Dear John Padgett

[CruiseCrabs]

Mr. Padgett, as a process shareholder and a Princess loyalist, I regret to inform you that your rein has only devalued the brand by consistently disappointing your loyal customers and new bookings in equal measures. Your inability to project plan in an effective way to not disappoint booked guests and turn Princess into a weird money grab that often doesn’t make sense embarrassing and I can no longer steer people to the brand. I’m not sure which bookings will hold or if your cancellations mark an opportunity to mark up booking fees. 
 

You made the launch of the Sun a nighmare that is having a sequel with the Star. What is next? Before you tank shares to pandemic levels, consider the fact that the Sun has not delivered on most of its promises, something that has never been seen before. 
 

if you are thinking of adjusting price points on premiere and plus again. Don’t. You don’t get pricing because your cruises are comped and you aren’t asking the right people questions. You may not care about your aging Eleites but your Gen X customers who are at or near Elite are not amused… and can book other cruises who deliver more for less.please step down and let a mindful person explore the brand in its totality and return the brand to its unique niche without sky coasters that overlook the Sanctuary and agility courses that are I’ll conceived. Princess is not a family brand. It is an escape from the day-to-day.

 

The Sun delay combined with where the price points are for alternative bookings (versus the competition) really took a toll today and I’m finally fed up.

Edited April 20 by CruiseCrabs
Typo

[ldubs]

What cruise lines deliver more for less?   

 

I'm pretty happy with Princess and continue to book new cruises with them. I'm not worried about an effort to appeal to families or a younger crowd.  To be sure I have not been on the Sun Princess so can only acknowledge you had an awful experience.  

[MsSoCalCruiser]

I’m sorry you’re having a bad day. 

[memoak]

As far as I know John Padgett works for Carnival not Princess are you lost ?

[ldubs]

8 minutes ago, memoak said:

As far as I know John Padgett works for Carnival not Princess are you lost ?

 

Princess is part of the Carnival Corporation.  John Padgett is listed on the Carnival Corporation's website as the current president of Princess.  So I would say the OP is not lost.   

[jwattle]

Mr. Padgett,

As a Princess shareholder, T/A and frequent paying guest on many cruiselines (which is a part of my business), I do find that Princess is doing well to separate herself from the others with the new Sun. Admittedly, the launch was flawed, and there are some kinks to iron out, but I'm optimistic that these can be ironed out, especially as you have delayed the launch of the Star. My guess is that this was done to fix some of the issues that have been noted on the Sun.

I know that things aren't perfect in any business; I don't look at anything as rainbow glitter and hearts and flowers, but an opportunity for improvement. Thinking of the course that Princess is taking, it appears that you are trying to appeal to families while giving more distinction to those who purchase suites as well, which are both good business moves.

Thank you for the forward-thinking and changes on the fly.

Edited April 20 by jwattle

[startedwithamouse]

"i regret to inform you"?

 

Princess IS a family brand - our family loves cruising Princess.  There's families who don't want all the roller coasters and mall type cruise ships. Ours is one of them. 

 

What happens when the older elites pass in 20 or so years?  Princess needs new business. They spend more money, YOLO, instead of the penny pinchers. 

 

We like Plus for our family because there's no surprises what our final bill will be. 

 

They're doing quite well in our opinion. 

[Gail & Dan]

6 hours ago, jwattle said:

Mr. Padgett,

As a Princess shareholder, T/A and frequent paying guest on many cruiselines (which is a part of my business), I do find that Princess is doing well to separate herself from the others with the new Sun. Admittedly, the launch was flawed, and there are some kinks to iron out, but I'm optimistic that these can be ironed out, especially as you have delayed the launch of the Star. My guess is that this was done to fix some of the issues that have been noted on the Sun.

I know that things aren't perfect in any business; I don't look at anything as rainbow glitter and hearts and flowers, but an opportunity for improvement. Thinking of the course that Princess is taking, it appears that you are trying to appeal to families while giving more distinction to those who purchase suites as well, which are both good business moves.

Thank you for the forward-thinking and changes on the fly.

with the casino full time smoking , the dining and several other missteps there going backwards in my mind ? 

[FLAlaska]

Well….alrighty then. 

[Coral]

I had issues with Princess before Padgett arrived so I won't comment on that.

 

Princess can't be blamed with the delay in the Sun Princess. The ship yard Fincantieri has been plagued with staffing challenges, supply chain and construction issues which has affected several lines, not just Princess. Read the news, it is all out there. This is a ship yard issue, not a cruise line issue.

 

Remember - Princess (or any cruise line) doesn't take possession of the ship until the ship yard is done with it. Thus, some of the things they would like to add can't be done until possession is taken. Thus the delays in the Sun Princess experience. I have no doubt they wish they could have taken possession sooner.

 

I am not a Princess cheerleader. I have been critical of Princess. I just can't blame them for the roll out of the Sun Princess and the delay in the Star Princess.

 

 

[Cruise Raider]

I was a huge fan of Celebrity and only cruised with Princess because they placed a ship in our home port of San Francisco.  After the restart from CoVid, I completely changed my opinions of what I loved about cruising.  We had a Celebrity cruise booked and paid in full for a few years before it finally came to fruition last year.  Since we were already down in Los Angeles, we decided to book a side by side with our celebrity cruise followed by hopping terminals to cruise on Princess next.  The differences were stark!  We didn’t have a bad time on Celebrity, it just wasn’t Princess, which we’ve grown to love.  We both said, “now we’re home” when having our first drink up at Bellinis.  
I did recently post a wish list for Princess on this forum and do have a complaint now and again, but our experiences since July 2021 have won us over and we now consider Princess cruises over all other lines.  Increased costs may leave our travel budget short so, we may not be able to cruise as often but everything else in our daily cost of living has gone up as well.  I am a bit of a Princess cheerleader .. maybe more than a bit.  But, I’m also not an apologist.  There will never be another Jan Schwartz so JP had a very large pair of shoes to fill.  I don’t think he’s done everything perfectly but also don’t blame him for much of the cost cutting, the changing cruise environment, the roll out of the Sun or many other issues that pop up from time to time.  I think inflation has hit every cruise line and the CoVid shut down and the difficult recovery has really hit the cruise lines hard.  
Princess is still filling their ships to max capacity and think they have a solid product for all ages.  
 

Edited April 20 by Cruise Raider

[knbcruisers]

Please tell me the line where I can get "more for less".... because I can't find it.     Princess has been very good to DH and I, and has always provided a lot of value for the price.  I always comparison shop the major lines when booking. I currently have deposit on  NCL Bliss Mexican Riviera with their various FAS promotions and that's the closest I have come to a match for Princess with Plus. Go check the price on a RCL cruise.  We are taking DD and her family this July on the Freedom, chosen for the higher level of kid targeted activities.   I would never pay what I am for just DH and I....thankfully I booked over 12 month out as the price has only escalated since then. 
Princess has changed since our first sail on the Golden, but all of cruising has, and we still feel that "I am home" as we step on to the ship.

 

[TRLD]

While Princess is an adult focused line, as is HAL and Celebrity. Adult focused does not mean adult only and Princess has had families on board during school holidays for many years.

 

They certainly need to do something to lower the average age of board as their demographics have tended to be getting older over time.

 

As people have mentioned it is certainly the best value among its competition.

[Yo Howdy]

For those of you who are attacking the original poster, I am in a similar situation apparently. My cruise on the Star was cancelled. When I went to book a substantially similar cruise on the Sun...same number of days and same ports, the cost is approximately $4,000.00 more than what I had booked for. No option to change my booking to another ship or anything, just straight cancellation and an expectation to pay an extra $4,000.00 apparently. I was offered and have a $100.00 future cruise credit which is in my account as per the cancellation e-mail I received.
I don't think that is very satisfactory.

[PrincessLuver]

5 hours ago, Gail & Dan said:

with the casino full time smoking , the dining and several other missteps there going backwards in my mind ? 

 

This really needs to change and Princess should join the 21st century regarding smoking and second hand smoke.  

 

Celebrity, MSC, Holland America Virgin and Royal Caribbean Oasis class ships seem to manage just fine with no smoking in their casinos.  Also, a number of luxury lines allow no smoking anywhere in doors.

[kywildcatfanone]

As much as I complain about benefit cuts and such on Princess, it's still a better overall value for the money than other cruise lines.

[JillK]

35 minutes ago, Yo Howdy said:

For those of you who are attacking the original poster, I am in a similar situation apparently. My cruise on the Star was cancelled. When I went to book a substantially similar cruise on the Sun...same number of days and same ports, the cost is approximately $4,000.00 more than what I had booked for. No option to change my booking to another ship or anything, just straight cancellation and an expectation to pay an extra $4,000.00 apparently. I was offered and have a $100.00 future cruise credit which is in my account as per the cancellation e-mail I received.
I don't think that is very satisfactory.

 

Hi there.

 

For what it's worth, this isn't exclusive to Princess. 

 

I had two bookings with NCL cancelled by the cruise line over the past three months alone. The first booking was for fleet redeployment and the second booking (what we had booked after the first cancellation) was for a full ship charter.

 

In both cases I received an email that the cruise was cancelled, my deposit would be returned to original form of payment within 45 days and an offer of 10% off the base fare for a future booking, if I book and cruise within 18 months.  

 

Given the shifting winds of their deployment schedule, I decided to forgo the 10% discount and booked the Sun Princess instead.

 

I hope that you are able to find another suitable cruise for your vacation, even if like me, you end up looking at other lines. 

Edited April 20 by JillK

[Yo Howdy]

4 minutes ago, JillK said:

 

Hi there.

 

For what it's worth, this isn't exclusive to Princess. 

 

I had two bookings with NCL cancelled by the cruise line over the past three months alone. The first booking was for fleet redeployment and the second booking (what we had booked after the first cancellation) was for a full ship charter.

 

In both cases I received an email that the cruise was cancelled, my deposit would be returned to original form of payment within 45 days and an offer of 10% off the base fare for a future booking, if I book and cruise within 18 months.  

 

Given the shifting winds of their deployment schedule, I decided to forgo the 10% discount and booked the Sun Princess instead.

 

I hope that you are able to find another suitable cruise for your vacation, even if like me, you end up looking at other lines. 

I understand that these things happen, but we were offered no discount on a rebooking other than $100.00. 10% would have softened the blow.

[memoak]

Just now, Yo Howdy said:

For those of you who are attacking the original poster, I am in a similar situation apparently. My cruise on the Star was cancelled. When I went to book a substantially similar cruise on the Sun...same number of days and same ports, the cost is approximately $4,000.00 more than what I had booked for. No option to change my booking to another ship or anything, just straight cancellation and an expectation to pay an extra $4,000.00 apparently. I was offered and have a $100.00 future cruise credit which is in my account as per the cancellation e-mail I received.
I don't think that is very satisfactory.

Once again never ever book the first few months on any new ship. There are almost always delays in production and even after sailing there are issues for at least 1-2 months. Cruise lines should probably not book new ships so far in advance 

[Yo Howdy]

34 minutes ago, memoak said:

Once again never ever book the first few months on any new ship. There are almost always delays in production and even after sailing there are issues for at least 1-2 months. Cruise lines should probably not book new ships so far in advance 

Yes, agreed.

[jwattle]

6 hours ago, Gail & Dan said:

with the casino full time smoking , the dining and several other missteps there going backwards in my mind ? 

Isn't it great? We can all have different opinions and still be here as a group😄

[MacMadame]

8 hours ago, startedwithamouse said:

What happens when the older elites pass in 20 or so years?  

The younger generation will be 20 years older and sailing on Princess. 😉 

 

5 hours ago, Coral said:

I am not a Princess cheerleader. I have been critical of Princess. I just can't blame them for the roll out of the Sun Princess and the delay in the Star Princess.

I can. Once they knew that they wouldn't get the ship in time to get more of the amenities up and running, they should have canceled the first couple of sailings. Sailing within a week of getting the ship from the shipyard is crazy IMO.

The delay of the Star Princess is another matter. And Princess seems to be handling this much better by canceling those sailings much farther out rather than waiting until the last minute and canceling when people were on their way to the ship. 

[Kay S]

Question since I have not been keeping up.  The Sun casino has no smoke-free sections? 

[startedwithamouse]

5 hours ago, MacMadame said:

The younger generation will be 20 years older and sailing on Princess. 😉 

 

 

Bingo!  That's why Princess is focusing on these customers. The future.

[lahlah57]

Dear Mr Padgett can I please get a chocolate or two on my pillow at night or if not maybe a bar of soap for the shower.....thank you, Your ever loyal sailing customer or just as loyal as far as my dollar will take me this time. Celebrity is pretty nice though.I am sorry but I will not sail carnival but.........