We really like Princess, but............

[Yehootu]

YouTube actually schools a contributor on how to make controversial bylines to attract clicks. So many know it alls with just a few cruises done that are now experts. Watching Cr*p like that are minutes you can never recover in life. Keep moving.

Always check the source. Believe that one is a litttle old.

Edited Thursday at 01:13 AM by Yehootu

[EtaC]

7 hours ago, kad56 said:

It's possible that that princess has the largest number of complainers active on the internet.

Have you been on the HAL page recently?😎

[Dee_Jay]

8 hours ago, memoak said:

I have actually seen complaints from people that since they missed “The only port I took the cruise for” I should have my cruise fare refunded in full. 

 

We were on a cruise that missed the one port we really wanted to go to. When we got home, we simply booked another cruise which went to the same port. Problem solved.

[Iamcruzin]

9 hours ago, kad56 said:

I think it's this video....

So this is a review about reviews. It should be a Seinfeld episode.

[SCX22]

Princess leans towards an older demographic.  Most are retired and have all the time in the world to complain.

[esad9556]

7 hours ago, Griff4AU said:

My first cruise was on a Costa (40+ years ago, the "Carla C") and had a great time. It started me on cruising. However Costa is a poor line...   and it has nothing to do with the Italian theme / flair... they just do a poor job.

 

I ONLY do Yacht Club on MSC. Otherwise, I will not sail with them. Think of your worst Carnival cruise, but primarily with Europeans who know how to drink and have fun much more than we Americans do. That said, MSC does a lot of things well.

Princess?   I can't imagine them on the list... someone must have gotten butte hurt on one sailing and thus labeled them the worst. I have been on nearly every line (US and Int'l) and and Princess is in my Top 5 for "balance of polish and fun" and nowhere close to the bottom 5.


 

Ah.....the "Garlic C"....memories of yesteryear. Did not sail on it but shared many ports while sailing in both the Medi and Carribean. Back then we could just walk on board and have a drink.....oh how much cruising has changed. To this day Princess is still my most comfortable cruise line, not always the best but rarely the worst.

[Torfamm]

18 hours ago, 555 said:

After this last fiasco trying to make reservations using their Medallions, I can believe it.

It’s never been possible to make reservations using a Medallion. They are basically the equivalent of a room key card.

[stevenr597]

Many cruisers are very partisan in respect to the cruise lines they use.  Would not be surprised that they would make negative comments about a line that they have had little experience with in the hope of boosting the cruise line that they use. 

[555]

42 minutes ago, Torfamm said:

It’s never been possible to make reservations using a Medallion. They are basically the equivalent of a room key card.

We've been using the Medallions for years now and I've solved the problem with making SD reservations. 

I cancelled Premier. 

No more problems. 

[memoak]

41 minutes ago, 555 said:

We've been using the Medallions for years now and I've solved the problem with making SD reservations. 

I cancelled Premier. 

No more problems. 

You do know you make reservations through the app not the medallion itself 

[startedwithamouse]

50 minutes ago, 555 said:

We've been using the Medallions for years now and I've solved the problem with making SD reservations. 

I cancelled Premier. 

No more problems. 

Not possible. You make reservations using the app. Medallion has nothing to do with them. 

[ldubs]

19 hours ago, kad56 said:

It's possible that that princess has the largest number of complainers active on the internet.

 

A while back the Celebrity forums got so negative I quit looking at them.  For a while I have noticed an uptick in sourness on the Princess forums.  

[davy jones]

There are more and more people popping up on You Tube as cruise "experts".  Most have taken less cruises than many on CC (including me), and they create controversy or stress as click bait.  

 

That said, I did a quick look CC overall cruise review scores by cruise line and found that most of the largest players score between 3.6 and 4.0, including some luxury lines.  Princess is in that group.

[555]

12 minutes ago, ldubs said:

 For a while I have noticed an uptick in sourness on the Princess forums.

Perhaps newer cruisers?

[davy jones]

Just now, 555 said:

Perhaps newer cruisers?

Customer service complaints seem to be up across the board as cruise lines try to recover from COVID and the ships get more crowded.

[555]

1 hour ago, startedwithamouse said:

Not possible. You make reservations using the app. Medallion has nothing to do with them. 

Sorry, I misspoke, I should have said using the app it was possible to make reservations in the past. Lately nothing seems to work, so I've given up. 

Their loss. 

[ldubs]

9 minutes ago, 555 said:

Perhaps newer cruisers?

 

Who knows.  In the case of these forums, most are not new to the game. 

 

It might be a forum thing.  People seem to think dramatic wording is needed to make a point. How often do we read about inedible food.  Of course this is a gross exaggeration.   BTW, my favorites are the often made "never again" threats.  In the vast majority of cases it is an empty threat.  

[So_Tweetie]

57 minutes ago, ldubs said:

For a while I have noticed an uptick in sourness on the Princess forums.  

There have been many rapid-fire changes with Princess in the past couple of years. From introducing Medallion Class and Plus/Premier which were both polarizing for many reasons, to price increases and inclusion changes for the packages. A lot of the upset that I've seen has come from Elite passengers who feel that they are losing status, not being shown appreciation, or otherwise deprioritized in an effort to bring in a new demographic. I expect that we will have a new wave of outrage over the apparently changing mini bar setup. This same group tends to be quite loyal to Princess and therefore doesn't comprehend how absolutely fantastic the package pricing is compared to competitors. 

 

Personally, I feel like the growing pains have been well worth it and after over 20 cruises with them, my experience on Princess ships today is better than ever before. 

Edited Thursday at 04:35 PM by So_Tweetie

[ldubs]

47 minutes ago, So_Tweetie said:

 

 

Personally, I feel like the growing pains have been well worth it and after over 20 cruises with them, my experience on Princess ships today is better than ever before. 

 

Overall the changes to onboard life that I've experience have been positive.  Some may simply find any change hard to accept.

 

I saw another reference to a change to the elite mini bar set up.  Do you know what that is?  

 

 

[dog]

6 minutes ago, ldubs said:

 

Overall the changes to onboard life that I've experience have been positive.  Some may simply find any change hard to accept.

 

I saw another reference to a change to the elite mini bar set up.  Do you know what that is?  

 

 

On-board agree.

 

pre cruise booking, problems- app, website glitches, customer service calls, chat unacceptable.

[So_Tweetie]

13 minutes ago, ldubs said:

I saw another reference to a change to the elite mini bar set up.  Do you know what that is?  

 

 

On the Sun Princess TA everyone received cans of sugary pre-mixed cocktails instead of the mini liquor bottles. If I am not mistaken it was six cocktails instead of the eight minis. So far it is just speculation that this is the new normal as no crew have confirmed it (that I’ve seen). 

[ldubs]

17 minutes ago, dog said:

On-board agree.

 

pre cruise booking, problems- app, website glitches, customer service calls, chat unacceptable.

 

We have just not experienced many issues with those items. There have been a few glitches with the App, but temporary and probably counted on one hand.  To be fair, we seldom have a need to contact Princess customer service/chat.  Can't recall the last time.     

[dog]

24 minutes ago, ldubs said:

 

We have just not experienced many issues with those items. There have been a few glitches with the App, but temporary and probably counted on one hand.  To be fair, we seldom have a need to contact Princess customer service/chat.  Can't recall the last time.     

I have had way too many this past year to list- all with the Sun booking.

 

you are lucky.

[kad56]

3 hours ago, 555 said:

Perhaps newer cruisers?

 

I'm a newer cruiser - started cruising after covid. And I don't get the negativity, because I'm having a great experience. And I find that reviews are much more negatively passionate than other reviews I look at. If I got on tripadvisor or booking.com, I'm pretty confident in the reviews, and I'm pretty sure I'm getting an average somewhat objective metric. Cruise reviews are INSANE! For the most part I've had a great experience on cruises, and some of these reviews sound like people have been jailed then tar and feathered against their will. I don't get it. Maybe the prices are too high and people's expectations are too high? Maybe too much has changed since COVID?

[rheathslc]

27 minutes ago, kad56 said:

 

I'm a newer cruiser - started cruising after covid. And I don't get the negativity, because I'm having a great experience. And I find that reviews are much more negatively passionate than other reviews I look at. If I got on tripadvisor or booking.com, I'm pretty confident in the reviews, and I'm pretty sure I'm getting an average somewhat objective metric. Cruise reviews are INSANE! For the most part I've had a great experience on cruises, and some of these reviews sound like people have been jailed then tar and feathered against their will. I don't get it. Maybe the prices are too high and people's expectations are too high? Maybe too much has changed since COVID?

I feel like a lot of those passionate complaints I read are due to people not reading the cruise documents carefully or availing themselves of the copious additional information the cruise lines provide. I read every official document I can get my hands on. And while YT videos and social media reviews can be helpful and enjoyable they are not a substitute for reading the fine print. 

 

I personally have very little patience with people who cannot be bothered to do basic research when they are spending so much money on a trip. And of course they are still entitled to their opinion. What is actually upsetting is when those people mistreat the hard-working crew over their own ignorance/laziness or misunderstanding.