cruzysuzy

I am a huge fan of the convenience of the International Café. The Island Princess does not have one so it's a no go for me.

I would really like to take the plunge and move from Princess to Holland America. Most of what I've read is right down my alley. But one thing is giving me pause. On another forum a poster stated that HAL has eliminated a number of their enrichment programs from what they used to be. Enrichment programs are a real source of enjoyment to me. I don't do 'deck toys' and am a moderate drinker. Yes, music is nice but I need to keep my brain going. What is everyone's current experience on this issue?

DH and I use it to keep in touch with my MIL's nursing home and the cat sitter.

It's been my theory that the head chef of each ship is meddling too much with the dishes. If I were running Princess I would have a master chef at Princess headquarters determining which and how dishes are to be prepared with leeway to tweak them if it is determined they are not being well received by cruisers. Then the head chef of each ship must be rigorously trained in duplicating what the master chef has determined and be responsible for training the staff to do the same. As a customer I prefer quality control over some individual's sense of 'artistry'.

True, it used to be every night. They did have creme brulee occasionally but in other flavors that didn't appeal to me. The original vanilla was great.

Creme brulee was my favorite until Princess, in their infinite wisdom, stripped it from the menu. In fact my cruise on the Grand Princess in June of this year had the worst food of all of my thirteen Princess cruises. My previous cruise on the Regal in December of 2019 had great food and plenty of creme brulee. Word on the street is that Princess knows this and it will be interesting if they may a course correction.

I hadn't sailed on Princess since 2019 (Regal). I sailed on the Grand in early June of this year. In addition to the menus changing, I could not believe how the quality of the food had gone downhill. Food was consistently good on my previous 13 voyages so this was a big disappointment.