Change of pace, Whos's sticking with Princess?

[latebloomer56]

We like Princess, however if they don't sail where I want to go I would use another line.

They don't have enough in the Northeast so we sail other lines. I don't like to have to fly every time we want a cruise.

[JimmyVWine]

2 hours ago, ldtr said:

Some hiccups, but similar to other travel.

Bingo. Imagine the following, all of which are true stories pertaining to my post-Covid travels:

1.  My flights were not what they used to be. Grumpy, hostile passengers upset at mask rules. Little to No in-cabin services. Flight delays and cancellations due to staffing issues. And these flights ranged from a low of 50 minutes to a high of 7 hours. 
 

2.  My rental car “reservation” was taken and confirmed. When I arrived at the terminal I received a text telling me to go to the rental counter instead of straight to the car. When I got to the counter I was informed that there were no cars available even though I had a confirmed reservation. My interaction with the rental car company was less than an hour. 
 

3.  At my hotel, barely anyone honored the sign in the lobby and in the elevators instructing all guest to wear masks at all times in the elevators. Over the course of a three day, two night stay no housekeeping entered my room to make the bed, refresh the bathroom or empty the trash. No room service was available and the on site hotel was closed. This was for a three day interaction. 
 

4.  Now, imagine how irrational it is for anyone to think that on a 7 to 10 day cruise, EVERYTHING would be perfect and back to normal. Airlines, hotels and rental car companies are nowhere near normal and they offer services measured in hours or a few days. Cruises are a week or longer. There are far more services provided over a far greater period of time. The chances for things to go wrong or disappoint are exponentially higher. 

[Loveh2ofl]

@JimmyVWineAgree - in all forms of travel, in stores, at work, in gas lines- we're all tolerating disruptions in service and staffing that prior to Covid and current economic conditions would have been 'unacceptable'.  That doesn't mean we should ignore them or like them - but learn to anticipate.  For example - one may have to plan on a flight a day earlier to catch one's cruise.  

 

[geoherb]

I got my fourth post-restart cruise booked for August. The first three were great overall. There were little glitches but nothing major. I still looked at HAL before making my last booking. Princess had a better value.

[pris993]

Looking forward to 14 days on Royal in December.  Thanks for your post.

We were on the Ruby in February, had a great time.  The December cruise will be our 31st with Princess.  We have cruised 9 different lines over past 35 years, but the most cruises were with Princess.   Have no reason to change now. 

[thehowlingroad]

I've sailed Princess and Royal Caribbean, my parents have added Viking (river cruise), Norwegian, and Carnival to their list in addition to those two. They didn't like Carnival at all and were meh on Norwegian, and found Viking a bit too expensive for anything other than once-in-a-lifetime trips. For now, Princess strikes the right balance of okay pricing and good service, food, and itineraries. In 2018, we had one of the best cruises in our experience onboard the Regal Princess. We're happy to explore other lines, obviously, but we compare any itinerary we find to Princess's offerings first. I was also not very impressed with RC's handling of our refunds and FCCs from the pandemic shutdown... it's forced us into a slightly unwanted Alaska cruise this fall with them.

 

That being said... our first post-pandemic cruise is coming up in July on the Enchanted. We have some friends who were on Discovery's maiden voyage and said that the standards have slipped a little, but we'll see for ourselves! I've put a deposit down on a short little SoCal coastal cruise during the winter holidays (on the Discovery), but if our experience next month is truly awful, we'll reconsider and maybe drive to Las Vegas instead.

[caribill]

12 hours ago, Yehootu said:

We just returned from 14days on the Royal and have very few complaints.

 

Did hear some folks that came close to missing cruise due to EZAir. They did praise Princess for having a rep with taxi vouchers waiting for them in YVR

 

 

Glad you had a great cruise!

 

Not sure how anyone could come close to missing a cruise due to EZAir.

 

EZAir is just a booking method. Within the list of flights offered, the user picks the flights to take.

 

If the airline then has problems keeping the flights on schedule, that has nothing to do with EZAir. The same problems would have occurred if the person had booked those flights directly with the airline.

 

[SargassoPirate]

With 50-some cruises and more decades behind me than in front of me, I try not to sweat the small stuff.  I shop for cruises that go where I want to go.  My needs are simple - a Luxury Inside Suite, a full promenade, someplace to get something to eat, and a wee dram in the evening.  Any day at sea is better than a day at the office.

 

So far, HAL, RCI, Celebrity, Viking (no Inside Luxury Suites) Princess, and Cunard have filled the bill.

 

Any questions?  See my signature line below.

[MISTER 67]

We will continue to sail with Princess, Holland America and Celebrity, our 3 favorite cruise lines. We last sailed with Princes twice last year at Thanksgiving and again at Christmas, both were very good cruises with things just a little off due to Covid protocols. 

[Dar & Bob]

12 hours ago, latebloomer56 said:

We like Princess, however if they don't sail where I want to go I would use another line.

They don't have enough in the Northeast so we sail other lines. I don't like to have to fly every time we want a cruise.

I am with you.  We wanted to do a Fjord cruise in 2023 they have a couple but IMO Celebrity had a much better itinerary.  Booked a Retreat on Celebrity for about the same fare as Club Class on Princess (and no comparison of the amenities on Princess even in a Suite) 

Also wanted to do all 3 ABC islands, which Princess only has during Christmas and New Year's???? so again looked at Celebrity and got Veranda with upgraded drinks for 9 nights for 2,500 less than a mini suite on Princess (same week and only 2 of the islands).  We might have considered 2024 sailing but Princess has yet to put them out.  

So will we stick with Princess?  They are making it very difficult to stick with them.  Just my opinion at present.  Looking forward to Alaska in a week and see how it is.  Regal in January was quite good so we will see. 

 

[memoak]

We will stick with Princess. We like the itineraries, not too many kids, don’t need go carts etc and we get great casino deals

[LawDog61]

A vote for Princess.  As I get older and the airlines melt down, I love cruising locally (out of LA).   My evening activity is listening  to music and despite some downsizing  (no wheelhouse on Royal Class ships) it is still pretty good. I have even come to appreciate the Royal class ships for great mini-suites and the buffet.  Now, if Princess would just bring back the LA-Alaska and spare me  a flight to S.F.

[beaglesandducks]

We are sticking with Princess   I do not take anything for granted anymore   Flying can be dicey   Having to test for covid is a pain  Princess has had their problems but so have other cruise lines   Princess took care of an ezair issue we had after contacting them a couple times   We love being on board   Nothing compares to it   We are cruising in august quebec city to nyc   We are hoping for the best but we know there could be issues   We will deal with them as they arise    We like princess, we like their ships (old and new), we like their crew, and their food is fine   Go Princess!

[Lady Arwen]

We sail primarily with Celebrity and then Princess and occasionally with HAL.  The best Princess itinerary is British Isles embarking in Southampton.  Celebrity embarks in Amsterdam, which we don’t love.  We prefer the Celebrity ship, but the itinerary is more important.  We’re looking forward to our Princess cruise, but we’re also looking forward to our Celebrity cruise on Apex.

As long as Princess can give us a better experience than either Celebrity or HAL, then we’ll continue to sail with them.

[Sunwanabe]

2018 PC Western Caribbean-Fantastic time.

Upcoming- July 2022 Alaska and March 2023 Mexico. 

There is no language from PC that suggests we will be getting a lesser service and experience and to lower expectations. We could have gone with Holland at a considerable savings but went with PC on past experience and the current overall sales product. 

 

[MsSoCalCruiser]

2 hours ago, LawDog61 said:

A vote for Princess.  As I get older and the airlines melt down, I love cruising locally (out of LA).   My evening activity is listening  to music and despite some downsizing  (no wheelhouse on Royal Class ships) it is still pretty good. I have even come to appreciate the Royal class ships for great mini-suites and the buffet.  Now, if Princess would just bring back the LA-Alaska and spare me  a flight to S.F.

🙋🏻‍♀️🙋🏻‍♀️🙋🏻‍♀️ I would like LA-Alaska on the Discovery. 

[Chad_O]

I will remain loyal to Princess.  I have had 3 post Covid cruises and all went really well. I like the medallion App. I understand the necessary changes due to Covid and the necessary changes resulting from ships sailing at fractional pax capacity. I don't view these changes as lasting. They are reflective of market conditions and I think eventually market competition will drive a roll back/re-set of services, entertainment etc.A major reason for my loyalty is crew and staff at Princess who have always been exceptional. The primary reason is my regard for my fellow passengers. I have found the passengers smart, funny, kind, caring and entirely the sort of people with whom  you would want to spend a week. If they all left en masse for another line I guess I might follow but for now I am very happy. 

[LidoLiz]

Can’t. Wait. For. Our. Next. Princess. Cruise!

Will pack my patience along with my formal night wear. 😀 My only expectation is to have fun after two years of shutdown.

[MsSoCalCruiser]

Princess is my favorite cruiseline and right now I plan on sticking around.  I do feel that we should get what we are paying for.  Don’t have advertisements showing the perfect vacation if you cannot deliver the product that you are selling.  If you are short staffed then sail with less passengers.

[Guest ldtr]

Just now, MsSoCalCruiser said:

Princess is my favorite cruiseline and right now I plan on sticking around.  I do feel that we should get what we are paying for.  Don’t have advertisements showing the perfect vacation if you cannot deliver the product that you are selling.  If you are short staffed then sail with less passengers.

I do not know of a cruise line that, even before Covid, delivered the perfect vacation.

 

One can just go back through the pre-Covid postings on this site and find a rather long list of the failings of the various cruise lines in one way or another.

 

Most of the problems today seem larger because it takes more time to get a hold of and resolve issues with customer service.  There are some impacts on cruises during the ramp up because both passenger occupancy and staffing was limited.  However, to many if anything does not seem to be the same as pre-Covid, even if it might be more how they remembered it, instead of a real change, it is a sky is falling moment.  

 

 

Take away the issues with the Crown Princess (I suspect I can find at least 4-5 other cases during the 4-5 years pre-Civid where other ships, spanning multiple cruise lines have had similar problems). The same problems as in a ships having speed limits and have had to modify their itinerary over several consecutive cruises.  As with those event the Crown Affair will also pass into memory in a few months.

 

The one major change has been the change in dining with the Medallion and we all know how long term cruises react to change,  Especially when they get two years worth of changes at one time.

 

[Guest ldtr]

9 hours ago, MsSoCalCruiser said:

🙋🏻‍♀️🙋🏻‍♀️🙋🏻‍♀️ I would like LA-Alaska on the Discovery. 

I would prefer the Majestic, I like the indoor, adult only, Hollywood Pool.

[teecee60]

1 hour ago, whataboutport said:

But what other vacation can I have everything included for about $100 per day? I don't know what type of cabins other people get, but I don't need a suite, and $100/day is a bargain. 

 

If you don't mind an inside cabin, there are numerous Princess cruises available for $50 per person per day. (base fare) My shareholder and military OBCs make up for the taxes and tips. 

 

Have done FIVE Princess cruises since November... for a total of 61 nights... and loved every single one of them! Stewards, bartenders, waiters and entertainers were all working hard with smiles to spare.

 

Just booked 16 nights on Diamond Princess to Hawaii for $871pp, (base fare) and I'm planning for at least one more Panama Canal cruise and another Transatlantic.

 

 

Edited June 27, 2022 by teecee60

[MsSoCalCruiser]

1 hour ago, ldtr said:

I would prefer the Majestic, I like the indoor, adult only, Hollywood Pool.

It’s a beautiful area but the Chlorine smell was so strong on our cruise that it was hard to handle.  We loved the Majestic Princess when we sailed on her last December.  

[dog]

Will I stick with Princess?

I have two bookings now- first to use up my FCC S for a Caribbean cruise I really did not need & second one for a WC segment with ports I wish to go to, one last time. 

I have searched the other cruise lines and none come close to Princess on this second cruise- ports & money for a balcony cabin.

I might put down a $1 deposit on a backup cruise, if the Caribbean one gets cancelled.

And my last cruise was on Discovery where All of my expectations were met , as advertised.

There are others, from Ruby, Crown, Sky cruises this season who have Not received the cruise they paid for & treated poorly & I hope Princess does the right thing & compensates them.

I dread having to call Princess for anything, as customer service is horrible in many cases.

I am finding this issue when trying to get through to my credit card company, doctor’s office, tour company for my land/ flight package etc. No one picks up the phone anymore.

[MsSoCalCruiser]

7 minutes ago, dog said:

Will I stick with Princess?

I have two bookings now- first to use up my FCC S for a Caribbean cruise I really did not need & second one for a WC segment with ports I wish to go to, one last time. 

I have searched the other cruise lines and none come close to Princess on this second cruise- ports & money for a balcony cabin.

I might put down a $1 deposit on a backup cruise, if the Caribbean one gets cancelled.

And my last cruise was on Discovery where All of my expectations were met , as advertised.

There are others, from Ruby, Crown, Sky cruises this season who have Not received the cruise they paid for & treated poorly & I hope Princess does the right thing & compensates them.

I dread having to call Princess for anything, as customer service is horrible in many cases.

I am finding this issue when trying to get through to my credit card company, doctor’s office, tour company for my land/ flight package etc. No one picks up the phone anymore.

We spent two wonderful weeks on the Discovery.  Almost everything was perfect for us but unfortunately others have not been so lucky.  I also hope that Princess does the right thing for those passengers.