Princess Please Read This!

[Coral]

The Anytime dining situation in September on the Crown was no where near what it has been in our previous experience on other Princess ships. I don't know if it was the addition of the additional traditional dining time or the dining room management but IMO something DEFINITELY (yes, I know I am shouting) needs to be tweaked there.

 

It is the extra 500 passengers compared to Grand, Golden, Star, etc.... (previous ships you have been on. The dining rooms are not any larger but must accommodate the extra passengers some how which on our cruise, accounted for longer wait times in anytime dining.

[rdsqrl]

Well' date=' compared to the beds . . . [do I really need to finish that thought?']

 

Correct... If you're on your "Hobby Horse" then your perceived as complaining or making the same point over an over again on a subject you have strong views on. There's an awful lot of Hobby Horses ridden on this forum..!!

Yee-haw! Ain't it the truth!

By the way, I don't recall having a cowgirl outfit, however I was very proud of my Mickey Mouse Club mouse-ears hat. I felt like a real Mouseketeer.

[Coracii]

I'm not interested in pools. Now I'm definitely not interested in pools, and am rethinking the hot tub!

 

Just the thought of public hot tubs has always disgusted me. All the various people marinating throughout the day in water temperatures that bacteria and fungus find just about perfect for their requirements. Yes, the various chemicals added help keep the mini-critters under control, but it's still enough to keep me from ever partaking in the tubs.

[BruceMuzz]

The last night of my cruise is still during my cruise. Why not clean it the next morning when everyone is getting off the ship and the new folks aren't on yet.

 

To clean a swimming pool on a ship, add the necessary chemistry, and then wait for that chemistry to balance to USPH Requirements and Standards requires 8 to 12 hours.

If we start cleaning the pool on the last morning of your cruise, it will not be ready for passenger use until that evening.

You probably would not be very happy to board a ship for a new cruise and then have to wait all day before you could use the pool.

[WCAB]

That's only half of the design for the coffee card. The other half is free, unlimited brewed coffee (as opposed to the syrup coffee that doesn't require the card) and that's more than likely what most people are bringing the card cruise after cruise for. That part of the coffee card is exactly the same as the soda card, so why should it be valid for multiple cruises while the soda card isn't? And, for full disclosure, I've never bought either one so I have no vested interest in the cards.

 

That could easily be resolved by serving decent coffee in the first place. People that buy a soda card are not doing so to avoid inferior soda. I drink the free coffee but I sure can tell a difference and feel every passenger deserves good tasting coffee.

[Nancyquilts]

There are three other pools on the ship that one can use if they do not like the noise from the MUTS TV screen. On the Emerald we couldn't even hear the MUTS audio in the pool area directly next to it, it's a great design if you ask me. Many people (including myself) enjoy the TV screen during the day, especially for college and pro football ;-)

I enjoy the pools for doing laps. Could you please tell me where the other large pools are on Sea Princess, the only Princess ship sailing out of San Francisco?

[Coracii]

That could easily be resolved by serving decent coffee in the first place. People that buy a soda card are not doing so to avoid inferior soda. I drink the free coffee but I sure can tell a difference and feel every passenger deserves good tasting coffee.

 

Most passengers drink the free coffee without any complaint (whether they thoroughly enjoy it or not is another matter). For those few that can't bring themselves to drink the syrup-based coffee there's always the option of purchasing the brewed coffee. At least those of you that are coffee drinkers are given the option of free coffee onboard, those of us that are soda drinkers are told to bring our own or pay extra (and as an example the coffee card for my next cruise would be 2 for about $29 with the TA BOGO coupon, while the soda card for the two of us would be about $110). I think you're getting the better end of that deal.

[LongtimecruiserfromCA]

On our recent cruise they showed movies and other stuff throughought the day... NFL on Sunday on the MUTS screen and I for one liked it. I do see complaints from people about noise at pool but surely I am not alone in liking the afternoon entertainment. There usually is more than one pool anyway so those that don't like noise could go to other pool

 

 

Just bring ear plugs. You need them anyway to drown out the kid noise !!!

[LongtimecruiserfromCA]

I agree with the question about the coffee card. I have a coffee card from the Crown last year that has a number of punches left on it. I'm going on the Crown again in February. I would really like to know if it will be accepted.

 

 

It's good forever !!

[Pam in CA]

That could easily be resolved by serving decent coffee in the first place. People that buy a soda card are not doing so to avoid inferior soda. I drink the free coffee but I sure can tell a difference and feel every passenger deserves good tasting coffee.

Most passengers have no problem drinking the free coffee. It's a subjective taste and just because someone prefers it isn't a reason to sneer at them. Personally, absolutely nothing could get me to drink Starbucks coffee; I've tried it several times and every time, I've had to throw it out after the first sip. It was either that or throw up The point is not how bad one coffee is over another but that people have different preferences.

 

I enjoy the pools for doing laps. Could you please tell me where the other large pools are on Sea Princess, the only Princess ship sailing out of San Francisco?

Exactly. What other pool(s) does he suggest?

[mytime53]

I enjoy the pools for doing laps. Could you please tell me where the other large pools are on Sea Princess, the only Princess ship sailing out of San Francisco?

 

I too use the pool for laps, so small pools don't work for that. My pet peeve about pool areas is all the people that just stand in the middle of the only large pool and talk...It's kind of obvious when someone is trying to swim laps and swims around them, but they don't move. Last cruise, I went to swim in the "against the current pool", and people were standing in the middle of that one talking!...I assume to get away from MUTS, since it was blaring the entire cruise (but at least it was well-attended by movie-goers, as it was one of the movie buff cruises). I certainly don't object to people standing in the pool talking---just don't get why they have to be all spread out all over it instead of close to the sides.

[Jasperdo]

 

A year or so ago, I had the opportunity to talk to James Deering, a very highly-respected Hotel Manager for HAL, then Princess, and now he's going back to HAL, and I asked him specifically about Traditional diners being allowed to go to Anytime any time they wanted. He said, and I'm quoting because it was "corporate speak", "They will be accommodated." So obviously, it's Princess' corporate policy to allow Tradional diners in Anytime whenever they want. IMHO, they are shooting themselves in the foot by trying to be accommodating to everyone because in being nice to Traditional diners, they're screwing Anytime diners.

That's interesting, Pam. So, if corporate policy is that guests will be accommodated wherever they choose to dine, that means when I see the line for the Anytime Dining too long, I can go find an empty table at Traditional and I should be accommodated as well.:)

[paul929207]

That's interesting, Pam. So, if corporate policy is that guests will be accommodated wherever they choose to dine, that means when I see the line for the Anytime Dining too long, I can go find an empty table at Traditional and I should be accommodated as well.:)

It also means people are foolish to sign up for AD unless TD is full. Signup for TD and have the best of both worlds. If TD is inconvenient on a given evening go to AD.

[Shogun]

Hi All

 

I to had the same talk with James, what he told me was if you are down for fixed dining and you miss your meal time then they will try and feed you anytime dining room, so long as you do not make a habit of it

 

However if you jump from one to another as you please then the MD

 

will remove you from fixed and place you in the anytime list.

 

yours Shogun

[Pam in CA]

Shogun, it's interesting that James Deering told you the same thing, but when I spoke to him, he made absolutely no contingencies or qualifiers with regard to Traditional diners going to Anytime. There was no mention of missing their dinnertime, no mention of those who did it frequently, etc. It was flat-out that Traditional diners who show up for Anytime would be accommodated. I spoke to him at out Meet & Greet on the Sapphire in April, 2009.

[Shogun]

Hi Pam,

 

I think what James was getting at was Princess The Company was willing to help,etc

 

but up set the ships maitrea d hotel and you will be lucky to find a table any where

 

yours Shogun

[Pam in CA]

I think what James was getting at was Princess The Company was willing to help,etc but up set the ships maitrea d hotel and you will be lucky to find a table any where

The upshot is that almost all of the Maitre d's allow Traditional diners to go to Anytime whenever they want. Moreso now than previously. As long as there is no clear and consistently applied policy, passengers will come up with every excuse in the book to do what they want when they want. IMHO, Princess is like an overly-permissive parent who suddenly realizes that their kids are out of control, doesn't know what to do next and is afraid their kids will hate them if they lay down the law. At this point, Princess is between a rock and a hard place.

[Musky Ike]

One more to add..Why not have ship charges available for view on your cabin TV?

 

I agree, Carnival does this, why not Princess?

[Shogun]

Hi Pam

 

I Think you are spot on, Princess HQ sets policy but does not inforce it,

 

leaving those on the front line to do what they think is best, so on some

 

ships you can do this get that etc, then you go on another and get told

 

policy is,, so folk do not know what to expect.

 

 

As to Cabin IT,

 

I understand it is on its way, but how many years to retro fit to ships,

 

means most will have left the fleet before they ever see it.

 

yours Shopgun

[hightownCO]

I too would like interative tv and ability to see my account and other info.

 

But something Princess could EASILY do would be to add the night's dining menu to the ship's channel. Caribe Cafe/Buffet Theme of the day too. It always seems that we're in our cabin when we're trying to decide which to do and it would just be so nice to see it there on the TV. Easy pleezy, Princess!