Open letter to Princess President John Padgett

[Kruzkrazy]

Mr. Padgett:
As a longtime Carnival stockholder and elite Princess cruiser with nearly 500 days at sea with your line, I fully understand that your ships have recently been idle for two years, making no money and piling on enormous debt. You needed to make changes. I get this. If you believe nothing else I write, you can believe that.
That said, I must convey to you my enormous disappointment in Princess after a recent 10-day cruise I took with my wife. In fact, Princess now seems an entirely different cruise line, and not for the better.
It all began weeks before we even boarded the Crown Princess, when our Medallions arrived in the mail. The shortcomings of this ill-conceived piece of technological rubbish have been well-documented in this forum, and I'll not waste my time and yours by rehashing all that. I'll just say that you would have done well to do some meaningful beta testing before foisting it on your paying customers. Frankly, it's an insult to us. In fairness, however, it does make a nice refigerator magnet, as another contributor to Cruise Critic has noted. Enough said about that.
Now, to embarkation day at the San Pedro cruise terminal in California. There was, in theory, a separate check-in line for elite passengers, as always. But the Princess employee was interested only in maintaining lines of equal length, and was unaware that the elite line should have been much shorter, benefitting your most loyal customers. The sign saying so was unmistakable. Clearly, she was ill-trained for her job.
Some other problems regarding elite passengers:
-- We always received a $35-per-person onboard credit. That is now gone.
-- No special toiletries in the bathroom, as in the past.
-- No more free internet, just a discount on the regular package. Gee, thanks a lot.
It is painfully clear, Mr. Padgett, that you no longer want our business. What you do want is a younger crowd that will accept your rampant nickel-and-diming without complaint. New passengers have no way of knowing what they are now missing.Your most loyal, longtime customers have become just another burden to be disposed of.
But these problems are not the end. With no corner left uncut, you have degraded the cruising experience in other ways as well:
 -- MDR food quality onboard has taken a huge hit. Portions are smaller. I almost needed a chain saw to cut my veal scaloppine. In Crown Grill, same thing. Our traveling companions ordered "tiger prawns" that turned out to be ordinary shrimp, barely an inch long. Steaks came with no sauces offered.
-- Dine My Way is a chaotic mess. What was wrong with two MDR seatings at set times?
-- You have removed the club chairs from all non-suite cabins. Why? Is it too expensive to maintain and clean them? Or have you simply cut your staff to the point that you now have no one to do it?
-- There are no longer any trash receptacles at the elevator stops. They used to be placed at every one, on all floors. No staffers to empty them, eh?
-- No padded loungers on the exterior promenade deck. Just hard, uncomfortable, upright wooden chairs. It used to be a pleasure to sit out there and just watch the ocean go by on a beautiful day. What's the matter, Mr. Padgett? Oh, right. I get it. You don't want me just having a lazy day relaxing outside. You want me inside, drinking, gambling and spending money in your overpriced shops.
-- No more chocolates on the pillows at night. Is this a small thing? You bet. Is it too small to complain about? Not at all, because it gives a perfect insight into your cut-everything-to-the-bone mindset. If the repeat passengers miss it, too bad. You don't want us anyway. The newbies will never know that the chocolates used to be there. As I said, I understand that you're in a financial hole now. But is saving money on an item as small as this worth deliberately antagonizing your biggest fans?
-- The automatic, even-though-I-don't-want-them floor-level night lights that went on in the middle of the  night every time I stepped out of bed. Or even if my sheet dangled over the side. And  the big  one outside the bathroom that awakened my wife every time.  What, we're such children that you can't trust us to get to the toilet without your help?
-- Last, but certainly not least, here's an item I just can't comprehend: An electronic panel outside my cabin door where I'm supposed to indicate whether I want my cabin serviced or just don't want to be disturbed. Trouble is, I'm standing right there with my medallion, which keeps unlocking the door and forcing me to keep reprogramming my preference, which never seems to work. My cabin steward finally told me to forget about it; nobody else could get it to work either. I mean, really, sir, what was wrong with the old-fashioned cardboard signs we'd hang on the door handle as we left the cabin? Are you so maniacally committed to electronics that you must simply have them everywhere, even when they make no sense whatever?
In short, Mr. Padgett, you win. You are rid of my wife and me. We will now take our money, and our combined 1,000 days at sea, and go where we can get a little appreciation.
There. Happy now?
KK

[cruzsnooze]

Your points may be valid but the letter to long. 

[Guest ldtr]

1 hour ago, cruzsnooze said:

Your points may be valid but the letter to long. 

more like a rant than a serious letter collecting a whole diatribe of things some of which occured before Padgett was in charge.

 

The kind of letter that a customer service department as not worth spending time on, even with the cruise history.

Edited January 20, 2023 by ldtr

[waltd]

Hope you feel better.   

[Steelers36]

58 minutes ago, Kruzkrazy said:

Mr. Padgett:
As a longtime Carnival stockholder and elite Princess cruiser with nearly 500 days at sea with your line, I fully understand that your ships have recently been idle for two years, making no money and piling on enormous debt. You needed to make changes. I get this. If you believe nothing else I write, you can believe that.
That said, I must convey to you my enormous disappointment in Princess after a recent 10-day cruise I took with my wife. In fact, Princess now seems an entirely different cruise line, and not for the better.
It all began weeks before we even boarded the Crown Princess, when our Medallions arrived in the mail. The shortcomings of this ill-conceived piece of technological rubbish have been well-documented in this forum, and I'll not waste my time and yours by rehashing all that. I'll just say that you would have done well to do some meaningful beta testing before foisting it on your paying customers. Frankly, it's an insult to us. In fairness, however, it does make a nice refigerator magnet, as another contributor to Cruise Critic has noted. Enough said about that.
Now, to embarkation day at the San Pedro cruise terminal in California. There was, in theory, a separate check-in line for elite passengers, as always. But the Princess employee was interested only in maintaining lines of equal length, and was unaware that the elite line should have been much shorter, benefitting your most loyal customers. The sign saying so was unmistakable. Clearly, she was ill-trained for her job.
Some other problems regarding elite passengers:
-- We always received a $35-per-person onboard credit. That is now gone.
-- No special toiletries in the bathroom, as in the past.
-- No more free internet, just a discount on the regular package. Gee, thanks a lot.
It is painfully clear, Mr. Padgett, that you no longer want our business. What you do want is a younger crowd that will accept your rampant nickel-and-diming without complaint. New passengers have no way of knowing what they are now missing.Your most loyal, longtime customers have become just another burden to be disposed of.
But these problems are not the end. With no corner left uncut, you have degraded the cruising experience in other ways as well:
 -- MDR food quality onboard has taken a huge hit. Portions are smaller. I almost needed a chain saw to cut my veal scaloppine. In Crown Grill, same thing. Our traveling companions ordered "tiger prawns" that turned out to be ordinary shrimp, barely an inch long. Steaks came with no sauces offered.
-- Dine My Way is a chaotic mess. What was wrong with two MDR seatings at set times?
-- You have removed the club chairs from all non-suite cabins. Why? Is it too expensive to maintain and clean them? Or have you simply cut your staff to the point that you now have no one to do it?
-- There are no longer any trash receptacles at the elevator stops. They used to be placed at every one, on all floors. No staffers to empty them, eh?
-- No padded loungers on the exterior promenade deck. Just hard, uncomfortable, upright wooden chairs. It used to be a pleasure to sit out there and just watch the ocean go by on a beautiful day. What's the matter, Mr. Padgett? Oh, right. I get it. You don't want me just having a lazy day relaxing outside. You want me inside, drinking, gambling and spending money in your overpriced shops.
-- No more chocolates on the pillows at night. Is this a small thing? You bet. Is it too small to complain about? Not at all, because it gives a perfect insight into your cut-everything-to-the-bone mindset. If the repeat passengers miss it, too bad. You don't want us anyway. The newbies will never know that the chocolates used to be there. As I said, I understand that you're in a financial hole now. But is saving money on an item as small as this worth deliberately antagonizing your biggest fans?
-- The automatic, even-though-I-don't-want-them floor-level night lights that went on in the middle of the  night every time I stepped out of bed. Or even if my sheet dangled over the side. And  the big  one outside the bathroom that awakened my wife every time.  What, we're such children that you can't trust us to get to the toilet without your help?
-- Last, but certainly not least, here's an item I just can't comprehend: An electronic panel outside my cabin door where I'm supposed to indicate whether I want my cabin serviced or just don't want to be disturbed. Trouble is, I'm standing right there with my medallion, which keeps unlocking the door and forcing me to keep reprogramming my preference, which never seems to work. My cabin steward finally told me to forget about it; nobody else could get it to work either. I mean, really, sir, what was wrong with the old-fashioned cardboard signs we'd hang on the door handle as we left the cabin? Are you so maniacally committed to electronics that you must simply have them everywhere, even when they make no sense whatever?
In short, Mr. Padgett, you win. You are rid of my wife and me. We will now take our money, and our combined 1,000 days at sea, and go where we can get a little appreciation.
There. Happy now?
KK

 

You have conflated the physical Medallion with the (formerly) Medallion App (now Princess App).  The Medallion opens cabin door and identifies who you are to ship personnel.  In the latter capacity it serves as a vehicle to charge your cabin account for purchases.  There are no issues with those functions and were in place before the Princess App.

 

The change to MedallionNet packages with UNLIMITED internet and a 50% discount from LIMITED internet came under Jan Swartz's watch and not J-P's.

 

[Over from NZ]

10 minutes ago, ldtr said:

more like a rant than a serious letter collecting a whole diatribe of things some of which occured before Padgett was in charge.

 

The kind of letter that a customer service department as not worth spending time on, even with the cruise history.

Yes, and one that comes across as rather self-entitled. Which is a pity.. because there were some points in there worthy of consideration. But that's all lost in the rant. 

[Guest ldtr]

1 hour ago, Steelers36 said:

 

You have conflated the physical Medallion with the (formerly) Medallion App (now Princess App).  The Medallion opens cabin door and identifies who you are to ship personnel.  In the latter capacity it serves as a vehicle to charge your cabin account for purchases.  There are no issues with those functions and were in place before the Princess App.

 

The change to MedallionNet packages with UNLIMITED internet and a 50% discount from LIMITED internet came under Jan Swartz's watch and not J-P's.

 

so was the chair removal and for that matter the program to design and implement medallion.

 

Last year in the early says of the restart there were problems with medallion, but in recent cruises many seem to be using it and finding it beneficial. A lot seem to be using the ordering function, quite a few are using the function for locating other members of their group. I find that I miss the functionality when I go on other cruise lines. 

 

 low and behold based upon the cabin door panels that i see as i walk down the hallways, many are even able to figure out which spots to press to turn the red bar and green bars off and on. for privacy or to make up the room.

Edited January 20, 2023 by ldtr

[dockman]

Letter will likely end up in the circular file.

[SargassoPirate]

As one of the Elite old-timers, I can see the OP's points and feel his/her frustration with the changes before and after Covid.  However, changes are happening across the cruise industry and one can either adapt, or quit cruising.  There are many ships and lines to choose from. And there are many ways to adapt to changes over which we have no control.

 

Don't like the nightlights with the sensors?  Cover the sensor with some painters tape.

 

No club chairs in the cabin?  I bought a  fold-up camp chair at Wally World before my most recent cruise out of Fort L.  When I wanted to sit somewhere besides the bed, I had a chair.  Carried it on at embarkation and donated it to the crew at the end.

 

Don't like the MDR food portions and the disorganization?  I ate my dinners in the Horizon Court or just enjoyed the spread at the Elite lounge.  Both venues had good food, were not as noisy, took up less time, and I could walk in anytime and my table was ready with attentive staff nearby if I needed anything.

 

Don't like the Medallion app?  Don't use it.  The servers will soon recognize you and take your drink orders, especially if you greet them with a smile and some conversation.

 

Dollar for dollar, cruising is a great way to travel and any day at sea beats any day at the office.

 

 

 

 

Edited January 20, 2023 by SargassoPirate

[MissP22]

With a letter that long listing so many complaints it'll get filed ASAP.

Let us know his response. 

[leck57]

Yes, the letter was long and in some cases factually incorrect, but overall the OP has a point about a general drop off in standards. If people with over 500 days write to Head Office and let them know that in their opinion Princess isn't as good as previous, then you would hope someone will take notice. Moreso if a number of people complain.  

[SargassoPirate]

1 hour ago, leck57 said:

Yes, the letter was long and in some cases factually incorrect, but overall the OP has a point about a general drop off in standards. If people with over 500 days write to Head Office and let them know that in their opinion Princess isn't as good as previous, then you would hope someone will take notice. Moreso if a number of people complain.  

I wonder which would get more traction, a letter to the head office or comments on the end of cruise evaluation?

[PrincessLuver]

We always travel in Suites or Reserved Class Mini-Suites and just do not really notice the minimalistic changes mentioned.  Almost all travel programs have adjusted their loyalty rewards downward so Princess is not different.  We just do not want them to tamper with the OBC's they offer.

[Steelers36]

29 minutes ago, PrincessLuver said:

We always travel in Suites or Reserved Class Mini-Suites and just do not really notice the minimalistic changes mentioned.  Almost all travel programs have adjusted their loyalty rewards downward so Princess is not different.  We just do not want them to tamper with the OBC's they offer.

No offense intended at all here, but if we were able to cruise exclusively in the high-end staterooms, I would be less concerned by the relatively small OBC (to my overall cost) than I would be with the quality of food, drink, condition of ship and other amenities.

[DCThunder]

As the young'ins would say:  TL;DR.

 

First rule of emails:  If you're tired, hungry, or angry, don't press SEND on an email you've written for at least an hour.

Edited January 20, 2023 by DCThunder

[PrincessLuver]

23 minutes ago, Steelers36 said:

No offense intended at all here, but if we were able to cruise exclusively in the high-end staterooms, I would be less concerned by the relatively small OBC (to my overall cost) than I would be with the quality of food, drink, condition of ship and other amenities.

 

Non taken.  I guess it all depends on how many OBC's you get or can get for each cruise.  However, we just do not see a major deterioration in Princess' product.  For us the sky is not falling.

[sonomaphil]

You kids get off my lawn!  Change is inevitable, embrace it.  

Edited January 20, 2023 by sonomaphil

[dog]

Oh brother! Time to change cruise lines OP.

I did not experience most of these issues for my last two cruises in the past year.

 So sorry for you.

[Guest ldtr]

4 hours ago, leck57 said:

Yes, the letter was long and in some cases factually incorrect, but overall the OP has a point about a general drop off in standards. If people with over 500 days write to Head Office and let them know that in their opinion Princess isn't as good as previous, then you would hope someone will take notice. Moreso if a number of people complain.  

Question is overall not as good or merely changed. Most cruise lines are not as good as 20 years ago. On recent cruiseds things seem to be getting g back to how they were pre covid (along with the numbers onboard).

 

The really funny things is a number of things that long time Princess cruisers (we have several hundred cruise days ourselves) seem to complain about the most are either trivial to us or we consider to be improvements.

 

Embarkation and disembarkation seem to go considerably faster and smoother then in the past.

 

The ability to find other people we are cruising with, place orders anywhere on the ship and some other medallion app functions are clearly improvements

 

We might have lost the longevity obc, but compared to the shareholder, veterans, fcd obc that we get kind of a rounding error.

 

The extras bath items, really who cares.

 

The main items are still there,  the mini bar setup, laundry, etc.

 

People complain about the change from free internet minutes to the 50% discount. We consider the discount to be more valuable then a limited number of minutes that allowed one to connect for maybe 10 minutes a day with enough time to maybe download e-mail. Of course they usually do not mention the other change that was put into place at the time the 10% discount on excursions. That for us more than makes up for the 50% we have to pay for Internet.

 

About the only real item that we consider to be worse than 5 years ago is mdr operations. However I expect that they will work that out over the next year or two.

 

Gotten worse not really just different.

 

One thing about the Mexican cruise like we are on now, is that there are a lot of new cruisers on board (less than 5 cruises). They seem to be embracing medallion and the new features even as a number of long term cruisers act like luddites and merely rant about it.

 

One has to decide if they fit in the direction that cruise lines are taking, but they are changing and will continue to do so.

[Cathygh]

I'm relatively new to Princess but not to cruising. Yes some things could be better but Princess is miles ahead of of another Carnival brand - P&O - which now has no nightly turn down service and the MDR menu is even more limited than Princess. 

[billco]

10 minutes ago, ldtr said:

Question is overall not as good or merely changed. Most cruise lines are not as good as 20 years ago. 

We have sailed Princess 35 times since 2003. We think the experience is better now.

 

We are finishing a 15 day Panama Canal cruise on the NCL Joy. NCL recently raised the gratuity 25% while reducing crew salary and cutting evening turndown. NCL just announced their production shows are too expensive, so they are cutting them. I paid $250 for unlimited internet that doesn’t include streaming.

 

While we have had a great time, we are looking forward to next months cruise on the Discovery Princess where unlimited internet will be included in our plus package and order room service from our app at no charge.

[Guest ldtr]

1 hour ago, billco said:

We have sailed Princess 35 times since 2003. We think the experience is better now.

 

We are finishing a 15 day Panama Canal cruise on the NCL Joy. NCL recently raised the gratuity 25% while reducing crew salary and cutting evening turndown. NCL just announced their production shows are too expensive, so they are cutting them. I paid $250 for unlimited internet that doesn’t include streaming.

 

While we have had a great time, we are looking forward to next months cruise on the Discovery Princess where unlimited internet will be included in our plus package and order room service from our app at no charge.

We on the Discovery now. Entertainment was excellent. The buffet best we have ever seen on a Princess cruise. Dining room can be a bit slow but everything else was top notch.

 

We do not buy any of the packages., but our obc usually pays for most items. In this case $500 for a 7 day cruise.

Edited January 20, 2023 by ldtr

[damiross]

6 hours ago, SargassoPirate said:

No club chairs in the cabin?  I bought a  fold-up camp chair at Wally World before my most recent cruise out of Fort L.  When I wanted to sit somewhere besides the bed, I had a chair.  Carried it on at embarkation and donated it to the crew at the end.

 

I agree with most of what you said.  The point I quoted is wrong, in my opinion.  If a cabin is for two people, there should be two chairs.  The club chair would be nice but in any case, the passenger should not have to bring a chair.  Would you bring a chair to a hotel room?

[memoak]

This is merely a rant and I really hope I do not encounter this person on any of my cruises. Some of us like some of the changes like the night lights. How much difference does a few toiletries matter etc 

[Guest ldtr]

1 hour ago, damiross said:

I agree with most of what you said.  The point I quoted is wrong, in my opinion.  If a cabin is for two people, there should be two chairs.  The club chair would be nice but in any case, the passenger should not have to bring a chair.  Would you bring a chair to a hotel room?

Well if you really need another chair is the room, on Royal class ships you can always bring one of the balcony chairs into the room. Of course with the Royal class some also complain that they are chairs since not enough space on balconies for recliners.

 

We found that with the cabin space in a normal balcony the barrel chairs that they used to have on the Grand Class took up too much space