I don't get it

[lstone19]

Well, and perhaps taking this in a slightly different direction, my pet peeve is the people who ask ship-specific questions about things that should be consistent across all Princess ships. For instance, "On Star Princess, our room was cleaned twice a day. Will my room be cleaned twice a day on Ruby Princess?"

 

The purpose of a brand is to provide a consistent product across the brand (which is why Carnival Corp. has multiple brands so that they can offer different products). My expectation is that I will get the same product regardless of the ship (where there are differences, it should be because of factors such as market, cruise length, and physical differences between ships, not because of the whims of the ship's officers. For instance, currently, Star, Coral, and Island are all doing the 7-day Voyage of the Glaciers Alaska cruise. It shouldn't matter which of the three I take - they should all be delivering the same product except for whatever differences are forced by the physical differences in the ships).

 

That said, delivery of a product is only going to be as good as the people charged with making sure that product is delivered (that would be the ship's senior officers, particularly the Hotel Director and his or her senior staff). So often the differences will be due to the people running the ship, not because of the ship itself (a ship, being a hunk of steel, makes no decisions and does nothing on its own; a ship only does things because its officers and crew makes it do so). And if something is not done on a ship the way it should be, then that is something Princess management needs to fix as the Princess "product" is not being delivered and that harms the Princess brand.

 

To put this all together, a recent thread dealt with how the all-inclusive beverage package worked on a specific ship. This is something that had better work the same way on every ship or there is just no point in having a brand.

[sunsetbeachgal]

I'm also surprised at some of the specific questions relating to their insurance coverage, cancellation, etc that require calling a carrier, travel agent , cruise line for the answer rather than asking folks who couldn't possibly have all of the facts

Edited July 10, 2016 by sunsetbeachgal

[Happy2cruise]

You know what I don't get? Why the OP is on cruise critic. If they don't like the questions they don't need to be reading them.

 

I've only been reading a few weeks and I'm finding a ton of good info. I do use the SEARCH feature also. Last topic I did that I found a 10 year old thread. Now how realible do you think that is. Somethings have to asked again.

 

Also there is a learning curve on figuring CC out. Not everyone has the time or the skill.

 

I'm thankful for the experienced folks that like to help with the questions.

 

Dori

Hitting the like button....right on;)

[carterd2002]

Speaking only for myself as a relatively new CC member, but I have found that the information provided by the seasoned CC members/cruisers to be invaluable in my recent cruise planning.

 

My anecdote: I was afraid I had scheduled our return flight from our 7 night Emerald too early to arrive at the airport (Gatwick) in time. According to Princess Cruise line info, they highly recommend not scheduling your return flight earlier than 7.5 hours from disembarkation. Our flight was 6.5 hours. I called the help line and they strongly suggested I change my flight, which would have cost us hundreds of dollars to do.

 

At that point I asked the knowledgeable people on here what their opinion was about this situation. After numerous replies I felt comfortable leaving my flight at the original time, and so glad I did, as we made it to the airport yesterday with over 3.5 hours to spare!

 

Yes, things could've happened like an accident on the roadway which might have delayed us but I'm so glad I listened to the CC members on here with the knowledge of the area and the previous real-life experiences dealing with airport transfers, which I've never had to deal with on any of my prior cruises.

[avcruz]

90% of questions asked on these boards are available from the cruise line yet people seem to have no clue. If you booked why not ask the line and not here where you will get 3 diff. answers to the same question or many opinions that don't answer the question. I understand if you are a first timer but some are just ??? (dress code). Flame on

 

 

It's called peer review. We as a society put more stock in the information and advice we get from fellow travellers than that we get from the cruise lines. We then apply our own personal filters to decide what works best for us.

 

Think about photos in a cruise brochure or website vs. the ones taken by passengers. The cruise line is going to take their photos in a way that presents their product in the best light (the empty pool deck, the fat lobster tail). The traveller is going to take an honest photo. They are also going to focus on minutiae that is important to them (power outlets, grab bars in showers) which the cruise line usually wouldn't think were important.

 

That's why sites like this or Trip Advisor are so popular. Plus it can be fun to participate!

[Babewho]

You know what I don't get? Why the OP is on cruise critic. If they don't like the questions they don't need to be reading them.

 

I've only been reading a few weeks and I'm finding a ton of good info. I do use the SEARCH feature also. Last topic I did that I found a 10 year old thread. Now how realible do you think that is. Somethings have to asked again.

 

Also there is a learning curve on figuring CC out. Not everyone has the time or the skill.

 

I'm thankful for the experienced folks that like to help with the questions.

 

Dori

 

Exactly what I was thinking. Thanks for posting!

[bigenna]

Just yesterday I explained how the refer a friend credit system works. She checked her "notes" and agreed, yes, I was right. She was giving information on an outdated version of the program.

[shredie]

Well, and perhaps taking this in a slightly different direction, my pet peeve is the people who ask ship-specific questions about things that should be consistent across all Princess ships.

....

The purpose of a brand is to provide a consistent product across the brand (which is why Carnival Corp. has multiple brands so that they can offer different products). My expectation is that I will get the same product regardless of the ship

 

You are correct that things should be consistent across the fleet, but they often aren't. A couple of examples are early dinner time (website says 6pm but it can be up to 45 minutes earlier on a given ship) and making reservations in Anytime Dining (some ships do, some don't.) These things depend on the particular staff on a ship, and CC members will often know which ships have which policies.

[lstone19]

You are correct that things should be consistent across the fleet, but they often aren't. A couple of examples are early dinner time (website says 6pm but it can be up to 45 minutes earlier on a given ship) and making reservations in Anytime Dining (some ships do, some don't.) These things depend on the particular staff on a ship, and CC members will often know which ships have which policies.

 

But as you say, these depend on the staff on the ship and so these inconsistencies will change with the staff. Asking about a ship without regard to who the staff will be and who it was was experienced by the responder may not be meaningless.

 

I guess my point of view comes from working for an airline. We have service standards for our flights. Those standards vary from market to market and time of day and to a lesser extent by equipment type. But for a given flight, the service should be the same no matter who the flight attendants are and no matter what plane is assigned. You'd probably think it absurd if someone asked (in a forum such as FlyerTalk) "I'm flying from AAA to BBB tomorrow on flight 123. I see we have plane 8424 assigned to it. Does plane 8424 serve beverages before the meal or with the meal?" Yet, at least to me, that is the nature of some of the ship-specific questions that get asked.

[SoCal Cruiser78]

...my pet peeve is the people who ask ship-specific questions about things that should be consistent across all Princess ships...a recent thread dealt with how the all-inclusive beverage package worked on a specific ship. This is something that had better work the same way on every ship or there is just no point in having a brand.

 

My biggest pet peeve with Princess, more so than on other lines I've sailed, is that they are not consistent across the fleet with things that should be.

 

Anytime Dining is a prime example. The ATD reservation policy seems to be left up to each individual maitre d'. Some allow them for all hours, others for just early or late diners, and some not at all :(.

[avcruz]

 

I guess my point of view comes from working for an airline. We have service standards for our flights. Those standards vary from market to market and time of day and to a lesser extent by equipment type. But for a given flight, the service should be the same no matter who the flight attendants are and no matter what plane is assigned. You'd probably think it absurd if someone asked (in a forum such as FlyerTalk) "I'm flying from AAA to BBB tomorrow on flight 123. I see we have plane 8424 assigned to it. Does plane 8424 serve beverages before the meal or with the meal?" Yet, at least to me, that is the nature of some of the ship-specific questions that get asked.

 

 

Your airline serves meals??? [emoji848][emoji6]

[ams cruiser]

You know what I don't get? Why the OP is on cruise critic. If they don't like the questions they don't need to be reading them.

 

I've only been reading a few weeks and I'm finding a ton of good info. I do use the SEARCH feature also. Last topic I did that I found a 10 year old thread. Now how realible do you think that is. Somethings have to asked again.

 

Also there is a learning curve on figuring CC out. Not everyone has the time or the skill.

 

I'm thankful for the experienced folks that like to help with the questions.

 

Dori

 

This. Especially the last line!

[Colo Cruiser]

Your airline serves meals??? [emoji848][emoji6]

 

You have to stop flying Spirit.