6 hour warning for a plate of cheese

[m steve]

I called room service about 4 pm to get additional ice and asked for the cheese plate and fruit. They advised that you have to give them at least 6 hours for this item. Do they have to go out and milk the cow and churn the cheese. Unbelievable. I just went up to the buffet and filled a plate with asst. chunks of cheese, some crackers and found a lot of shrimp so I returned with a big plate of snacks to have with our drinks for free and they lost revenue for their stupidity. Most days it took 20 minutes or more to get room service to answer their phone.

[Colo Cruiser]

Going to the HC is much easier anyway to bring back as much as you want of whatever you want.

 

What day of the cruise did this happen and what time?

[mii]

We do the same thing as Colo does, just go to the buffet area and get some cheese and crackers. i am also curious on what day it was. Was it on embarkation day or another day.

 

Marilyn

[custompcsys]

I called room service about 4 pm to get additional ice and asked for the cheese plate and fruit. They advised that you have to give them at least 6 hours for this item. Do they have to go out and milk the cow and churn the cheese. Unbelievable. I just went up to the buffet and filled a plate with asst. chunks of cheese, some crackers and found a lot of shrimp so I returned with a big plate of snacks to have with our drinks for free and they lost revenue for their stupidity. Most days it took 20 minutes or more to get room service to answer their phone.

 

Oh my God!!!! :eek: This is terrible, inexcusable! This could have ruined your entire cruise! Write Princess immediately and DEMAND compensation, and that the person in charge of food service on whatever ship you were on be fired immediately - possibly even tortured! :rolleyes:

 

(Sorry, I couldn't resist :D )

[jmw2323]

Oh my God!!!! :eek: This is terrible, inexcusable! This could have ruined your entire cruise! Write Princess immediately and DEMAND compensation, and that the person in charge of food service on whatever ship you were on be fired immediately - possibly even tortured! :rolleyes:

 

(Sorry, I couldn't resist :D )

 

I don't understand this response. They offer room service as part of their amenities. They should then be able to accomodate passengers requests in a reasonable amount of time. 6 hours isn's reasonable.

If the ship arrives in a port city at the scheduled time of 7am, is it then ok for them to say give us 6 hours before we let anyone off the ship. Or, you arrive for your 6pm reservation at Sabatini's and the maitre d says, give us 6 hours for your table to be ready.

 

I don't know what day or time the room service order was placed but 6 hours is rediculous and unacceptable.

[dforeigner]

I don't understand this response. They offer room service as part of their amenities. They should then be able to accomodate passengers requests in a reasonable amount of time. 6 hours isn's reasonable.

If the ship arrives in a port city at the scheduled time of 7am, is it then ok for them to say give us 6 hours before we let anyone off the ship. Or, you arrive for your 6pm reservation at Sabatini's and the maitre d says, give us 6 hours for your table to be ready.

 

I don't know what day or time the room service order was placed but 6 hours is rediculous and unacceptable.

 

I think it was meant in a sarcastic way.

[AZbeachboy]

I think it was meant in a sarcastic way.

 

 

The op has a legit complaint. No reason to be so mean as sarcasim often is.

 

If you expect good service on Princess, you expectations will never be acheived. I travel Princess because they have the nicest ships sailing and I like the fresh water pools. But sevice from the food staff is mediocre at best. I have lost all expectation of finding great service and consistant service with Princess.

[gooch47]

There are ships with good service and ships with bad service. I don't really know what determines which are which.

[pris993]

I agree, we should be able to expect better service. Unfortunately, the powers that be, sometimes make it impossible for staff to provide even basic service. I remember many years ago, we tried to order a sandwich while in port. The problem was we wanted a sandwich with out butter on the bread. They could not provide it because they only had pre made sandwiches and all the refrigerators were locked and the staff with the key had gone ashore. That's when we stopped ordering from room service for anything other than breakfast. Now we go to HC get what we want and bring it back to the cabin. Very simple, this way we have no problem.

[dforeigner]

The op has a legit complaint. No reason to be so mean as sarcasim often is.

 

If you expect good service on Princess, you expectations will never be acheived. I travel Princess because they have the nicest ships sailing and I like the fresh water pools. But sevice from the food staff is mediocre at best. I have lost all expectation of finding great service and consistant service with Princess.

 

I never critized the OP's legitimate concern.

 

The post I referred to as being sarcastis is this one:

 

Oh my God!!!! :eek: This is terrible, inexcusable! This could have ruined your entire cruise! Write Princess immediately and DEMAND compensation, and that the person in charge of food service on whatever ship you were on be fired immediately - possibly even tortured! :rolleyes:

 

(Sorry, I couldn't resist :D )

[johnmik1]

I don't understand this response. They offer room service as part of their amenities. They should then be able to accomodate passengers requests in a reasonable amount of time. 6 hours isn's reasonable.

If the ship arrives in a port city at the scheduled time of 7am, is it then ok for them to say give us 6 hours before we let anyone off the ship. Or, you arrive for your 6pm reservation at Sabatini's and the maitre d says, give us 6 hours for your table to be ready.

 

I don't know what day or time the room service order was placed but 6 hours is rediculous and unacceptable.

 

I just checked the room service menu and don't see a cheeze & fruit plate mentioned.Since this was a special request,I would expect a delay.

[bdjam]

If you expect good service on Princess, you expectations will never be acheived.

I think it all depends on how you define "good." I've had good to excellent service on all of my Princess cruises. Sometimes the unreasonable being denied is seen as a sign of bad service.

 

Certain offerings from room service require ordering six hours before delivery. These are usually the specialty plates like canapes and I believe there is a cheese and cracker specialty plate as well. The original poster didn't tell us if he was trying to order one of those plates (he does say room service lost money and since there is a charge for the specialty plates, I'm making an assumption he was), which are clearly published as requiring a six hour order window, or something else. Nor do we know what room service understood him to order.

 

I think the solution of going to Horizon Court and preparing a plate for oneself is a good one...a little walk around never hurt anyone.

[dforeigner]

I just checked the room service menu and don't see a cheeze & fruit plate mentioned.Since this was a special request,I would expect a delay.

 

 

I believe the cheese and fruit plate is not part of the regular (free) room service menu. It is in the next few pages where there is actually a fee for this special request.

[TwinCruiserMom]

Which ship were you on?

 

The Caribbean Princess has pretty good room service, especially in the afternoons. I have never ordered a specialty item, but I have ordered off the menu. We have ordered chef salads and club sandwiches and although they told us 20-30 minutes, it was more like 15 minutes. And everything tasted very good. We never order breakfast because it is always too early and the bakery is dried out.

 

I think 6 hours for a cheese plate is ridiculous and would have done the same thing and gone to the horizon. We brought back a HUGE pile of shrimp and cocktail sauce one night for the 5 of us and truly enjoyed our appetizers on the balcony. Much better selection up in the buffet anyhow and very convenient to bring food back to your room because then you do not have to hunt for a table up there in the horizon!

 

We had a couple instances late evening where they do not answer the room service phone. In those cases we just went and found our own food. No big deal - and it is always enjoyable to walk around the ship and see what everyone is up to.

[TwinCruiserMom]

Sorry - double post

[cruzinchris]

These are usually the specialty plates like canapes and I believe there is a cheese and cracker specialty plate as well.

 

Yes, there is a specialty cheese/cracker/fruit platter that is awesome! :)

 

Especially nice when received as an onboard gift and worth the wait ;) .

 

Bon Voyage!

Chris

[bdjam]

Yes, there is a specialty cheese/cracker/fruit platter that is awesome! :)

 

Especially nice when received as an onboard gift and worth the wait ;) .

 

Bon Voyage!

Chris

Greetings my friend! I knew there was a reason I remembered that tray! ;) :D

[custompcsys]

I never critized the OP's legitimate concern.

 

The post I referred to as being sarcastis is this one:

 

I did mean it tongue-in-cheek. It was not meant as a flame, my apologies if it was taken that way.

[Kerry&LuAnn]

Service for us on the Caribbean Princess and Crown Princess has always been prompt, friendly, and consistent.

[custompcsys]

I have lost all expectation of finding great service and consistant service with Princess.

 

I'm puzzled as to why, if you feel that way, you continue to cruise Princess. I'm sure other lines have nice ships, although its true that most others are salt water pools. Wouldn't some of the upscale lines (Yatchs of Seabourne and similar) possibly provide you with the service experience you're looking for?

 

Not a flame, just a legitimate question. If I were dissatisfied with the service I would be looking for an alternative.

[Daniel1313]

People should learn not to say anything bad about princess....

 

 

 

The snobs that think they run the show can't take it.... I would like to travel along in their world where nothing ever goes wrong. They toot princess cruise lines horn no matter what......

 

I myself like Princess more than the other lines, but I have not been 100% satisfied every time I have sailed with them. If I or someone else wants to post a thread about one of our (their) experiences, we should be able to without having to hear we should sail with someone else if we are not happy...

[B40 Tha Cruisa]

This "poor service" junk is pathetic. Not just on this thread, but in general when people complain about service aboard a ship. Sure, once in a while youll get some bad service. Most of the complaints come from "give me this, give me that" people. The truth is, someone cleaning your room, turning down your bed, serving you breakfast, lunch and dinner and leaving a chocolate on your pillow is good service. Some people IMO have very unreasonable and lofty expectations. Especially for mainstream line.

[AZbeachboy]

I never critized the OP's legitimate concern.

 

The post I referred to as being sarcastis is this one:

 

Sorry I was not being critical of what you said. Just noting that it tends to be hurtful. Your quote just happened to be the quote button i pushed.

[seattlekckckc]

We got chocolate covered strawberries delivered to our room on both formal nights as a result of an Elite perk. I tipped the guy a couple bucks when he delivered them, even though he didnt seem to expect it (he actually was surprised we were in the room, the room steward was getting ready to let him in and leave them.) The second night, I also tipped him $2 or $3, I cant remember. He then told me he had chosen the plate with the biggest strawberries for me (probably becasue of the tip, since they were all destined for suite and Elite customers - no preferential treatment becasue of that). The NEXT day I ordered a club sandwich, and the sme room service guy came, and he was very excited to see if I enjoyed the strawberries and that he would bring me another plate right now if I wanted them. This is good service to me. Well worth a couple bucks for tips, I think that is reasonable.

 

As far as a 6 hour wait for the cheese plate, those "special" items you have to pay for are processed by another dept I think. I was told this when we ordered a booze/cheese combo for a friend once on the ship. The people processing the orders may only do them at some times? As opposed to ordering a burger or something. I dont know for sure, but the HC is a much better option I think also.

 

Another random comment, we saw on the room service menu that you can now order a whole pizza from the pizzaria (this was on the Coral) for a $3.00 service charge. GREAT deal, imo. My nephew would be jazzed about this, except for the fact that the fridges are too small to store the leftovers!

 

Casey

[AZbeachboy]

I'm puzzled as to why, if you feel that way, you continue to cruise Princess. I'm sure other lines have nice ships, although its true that most others are salt water pools. Wouldn't some of the upscale lines (Yatchs of Seabourne and similar) possibly provide you with the service experience you're looking for?

 

Not a flame, just a legitimate question. If I were dissatisfied with the service I would be looking for an alternative.

 

The only really bad expierence we have had was on the Tahitian Princess this last June. Much was written on those boards by many people. They were having personnel problems based on a conflict which in Princess words was do to the French Govermnent.

The total of a cruise is made up of more that just dinning room service. Which is really what my statement was about. Cabin service has always be adequate or better, and room service is about a 50% shot, se we tend not to use it.

We like the multiple activities, ports, and lounges on Princess. Embarkation and Debarkation have been better that any other line and the customer service desk has always been helpful. Those things all add up to make the vacation.

So if the dinning room service is ok, but not good or great that is ok. If DR service was poor (which is was last June) that would be a different. I am glad I had cruised Princess previously so that I knew it was better most of the time.

If I looked for perfection on any line I would be disapointed, so I look for the things that are the most important to me.

Hope that explains it, Blessings