Beware of Golden Princess - Poor dining service

[Colo Cruiser]

Sure are alot of new people signing up today. :rolleyes:

[LARGIN]

Sure are alot of new people signing up today. :rolleyes:

Amazing isn't it... Wondering why I never get that kind of service. Guess I might have to reconsider going on the Golden next year to Hawaii :rolleyes:

[BJS]

We talked to a few passengers who had Traditional dining and they said the wait times between courses was too long. We told them it couldn't be any worse than Anytime Dining where you waited 45 minutes before they took your order! And if your drink arrived before dinner was over, count yourself lucky. It sounds like you've had success with Princess, but as a first time Princess passenger I was sorely disappointed and seriously, I'm not that picky. Maybe I just had a bad dining room waiter and it was simply bad luck. I know cruises are usually known for fine service, so I'm truly shocked it was so bad for us.:mad:

 

Were you on the same cruise as the OP? If so this must have been some sort of a "training" cruise- never have we waited 45 minutes to have an order taken and to have that happen every night on a 7 day cruise is unbelievable!:eek:

 

The wait time between courses in Traditional dining room is to long for us and that is one of the reasons we choose Anytime dining. Often we do not have every course and to have to sit and wait until others finish theirs just isn't our idea of the way we want to dine. We also rarely join others for Breakfast and Lunch in the dining room for the same reason. We do enjoy our leisurely meals but not prolonged ones.

 

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[coiran]

Parrallel Worlds do exist!!!!

Ron

[envy4u]

Loved the staff and service on the Golden but we all can't get that lucky.

[bdjam]

Amazing isn't it... Wondering why I never get that kind of service. Guess I might have to reconsider going on the Golden next year to Hawaii :rolleyes:

You never get that kind of service because you have a BLACK card :D When are you going to Hawaii?

[SFParrtHd]

I liked everything about the dining on the Golden. Are you sure you were on the Golden Princess or the Golden Hind? But I have to admit one thing, there is no finer pizza than on Princess!

 

Best Laugh of the Day - "that's good knowledge award" for the Golden Hind comment.

[SFParrtHd]

You never get that kind of service because you have a BLACK card :D When are you going to Hawaii?

 

Yeah LARGIN, when are WE going to Hawaii???

[5fathom]

We are veteran cruisers having sailed on RCI, Celebrity, Holland and some lines that don't even exist anymore. A majority of these cruises have been Princess. We sailed on the Golden back to back 10 days cruises from London. Thats 20 days of anytime dining and never once did we wait for a table. Granted we eat early between 6:15 and 6:30 and yes people eating in the prime hour around 8pm did have a wait. We are sorry about your experiences on the Golden and we will certainly wave to you from the Sapphire Princess southbound from Whittier in Sept.

[buckspc]

fast one on this board and Princess, sounds like sour grapes, after being asked for more info he will not respond. He's mad about something so he will trash the whole cruise and Princess Lines. Just my personal opinion, Buck

[GoodAsGold]

We sailed on the Golden out of San Francisco for a 10 day cruise to Mexico a year ago almost to the date. In fact we were on her right now. I found NONE of the problems you're speaking of. We went with a group of 8, so we had Early Traditional Dining. Our waitstaff were wonderful in every way. My two young nephews were at our table and between the waiter and the maitre de, they were kept busy laughing. Our food was always hot (or cold) and on time.

That was my third time sailing Princess and I enjoyed all three cruises.

 

We'll be trying the RCI Mariner of the Seas down to Mexico because I've always wanted to sail on one of those huge ships. But, I have heard that Princess and Carnival actually have tastier food overall.

 

We shall see! I'm sorry your dining experience was less than perfect with Princess and more specifically, the Golden. :(

 

 

Folks, I just returned from a 7-day cruise on the Golden Princess and IT WAS TERRIBLE. I should have read the reviews before we booked, but I used to agree that only the people who complain post comments and I figured it wouldn't tell me much. WHAT A MISTAKE. I am not someone who normally complains and I've been on many cruises. I usually cruise on Royal Caribbean so I know what EXCELLENT service is like. I'm sorry to say that Princess and the Golden Princess fall very short. The dining room service is very slow. If you choose Anytime Dining you'll wait 45 minutes to get a table. If you choose Traditional dining, you'll wait 10 to 15 minutes between courses. On 2 nights at dinner, the waiter completelly forgot to bring my drink and never filled our water glasses. They were completely empty and he never noticed. I get better service at my local Mexican restaurant! The dining room food was served lukewarm too. I don't think it's being picky to ask for hot food and your water glass refilled. I will NEVER cruise on Princess again, but if you think I'm a whiner and my complaints are not important to you then by all means, go on Princess. I'll wave to you from my lovely Royal Caribbean cabin. [/font]

[whale-watcher]

Hmmmm.....are there two different Golden Princess ships? ;) Another recent glowing review:

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=753142

[LARGIN]

You never get that kind of service because you have a BLACK card :D When are you going to Hawaii?

 

Yeah LARGIN, when are WE going to Hawaii???

 

Anytime in 2009 except for February.. Do we have a plan?

[Seal]

Check the Profiles of the two newest ones----interesting!!!!!

 

Nancy:rolleyes: :rolleyes:

[bdjam]

Anytime in 2009 except for February.. Do we have a plan?

Autumn...I'm booked in the spring :o

[debsand]

I noticed a few of you cruised on the Golden Princess a LONG time ago. Trust me, a lot has changed on Golden. We chatted with an older couple who had completed 10+ cruises with Princess and they agreed 100% the Anytime Dining service on the Golden during the busy March/April spring break 2008 season was the absolute WORST they had ever seen. They actually were apologizing to me and other passengers while we waited for dining tables and told us "Princess is usually very good, we've never seen anything like this. I'm so sorry, this is not up to Princess standards." Please don't discount others opinions based on one Golden cruise that you took years ago. ;) I wouldn't take the time to make this post if my comments were anything but completely true.....I think others need to know what to expect on Golden nowadays!

[bdjam]

I noticed a few of you cruised on the Golden Princess a LONG time ago. Trust me, a lot has changed on Golden. We chatted with an older couple who had completed 10+ cruises with Princess and they agreed 100% the Anytime Dining service on the Golden during the busy March/April spring break 2008 season was the absolute WORST they had ever seen. They actually were apologizing to me and other passengers while we waited for dining tables and told us "Princess is usually very good, we've never seen anything like this. I'm so sorry, this is not up to Princess standards." Please don't discount others opinions based on one Golden cruise that you took years ago. ;) I wouldn't take the time to make this post if my comments were anything but completely true.....I think others need to know what to expect on Golden nowadays!

:confused: :confused:

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=756475

[PescadoAmarillo]

We were on the Golden for B2B cruises in January, Anytime Dining. We usually arrived by 6:30 and asked for a large table and never had a wait. I think once or twice we might have asked for a table for 2; again, no wait. We had some of the best dining service we've ever had on Princess on the Golden. In fact, I wrote a letter to the Maitre de, Mario Propato about how pleased we were.

 

However, two nights out of 14, our service was abysmal. Exactly as the OP mentioned. On one of those nights, we arrived at the dining room at 5:30, because we wanted to get a seat for an 8:15 production show. Due to poor service, dinner lasted until 8:00 and we didn't get a seat for the show. The people we were dining with that night said that EVERY night had been like that for them. Another night we faced slow service; that time I approached a head waiter let him know there was a problem. Service speeded up...a bit, still not the way it should be.

 

So, it can happen. If you asked those people we dined with that one night, they would tell you that dining service on the Golden was really awful, and they would be right. That was their experience. Our twelve dinners with very good to excellent service doesn't negate their bad experiences.

[debsand]

I noticed a few of cruised on the Golden Princess a LONG time ago. Trust me, a lot has changed on Golden. We chatted with an older couple who had completed 10+ cruises with Princess and they agreed the Anytime Dining service on the Golden during the busy March/April spring break 2008 season was the absolute WORST they had seen. They actually were apologizing to other passengers while we waited for dining tables and told us "Princess is ususally very good, we've never seen anything like this." Please don't discount others opinions based on one Golden cruise that you took many years ago. ;)

[A Sixth?]

Wow, two choices on your poll. Maybe you should have just had one.... "You're pissed off and want to vent... "Yes" " :rolleyes:

[bhopal21]

I noticed a few of cruised on the Golden Princess a LONG time ago. Trust me, a lot has changed on Golden. We chatted with an older couple who had completed 10+ cruises with Princess and they agreed the Anytime Dining service on the Golden during the busy March/April spring break 2008 season was the absolute WORST they had seen. They actually were apologizing to other passengers while we waited for dining tables and told us "Princess is ususally very good, we've never seen anything like this." Please don't discount others opinions based on one Golden cruise that you took many years ago. ;)

 

It must have changed awfully fast as we left her on February 16, 2008.:confused:

 

Mike:p

[debsand]

And since you asked....yes, we knew about the long wait times in the Traditional Dining room because we met 2 couples on the Sun Deck who were disappointed with the traditional dining service too. They said it was like the Waiter disappeared from the floor for 10 - 15 minutes until he'd reappear with the food. From what I've read, I'm guessing the Waiter was running to the bar to pick-up drinks since Princess has eliminated their wine stewards (again, just based on what I've read about Princess today.) We had 3 meals where we endured 45-minute waits (no reservation) for Anytime Dining. Yes, we were willing to sit with others but since we're a party of six we didn't want to be split from our group. Maybe that contributed to the long wait. And yes, we could have called for reservations but what's the point of Anytime Dining then? We wanted to come to the dining room when we were ready, whenever that was. I don't mind waiting 20 - 30 minutes for a table, but anything beyond that on a big ship with 2 banquet sized dining rooms is unacceptable to me. One night which was particularly busy in the Donatello dining room at 7pm, we were asked if we could come back at 9pm for dinner! Can you imagine? That was the night some another Princess passenger (older couple who loved Princess!) apologized to us for the terrible dining service, they said they were honestly embarrassed for Princess....especially since I made it known this was my first (and last) Princess cruise.

[junglejane]

I noticed a few of cruised on the Golden Princess a LONG time ago. Trust me, a lot has changed on Golden. We chatted with an older couple who had completed 10+ cruises with Princess and they agreed the Anytime Dining service on the Golden during the busy March/April spring break 2008 season was the absolute WORST they had seen. They actually were apologizing to other passengers while we waited for dining tables and told us "Princess is ususally very good, we've never seen anything like this." Please don't discount others opinions based on one Golden cruise that you took many years ago. ;)

 

I'll just point out that we were on the Golden from March 8-15, 2008, during our kids' Spring Break, as part of a group made up of 3 families. So ours is a recent experience. We had a great time. Sorry you didn't.

 

--Junglejane

[bdjam]

That was the night some another Princess passenger (older couple who loved Princess!) apologized to us for the terrible dining service, they said they were honestly embarrassed for Princess....especially since I made it known this was my first (and last) Princess cruise.

:confused: :confused: :confused: :confused:

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=756475

 

From what I've read, I'm guessing the Waiter was running to the bar to pick-up drinks since Princess has eliminated their wine stewards (again, just based on what I've read about Princess today.)

Usually the Assistant Waiter is in charge of taking care of drinks from the bar, not the Waiter. Princess eliminated Wine Stewards somewhere around 1997 - long before Golden Princess came online (unless you're talking about Golden Princess 1, which is a totally different story).

[Ethel5]

It's quite curious how this OP just "happens" to run into people who are bitching about how bad the service is! :rolleyes: Where does he find them all?