"Hard Sell" on Princess Cruise - is that normal?

[paul929207]

We have no problem with their sales techniques. However, we are pretty good at recognizing when an event is a thinly disguised shopping opportunity. If so, we skip it.

[greenie082756]

We watched the champagne pour - once. That was enough. Didn't see what the excitement was all about. Formal night as far as we are concerned is for us to get dressed up and have a good meal. We don't get much opportunity to do so and why not?

 

As far as the patters having so much advertising, that is to be expected. I glance over it, anything that peeks my interest I will go check out. I usually don't. I'm wondering since the shops and spa are "renting" space on the ship how much they pay Princess for the advertising??:eek:

 

For the spa, yeah the first time I had a massage they got me hook, line and sinker. Boy was my husband not a happy cruiser after he found out how much it cost! For my defense though, they get you totally relaxed (it was a good massage) then they throw in the sales pitch and adding the extra gratuity. I still get massages on the ship however I tell them I still have there products at home. As far as the extra gratuity..yeah..that is a bit excessive. I will take it under consideration after the massage. I know the spa is not part of Princess so I don't hold it against the line.

[2BeOnaBoat]

We enjoyed our Baltic cruise on the Regal Princess last month - the one sour note was the endless commercialism.

 

Every day the Princess Patter seemed to have a huge list of activities - but on closer inspection, more than half were just promotional events for the shops, the spa or the art gallery.

 

I had a spa treatment which was quite nice, but was then given the hard sell for two products which cost more than the treatment - she actually walked away saying, "I'll just add these to your account" and I had to call her back to say no. Totally destroyed the relaxing effect of the massage!

 

The first formal night was the champagne pour, which was a joke - instead of the spectacle of champagne cascading down the tower of glasses, we got an endless queue of guests coming up to the podium to add a tiny splash (so they could get their photo taken of course!). We were all crammed into the space under the balconies because so much space was taken up by that queue and the roped-off areas for formal photos. It lost all sense of atmosphere, it was all designed to suit the photographers.

 

Are all Princess Cruises like this?

 

The spa and the new art people have gotten worse, I avoid both. The champagne waterfall doesn't bother me as much. But I am usually at Vines so it comes to me more than I go to it.

[MTJSR]

It should be noted that Princess has nothing to do with the spa. All cruise lines independently contract out their spa services.

 

I politely disagree!

 

If Princess makes any money off the Independent Contractors then Princess is responsible.

"Come to Escape Completely but we are not responsible for anything onboard our ships that we don't run"? :D

[lovetosew]

As a great lady was once heard to say, "Just say no!"

[flamomo]

I very much dislike the "vulture" mode demonstrated by the spa employees, especially when one walks thru the area outside the spa, going to and from the open deck. There are usually 3-4 young ladies hanging around out there, trying to make eye or verbal contact with passersby. I find that very annoying. If they work for the spa, they need to be IN there handling customers, not looking like we who are passing by are roadkill and we are about to become lunch.

 

I don't like it any better when they are camped by the aft elevators on deck 15 outside the Horizon Court at lunch time, seeking victims to lure to the spa.

 

If I want spa services, I will go into the spa and make the necessary arrangements.

[pris993]

Yep.

 

After almost 40 cruises we've learned to just barely glance over the Patter, toss all the extra sales papers in the trash without reading them, and avoid the Piazza on champagne waterfall night and balloon drop night. Doesn't bother me a bit anymore. I'll have a great time anyway.

 

 

We do the same and avoid spa treatments and hard sell there too.

 

We cruise to enjoy being at sea. Lucky for us.

[moki'smommy]

As a great lady was once heard to say, "Just say no!"

 

Absolutely! Love the name (and I'm auditioning 4 prints as a coordinate at this moment.....)

 

Honestly, I only did the spa on the last trip because I won a gift certificate that covered a chunk of it. Normally that is a place to avoid.

 

BUT the cruise lines did agree to the contract with Steiner (the spa company), and part of that contract had to be the collection of the auto-gratuity that is higher than the beverage auto on any ship I've cruised. Again, the cruise line likely doesn't care as long as it gets its cut.

[boone2]

I very much dislike the "vulture" mode demonstrated by the spa employees, especially when one walks thru the area outside the spa, going to and from the open deck. There are usually 3-4 young ladies hanging around out there, trying to make eye or verbal contact with passersby. I find that very annoying. If they work for the spa, they need to be IN there handling customers, not looking like we who are passing by are roadkill and we are about to become lunch.

 

I don't like it any better when they are camped by the aft elevators on deck 15 outside the Horizon Court at lunch time, seeking victims to lure to the spa.

 

If I want spa services, I will go into the spa and make the necessary arrangements.

I blame Steiner for this. I am elite on princess and have had the hard sell from the spa. However I work on another cruise line and Steiner also runs the spa. I became very good friends with some of the spa girls and I feel so sorry for them. They signed up for a job they thought they would enjoy and ended up having to be hard line sales reps. They have to meet a certain target in sales every week, if they don't they can lose their days off and on one ship I worked on they were brought in for 0600 "breakfast meetings" that didn't involve breakfasts. Then they work all day till 9pm. They are pushed all the time by Steiner. Some of them don't mind it but a few on my longest contract last year never went back. One hair stylist told me she was working for about 2$ an hour and thanked God for her tips. Just a peekat the other side of things

Terry

[lstone19]

I politely disagree!

 

If Princess makes any money off the Independent Contractors then Princess is responsible.

"Come to Escape Completely but we are not responsible for anything onboard our ships that we don't run"? :D

 

 

 

I completely agree. My contract for the cruise is between me and Princess. I have no agreement with their contractors, therefore relative to the agreement between me and Princess, Princess is responsible for the performance of their contractors.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[nanabananna]

On my first cruise I missed the champagne tower. I plan to find it next cruise and be there, if I like it I will stay, if not I will go do something else!!

 

I really do not expect the champagne tower staff to satisfy everyone on the ship, I do believe one can either choose to enjoy or find a reason to gripe. :)

 

To each his/her own.

[mamkmm2]

Most of life is now "a la cart". People want to control their expenditures. There is a flip side to that kind of freedom. I'm willing to deal with it. The word no doesn't take much time or oxygen to say.

[azbirdmom]

I don't use the spa much any more because it is overpriced for the services received. But when I do, I write on the sheet (that must be filled out prior to receiving the service) in large capital letters that I will not buy any products. This has shut off the conversation and I stay relaxed at the end of the service because I don't have to endure the hard sell.

[greenie082756]

I don't use the spa much any more because it is overpriced for the services received. But when I do, I write on the sheet (that must be filled out prior to receiving the service) in large capital letters that I will not buy any products. This has shut off the conversation and I stay relaxed at the end of the service because I don't have to endure the hard sell.

 

Good idea! I'll have to remember that the next time. :D

[ESStutts]

I totally agree with you on the hard sell. Next time I would probably avoid the spa just for that reason.

[kadrik0]

We enjoyed our Baltic cruise on the Regal Princess last month - the one sour note was the endless commercialism.

 

Every day the Princess Patter seemed to have a huge list of activities - but on closer inspection, more than half were just promotional events for the shops, the spa or the art gallery.

 

I had a spa treatment which was quite nice, but was then given the hard sell for two products which cost more than the treatment - she actually walked away saying, "I'll just add these to your account" and I had to call her back to say no. Totally destroyed the relaxing effect of the massage!

 

The first formal night was the champagne pour, which was a joke - instead of the spectacle of champagne cascading down the tower of glasses, we got an endless queue of guests coming up to the podium to add a tiny splash (so they could get their photo taken of course!). We were all crammed into the space under the balconies because so much space was taken up by that queue and the roped-off areas for formal photos. It lost all sense of atmosphere, it was all designed to suit the photographers.

 

Are all Princess Cruises like this?

 

Just my opinion since I've been on an almost even mix of Disney, RCL, and Princess cruises but that is kind of normal. You should see RCL! I know this varies by ship but on the last two I won't be back. Things were always crowded and poorly planned. That whole boardwalk theme just doesn't lend itself well when you have any kind of large crowd. Also, RCL more than the other two cruise lines was really disappointing in how few food options you have that are included in your cruise price and it always felt like they had their hand out. All cruises have a way of getting more money out of you but it was intense on RCL. Just asking for a diet coke or water was a risk since more often than not they would try to sell you a bottle/can instead of what you already have as part of your pop pass or included with the cruise. After a while you will be able to spot a lot of the traps as well as the do it once and never again events. Even when it comes to shopping you have to be careful. I bought a Fossil watch one time during a double deal event for $130. The watch is $92 everyday price on Amazon. Disney seems to be the best on events and less hand outs but of course there's a good 20% bump in cruise price but you also get the Disney standards. Princess seems to be the best bang for buck and I'm a huge believer in the movies under the stars and kids pop pass. I love mixed drinks but they don't have to be leaded when I'm pigging out on a cruise. Nothing better than a blockbuster on top deck, bag of pop corn, warm quilt, and pina colada in my hand.

[Mimosa09]

I have had spa treatments on a number of the ships, but only once (so far) have I experience the hard sell as you described and that was on Celebrity. Unfortunately, it was the one time I convinced my husband how relaxing a massage could be and he received the hard sell treatment too! He won't be going back anytime soon.

[Cruisin' Chick]

I have only one experience in the spa (hubby thought he would treat me with a surprise) but I didn't get any hard sell or any type of pitch about products. I would have turned it down anyway.

 

As far as I know the champagne waterfalls on Princess were always involving passengers helping out. Our little one, when she was 8, got help from staff at pouring. But usually we don't bother to go to them. Usually the receptions we've gone to are in the atrium with waitstaff walking around with drinks on trays.

[riclop]

We enjoyed our Baltic cruise on the Regal Princess last month - the one sour note was the endless commercialism.

 

Every day the Princess Patter seemed to have a huge list of activities - but on closer inspection, more than half were just promotional events for the shops, the spa or the art gallery.

 

I had a spa treatment which was quite nice, but was then given the hard sell for two products which cost more than the treatment - she actually walked away saying, "I'll just add these to your account" and I had to call her back to say no. Totally destroyed the relaxing effect of the massage!

 

The first formal night was the champagne pour, which was a joke - instead of the spectacle of champagne cascading down the tower of glasses, we got an endless queue of guests coming up to the podium to add a tiny splash (so they could get their photo taken of course!). We were all crammed into the space under the balconies because so much space was taken up by that queue and the roped-off areas for formal photos. It lost all sense of atmosphere, it was all designed to suit the photographers.

 

Are all Princess Cruises like this?

It's no big thing , just read on because they all do it.

[mes531]

:)

Yes, I have been to a timeshare presentation so yes, I do know what a real hard sell feels like.

 

However, when I've ALREADY paid a lot of money to a company for a product or service, I think I should be able to enjoy that product or service and not be subjected to constant daily upselling.

 

I really didn't mind the sales junk and simply avoided the shops. What really got me was the absence of genuine activities in favour of promos, and the anti-climax of formal night. They can have all the photo opportunities they like, but I WANTED TO PARTY!

 

You're right, RC may be just as bad these days. It's likely to be a long time till my nex cruise anyway so it may all be hypothetical.

 

I think you should give Princess another chance, but try one of the smaller ships that does not have so many activities in the center piazza. The ships built before the Royal and Regal have several places for dancing and partying which make for a more festive private atmosphere as opposed to everything crammed into the center of the ship. We have been on the Regal and Royal and agree that sometimes there seems to be too much in that center atrium so you loose the fun. We love Princess, have been on several ships, they all have different atmosphere!

[elliair]

We enjoyed our Baltic cruise on the Regal Princess last month - the one sour note was the endless commercialism.

 

Every day the Princess Patter seemed to have a huge list of activities - but on closer inspection, more than half were just promotional events for the shops, the spa or the art gallery.

 

I had a spa treatment which was quite nice, but was then given the hard sell for two products which cost more than the treatment - she actually walked away saying, "I'll just add these to your account" and I had to call her back to say no. Totally destroyed the relaxing effect of the massage!

 

The first formal night was the champagne pour, which was a joke - instead of the spectacle of champagne cascading down the tower of glasses, we got an endless queue of guests coming up to the podium to add a tiny splash (so they could get their photo taken of course!). We were all crammed into the space under the balconies because so much space was taken up by that queue and the roped-off areas for formal photos. It lost all sense of atmosphere, it was all designed to suit the photographers.

 

Are all Princess Cruises like this?

 

Yes they are - it's all a big sell job so don't buy into any of it. Longer cruises are even worse. We got a very expensive booklet of Effy jewelry in our mail slot. I have plenty of jewelry - not enough ears, fingers or necks to wear all of it. I took it to guest services and gave it back to them. I told them that it was too nice of a booklet to just toss in the garbage. First thing I do with the patter each day is to wad up the inserts and toss them. So much for Princess being "green." I can't be bothered with useless advertisements cluttering my cabin. Once you've become a seasoned cruisers, you will see the hype immediately and you won't fall into the "newbie marketing" trap.

Edited June 9, 2016 by elliair

[elliair]

I'm not a party animal every night! It's just that I can't see the point of making room in my case for two formal outfits, and spend time getting all dressed up/doing hair/makeup, only to spend an evening watching other people get their photo taken. Thank goodness I didn't spend good money to get my hair done for the evening as well, then I'd be really p***d off!

 

Anyway that's not really the point - I would've been quite happy with an elegant pre-dinner event, mingling with other guests over a glass of champagne and some canapes, with a band playing some nice music. What we got - because of the splash-at-a-time champagne pour and the photo areas - was a cramped mill of people who could barely move, no music and no atmosphere.

 

If you want to mingle then go to happy hour from 3-4 and there's one in the evening. You will meet all kinds of people. You buy 1 drink and get the second drink for $1. People learn to maximize this deal. Some people buy 3 beers pay $3 for the next 3. They don't open them, they take them back to their room to enjoy later. So there are other opportunities to drink, mingle and listen to music and it's not a hard sell either. It's one of the better deals on board IMHO.

[elliair]

True....and also applies to the shops and all of that connoisseur quality art work that is sold at auction.:D

 

Yep, and even though the postal service deliveries junk mail into your mailbox, they aren't responsible for what you do with it nor do they care if you purchase anything from those companies. One cruise another persons S&S statement got put into our mail slot. I didn't look at the name on the statement and about had a cow when I saw $800 in spa treatments! I realized that it wasn't my statement, but it had me thinking about the products people buy from the spa. I stay clear of the spa.

[GUT2407]

Companies advertising their products and services, what a shock.

 

And for those that complain about what others spend imagine what would happen to our fares if they didn't:eek::eek::eek:

[moki'smommy]

Companies advertising their products and services, what a shock.

 

And for those that complain about what others spend imagine what would happen to our fares if they didn't:eek::eek::eek:

 

Like button! Everything they spend keeps my fare low.

 

That's part of why cruise lines like "fresh meat." First timers statistically spend double per diem what seasoned cruisers do.