Island Princess

[armandpaul]

Well Princess in general

 

We just came back from a 15 day cruise to Hawaii.

 

It appears Princess has decided to downgrade food and service aboard at least this ship. Many active adult passangers were very frustrated and long term cruisers will not be back.

 

notes from our reveiw

Princess – it appears Princess is stepping down a grade based upon our experience and those aboard the ship. Over 1200 of the 1900 passengers are repeat Princess cruisers and some are not coming back and many are disillusioned. The staff has indicated it is also abandoning ship as many are moving to other cruise lines. Cost cutting / cost controls are impacting the cruising experience from the need for coffee cards / poor drinks / no free ice cream bar / etc. As for food quality I am not sure it is the food quality or the instructions of the head chief to overcook all food so he cannot be blamed if sickness breaks out. It appears that Sr. people are not empowered to solve customer problems or alter anything to provide a better experience for the cruiser. Examples include: See write up for details

o New Years – no Champaign

o No New Years Eve Celebration – See details in write up

o Inability / refusal to get to show NFL playoffs Sunday– claim no reception vs. Jet Blue with in air all time TV coverage

o Internet – very poor and very old technology - cost $30 per hour – very slow

o 1.5 hour tender lines

o 2 hours to disembark ship in Maui

o Captain’s party and champagne water fall – ops colored water and no champagne for the masses. Go Princess

o Joan got food poisoning the last evening!

[LARGIN]

Interesting... http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=469193

[huskerdan25]

Well Princess in general

 

We just came back from a 15 day cruise to Hawaii.

 

It appears Princess has decided to downgrade food and service aboard at least this ship. Many active adult passangers were very frustrated and long term cruisers will not be back.

 

notes from our reveiw

Princess – it appears Princess is stepping down a grade based upon our experience and those aboard the ship. Over 1200 of the 1900 passengers are repeat Princess cruisers and some are not coming back and many are disillusioned.

 

Wow, so you actually polled all 1900 passengers to determine that over 1200 were repeat customers? Were you on the cruise for a vacation or for work? Do you have any statistics you can share with us to support what you have told us? And you are sure that the long term cruisers will never cruise Princess again?

 

Anybody can come on here and say outrageous things and have the same amount of credibility as you. Back up what you have said with something that proves your comments. Otherwise, just tell us what your experience was and don't try to speak for others.

[Fisical1]

We just got off also and had a differenct experience. This was our 5th cruise with Princess.

Getting on and off the ship was a breeze. Both combined took about 45 min.

Cabin was great standard room with balcony. Had 4 people with six pieces of luggage. Everything out of site and put away.

Food: Was good not great. No complains here. Always had something good. Bayou Cafe was great. They also brought us Crab legs up there because we were missing it in the main dining room

Drinks: No complaints the crooners bar had the best martini's.

Internet slow, but was there only to manage email so no problem.

TV: Well glad to have a change of pace. We were on vacation.

Islands: Went surfing, shopping, snorkling, rented cars and went to the volcanos/waterfalls. Lots of fun

Pool: Lotus pool great for reading a book or two and a quick nap.

Kids: Well there were a few that bothered me, but much less than on other cruises.

Weather: Could have been better.

 

Hope you have better success next cruise!

[bdjam]

Wow, so you actually polled all 1900 passengers to determine that over 1200 were repeat customers? Were you on the cruise for a vacation or for work? Do you have any statistics you can share with us to support what you have told us? And you are sure that the long term cruisers will never cruise Princess again?

 

Anybody can come on here and say outrageous things and have the same amount of credibility as you. Back up what you have said with something that proves your comments. Otherwise, just tell us what your experience was and don't try to speak for others.

You know I like you – that may be bad for your reputation, but I do. You say what I think!

[critterchick]

Wow, so you actually polled all 1900 passengers to determine that over 1200 were repeat customers? Were you on the cruise for a vacation or for work? Do you have any statistics you can share with us to support what you have told us? And you are sure that the long term cruisers will never cruise Princess again?

 

Anybody can come on here and say outrageous things and have the same amount of credibility as you. Back up what you have said with something that proves your comments. Otherwise, just tell us what your experience was and don't try to speak for others.

 

Don't they usually make an announcement at the Captain's party of how many repeat passengers are onboard? I know they've done that on our Princess cruises. And the OP didn't say that "most" or "all" of them said they would not return, just "some". And also commented that maybe it was just the Island, which I would agree with based on our experience last year.

 

We've been on Princess 6 times are very much enjoy the product, but I seem to be in the minority on CC in that I really didn't care for the Island compared to the other ships in the fleet. On our cruise last May, she was a bit dirty, the crew was on the sullen/downright surly side, the food was mediocre and we didn't have the same "special" feel that we've had on the Star & Diamond. Tendering was a mess, too, but that's not uncommon and isn't necessarily the ship's fault. We still had a fabulous time, thanks in large part to a large group of Cruise Critics onboard, and I thought that this was just this cruise or just the Island, so we're definitely keeping Princess in the line-up. And there was real champagne in the waterfall, but do people really drink that after it's been slopped all over the place?:eek:

 

On the other hand, what the OP said about the Internet & TV are true, but that's typical of any cruise ship. Internet is slow & expensive, and they limit the number of channels they receive. I've read that it's a legal thing, but I think that, like the Las Vegas hotels, they don't want you holed up in your room watching TV - they want you drinking, gambling & otherwise spending money in the public areas.

[Beach4me]

Hmmm...many of us who will be leaving on the next voyage (1/26) followed Mike's "Live" posts for the past 2 weeks. He seemed to be having a great time. And he posted several times a day without mentioning slow internet.

 

Everyone has a different experience no matter the ship or itinerary. But, I firmly believe that you kinda set your own tone to your experience. I'm going expecting to have a good time...and, I'm gonna. No doubt there will be some frustrations somewhere along the way. But I'd say that's a pretty good bet in daily life at home as well.

 

Sorry your experience wasn't what you'd hoped for, OP. But, glad to hear the many good reports from others.

[Times Prince]

Our experience with the Island Princess is a little over a year ago, but we decided the ship was one of our favorites.

 

I guess everyone's experience varies. We've had OK cruises, spectacular cruises, and one (our cruise from H*) that wasn't good -and wasn't Princess. It all depends on expectations and how one deals with change.

 

TV? I'm glad we can't get the same stuff we get at home - it's a vacation for me. And our experience is they do play major sports games if they can receive them - typically in the sports bar. Remember an airplane has line of sight to more satellites.

 

Tendering can be good/bad depending on weather and number of ships in port - sounds like the OP had a day that was on the rougher side. We've learned to come prepared for delays (bring water, snack bar, or Glucerna bar) - think about that for your next cruise.

[sharons]

I find it hard to believe that I did the same itinerary in October on the Island and had a totally different experience.

We found the staff very friendly and the ship in excellent shape. Food was just okay some nights and just fine other nights. We certainly never went hungry.

Internet was slow at times but considering we were out in the middle of the Pacific Ocean still found it incredible that we could e-mail at all.

Most of our Cruise Critic friends were Platinum and loved every minute. I know we all would do this trip again.

There were some excellent speakers and activities. We all loved the days at sea and found we still did not have time to do everything we wanted to do.

Some rough, windy weather crossing but nothing awful. Weather in Hawaii was glorious (and we were there for the infamous earthquake). Tendering was not an issue. The only problem we had was getting off in San Pedro. That was a mess because there were 3 ships in and the Island

apparently has no priority rights because it doesn't come in the same day every week.

Other than that---I'm ready to go again.

Sharon

[huskerdan25]

You know I like you – that may be bad for your reputation, but I do. You say what I think!

 

Well, here is the thing. I find it amazing that people can come on here and try to speak for everyone else on the cruise. To justify their negative comments, they say things like "everyone on the ship complained" or "many people were disillusioned." By saying such things, I guess it is supposed to bring credibility to their comments.

 

Take this quote, "Many active adult passangers were very frustrated and long term cruisers will not be back."

 

Ok, so the OP knows for sure that long term cruisers will not be back either on the Island or Princess? And the OP started off planning to comment about the Island cruise but then first thing says, "Well Princess in general", so based on this cruise, all of Princess has gone to the dogs.

 

Posting a review to share your own experiences if fine, positive or negative, but to try to speak for the masses is silly.

 

I'm sorry to sound harsh but when I read this review, I wasn't sure whether to just laugh or actually feel sorry for the OP.

[Cruisin' Chick]

I was on the Island a year ago (the 12/22/05 cruise) and I didn't see any free champagne on NY Eve then. But I read a review by another CCer who went on your sailing (he posted in the Hawaii forum) that there was free champagne this time.

 

There was intermittent signals for the college bowl games on our cruise. That's the thing about satellite signals in the middle of the Pacific. If it's that important for you, either tape it back home and tell everyone not to tell you the results or don't go on the Hawaiian cruise. It's just not something a cruiseline can guarantee.

 

There was a long line for the tenders in Maui in the late afternoon on our cruise. That's why we got into a much shorter line an hour before...before the rush.

[RodneyG]

I was on the same cruise , just got off , tender line to get aboard on Maui was pretty bad , as all the tours arrived at the same time , would have been a lot better if there was some staff on hand to explain , however most ppl just grumbled a bit and then took it in their stride , this was the only time there was a problem. I disembarked using the tender on both occasions there were tenders , the waits wernt excessive at all , no one complained about it.

I met many ppl that had been on more then 16 princess cruises and all were quite happy , never heard anyone barring one lady who usually sailed on a much more expensive line comment that they wouldnt come back.

As to the lack of champagne on NY eve , I dont drink much so didnt notice it , but did remeber speaking to the barman at the Casino and he mentioned he had 96 bottles of Dom or moet or some quite good brand on hand for NYE for casino players??- there was a celebration in the atrium and it was pretty good with countdowns and balloons , ppl were dancing in other areas , no all night things as the av age of most cruisers was pretty high , nothing much happened after 11 or 12 at any time on the cruise. The lack of free chamnpagne on NYE is hardly a deal breaker anyway.

Yeh Im from South Africa , I will refuse to sail princess cos they didnt get the Spingboks playing India test cricket match , give me a break !!!!

Food was good mostly , never really exceptional , as to overcooking , well that I dunno about , imho my veggies were mostly too al dente , my steaks were always perfect , soft and delicious (I ordered rare) , dunno what else was overcooked , I ate in the main dinging room most of the time and also never heard anyone at our table or others complain about that issue.

As to food poisoning, well it was probably norovirus , which is NOT food related. I and the Dr aboard are good pals , both being safricans , he joined us for a meal towards the end of the cruise and we were talking about the cruise in medical terms and he mentioned broken bones and fall injuries and cardiac issues as the problems aboard , no mention whatsoever about food poisoning etc.

The major complaints I heard from ppl who said they wouldnt do that cruise again were cos of the long time spent at sea , most of them had never done a long cruise or had spent more than 2-3 days at sea , we took this cruise COS of sea days. I Recon had the weather been good and ppl could have spent more time outdoors , that complaint wouldnt have happened. Most ppl WERE hhorrified on the first night due to the storm , it was pretty bad and the capt tried his best to spare passengers by altering course due to it.

My 10yr old daughter was aboard as well as few other kids , no hordes , only one or 2 spanish speaking (I think mexican)families had kids that were a little unruly and a bit obnoxious , but this cruise certianly didnt have a kid problem at all. there was basically nothing for the kids to do aboard cos of the weather apart from going to the kids zone and a lot of em dont like it , viewing it as a camp or a sort of "prison".

I spoketo a ton of staff , and what you say about abandoning ship is not what I heard , I found the staff helpul , coutreous and friendly and my cabin and wait staff were exeptional. Most were happy with what they were earning and their treatment by princess

At no time , barring at the casino where one dealer was outright rude to punters was I ever less than impressed with the staff aboard.

I will say that I do feel princess is nickle and diming to some extent and the comment that " the only thing princess doesnt charge for is air - YET!" does sort of spring to mind , but having cruised before I knew what to expect and what to budget for.

 

I do feel the internet acess is total rip off not soley due to its price but mainly due to the fact that its very expensive and basically unuseable due to being unacceptably slow.

Some complaints I did hear did mention the "extra" charges as being irritating and I along with many others would prefer to pay a higher cruise fee and get those things thrown in (like include the $10 a day in the fare price), BUT I would be equally annoyed to have to pay a higher cruise fee for stuff I dont want or didnt use , like I wouldnt avail myself of free ice cream , or free wine at dinner or stress about not getting free champers on NYE or wouldnt want to pay for a golf links or puter classes i dont use or want and couldnt care about a waffle bathrobe or 5 zillion thread count egyptian cotton sheets, So i suppose , despite the moan , its a system that does work.

I would however have liked better in cabin TV, would like a better room service menu and would have liked a better selection of convenience items in the shop none of which would cost princess an arm and a leg to implement.

I spoke to a ton of ppl on that cruise and the overwhelming majority enjoyed it thoroughly.

[Lifes_A_Cruze]

Wow, so you actually polled all 1900 passengers to determine that over 1200 were repeat customers? Were you on the cruise for a vacation or for work? Do you have any statistics you can share with us to support what you have told us? And you are sure that the long term cruisers will never cruise Princess again? Anybody can come on here and say outrageous things and have the same amount of credibility as you. Back up what you have said with something that proves your comments. Otherwise, just tell us what your experience was and don't try to speak for others.

 

I think it would be safe to assume some (OP's words) would have been disatisfied. Let's look at the Random Polling Theory, something we all use. :) The sampling frame is most important in random polling. These are determining factors, which help to provide every element in our survey. Given the type of cruise this was, most guests were similar in background (i.e., age, income, lifestyle, cruise experience, etc.) and provide an even better sampling frame with less variance as compared to a 7 day caribbean. Often the polls taken for political purposes, typically a few thousand at random--are a pretty sound idea as to what other tens of million voters are thinking. It isn't necessary to poll all the voters and is nonsensical to do so.

 

If the OP managed to speak with at least 5 guests a day over a 15 day period, that would mean 75 of 1900 were "interviewed" for their opinion or 4% of the ship. If 2 out of the 5 questioned passengers shared similar displeased reviews, then daily 40% of those surveyed were unhappy. Of course it isn't scientific, but take 40% of 1900 and we end up with 760. Even 20% (1 out of 5) of 1900 is 380. Consider having to share an 88,000 ton ship with 380 unhappy people. There's a big chance you will run into these people over and over. I still think it seems high myself, but I would be interested in any data the cruise lines have with regards to customer satisfaction/disatisfaction.

[Lifes_A_Cruze]

Well, here is the thing. I find it amazing that people can come on here and try to speak for everyone else on the cruise. To justify their negative comments, they say things like "everyone on the ship complained" or "many people were disillusioned." By saying such things, I guess it is supposed to bring credibility to their comments.

 

Take this quote, "Many active adult passangers were very frustrated and long term cruisers will not be back."

 

Ok, so the OP knows for sure that long term cruisers will not be back either on the Island or Princess? And the OP started off planning to comment about the Island cruise but then first thing says, "Well Princess in general", so based on this cruise, all of Princess has gone to the dogs.

 

Posting a review to share your own experiences if fine, positive or negative, but to try to speak for the masses is silly.

 

I'm sorry to sound harsh but when I read this review, I wasn't sure whether to just laugh or actually feel sorry for the OP.

 

I started writing on the wrong response above. However, it is nothing more than subjective writing as previously stated. We all do it. We sell our opinions and we want others to be persuaded in our experiences or point-of-view. I don't think he is speaking for the masses, persay, but his experiences and conversations with the majority he may have spoken to, might have conveyed they were unhappy. It's all relative and he's entitled to think/share his opinion. I don't understand why other posters nit pick at reviews--which is the most subjective form of writing. The OP is not going to change their mind in the immediate future. Simply take the information that is useful and move on. Why cross examine details that are so subjective? It's a waste of time. Apparently you did not find his post laughable or lamenting since you felt the need to subjectively write your own analysis on it--as I just did.

[Host Caroline]

Wow, so you actually polled all 1900 passengers to determine that over 1200 were repeat customers? Were you on the cruise for a vacation or for work? Do you have any statistics you can share with us to support what you have told us?

 

At the Captain's Circle (repeaters party) on nearly every of our over 15 cruises with Princess they have announced how many repeat passengers are on each sailing. Usually the longer sailings that aren't as "run of the mill" as the 7-night Caribbean or even Alaska there are a huge percentage of repeaters... Last cruise we were on the Caribbean Princess there were over 1000 repeaters! So, yes, that information is readily available if you go to the party or ask the onboard Capt. Circle host/hostess.

[huskerdan25]

At the Captain's Circle (repeaters party) on nearly every of our over 15 cruises with Princess they have announced how many repeat passengers are on each sailing. Usually the longer sailings that aren't as "run of the mill" as the 7-night Caribbean or even Alaska there are a huge percentage of repeaters... Last cruise we were on the Caribbean Princess there were over 1000 repeaters! So, yes, that information is readily available if you go to the party or ask the onboard Capt. Circle host/hostess.

 

Ah! I was a first timer and so I did not attend the Captain's Circle party on the Sapphire last year so I did not know that they make this announcement, so thanks for the clarification.

 

I know I was being a bit nitpicky about this review but I guess it rubs me the wrong way when people try to justify their comments by making it sound like everyone else on the cruise agrees when we all know that isn't the case and as has already been shown, there were a number of people on the same cruise that had a much different cruise experience than the OP. So, please accept my apologies.

 

It sounds like the OP doesn't plan to cruise Princess again but I do hope your next cruise is better.

[sammiedawg]

We were recently on HAL and attended a Q and A. Someone asked about NFL football and we were told each cruise ship has to pay an expensive broadcast fee to carry. Example Super Bowl might cost $35,000, ( I could be wrong about the exact amount but in the ballpark) . They will show the Super Bowl but generally not other events. Years ago we were on Princess New England cruise and they showed baseball playoff games between Yankees RedSox and the broadcasts were well attended.

[suziehmkr]

We've been on Princess 6 times are very much enjoy the product, but I seem to be in the minority on CC in that I really didn't care for the Island compared to the other ships in the fleet.

Critterchick - I know how you feel. I loved the ship! However the staff (most of which was changed shortly after our sailing) was not what we expected from Princess. There are several things that happened (during & after our cruise) that will will keep us from sailing on Princess for a while. The exception may have to be the Panama Canal if I don't want to wait for a repositioning cruise.

 

My review from last year points out many of the things that OP mentioned (Tenders, etc.) Even though we weren't pleased with portions of our cruise, it was still very memorable and we just choose to remember the good stuff! Every cruiseline, ship & crew has things they do better (or worse) than others.

 

Sometimes, I think reading all of the reviews on CC can set you up for disappointment, since they are so subjective. There is such a thing as having too much information or setting expectations too high. We just got back from a cruise on Carnival.... definitely hesitant due to the perception that many have about Carnival. I think due to that hesitation, we ended up being VERY surprised at the experience and re-booked immediately. Granted, the Pride isn't your average Carnival ship.... and we found the experience very enjoyable.