Excellent Service on the Crown yet people still shock the heck out of me

[M&MCruisin]

We just came back from a fantastic trip on the Crown Princess. It was the final caribbean voyage prior to crossing the pond. We had amazing service on the ship. Dont get me wrong, no trip is without "challenges," but its all in how you handle it.

 

One of the most shocking things I saw another passenger do was in the buffet area. My husband and I were enjoying a nice breakfast, watching all the extremely hard working waiters and waitresses run around fullfilling all the requests, when I noticed a waitress filling some drinks at the table next to us. As she walked away, the passenger calls to her, but she did not hear her, so the passenger began snapping her fingers in the air and shouting to her. Really? Im sorry, but I dont care who you are or how much money you have or where you came from, you do NOT snap your fingers at anyone, let alone hard working people trying to help you. I mean wait till they walk by again and ask for assistance, dont treat them like a dog. Totally ticks me off to see people treat others this way.

 

Then, a not so shocking thing was when I was getting a copy of the updated Patter at the customer service desk because they had cancelled Princess Cays due to the swells in the harbor were too high to tender in. A women comes up, cuts in line, stands beside me asking about the updated Patters and proceeds to stir up a conversation with me that we should be reimbursed. I said, for what? she said because we didnt get to go to the island. I said, are you serious? That is ridiculous. She would be the same women who, if we had gone ashore and the rough seas made her sick or she was injured, would have sued Princess for putting her in harms way. Princess just cant win with people like this. Seriously, we are on vacation, its just not that big of a deal!

 

I just wanted to say that I am so unbelievably impressed with the amazing staff on the Crown Princess. All of these workers give up their homes and families to work this job and its not easy dealing with people all the time, yet they always greet me with a smile.

 

Its wasnt all roses either, to be fair, I did have one bartender who was obviously having a bad day and was rude to me, but he was the only one and I let it go.

 

1. Photographer - Jessica - TOP NOTCH service. Helped me on numerous occassions. She even fixed one of my favorite pictures...one of my husbands eyes was partly shut and she took the time to fix it. That is just one of many things she did!

2. My room steward - was good, did her job, but nothing exceptional

3. Waiter in the dining room - he was great all week long. The assistant waiter was adequate, but stepped up the service half way through.

4. Bar tenders throughout the ship were exceptional!

5. The Spa workers were fantastic, especially the acupuncurist

6. There were several casino workers when not busy would sit and teach me various games. Im new to the casino world and this was alot of fun and I so appreciated their personal attention.

7. Waiters in the buffet, would take your plate when you came out and helped you find a table. They were eager to make sure you had something to drink, even if that meant going to get you a soda from the bar. One waiter went back to the buffet for me to get me catchup that I forgot.

8. Had a problem in B602 with the room being warm. Engineers were at my door early in the am after boarding to check on it. Great service!

 

Those are just a few of my experiences. Really great service on the Crown! The Crown will be going out of Galveston TX (I think) when it returns from overseas.

[Shogun]

Hi There

 

Thanks for posting, had some great times and service on the Crown

 

what I hate is when folks call a waiter or a barman "boy"

 

yours Shogun

[KirkNC]

Glad you had a great time. There are always a few on every ship that seem determined to look for negative things. We just roll with the punches.

[M&MCruisin]

Hi There

 

Thanks for posting, had some great times and service on the Crown

 

what I hate is when folks call a waiter or a barman "boy"

 

yours Shogun

 

WOW...I dont like that one either! craziness!

 

Glad you had a great time. There are always a few on every ship that seem determined to look for negative things. We just roll with the punches.

 

Isnt that a great way to spend vacation? Roll with the punches!

[gdisney]

Glad you had a good time, sometimes people annoy me too :)

 

Though, I would think they would have reimbursed the port fees for the missed port?? I've had this done before, didn't even ask for it.

[RickEk]

Glad you had a good time, sometimes people annoy me too :)

 

Though, I would think they would have reimbursed the port fees for the missed port?? I've had this done before, didn't even ask for it.

 

I think the OP was asserting that the rude passenger wanted a portion of the cruise fare refunded for missing Princess Cays... not just the port fees (which would be automatic of course).

[M&MCruisin]

Glad you had a good time, sometimes people annoy me too :)

 

Though, I would think they would have reimbursed the port fees for the missed port?? I've had this done before, didn't even ask for it.

 

sadly, I wouldnt have even thought to ask :(...checked my final billing and we did get credits for port fees. That is a reasonable request. If Im not mistaken, the woman complaining meant a credit on the cruise fare, but I like giving people the benefit of the doubt, so maybe she meant the port fees. Good catch!

[Daisy4235]

Just more proof that life (and cruises) are what you make it. If you go in with a positive attitude you will have a great time no matter what life throws at you. Those people who are rude, demanding and condescending to the staff will find the staff will never go out of their way for them like they will for those who treat them with respect.

[Tina G]

Some years ago our progress in the Caribbean was delayed by the emergency airlifting of a passenger who had an acute appendicitis attack. The next day I listened to an irate woman who was angry that her vacation had been interrupted and that the port time was cut short by the delay at sea. I calmly informed her that the passenger who was medi-vacced off the ship was a nine year old girl. "What if it was YOUR daughter?" She was quite embarrassed.

[Dame Delilah]

You are soooo right! All too often folks forget that we are all on vacation, but these servers have been working for hours and are trying very hard to please us. I hear far too many people being nasty and complaining about way too many things. Just kick back and enjoy your cruise! Life is good if you can cruise:)

[1 HappyCruiser]

Then, a not so shocking thing was when I was getting a copy of the updated Patter at the customer service desk because they had cancelled Princess Cays due to the swells in the harbor were too high to tender in. A women comes up, cuts in line, stands beside me asking about the updated Patters and proceeds to stir up a conversation with me that we should be reimbursed. I said, for what? she said because we didnt get to go to the island. I said, are you serious? That is ridiculous. She would be the same women who, if we had gone ashore and the rough seas made her sick or she was injured, would have sued Princess for putting her in harms way. Princess just cant win with people like this. Seriously, we are on vacation, its just not that big of a deal!

 

 

I guess you didn't realize that people are entitled to the port charge refund when a port is skipped. There was an $18 P/P given since you skipped Princess Cays & the woman was entitled to her money either from Princess or her TA.

[Coolmama_1]

Thanks for the review. You are so right not to sweat the small stuff but people continue to amaze me too!

 

I am so glad that everyone had a great time. I did follow your rollcall as I was supposed to be on that cruise too!:)

[1 HappyCruiser]

Thanks for the review. You are so right not to sweat the small stuff but people continue to amaze me too!

 

I am so glad that everyone had a great time. I did follow your rollcall as I was supposed to be on that cruise too!:)

 

You didn't miss a lot since it rained a lot especially if you wanted to explore the ports. Even the sea days were hit with drizzle & made it almost impossible to utilize the pools to any great extent .

[grandmaa]

You are soooo right! All too often folks forget that we are all on vacation, but these servers have been working for hours and are trying very hard to please us. I hear far too many people being nasty and complaining about way too many things. Just kick back and enjoy your cruise! Life is good if you can cruise:)

 

I agree with you 100%..what has happened to common courtesy??

[cruisealot54]

We were on this trip also as well as the week prior. Loved the trip from start to finish. Starting with our arrival in FLL - we did a redeye on Jet Blue and arrived at 6:45am on Friday morning. We were greeted by the Princess rep and when we asked how long we would need to wait for other passengers to arrive before we were transported to the hotel (we had planned on just taking a cab) we were told there is no wait, we are are getting you a cab-they paid the fare and we were on are way. We stayted at the Sheraton Beach hotel and were given a beautiful corner room with views of both the beach and intercoastal waterways. Next morning we called a cab and got to the port at 10:30 and was on the ship before 11:30.

First week was Western Caribbean - Weather was hit and miss. Had lots of rain in Belize while we were on a river ride and jungle hike to the Lamanai Ruins. It just added to the adventure and the view when you walked to the high temple and viewed it through the rain and trees was amazing. Also did ruins at Tulum - nice tour (that day was hot and muggy). Also did Roatan and Grand Caymans-great snorkling

Second week was Southern Caribbean - As mentioned we did not get to go to Princess Cay due to 7'swells in the port that made it dangerous for the tenders. The upside of this was we got additional time in Curacao. Our tour in this port was cancelled due to construction so we "winged" it. Found out that was the better plan we walked across the Queen Emma Swing Bridge and went to the Floating Market in Punda then after we wander around town we found our way to a casino(much better odds then on the ship). Aruba was great did wonderful snorkling and swam in large schools of blue parrot fish-amazing

The Crown Princess - enjoyed our stay on her. The service was good - as always there was some staff that shined and we felt went above and beyound while others just did their job. We had a couple of issues with billing errors on our account, but they were taken care of once we brought it to their attention without any problem.

Dont' mean to sound like a Pollyanna, but this was a great trip and we really can't list any complaints EXCEPT for one.....................it ended and we had to come home.

[Christapie]

Calling someone "boy" is rude and demeaning. These types are usually the same to their loved ones....

[DeanoNorthPerth]

"4. Bar tenders throughout the ship were exceptional!"

 

I wanna go on a cruise with you M&M! Sounds like you got to be served by each and every one of the bar staff. Great effort!

[FritzG]

I think some people go on a cruise wanting perfection and looking for trouble every step of the way. I'll never forget a woman at the muster drill on our 2010 Ruby spring TA complaining that it was "the worst cruise she was ever on", and that she was going to "demand a meeting with this Mr. Tony who must be a very new captain" and get things straightened out. She was referring to Capt. Yeomans, one of Princess' top captains who is certainly not a new captain.

Furthermore, how bad could things be that she had made that judgement before we even sailed--did one of the crew throw her overboard???

[J & G]

I think some people recall the days when cruising was truly only accessible to those with lots of disposable income.....and they want others to think that they are those people. They think that talking down to people and demanding special attention is the way the rich talk to their "staff"......it's not! Bullying is not a way to get great service.

 

My grandmother used to say, "You catch more flies with honey than with vinegar." I always try to be "honey".....

[nyc12345]

I was on this cruise too and was very disappointed with the missed call at Princess Cays, although I have cruised with Princess several times, I have never had the chance to visit this port and I was looking forward to it. Although I was disappointed, I did not demand a refund of my cruise fare because of this. There's always a next time that we can visit this port.

 

I did expect a refund of the port tax and was happy to see that automatically credited to my account. End up having too much OBC to spend and my final bill after OBC came to just a few bucks for my credit card (after the gratuities and the shopping I made).

 

I have to say I am very impressed with the service in the Anytime dining room. The best service I have had thus far in any ship. I was in and out of the dining room in an hour. That's unheard of.

 

:)

[Sincity]

Arrogant people suck.

[dutchess43]

Snapping fingers? That is when I would love to be the waitress oops sorry about the plate of food that is now sitting on your lap, & your wet pants because I just knocked over your glass!

[rugbypopsie]

 

You know the best way to do something about rude passengers treating staff badly...its easy, be exceptionally reasonable and polite yourself...that way the staff understand its a small minority who have no idea about manners or common courtesy and the rest of us can have a good time.:)

 

Rugbypopsie

[lovevacadays]

Thanks for your post and thoughts. Sounds like you and some of your fellow passengers/CCer's had great service on the Crown.

[jean s]

Glad you enjoyed the Crown. We always have a great time on this ship. It's too bad that a small percentage of passengers have to look for a way to be negative.