Is Princess having a Brand/Identity crisis - your thoughts?

[PescadoAmarillo]

3 hours ago, SCX22 said:

 

Outliers don't make a statistic.  AARP released a study about Boomers and technology in 2023.  68% of 50-plus consumers don't think technology is designed with them in mind…

Happy to be an outlier, along with all of our friends. Even my mom was quite adept at using the iPad I got her in her late 80s and 90s. Granted, I provided her technical support from all over the world, but she sure knew how to research the things she needed online. The most difficult app I access is the Princess Medallion app and it’s clear from this forum that’s not age-specific. 

Edited July 17 by PescadoAmarillo

[Aggie83]

3 hours ago, SCX22 said:

 

Given the questions sometimes asked on this very forum, I'm not sure that they do.

So true. 

[PescadoAmarillo]

1 hour ago, SCX22 said:

 

EZAir listened to customers when they shortened the flight dates to 5 days pre/post cruise.  It's now 3 weeks pre/post cruise.  

I didn’t realize they had reversed that bad decision. Thank you for posting that here. 

[shandryl]

2 hours ago, MacMadame said:

people don't read and they don't listen

Turn it down! I can't see 🙈😂

[BlerkOne]

Nobody is irreplaceable and many overvalue themselves. As I said before, Princess can't please everyone. And they know better than to try. Even though the top loyalty level is Elite, Princess isn't an elitist cruise line.

[BlerkOne]

A couple more observations. 150% of statistics are made up. Technology continues to change at an ever increasing rate with more and more disruptions. It is be impossible for most to keep up, and they will become obsolete at an increasing rate. When the networks become notworks there is always paper and pencil and I take comfort knowing I can write in script - a foreign language to many. I don't need Inter or Intra nets to amuse myself. 🙂

[Retired-N-Happy]

3 hours ago, CDNCruiser55 said:

 

A good way for a company to go bankrupt is to ignore it's loyal customer base.

 

That doesn't mean you can't try new things, but losing a loyal customer for a one time cruiser is not a wise business decision.

 

I have been cruising with Princess for 14 years and am Elite status. I like Princess for its casual elegance, for not being a party ship or an amusement park on water yet not being too formal either. That suits my, and my wife's, personality well. I have not yet been on Sun Princess but I have some concerns about the direction it took. I think the changes to the Piazza removing the curved staircases and adding massive digital screens is removing some of that 'elegance' I liked. Adding Park 19 (or at least trying to) is also not a direction I am excited about. Both are, in my opinion, departures from what I like most about Princess. They are small departures so maybe when I get around to trying Sun Princess I won't have any issue with them but if they venture too far down this path I will certainly consider looking at other cruise lines. For now I'll probably stick mostly to Royal class ships.

 

 

Am I to infer that the addition of Park 19 is going to turn the Sphere Class ships into something similar to what is offered on NCL, RCI, MSC or Carnival?

The Sphere Class is built on the same platform as the three Excel Class ships on Carnival, yet the Sphere Class sails with 2000 less passengers.

 

[ldubs]

3 hours ago, CDNCruiser55 said:

 

A good way for a company to go bankrupt is to ignore it's loyal customer base.

 

That doesn't mean you can't try new things, but losing a loyal customer for a one time cruiser is not a wise business decision.

 

I have been cruising with Princess for 14 years and am Elite status. I like Princess for its casual elegance, for not being a party ship or an amusement park on water yet not being too formal either. That suits my, and my wife's, personality well. I have not yet been on Sun Princess but I have some concerns about the direction it took. I think the changes to the Piazza removing the curved staircases and adding massive digital screens is removing some of that 'elegance' I liked. Adding Park 19 (or at least trying to) is also not a direction I am excited about. Both are, in my opinion, departures from what I like most about Princess. They are small departures so maybe when I get around to trying Sun Princess I won't have any issue with them but if they venture too far down this path I will certainly consider looking at other cruise lines. For now I'll probably stick mostly to Royal class ships.

 

 

 Customer retention should be an important metric.  I would add another very important one is new revenue growth.  

 

I agree with just about everything you say you find appealing about Princess.  I am concerned about a departure, mainly in ship design, from those aspects I enjoy so much.  

[BlerkOne]

6 minutes ago, ldubs said:

 

 Customer retention should be an important metric.  I would add another very important one is new revenue growth.  

 

My interpretation - existing customers don't pay for new ships or grow the business. It takes new customers.

[Kay S]

1 hour ago, BlerkOne said:

My interpretation - existing customers don't pay for new ships or grow the business. It takes new customers.

Really?  What do they do with the money they receive right now from existing customers?  "Whoa, we can't use this money to build a new ship.  It comes from an existing customer!" 🙀

[BlerkOne]

6 minutes ago, Kay S said:

Really?  What do they do with the money they receive right now from existing customers?  "Whoa, we can't use this money to build a new ship.  It comes from an existing customer!" 🙀

Even monopolies don't have 100% retention rates, much less over 100%. Ships are paid for over a number of years. More bunks requires more customers. The customers today are paying for the ships delivered yesterday.

[imescaping]

On 7/15/2024 at 9:16 AM, JF - retired RRT said:

We are Elite, so miss the benefits that were removed/scaled down. Our last 2 cruises, the food was very disappointing, our stewards were terrible (even the one when we were in a suite) and the ships have gotten too big.

I would echo that, as pertaining to our last cruise. (We are only platinum, not elite)  I am not giving up because of one pretty awful cruise.  Actually, we had a great time, but it was in spite of, not because of staff and amenities.

 

The main dining room food was mediocre to inedible.  I know food is subjective, but I don't know anyone who prefers, gristly meat, flavorless entrees, gelatinous desserts (that should be creamy)  dry flavorless cakes, grainy cheesecakes. The service in the main dining room with the exception of one night with one specific waiter, was really slow and you could tell they were understaffed to the point the waiters were overwhelmed and just don't care any more. ( I don't blame them but it creates a circular issue, unhappy waiter= unhappy guest=unhappy waiter etc, ) 

We did experience good food and good service in Alfredos, and my son said the specialty restaurants "The Catch" by Rudi and Crown Grill both had good food, but the service in 1 of the 2 was pretty bad, I don't remember which.

I felt like I was on Norwegian,(I know some people love NCL, they are not for us) where my belief is that they make the free dining so bad that you will pay to eat in the upcharge restaurants.

 

I would not say my steward was terrible, but I would not say he was good either. My experience was also skewed because I did not like the ship and that is totally on me, I did not research enough before booking. I booked on dates, itinerary and I thought this would be better for a multigenerational group than HAL, But for me, there were too many people, the layout was choppy  and the Piazza loud and crowded. The buffet was too big and confusing, and the seating in the buffet, theater and other venues was not adequate for the number of passengers.

 

Unfortunately/fortunately, my only other 2 cruise experiences post pandemic were on Seabourn and Disney, both of which had great food, service and amenities. So I don't have any post pandemic mainline cruises to compare to.  But definitely a major decline in previous pre pandemic Princess Cruise experiences.

[vjmatty]

On 7/15/2024 at 7:40 PM, TRLD said:

 

 

Because CCL has 2 adult focused lines there is some competition between HAL and Princess. Recent changes with Princess is putting a bit more space between them. Princess is adding some of the features that Celebrity put in place years ago, but they seem to not be sure how they want to really implement. Might be a cultural issue.

 

 CCL has THREE adult focused cruise lines. You forgot Cunard 😉

[cruising.mark.uk]

1 hour ago, vjmatty said:

 CCL has THREE adult focused cruise lines. You forgot Cunard 😉

and Seabourn and P&O and Costa and Aida 😀

[Tomcruise92]

To add to this, I feel certainly in the UK, Carnival Corp have tried to distinguish between P&O (from 50 plus more upscale to more family and budget), Cunard (maintaining very traditional, although evolving slightly with Queen Anne and more relaxed dress codes) and then Princess (more in between the two, positioned as more luxurious than P&O and less traditional than Cunard). 

[BlerkOne]

Carnival Corp certainly wants notable differences between the various brands for product differentiation. You don't want the various brands to compete more with each other than they already do.

[Globaler]

12 minutes ago, BlerkOne said:

Carnival Corp certainly wants notable differences between the various brands for product differentiation. You don't want the various brands to compete more with each other than they already do.

My question is - I get it that Carnival Corp wants differences between the various brands but do the officers (speaking mainly about the Sun) who are in competition with other ships/brands adhere to that or are they pushing/implementing changes, activities etc which they want to see implemented.

Edited July 17 by Globaler

[BlerkOne]

1 minute ago, Globaler said:

My question is - I get it that Carnival Corp wants differences between the various brands but do the officers who are in competition with other ships/brands adhere to that or are they pushing/implementing changes, activities etc which they want to see.

I don't doubt that individual ships have some discretion within limits. I'm not sure it has anything to do with competition.

[Globaler]

1 minute ago, BlerkOne said:

I don't doubt that individual ships have some discretion within limits. I'm not sure it has anything to do with competition.

Competition could be a poor choice of words but they are trying to get promoted, drive numbers etc for sure.

[TRLD]

2 hours ago, vjmatty said:

 CCL has THREE adult focused cruise lines. You forgot Cunard 😉

Cunard is UK focused. HAL and Princess are NA focused So only 2 NA focused adult lines.

[TRLD]

1 hour ago, cruising.mark.uk said:

and Seabourn and P&O and Costa and Aida 😀

Seabourne is luxury

 

P&O is UK focused 

 

Aida is an EU focused German Speaking  line

 

Costa is also am Italian EU focused line.

 

So HAL and Princess are the 2 NA focused adult mass market lines.

[Globaler]

3 minutes ago, TRLD said:

Cunard is UK focused. HAL and Princess are NA focused So only 2 NA focused adult lines.

Interesting article online today, talking about cruise line customer feedback. It highlighted Carnival Brand Ambassador John Heald and the in cabin motion sensor lights. Carnival sought out feedback and received a lot of comments. Interesting how the Carnival Corp fleet handles issues differently. You would think there would be more consistency within the corporation. 

[Retired-N-Happy]

2 hours ago, cruising.mark.uk said:

and Seabourn and P&O and Costa and Aida 😀

Since when are P&O, Costa and Aida adult focused cruise lines?  Thought that Aida was German, P&O was British and Costa was value oriented?

[Cruise Raider]

19 hours ago, BlerkOne said:

19 hours ago, BlerkOne said:

I doubt ever. Princess is still a mass market cruise line and know they can't please everyone. No matter what they do, some will complain. We live in those times. Compromise is the path forward.

 

Spot on!  We only cruise on the older ships because

1) friends prefer them and invite us into their group (and many of our cruising friends do like the wrap around promenade) 

2) they sail out of our home port of SF 

3) the crew members that we’ve come to know 

 

Otherwise, I’d choose the Royal Class any day.  I love everything about these ships.  The smaller balcony really doesn’t bother me, I love the deluxe balconies (they are just the right size) but even the regular balcony cabins don’t bother me, neither does the fact they don’t have a wrap around promenade deck.  
I love a ship that has Alfredo’s or GiGi’s and a GastroPub or O’Malleys.  If it also has ocean terrace, even better.  Also, Vines is a great venue but there are certainly other bars where we’ve found a decent glass of wine.  
The only Princess ship we’d not consider cruising on again is the Diamond Princess.  
 

[BlerkOne]

1 hour ago, Globaler said:

Competition could be a poor choice of words but they are trying to get promoted, drive numbers etc for sure.

I might say they are trying to please the customer.