Star Princess doesn't provide same benefits as in past or on other Princess ships

[nreeder]

We've discovered that despite Princess announcements, e-mails, etc and previous passenger reviews you may not get all of the services that you may have expected.

When we and a lot of other's boarded Star Princess on a cruise from Buenos Aires to Los Angeles at the beginning of this week, we tried to order the wine package card (you buy a set number of bottles of wine but get a discounted price on the total package). Our waiter went in the back but came back and said the wine package is not available. No reason why, but he did mention that it was available on previous cruises. We and another couple at the table were very disappointed because it saves us money especially on a long cruise, and it encourges people to buy wine which makes Princess money. On our first tour of the trip in Montevideo we were at lunch with four other couples and three of the four had also tried to order the package and were told no.

I later talked to the Maiter'D and asked him why this was so. He said it was a decision by "Passenger Services" and he had received quite a few complaints from passengers in the dining room about it but had no power to change it. Turns out "passenger services" is the Purser's Office staff. So I went up there to ask about it. Of course the person at the desk didn't know anything about the change in policy (she did know about the card idea). She couldn't find anyone to answer me in the back while I stood there, so she said she would call me back.

This morning I got a call from Passenger Services and the lady said that the Wine Sommilier (a person who is not visible in the dining room as far as we can see) decided that they were not making enough revenue from this program so he discountinued it.

What makes this upsetting is that previous passengers on the Star on this route wrote in CruiseCritic reviews that they got the package just a few weeks ago. Currently Grand Princess is on this route about 6 days ahead of us and the "Live from the Grand" thread indicates they have the wine package on their ship right now.

So the moral is, despite publicity, previous reviews, and current reviews from other Princess ships on the same route, you may not get the same Princess services from your ship if Passenger Services decide they don't want to provide them to you. The problem is once you board, you can't just change ships to get the services you expected, it's too late!

Norm Reeder

[Pam in CA]

I'm sorry you're disappointed but it's possible that they ran out of wine to offer. The package seems to have been hit or miss anyway and not a fleet-wide standard offering. I couldn't find anything listed on the Princess website about a wine package being offered. Here's a link to the packages Princess offers: http://www.princess.com/learn/onboard/gifts_services/cellars_culinarydelights/princess_cellars/index.jsp

[ellie1145]

Phew! Breathed a sigh of relief when I read this thread.

 

I had visions of Star Princess no longer offering toilet paper, or maybe they were dispensing with beds, or horror of horrors, the buffet might close early!

 

But no wine package? I can live with that.:D

[Northender]

On the Sapphire last June, we had our favorite cruise Chardonnay, Kendall Jackson. :) I guess it depends on the ship for the types of wines they carry? KJ does not show up on the link Pam attached.

[sunsetbeachgal]

They did not offer the wine package on the Emerald in January..there was a thread discussing this and taking an informal survey of recent cruisers, and it appears that some ships offer it, some do not.

[Shogun]

Hi There,

 

I can not see any where that it said that this cruise would have a wine package,

 

as it was never there in the first place how can it be missing,

 

now if it was in your contract when you booked and Princess removed it then that would be different,

 

yours Shogun

[Astro Flyer]

I'm sorry you're disappointed but it's possible that they ran out of wine to offer.

Insufficient supply of wine was the reason given by Princess customer relations for our cruises last year.

 

Onboard the sommelier said it wasn't his decision so everyone keeps passing the buck about why it's not offered. I'm skeptical about their "lack of inventory" reasoning because based on posts it's rarely available even when Princess HQ tells us it will be available.

 

Like other things such as embarkation lunch I suspect that each ship's staff decides what they want to do despite what HQ tells us. If it's truly a lack of inventory they need to do a better job stocking their ships.

 

It's a win-win program...passengers get a slight discount & Princess sells more wine.

[shepp]

I must say that on a number of levels, the higher-ups on the Star seemed to care noticeably less about working to keep passengers happy than is the Princess norm.

[Times Prince]

Note the OP is also on a back to back cruise with the Santiago to Los Angeles leg being typically a repositioning cruise. There could be some issues with offering special wine packages or with inventory based on this aspect.

 

Just a guess.

[Pam in CA]

I must say that on a number of levels, the higher-ups on the Star seemed to care noticeably less about working to keep passengers happy than is the Princess norm.

That's an interesting observation as that wasn't the case on the Star a year ago. Terrific, well- managed cruise.

[billco]

I must say that on a number of levels, the higher-ups on the Star seemed to care noticeably less about working to keep passengers happy than is the Princess norm.

We did a Mexico cruise on the Star last October followed by an Hawaiian cruise in November. We felt just about everyone on the staff worked hard to make us happy.

[Cruisin' Chick]

Phew! Breathed a sigh of relief when I read this thread.

 

I had visions of Star Princess no longer offering toilet paper, or maybe they were dispensing with beds, or horror of horrors, the buffet might close early!

 

But no wine package? I can live with that.:D

 

From reading the thread title, I was thinking it was a ship of horrors with all sorts of services that were being dropped. Am finding many thread titles to be very misrepresentative of what the original post is all about.:rolleyes:

[scootin_cruizer]

Those misbegotten scoundrels from the Grand got all the wine!!

Hope they didn't get all the cheese to!

[caribill]

Hi There,

 

I can not see any where that it said that this cruise would have a wine package,

 

as it was never there in the first place how can it be missing,

 

now if it was in your contract when you booked and Princess removed it then that would be different,

 

 

What is different is that there have been posts on other threads where people called Princess and were told the wine package is (not "might be", but "is") offered on voyages of ten days and longer.

 

Maybe the reps should just say "we have no idea if a wine package will be offered on your cruise and have no way to find out about it before you embark."

[west coast cruiser]

Phew! Breathed a sigh of relief when I read this thread.

 

I had visions of Star Princess no longer offering toilet paper, or maybe they were dispensing with beds, or horror of horrors, the buffet might close early!

 

But no wine package? I can live with that.:D

 

Love it!!!!!

[melbur]

Those misbegotten scoundrels from the Grand got all the wine!!

Hope they didn't get all the cheese to!

 

Well, it wasn't offered on the Grand - we did the 1st leg - 19 days - from FLL to Buenos Aires. tried to get the wine package and we were refused also. We were finally told the next day the inventory wouldn't be enough for the 49 cruise.

[caribill]

Well, it wasn't offered on the Grand - we did the 1st leg - 19 days - from FLL to Buenos Aires. tried to get the wine package and we were refused also. We were finally told the next day the inventory wouldn't be enough for the 49 cruise.

 

Then the inventory would not be enough for passengers without the package deal as they will continue to purchase wine onboard.

 

Poor logistics planning by Princess, especially since they started the first leg in FLL.

[flamomo]

That's an interesting observation as that wasn't the case on the Star a year ago. Terrific, well- managed cruise.

 

 

I strongly agree with Pam. I was on the cruise following hers and everything was "Princess As Usual". Wonderfully operated ship with great service.

[san diego sue]

We were on the Star SF to Buenos Aires.(DEc- Jan) Never inquired about the wine package so don't know if it was offered then. However in SA ports bought the best wines from Chile and Argentina. Love to experiment. Could have paid the corkage and brought to Dining Room but we just drank it in our cabin. Many of our friends on board did the same.

Service for those 30 days on board was fabulous.

[Astro Flyer]

Then the inventory would not be enough for passengers without the package deal as they will continue to purchase wine onboard.

 

Poor logistics planning by Princess, especially since they started the first leg in FLL.

I feel the same way & if lack of inventory is the real reason then based of CC members experiences it happens the majority of the time. :(

[LunaSeaRetreat]

We are on the Star March 26th cruise and I have an email and received a phone call stating that the wine package will be offered. I realize that it's not in the contract but when planning it's sure nice to know. I would lug on a case of wine and pay the corkage fee if I knew it would not be offered. I'll be very disappointed if I was misinformed. I'm hoping that since we're leaving from LA, Princess will be restocking and that is the reason for the lack of the package on the OP's cruise.

 

Cynthia

[pris993]

That's an interesting observation as that wasn't the case on the Star a year ago. Terrific, well- managed cruise.

 

 

I agree, we did a trip to Mexico on the Star last September, enjoy it a lot.

 

But I did have an experience on the Dawn a few years back, did a fall cruise to Mexico it was excellent... enjoyed it so much, booked to do the same ship, same trip 4 months later, sadley service was hit and miss the second time around. So it can happen things can change on the same ship quickly. Could not figure out why.

[dannylillian]

I don't think Princess has offered wine packages for a while. We were just on the Star Princess and what you can buy is a package of 3 wine bottles pre-chosen by CORPORATE only, not the sommelier, the package sells for $160.00 everyone on the ship knows about this set, i think they get points every time they sell one. They are specially chosen wines for Princess, not on the wine list but they truly are special wines, we had 2 of these sets on our last cruise. We have had this 3 wine set on 3 princess ships.As far as we know this is the only wine package you can buy on Princess.

[starts60]

Has anybody gone on the Star with 3 people in a Balcony, is there much room. Am going to Alaska on the 29th of June with 3 of us.

[Pam in CA]

Has anybody gone on the Star with 3 people in a Balcony, is there much room. Am going to Alaska on the 29th of June with 3 of us.

Tight. The 3rd person is in a bunk that comes out of the ceiling. The beds are usually in twin position so the 3rd person can use the ladder. Otherwise, it's awkward for them to get down. Enough storage, though.