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

[cruising.mark.uk]

1 hour ago, kywildcatfanone said:

 

I'm this way most of the time, but I see it in every industry I deal with now, and as a customer, it makes the experience less enjoyable.  I haven't reached my breaking point, but I'm inching closer every cruise.  I've never taken my frustrations out of the staff, but if you talk to them, any of them, you will know that they are being stretched farther and are working harder than ever, and it's taking a toll on everyone involved.

So, just back from dinner on night 1.  I can confirm that the service and food in Reserve dining remain first rate.  Both of our waiters recognised us from when we were on in May.  We had a good chat with both, including a surreal chat about Cornish pasties with one of them (we are at Falmouth, Cornwall, tomorrow and apparently Cornish pasties are a local delicacy in the locale in Mexico from which he comes).

 

Yes, the staff work hard, but in 20 years of cruising the staff have always worked hard and I don't see them working any harder now than they did when we started.  Interestingly, neither (and we spoke to them separately) reported that they were being held against their will and forced to do work they weren't trained for, not paid for or otherwise fell outside their contract.   And neither the Reserve dining room nor the remainder of the MDR were very busy when we were there.  The staff certainly weren't rushed off their feet, as is evident from the fact that they still had plenty of time to chat to us and we ate a 3 course meal at our own pace in almost exactly an hour.  

 

So, if the staff really are being stretched farther, working harder than ever before and it's taking a toll on them, someone forgot to copy that memo to our two waiters.  And what confirmed that for me is that the end of contract for one of them is at the end of the cruise, after which he is off home for a while before coming back for his 4th contract.  And the other one is on until Oct when the ship goes to re-fit.  After they have had a break he is coming back, hopefully to the same ship but possibly to the Star.

 

To me, both of them came across as excellent workers who are clearly happy with their lot.  Obviously my sample is as unscientific as the one that initiated this post.  But, I will keep engaging with our waiters throughout the fortnight and if any tell me they were press ganged onto the ship and are being forced to work against their will, I'll be sure to let you know.

 

By the way, when we walked past Sabatini's after dinner at about 2015, there were 3 occupied tables.  So, no obvious problems booking SD on this ship at the moment, even on the first night when suite guests get a freebie, so long as you are content to leave it relatively late.

 

[greenie082756]

5 hours ago, TravelGirlinDallas said:

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

My guess is that with all the huge ships that are being built and now in use that takes away from the hiring pool. 

[Cruise Raider]

37 minutes ago, Teechur said:

Just like any other job, employees typically have to keep learning new skills. Eventually, they will "get it' or Princess will have to pivot again. Princess must see the handwriting on the wall that their loyal fan base is aging out and they must attract new cruisers or wither away. Like other businesses, they will continue to try new things and keep the ones that work. They will also emulate the successes they see happening on other cruise lines.

I am in complete agreement with this.  Not only because they are aging out, they also have expectations that aren’t very practical in today’s world.  What, if anything, is the same as 30-50 years ago?  I’d say, nothing!  
if one of us ran a business, would we rather have customers that are willing to part with their discretionary dollars and be amazed and happy for the most part, or would they rather have customers that are complaining that every change they try in a competitive market is a complete failure? I can’t even count the number of times on these boards that I’ve seen people condemn any and every new thing Princess has implemented.  And, they are still filling their ships to max capacity!  I hate to say it, but I don’t think they’d miss the complainers that much.  
This thread started out with such good intentions .. to be kind to the staff during this transition to the upgraded premier package.  One thing I believe CoVid taught me is that It’s so much healthier to just be positive and grateful we can cruise again.  Give it a chance and if you still don’t like it, move on.  
 

Edited August 29 by Cruise Raider

[memoak]

10 minutes ago, cruising.mark.uk said:

So, just back from dinner on night 1.  I can confirm that the service and food in Reserve dining remain first rate.  Both of our waiters recognised us from when we were on in May.  We had a good chat with both, including a surreal chat about Cornish pasties with one of them (we are at Falmouth, Cornwall, tomorrow and apparently Cornish pasties are a local delicacy in the locale in Mexico from which he comes).

 

Yes, the staff work hard, but in 20 years of cruising the staff have always worked hard and I don't see them working any harder now than they did when we started.  Interestingly, neither (and we spoke to them separately) reported that they were being held against their will and forced to do work they weren't trained for, not paid for or otherwise fell outside their contract.   And neither the Reserve dining room nor the remainder of the MDR were very busy when we were there.  The staff certainly weren't rushed off their feet, as is evident from the fact that they still had plenty of time to chat to us and we ate a 3 course meal at our own pace in almost exactly an hour.  

 

So, if the staff really are being stretched farther, working harder than ever before and it's taking a toll on them, someone forgot to copy that memo to our two waiters.  And what confirmed that for me is that the end of contract for one of them is at the end of the cruise, after which he is off home for a while before coming back for his 4th contract.  And the other one is on until Oct when the ship goes to re-fit.  After they have had a break he is coming back, hopefully to the same ship but possibly to the Star.

 

To me, both of them came across as excellent workers who are clearly happy with their lot.  Obviously my sample is as unscientific as the one that initiated this post.  But, I will keep engaging with our waiters throughout the fortnight and if any tell me they were press ganged onto the ship and are being forced to work against their will, I'll be sure to let you know.

 

By the way, when we walked past Sabatini's after dinner at about 2015, there were 3 occupied tables.  So, no obvious problems booking SD on this ship at the moment, even on the first night when suite guests get a freebie, so long as you are content to leave it relatively late.

 

I do not believe the unlimited SD has started yet so what you are seeing might not be the future

[NavyVeteran]

5 hours ago, cruising.mark.uk said:

They might be 'used' to having it happen, but its not a published suite perk,  is it?  If not, why should those in suites have any priority over anyone else, unless they have also booked the new Premier package?

 

58 minutes ago, Mara4166 said:

Free SD dining on embarkation night is a published suite perk.  Suite guests expect to be able to make this reservation after boarding the ship and have traditionally been able to get the venue they want and usually close to the time they want.  

 

I expect Princess will still keep quite a few spots open for suite guests on embarkation day.

Suite amenities are listed in The Princess Suite Experience. The following amenities are listed under "Premier dining on your schedule":

• Priority Specialty Dining Reservations
• Complimentary Specialty Dining Dinner on embarkation day

 

Note that the "Complimentary Specialty Dining Dinner on embarkation day" does not have a disclaimer that it is subject to space availability. However they don't guarantee that everyone can eat at 6:00 pm.

The "Priority Specialty Dining Reservations" is definitely listed as a suite perk, and it is not limited to embarkation day.

[Kay S]

3 minutes ago, Cruise Raider said:

 Give it a chance and if you still don’t like it, move on.  
 

The money will go where the customer is happy.  However, I am not convinced this new Premium deal will be a rousing success.

 

Reserve staff tend to be the best of the best, more experienced, etc.  I'm not really surprised to hear they have a rosier picture of the whole dining scheme.  

[TRLD]

2 hours ago, Arizona Wildcat said:

The same reason your grocery store, bank, auto service and local restaurants are understaffed 

Cruise lines have one main difference than land based businesses. Their total staff count is fixed. There are X number of crew cabins and beds. That is a hard limit. Whenever they change the services they cannot add people above that limit. All they can do is shift people around. Back before they had specialty restaurants they had more staff in MDR. As they created more specialty restaurants some of the mdr staff got moved to specialty dining and the staff in mdr got decreased.

 

Same with other changes. If you increase staffing somewhere you need to decrease sonewhere else.

[cruising.mark.uk]

7 minutes ago, memoak said:

I do not believe the unlimited SD has started yet so what you are seeing might not be the future

Absolutely.  But that applies equally to posters who are saying it will be a disaster.  Hence why I (and others) are saying that it won't be possible to draw any conclusions until it has been up and running for a while.  But, that isn't stopping many on this thread from leaping to (generally negative) conclusions with zero or very little evidence to support them.

[555]

46 minutes ago, memoak said:

I do not believe the unlimited SD has started yet so what you are seeing might not be the future

The fun hasn't even started yet.

 

 

 

37 minutes ago, cruising.mark.uk said:

Absolutely.  But that applies equally to posters who are saying it will be a disaster.  Hence why I (and others) are saying that it won't be possible to draw any conclusions until it has been up and running for a while.  But, that isn't stopping many on this thread from leaping to (generally negative) conclusions with zero or very little evidence to support them.

I'm leaning towards the disaster side. I just bought the new Premier package & can't even get one nights reservations.

What does that tell me? 

I'm certainly not waiting until I sail to find out if I can get reservations or not. If they can't fulfill something close to what I want, I'll be cancelling since this was the only reason for us to switch. 

[d9704011]

10 minutes ago, 555 said:

The fun hasn't even started yet.

 

 

 

I'm leaning towards the disaster side. I just bought the new Premier package & can't even get one nights reservations.

What does that tell me? 

I'm certainly not waiting until I sail to find out if I can get reservations or not. If they can't fulfill something close to what I want, I'll be cancelling since this was the only reason for us to switch. 

You should cancel now and save yourself a boatload of unknown frustration in advance.

Edited August 29 by d9704011

[Cruise Raider]

2 hours ago, TRLD said:

Cruise lines have one main difference than land based businesses. Their total staff count is fixed. There are X number of crew cabins and beds. That is a hard limit. Whenever they change the services they cannot add people above that limit. All they can do is shift people around. Back before they had specialty restaurants they had more staff in MDR. As they created more specialty restaurants some of the mdr staff got moved to specialty dining and the staff in mdr got decreased.

 

Same with other changes. If you increase staffing somewhere you need to decrease sonewhere else.

While that is true, we’ve seen that many of the staff are cross trained for that very reason.  
If the patrons are dining in the MDR, they will probably be needed in the specialty or casual dining.  On each sailing, there are also a fixed number of passengers and they are well aware of the reservations they see on a daily basis.  

[kiwimum]

We have seen in prior sailings over the years where staff can be moved from one venue to another based on demand, even mid service.  Usually buffet to MDR.  The SD is usually pretty well staffed as they know the demand.

Another major issue is the visa situation for crew.

 

Edited August 30 by kiwimum

[canadarocks]

JMHO, but the official rollout (Enchanted on August 31) hasn't even happened yet. Maybe give Princess and their wonderful crew members a chance to make this brand new program a success.

 

Kind of reminds me of those who sail on a ship right after it's been "refurbished" or "retrofitted". There's going to be issues. Yes, in this particular case, it will likely be a fleet wide adjustment. But jeez let's at least give them a chance.... 

[Coral]

43 minutes ago, kiwimum said:

We have seen in prior sailings over the years where staff can be moved from one venue to another based on demand, even mid service.  Usually buffet to MDR.  The SD is usually pretty well staffed as they know the demand.

Another major issue is the visa situation for crew.

 

This is so true. Most are cross trained. I have seen my waiter at night, work in the pizzeria at lunch or a waiter at night be in the buffet in the morning. Most who work in a specialty restaurant also work elsewhere during the day. They are cross trained.

 

There was one cruise I was on with a large number of people of people who formerly came from Russia (and were now living in CA). Anyone who spoke any Russian were pulled from where they were and put in that specific dining room.

 

[rideev]

Seems to me that people with the updated premier package are going to be served their SD, but maybe not when they would like.  It seems that Princess would happily take money from me for SD, that doesn't have a package, than lose me to someone that has a package that isn't going to produce more revenue. 

 

Yes, those with the premier are paying a premium, but Princess already has their money.

[qoap24]

I will be on Enchanted starting Saturday when the new plan takes place. I haven't cruised a lot with Princess so I am not sure if it is normal for SD to show no available slots. The only SD that still had space is Rudy's. We will be in Reserve dining, so I am not sure if we will be able to tell a difference with service there, but I will try to report  back my experiences. I am also going to try to see if SD reservations are available on board. 

 

 

[555]

11 hours ago, d9704011 said:

You should cancel now and save yourself a boatload of unknown frustration in advance.

I'm seriously thinking about it but I'll stay the course until I read about some of the reports about how it's going on the ship before I do. 

[grimace95120]

9 hours ago, qoap24 said:

I will be on Enchanted starting Saturday when the new plan takes place. I haven't cruised a lot with Princess so I am not sure if it is normal for SD to show no available slots. The only SD that still had space is Rudy's. We will be in Reserve dining, so I am not sure if we will be able to tell a difference with service there, but I will try to report  back my experiences. I am also going to try to see if SD reservations are available on board. 

 

 

Looking forward to your first hand knowledge of the rollout ! We are on the 21st sailing, and seeing the same thing, Rudis wide open, CG and Sabatini's limited to no availability. 

[Rio20]

We're on the Enchanted now and noticed that for the past few days, there has been less staff in the buffet, and service (cleaning tables and beverages) was non-existent.  Had dinner in the Crown grill two nights ago and they were short handed.  Bab omen???

[Lady Arwen]

Obviously, no one, not the waitstaff,  nor Princess nor us knows what is going to happen with this new rollout.

 

I just wanted to share the valuable opinion and the feelings of a couple of crew who are directly involved.  Clearly, this is not a fleet wide nor scientific commentary on what is currently the thoughts of some crew.  I would imagine if these two are apprehensive, then likely many of their peers are feeling likewise.

 

I think it’s important to respect their frustrations and their anxiety looking towards a potential, if only temporary,  challenging  impact of their jobs.

 

Yes, they will get through it and eventually come out of it the way these amazing people always do.  They are strong resilient people, but at least we should try to show some empathy rather than dismissing their valid concerns.  Everyone who is saying that’s it’s no big deal,  is not walking in their shoes.

 

The waitstaff is the backbone of our cruise enjoyment and instead of making comments that are dismissive, and in some cases doubting their validity, we should be doing whatever we can to understand and support their current misgivings.  Not just the two we spoke to, because if there’s two willing to share their frustration, you  can bet there are many more.  
 

Don’t just say it will be fine, don’t worry,  say you support and respect their feelings, regardless of what YOUR feelings are.  Until you walk a mile in their shoes you have no idea how they feel.  If they want to vocalize their uncertainty,  then listen and tell them you understand and support them.  Kindness is free and goes a long way.

[Lady Arwen]

15 minutes ago, Rio20 said:

We're on the Enchanted now and noticed that for the past few days, there has been less staff in the buffet, and service (cleaning tables and beverages) was non-existent.  Had dinner in the Crown grill two nights ago and they were short handed.  Bab omen???

We don’t eat in the buffet, but passed through it the other day and I agree with your assessment.  Tables were stacked with dirty dishes and guests were carrying their plates searching for a clean place to sit.  I guess we’ll see how this plays out in the coming weeks.

[555]

2 minutes ago, Lady Arwen said:

Obviously, no one, not the waitstaff,  nor Princess nor us knows what is going to happen with this new rollout.

 

I just wanted to share the valuable opinion and the feelings of a couple of crew who are directly involved.  Clearly, this is not a fleet wide nor scientific commentary on what is currently the thoughts of some crew.  I would imagine if these two are apprehensive, then likely many of their peers are feeling likewise.

 

I think it’s important to respect their frustrations and their anxiety looking towards a potential, if only temporary,  challenging  impact of their jobs.

 

Yes, they will get through it and eventually come out of it the way these amazing people always do.  They are strong resilient people, but at least we should try to show some empathy rather than dismissing their valid concerns.  Everyone who is saying that’s it’s no big deal,  is not walking in their shoes.

 

The waitstaff is the backbone of our cruise enjoyment and instead of making comments that are dismissive, and in some cases doubting their validity, we should be doing whatever we can to understand and support their current misgivings.  Not just the two we spoke to, because if there’s two willing to share their frustration, you  can bet there are many more.  
 

Don’t just say it will be fine, don’t worry,  say you support and respect their feelings, regardless of what YOUR feelings are.  Until you walk a mile in their shoes you have no idea how they feel.  If they want to vocalize their uncertainty,  then listen and tell them you understand and support them.  Kindness is free and goes a long way.

It's unfair that the crew are the ones who will take the flack for the lack of service when there's not much they can do about the situation but smile & do their best to accommodate their customers.

I'm still optimistic that in the long run Princess will pull through with a solution but I would still hate to be among the cruisers that are their initial subjects. 

[555]

2 minutes ago, Lady Arwen said:

We don’t eat in the buffet, but passed through it the other day and I agree with your assessment.  Tables were stacked with dirty dishes and guests were carrying their plates searching for a clean place to sit.  I guess we’ll see how this plays out in the coming weeks.

We do eat at the buffet for breakfast & lunch and find that scene is quite common at their busiest time of day. (which we most times avoid) Eat early & it's not quite as bad. 

[Lady Arwen]

2 minutes ago, 555 said:

It's unfair that the crew are the ones who will take the flack for the lack of service when there's not much they can do about the situation but smile & do their best to accommodate their customers.

I'm still optimistic that in the long run Princess will pull through with a solution but I would still hate to be among the cruisers that are their initial subjects. 

I’m sure Princess will pull through just fine.  My concern is not for them but for their employees.  Guests need to be kind and patient while the staff are in their  learning curve.

[kywildcatfanone]

16 hours ago, cruising.mark.uk said:

So, just back from dinner on night 1.  I can confirm that the service and food in Reserve dining remain first rate.

The new options aren't in place yet.