Princess cruise - Alaska

[bdjam]

Have just finish my cruise trip, and thought I should write out some experience to help fellow cruiser.

 

I suspect that due to automatic gratitute (i.e. they will get their share of tip no matter how their service is), dining room staff only focus on the customers that come to the same table / dining room everyday. We were ignore & treat as second-class because we went arround & try diffent dining rooms.

So you are aware that you can remove the automatic gratuity, right? The staff and crew know that they won't get their share of the tip if the passenger removes the automatic gratuity from their bill. If you felt you were being treated as a second class citizen, you should have removed it. That would teach 'em.

[chris2597]

We completed our AK cruise on Sunday on the Star. I didnt see a specific ship listed in the OP post.

We had a wonderful time, the best food and service in Anytime dining (Capri), and a great cabin steward. My dh and I are early/mid 50's. There was a wide range of ages on the ship, but mostly 40-60 range and up. The ship was going strong well into the evening.

OP, which ship were you on?

[stormiesci]

Chris 2597: How was it? Any last minute tips/reminders. My 7th cruise but first to AK and first WITH A BALCONY!!! I'm getting cafe card, dh is getting soda plus card. We're doing traditional early seating. I've heard a rumor of a western night??

 

Previous threads: I've cruised since 1985, before gratuities were automatically added to final bill. I've ALWAYS tipped the suggested plus a little more. One Carnival Bahamas cruise, our room steward was so awful, I tried to get the automatic gratuity removed to no avail. The buffet dining room attendants were equally awful. I will never cruise to Bahamas again aboard a Carnival ship. Another RCCL cruise, I tipped our room steward extra the first day and our service was exemplary! I look forward prior to each cruise to sifting through my greeting card piles and selecting a special card for each cruise employee type and pre-addressing cards with a nominal tip in each to be handed out during my cruise.

I figure if I can't afford to tip, I should sail my own ship. (Kinda like the bar/restaurant patrons who think service is the employee's job! If you don't want to tip, go to fast food or the liquor store and serve yourself!) I'm also taking a small bag of candy because of a tip I got from a CC thread.

I hope to return with tons of positive posts and hints!

[Momma Mojito]

Bravo!!

 

I second that!!

[CruiseAdict218]

Have just finish my cruise trip, and thought I should write out some experience to help fellow cruiser.

 

1 - Don't cruise with Princess unless you're old. Somehow, the Princess crowd is all old folks. The food / entertainment / service are focus on that age group.

 

I'm 18 years old and find Princess to be one of the best (even though I've only sailed on them and Carnival), on our recent Alaska cruise, their were all sorts of ages not just "old folks", there were some 500+ kids or so?. I don't quite what you mean by the food and services being focused that age group? :confused: No comment on the entertainment though.

 

2 - Sign up for early or late dining. Do not use anytime dining. I suspect that due to automatic gratitute (i.e. they will get their share of tip no matter how their service is), dining room staff only focus on the customers that come to the same table / dining room everyday. We were ignore & treat as second-class because we went arround & try diffent dining rooms.

 

Sorry to hear you were ignored and "treat as second-class", but anytime can be a litttle crazy since its not on a fix timing.

 

3 - If you want better service, tip up front. A veteran cruiser told me this trick, but too late for our trip. Due to automatic gratitute, there's no incentive for the crew to go above and beyond for you. They will treat you much better if you show them some cash. You have the option of reduce or remove the added automatic gratitute at the end of the cruise.

 

4 - Unless you're really old and need help with arranging everything, don't book shore excursion onboard. Just walk out of the ship and you will find tons of agents wanting to sale you the same tour at 2/3 the cost.

 

What does being "old" have to do with booking & arranging tours? We had no problem book two of our tours, but they were pretty pricey. ;)

 

See the green.