Caribbean Princess Review May 28th-June 4th

[KKB]

18 hours ago, k9hndler said:

Assigned Dinning 5:20 pm and Staff great for avoiding the lines. (More on lines later)

 

We sail July 9.

THOUGHT I had booked a table for 2 at 5:40 each day on the app.

Double checked today. 

Nope, nothing.

It seems I can book DAILY reservations one at a time & they show up.

But DH would prefer to sit at a table for 2.

We like to eat early--do you think we will have difficulty getting a table for 2 w/o reservations if we are there "early"?

What time would you say we should be there by?

Thanks

[JimmyVWine]

1 hour ago, PescadoAmarillo said:

At some point it should all even out. Crew members are not returning because they’re not happy, guests are not returning because they’re not happy…

 

How is Princess (and other cruise lines) going to reverse this trend?

I think the answer is staring Princess in the face but they aren't going to go backwards.  As long as crew members continue to get sick and cannot work, and as long as other crew members have to pick up the slack of those who cannot work, and as long as newly hired crew members are working at less than 100% efficiency due to training and experience issues, Princess should be sailing at reduced capacity.  There's a formula in there somewhere that would tell you what percentage capacity a ship should have if the total crew census is 75% of what it used to be and if 5% of the crew on board is quarantined, and if 30% of the crew on board are new to the industry and can only perform at 70% of the output of a more seasoned crew.  The data and analytics folks can run these numbers, but they don't mean a thing if the sales and accounting departments override all of this and insist on sailing full.  Most complaints that I see here would be easily overcome if the ships continued to sail at reduced percentages.  Seems as if the crew issues didn't improve as fast as the increase in capacity load. 

[nreeder]

I have mixed feelings about the post that started this thread. Yes lines for International Cafe with not enough help. We have seen lines at dinner but it depends on what time you want. We go at 7 pm and short lines for Coral Dining room. Two lines one for reservations that’s shorter and one for walk in that’s longer. No waiting for us in Club Class. Room service has been OK except for tonight where we haven’t yet received our drinks in a hour from ordering. Turns out they delivered to wrong room. We never got them. Hasn’t happened before and we have been on for over a week.   Norm 

[PescadoAmarillo]

46 minutes ago, JimmyVWine said:

Most complaints that I see here would be easily overcome if the ships continued to sail at reduced percentages. 

I agree, though I would add that mask mandates on all ships would be a welcome thing to go back to, also. But here’s the thing:  the time to make corrections is not limitless, and, to date, Princess shows little inclination to do so. I maintain that every poor cruise experience is more confidence lost, and confidence lost is going to be extremely difficult to regain. Many guests are still using their expiring FCCs; how many people will be lined up to pay in full with cash if the reported experiences do not soon reliably, consistently change?

[JimmyVWine]

1 hour ago, PescadoAmarillo said:

I agree, though I would add that mask mandates on all ships would be a welcome thing to go back to, also. But here’s the thing:  the time to make corrections is not limitless, and, to date, Princess shows little inclination to do so. I maintain that every poor cruise experience is more confidence lost, and confidence lost is going to be extremely difficult to regain. Many guests are still using their expiring FCCs; how many people will be lined up to pay in full with cash if the reported experiences do not soon reliably, consistently change?

I agree. The window in which to foster good will is short and closing. 

[caribill]

15 hours ago, CineGraphic said:

 

Two of my friends recently quit Princess at the end of their contracts.

They had both been with the company a very long time.

Both of them quit because the money is about 1/3 of what they were making pre-covid.

 

 

Did they say why they were making so much less?

[caribill]

15 hours ago, JimmyVWine said:

I don't think it is Princess at all.  As you know, Princess does not hire the crew.  The recruiting and placement is done through third-party agencies.  I just don't think that they are getting the applicants they need to staff the entire industry.

 

On other threads there have been posts by people saying they know experienced crew members who want to return but have been unable to get rehired by those agencies. 

[JimmyVWine]

5 hours ago, caribill said:

 

On other threads there have been posts by people saying they know experienced crew members who want to return but have been unable to get rehired by those agencies. 

I wonder why that is?  The agencies need to step up their game if the cruise lines are ever going to get back to normal.

[prmssk]

6 hours ago, caribill said:

 

Did they say why they were making so much less?

The threads I have read talked about the fact that less people on board meant less tips and thus less income for them.

 

6 hours ago, caribill said:

 

On other threads there have been posts by people saying they know experienced crew members who want to return but have been unable to get rehired by those agencies. 

Visas are part of the challenge.  The embassies are so backed up for appointments that people can't get the visas they need.  Getting people with the right vaccines (or re-vaccinating them if they were vaccinated with one that is not WHO approved) also adds challenges.

 

I also think that when we hear stories about a specific crew member wanting to come back but can't, those are isolated stories (where we may not have all the facts) and not really representative of what is happening.  The fact that Carnival Corp is working with Jamaica to hire 10,000 new crew from Jamaica to fill the gaps tells me they are struggling to find people willing and able to come back.  

 

And this isn't just an issue for cruising.  Just in the last couple days, the news was reporting on the fact that there aren't enough lifeguards to open all community pools across the country.  Additionally, hotels and restaurants all over are really struggling to find workers.

 

The reality is far more complicated than they just aren't letting experienced crew come back or the cruise lines are trying to save a buck.

[JimmyVWine]

6 hours ago, caribill said:

Did they say why they were making so much less?

I would imagine that the income earned from tips is in direct proportion to the percentage of people allowed on the ships.  The people who have already quit obviously didn't wait it out until this ships were back a full capacity.  Can't blame them if they weren't making ends meet.  But if they came back for 9 months and during those 9 months they worked on ships that were 1/3 to 1/2 full, they would have earned 1/3 to 1/2 of their usual tips.

 

26 minutes ago, prmssk said:

The reality is far more complicated than they just aren't letting experienced crew come back or the cruise lines are trying to save a buck.

This!  It is unimaginable that Princess has an opportunity to rehire an excellent, experienced crew member and is turning that person away for no good reason other than that they think there is some incremental savings to be found in doing so.  No company is that stupid. We like to joke about things like that and pretend that a major corporations is utterly clueless and that we know so much more than their Senior Management does.  But that is just silly.

[CineGraphic]

8 hours ago, caribill said:

 

Did they say why they were making so much less?

 

Yes, one said they were making a 1/3 of the money they used to make.

[meab]

21 hours ago, KKB said:

We sail July 9.

THOUGHT I had booked a table for 2 at 5:40 each day on the app.

Double checked today. 

Nope, nothing.

It seems I can book DAILY reservations one at a time & they show up.

But DH would prefer to sit at a table for 2.

We like to eat early--do you think we will have difficulty getting a table for 2 w/o reservations if we are there "early"?

What time would you say we should be there by?

Thanks

@KKB I "thought" I booked a table for 5 of us for 7pm every day on the app. But when I looked at the daily dining reservations, the 7pm was only showing up on some of the nights. I ended up calling the Medallion help number and speaking to someone who "fixed" it for me and made sure we had 7pm every night, same dining room.

 

When I go back in the app, it still doesn't show for me. Night 1: "+add reservation". Night 2: "+add reservation". So really I'm not so sure if we are dining at 7pm anymore.

[KKB]

19 minutes ago, meab said:

@KKB I "thought" I booked a table for 5 of us for 7pm every day on the app. But when I looked at the daily dining reservations, the 7pm was only showing up on some of the nights. I ended up calling the Medallion help number and speaking to someone who "fixed" it for me and made sure we had 7pm every night, same dining room.

 

When I go back in the app, it still doesn't show for me. Night 1: "+add reservation". Night 2: "+add reservation". So really I'm not so sure if we are dining at 7pm anymore.

Thx for this.

I just tried Live Chat & she did give me a web link for Medallion:

https://oceanready-personalinfo-ui.prod.ocean.com/

Just found out that, yes, nothing was saved. 
I will call later

[CineGraphic]

14 hours ago, caribill said:

 

Did they say why they were making so much less?

 

Sorry....I missed the "why".

When you only have 790 passengers paying grats, instead of 3400, that's a huge chunk of cash.

I think some realized during the shutdown that they can still make a living without putting up with people yelling at them because their bacon isn't crispy.

 

 

                           

[JimmyVWine]

2 minutes ago, CineGraphic said:

I think some realized during the shutdown that they can still make a living without putting up with people yelling at them because their bacon isn't crispy.

More accurately, HALF the people are yelling at them because their bacon isn't crispy while the OTHER HALF are yelling at them because their bacon is too crispy.

[caribill]

22 minutes ago, CineGraphic said:

 

When you only have 790 passengers paying grats, instead of 3400, that's a huge chunk of cash.

I think some realized during the shutdown that they can still make a living without putting up with people yelling at them because their bacon isn't crispy.

 

The CB has been sailing full during the recent Caribbean area voyages.

 

However the new Princess practice of sharing gratuities across the fleet means much of what the CB passengers are contributing for "crew incentive" goes to staff on other ships that are not sailing full.

[k9hndler]

On 6/6/2022 at 6:08 PM, KKB said:

We sail July 9.

THOUGHT I had booked a table for 2 at 5:40 each day on the app.

Double checked today. 

Nope, nothing.

It seems I can book DAILY reservations one at a time & they show up.

But DH would prefer to sit at a table for 2.

We like to eat early--do you think we will have difficulty getting a table for 2 w/o reservations if we are there "early"?

What time would you say we should be there by?

Thanks

You should be fine if you show up at 5:10. No line then at all. 

[k9hndler]

2 hours ago, caribill said:

 

The CB has been sailing full during the recent Caribbean area voyages.

 

However the new Princess practice of sharing gratuities across the fleet means much of what the CB passengers are contributing for "crew incentive" goes to staff on other ships that are not sailing full.

This is why we come with cash on board and pay the staff that helps us UP FRONT (day 2-3). Wait staff, sanctuary staff, cabin steward, all get some green on the front end. Improves everything.

[MissP22]

I just noticed you posting about the Caribbean Princess. Normally I don't read about that ship as we had a so-so experience on the CP a few years ago and wouldn't return since the newer ships like the Sky and Enchanted are so much improved in all aspects. 

Many of the problems you initially described I can agree with but the crew shortage problem is something new, although on the Enchanted in March/April we didn't experience any of this.

Hopefully the crew shortage problem will end in the near future. In the mean time Princess is irritating  and losing too many people to other cruise lines because of it.

Once lost many will never return.