Thoughts about my first Princess cruise

[dmcfad2]

We finally tried the dining room last night. I had made a 6pm reservation. At 5:50 we bypassed the non reservation line (about 10 people waiting) and walked directly to the desk in the reservation line, where there was no one waiting. We had requested a shared table and they seated us immediately with no wait at all. This was a table for 8. Two couples were already there and another arrived shortly after we did. We did our introductions. The waiter handed us our menu. After about 10-15 minutes, he came back for our orders. This is where it started to go downhill. 

 

Service was dismal. It took a long time to get our appetizers and they arrived one at a time for each guest. One here, one there. It was weirdly random. When everyone was done with their appetizers, they cleared some (but not all; they left a few) of the dishes in preparation for the main course. This was another wait of about 40-45 minutes. Our waiter apologized and said there was a problem in the kitchen. One of the couples got up and left, as they had an early excursion the next morning. The food finally arrived. Mine was good. When the main dish was finished, it took some time for the dishes to be cleared. Finally, the maitre-d came over, cleared the dishes and gave us dessert menus. Everyone ordered, and dessert came pretty quickly. The whole experience took about 2.5 hours. According to our tablemates, this has been an ongoing problem on this cruise. The waiters were working hard, so I can’t fault them. It’s a kitchen problem. Maybe they don’t have enough cooks. I have heard the other dining room is faster. Maybe we will try that, but our inclination is to not eat in the MDR again. Tonight we are eating at the Crown Grill again.

 

 

[MissP22]

Having the crew serve food at the buffet was getting a little old.

I was really tired of having to ask for a little more of each item. 

[MissP22]

4 minutes ago, dmcfad2 said:

We finally tried the dining room last night. I had made a 6pm reservation. At 5:50 we bypassed the non reservation line (about 10 people waiting) and walked directly to the desk in the reservation line, where there was no one waiting. We had requested a shared table and they seated us immediately with no wait at all. This was a table for 8. Two couples were already there and another arrived shortly after we did. We did our introductions. The waiter handed us our menu. After about 10-15 minutes, he came back for our orders. This is where it started to go downhill. 

 

Service was dismal. It took a long time to get our appetizers and they arrived one at a time for each guest. One here, one there. It was weirdly random. When everyone was done with their appetizers, they cleared some (but not all; they left a few) of the dishes in preparation for the main course. This was another wait of about 40-45 minutes. Our waiter apologized and said there was a problem in the kitchen. One of the couples got up and left, as they had an early excursion the next morning. The food finally arrived. Mine was good. When the main dish was finished, it took some time for the dishes to be cleared. Finally, the maitre-d came over, cleared the dishes and gave us dessert menus. Everyone ordered, and dessert came pretty quickly. The whole experience took about 2.5 hours. According to our tablemates, this has been an ongoing problem on this cruise. The waiters were working hard, so I can’t fault them. It’s a kitchen problem. Maybe they don’t have enough cooks. I have heard the other dining room is faster. Maybe we will try that, but our inclination is to not eat in the MDR again. Tonight we are eating at the Crown Grill again.

 

 

You did arrive at a peak time so some delay is to be expected but 2.5 hours is much more than I would tolerate. 

I would have been gone gone at around 2 hours.

[PacnGoNow]

9 minutes ago, dmcfad2 said:

We finally tried the dining room last night. I had made a 6pm reservation. At 5:50 we bypassed the non reservation line (about 10 people waiting) and walked directly to the desk in the reservation line, where there was no one waiting. We had requested a shared table and they seated us immediately with no wait at all. This was a table for 8. Two couples were already there and another arrived shortly after we did. We did our introductions. The waiter handed us our menu. After about 10-15 minutes, he came back for our orders. This is where it started to go downhill. 

 

Service was dismal. It took a long time to get our appetizers and they arrived one at a time for each guest. One here, one there. It was weirdly random. When everyone was done with their appetizers, they cleared some (but not all; they left a few) of the dishes in preparation for the main course. This was another wait of about 40-45 minutes. Our waiter apologized and said there was a problem in the kitchen. One of the couples got up and left, as they had an early excursion the next morning. The food finally arrived. Mine was good. When the main dish was finished, it took some time for the dishes to be cleared. Finally, the maitre-d came over, cleared the dishes and gave us dessert menus. Everyone ordered, and dessert came pretty quickly. The whole experience took about 2.5 hours. According to our tablemates, this has been an ongoing problem on this cruise. The waiters were working hard, so I can’t fault them. It’s a kitchen problem. Maybe they don’t have enough cooks. I have heard the other dining room is faster. Maybe we will try that, but our inclination is to not eat in the MDR again. Tonight we are eating at the Crown Grill again.

 

 

I’d try another MDR.  We did not have that problem last month on the Crown.  They did pick up 65 new crew members on the disembark day.  Sometimes a little slow, but nothing like that.  
Try private table or smaller sharing table.

May help.

 

[dmcfad2]

12 minutes ago, PacnGoNow said:

I’d try another MDR.  We did not have that problem last month on the Crown.  They did pick up 65 new crew members on the disembark day.  Sometimes a little slow, but nothing like that.  
Try private table or smaller sharing table.

May help.

 

We will probably try the other dining room. Thanks.

[Ken the cruiser]

28 minutes ago, dmcfad2 said:

We finally tried the dining room last night. I had made a 6pm reservation. At 5:50 we bypassed the non reservation line (about 10 people waiting) and walked directly to the desk in the reservation line, where there was no one waiting. We had requested a shared table and they seated us immediately with no wait at all. This was a table for 8. Two couples were already there and another arrived shortly after we did. We did our introductions. The waiter handed us our menu. After about 10-15 minutes, he came back for our orders. This is where it started to go downhill. 

 

Service was dismal. It took a long time to get our appetizers and they arrived one at a time for each guest. One here, one there. It was weirdly random. When everyone was done with their appetizers, they cleared some (but not all; they left a few) of the dishes in preparation for the main course. This was another wait of about 40-45 minutes. Our waiter apologized and said there was a problem in the kitchen. One of the couples got up and left, as they had an early excursion the next morning. The food finally arrived. Mine was good. When the main dish was finished, it took some time for the dishes to be cleared. Finally, the maitre-d came over, cleared the dishes and gave us dessert menus. Everyone ordered, and dessert came pretty quickly. The whole experience took about 2.5 hours. According to our tablemates, this has been an ongoing problem on this cruise. The waiters were working hard, so I can’t fault them. It’s a kitchen problem. Maybe they don’t have enough cooks. I have heard the other dining room is faster. Maybe we will try that, but our inclination is to not eat in the MDR again. Tonight we are eating at the Crown Grill again.

 

 

FWIW this is one of the reasons we no longer eat at sharing tables. Sure, you get to meet new people, but then there is a tradeoff of having to serve 8 people. 

[dmcfad2]

37 minutes ago, MissP22 said:

Having the crew serve food at the buffet was getting a little old.

I was really tired of having to ask for a little more of each item. 

It’s funny you bring that up. We noticed on our last cruise on Holland that they were being really stingy with the food in the buffet. I always had to say, “um, a little more, please.”  That is one nice thing about serving yourself. 

Edited January 11, 2023 by dmcfad2

[bmc alabama]

Quick note on the buffet. We were on Crown last year and just off Caribbean last month.  Before these two, our two prior cruises (pre-COVID in 2019) were both on the Regal.  We found that the Regal buffet was infinitely superior to that of either the Crown or Caribbean.  Some of this may be due to the post-COVID that everyone is mentioning, but on the Royal Class ships, the buffet is SO much larger, I think it lends itself to more selection.

 

As to RCCL (from a prior comment), we also sailed Oasis and Independence last year.  Indy was probably the worst cruise we've been on.  Also, we were surprised that we were bored on the Oasis (we're not really rock wall/zip line/ice skating people - also CATS was bad, I mean really, really bad...).  But the included food selection was very limited, we felt on RCCL and we found, at least on those 2 ships, that for some reason about half of the offerings in the Windjammer were Indian cuisine, which I suppose is great if you like Indian cuisine, but it wasn't for us.  We also sailed Carnival Mardi Gras and actually liked it much, much better.

 

And lastly, if you are comparing food, I would say that it is really hard to beat Virgin Voyages.

Edited January 11, 2023 by bmc alabama

[Guest ldtr]

On 1/8/2023 at 11:28 AM, dmcfad2 said:

I guess this is going to turn in to a (somewhat) live report. 
 

I was a little concerned how this medallion was going to work. As we walked up to our room after getting on the ship, we got to our door and it unlocked by itself. That was pretty cool.
We have a balcony room. It’s a little smaller than Holland. No couch, just a chair. And the bathroom and shower are really small! Don’t try to shave your legs in there. It’s not easy. LOL But, it’s still a nice room. No hooks on the wall like Holland provides. But, I already knew that, so I brought magnetic ones and they work great. 
We watched our safety drill on TV and reported to the muster station. Just touch the medallion to their iPad and it registered us. Easy.

We go and explore the ship. This is a beautiful, older ship. Very classy looking. Lots of wood. The crew that we have met are very friendly and very helpful. Servicing the rooms twice a day is standard protocol for all guests. Our room steward, Geronimo, is great.

There is a sail-away party mid ship by the pool. The entertainment staff is huge. They dance and sing. There is a band that plays. The CD introduces them. It’s a fun group, but not wild like Carnival. Very entertaining.

I had read that the dining situation could be rough the first few days, so we made a reservation at the steak house for dinner. It was good, but I like the Pinnacle menu better. After dinner, we skipped the main show, an instrumentalist, and instead went to karaoke. We like that and Holland did away with it years ago. So, that was fun. We also tried the Dirty Monkey drink that Princess seems to be known for. Yummy! 
We walked around the ship a bit and tried to familiarize ourselves with the set up. Lots of live music was playing around the ship. 
Got to bed about midnight. The bed is comfortable. Day one in the books.

Day 2 is a sea day. I ordered room service coffee. It came on time but tasted like hot water. We like strong coffee. So, I got dressed and went down to the International cafe and got us freshly brewed coffee. Much better. I always do that on Holland, too. 
We love sea days. We found a nice hot tub at the rear of the ship by the aft pool and got in.This is an adult only area. We like that and Holland doesn’t have an adult pool anymore. We like the people we have met so far. Everybody is so friendly and we have a lot in common with many we have met. Many are around our ages. We are in our early 70’s and still very active. 
We went to the buffet for lunch. It’s a serve yourself set up. I like it better that Holland serves you in the buffet. 
So far, the food taste and selection is much better on Holland.

We watched the football game out by the pool. There is always something playing on the outdoor movie screen. Then, we head to our room to get ready for dinner.

When it comes the buffet do not judge Princess by the buffet on the Crown. We just got off of the Crown prior to your cruise. The buffets on the Grand class in general is very limited compared to the Royal class ships  Even more so on the Crown if they do not use the 3rd buffet space at the back.

 

Currently on Discovery Princess, and buffet is much much better than Crown or for that matter than the Eurodam cruise I was on a couple of months ago.

[Guest ldtr]

1 hour ago, dmcfad2 said:

We finally tried the dining room last night. I had made a 6pm reservation. At 5:50 we bypassed the non reservation line (about 10 people waiting) and walked directly to the desk in the reservation line, where there was no one waiting. We had requested a shared table and they seated us immediately with no wait at all. This was a table for 8. Two couples were already there and another arrived shortly after we did. We did our introductions. The waiter handed us our menu. After about 10-15 minutes, he came back for our orders. This is where it started to go downhill. 

 

Service was dismal. It took a long time to get our appetizers and they arrived one at a time for each guest. One here, one there. It was weirdly random. When everyone was done with their appetizers, they cleared some (but not all; they left a few) of the dishes in preparation for the main course. This was another wait of about 40-45 minutes. Our waiter apologized and said there was a problem in the kitchen. One of the couples got up and left, as they had an early excursion the next morning. The food finally arrived. Mine was good. When the main dish was finished, it took some time for the dishes to be cleared. Finally, the maitre-d came over, cleared the dishes and gave us dessert menus. Everyone ordered, and dessert came pretty quickly. The whole experience took about 2.5 hours. According to our tablemates, this has been an ongoing problem on this cruise. The waiters were working hard, so I can’t fault them. It’s a kitchen problem. Maybe they don’t have enough cooks. I have heard the other dining room is faster. Maybe we will try that, but our inclination is to not eat in the MDR again. Tonight we are eating at the Crown Grill again.

 

 

We were in the mid ship dining room on deck 6. We found service for a table for 2 to be good. Though we ate at 5 when the dining room opened. Have noticed that service drops off as more tables in a servers area get filled. Here on Discovery for example when we first sit down service is good and quick, but there are 2 large tables in our area. Once they fill, service slows down tremendously. Appears to be too few providing service in the MDR once all tables in an area is filled. Pretty much one waiter doing everything instead of the old primary and asset waiter system.

[MissP22]

47 minutes ago, bmc alabama said:

also CATS was bad, I mean really, really bad...).

Don't they charge extra to see that show?

[Guest ldtr]

3 hours ago, bmc alabama said:

Quick note on the buffet. We were on Crown last year and just off Caribbean last month.  Before these two, our two prior cruises (pre-COVID in 2019) were both on the Regal.  We found that the Regal buffet was infinitely superior to that of either the Crown or Caribbean.  Some of this may be due to the post-COVID that everyone is mentioning, but on the Royal Class ships, the buffet is SO much larger, I think it lends itself to more selection.

 

As to RCCL (from a prior comment), we also sailed Oasis and Independence last year.  Indy was probably the worst cruise we've been on.  Also, we were surprised that we were bored on the Oasis (we're not really rock wall/zip line/ice skating people - also CATS was bad, I mean really, really bad...).  But the included food selection was very limited, we felt on RCCL and we found, at least on those 2 ships, that for some reason about half of the offerings in the Windjammer were Indian cuisine, which I suppose is great if you like Indian cuisine, but it wasn't for us.  We also sailed Carnival Mardi Gras and actually liked it much, much better.

 

And lastly, if you are comparing food, I would say that it is really hard to beat Virgin Voyages.

CATS was bad even on broadway.

[Thrak]

4 hours ago, bmc alabama said:

Quick note on the buffet. We were on Crown last year and just off Caribbean last month.  Before these two, our two prior cruises (pre-COVID in 2019) were both on the Regal.  We found that the Regal buffet was infinitely superior to that of either the Crown or Caribbean.  Some of this may be due to the post-COVID that everyone is mentioning, but on the Royal Class ships, the buffet is SO much larger, I think it lends itself to more selection.

 

 

We sailed Royal Princess last May. Yes, the buffet was way larger than on the Grand Class ships but the buffet was mostly empty. There was very little food available and the vast majority of the buffet area had nothing to offer. It was actually the worst buffet we have ever seen on a Princess ship. Granted, the sip was sailing maybe half full but it was weird to go to this gigantic buffet and find that it was mostly just a bunch of empty places where food "could" have been.

[MISTER 67]

On 1/10/2023 at 12:54 PM, Bobbiegentry said:

Interesting comparisons. Thanks for taking the time to do this. 
We’ve been considering doing exactly what you are doing but in reverse. 
Long time elite on Princess but have never set foot on a HAL ship. 
Maybe in ‘24 or ‘25. 

We've been on 24 HAL cruises and 22 Princess cruises, this isn't just me but if you go to the HAL boards you will see a lot of disgruntled people who aren't happy with HAL. The product now is pretty bad due to excessive cutbacks from the food to the entertainment, even the service has been cut back with only once a day cabin service. The latest news is that Lincoln Center Stage will no longer be a part of HAL cruises. We sailed on the Nieuw Amsterdam last month and it was our worst HAL cruise, my recommendation is to stay with Princess or another line. We have been very happy with Celebrity and we also had 2 great Princess cruises in late 2021 when we started cruising again after no cruises for 2 years due to Covid.

[Guest ldtr]

30 minutes ago, Thrak said:

 

We sailed Royal Princess last May. Yes, the buffet was way larger than on the Grand Class ships but the buffet was mostly empty. There was very little food available and the vast majority of the buffet area had nothing to offer. It was actually the worst buffet we have ever seen on a Princess ship. Granted, the sip was sailing maybe half full but it was weird to go to this gigantic buffet and find that it was mostly just a bunch of empty places where food "could" have been.

Last spring they were not using most of the buffet space even on the Royal Class, but loading was still pretty low back them  For example Majestic only had one ally out of 3 open.

 

On recent cruises on Discovery buffet has been fully open and selection is very good.

[Guest ldtr]

19 minutes ago, MISTER 67 said:

We've been on 24 HAL cruises and 22 Princess cruises, this isn't just me but if you go to the HAL boards you will see a lot of disgruntled people who aren't happy with HAL. The product now is pretty bad due to excessive cutbacks from the food to the entertainment, even the service has been cut back with only once a day cabin service. The latest news is that Lincoln Center Stage will no longer be a part of HAL cruises. We sailed on the Nieuw Amsterdam last month and it was our worst HAL cruise, my recommendation is to stay with Princess or another line. We have been very happy with Celebrity and we also had 2 great Princess cruises in late 2021 when we started cruising again after no cruises for 2 years due to Covid.

Funny thing is that we found food in our recent HAL cruises to be excellent, pretty much back to pre covid level.  Better that we have seen on recent cruises on Princess.

 

Currently on Discovery Princess and they also have largely returned to pre covid level, though Hals MDR operations are a lot smoother.

 

 Will agree that HAL needs changes on their entertainment. But even there have seen signs that they are making changes there adding singing back into shows  instead of just dancing. Also there seems to be uptick with CD staff activities compared to this summer.

 

Complaints on Cruise Critic are the equivalent to blood in the water for sharks. Any complaint, no matter how trivial, is sufficient to set of a frenzy of seeing who can complain more.

[Ken the cruiser]

2 minutes ago, ldtr said:

Will agree that HAL needs changes on their entertainment. But even there have seen signs that they are making changes there adding singing back into shows  instead of just dancing. Also there seems to be uptick with CD staff activities compared to this summer.

 

Complaints on Cruise Critic are the equivalent to blood in the water for sharks. Any complaint, no matter how trivial, is sufficient to set of a frenzy of seeing who can complain more.

That would be a big positive for us. We left HAL back in 2018, except for a quick return on a 40-day B2B Australia circumnavigation In-Depth EXC cruise on the Maasdam in Oct 2019 where they offered 4-6 lectures on sea days, great production and guest entertainment in the main theater every night as well as game shows and an awesome itinerary!

 

But their In-Depth EXC program was short-lived, and the Music Walk "lounge-type" musical atmosphere became their entertainment strategy. If they decide to ever get back to wanting to compete with Princess and Celebrity again, they need to (1) start offering quality production shows and guest entertainers in their main theater every night again and (2) start offering more fun things to do in the evening like having game shows every night. If they start doing that, we'll definitely give them a try again, especially since we're already 4 star and get free laundry!! 😃

[Skai]

6 hours ago, dmcfad2 said:

We will probably try the other dining room. Thanks.

 

In our experience, dining for two, usually goes much quicker.

 

We've grown to accept that the MDR is often a protracted event, but 2 1/2 hrs. is ridiculous.  Even in efficiently run times, our experience has been that shared tables make the MDR dinner service take much longer.  One is often dependent on how much time the other diners take to order their courses, and how long they take to finish each course.

 

While there are occasions that we enjoy meeting and conversing with new table-mates; if we're looking for a more expedient MDR dinner service; we will opt to wait for a table-for-two (if not immediately available).  Many a time, we've been forced to skip dessert at a shared table when wanting to catch a particular showtime.

[dmcfad2]

2 hours ago, MISTER 67 said:

We've been on 24 HAL cruises and 22 Princess cruises, this isn't just me but if you go to the HAL boards you will see a lot of disgruntled people who aren't happy with HAL. The product now is pretty bad due to excessive cutbacks from the food to the entertainment, even the service has been cut back with only once a day cabin service. The latest news is that Lincoln Center Stage will no longer be a part of HAL cruises. We sailed on the Nieuw Amsterdam last month and it was our worst HAL cruise, my recommendation is to stay with Princess or another line. We have been very happy with Celebrity and we also had 2 great Princess cruises in late 2021 when we started cruising again after no cruises for 2 years due to Covid.

As a very seasoned HAL cruiser, I agree with what you are saying. We have been very disappointed in our last 3 cruises with them. The cost cutting is so evident. If one was new to HAL, they might not notice, but we have sailed with them for many years and things have really changed! I have really enjoyed this Princess cruise so far, even with the long dining experience in the MDR last night. I would also like to try Celebrity. Thanks for your comment.

[2 cruises a year]

9 hours ago, SargassoPirate said:

"Holland buffets have better selections and they serve you instead of everybody touching the utensils to feed themselves."

 

i'm glad Princess has relaxed and gone back to self serve buffets.  I see no problem with touching ladles that someone else has touched since I don't stick my fingers in my mouth or touch my food after going through the buffet without sanitizing my hands after touching common use surfaces.

 

A little common sense goes a long way toward keeping oneself healthy.

I was appalled when I first read this 😉.  I thought it said ladies.  Silly me.

[MissP22]

7 hours ago, Skai said:

In our experience, dining for two, usually goes much quicker.

Eating with others means you're meal time will only be a fast as the slowest person.

[JoRoy218]

I felt the need to add my two cents re: food and service in MDR and buffet.

We just got off the Regal on Jan 3, probably did about a 50/50 MDR vs buffet.

We had no issues at all with meals or service in MDR, in fact, some of the same items we’ve had in MDR on past cruises were much improved this time around. Wait staff was perfect, surprised at short wait time between courses. 

Buffet on Regal has always offered a vast array of food types and this was no exception. The fresh carved meat was always nicely done and we especially enjoyed the sushi selection one lunch (unexpected), though the sushi may have been a bit rice-heavy.  We did make reservations one evening (6:30) and waited, along with others, for about 20 min before seated. But on a fully booked ship like this, perhaps not a bad wait. 

[BamaVol]

I have made MDR reservations for 6:00 PM on our upcoming Caribbean Princess cruise.  It sounds like 6:00 PM may not be compatible with a 7:30 start time for a show.  I have requested a 2 top each night and in the Palm, which is the aft MDR. We will probably order a glass of wine to start and won’t order dessert or linger over a cup of “coffee”.  I’m a quick eater but Mrs BV doesn’t usually finish an entree and might not appear to be finished.  Should I change the reservations to an earlier time?

[MissP22]

2 minutes ago, BamaVol said:

I have made MDR reservations for 6:00 PM on our upcoming Caribbean Princess cruise.  It sounds like 6:00 PM may not be compatible with a 7:30 start time for a show.  I have requested a 2 top each night and in the Palm, which is the aft MDR. We will probably order a glass of wine to start and won’t order dessert or linger over a cup of “coffee”.  I’m a quick eater but Mrs BV doesn’t usually finish an entree and might not appear to be finished.  Should I change the reservations to an earlier time?

You've selected a busy time to arrive at the DR so it's a popular production show you choice of seating in the show lounge will probably be limited.

Maybe the later show would be a better choice or arrive earlier at the DR. 

[PMGS247]

20 hours ago, MissP22 said:

Don't they charge extra to see that show?

 

No, the broadway shows on RCCL are included but you do have to reserve tickets in advance, which can be like trying to secure difficult concert tickets for some events, but I don't think that' the case for CATS since it's so unpopular.  They really need to drop it.