

Princess made all the coffee cards expired and offered NO compensation for your card.

 

Tony

 

Yeah. We had 3 cards that would expire before our next cruise. One had no punches. We gave them away at the M&G on the cruise just before the expiration. Then folks here started commenting that their "expired" cards were being honored!! 🤯🤬

[Coral]

1 minute ago, CarelessAndConfused said:

 

Concerning all of this wet towel business, and I agree people should reuse them a few times for various reasons, but aren't there a few towels you can rotate while one is drying?  Or is it an issue of hanging rack space which is somewhat scarce?

 

 

A space to hang the towels so that they dry. 

 

My solution was to ask for more towels so if I want to take a shower later in the day, I am not using a wet towel to dry myself.

[PescadoAmarillo]

9 hours ago, caribill said:

 

"Penny-wise and pound-foolish" if by saving some $$$ with a bunch of cutbacks they are losing customers to other lines that provide the same experience at a lower cost.

Or the same on board experience at the same cost with fewer pre- and post-cruise hassles. 

[kamelia]

6 minutes ago, CarelessAndConfused said:

 

Concerning all of this wet towel business, and I agree people should reuse them a few times for various reasons, but aren't there a few towels you can rotate while one is drying?  Or is it an issue of hanging rack space which is somewhat scarce?

 

 

We've used pants hangers to hang the towels with enough space between each other and our hanging clothes so that the towels dry without getting our clothes wet...

[cr8tiv1]

11 hours ago, Mike45LC said:

I can confirm, the only beef on tonight’s Main Dining Room menu was chili.

 

No turndown, no wet towels replaced, no trash cans emptied, no chocolates tonight. And Princess still promises nightly cabin service and chocolates for Club Class.

no chocolates for suites 

 

no destination guides for any cruises.  I was told it was a Covid thing.  Use your stateroom television.  I downloaded a pdf version to my computer AND had them mail me one.  

[Level six]

Just off the Majestic for two weeks.  I think the biggest cut is the buffet choices.  On some nights there was literally 1/2 of one serving area open(there are like 5-6 on the Majestic).  No choices at all, 2600 passengers on board.  Lines to get into every dining room.  Wait times of 30 minutes at grill for a burger.  The dining in general was lacking any kind of choice........how many times can you eat nachos?

 

  At home nachos are a treat, here it was literally every single meal except breakfast.  After 14 days, I was literally eating a few pieces of cheese and some crackers.  It was horribly bad!!  Plus, nothing is even grouped together (like rice with stir fry).  If by chance there was stir fry(twice), the rice was some where else.  I have never been on such a weird cruise (I have 35 +cruises, over 400 sea days).  Even NCL, which people think is so bad is on this board. was 100% better with choices in buffet.  

[WAvoyager]

27 minutes ago, Level six said:

Just off the Majestic for two weeks.  I think the biggest cut is the buffet choices.  On some nights there was literally 1/2 of one serving area open(there are like 5-6 on the Majestic).  No choices at all, 2600 passengers on board.  Lines to get into every dining room.  Wait times of 30 minutes at grill for a burger.  The dining in general was lacking any kind of choice........how many times can you eat nachos?

 

  At home nachos are a treat, here it was literally every single meal except breakfast.  After 14 days, I was literally eating a few pieces of cheese and some crackers.  It was horribly bad!!  Plus, nothing is even grouped together (like rice with stir fry).  If by chance there was stir fry(twice), the rice was some where else.  I have never been on such a weird cruise (I have 35 +cruises, over 400 sea days).  Even NCL, which people think is so bad is on this board. was 100% better with choices in buffet.  

That’s so odd.  Others coming off the Majestic have commented the buffet was okay - limited in selection, but nothing like you’re describing. I wonder if they had issues on your sailing, or if they’ve made further cutbacks which impacted you.   I seriously hope it’s not a trend, as we’re due to sail in two weeks..

[Cruise Raider]

10 hours ago, caribill said:

 

"Penny-wise and pound-foolish" if by saving some $$$ with a bunch of cutbacks they are losing customers to other lines that provide the same experience at a lower cost.

 

Instead of focusing on perceived 'cutbacks', there are so many more positives to mention.  

 

I can now get a reservation to go to dinner at the time I choose, which is between 6 - 6:30 PM.  Before DMW, I was pretty much skunked out of going at that time.  I've been on 7 sailings on Princess since the return to service and have not ever had an issue with getting in at a reasonable dining time with the same waiters when we've requested this.  I realize that this is dependent upon the ships being at full capacity but so far, I like it so much better than how it was in the past.  

 

I also love the new room service menus and I can get them delivered wherever I may be.  I can even order cocktails or specialty coffees from the app to be delivered to my room and it's covered under the package.  I can even order from the Crown Grill menu for room service, albeit, with a charge.  

 

The WiFi is world's better than it used to be.  I was even able to facetime to home a couple of times on my last cruise.  Suffice it to say, I have had very few issues with my app or medallion ... I realize others have not been so lucky.  I find if one exercises some patience and a little technical know how, it does seem to work.  

 

Personally, I love that I don't get all those paper ads in my cabin every day.  Like I said, I really hate wastefulness.  Some complain the portions are smaller ... this is also to my liking.  I grew up learning how to eat everything on my plate.  Now, I leave the dining room completely satisfied but not stuffed to the gills.  

 

I try to focus on the positives and now, there are so many more positives that outweigh any negatives for us.  I think if there is anything at all to miss, it is the loyalty OBC but I have a great PVP/CVP that absolutely makes up for that.  I've cruised on many different lines and will probably continue to do so but, Princess is right up there on the top since the restart.  I have yet to find lower costs on any other cruiseline but, I do my research and have gotten excellent deals on Princess so far.  I'm paying far more for my next cruise on Celebrity with the same perks.  BTW, I see complaints about cutbacks on those boards as well.  

 

[LACruiser88]

55 minutes ago, Level six said:

Just off the Majestic for two weeks.  I think the biggest cut is the buffet choices.  On some nights there was literally 1/2 of one serving area open(there are like 5-6 on the Majestic).  No choices at all, 2600 passengers on board.  Lines to get into every dining room.  Wait times of 30 minutes at grill for a burger.  The dining in general was lacking any kind of choice..

Having been on the Majestic several times in the past six months, they have been critically understaffed and we were told that they have been "slowly" bringing on more crew as the passenger loads increase. 

 

Maybe it's time for them to have a full crew, as the passengers counts have dramatically increased since the re-start?

[Kmkub]

10 minutes ago, Cruise Raider said:

 

Instead of focusing on perceived 'cutbacks', there are so many more positives to mention.  

 

I can now get a reservation to go to dinner at the time I choose, which is between 6 - 6:30 PM.  Before DMW, I was pretty much skunked out of going at that time.  I've been on 7 sailings on Princess since the return to service and have not ever had an issue with getting in at a reasonable dining time with the same waiters when we've requested this.  I realize that this is dependent upon the ships being at full capacity but so far, I like it so much better than how it was in the past.  

 

I also love the new room service menus and I can get them delivered wherever I may be.  I can even order cocktails or specialty coffees from the app to be delivered to my room and it's covered under the package.  I can even order from the Crown Grill menu for room service, albeit, with a charge.  

 

The WiFi is world's better than it used to be.  I was even able to facetime to home a couple of times on my last cruise.  Suffice it to say, I have had very few issues with my app or medallion ... I realize others have not been so lucky.  I find if one exercises some patience and a little technical know how, it does seem to work.  

 

Personally, I love that I don't get all those paper ads in my cabin every day.  Like I said, I really hate wastefulness.  Some complain the portions are smaller ... this is also to my liking.  I grew up learning how to eat everything on my plate.  Now, I leave the dining room completely satisfied but not stuffed to the gills.  

 

I try to focus on the positives and now, there are so many more positives that outweigh any negatives for us.  I think if there is anything at all to miss, it is the loyalty OBC but I have a great PVP/CVP that absolutely makes up for that.  I've cruised on many different lines and will probably continue to do so but, Princess is right up there on the top since the restart.  I have yet to find lower costs on any other cruiseline but, I do my research and have gotten excellent deals on Princess so far.  I'm paying far more for my next cruise on Celebrity with the same perks.  BTW, I see complaints about cutbacks on those boards as well.  

 

 

I agree 100% with every point you made, here. 

 

As to cost; my husband and his two kids are going on Oasis in a few days. Their drink package was $80 pp/per day, and internet for my husband is $20/day. This doesn't include gratuities.

 

Compare to Princess @ $40 pp/ per day? Unbelievable.

 

 

[Level six]

38 minutes ago, WAvoyager said:

That’s so odd.  Others coming off the Majestic have commented the buffet was okay - limited in selection, but nothing like you’re describing. I wonder if they had issues on your sailing, or if they’ve made further cutbacks which impacted you.   I seriously hope it’s not a trend, as we’re due to sail in two weeks..

I guess it is just up to personal choices.  If you like meat, the buffet is for you.  There were very few vegetables choices(they had corn on the cob twice, some steamed vegies usually offered, a few times grilled vegies), very few side dishes(always baked beans, some kind of rice dish), for meat there were a lot of choices, but meat only is not my idea of a meal.

 

Every morning they had 2 lines of the buffet open, but all the same things at every few grills(bacon, sausage, eggs sometimes, egg mcmuffin, toast, hash browns and fruit, pastry, etc), Lunch was less, one line open.  Sandwich stuff, nachos, pizza, some kind of meat thing like a slider, etc, salad stuff, very few side dishes, always fries, beans.  Dinner was only 1 row and sometimes 1/2 a row.  Meat, meat, meat, salad.........

 

Anyway, it just depends what you want, but it was very, very boring after two weeks.  I have been on NCL for 48 days at a time and never felt that way.  Plus with all the wait times for the dining room, the grill, etc.  We sometimes got quicker and better meals ordering room service, which we did several times.  It was good. 

 

Like someone said above, they just don't have enough staff.  Sometimes only a few people eating  in the buffet(less than 25) and you couldn't even get a drink order and they wouldn't let you get water or coffee yourself, so you had to wait forever. Finally, we would go out to the outside eating area in the back and get our own(there is an unmanned station there, thank God). 

 

So...........after this cruise experience, we are not to eager to hop on board Princess any time soon.  We had a mini suite, $15.50 each grat a day.  We never ate in the dining room because it took so long the one time we went, not only the service but waiting in the long line to get in. We ate at Alfredos a few times(was good, service fast), one time a day stateroom service, no drinks in the buffet most times.............what did we pay over $434 for?  We literally got about $100 in service in my opinion, but we paid and gave our room steward more too (it wasn't her fault really, she was totally overworked and worked most of the day from what I could see). 

 

I hope your experience is better. 

[Eaglecw]

On our last cruise on the Majestic we noticed a lot of changes, some good mostly bad. No turn down at night and chocolate on the pillow at night isn’t a biggie. We noticed that the food potions were a lot smaller. We liked the traditional dining option, same table, same waiter every night. This option is gone now. I made it known to the head waiter how displeased I was and we ended up with the same table and waiter every night. On our first night the young man sitting next to us remarked when the waiter bought his dinner “What’s this the diet plate” we all got a good laugh out of it, he ended up eating 2 dinners. We like to have a glass of milk with dinner. When I asked for a glass of milk, I watched the waiter put a couple of ice cubes in a glass and pour this nasty shelf sable milk from a box. I had the same experience in the buffet the next day at lunch. The buffet had a lot of the same items every day. The whole fell of the cruise was different. Everything was smaller. I got the impression that they want you to eat in your cabin and order off the enticed menu on the Medallion app or on the TV.

[Level six]

7 minutes ago, Eaglecw said:

On our last cruise on the Majestic we noticed a lot of changes, some good mostly bad. No turn down at night and chocolate on the pillow at night isn’t a biggie. We noticed that the food potions were a lot smaller. We liked the traditional dining option, same table, same waiter every night. This option is gone now. I made it known to the head waiter how displeased I was and we ended up with the same table and waiter every night. On our first night the young man sitting next to us remarked when the waiter bought his dinner “What’s this the diet plate” we all got a good laugh out of it, he ended up eating 2 dinners. We like to have a glass of milk with dinner. When I asked for a glass of milk, I watched the waiter put a couple of ice cubes in a glass and pour this nasty shelf sable milk from a box. I had the same experience in the buffet the next day at lunch. The buffet had a lot of the same items every day. The whole fell of the cruise was different. Everything was smaller. I got the impression that they want you to eat in your cabin and order off the enticed menu on the Medallion app or on the TV.

 

100% agree

[WAvoyager]

Buffet’s rely on large turnover - you can have lots of options, and fresh food as long as you have enough people coming through.  With lowered passenger counts, it would be harder to properly manage the amount of food you make.  So the easiest way to reduce food waste ($$$ waste) is to limit the selections.  Or to make to order (thus the room service emphasis).

 

of course it’s a chicken and egg situation.  You need lots of people coming through in order to offer better selection, but people won’t come through if you don’t have a good offering.  Under normal circumstances I’d expect the default would be “make it good and they will come”, but with the ships already running at huge losses, and 2 years of tremendous losses, I’m sure the SOP has shifted.  Hopefully only for a little while.

 

Sorry to hear about the bad experiences.  Thanks for sharing, and we’ll know to plan more around ordering food.  (Thank goodness Mom has a suite! 😁)

[Level six]

6 minutes ago, WAvoyager said:

Thank goodness Mom has a suite! 😁

That literally was the only saving grace, our mini suite. 

 

I do understand about the numbers, but the few cruises before ours were the same numbers 2400-2600, the one after we got off was 600 more.  I just don't see how that ship can handle that number at this point honestly.