I'll never stray again!

[msiowa]

As some of you may remember, whenever the question has come up on this board I've always argued that Princess and Celebrity are quite comparable (one does some things better, the other does other things well . . .) Well, no more.

 

I just spent a week on the Caribbean Princess (my first Princess cruise since Carnival took over) and it was not pretty. Although things might be better on their smaller ships, I think the Carnival touch has ruined what I previous thought was a very nice cruiseline.

 

The food was mediocre at best. (Although the lobster tails on New Year's Eve were superb - the best I've ever had on a ship.) The buffet was atrocious.

 

Personal Choice dining isn't working. We've done this in the past and loved it. We were able to reserve the same table everynight at the same time (7 or 7:30) so it was the best of both worlds. (I find traditional dining's times difficult - too early or too late.) Not on this cruise. To reserve the same table/time you could only do it at 6 or 8:30. Where's the choice in that?? It's the same as traditional. We were a family group of 11 with 4 small children. Showing up at the dining room, waiting in line, and then being split up into smaller groups (they have very few tables for more than 8) just didn't work for us. So after 2 days we relented and reserved at 6. NOT happy!

 

The service was sloppy and sometimes rude. (Although our cabin steward was terrific and the poor guy had no assistant and had at least 20 rooms to clean.)

 

There were too many people - I knew things would be bad when they added a deck of staterooms with no additional public space. The chair hogs were out in force (not unique to Princess). I'm an early riser and after going to gym and having breakfast, I'm usually at the pool by 8:30. I often could not find a chair either on the pool deck or the deck above. Needless to say, once I was settled, many of those "taken" chairs saw no bodies until well after lunchtime. I really think the cruise lines need to do something about this. (Ok, that's a well-worn topic . . .)

 

There were some things I did like:

 

The cruise staff, led by cruise director Graham Seymour, was terrific. Every one of them. Made my cruise.

 

Movies Under the Stars is very cool. Especially watching bowl games on New Year's Day. (Although, because they play movies all day with the sound blasting, it's hard to sit by that pool if you want to read or relax. It does cut down on the available lounging space.)

 

Overall, I think Princess has gone downhill. In my very long evaluation, I said that I no longer think Princess is comparable to Celebrity and I'm very happy I booked my Alaska cruise this summer on Celebrity.

 

No more Princess for me!!

Joanie

[Nitemare]

To reserve the same table/time you could only do it at 6 or 8:30. Where's the choice in that?? It's the same as traditional. We were a family group of 11 with 4 small children. Showing up at the dining room, waiting in line, and then being split up into smaller groups (they have very few tables for more than 8) just didn't work for us.

It's always tough with large groups. The thing people don't understand about Personal Choice is it's NOT supposed to be a "make a reservation anytime" deal, it's supposed to be a "Show up anytime and get seated" deal. Unfortunately, they started taking reservations and that means that folks who just show up got treated like second class citizens. By not allowing reservations during the middle times, they do keep some tables open for the "show up and get seated folks". I wish they didn't take reservations at all in the Personal Choice room(s), like you said, the current way is too close to the Traditional method.

 

We've done 3 Princess cruises, done Personal Choice on all of them, and been able to be seated within 5 minutes of showing up 90% of the time. We loved our tablemates on the Constellation last summer, but we're 50-50 on which way we like better. Had awful tablemates on the Horizon a few years back, so it can go both ways.

 

 

The cruise staff, led by cruise director Graham Seymour, was terrific. Every one of them. Made my cruise.

Graham is the best. We've liked all 3 Princess CD's better than the 2 Celebrity CD's we've had, although the staffs were all terrific.

 

Movies Under the Stars is very cool.

MUTS scares me. I"m glad you enjoyed it. Of course Cirque scares me, too. I don't want MORE stuff going on, I like being able to relax by the pool or in a lounge!

 

 

Overall, I think Princess has gone downhill. In my very long evaluation, I said that I no longer think Princess is comparable to Celebrity and I'm very happy I booked my Alaska cruise this summer on Celebrity.

After taking our 2004 cruise on the Connie, we'll be on the Golden Princess in September. The Itinerary and dates worked better for us than anything X has. We'll certainly be able to see if there's been any decline in service between our last Princess cruise (March, 2003) and this upcoming one!

[geoherb]

We're just back from our Century cruise. Our previous four cruises had been on Princess. I'd gladly do either line again--but never the Caribbean Princess. The statistics of it do not appeal to me: more passengers but no extra public space or crew.

[Brad1185]

I dont know how you can say that your staying with Celebrity, even when they are trying to charge for certain shows and desert in the dining room. I thought you would say the opposite that your staying away.

[jpcruiseguy]

Just got off the Infinity today. THEY ARE NOT CHARGING FOR DESSERT!!

[Boo's Mom]

msiowa.....

 

I did the Golden over New Year's in the 2004 New Year. It was my first experience on Princess.

 

With prior Celebrity cruises behind us....we were very disappointed with Princess. We have absolutely no desire to go back.

 

Graham Seymour was the CD on the Golden then. Unlike you, we did not enjoy him. Some of his "joking" was inappropriate.....sexual in nature...and (children with us or not)....I did not care to hear such things.

 

We also saw some confusion in the dining room....and saw some rather inappropriate "rudeness" of waiters. Not all....but enough that we saw it as a serious management issue. (Yes, we did comment quite thoroughly...with names, etc...at the end of the cruise)

 

Anyway, just wanted to confirm that what it seems you saw on Princess....is what I also experienced on Princess.

 

And also...that Princess is not where I belong!

 

:rolleyes:

[davehau]

I dont know how you can say that your staying with Celebrity, even when they are trying to charge for certain shows and desert in the dining room. I thought you would say the opposite that your staying away.

 

Sigh... I'm sorry, but posting disinformation repeatedly is not productive in any way. If you want to persuade others, use facts, as your argument loses credibility if it's based on incorrect information.

 

Celebrity only charges for one "show", that being the totally optional CDS Ball which is held on one vessel at the moment, once a cruise, and is in addition to all the usual entertainment of the cruise. Celebrity and those who have cruised and experienced the CDS Ball seem to agree it is not a "show". The usual shows in the ships' theater are still included in the fare. Also, the CDS deal brought more to the line, in that the remodeled lounge has CDS characters on other nights, again, with no extra fee. (Though some would argue it was at the expense of a treasured observation area/lounge.)

 

Celebrity is not charging for deserts in the dining room. They do charge for alcohol, including "desert" liquors and other drinks of this sort.

 

Brad, I really hope you enjoy your upcoming cruises. I find a cruise is an excellent "cure" if I am feeling excessively negative.

[Lois R]

hi:) back to the original poster.......hello:D .......your words and feelings are the same way I felt when returning home from the HAL Cruise I went on in September.

I was quite disappointed in the way I was treated......service and food definitely lacking......

 

Now, sailing on Constellation last month......had a FANTASTIC time!.........

Felt so welcomed on the ship.......:)

Was never charged for desserts...........and wasn't charged for the show either.....I think everyone was given a credit...well, I can't speak for everyone....but I know many folks were given credit.

 

I am happy to be back on Celebrity too:)

[marco]

Don't know when you were on "X" last, but we felt RCI taking over "X" had the same effect on that line as Carnival taking over Pricness had on it. Although the lines try to maintain MOST of thier original character, being bought out by a mass market giant ldefinately reflects in the day to day operation and sometimes not as subtlely as a lot of us would prefer. I'm affraid that some day, it's not going to make any difference what line you sail on, they're all going to be the same.

[Bisous3]

Uh oh...

We are booked on the Caribbean Princess for Thanksgiving. We loved the Island Princess/Panama Canal at Easter and were looking forward oto the CP..

Not so sure now...

Suzanne

[isujim]

We also took our first Princess cruise in NOvember on the Caribbean Princess. While we found the food to be very good, I agree with most of what the OP said concerning this ship. I would hate to judge Princess by this one ship and we plan to give them another chance on a smaller ship.

 

In our opinion this ship was built for the 18-40 crowd. There was also too many passengers in our opinion for the "public space" ratio.........you could never find a seat in most entertainment venues.

 

Movies Under the Stars is........well........different.......you love it or hate it.

We didn't like it at all, especially when NEMO was blaring beginning at 9am:eek: Movies Under the Stars at night is one thing........to have it blaring all day long was another.

 

Wouldn't be quick however to judge Princess by this one cruise or ship.........we will try again........but not this ship.

[Giorgi-one]

Don't know when you were on "X" last, but we felt RCI taking over "X" had the same effect on that line as Carnival taking over Pricness had on it. Although the lines try to maintain MOST of thier original character, being bought out by a mass market giant ldefinately reflects in the day to day operation and sometimes not as subtlely as a lot of us would prefer. I'm affraid that some day, it's not going to make any difference what line you sail on, they're all going to be the same.

 

I agree. Once the cruise lines lose the advantages of good food, service and good entertainment, land vacations become much more attractive. Most cruise ports are now so crowded, it's not even fun to get off the ship. Have you been in St. Thomas, Cozumel and Nassau lately? The standard rooms at any all inclusive resort are about as big as most suties on a cruise ship. It's getting to the point where the only real advantage of a cruise is being on a ship in the middle of the ocean and I don't think that will be enough to attract most people.

[ricka47]

I agree that Personal Choice is not working. At least it didn't for us on the Grand Princess. There were just three of us and we had to wait one night almost 90 minutes for a table and ended up going to the buffet so that we would not miss the show. We finally switched to traditional half-way through the trip and found that was better.

 

We are doing our first X cruise this week on the Mercury having been on RCI four times, Princess once, and HAL once. We're looking forward to it!

[Artemis]

Just my opinion ;) but we learned not to make sweeping generalizations about a cruise line based on a holiday cruise. We've done 5 holiday sailings, some Christmas, some New Year's. We've cruised each of those lines at other times of the year and found greater overall satisfaction with food, service, crowd control, etc. during those non-holiday sailings.

 

I think 2 things work against everything being "top notch" during holiday sailings. From the pax perspective, we're all paying top dollar for a magical holiday experience, frequently in the company of family & friends. In a word, expectations! And these expectations are on top of the usual expectations, stresses and emotional baggage we all bring into the holidays. I have witnessed more ugly pax behavior on holiday sailings than at any other time--people queue at guest relations to roar how the cruise line "ruined" their holidays, this is the most expensive cruise of the year and what did we get for it?, screaming whine gripe whine. It's not pretty. :eek: On the cruise line's side of things, they are trying to provide the usual cruise experience with many additional holiday touches to an unusually demanding and packed-to-the-gills crowd. And many of the cruise employees celebrate the holidays themselves so are doing all of this while at the same time suffering their own loss of being with family and friends for the holidays. It is tough to do your best job under these circumstances much less make everyone's holiday cruise the magical experience they expect.

 

To msiowa, please be assured, I certainly don't believe you behaved badly when things weren't up to par :) , and I am not saying Princess should be excused for not delivering. We honestly complete our comment cards at the end of holiday sailings--there are simply fewer raves and more "could have been betters." I also don't discount the validity of your opinions comparing the current Princess product to the pre-Carnival experience you enjoyed. I am simply pointing out a factor you might want to consider in making your evaluation of how Princess is performing generally.

 

We like holiday sailings or wouldn't keep doing them. But in our experience, they haven't been representative of the cruise lines' best performance. YMMV

[msiowa]

Artemis

 

We like holiday sailings or wouldn't keep doing them. But in our experience, they haven't been representative of the cruise lines' best performance. YMMV

 

Your point is well taken, and as I said, this cruise or ship may not be completely representative of post-Carnival Princess, but all of my previous Princess cruises were Christmas cruises so I can draw some comparisons.

 

There was a general feeling that they were trying to service too many passengers without enough resources. The staff was thinner than in the past. I may be wrong in assigning the blame to the Carnival take-over.

 

I think the Caribbean Princess is ill-conceived and it's very possible the smaller ships still offer the excellent cruise experience I got from Princess in the past. But I must admit I'm skeptical. Maybe some day I'll try one of their smaller ships to see if it's still the same as before.

 

And for the poster above (sorry, I forgot your name) who asked when the last time I sailed Celebrity because in that poster's opinion it had gone downhill since RCI, I sailed Constellation in August 2003 and found it wonderful. Perfect? No. I don't expect that. But certainly that special cruise feeling that I used to get from Princess but didn't have this time.

 

Now I can focus on Alaska this summer on Summit! Can't wait!

Joanie