What's changed

[aikensbest]

what wrong with people giving there opinion. Most of what ive been reading is true.

I've only been on 17 cruises with Princess but have enjoyed each one..on 12 different ships. Am I naive or do people expect too much. I have never ever experienced a bad cruise on Princess.

[bdjam]

I am squarely in this camp. I see changes. Other people see a "decline".

• So the buffet is not open at 3:00 a.m.. The number of times that I gorged my pie-hole on a cruise at 3:00 a.m.? That would be zero. So to me, that is a change and not a decline.
  
• Agree - I never used Horizon Court after lunch...
  
• I enjoy fresh air on my balcony, so the change in the smoking policy is a change, not a decline.
  
• So totally agree - this change adds value to Princess
  
• I thought that I would be bummed about the MDR being closed on port days. I was a vocal objector on that one. But once I experienced it myself, it became a non-issue. And with Alfredo's on the Sapphire, I will surely not miss the MDR on my next cruise.
  
• I never used the main dining room for lunch on port days...I think in all my years of cruising Princess, I've used it for lunch maybe three times? I get it's appeal, but as you say, there are many other places.
  
• The coffee cards are no longer usable in perpetuity. Frankly, it probably should have been that way from the beginning and if the cruise line saves money here, that is good for the passenger. To some, this is a "decline". Not for me. I understand.
  
• I always use my coffee card up before leaving the ship - I never had one to carry over. If I run out I just buy the last couple on my own.
  

Perhaps I am in the minority but I haven't walked off a single ship saying: "The recent changes at Princess have really lowered by enjoyment level." Maybe that day will come, but it hasn't yet.

 

bdjam...i just found a great cruise. october 20th, 2014, the star princess from san francisco to mexico for 10 nights. ports are cabo, loreto, la paz and puerto vallarta. and the best part of all, for me that is, there are 5 sea days. i love sea days the best of all. of course, the best thing about port days is staying on the ship while the others leave for the day! are you interested?

 

cheers

Hey David - I was looking for something in the 10 day range for the fall of 2014 :) I'll check it out

Edited May 20, 2013 by bdjam

[cpj]

I respect your opinion also. Its just that our last cruse on the Crown was not a good experence and in our opinion the food was terrible. Outside of that issue we had a good time. Maybe we just caught bad week.

[sunsetbeachgal]

I sailed on the Emerald in February...a wonderful cruise and I did not hear any complaints from our group.

 

Enjoy!!

Edited May 20, 2013 by sunsetbeachgal

[cruiselove1]

ALL cruise lines have had changes over the past years due to the economy. changes in ownership, etc. Princess has not been exempt. Change is inevitable. Who really needs 24 hour buffet dining anyway???? In my opinion, Princess is still, by far, the best cruise line. I have been on lots of Princess cruises, and I can't think of anywhere else that I would rather be!!!

[cruiselove1]

ALL cruise lines have had changes over the past years due to the economy. changes in ownership, etc. Princess has not been exempt. Change is inevitable. Who really needs 24 hour buffet dining anyway???? In my opinion, Princess is still, by far, the best cruise line. I have been on lots of Princess cruises, and I can't think of anywhere else that I would rather be!!!

[Cruisin' Chick]

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.

 

I didn't even give an opinion about the shorter performances, except it means more people can find seats if they go at the right time. But on our last cruise, we saw two shortened versions of shows (Motor City and British Invasion) we saw two years prior and still found them enjoyable. And if not going to the 10pm show, can still find more live entertainment (one can go up to the disco to dance even then).

 

We've gone on five straight Princess cruises since our first one in 2003, after six Carnival cruises. We like the longer (for us, that's two week cruises, rather than one week) cruises, the more varied itineraries than some other cruiselines (Princess has them for those on our "dream list"), we love the variety of activities on sea days (and we love sea days). We don't have a problem with the food as we're not foodies anyway (hubby loves the grilled chicken sandwiches at the grill). Even my picky teen has said that one of the best things about our last two cruises was the food.

 

For us, the self-service laundries is a requirement -- I don't want to utilize the regular laundry service as one of us is allergic to regular laundry detergent.

 

And I love that Princess still has traditional dining. We had anytime a couple of cruises ago and we agreed that it wasn't anything special.

 

There is a cruise line (and it's not Carnival) that you can't pay me to go on, especially after watching a program on it, with all its nickle and diming (other than high photograph costs and a cost for soda, I don't see it on Princess -- the only hard sell we got on the last cruise was for the soda card, and that stopped after the first day), and its emphasis on freestyle (which I really, really don't get).

 

Maybe it may be interesting to try a more premium line one day, but I don't feel I'll be missing anything by continuing on Princess as it seems a good fit for my family.

[monakayk]

Food-menu changes (some not so good)

Wine (what you are allowed to bring on board without a $15.00 per bottle corkage fee)

Entertainment-shorter productions (time-wise)

Category changes (for balcony cabins) when booking

Chairs/furniture on balconies were changed to 'cheap' less comfortable stuff

International Cafe(great for all sorts of salads, sandwiches & deserts)

Alfredos (great to sit down restaurant-style) for Pizza

Wines-wonderful Wines and Tappas

 

I totally disagree with comment about formal nights being "less formal"....pax STILL dress to the 'NINES' on formal nights. A lot of (long) formals and cocktail dresses and men in dark suits/tux, which IMHO is great!

Edited May 21, 2013 by monakayk

[kendon]

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

 

Griller's post had a negative tone, but hey, he's right.

 

So, in what way has Princess IMPROVED over the last 6 years then?

[kendon]

ALL cruise lines have had changes over the past years due to the economy. changes in ownership, etc. Princess has not been exempt. Change is inevitable. Who really needs 24 hour buffet dining anyway???? In my opinion, Princess is still, by far, the best cruise line. I have been on lots of Princess cruises, and I can't think of anywhere else that I would rather be!!!

 

In spite of it all, I have to agree. As mass market lines go, for us a good match.

[Travelrd]

brian...if you'd like to contact me off the cc postings, here is my email: dirosen44@gmail.com

 

cheers

[PescadoAmarillo]

So, in what way has Princess IMPROVED over the last 6 years then?

The International Cafe!

 

ETA: I don't mind the negative comments. They're very good at setting expeditions low, or at least insuring that they're reasonably set. What's truly disturbing is when people write that everything's wonderful, better than before, setting expectations too high. Then when passengers return and post that they were disappointed, those same writers of the glowing reviews say, "We'll, you should have done your research!" Geesh, maybe they did, but it was so overwhelmingly positive that they over-expected.

 

Princess probably provides a better value now than it did several years ago. Is it a perfect cruise line? Of course not. But it does more things well than it does poorly, by far.

Edited May 21, 2013 by PescadoAmarillo

[iggy's mom]

We were on Emerald Princess in January for 20 days and had one of our best cruises ever. :)

 

LuLu

~~~~

 

Ohhhh, a 20 day cruise. Some day I hope to be able to do a longer cruise. Glad to hear you had a great cruise!:)

[Griller]

Griller's post had a negative tone, but hey, he's right.

 

So, in what way has Princess IMPROVED over the last 6 years then?

 

International cafe installed on some ships. Just love it. I could stay on a ship and never go above deck 5. where the IC is.

 

Better coffee if you pay for it. Love that coffee card.

 

Great Military OBC introduced.Going to be Princess ships full of old soldiers pretty soon.

 

Free limited internet for some past passengers, and been upgraded to faster on some ships,.

 

 

 

Maybe my post was a bit negative but I'm still cruising Princess, on the basis that I'm paying what its worth.

 

Inside cabins, fire sale prices, last minute booking makes it work for me.

 

No way for a cruiseline to be successful longterm though unless it can make most passengers feel they are getting value for money, the ones who pay top dollar, suites, book way in advance, big onboard spend,

not just the po'boys like me.

 

Maybe Princess can achieve this by some brainwashing with slogans and clever advertising. Some folk are gullible and believe what they are told if they are told it often enough. Princess would not be alone with this.

Edited May 21, 2013 by Griller

[iggy's mom]

I want to thank everyone for their insights!

 

Clair

[JimmyVWine]

 

Princess probably provides a better value now than it did several years ago. Is it a perfect cruise line? Of course not. But it does more things well than it does poorly, by far.

 

This is too often overlooked. The same people who crow about scoring a one week cruise for $799 per person will also moan about the overall quality of the experience. Look at it this way. A couple paying that fare is essentially paying $200 per day for their lodging and getting their food for free, or is dining for $200 per day (roughly $15 pp for breakfast, $20 pp for lunch and $50 pp for dinner and $15 pp on snacks and incidentals) and getting their lodging for free. But what makes no sense is to pay that fare and then complain that the lodging falls below the level of a Ritz Carlton and the food is not up to par with The French Laundry. We all love a good sale. But the fare slashing has to be balanced with the quality of the product provided. If there is a better cruise line offering fares around $50-$100 per person per day, I haven't found it. If these fares result in beef that is less than Prime and buffets that close at 11:00 pm, I can adjust.

[MauiLvrs]

Chairs/furniture on balconies were changed to 'cheap' less comfortable stuff

Maybe less comfortable ... but think that it had more to do with fire resistance than cost savings.

[Iamcruzin]

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.

OP asked for changes. Can you think of any positive changes? The only one I can think of is the smoking policy but I don't smoke.

[Iamcruzin]

Maybe less comfortable ... but think that it had more to do with fire resistance than cost savings.

No I think it's cost. I think there is a better chance of starting a fire with all of the power strips, hair appliances and coffee makers people bring on board.

[Griller]

No I think it's cost. I think there is a better chance of starting a fire with all of the power strips, hair appliances and coffee makers people bring on board.

Princess could fix 2 of the 3 things you mention by putting more power outlets in, and having better coffee freely available.

I must admit I take a power strip for my laptop, camera charger, phone charger, but no high current drain devices.

Don't see what could be done about the curling tongs or hair crimpers etc though.

 

Taking my favourite ground coffee and a cafetiere on Ocean P. next week. No fire risk with that, get the hot water from the buffet.

[bdjam]

This is too often overlooked. The same people who crow about scoring a one week cruise for $799 per person will also moan about the overall quality of the experience. Look at it this way. A couple paying that fare is essentially paying $200 per day for their lodging and getting their food for free, or is dining for $200 per day (roughly $15 pp for breakfast, $20 pp for lunch and $50 pp for dinner and $15 pp on snacks and incidentals) and getting their lodging for free. But what makes no sense is to pay that fare and then complain that the lodging falls below the level of a Ritz Carlton and the food is not up to par with The French Laundry. We all love a good sale. But the fare slashing has to be balanced with the quality of the product provided. If there is a better cruise line offering fares around $50-$100 per person per day, I haven't found it. If these fares result in beef that is less than Prime and buffets that close at 11:00 pm, I can adjust.

 

Amen, brother.

So, in what way has Princess IMPROVED over the last 6 years then?

• Smoking policy
  
• Captain Circle Elite Level and perks like 10% off boutiques, priority tender boarding, priority embarkation, canapes on formal nights, in room tea, laundry service
  
• Refurbishment of atria on most ships
  
• Vines
  
• International Cafe
  
• WiFi in cabins
  
• Addition of Sanctuary
  
• Bon Voyage Experience
  
• Improved Horizon Court layout
  
• Grand Princess - removal of Skywalkers and the One5 replacement
  
• Grand Princess - debut of Alfredos
  
• Expansion of Crown Grill
  
• Sensible changes to Sabatini menu
  
• Pub Lunch
  
• Greater breadth of itineraries
  
• San Francisco based ship
  
• MUTS, popcorn and blankets (even though I'm not into that kind of thing)
  
• Staff and crew and focus on "personal" service
  
• Upgrades to gym facilities
  
• Chef's Table
  
• Happy Hour Drink Prices
  
• Suite and Elite cocktail lounge
  
• "Silent" Disembarkation
  
• Platinum and Elite Disembarkation lounge
  
• Reduced daily announcements
  
• Reduced "junk" mail delivered to stateroom
  

...I'm sure I've left something out...

Edited May 21, 2013 by bdjam

[Mom33]

OP asked for changes. Can you think of any positive changes? The only one I can think of is the smoking policy but I don't smoke.

 

If you don't smoke, then it is a positive change. If you do smoke, it is a negative change. And so it goes for all other aspects of change. Some can handle it, some cannot. We all have different tastes and perspectives and our differing opinions are reflected here. Each individual will form their own opinion as they take their cruise.

 

Some enjoy their cruises, some don't. If they are relating their personal experience whether good or bad, they should not be criticized for it.:)

[Princess Patches]

Amen, brother.

 

• Smoking policy
  
• Captain Circle Elite Level and perks like 10% off boutiques, priority tender boarding, priority embarkation, canapes on formal nights, in room tea, laundry service
  
• Refurbishment of atria on most ships
  
• Vines
  
• International Cafe
  
• WiFi in cabins
  
• Addition of Sanctuary
  
• Bon Voyage Experience
  
• Improved Horizon Court layout
  
• Grand Princess - removal of Skywalkers and the One5 replacement
  
• Grand Princess - debut of Alfredos
  
• Expansion of Crown Grill
  
• Sensible changes to Sabatini menu
  
• Pub Lunch
  
• Greater breadth of itineraries
  
• San Francisco based ship
  
• MUTS, popcorn and blankets (even though I'm not into that kind of thing)
  
• Staff and crew and focus on "personal" service
  
• Upgrades to gym facilities
  
• Chef's Table
  
• Happy Hour Drink Prices
  
• Suite and Elite cocktail lounge
  
• "Silent" Disembarkation
  
• Platinum and Elite Disembarkation lounge
  
• Reduced daily announcements
  
• Reduced "junk" mail delivered to stateroom
  

...I'm sure I've left something out...

 

The addition of the Ruby, Crown and Emerald ships to the fleet and the upcoming Royal and Regal.

 

The addition of numerous roundtrip sailings out of San Pedro and SF to Hawaii, Alaska, and the California Coast that they did not use to have and is very convenient for those of us on the West Coast.

 

Ultimate ship tour.

 

EZ air service.

[Princess Patches]

Amen, brother.

 

• Smoking policy
  
• Captain Circle Elite Level and perks like 10% off boutiques, priority tender boarding, priority embarkation, canapes on formal nights, in room tea, laundry service
  
• Refurbishment of atria on most ships
  
• Vines
  
• International Cafe
  
• WiFi in cabins
  
• Addition of Sanctuary
  
• Bon Voyage Experience
  
• Improved Horizon Court layout
  
• Grand Princess - removal of Skywalkers and the One5 replacement
  
• Grand Princess - debut of Alfredos
  
• Expansion of Crown Grill
  
• Sensible changes to Sabatini menu
  
• Pub Lunch
  
• Greater breadth of itineraries
  
• San Francisco based ship
  
• MUTS, popcorn and blankets (even though I'm not into that kind of thing)
  
• Staff and crew and focus on "personal" service
  
• Upgrades to gym facilities
  
• Chef's Table
  
• Happy Hour Drink Prices
  
• Suite and Elite cocktail lounge
  
• "Silent" Disembarkation
  
• Platinum and Elite Disembarkation lounge
  
• Reduced daily announcements
  
• Reduced "junk" mail delivered to stateroom
  

...I'm sure I've left something out...

 

The addition of the Ruby, Crown and Emerald ships to the fleet and the upcoming Royal and Regal.

 

The addition of numerous roundtrip sailings out of San Pedro and SF to Hawaii, Alaska, and the California Coast that they did not use to have and is very convenient for those of us on the West Coast.

 

Ultimate ship tour.

 

Ultimate balcony dining.

 

EZ air service.

[Mom33]

Amen, brother.

 

• Smoking policy
  
• Captain Circle Elite Level and perks like 10% off boutiques, priority tender boarding, priority embarkation, canapes on formal nights, in room tea, laundry service
  
• Refurbishment of atria on most ships
  
• Vines
  
• International Cafe
  
• WiFi in cabins
  
• Addition of Sanctuary
  
• Bon Voyage Experience
  
• Improved Horizon Court layout
  
• Grand Princess - removal of Skywalkers and the One5 replacement
  
• Grand Princess - debut of Alfredos
  
• Expansion of Crown Grill
  
• Sensible changes to Sabatini menu
  
• Pub Lunch
  
• Greater breadth of itineraries
  
• San Francisco based ship
  
• MUTS, popcorn and blankets (even though I'm not into that kind of thing)
  
• Staff and crew and focus on "personal" service
  
• Upgrades to gym facilities
  
• Chef's Table
  
• Happy Hour Drink Prices
  
• Suite and Elite cocktail lounge
  
• "Silent" Disembarkation
  
• Platinum and Elite Disembarkation lounge
  
• Reduced daily announcements
  
• Reduced "junk" mail delivered to stateroom
  

...I'm sure I've left something out...

 

The addition of the Ruby, Crown and Emerald ships to the fleet and the upcoming Royal and Regal.

 

The addition of numerous roundtrip sailings out of San Pedro and SF to Hawaii, Alaska, and the California Coast that they did not use to have and is very convenient for those of us on the West Coast.

 

Ultimate ship tour.

 

EZ air service.

 

Thanks for these observations.:D