stevenr597

6 hours ago, Toofarfromthesea said:

 

They need to have cutbacks to reduce the debt load they assumed due to the pandemic.  The point I was making was that they seem to be making cutbacks that least affect passengers.  No one NEEDS to have their room cleaned twice a day.

 

If they 'passed the savings to passengers' they would be defeating the purpose of using the savings to pay down debt.

Many of us have seen a decline in service that started well prior to Covid, but unfortunately accelerated because of the Pandemic.  We do understand that it will take time for the cruise industry to get back to “Normal”.

However, I would rather see an increase in prices then sacrifice levels of service, food quality and servicing of rooms. 

If individuals want to trade service for price, I would suggest Carnival which offers a great cruise for the price. 

I do wonder what “Holland-America” can say about this incident.  Their input could add a great deal to this conversation….as well as their silence. 

2 hours ago, TheMichael said:

 

I think the record profits being realized by the tourism industry in general suggest that any "recovery" is being made on the backs of travelers.

The Tourist Agency is making profits again.  But in respect to the cruise industry, staying at Cocoa Beach during the Pandemic, I saw numerous ships having to sit, one mile off the coast, being maintained with no income coming in.

Unlike the airlines, they received no government compensation.

It will be years before they regain what they lost. 

27 minutes ago, AKJonesy said:

I was on the same cruise.  I'm a bit skeptical of the captain's response.  In the morning, I was up in the Crow's Nest getting coffee and I noticed the tracking on the board.  I was wondering why we were sailing to the outside of the island instead of in the inside passage.  It was around 2pm when the Captain made the announcement that we were not going on inside passage, even though we were far past that point already.  I was on the cruise, and I have read many posts from people that have been talking about cut backs, etc.  IDK, maybe "someone filed the wrong paperwork" or something.  LOL.  OK, jk, but yes, itinerary changes ARE not an uncommon thing and it is clearly spelled out.  We also received some compensation so I'm happy about that, AND the outside of the island was fairly smooth sailing.  HOWEVER IN SAYING ALL OF THAT...I did confirm what other people have been saying on this board regarding cutbacks.  I have never responded very negatively to HAL when I've seen cut backs over years, but this time, I am.  It was beyond ridiculous...4/5 star mariners not allowed their loyalty benefit of having ANY priority for tenders?  I had to wait 45 minutes IN THE LOUNGE to receive a tender ticket AND to hear my number called.  The dining room staff cut-backs were evident and our MDR meal took 30 minutes between courses.  We did talk to the dining room manager about it and it seemed to improve, BUT it probably just meant the poor guys and gals just had to hustle even more.  WE are very simple cruisers.  We don't go to entertainment and we don't require much.  But, when we do give loyalty we do hope for that in return.  There is more, but I don't want to hijack the OP.  When I disembarked finally, I did talk to one of the officers for a minute saying that we were disappointed about the tendering, etc., and sadly he gave me a snotty remark.  IDK, we keep dummying down expectations, but might consider an alternative in future.  Just sayin'.

As a cruiser for many years, we have noticed significant cutbacks in the quality of service on board both Princess and Celebrity after Covid.

Sadly, this is a situation we have seen staying in hotels and dining out.

It is one of the signs that we, as of yet, have not fully recovered from the effects of the Covid Shutdown. 

Taking that into consideration, I would much rather be on board a cruise ship, then staying at Cocoa Beach, and seeing the cruise ships staying one mile out to sea during the Covid Pandemic. 

23 hours ago, peajay said:

Here is the letter 

 

 

Were any ports missed.  If not, I do feel that the compensation was adequate for the "mistake."  

13 minutes ago, Senga said:

Hasn't YOUR state experienced increased crime?  Unfortunately, it's a world wide problem, not likely to improve in the near future.

When one says that a "State has an increase in crime" it is generally not homogeneous but rather in specific locations.  One would, in most cases, try to avoid those locations.  

Same holds true in respect to travelling to the Caribbean. 

40 minutes ago, skynight said:

Princess does not sail to Labedee. You always had to be cautious in Nassau, but your ship is not going there. Same for Belize, it's not on your itinerary.

Roatan Island is a beach stop basically. There are some places on the island some cruise ship passengers go.

Cozumel???

 

My quote including a story from Trips for Travelers on You Tube, which talked, in general, of an increase in crime and warnings from the State Department in respect to both the Eastern and Western Caribbean. 

We are scheduled to cruise on Sun Princess, West Caribbean in several months and we had read about increasing crime on many of the islands and countries widely visited by tourists 

Tips for Travelers on You Tube has an excellent piece on the rising crime in many of these areas.

Of course Haiti, including Laberdee is now Level 4, meaning "don't go."

But in addition the State Department has listed Jamaica and Honduras as Level 3, meaning heightened risk.

In addition, note was made of increasing crime in Cozumel, once a safe port.  The Mexican Government has now called in the Federal Police to try to bring down the crime rate.

Other islands which are Level 2 include Nassau as well as the country of Belize

Thinking about it, my wife and I will stay close to the ship and we want to travel into the countryside, will book a tour through Princess. 

 

4 hours ago, cjpj said:

Love the smokies too. Very limited choice on our last few cruises. Also only available in a couple of bars. We have to scout out what bars have any and visit those bars to pick up a drink. A good bartender will also know what bar has a supply too. On our last cruise the only Islays available were Tallisker and Glenn Deveron (my spelling may be off).  Dalwhinnie  has been avalanche on some, but not our December cruise. Haven't seen Laphroaig or Langlavulin (again spelling) post covid. The pickings are really limited for the plated scotches IMHO.

A gentlemen from Scotland got me hooked on Laphroaig on an Azamara Cruise several years ago. 

3 minutes ago, Carol28 said:

I'm confused.  I booked my cruise before April 23, 2024. On the website it says if you book after April 23, the Premier Package is included in your booking.  However, I received an email saying we have been upgraded to the Sanctuary status (We booked an Owner's Suite) which is supposed to include the Premier package.  Yesterday, I did a chat and was told we do not have the Premier Package.  Today, I called and was told the Sanctuary status includes the Premier package and it says on our summary that we have Sanctuary status.

 

Do we have the Premier package? The Princess rep on the phone said yes.  Can anyone here tell me if this is true? I hope my writing isn't as confused as I am!

I believe that individuals who have booked rooms which are listed as "Sanctuary" will be grandfathered in at no additional cost for any of the benefits, including the Premier Package.  

We have booked a Reserve Class Mini Suite for March 2025 and were told by Princess that we are now Sanctuary Mini Suite and our Plus Package has become Premier. 

 

My wife and I had been scheduled to cruise on the Nieuw Statendam this October which included the Mediteranean and Israel.  With the start of the unfortunate hostilities, Holland American wisely decided to cancel any stops in Israel.  

We elected to take the option to cancel the cruise and to rebook for October, 2025 on the identical cruise.  

But recently we are seeing that tour groups are starting to cancel stops in Israel, even at this early  date.

We would like to know the feelings of the viewership.  Do they believe that Holland America will decide to take no chances, and cut out the Israel segment of this cruise well in advance of the date.  

As an alternative we are considering a cruise around Japan.  

1 hour ago, FLAlaska said:

I heard that if you already had a reserve cabana suite, you would be grandfathered in, which is what shows on one of my bookings. New bookings would be excluded. Did that change?

I contacted Princess yesterday evening.  We have already booked an M1 Mini-Suite and I was told that we were grandfathered in. 

Haven't been formally notified by my Travel Agent or Princess, but I did contact an agent at Princess last night and she told me that our Reserve Class Mini-suite was now Sanctuary Class with the added benefits.

Good news. 

11 minutes ago, 555 said:

When we were working we just didn't mind eating at 6PM but being retired but now we like to have our main meal at 2:30 PM and have the rest of the evening to relax or do other things. 

12 minutes ago, 555 said:

When we were working we just didn't mind eating at 6PM but being retired but now we like to have our main meal at 2:30 PM and have the rest of the evening to relax or do other things. 

Even when we go to the theatre, we generally do not like to eat before, although we may have a cocktail and some finger food to go along with it. 

2 hours ago, 555 said:

I'm just curious but are you still working. 

 

Yes

On 4/14/2024 at 11:33 AM, cruising.mark.uk said:

That might be the case for US cruisers, but I'm almost certain that it won't be for UK and European cruisers who make up a good proportion of Princess' passenger base and generally eat their main meal quite a bit later in the day than 5.30 in the UK and much later than that in many other European countries.

 

So, I sense that on UK / European sailings and North American sailings that attract a good proportion of non-US passengers, there should be be a fairly good split between passengers seeking very early dining and those that are happy to dine after 7pm.  Perhaps the sailings on which this is more likely to become a problem are the shorter North American ones that attract predominantly US passengers?

We prefer later dining.  

14 hours ago, Kay S said:

That would be me.  I'm waiting to see if they are serious about TD before I book Princess again.

We used to love "Traditional Dining" but, especially on Princess, we like to book a Reserve Class which gives preferential seating.  We often take in the Early Show in the main theatre, getting there fairly early so we can find good seats, and then eat dinner afterwards. 

We were book for Israel via Holland American this coming October, but cancelled the cruise after H.A. cancelled port stops in Israel.  

We rebooked and hopefully will be able to do stop in Israel for October, 2025. 

2 hours ago, MacMadame said:

I didn't say assigned times cost more money. I said that cruise lines that still cruise in the old ways cost more money. Assigned times is just one place where things have changed, there is also turndown service, the midnight buffet, all drinks except alcohol, and all activities included in the fare, etc.

I would imagine that assigned times would actually cost less money.  Put less strain and give more efficiency to the waiters and kitchen in that they would not have to be preparing multiple dishes at the same time. 

2 hours ago, memoak said:

And at your assigned time

Yes, eating at a specific time.  But the staff was much more attentive and had an easily time with the means.  

Just remember the "Old Days" when there was a midnight buffet every night, with one gala buffet.  When one had several waiters at the table, and if you food was not excellent, the waiter would be quick to replace it with another dish.

Of course you would be expect to eat  your three meals in the main dining room at your assigned table. 

 

We are looking forward to a week cruise on the Sun Princess next March.  We traditionally book Club Class/Reserve Mini-Suite which we did for this cruise.

We are three people, and we have noticed that that the vast majority of Reserve Class Mini-suites will only accommodate two people.  Those that will be set up for 3 or 4 passengers are usually connecting cabins.

We have heard some horrible things about cabins which connect in that they can be quite noisy.  However, we have been in hotel rooms which are connecting with no problem.

Any comments about these cabins on the Sun Princess?

On 3/31/2024 at 3:34 PM, jean-lynd said:

 

We had Princess Plus…but to be honest, we had so much food that either between lunch and dinner, or late at night we just had tea and a chocolate chip cookie. 

On 3/30/2024 at 8:25 PM, lorri111 said:

The pics I have seen of the speciality desserts look a bit much - are you able to substitute anything else for them? I seem to recall someone mentioned gelato- is this true of all ships and where is the gelato bar (Royal specifically).

On the Regal Princess, we asked the server if we could just have 1 or two scoops of ice cream instead of the Speciality Desert.

His answer….no problem.  

We have book Reserve Class Mini-Suite during March, 2025 on Sun Princess.  We are a party of three and found out that most Mini-Suites are limited to two people.  The majority of Mini-Suites available for three people are connecting.  

We have heard that connecting cabins are usually noisier.  

Any comments about this?