Attitudes on the Grand, what about the other ships??

[Gregcathy]

We sailed on the Dec 10th cruise on the Grand.

 

We felt the ship was in very good condition, the entertainment was decent and the food was decent but nothing really exciting.

 

What seemed different was the crew just did not seem very happy. Most were pleasant, the pursers desk was a mix of friendly to curt and the main dining room staff ranged from friendly to rushed and uninvolved with the passengers. Many recent posts seem to have similar observations about the Grand, what about the other ships?? Some crew indicated contracts were nearing an end, is this a factor??

 

So, my question is ---- How have the crews been on other Princess cruises in the last few months??

[Tralynn]

I've never had an issue with bad service on any of my cruises with Princess or the other lines we've tried. Of course, we have had some cruises with better service than others, but I'd still say overall service was excellent.

 

It does seem that the crew may be stretched a bit more in recent years. I think some people may be thinking the crew isn't as friendly or spending enough time giving them personal attention, when in fact they just may be trying to cover all of their duties. I've just noticed fewer servers, waiters with more and more tables to handle, room stewards with more rooms assigned to them, etc. That does affect the feel of personal attention, but it comes with the cutbacks.

[cherylandtk]

I was on the Grand on Dec. 17; other than the curt attitude at the Purser's Desk, which I seem to find on nearly every ship, I thought the staff I ran into were happy and attentive. Maybe I just ran into the right people, maybe I am not as picky as other posters, but I did not notice any difference on this ship from any other Princess ship we have been on. Not to disagree with your own assessment, but everyone sees these things differently.

[Loonbeam]

I'll go along with that. Even just in the past 2 years between cruises, talking to the stewards and servers, they are handling about one more cabin each and 1-2 more tables. The buffet staff now covers the sanctuary as well.

 

I definitely noticed our steward was pushing harder.

[houch]

We have always been pleased with the services we have received from the staff on Princess. We aren't picky, have no demands, any question we have had has been answered and any need has been met. We have found they always have time to say hi and have a short chat.

We did have one instance when sailing out of Barcelona on the Emerald when they were playing the Barcelona olympic music over the loudspeakers. It was awful and really loud. The woman singing (more like screaming) was horrible. We were with many passengers on an upper deck and we were all saying "put that poor woman out of her missery!" Jan complained to one of the staff and his reply was curt and rather indignant. He said "but madam we always play this on sailaway from Barcelona." She asked if they could at least turn it down, which they finally did. Only time we encountered rudeness from Princess staff.

We will be sailing out of Barcelona on the Grand this May. If they are still playing that awful music, I will remain inside.

On the flip side, the same cruise sailing into Venice with Pavaroti singing was absolutely awesome!

[Pam in CA]

A smile can go a long way whether you're on a ship or at the supermarket. Even the grumpiest usually respond to a smile, positive demeanor and respect. Chances are, many don't see that as often as we think. There are exceptions but that's the way I handle issues onboard.

[houch]

Amen

[moniquet]

Yes a smile works wonders but aren't the crew the ones working in customer service not the Passengers:rolleyes: We are the ones who are supposed to be pampered (according to all the publicity), not pay thousands to humour an unhappy crew!

[LBL]

We do pay to go on the cruise and the crew is trained to be friendly, but they are not servants. They have to deal with hundreds of passengers and bad attitudes from them can affect the crew's attitude also. A smile doesn't cost anything and goes a long way to make sure they are more responsive.

[paul929207]

We spent 6 weeks on the Dawn Princess in September & October and thought the crew was great

[srpilo]

We spent about 35 days in 2011 on Princess ships (including 16 nights on the Grand), and found the staff as always to be very friendly and accomodating with a noticable upbeat feeling overall , thats in stark comparison to the 11 days we spent on Celebrity 2011, where we found the crew to be cold and indifferent, which now seems to be the norm on Celebrity on our last few cruises with them.

 

 

 

Srpilo

[oratheeexplorer]

We were on the Crown last February and our main waiter in the dining room never had a smile on his face and seemed very rushed all the time and hardly conversed with the 6 at our table.....the assistant waiter was totally different.....just something we and the other 4 at our table recognized all week long.....

[Pam in CA]

Yes a smile works wonders but aren't the crew the ones working in customer service not the Passengers:rolleyes: We are the ones who are supposed to be pampered (according to all the publicity), not pay thousands to humour an unhappy crew!

I agree to a certain extent but I've seen too many passengers yelling, screaming and verbally abusing them for things over which they, and Princess, have no control and being confrontational rather than treat them like fellow human beings. It's not pampering them to let them know that you're happy to be on the ship, enjoying the cruise and appreciate their hard work. It's called mutual respect and goes both ways.

[Toddy709]

Yes a smile works wonders but aren't the crew the ones working in customer service not the Passengers:rolleyes: We are the ones who are supposed to be pampered (according to all the publicity), not pay thousands to humour an unhappy crew!

 

The crew are human, not robots. They have bad days, bad news from home, bad passengers who are demanding without a simple please or thank you. Is it too much effort to smile at them and be pleasant?

[Mrterryl]

We were on the Grand for 12/3 and 12/10 and we agree with your assessment of the crew. especially in dining room with head waiters and maitre'd. We had an issue with the air conditioner in our cabin when we board the ship. Management played the game and sent a repairman who did nothing. Then I went to pursers desk and asked to speak to hotel manager. That is when I found out it was a ZONE problem and finally got fixed 4 days later.

[sandancer]

We spent about 35 days in 2011 on Princess ships (including 16 nights on the Grand), and found the staff as always to be very friendly and accomodating with a noticable upbeat feeling overall , thats in stark comparison to the 11 days we spent on Celebrity 2011, where we found the crew to be cold and indifferent, which now seems to be the norm on Celebrity on our last few cruises with them.

 

 

 

Srpilo

I think you are sometimes just unlucky with the crew you encounter. We had the most surly, bad mannered cabin attendant on Princess. We are not demanding, greet everyone with a smile and don't leave the cabin looking like a hurricane has hit (and I have noticed that when passing open cabin doors). On the other hand we have never had anything but great service on Celebrity. We even had one cabin attendant (not ours) from the Equinox, greet us with a big smile and and our names when we boarded the Eclipse. I have to agree though that the crew on all of the mass market lines are expected to do more, clean more cabins, serve more tables, and they always seem to be rushing around in the dining room. Its the price we pay for cruise rates being competitive. We don't pay much more now than we did 20 years ago in real terms.

[2little time]

I have always tried to be respectful and kind when dealing with the staff. I do not consider them as servants nor do I come across in that manner. I don't demand, but rather request. I frequently tell them if they are doing a good job and tip accordingly. I do not want "new friends" in the staff but rather polite exchanges. Being entertained in the dining room by staff is not my goal. Having attentive service is my preference. Staff is overworked and face many passengers who abuse them verbally. I realize they choose to be away from their families for extended periods of time but it must be very difficult for them. I will admit that on the Island I had a rather cold exchange at the pursers desk with the person I dealt with. I requested a summary of my bill to date and without any acknowlegment of my request he gave me what I requested. There again, I was given what I requested but without the smile or recognition that would have been nice.

[cuzie]

On our 2 week RT to Hawaii over Thanksgiving on the Golden, it seemed like most of the women working onboard had lost their best friend. They never smiled back at anyone. In the Lotus Spa, the girl doing my pedicure did nothing but complain about being on the ship and couldn't wait for the cruise to be over as her contract was up. Since we have never noticed these attitudes before on Princess, it was very noticeable.

[ONT-CA]

... It does seem that the crew may be stretched a bit more in recent years. I think some people may be thinking the crew isn't as friendly or spending enough time giving them personal attention, when in fact they just may be trying to cover all of their duties. I've just noticed fewer servers, waiters with more and more tables to handle, room stewards with more rooms assigned to them, etc. That does affect the feel of personal attention, but it comes with the cutbacks.

 

In a nutshell and undoubtedly the source of the labour problems aboard the Crown.

[Working 2 Cruise]

Yes a smile works wonders but aren't the crew the ones working in customer service not the Passengers:rolleyes: We are the ones who are supposed to be pampered (according to all the publicity), not pay thousands to humour an unhappy crew!

 

Therein lies the problem! The crew usually is very warm and friendly, but some of the passengers can be very rude and very demanding!

[srpilo]

Just one last thought..

 

I would imagine that service and friendlness may be a little bit more tested on 7 day cruises where the turn over of passengers and the sheer volume of different passenger expectations and personalities that are changing on a weekly bases, and may be different than on longer cruises where passengers and crew can settle into a familar pattern over a longer period of time and passengers might than have more relaxed expectations and slightly different impressions.

 

 

Just a thought on possible different experiences

Srpilo

[tothemall&beyond]

We sailed on the Dec 10th cruise on the Grand.

 

We felt the ship was in very good condition, the entertainment was decent and the food was decent but nothing really exciting.

 

What seemed different was the crew just did not seem very happy. Most were pleasant, the pursers desk was a mix of friendly to curt and the main dining room staff ranged from friendly to rushed and uninvolved with the passengers. Many recent posts seem to have similar observations about the Grand, what about the other ships?? Some crew indicated contracts were nearing an end, is this a factor??

 

So, my question is ---- How have the crews been on other Princess cruises in the last few months??

 

We were on that cruise, too. There was one young man at the purser's desk who was extremely snippy, curt and sour. If I had to go to purser, I tried to avoid dealing with him - which was easy because he always seemed to act like he was busy whenever anyone was in line.

I agree with your observations about MDR staff, and would add that Horizon Court staff was worse. The cruise director's staff was really disinterested/detached and sometimes even rude to passengers. I wrote about it these issues on my (online) comment card.

[Shogun]

Hi All

 

As we take longer cruises we get a chance to get to know the crew,

 

as such we find that if you treat them with respect they will go that extra

 

bit for you,

 

example our head waiter noticed I was not at diner he was told I was not feeling well, he phoned my cabin asked if I wanted a menu sent, then had a waiter delivery my meal to me,

 

on another cruise we missed the baked Alaska as we wanted to watch a movie, our waiter brought a baked Alaska up to Muts just for us.

 

right up to being invited to meet them when the ship docks in Scotland, and being their guest aboard for the day.

 

yours Shogun

[ONT-CA]

Therein lies the problem! The crew usually is very warm and friendly, but some of the passengers can be very rude and very demanding!

 

There are more and more newbies aboard these days. They may have waited for retirement or whatever but have wanted to go on a cruise all their lives. They have seen the movies they have watched the television programs they know how it will be. But the seasoned cruiser knows that these portrayals are long gone if they ever were a reality. The "Howell's" come aboard and are soon met with something altogether different and may take that out on staff and of course staff do respond in kind.

[moniquet]

A smile can go a long way whether you're on a ship or at the supermarket. Even the grumpiest usually respond to a smile, positive demeanor and respect. Chances are, many don't see that as often as we think. There are exceptions but that's the way I handle issues onboard.

 

Fortunately we haven't had a "grumpy" crew member. Had some who are brilliant and others just adequate. I just think it is OTT to expect passengers to bow, scrape and smile to them if the initial contact is not good...I would just report them! They may have had/have a poor deal and had some difficult passengers but it is not my role to put the world to rights...I am just on a cruise, being happy and pleasant, if the crew cannot respond to that then they are not doing the job they are hired to do!