Enchanted Princess: Waitstaff’s Opinion of New Premier Package With Unlimited SD

[tobyt]

I find it interesting that a wait staff in the buffet would be moved to specialty…..it seems quite a leap to jump from cleaning up a table to handling the needs of the diner in a specialty restaurant. 
 

I will say that Princess like every other large corporation is going to continue to squeeze everything from their staff…..until they can’t and continue to find additional revenue streams regardless of the impact/cost or general inconvenience to the cruiser…as long as they are making money, showing stockholders profit and filling the ships losing a few passengers will make no difference to them. In the end, the beancounter always comes out on top!

 

[Lady Arwen]

19 minutes ago, tobyt said:

I find it interesting that a wait staff in the buffet would be moved to specialty…..it seems quite a leap to jump from cleaning up a table to handling the needs of the diner in a specialty restaurant. 
 

I will say that Princess like every other large corporation is going to continue to squeeze everything from their staff…..until they can’t and continue to find additional revenue streams regardless of the impact/cost or general inconvenience to the cruiser…as long as they are making money, showing stockholders profit and filling the ships losing a few passengers will make no difference to them. In the end, the beancounter always comes out on top!

 

Actually,  buffet staff are being moved to MDR and MDR staff to SD.

[tobyt]

Ahhh ok that makes more sense!

[wallyj]

18 minutes ago, tobyt said:

I find it interesting that a wait staff in the buffet would be moved to specialty…..it seems quite a leap to jump from cleaning up a table to handling the needs of the diner in a specialty restaurant. 
 

 

You will find many waitstaff from the MDR also work shifts in the Buffett since the MDR is usually closed on port days for lunch. Likely,  MDR waitstaff will be trained first to move over to SD and ‘Buffett stewards’ would then be trained to work MDR as Asst or Jr. waiters. 
 

A brief conversation with some of the Managers suggested, they might have to expand hours of the SD and or offer more lunch opportunities.

[voljeep]

12 minutes ago, wallyj said:

You will find many waitstaff from the MDR also work shifts in the Buffett since the MDR is usually closed on port days for lunch. Likely,  MDR waitstaff will be trained first to move over to SD and ‘Buffett stewards’ would then be trained to work MDR as Asst or Jr. waiters. 
 

A brief conversation with some of the Managers suggested, they might have to expand hours of the SD and or offer more lunch opportunities.

back a few years ago - we ate at Crown Grill and sat at the counter and watched them cook our meal and we ate there - looked better in the promotion than the actual experience ... at least for us.

 

The next day at PCay, the dude that cooked our steaks was flipping burgers at the island bbq..

 

j/s

[cruising.mark.uk]

51 minutes ago, memoak said:

Inside cabin  + premier package. Full suite without package who do you think will get the attention from senior staff ?  I will say that it always helps that we don’t mind eating later like 8:00. Most Princess passengers seem to think they have to eat at 5:00 to avoid missing out on something 

 

A suite passenger may get more attention, but that doesn't mean that they'll get perks that come with a package that they haven't paid for.  If that was the case, all suite passengers would get unlimited drinks up to £15/$20.  

 

Personally, I think the packages are a great equaliser and what makes Princess stand out (less the Sun / Star) compared with the current trend for ships within ships / different 'classes' of travel.  The packages let all passengers, no matter what grade of cabin they are in, choose whether certain popular extras are important / of value to them.  That is very different (and far more egalitarian) than other lines who throw all the extras in as freebies for those in suites and give most others nothing.  It seems to me that suite passengers on Princess, and again I speak as someone who has often been one, are not nearly as special as some of them think they are.  And, I'm all for that.

[JimmyVWine]

22 minutes ago, Lady Arwen said:

Actually,  buffet staff are being moved to MDR and MDR staff to SD.

You know the old expression: "This is chess, not checkers"? It plays out the same way here.  The movement of servers around the ship is not the equivalent of moving interchangeable checkers pieces around the board.  Rather, some servers are Kings.  Some are Queens.  Some are Bishops. Some are Rooks are Knights.  And some are Pawns.  The Kings and Queens are probably already in the SD and Signature/Reserve Dining areas. The Bishops are all in the MDRs as are most of the Rooks and Knights with the rest being in the Buffet.  And all the Pawns are in the Buffet.  When the Bishops move from the MDR to the SD and Signature/Reserve dining areas and the Rooks and Knights who were in the Buffet move down to the MDRs to take their places, then all you have left in the Buffet are the Pawns who, in addition to being the least experienced, are now overtaxed.  

Edited August 29 by JimmyVWine

[555]

10 minutes ago, wallyj said:

A brief conversation with some of the Managers suggested, they might have to expand hours of the SD and or offer more lunch opportunities.

That very well may happen but we would never consider it as we don't desire a large meal for lunch. 

Just because they're open doesn't mean people who have the new unlimited Premiere package will want to eat at 1 PM.

[freecruiser2]

3 hours ago, Lady Arwen said:

We spoke in length last night to a couple of our servers about the rollout on the next cruise.  There is a shortage of staff in the Specialty dining restaurants and servers in the MDR have been advised they could be moved over to one of the SD restaurants.  This will leave the MDR in a severe shortage of staff.  We were told that as of last night crew from the buffet were being brought up to MDR to learn their new jobs by Saturday.

 

Nobody is happy and it shows.  Our server said that the SD restaurants have been understaffed for quite some time and that’s why dinner takes over two hours.  They wonder how it’s possible to serve all the guests with the new Premier package when there’s not enough hours to serve that many guests.  He’s thinking dining hours may have to be expanded thus longer hours for an already overworked waitstaff.

 

He believes this will turn into an epic fail for Princess and to expect a large daily increase in price in the near future.

 

If you’re sailing next week with the new package, please pack your patience.  The crew are doing their very best to get through this.

We're on the next Enchanted cruise this Saturday.  Thank you for posting this.  We will definitely be aware, understanding and patient through this change.  It's concerning when people in charge make decisions without the details needed for the change and they seem to lack understanding of the line staff.  My last cruise on the Majestic to Alaska in late May/early June, was completely understaffed in the buffet and spa.  Both were not maintained well enough. The Enclave floor was hazardous and slippery, no one was dealing with the floors, which were flooded with water and I have seen an elderly man slip and fall right there on a previous cruise.  The buffet, was not being bussed enough, could never find any help with getting coffee (strange because they usually ask so many times if you want coffee or juice, it becomes annoying) and the coffee and condiment area needed refilling.  We came home with Covid, my guess was that the staff had a Covid outbreak and they were understaffed.  This was very different than other cruises.  Princess can't keep adding this kind of stress on the line staff if they can't maintain the regular necessities.

[voljeep]

6 minutes ago, JimmyVWine said:

You know the old expression: "This is chess, not checkers"? It plays out the same way here.  The movement of servers around the ship is not the equivalent of moving interchangeable checkers pieces around the board.  Rather, some servers are Kings.  Some are Queens.  Some are Bishops. Some are Rooks are Knights.  And some are Pawns.  The Kings and Queens are probably already in the SD and Signature/Reserve Dining areas. The Bishops are all in the MDRs as are most of the Rooks and Knights with the rest being in the Buffet.  And all the Pawns are in the Buffet.  When the Bishops move from the MDR to the SD and Signature/Reserve dining areas and the Rooks and Knights who were in the Buffet move down to the MDRs to take their places, then all you have left in the Buffet are the Pawns who, in addition to being the least experienced, are now overtaxed.  

Check and Mate

 

well played

[Cruise Raider]

3 hours ago, JF - retired RRT said:

Sounds like another thing that the "big thinkers" decided to do without finding out if it was feasible to do it.

Not criticizing or commending this.  They did send out a survey a few months ago to those that regularly purchase the premier package, such as ourselves.  This question of unlimited specialty dining was specifically addressed in the survey. 
I responded that I thought it should be proportional to the number of days of the cruise.  I believe once every 3 days would be appropriate.  
I am sure once it first starts, people will go gang busters and reserve their times for every single day but also think that novelty will wear off after a while.  New cruisers will probably keep it going for quite some time.  We still intend to upgrade to the premier package on our next few cruises.  It’s only worth it for us on the Royal class ships, though.  I don’t see the need to upgrade on the Grand or Crown class.  We on an 11 night cruise, we will probably try to go about 4 times, at most.  With the limit of 2 specialty dining, on a 4 day cruise, we find ourselves thinking we are wasteful if we don’t go to that second dinner. 

There’s a theory that if people have unlimited, they either set their own limits or suffer the consequences of over indulgence and in turn, set that limit somewhere down the road.  I’m not saying everybody will, but I think it might be a majority that do!   But, when they have a limit (of two specialty dinners or 15 drinks), people try to make sure they reach their limit.  How many times have we seen people say, “I can’t drink 15 drinks a day, so I share that 15 with a friend that doesn’t have the package?”.  They don’t even think there is anything wrong with that.  We even heard someone talking about it at the MTP luncheon that they never get the package because their friends share their package with them.  This was said right in front of one of the senior officers without any shame.  
 

I am sure it will be some trial and error and they may even decide to go back to limiting it but I don’t think the price will go down.  
Back to @Lady Arwen’s post, I sure hope people are patient and kind with the dining staff. 

 

[startedwithamouse]

I think they're going to perhaps tighten up meal times, like Disney (not cruise) does to turn and burn tables. At least that may be the goal. 

[kitkat343]

I just got off the Enchanted Princess.  We booked the Club Reserve because we have three kids and needed a room that could hold 3 passengers and the only room left that could hold that many passengers were a Club Reserve mini suite (we also booked a second interior cabin).  Even in the reserve section, where we had asked on the first day for meals to be brought out quickly food dinner lasted over two hours.  It wasn't the waiter's fault - we could see. how hard he was working.  The reserve dining has access to one additional entree option with dinner, which was generally quite good,  My husband usually selected the reserve option, and I chose something off the main menu.  I'd estimate that 1/3 of the entrees from the regular menu were inedible, 1/3 were okay and 1/3 were actually good.  I started ordering a second entree as an appetizer to get a better shot at having dinner in the MDR, but often ate either at the buffet, international cafe (which was excellent) or pizza.

 

What concerns me is that I experienced this on NCL - we sailed to the Baltics on NCL 11 years ago.  Back then after reading the reviews on NCL's food, it became apparent we would need a specialty dining package.  The food in NCL's mdr was inedible, but 11 years ago the specialty restaurants were excellent.  The last time we sailed NCL 2 years ago they now include specialty dining as a free at sea perk with the rooms, so most passengers get 2 specialty meals.  And the food in the specialty dining was terrible - entrees served ice cold, and Cagneys the steak restaurant running out of half their sides.  I brought leftovers from lunch from St. Kitts on the ship and was so sad when some of them were confiscated by the screeners because I was going hungry on that ship. 

 

And it really concerns me to see Princess going down this path of watering down the experience for cruisers.  We travel with kids and can't handle travel without the kids clubs, so cruising is really important to us (an all inclusive wouldn't give us the same opportunities to expose our children to different cultures and places).  And the higher end lines either ban children or don't have the daycare we need.  I'm just really grateful we took as many cruises as we did when it was a wonderful opportunity - we took our oldest to St. Petersburg and the Panama Canal and two children to Norway and they were all really special experiences.   

 

We had avoided Disney in the past due to the more limited port options (usually Disney cruises have shorter times in port and also less interesting itineraries even when visiting the same destinations), but given the fact that the kids might really love being on a Disney ship it might be something to consider.

Edited August 29 by kitkat343

[Cruise Raider]

1 hour ago, memoak said:

Inside cabin  + premier package. Full suite without package who do you think will get the attention from senior staff ?  I will say that it always helps that we don’t mind eating later like 8:00. Most Princess passengers seem to think they have to eat at 5:00 to avoid missing out on something 

 

While that may be true, many passengers eat early for health reasons, not over fear of missing out on something.  

[Cruise Raider]

45 minutes ago, Lady Arwen said:

Actually,  buffet staff are being moved to MDR and MDR staff to SD.

I wonder if they will be allowing us to order off the specialty dining menus in the MDR if there is simply no room in these venues.  I know they have some items from the Crown Grill on the room service menu, maybe even some items from Sabatini’s.  

[memoak]

4 minutes ago, Cruise Raider said:

While that may be true, many passengers eat early for health reasons, not over fear of missing out on something.  

So what will happen when someone is told they can’t eat before 7:30 if they want to use their package ?  I have heard many say they want to eat early so they can make the 7:30 show and go to bed by 9:00. The talk about extending hours is also a hard sell who wants to eat a steak at 3:00 or 10:00 ?  Or use a $45 meal for lunch ?  There are so many ways this could all fall apart but I guess time will tell

[memoak]

2 minutes ago, Cruise Raider said:

I wonder if they will be allowing us to order off the specialty dining menus in the MDR if there is simply no room in these venues.  I know they have some items from the Crown Grill on the room service menu, maybe even some items from Sabatini’s.  

Wait till someone wants all the possible courses from Sabatini’s or Harmony ?

[Cruise Raider]

49 minutes ago, wallyj said:
 

A brief conversation with some of the Managers suggested, they might have to expand hours of the SD and or offer more lunch opportunities.

I’ve been asking for this option for years. 🤞 

 

[Cruise Raider]

30 minutes ago, 555 said:

That very well may happen but we would never consider it as we don't desire a large meal for lunch. 

Just because they're open doesn't mean people who have the new unlimited Premiere package will want to eat at 1 PM.

Celebrity would oftentimes have lunch in Murano on a sea day and it was always full.  
I would prefer to eat my large meal at lunchtime and I know I’m not alone.  I may get some small snack around 5 PM, or maybe not.  

[Lady Arwen]

56 minutes ago, tobyt said:

Ahhh ok that makes more sense!

Problem is that buffet staff are only getting three days to navigate the MDR.  I suspect many are way in over their heads.

[kywildcatfanone]

This is going to be such a mess for every passenger trying to eat anywhere. 

[FLAlaska]

2 hours ago, TravelGirlinDallas said:

It's been 3 years since the restart. Why are they still so understaffed?

Its everywhere. We are contractors and struggling to find employees since COVID. I see it in many industries. 

[cruising.mark.uk]

4 minutes ago, Lady Arwen said:

Problem is that buffet staff are only getting three days to navigate the MDR.  I suspect many are way in over their heads.

Yes, but in a week they'll have had 10 days, which probably equates to the training time for most of the waiting staff who are assigned to the MDR from the off.  And every week after that, they'll have another week's experience.  Hence my view that there will be inevitable teething problems and that those will more than likely mainly be resolved over time.  We'll have to wait and see.

[Cruise Raider]

For @kitkat343
I think the supply chain for food 2 years ago might explain why food that was previously good had gone downhill.  While I do usually like lobster, what was being served on Princess 2 years ago was not very great.  It is now just heavenly.  

[cruising.mark.uk]

3 minutes ago, kywildcatfanone said:

This is going to be such a mess for every passenger trying to eat anywhere. 

Or everything is going to be fine for all passengers.

 

Both of those may well be equally valid as potential scenarios.  Truth is, it's impossible to tell and will remain so, probably for 5 or 6 months until the new arrangements have been fully implemented and tested and adjusted as appropriate.