Bye Bye Princess

[Shogun]

Hi geocruiser,

 

l like Monte Carlo, and thought the chance to dress up and visit casino

 

at night, order a Martini, and pretend to be 007 sounded good.

 

 

yours Shogun

[scott4020]

Don't let the door hit you in the .......

 

OK I can't get that out with a straight face. You have been a great asset to this little corner of the internet and I look forward to reading your opinions on other lines.

 

I hope you find what you are looking for.

[Bimmer09]

Hi All

 

 

The Royal class ships did away with features that we like, places to sit and view the world sail by, in fact our time on the Royal made us cancel two cruises and not only look at other lines, but at land based cruises.

 

Will I find better value I do not know but HAL and Celebrity can match Princess prices, so will try them. Azamara costs more but product looks interesting.

 

yours Shogun

 

I can relate to the red above. Nothing excites or interests me in the Royal class.

 

I'm trying Celebrity in January, Steve, and will write a review. The cruise offered a suite with all gratuities paid, free drinks package and $300 OBC at a savings of $1800 vs the Royal Princess suite with nothing included. Too good to pass up.

 

I think a change will do you good.

 

Good luck in whatever you do choose!

 

Norris

[jacketwatch]

Hi All

 

I knew it would happen one day my next cruise would not be a Princess one, but I am rather sad that it has happened, you see its not because another cruise line has produced a better product than Princess, its more a case that the Princess offering has gone down hill to the point that other offerings look more interesting.

 

If l look back Princess, was not my first cruise line or even my second but my third, why did I even pick Princess who were not known in the UK at that time, very simple we saw a the Golden Princess as she was docked next to my little ship. At that time there was wow factor

the size, the look of skywalkers, the brochure looked good so we booked.

 

Now in those days Princess used charter flights, in flight service was very good.

 

At Barbados we would land and be met on the runway by a bus that took us straight to the ship, no customs etc, our bags were handled by Princess on the way home you put your bag out as normal last night with flight info on it and you saw it again back home at your local airport. All this has gone.

 

True 14 day cruises made up of 12 ports of call around the Caribbean have gone, ports such as Martinique, Guadaloupe or Tobago are rarely visited if at all.

 

If we returned to Ft L Princess used to take us to a hotel then to a mall, feed us then take us to the airport all free and part of the service, then the charged for the last day now it to has gone,

 

In Europe we could spend our last day onboard the ship or even go ashore if we had late flights, before being taken to the airport, leaving the ship an hour before sailing, now we are off before 10.00am

 

Flights were chartered jumbos from Qantas to do short hop with Captain saying sorry in flight movies longer than the flight, or even private airlines used by sports teams and vips with real

food and china cups etc all gone.

 

Onboard we liked the original skywalkers, it was a great viewing place and had an unique feel to it going up the travelator to it,

 

The original Sabatini's menu to much food but it was a special, we liked the restaurant location , it was romantic.

 

Even the golf area or the wii sports past a few hours on a sea day, all now part of history.

 

The Royal class ships did away with features that we like, places to sit and view the world sail by, in fact our time on the Royal made us cancel two cruises and not only look at other lines, but at land based cruises.

 

If it had not been for a cheap cruise we might not have gone back to Princess but this cheap cruise turned out to have a large number of crew that we knew well and turned out to be one of our best ever, so we stayed with Princess.

 

So our cruise on the Emerald last month was nice, but I want more than nice I wanted to be excited about my next vacation I want to be on a ship with wow factor, this could come from its design, service levels, entertainment,food in fact anything that makes up a cruise, I also want lots of ports.

 

Will l cruise with Princess again yes, but only because of low fares, very low fares, I will give other cruise lines more money because I expect to have a better vacation experience than just nice, I want good may be one day I can afford amazing, but I have had amazing cruise vacations but these were years ago with Princess, my advise to Princess is to raise fares and offer better.

 

Will I find better value I do not know but HAL and Celebrity can match Princess prices, so will try them. Azamara costs more but product looks interesting.

 

yours Shogun

 

Well good luck. I don't think the grass is greener on the other side so to speak but it seems like you need to find out for yourself. personally our last Princess cruise was last yr. out of Yokohama and it was or first with Princess in 5 yrs. and 5th. overall and the service was as I remember it to be. we just got off the oasis and wow what a ship and all was well. The ship was amazing but service and food were on a par with Princess IMO. We are due to cruise on the Sapphire in feb. so hopefully the service and food will be as before though I know the ship will be nothing like the Oasis.

 

Happy sailings sir!!

[MTJSR]

Please check back in. Would love one of your "from the trenches" kind of review so we can see just what we may be missing.

 

My first cruise was on Sitmar and I don't think I will ever find Italian food quite that good. Buttered linguine with the meat sauce. Oh I could bathe in it!

[PenguinLife]

We have done 2 cruises on Princess (3rd will be next month) and 1 on HAL a couple of years ago. In our limited experience the things that were most notable to me were that the crew on HAL are much more interactive with the passengers, the Vista class ships are much smaller than the Grand class with Princess and overall everyone seems a little more concerned with passenger satisfaction. The HAL cruise could have been a disaster due to weather conditions, but the crew did their best to make it enjoyably anyway, even though we missed 2 of our 4 ports of call and experienced 30+ ft seas and 75+ mph winds, one of the things I was most impressed about was the effort the captain and bridge crew went to to make sure they avoided the worst of the conditions during meal times..

[Loonbeam]

I believe we do.

 

I assume that we both agree.

[Skai]

One of my only beefs about Princess is the "same old, same old" itineraries year after year in the Caribbean and Europe.

 

“Variety is the very spice of life, that gives it all its flavor.”

 

This is also a criticism that I share. While Princess does offer a wide range of itineraries that cover many regions of the world, often their itineraries are very plain and rarely unique. To find a unique itinerary(w/ exotic/less visitied port destinations) on Princess, one is usually required to book a 'World Cruise' segment on one of the line's smaller ships. As Princess is seemingly phasing out these smaller ships, these more exotic itineraries also seem to be going to the wayside.

 

To the OP:

 

Speaking for the mainstream cruising industry as whole, I believe that the industry is becoming saturated as more and more passengers have discovered cruising as a value-filled vacation option.

 

The mainstream lines have found themselves needing to "Keep up with the Joneses"(so-to-speak) w/ their offerings to remain competitive with their mainstream counterparts. Ships' capacity has continued to skyrocket on these behemoth floating (Displacement of the Seas) resorts.

 

While this may have indeed allowed for more variety in public spaces, entertainment and dining options et. al., it may have also have had an adverse effect on intimacy and attention to detail/service.

 

The result of the 'arms-race' battle being waged in the mainstream cruising industy, is that cruising has now become more affordable for the masses. Cruise lines have been forced to adjust their pricing structures to fill their ships and to remain viable in the industry. What was once by-in-large and all inclusive vacation choice for those to "Escape Completely" has morped into a package that is moving more towards an a la carte(AKA 'nickel and diming') model.

 

My sense is that the OP may be feeling a victim of familiarity. For some of a habitual nature, familiar means comfort and consistency. For others, familiar may represent mundane and for some, even tiresome.

 

Being port-active cruisers, we look at #1 Itinerary, #2 Price, #3 Cruiseline. The ship we choose is less of a destination, as it is a vessel to deliver us to destinations. That stated, having taken a few Princess cruises, we've found them to offer a good balance of shipboard life offerings to keep us pleased (on both sea days and during evenings after port days).

 

After five sailings with Princess, we've too found ourselves less amazed by the "wow factor" that we discovered when we first starting crusing. While we have been able to maximize our experience on board (especially with help from the plethora of advice provided on CC), the idea of getting lost on a Princess ship or discovering new things onboard is no longer possible. Princess has become familiar for us.

 

As such, we've moved on from Princess in the near term. That's not to state that we will never return, but perhaps until Princess can offer a product (primarily itineraries) that isn't also offered by other lines, we may continue to look elsewhere.

 

One of the appeals of the luxury/semi-luxury lines is their variety in itineraries -- Whether it's longer stays/evening in port, or port stops that aren't usually found on what could be considered the tradional circuit of regions visited. Azamara, Oceania etc. have absolutely pinged our radar in this dept.

 

Among mainstream lines, I've found that HAL does a really good job of mixing it up with their itineraries - w/ a good combination of well-visited and lesser visited ports. It's for this reason that we've been looking strongly at HAL for an E. Med. sailing, despite what I've learned about HAL - in catering to an older crowd w/ less onboard evening entertainment for our demographic(we're avg. age 36). Future 'bucket-list sailings to SE Asia and/or the Panama Canal might also have us exploring as a top option what HAL has available.

 

As I stated above, we will likely find ourselves sailing Princess again at some point. Chances are as a West Coast departure -- as that's where we reside. However, at the present, we're enjoying getting lost onboard w/ the layout of new lines and discovering some different variety along the way.

[Thrak]

Your posts will be missed here by many. All the best to both of you in the future. Come back from time to time and let us know how your search for a better cruise experience is going. We would love to hear about it. Hope you find a line that will breathe new life into your cruising experience.

[sunsetbeachgal]

WOW! sounds like a great cruise. I have sailed HAL many times but have not been on Eurodam, I would love to hear how you enjoy the cruise (if you go), when you get back. I have been on many different cruise lines since the late 1970's. Each one had something different to offer. Enjoy.

 

 

We did a fabulous Baltic cruise on the Eurodam in June. A very nice ship. The ship did overnights in two ports which I loved., and nice long port times in the other ports. I did not consider Princess for this itinerary as we wanted to sail in to Stockholm via the archipelago and be berthed downtown, and Princess most often docked somewhere else way out of town. We got a super price on the trip and at the last minute took a very attractive upsell to a full suite with aft wrap balcony.

Edited November 7, 2015 by sunsetbeachgal

[cantwaitfornextcruise]

Hi All

 

I knew it would happen one day my next cruise would not be a Princess one, but I am rather sad that it has happened, you see its not because another cruise line has produced a better product than Princess, its more a case that the Princess offering has gone down hill to the point that other offerings look more interesting.

 

If l look back Princess, was not my first cruise line or even my second but my third, why did I even pick Princess who were not known in the UK at that time, very simple we saw a the Golden Princess as she was docked next to my little ship. At that time there was wow factor

the size, the look of skywalkers, the brochure looked good so we booked.

 

Now in those days Princess used charter flights, in flight service was very good.

 

At Barbados we would land and be met on the runway by a bus that took us straight to the ship, no customs etc, our bags were handled by Princess on the way home you put your bag out as normal last night with flight info on it and you saw it again back home at your local airport. All this has gone.

 

True 14 day cruises made up of 12 ports of call around the Caribbean have gone, ports such as Martinique, Guadaloupe or Tobago are rarely visited if at all.

 

If we returned to Ft L Princess used to take us to a hotel then to a mall, feed us then take us to the airport all free and part of the service, then the charged for the last day now it to has gone,

 

In Europe we could spend our last day onboard the ship or even go ashore if we had late flights, before being taken to the airport, leaving the ship an hour before sailing, now we are off before 10.00am

 

Flights were chartered jumbos from Qantas to do short hop with Captain saying sorry in flight movies longer than the flight, or even private airlines used by sports teams and vips with real

food and china cups etc all gone.

 

Onboard we liked the original skywalkers, it was a great viewing place and had an unique feel to it going up the travelator to it,

 

The original Sabatini's menu to much food but it was a special, we liked the restaurant location , it was romantic.

 

Even the golf area or the wii sports past a few hours on a sea day, all now part of history.

 

The Royal class ships did away with features that we like, places to sit and view the world sail by, in fact our time on the Royal made us cancel two cruises and not only look at other lines, but at land based cruises.

 

If it had not been for a cheap cruise we might not have gone back to Princess but this cheap cruise turned out to have a large number of crew that we knew well and turned out to be one of our best ever, so we stayed with Princess.

 

So our cruise on the Emerald last month was nice, but I want more than nice I wanted to be excited about my next vacation I want to be on a ship with wow factor, this could come from its design, service levels, entertainment,food in fact anything that makes up a cruise, I also want lots of ports.

 

Will l cruise with Princess again yes, but only because of low fares, very low fares, I will give other cruise lines more money because I expect to have a better vacation experience than just nice, I want good may be one day I can afford amazing, but I have had amazing cruise vacations but these were years ago with Princess, my advise to Princess is to raise fares and offer better.

 

Will I find better value I do not know but HAL and Celebrity can match Princess prices, so will try them. Azamara costs more but product looks interesting.

 

yours Shogun

 

Steve, I 100% understand where you are coming from, we hit that same wall last year after our Nov cruise, unfortunately we had already paid final payment for our 21 days Caribbean and TA, so we we cancelled the other 5 up and coming cruises with various lines. We have tried several other lines over the last few years but have concluded they are really all much of muchness . We spent most of the TA planning our next move and we have purchased a Motorhome with a little tow car and decided we would only cruise again in Jan to escape the winter IF the price was right or we'd pick up a late availability cheapie land based to one of the Islands . Well we have had the most amazing summer doing our own thing and as it happens Princess had a cheap cheap cheap deal 14 days on the Emerald in January which we are doing, at a ridiculous price which is cheaper than 10 days in a hotel in Cyprus :D which sort of sums it all up

I agree with you they have cut back and cut back to keep the costs low, but have you thought maybe as part of the Carnival stable that is the plan stack it high and sell it cheap? they are selling more and more 7 night cruises which have a different demographic to the 10 or 14 night .

I hope you find the wow factor in whatever you decide to do

[janetcbl]

It is the old saying, " You get what you pay for". We will be sailing for the first time on PC next summer for a family celebration and are expecting crowds, lines, added extras, etc.....but we sort of know what we are getting in for. We did not book a suite (they look really nice!) so we will be with the non-repeat customers and do not expect outstanding service, etc. We are "the glass half full" and fully expect to have a fine time with our family. Our favorite cruise line is expensive and our expectations for trips with it have always been exceeded. You get what you pay for.

[shredie]

It is the old saying, " You get what you pay for". We will be sailing for the first time on PC next summer for a family celebration and are expecting crowds, lines, added extras, etc.....but we sort of know what we are getting in for. We did not book a suite (they look really nice!) so we will be with the non-repeat customers and do not expect outstanding service, etc. We are "the glass half full" and fully expect to have a fine time with our family. Our favorite cruise line is expensive and our expectations for trips with it have always been exceeded. You get what you pay for.

 

And if you expect long lines, bad service and a ship full of riff raff, that's what you'll find.

[lovetosew]

We began with Princess, then went to river cruising with Viking and Vantage; had a couple of land trips and a foray with NCL and Celebrity and after an aborted trip on a Viking Oceans we are back to Princess. We are looking forward to seeing South America on the Star Princess next February. It is good to shop around and after seven years of not being on a Princess ship it will be interesting to see how they have changed.

[macleay]

We began with Princess, then went to river cruising with Viking and Vantage; had a couple of land trips and a foray with NCL and Celebrity and after an aborted trip on a Viking Oceans we are back to Princess. We are looking forward to seeing South America on the Star Princess next February. It is good to shop around and after seven years of not being on a Princess ship it will be interesting to see how they have changed.

 

I agree. We had only done Princess and loved all our cruises with them, but then won an RCI cruise. We upgraded to the full Panama Canal cruise with them and loved it. Then shopped for our next cruise and the lowest pricing for the cruise we wanted was with NCL.

 

Our feeling was there were pluses and minuses with all three cruise lines, but I'd cruise each of them again. It's now been awhile since we sailed Princess and I am anxious to try them again to see the changes I've read about.

 

But all in all, out of the three, we felt the differences were minor. The entertainment on RCI was much better than either Princess or NCL. The food on Princess was the best and on NCL the worst. Out of the three, I'd rate NCL last, but still had a great cruise with them.

 

I will be interested if you post your thoughts on the differences between Princess and the cruise line you choose to try.

[Griller]

Hi Shogun I totally understand where you are coming from on this - the Princess WOW factor disappeared for us several years ago after about 50 cruises with Princess.

Things weren't quite like they used to be and the crew could do nothing about it.

It is obvious the bean counters - accountants - have been at work with a short-sighted determination to reduce costs even if it reduces income.

Then after reducing costs, quality of food and service they tried to put fares up.

And then increased many onboard spend prices.

 

And then moved ships to other parts of the world where cruisers are generally less cost-conscious, less mature cruise marketplaces such as Asia and Australia, which are - or were before the Australian and NZ currency collapsed - more profitable.

 

So I stopped cruising Princess and tried several other lines, Cunard which is not as good in its regular class as Princess IMHO, and the last cruise on another line being on the old Celebrity Zenith, now run by CDF a Royal Caribbean subsidiary.

I can tell you that was a wakeup call, Princess is luxury compared to that. CDF would probably have to pay me to cruise with them again.

 

Anyway just recently I have seen Princess selling cruises in N America at firesale prices which I have taken advantage of, and booked up a few. And what with the generous OBC they give me it once again it means I am cruising economically, and getting fair value for money.

 

I think we all need a cruise on some other lines to properly appreciate that Princess, while not what it used to be, is still good value for money and decent in most respects as long as you don't pay too much for it.

Don't be like Princess' most travelled passengers who fell out bigtime and now cruise Oceania all the time, they will never come back to Princess but are happy where they are, paying much more but getting the quality Princess used to offer years ago.

Edited November 8, 2015 by Griller

[geocruiser]

We did a fabulous Baltic cruise on the Eurodam in June. A very nice ship. The ship did overnights in two ports which I loved., and nice long port times in the other ports. I did not consider Princess for this itinerary as we wanted to sail in to Stockholm via the archipelago and be berthed downtown, and Princess most often docked somewhere else way out of town. We got a super price on the trip and at the last minute took a very attractive upsell to a full suite with aft wrap balcony.

 

That was a great cruise. I like HAL, I think my first cruise was on the old Westerdam. Beautiful ship. I wish HAL had kept her.

Edited November 8, 2015 by geocruiser

[west coast cruiser]

Your Posts will be missed, but I understand. I am Elite on Princess and that is the "hook", but I am getting restless and ready to try some of the lines I have been on before and some that I have not been on such as Celebrity. I am also looking into a River Cruise.

Please check in here and let us hear of your new adventures.

WCC

[4cats4me]

I Escaped Completely to a different cruise line for 3 years due to boredom with Princess product but then Came Back New after our trip on the Regal in March. After sailing on RCCL, now I really appreciate Princess even more. Change is good

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

[caribill]

My advise to Princess is to raise fares and offer better.

 

 

I think Princess is granting half of your wish.

 

Fares for the 2017 European cruises start around $200/person/day for an inside cabin.

 

Don't know yet if that means they are also offering "better."

[caribill]

One of my only beefs about Princess is the "same old, same old" itineraries year after year in the Caribbean and Europe.

 

 

As Princess send additional ships to be charters in China and more ships to other areas of Asia and also to Australia, there are less ships available for the North American market and thus less varied itineraries available.

 

And as Princess gradually gets rid of the smaller ships, a number of itineraries no longer are possible. For example, itineraries that go up the Amazon River or cruise just among the islands of French Polynesia are no longer offered.

 

Of course some good itineraries are no longer offered because they were hard to fill the ship. For example cruises out of San Juan that could visit Southern Caribbean Islands without needing sea days from Florida. Likewise the true two-week itineraries out of Fort Lauderdale could not find enough passengers who had that much time available for a cruise. (The current two week itineraries with two stops at Princess Cays and a return to Fort Lauderdale in the middle just do not sound interesting.)

[Corfe Mixture]

Hi All

 

I knew it would happen one day my next cruise would not be a Princess one, but I am rather sad that it has happened, you see its not because another cruise line has produced a better product than Princess, its more a case that the Princess offering has gone down hill to the point that other offerings look more interesting.

 

If l look back Princess, was not my first cruise line or even my second but my third, why did I even pick Princess who were not known in the UK at that time, very simple we saw a the Golden Princess as she was docked next to my little ship. At that time there was wow factor

the size, the look of skywalkers, the brochure looked good so we booked.

 

Now in those days Princess used charter flights, in flight service was very good.

 

At Barbados we would land and be met on the runway by a bus that took us straight to the ship, no customs etc, our bags were handled by Princess on the way home you put your bag out as normal last night with flight info on it and you saw it again back home at your local airport. All this has gone.

 

True 14 day cruises made up of 12 ports of call around the Caribbean have gone, ports such as Martinique, Guadaloupe or Tobago are rarely visited if at all.

 

If we returned to Ft L Princess used to take us to a hotel then to a mall, feed us then take us to the airport all free and part of the service, then the charged for the last day now it to has gone,

 

In Europe we could spend our last day onboard the ship or even go ashore if we had late flights, before being taken to the airport, leaving the ship an hour before sailing, now we are off before 10.00am

 

Flights were chartered jumbos from Qantas to do short hop with Captain saying sorry in flight movies longer than the flight, or even private airlines used by sports teams and vips with real

food and china cups etc all gone.

 

Onboard we liked the original skywalkers, it was a great viewing place and had an unique feel to it going up the travelator to it,

 

The original Sabatini's menu to much food but it was a special, we liked the restaurant location , it was romantic.

 

Even the golf area or the wii sports past a few hours on a sea day, all now part of history.

 

The Royal class ships did away with features that we like, places to sit and view the world sail by, in fact our time on the Royal made us cancel two cruises and not only look at other lines, but at land based cruises.

 

If it had not been for a cheap cruise we might not have gone back to Princess but this cheap cruise turned out to have a large number of crew that we knew well and turned out to be one of our best ever, so we stayed with Princess.

 

So our cruise on the Emerald last month was nice, but I want more than nice I wanted to be excited about my next vacation I want to be on a ship with wow factor, this could come from its design, service levels, entertainment,food in fact anything that makes up a cruise, I also want lots of ports.

 

Will l cruise with Princess again yes, but only because of low fares, very low fares, I will give other cruise lines more money because I expect to have a better vacation experience than just nice, I want good may be one day I can afford amazing, but I have had amazing cruise vacations but these were years ago with Princess, my advise to Princess is to raise fares and offer better.

 

Will I find better value I do not know but HAL and Celebrity can match Princess prices, so will try them. Azamara costs more but product looks interesting.

 

yours Shogun

 

Interesting, particularly your comments about charter flights.

 

We left P&O, and moved to Princess, because we did not like the P&O charter flights and the fact that they did not offer any reduction for not taking their charter flights.

[Josy1953]

I'm just a little worried...we are trying Princess in a few weeks as the line we normally cruise has lost the "wow" factor for us. It has turned into a money generating machine with markedly increased fares' date=' more on board "added cost" items than previously, and moving many of our favorite crew to other ships. Adding that to no changes in entertainment over many years and a downhill slide on menus...well, we decided it was time to explore other options.

 

We've done one cruise on Celebrity. GOOD food--much improved from what we have become accustomed to. Crew friendliness was not what we are used to, entertainment on the main stage was blah, but entertainers around the ship were good. Cabin was VERY small but had many surprising storage spaces. Cabin attendant was lovely.

 

Good luck in your hunt for the line that gives you the "wow" factor. We are hoping that is Princess for us.[/quote']

 

Unless you are prepared to pay the cost of one of the upscale lines the wow factor is gone. We have not sailed with Princess for 4 years but we have booked

with Princess for next August simply because the itinerary include 2 ports that we have not yet visited, I suspect that it may be several years before we try Princess again after that because we have found that for us Cunard and P&O give us a better overall experience than Princess for lower or similar prices. Celebrity gives us a slightly better experience for prices that are only very slightly higher than Princess, we went to the Baltics with Celebrity in June this year and were able to book an Aqua class room for only £50 more than the lowest priced balcony on the same itinerary on Princess, the food and entertainment on Celebrity was of a higher standard than we have seen on Princess in the last 10 years. We have to sail from the UK, OH has health issues that prevent him from flying, so we are slightly restricted with where we can go and which lines we have to choose from.

Edited November 8, 2015 by Josy1953

[crows nest club]

Oh Shogun

 

You brought back so many good memories about sailing with Princess. Yes, we are ol5d enough to remember the Quantas charter flights from Heathrow whereby for only just a small surcharge you had the option of upgrading to business class or first class on their 747 jumbo jets. On of the cabin staff said that Princess used to charter the long haul Quantas flights that landed at Heathrow early am and weren't due to depart again till late p.m. This earn Quantas more revenue since the plane would only have been on the tarmac at Heathrow.

 

Also, who can forget the Titan Airlines charters? Extra legroom, wonderful food served on real china plates, all included in the price of the cruise.

 

We will still cruise with Princess for the present, but are finding that they do not provide such good value for money as previously. We still love our elite benefits.

 

We wish you well.

[Shogun]

Hi All

 

Wow, looks like I am not the only one who feels Princess has not got things right,

 

back in the day when they did have things right, this is one of the charter airlines they used,

 

http://www.titan-airways.com/home.html

 

I think one the best ways to explain how things have changed, is to look at how

 

us Brits got dealt with on last day in Ft L

 

Cruise fare $500 last day bus to hotel, snacks, bus to mall, bus to hotel meal bus to airport all free

 

a few years later cruise fare $480 last day bus to mall bus to airport cost $30

 

a few years later cruise fare $470 last day nothing so do own thing dragging luggage about costs $50 for taxi, food etc

 

So once I was very impressed, then not so much, and now not at all as last day

 

is always an issue with us having night flights home,

 

If Princess had just increased the cruise fare a little and left things alone I would have been happy.

 

Now I will still cruise Princess but I am no longer willing to pay $470 for less

 

I will now look for a $450 fare instead, I am happy to pay $550 to another

 

cruise line for the same cruise so long as I feel I will have better standards.

 

Hope this makes sense

 

yours Shogun