What's changed

[iggy's mom]

It has been 6 years since DH & I cruised with Princess. Can anyone please let me know of any big changes that have happened since we were on a Princess ship.

 

We have been on the Sapphire and the Diamond. We did anytime dining on one of the cruises and traditional on the other.

 

Thank you!

Clair

[KruzPrincess]

Probably the biggest thing is the smoking policy. There is a thread at the top of the forum with info and conversation about smoking.

 

The buffet is no longer open 24 hours per day. I believe it closes around 11PM or midnight depending on the ship. The International Café (on most ships) is open 24 hours a day. Some ships have the new Alfredo's Pizza venue in the atrium.

 

There's probably other things, but I can't think.

[Cruisin' Chick]

The big production shows have been cut so that three performances can be held on a night. Gives one a better chance to being able to find seats without going to the theater an hour ahead of time (depending on the passengers' demographics, of course).

[Griller]

Pricing has changed for sure, over the last year or two Princess have raised their publicly shown prices and tried to squeeze us for higher fares, specially those who like to book in advance. Then after final payment date they have had to have sales to sell a decent number of cabins and also secret firesale prices to past passengers which you have to know about to get, sometimes these are very very cheap. If you have a good t/agent then you may get any of these.

 

Main dining room food has changed, and IMHO not for the better. If you want burger for a formal night dinner then Princess have it on the menu. Specialty dining is where you can get a decent meal, gone up to $25 now.

 

Very informal dress on formal nights also has become more popular.

 

Drinks have gone up, and photos have gone way up in cost. Princess are maximising what they can get out of passengers on onboard spending seeing as they can't do it on fares.

 

Princess have implemented a draconian bringing your own booze on board policy.

 

Entertainments crew are reduced in numbers, much less live music.

 

I haven't had one but folk say Princess have been changing out the hard wornout mattresses for new better ones. Bout time!

Edited May 20, 2013 by Griller

[Griller]

The big production shows have been cut so that three performances can be held on a night. Gives one a better chance to being able to find seats without going to the theater an hour ahead of time (depending on the passengers' demographics' date=' of course).[/quote']

Yes you get a better chance of finding a seat but then the show is shorter and dumbed down so it may not be much of an advantage.

I found the last show to be nearly empty quite often.

 

Two newish shows are good, On the Bayou and Brit Invasion, I haven't seen these again recently in any shortened version but when they were launched they were excellent.

Edited May 20, 2013 by Griller

[Coral]

Dining room no longer open on port days for lunch.

 

Quality of the food has declined, especially beef entrees.

 

Buffet has also reduced its offerings. It was quite noticable on my Sapphire cruise last summer. Buffet hours are no longer 24 hours.

 

Entertainment productions have been shorted to 30 minute shows but are now being shown 3x a night as opposed to 2x night.

[rdsqrl]

Cheez, dudes, way to spread sunshine. I'm sure after reading your posts, the OP has already cancelled and fled back to whatever line s/he's been sailing on previously. You know, if y'all are so displeased with Princess, maybe it's time to consider other travel options. I'm not trying to squelch dissenting voices around here, but some of you can really suck the air out of this board.

[Richie2pies]

I gave up on Princess. The new changes do not agree with me.

[warb]

Which Cruise Line do you sail on now ? Thanks.

[Griller]

Cheez, dudes, way to spread sunshine. I'm sure after reading your posts, the OP has already cancelled and fled back to whatever line s/he's been sailing on previously. You know, if y'all are so displeased with Princess, maybe it's time to consider other travel options. I'm not trying to squelch dissenting voices around here, but some of you can really suck the air out of this board.

Yes many folk are displeased with the changes at Princess, the company have taken the "special" out of the cruise line and the experience. Maybe saved a few $$$ in costs but lost bigbucks longterm in customer loyalty.

But, as I said, if you buy your ticket right then its now cheap, and the expensive on board spend is optional, so if you like the itinerary then you can just go on Princess for the ports and not for the ship being the special experience.

And the OBC can be good as well on Princess, recently I had an offer for 14 days Alaska where Princess were going to give me $76 more in OBC than I was paying for the fare. Not everyone would be in that position and its rare.

Then of course many of us like the Free Laundry and Internet we get as Elite passengers.

 

Other travel options - yes I have cruised other lines recently and found they were different and in some aspects better than Princess, or even cost less as well as being better, but if a cheap offer comes up on a small Princess ship then I will grab it with both hands, not now so keen on the bigger ships, even though they have the excellent International Cafe on many.

 

I know from talking with frequent Princess passengers, retired successful businessmen, that they think Princess has lost its way and now does not have a good business model and the costcutting will in the longterm prove counterproductive.

 

Some of those folk have now abandoned Princess and gone to Azmara or Oceania and find they can have a suite and a better and more special experience with better food and entertainment for a competitive cost.

 

Got to tell it like it is if someone asks. Its hard to be a cheerleader for Princess these days.

Edited May 20, 2013 by Griller

[bdjam]

Cheez, dudes, way to spread sunshine. I'm sure after reading your posts, the OP has already cancelled and fled back to whatever line s/he's been sailing on previously. You know, if y'all are so displeased with Princess, maybe it's time to consider other travel options. I'm not trying to squelch dissenting voices around here, but some of you can really suck the air out of this board.

 

Amen sister. I've seen changes at Princess since I started sailing them in 1996 - but in the last five years or so, not so much. In fact the original poster will find that Sapphire Princess - at least - will have been upgraded from what they found on their previous voyage on the ship. I agree that Princess isn't as special as it was when I first started sailing, but I think the cruise line still offers a pretty high quality vacation - especially for the price.

 

I know from talking with frequent Princess passengers, retired successful businessmen, that they think Princess has lost its way and now does not have a good business model and the costcutting will in the longterm prove counterproductive.

 

Some of those folk have now abandoned Princess and gone to Azmara or Oceania and find they can have a suite and a better and more special experience with better food and entertainment for a competitive cost.

 

Princess has two new ships - albeit not seemingly special from my point of view - coming on line and continues to sail pretty full. They have invested millions in upgrading the current fleet. The pricing is good and the value is in line with that pricing. There must be something right about the business model - the cruise line shows no signs of being in trouble. Successful businessmen may have their opinions, but are they successful businessmen from the cruise or travel industry?

 

Azmara or Oceania I'm sure are good products. I do enjoy smaller ships as well. But I'm not seeing that the prices are comperable and I'm certainly not seeing the loyalty perks that I get from Princess after over 30 cruises with them.

 

The cruise line may have gone mass market like many others, but it ain't as bad as some might make it out to be.

Edited May 20, 2013 by bdjam

[Griller]

Although as stockholders in the parent company we get to see the overall quite healthy profit that Carnival Corporation makes they do not reveal the profit/loss each subsidiary like Princess or Cunard makes.

So there is no way to tell how Princess is doing, Carnival will bail them out quietly whatever.

Yes Princess sails quite full but at what cost? I just latebooked a 16 day on Ocean P. for $47 a day inc taxes and port dues etc. Smacks of desperation to see such low firesale prices, and that wasn't the cheapest deal per day they were offering last week either.

10 years ago I was targetting $100 a day as a good price.

A good businessman can make a go of just about any business, and can have a good idea of what will work and what isn't going to work so well.

 

 

As far as sailing full is concerned I agree Princess do quite well, I have never been on a Princess Transatlantic that had more than a few cabins vacant but I was just on an MSC T/A which had only 800 passengers and could acommodate 2600. And that was only $30 a day. And it was nice!

 

Cruiselines do really look to the onboard spend these days to make the profit.

[dmwnc1959]

Cheez, dudes, way to spread sunshine. I'm sure after reading your posts, the OP has already cancelled and fled back to whatever line s/he's been sailing on previously. You know, if y'all are so displeased with Princess, maybe it's time to consider other travel options. I'm not trying to squelch dissenting voices around here, but some of you can really suck the air out of this board.

 

Best....post....EVER. :cool:

[Griller]

Best....post....EVER. :cool:

 

No dude, yours is! :rolleyes:

[pablo222]

I'm not trying to squelch dissenting voices around here, but some of you can really suck the air out of this board.

 

Don't worry. Most negative posts here don't last very long.

[iggy's mom]

Thank you to everyone for their replies and information! :)

[CaribbeanIsland]

Cheez, dudes, way to spread sunshine. I'm sure after reading your posts, the OP has already cancelled and fled back to whatever line s/he's been sailing on previously. You know, if y'all are so displeased with Princess, maybe it's time to consider other travel options. I'm not trying to squelch dissenting voices around here, but some of you can really suck the air out of this board.

 

This is what the original question was about. They wanted to know the changes. Should we sugar coat it? Maybe I should include the topic that you have a 50/50 chance that the beds have been replaced with something that doesn't kill your back. What was posted above that was not accurate about changes?

Edited May 20, 2013 by CaribbeanIsland

[John Reid]

Cheez, dudes, way to spread sunshine. I'm sure after reading your posts, the OP has already cancelled and fled back to whatever line s/he's been sailing on previously. You know, if y'all are so displeased with Princess, maybe it's time to consider other travel options. I'm not trying to squelch dissenting voices around here, but some of you can really suck the air out of this board.

 

The OP asked for the information. I find the responses to be mostly accurate. To sugar-coat and put feel good answers would do the OP a disservice. And the majority of people did not say they didn't enjoy their recent Princess cruises, they said that some things were not as good as they were.

 

There are times on this or any board when posters inject negativity that was not asked for and was not appropriate. Again, this OP asked for the opinions.

[FritzG]

We have also seen many changes in the last couple of years, and our cruise on the Grand last month left us very disappointed in Princess. The food had definitely dropped in quality, the ship was very shabby, and if this had been our first Princess cruise it probably would have been our last. In HC the bases of the tables and the floor were crusted with dust and dried "stuff", and a couple of the beverage stations had a strong mildew smell. If we encountered a restaurant like this at home we'd never go back, and yet we ate breakfast and lunch there every day. Croissants and pastries that used to be so fresh and delicious are now grocery store freezer case quality. Lots of little things that we loved so much are gone.

That being said, we've tried Celebrity, and we liked Princess better. We just hope that Princess reads some of the increasingly negative comments faithful customers are posting and makes some improvements. I'm sure we'll be booking another Princess cruise soon, but I think we'll stick to the newer ships.

Edited May 20, 2013 by FritzG

[CaribbeanIsland]

Amen sister. I've seen changes at Princess since I started sailing them in 1996 - but in the last five years or so, not so much. In fact the original poster will find that Sapphire Princess - at least - will have been upgraded from what they found on their previous voyage on the ship. I agree that Princess isn't as special as it was when I first started sailing, but I think the cruise line still offers a pretty high quality vacation - especially for the price.

 

[/font]

 

I find the opposite. I started cruising Princess around the same time you did and have found the last five years to be the worst decline since I started cruising.

[LoveThisCruisingThing]

Cheez, dudes, way to spread sunshine. I'm sure after reading your posts, the OP has already cancelled and fled back to whatever line s/he's been sailing on previously. You know, if y'all are so displeased with Princess, maybe it's time to consider other travel options. I'm not trying to squelch dissenting voices around here, but some of you can really suck the air out of this board.

 

ITA. Some just like to see all the negatives.

[mrell345]

We may not like all the negatives we see, however so long as it doesn't go to a flame or hate speech we have to respect that people have to right to say what they want. Besides some people do have negative experiences on board, I haven't so far and I hope all my cruises are as good as my past ones. Some have been less of an experience than others but after serving 22 years in the army I have seen some pretty bad situations that others have to live through. I am thankful for the life I have and for the experiences I have lived.

[deminggraham]

Princess has introduced early traditional dining in addition to the regular traditional dining. The early traditional starts at 5:30PM and is served in one of the anytime dining rooms until 7:30PM. This means that you can do anytime dining in that room only after 7:30PM. The other anytime dining room is still open at the normal times for dinner. I was on the Emerald when they rolled this out and at first it was a mess and anytime diners had long lined but on my last cruise the flow was better and I did not notice any problems. We usually do anytime dining at around 7:30PM.

[Bogof1]

One of the anytime dining rooms is still open for lunch on embarkation day!

[Griller]

I find the opposite. I started cruising Princess around the same time you did and have found the last five years to be the worst decline since I started cruising.

 

I agree, and it it wasn't for the great OBC, the cheap fares for the cruises I choose, and the free laundry I would not be on Princess but paying rather more for Seabourn or some other line. And even those have had their cutbacks.

 

There could come a time when I think - I have only so many cruises left in my lifetime and plenty of money so let me just spend it all on a cruiseline which is really a special experience.

 

But I'm not there yet.

Edited May 20, 2013 by Griller