Mittens101

I asked my dr for a prescription just in case. Took it with us and luckily didn’t need it. I would get it before I boarded. 

We were on sky November 2022 and our experience was even worse than yours. We have nine cruises with princess and I am embarrassed to give others their praise again. We took a rcl cruise this November. It wasn’t stellar but still ranked higher on my list than the cruise on sky. The service on sky was absolutely horrible almost nonexistent. Yes I mentioned everything in my review but obviously management isn’t listening. 2024 we are trying yet another line in hopes of finding our new cruise provider home. I know some will say it’s to be expected and you have to lower standards. Forget that it’s my money. I work hard for it and I’m not throwing it away on crappy food and poor service. The pandemic is officially over get a grip PRINCESS or you won’t have any customers left. 

This thread and the video on #47 has me rethinking a cruise I have booked this coming year on beyond. 

7 hours ago, silverquad said:

Maintenance fixed it very quickly. The water was shut off only a couple of hours. It took longer for them to remove the ceiling panels. They soaked the water up with towels then wet vac. We ran a blower in the room when we were not there. We left towels down for the rest of the cruise. The smell never went away even after shampooing. We had this happen once before on another ship and learned not to leave anything on the floor.

 

I have to emphasize that housekeeping did an outstanding job of making sure that we were comfortable. 

 

I’m very happy to hear housekeeping did an outstanding job. The crew on that ship is phenomenal. I’m also glad to hear you were compensated and your wife did not get seriously injured. I really hope they do the vision justice and send her to dry dock for complete repairs. This seems to be a reoccurring problem that can only have so many bandages applied to it. 

Yes I was able to change ours two weeks ago. Took several minutes but was fairly easy. 

5 minutes ago, Tatka said:

Princess is more “foodie” line, although our last cruise (New Year 2020 on Crown) was a bit disappointing in food department. My husband likes to order a steak. Even simple steak was not on daily menu. And other selections were nowhere near of what they offered in the past. 

RCI invests more in amusement.
 

And that’s why we’ve been in search of another cruise line. Tried Royal Caribbean again hubby was happy with the food selection me not so much. We were on sky last year and that wrote Princess’s toe tag for awhile. I’ll find something or maybe by the RC or princess will get straightened out in the kitchen. 

12 minutes ago, lovesthebeach2 said:

True, but when I would ask for the vegetarian menu, others at our table of 8 asked to look at it too, and started to order things from that menu.  
So part of the reason that there was wasted  food may have been due to the fact that people that weren’t vegetarian weren’t even aware there was another menu! so it’s too bad it wasn’t included in the main menu.

 

I think it’s harder for vegans to find things than for vegetarians who will eat cheese. I always can find things to eat off the menu

Aw cheese now that’s another issue. A lot of the hard cheeses are made with animal rennet. 

9 hours ago, Jasukkie said:

The inventory isn't costly though. Meat is very expensive. Beans and grains are cheap and shelf stable. I think if they did a better job with meals that just happened to be vegan more people would order them. Ultimately it could save the kitchen money. Maybe people could get their multiple lobsters back with the savings.

When I was on the Royal Princess a few sails ago, the buffet was stacked with incredible vegan and vegetarian options. I kept commenting to the crew how great it was. I was told that the chef had a choice what was prepared and he took great care to ensure that there was a lot of plant based recipes used. They said a lot of what is cooked is up to the chef. I can’t say that is true for all cruise lines but I tend to believe that, because even princes was hit or miss back then depending on which ship you were on. Maybe the chefs need to be educated that vegan and vegetarian options can be eaten by non vegetarians as well. 

3 hours ago, Cruisintimer said:

Smoke free would be deciding factor if we spent much time in a ship's casino.  We are avid Princess cruisers but can't stand the smoke.  

I loath the cigarette smoke and I love to play the slots. I would stick with the cruise I have booked 

We got back from a cruise on the vision on the second. I’m a vegetarian with a n eggplant allergy. They did accommodate my needs in the main dining room one night when the only vegan option had eggplant. One of my frustrations is that the portions are much smaller than normal portions. It’s bad enough that they only give one option but they think because you are a vegan you don’t eat. I’ve been on two rc cruises and lost weight each time. The windjammer had a small veg section with three options sometimes with eggplant in it. Next year we are trying celebrity then the year after back to princess. I don’t mind vegan vs vegetarian but give me some food man! 

7 minutes ago, Coral said:

When did Princess sail out of Baltimore? I have followed them for over 25 years and don't remember this.

Let me do some homework I may be mistaken and it could have been celebrity. I wasn’t into cruising back then. 

8 hours ago, TheDawg79 said:

Baltimore is just too much in a cruise no man’s land. It’s a bad port for a Caribbean cruise and it’s a bad port for New England cruises. You lose at least a port day or two day compared to FL ports going to the Caribbean. The bridge severely limits ship size and Baltimore is such a cesspool that it’s not going to attract cruisers from going there and not the better ports with better itineraries. Princess is a higher end line from Carnival and Royal and I don’t think the immediate Baltimore area would really support an elevated line. There is a reason why higher end cruise lines don’t go there….not much demand.

Some would be surprised how much money there is here. People aren’t afraid to drive a few hours for a quality product. 

7 hours ago, Charles4515 said:

I did two cruises on Celebrity out of Baltimore on smaller ships no longer in their fleet and those worked out itinerary wise because they were 11 day cruises.  Those sailings only lasted a few years and Celebrity left Baltimore. I don’t think the business was that good for them. I seem to recall low fares. Carnival does 7 day cruises out of Baltimore and I did one of them and it was too low quality for me. Royal has been doing 5 and 9 day itineraries. The 5 to Bermuda and then 9 to Bahamas. The 5 to  Bermuda really has a sucky schedule and I would never do it. I never did the 9 side of it either. 

We refuse to sail carnival out of this port.we have heard many stories and feel it would be a waste of our time and money. We have a celebrity booked for next year but out of Florida. Been contemplating doing a cruise out of Boston. Easier flight than going to New York. 

3 hours ago, SCX22 said:

Wishful thinking at the moment.  There aren't enough ships in Princess' fleet to make this work.  If they didn't unload 4 ships during the pandemic, it might have been a possibility.  Maybe after 2025 after the Star Princess comes into service.  But even then, Carnival Corp said no MOUs for new builds for any of their brands until after 2028.

I’m going to keep wishing and hope something comes into fruition. I really would prefer to continue with Princess but flying is limited for us. 

2 hours ago, burningisis said:

The problem with sailing out of Baltimore isnt just the bridge (the bay bridge is no problem, its the Key bridge that's like new york or tampa with its height) there's also the problem of the turning basin which is rather narrow.    An option that I've seen starting to take off is revitalizing Norfolk.  We're seeing a handful of cruises passing through there to some success.  Norfolk eliminates the size issue of Baltimore's bridge and turning basin.  It eliminates the distance issue of navigating the length of the Chesapeake just to get out to sea.   And it could reasomably be a starting point for new england and canada cruises as well as Bermuda, and if Bermuda is an option, the Bahamas become an option

I like your thinking 

3 minutes ago, MissP22 said:

We used to sail quite often years ago when the Meridian was still in operation.

It was convenient. 

I’ve had it with flying so it would be wonderful to have a line we love within driving distance 

17 minutes ago, skynight said:

I don't see Baltimore in Princess' future. Takes too long to exit into the Atlantic. Can't reach very far south  into the Caribbean tropics and warm weather which is probably one of the the primary reasons people go on cruise ships. Winter in the northeast is Caribbean cruise season. It's cold sailing from and to the home port at this time of year. Princess does not have many small ships., only two. Princess moves their ships in summer to more profitable locations like Europe, Alaska Australia, South America. If Princess ever decided to sail from the northeast in my opinion they would select NYC. 

My thinking is Royal and carnival sail out of Baltimore and they are making a bundle. Princess could try it out. I’d be doing at least 4 cruises a year if they made that decision and I have a family that would do more as well. 

We just got back from an 8 day sailing on The Vision of the Seas out of Baltimore. We didn’t want to go to the competition but were forced to based on our last sailing on Princess and the distance to the port. There were good things and areas for improvement on our journey, but it made us miss our primary cruise line. 

I seem to remember years ago that Princess had a ship based out of Baltimore. I for one would like that to happen again. I don’t think they realize the amount of business they are missing. Granted they would need to use one of their smaller ships, but there are many customers that prefer that and not to be required to fly to sail. 
 

How do other Princess customers feel about this idea? For those that love it, how do we convince Princess that we need a ship out of this port?

Final dinner

Lunch day 8

On 5/9/2023 at 1:17 AM, Kay S said:

I have never seen fried onion rings on Princess, but it seems like something they should do.  Up on Lido at the grill, for instance.  I would order some with my hot dog.

I’ve seen them and eaten them before. Didn’t see them on our last sky cruise though 

Dinner 7

Lunch day 7 I think lol

Dinner 6

Dinner 5

22 hours ago, Mittens101 said:

dinner 4