Even if you love Princess, help them with ideas to improve

[Iamthesea]

Funny that after I read the title of your thread, this is what I was going to say. :D

 

Get rid of the tacky Wal-Mart balcony furniture and put something a little more attractive out there.

 

I have yet to cruise with Princess, so I haven't seen the inside of the ship's staterooms, but from photo's, the furniture really sticks out and makes the ship look cheap.

 

Two more bothersome things that I keep reading about are that hot chocolate and lemonade are not offered free on the Princess ships. ;)

[vmom]

I second the previous posts...

 

LEMONADE!!! Don't care for the ice tea and would like an alternate other than soda.

[bdjam]

Some observations:

• I’ve never had a problem choosing my own cabin – as long as I book early enough
  
• On my recent Island Princess cruise, we had NO daily announcements (except maybe one day and the noon time position report from the bridge) – so Princess would be prudent to standardize the announcement process for all ships
  
• I agree they should stop making fun of Carnival – based on some comments I’ve seen lately, Princess might do better if they followed some of the Carnival examples. The routine was funny 8 years ago, not any more.
  
• The problem with more handicapped cabins on the Sun Class ships is that it would make the standard cabins even smaller – assuming that Princess wanted to keep the same passenger complement. I wonder how fully booked those handicapped cabins are with people who need them?
  
• I like the Horizon Court set up – if you cruise on Pacific or Regal, you find the buffet line-up method. You have to wait in line – or get nasty comments – if all you want is one thing. Horizon Court allows you to move around as needed.
  
• Events get scheduled during dinner hours because of Anytime Dining – people who are eating any old time need something to do, so those with fixed seating times are the ones who lose out. The production shows, thank goodness, are still scheduled around the traditional seating. So to resolve this, I suggest ridding the line of Anytime Dining.
  

[phabric]

Just returned from Carnival because Princess no longer has roundtrip Alaska cruises.

 

They have trays on the Lido deck. Why cann't Princess.

They have soft ice crean, fruit punch and lemonade all day. Why cann't Princess.

They have on the tv your cabin account (S&S account) so you can keep track of your account and you can also book excursions from the tv. Why cann't Princess.

[bdjam]

Just returned from Carnival because Princess no longer has roundtrip Alaska cruises.

??? :confused: What are those Seattle round trips that Diamond and Sapphire did this year?

[MaryPoppinz]

You are supposed to eat the pizza, burgers, soda first, then go back with empty hands for desert - that's why Princess has it set up in islands dedicated to different courses. It actually works quite well when everyone uses it as it was designed.

Ron

 

Interesting. I make one trip to the buffet and then I'm out of there. I don't make separate trips for salad and a drink and a cookie.

[wannasail4ever]

My two cents vote for complimentary Lemonade also.

 

And I agree that the status should be determined by # of days sailed instead of voyages.

 

And interactive t.v. would be nice too for reviewing photos, on-board charges, etc.

 

Otherwise, I'm not complaining........I'm sailing on the Star in 3 wks. :D

 

Macy

[excalwop]

sailing golden p. in dec. order and paid for in nov 04. waited for shore excursions at 120 days nothing kept looking at the listing of tours .. called often kept getting same story . at 96 day got piss off said too hell with it and order all but one tour thru the web, and if i could have would have order that one also wounder how many others have done the same. WAKE UP PRINCESS HOW MUCH ARE YOU LOSING :mad: ? IF YOU ARE GOING TO PUT IN WRITING !!! THEN DO IT!!!:confused:

 

:confused: WHY COKE? ANYTHING ELSE IS BETTER!

NO HOT CHOCOLATE! WHY? CANNOT DRINK COFFEE ,HATE TEA GUESS IT'S WATER FOR ME:mad: !

your spa items need more info on thier services,

[coiran]

Interesting. I make one trip to the buffet and then I'm out of there. I don't make separate trips for salad and a drink and a cookie.

 

You will probably flame me but : When you eat in the dining room do they or should they bring your appetizer, soup, salad, pasta, entre, amd desert all at once???

Ron

[PescadoAmarillo]

I second:

-Towels by the pool

-On-board account available on the cabin TV

-Totally digital photgraphy process: Scan your card, take your photo, have photos available on TVs in your cabin, including the ordering process. Saves space, eliminates waste and cost.

 

Also:

-Better steak options in the main dining room (Princess beef quality and choices are quite a bit below Celebrity's)

-Trash can liners (it's just gross to put some trash in a bare trash can)

-Sommeliers and bar stewards in the dining room OR lower the passengers/waitstaff ratio in the dining room

-Larger towels available to go on shore to the beach

[RetireeWannabee]

Events get scheduled during dinner hours because of Anytime Dining – people who are eating any old time need something to do, so those with fixed seating times are the ones who lose out. The production shows, thank goodness, are still scheduled around the traditional seating. So to resolve this, I suggest ridding the line of Anytime Dining.

 

No, don't get rid of Anytime. I don't really do the shows or activities, but for those who do, why not stagger start times? some could be before dinner, some after, maybe the best ones happen more than once on the cruise at a different time?

 

Don't take away the feeding flexibility!

[jmrfamily]

Better pre-cruise information available on the Princess Website.

Last year we went on a cruise not too long after a hurricane took out Princess Cays and the docks in Grand Cayman. We kept logging into our cruise personalizer to see if there was an update on the situation - nothing. (we even called 1-800-Princess - nothing - they told us to check the website). Princess could use their website to really talk to their customers. One well organized and well informed website administration department could communicate effectively and timely with thousands upon thousands upon thousands of customers.

I am always amazed at the stale and under-utilized state of the Princess website. Just think how much information we pass on through this forum. Just image how much information Princess could pass on to their customers if they used their website as a real communication tool.

 

[Coral]

Couple of comments -

 

I have always been able to pick my own cabin.

I have always had free hot chocolate in the dining room.

I haven't been on a ship with lots of announcements - normally just at noon and when the ship leaves port or arrives in port.

 

Curt - on the B2B cruise on the Sun Princess in May - I also didn't get a survey after the first cruise. Just after the second one.

 

-----------

 

My suggestions:

 

1. Couches in balcony cabins.

2. Different pastries in the morning. Not sure why, but the ones they serve remind me of those that you pull out of the freezer. I would love to have fresh, warm banana bread or cinnamon rolls that taste like they just came out of the oven.

3. French toast daily in the dining room.

4. Pepsi products

5. Larger showers

6. I agree about the beef quality for the steak on the every night menu. This isn't a very good steak.

7. New ships in the 40-60 tonn size and more ships similiar to Coral Princess.

8. Get rid of the tacky sales in the atrium of tshirts, etc . . . .

 

I am sure I will come up with more later....

[zebra]

Pleeeez Princess, build smaller ships that can fit under the Sunshine Skyway and sail from TAMPA!!!!!

[TorontoTL]

I agree with many of the suggestions made so far. I'd also like Princess to consider arranging their cabins so that a love seat fits in the room like many other cruise lines have. A slightly larger shower wouldn't hurt either. Introducing new menu items on a regular basis would make the menu more interesting since we all here cruise so often with Princess. Making drinks other than Iced Tea, coffee and tea available for free throughout the day would be something that I would support. Or at least a offer passengers the option of purchasing juice card for the duration of the cruise.

 

I would make a strong suggestion that Princess maintain the passenger crew ratio and not worsen it as they have with the Caribbean Princess and the upcoming Crown. If they maintain the ratio that they have on the Coral/Sun/Grand class ships I think we'd all agree that the service on the new larger ships could approach that on their smaller ships. They also should maintain the passenger space ratios on their ships to be not less than 40. This would prevent complaints about crowding that you never hear on the Coral/Island. They could fix both of these problems on the Caribbean/Crown sister ships by decreasing the number of passengers and using some of those cabins for more crew. This would decrease crowding somewhat on those ships and improve service imensely. This would likely help crew morale on those ships, since some here have mentioned that the crew seemed stressed on those ships with the amount of work for them.

 

Oh yes, how could I forget, considering Carnival is improving their mattresses and bedding I think Princess could do the same across the board for all cabins and not just the mini suites and suites. If they want to be considered an upscale mass market cruise line they should at least provide the quality of cabins, bedding and service that an upscale cruise line should have.

[Coral]

Toronto - I agree with you about the space ratio! I knew I was forgetting something.

[kathe]

On our last Transatlantic in May. no comments going into port and no port talks.A major let down.Kathe

[imsulin2]

...trash can liners. Can't believe they don't use them!
...lemonade, punch, juice...please!
...water stations set up by pools every day - not just sea days
...A/C on the CB was really bad!
...improve terminal in FLL - hate waiting in line outside!
...poolside towels
...more public restrooms in more convenient places
...put drawn butter [b]next[/b] to the seafood
...put butter pats [b]next[/b] to the breads
...bigger [b]showers![/b] 'Nuff said!
...interactive in-room TV
...fresh-squeezed OJ
...included soft-serve ice cream
...more variety of on-board shops
...no more mega ships!

[mr green]

[quote name='Pam in MA']I'm confused... Princess does ALWAYS allow you to select your own cabin. The only time you'd book a guarantee is if all of the cabins in Category you want to book are not available or you're willing to take a chance. A"GTY" booking is when you don't care where a cabin is and are willing to take whatever is available in your desired Category or better. I think you should have a good talk with your TA as soon as possible.[/QUOTE]

Not last time. We booked outside E on the Sea Princess, which is close to most things, as my wife is not too mobile. My TA told me at booking that there were two cabins left, but Princess would not give her any numbers, only a guarantee, or upgrade. My TA called back twice explaining our problems, nothing, other than to be told that E was now filled. I sent a registered letter telling them to 'upgrade' some other person, nothing, so I phoned, only to be told that maybe I should try a different ship,so I did! I put a three day hold on cruise on the Statendam, and instructed my TA to cancel with Princess! Strange, a perfect cabin became available!
Now if the time spent on myself was spent on everyone, cruising costs would be sky high. I have seen many questions in the past few months about the 'guaranteed cabin', and the so called 'upgrade fairy'. I believe that the odd cabin IS held back, but that the information slipped out to my TA by mistake, and that Princess did not wish to give it up! I was angry, but I liked Princess well enough to give them another chance.
I did cancel with HAL, but I am sailing with them next year.
Location to me is all important! john

[tcdtcd]

Although I've yet to sail Princess (will do so 12/18) -- I have done Silversea twice(01/02) and Carnival once (86-college student) - hows that for opposites!, I've learned a great deal from CC, and here are my novice opinions:

1. Hot breakfast items available for room service (and full/most dinner dining room options for room service also!)

2. Brewed coffee everywhere

3. Build in SOME incentive for good service (combination of auto-tip for 'invisible' help and self-tip for other?..dont really know the right answer, but there has to be a way)

4. Aspire to cuisine, entertainment, and service levels that will make people say 'wow'. So many times here I see comments following opinions such as 'well, for the price paid...', 'I don't expect the food to be that good', 'its all about having the right (low) expectations...'. Princess should learn that exceeding them is a really good business strategy. From what I read here oftentimes, it seems like they try to do the least possible not to lose customers. Too many apologies and caveats.

Having said this, we're really looking forward to our cruise, and then can give a more 'educated' response -- lol! I'm a bit nervous because we won't have the 'oh well, the price was good' excuse to fall back on -- its a holiday cruise and the price for the DW, 2 boys and I is :eek: !

[ssbeagle]

I would like to see free hot chocolate in the dining room again as well as cappucino and/or espresso in the evenings.

Bring back the wine stewards to free up the waiters and assistant waiters. They don't need too many because a lot of people don't drink wine at dinner and they could have about two per dining room to serve the alcoholic beverages.

I would like to see them serve the veggies separately from the main entree. They could bring the plate with the entree and then you could make your choice of the veggies the way they used to do it.

I would like to see lemonade available again all day long.

I would also like to see them stop trying to sell me useless stuff all the time. If I want something I will go to the shops or the spa or the art auction but they don't need to keep reminding me of it with separate sheets of paper in my mailbox at my door all the time. Mention in the Patter is enough.

Make certain all announcements of functions/shows are in the patter. Lots of times they leave stuff out like arts/crafts times, competitions, etc.

[Ethel5]

[quote name='Pam in MA']
Platinum and Elite Captain's Circle should be based on the # of days cruised, not the number of cruises. Most of my cruises are 14 - 21 days (they average out to 11 days/cruise) and are they counted as only 1. The Captain's Circle reward system doesn't seem quite fair since someone could take 3 or 4 coastal cruises to my one cruise.[/QUOTE]

[size=3]I agree totally!!! Let's make this based on days at sea and not number of cruisers which is not fair to the east coasters who can't/won't fly for 4-6 hours for a 3 day cruise.:mad: [/size]
[size=3][/size]
[size=3]For those who opt for a GTY catagory, let there be an incentive such as reduced fare. That way if you get stuck with a less than desirable cabin, you will have at least saved some money.[/size]
[size=3][/size]
[size=3]I also want to see more Sun class sized ships-mega ships are too much work.[/size]
[size=3][/size]
[size=3]Have a policy that if you show any signs of whining or complaining at check-in then you are denied boarding :D :D [/size]
[size=3][/size]
[size=3]Better coffee.[/size]
[size=3][/size]
[size=3]Lemonade or punch available all day in addition to iced tea.[/size]
[size=3][/size]

[Cruisin' Chick]

Don't understand Phabric's comment about the RT Alaska cruises unless he meant that they have stopped for the season (which makes sense -- not too many people would go this late). Princess switched the ships that are making the RT, not dropping it, unless I'm wrong.

I would love Pepsi as the soda vendor. I know I'm not alone in this preference. Maybe Pepsi would even give a price break on the fountain syrup so Princess can offer free soda (at least at mealtimes, if not all the time). Also free lemonade. As other people have noted, not everyone is into tea and coffee.

Another vote for losing the push for secondary revenue. Not interested in art auctions or bingo and could do without the announcements. I think most people who are interested can find the info in the Patters.

And speaking of the Patters, proofread them. My first full-time job was proofreading for an advertising agency (please don't try to find my mistakes; I know they're here) and it drives me crazy to see so many. Maybe have templates as I imagine much of the info doesn't change from cruise to cruise and edit as needed (sunset times, etc.).

[Cruisin' Chick]

More:

I keep seeing that passengers are being waitlisted for traditional dining. Maybe it's time for Princess to be more flexible. If there's a hundred or so who want traditional, switch a pc dining room to traditional at least for that cruise.

Maybe figure out a better way to handle the photos. There must be a way. Sometimes it is hard to find your photos.

I don't mind the t-shirts. That's probably the one consistent purchase we make every cruise as we love wearing them.

[imsulin2]

Forgot to add:


...full breakfasts on room service menu
...waitlist for 1st or 2nd dining. I didn't do formal dining because of this. (Booked [b]many[/b] months in advance, and my waitlist number never changed)
...could not hear any announcements in my cabin.
...Did I mention the shower size?

:D