Disappointed with Princess, considering a switch

[Maddle]

The problem with the production shows is that they are so specialized and kitted/fitted to each ship - it is rare that changes will be made. Sometimes the same show is kitted out on more than one ship. That's a real snooze. If you are a brand loyalist, (and it doesn't seem to matter WHICH brand) you just see the same thing over and over (except now the shows are a little shorter, and three per night.)

 

You really do have to change up your cruiselines if you want a different show...but then you are changing the whole cruise experience, for better or worse.

 

Maddle

[4cats4me]

We were Princessed "out" too,after 13 cruises, so we hopped on over to Celebrity after a 12 year absence. We are cruising with Celebrity again in two weeks and really would be hard pressed to choose Princess over Celebrity

We really enjoyed Princess in the beginning but the last two cruises with them in 2011, we noticed a decline in the dining room food.

We would still go on Princess again, maybe the Royal, but after going on RCCL

(Great entertainment) and Celebrity (great food and ambience as well as good entertainment) it would be hard to go ack to Princess

[Colo Cruiser]

We were Princessed "out" too,after 13 cruises, so we hopped on over to Celebrity after a 12 year absence. We are cruising with Celebrity again in two weeks and really would be hard pressed to choose Princess over Celebrity

We really enjoyed Princess in the beginning but the last two cruises with them in 2011, we noticed a decline in the dining room food.

We would still go on Princess again, maybe the Royal, but after going on RCCL

(Great entertainment) and Celebrity (great food and ambience as well as good entertainment) it would be hard to go ack to Princess

 

But you still lurk! :D

[4cats4me]

But you still lurk! :D

 

You busted me:D

[kubies]

I agree with previous posters that it is good to change it up every now and then. We have cruised with Princess primarily and occasionally with RCL and Celebrity. Personally, I would chose Celebrity over RCL any day. I find the food and entertainment on Princess far exceeds that on RCL and is quite good and/or equivalent to the best of Princess. The only thing I liked about RCL was their activities that appealed to our grandchildren...the only reason we choose RCL.

[Putterdude]

Most folks will know that I am not a cheerleader for Princess but we did a b/b in January on Celebrity's Silhouette and I have to say after some very nice cruises with Celebrity our experience this time was that of a real clunker. Having said that, our cabin was the best designed cabin we have ever had but that where it ends. The staff was ill trained, the food average at best and the entertainment was lame. Their computer systems came over on the ark and all their problems get blamed on their system. Then throw in the changes to their loyalty program which have left people as much as 200% behind in achieving the next level in the plan....well it all makes boring old Princess look pretty good.

[Colo Cruiser]

Most folks will know that I am not a cheerleader for Princess but we did a b/b in January on Celebrity's Silhouette and I have to say after some very nice cruises with Celebrity our experience this time was that of a real clunker. Having said that, our cabin was the best designed cabin we have ever had but that where it ends. The staff was ill trained, the food average at best and the entertainment was lame. Their computer systems came over on the ark and all their problems get blamed on their system. Then throw in the changes to their loyalty program which have left people as much as 200% behind in achieving the next level in the plan....well it all makes boring old Princess look pretty good.

 

 

Thanks for the comments.

[Nebr.cruiser]

After our 10th Princess cruise in December, we are kind of 'Princessed Out' for a cruise or two. It probably didn't help that we had been on the same ship the last two times (Golden Princess, 14 and 17 days), last Feb. and Dec.

 

It all just seemed too familiar and the entertainment has really taken a downward hit, with the shorter shows and lower quality of production and artists. Other activities seemed lackluster too. I'm not a fan of the performances in the Atrium--often hard to find a place to watch.

 

We'll be back, but we've cruised several other lines and always had a good time. We will probably do RCI and Celebrity, both of which we have cruised before, and maybe some others before coming back to Princess.

[Caribensun]

I appreciate your honesty and I hope you will try other cruise lines as they will be different and will give you the break you need and perspective on cruising. There is a cruise line for everyone and not for everyone.

We love the Grand Class ships and appreciate the Princess product.

Enjoy finding your cruise line style. Seadeck2

[mr green]

Unfortunately Princess, [as do most other cruise lines] recycle most of the entertainment for a few years. Nothing new, but just like a TV re run.

 

john

[Psychedout]

After 8 cruise with Princess I have to agree the shows are old and not up to snuff:(

 

On our last cruise the shows we saw 2 years ago were being preformed again in the Theater :mad:

 

I went to the Casino instead :D

 

Hugh :cool:

[Gmanfl]

I am always amazed at the comments about the on board shows and the expectations of the passengers. Having been on 4 cruises with Princess in the last 3 years I have come to expect mediocre entertainment at best. Sometimes I am pleasantly surprised though. It is Cruise ship entertainment, not Broadway, not even your local theater so it is what it is. There are so many other aspects of cruising to enjoy that I can't allow myself to be bothered by bad entertaiment. I will be sailing on the Emerald on March 29th and am sure a lot of the shows will be similar, but who cares, I'm on vacation, I'll make my own memories. Funny thing though, on every single cruise I took the Princess Pop Choir sang the same 4 songs. I guess Princess is getting their money's worth out of the licensing. Lastly, I keep going back to Princess because they treat me right. They understand that I am on vacation and have never disappointed.

[Thrak]

We had JJ on a Hawaiian cruise. We sincerely hope to never have him again.

[Ethel5]

We took the Ship'd tour and were told that a production number costs 5 million to produce for everything involved. That's why they don't get changed very often.

[Putterdude]

Unfortunately Princess, [as do most other cruise lines] recycle most of the entertainment for a few years. Nothing new, but just like a TV re run.

 

john

 

 

Of course the production shows tend to repeat for a couple of years, they invest a huge amount of money in production rights, costumes and training casts. When you stack Princess production shows against Celebrity and HAL....IMO Princess wins by a significant margin.

[CZEE]

I am always amazed at the comments about the on board shows and the expectations of the passengers. Having been on 4 cruises with Princess in the last 3 years I have come to expect mediocre entertainment at best. Sometimes I am pleasantly surprised though. It is Cruise ship entertainment, not Broadway, not even your local theater so it is what it is. There are so many other aspects of cruising to enjoy that I can't allow myself to be bothered by bad entertaiment. I will be sailing on the Emerald on March 29th and am sure a lot of the shows will be similar, but who cares, I'm on vacation, I'll make my own memories. Funny thing though, on every single cruise I took the Princess Pop Choir sang the same 4 songs. I guess Princess is getting their money's worth out of the licensing. Lastly, I keep going back to Princess because they treat me right. They understand that I am on vacation and have never disappointed.

 

I so agree. We don't need to be entertained. We're happy to be at sea and can find so many things to do on every ship we've sailed. We tried HAL once a number of years ago and came back to Princess.

[jrzebird]

We had JJ on a Hawaiian cruise. We sincerely hope to never have him again.

 

I've sailed on Princess 7 times, including a few b2b sailings, and I have had the same CD on each and every Princess cruise; Mr. G'day, g'day g'day himself, Neil Roberts. He is not considered the best CD in the fleet, BUT I came to a revelation a few cruises ago, and epiphany if you will, and I'll get to that very shortly.

 

Every Princess cruise I've been on, I've had a fantastic time. I've joined Princess Pop Choir, I've made friends (I mean real friends) with several members of the CD's staff, I've enjoyed the parties, watching some of the game shows, dancing into the early morning with the CD staff and yes, even some of the stage shows.

 

I've been on 2 hurricane cruises, Irene and Sandy, and both of them were filled with activities and we were a bit less anxious about what was happening outside as a result of the smiling and attentive CD staff, who were trying to give us a sense of normalcy in an extremely stressful situation.

 

So, what was my revelation? It was that the CD doesn't have to be present and entertaining to be good, or even great. He doesn't have to have a great personality or be funny (but both do healp) During the hurricane cruises things were in constant change, never knowing when we were going to get back to NYC or at least let ashore in our safe harbor, Boston. Yet through all this, the CD's staff seamlessly adjusted to be sure that the passengers were comfortable, informed and made to feel as much at ease as possible. And who arranged this, the CD. Some very excellent Assistant Cruise Directors and Junior CD's fronted the activities and were memorable and personable. But, they were following the CD's plan.

 

So, I've stopped placing so much importance on whether or not I see the CD or how personable he is, and concentrate a lot more on how good his program and Deputy and Assistants are. John Loney, Maraschale (whose name I can say but not spell) and a lovely young lady from Great Britian, Sam, have made indelible impressions on me and we all stay in touch.

 

However, if Neil is on my upcoming Royal repo cruise, I'm going to begin to think he's stalking me!

 

Maureen

[Pam in CA]

Maureen, I somewhat agree with you. CDs are managers. That's their job. They plan/manage your onboard entertainment and/or activity experience. That's the bottom line. If they can tell a joke, sing or dance is a bonus. That's not really their job. Many are personable and spend time with passengers, some are more visible than others.

 

I've had great CDs, such as Richard Joseph, and really bad (IMHO) CDs such as Lee Childers. Normally, who the CD is doesn't affect me but if you don't get your Patter until the next day several times on a cruise, have frequent PA announcements with corrections and additions, and even then, there are few activities on multiple sea days in a row, your cruise is affected.

 

A classic post by Richard Joseph here on CC is worth reading. http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showpost.php?p=8131384&postcount=1

[JustinPlusLauren]

We were on the Emerald with JJ and we weren't really impressed with the entertainment selections....there have been so many shows/performers on past cruises that I really enjoyed, but on this last cruise with JJ...I echo the sentiments of many other people on here and say that the entertainment options were not great. We didn't end up doing too much in the evening really involving on board entertainment! I don't think we went to hardly any shows, maybe only the crew talent show (which was great!)

[tobyt]

We are still struggling with this topic. Our Royal cruise was nice....but I expected more of a WOW in entertainment that was simply not there. The entertainment was lacking and shows uninspired. We see broadway shows, local theater and some awesome college shows at a local university with a strong theater program, i know not to expect that level nightly however there should be options. Princess needs to expand the other items....more trivia, more game shows, more of the other entertainment that would fill the gaps that they do not fill with the larger production shows. On NCL this summer they had a deal or no deal show (money maker like bingo) that had great attendance and was a fun change. What about pony racing, on several of our early Princess cruises it was held a couple of times with big crowds and again a money maker. RCL does flash mob classes and events and while it might not be a hit with the Princess loyal again it was fun to see where they would pop up dancing...pool deck, dining room, bars, the music would start and there they were, very fun! Simple additions, no cost beyond the staff it really al most seems to be a dare I say it a lazy factor...this is what we offer, like it or not....

I continue to try to make plans for next winter and keep going back and forth, so much we like but the entertainment and posts like this keep pushing me to other lines. X would be new for us...always exciting...NCL has fun entertainment options but the food is not on par with Princess..Carnival well perhaps not my favorite but great offers and prices...RCL big ship option...we did this as a large family group, not certain how it would be for our couple winter getaway....so I keep reading and trying to investigate all the sides!

[geoherb]

We just got off the Ruby yesterday. We were on for back-to-back cruises on the Ruby in December. We always have late traditional dining. I missed the shows the first three nights because they were after dinner. On the last two nights, they had the show scheduled so we could see it before dinner. I enjoyed both--magician Landon Swank and the production show "Colors of the World." The second one was even better than it had been in December.

 

Our second favorite cruise line is Holland America. If you want to see cutbacks in entertainment and activities, sail on a HAL cruise. We still receive great food and wonderful service, though, and that brings us back when the itinerary and price work out for us better than a Princess cruise. We're even looking into taking the same HAL cruise we did last May from Quebec to Boston. Princess doesn't offer a similar spring cruise.

 

We haven't sailed on Royal Caribbean in a long time. When we did, we enjoyed it. But once we started sailing on Princess, HAL, and Celebrity, we knew we'd probably never go back. For one, I'm not a fan of huge ships.

[Colo Cruiser]

Wasn't there 2 JJ's? Seems that the other one was great.

Don't see his name on the CD list.

[Ethel5]

Wasn't there 2 JJ's? Seems that the other one was great.

Don't see his name on the CD list.

 

There was a JJ King who was awesome IMHO. He was last on the Sea Princess from what I remember. He went to another cruise line from there. I think there was a bit of a flap that he was doing too much performing and taking the spotlight away from the guest performers. I really liked him.

Edited March 21, 2014 by Ethel5

[Colo Cruiser]

There was a JJ King who was awesome IMHO. He was last on the Sea Princess from what I remember. He went to another cruise line from there. I think there was a bit of a flap that he was doing too much performing and taking the spotlight away from the guest performers. I really liked him.

 

Yes thats him! Blond guy? Looks a little like the comedian Christopher Titus.

[JerryinBWB]

Different folks cruise for different reasons. I think we can agree on that. My wife and I occasionally comment on whether we think the CD is good or not, but we have never cruised for the entertainment so how good he/she is really does not matter a great deal to us. We have been on cruises where we went to many shows; on others where we went to no shows at all. I guess what I am saying is that we would love to have great entertainment choices but we always have a great time even if the entertainment is not so hot.

HOWEVER, we did three cruises last year and on one cruise the entertainment was absolutely superb. Even though we had not chosen the cruise for the entertainment, it was so good we ended up staying up very late every night just to enjoy. On the B2B, there was a big change in staff, entertainment, AND passenger demographic between the two cruises. Even though we were on the same ship, the first cruise was very, very good, and the second cruise was at best just okay. Lots of things - - - CD, entertainers, shows, passengers, and many more, matched up with our likes and dislikes and expectations all impact on our experience.