Shocked by my first Princess Cruise

[ekka49]

Sounds like this cruise was doomed from the start with the OP expecting a Crystal experience?

 

Nailed it :D

[IsanTom]

I agree!

[wishfulone]

The Diamond is not the best ship in the Princess fleet. She has problems since being rejigged for the Japanese market. The OP has a right to be disappointed. We're experienced Princess travellers and were disappointed with the Diamond experience and will not sail on her again.

[GUT2407]

I spent five weeks on Diamond last year and loved every second.

 

Sure food is very subjective, but horrendous???

 

When we were in the crew were, in the whole, fantastic. Sure some had an "off day" but what do you expect.

[Cairn Mom]

Alright, since everyone else is slagging the OP, I'll give him/her a little backup.

 

 

 

I was also recently on the Diamond Princess, probably 1 or 2 cruises before the OP.

 

 

 

I will actually agree (to an extent) with the OP's point #1. There DID seem to be more "checked-out" personnel than on previous cruises. The drink people, in particular, seemed disinterested in making any sales.

 

 

 

I wouldn't chalk that up to Princess as much as just fatigue.

 

 

 

I chatted up the casino personnel, my steward, and some of the wait staff. Probably 3/4 of them were coming up on the end of their contracts. FWIW, the entire production crew was also 2-3 weeks away from finishing their gig.

 

 

 

Can't help you on 2 or 3, though. The food was fine, and paying for the daubers is SOP everywhere I've seen Bingo. :D

 

We're not slagging the OP- just saying you can't expect five star service for a three or four star price. His/ her expectations are

unrealistic. Everyone has experienced a bad cruise. I hated our one and only celebrity cruise. The food,and service both stunk,and talk about a crew with bad attitude...However, that was our experience. We know lots of people who prefer Celebrity to Princess. In our experience, Princess is the better line. That said, I would not go on Celebrity again,and I suggested to the OP that Oceania might be a better fit. Every line is not for everybody. It sounds like Princess is not for them.

[Brisbane41]

You want to know something. I was just on the Diamond Princess for a 10 night cruise around Hokkaido with the Nebuta Festival. My sail date was the 25th July.

 

I have been on 26 cruises and was in the Capri Suite which was C400 and always stay at five star hotels.

 

That is my background.

 

I found the cruise was excellent. The crew was very friendly and welcoming and happy to greet me any time I showed up at the bar. I had some female crew give hugs on my birthday and on the farewell day. The crew were very engaging and happy to talk about events and greet me with a smile. I had such a good time that I even purchased a bottle of Dom Perignon and have posted the photos in the review section of this website. Just search Princess Cruises and Diamond Princess and my review will be there.

 

I found the food to be outstanding. I live in Australia and the food was much better than your average KFC, McDonalds, RSL club, bowling club and other run of the mill mass market places. The food was very well prepared and of generous proportions. I got a complimentary invitation to the Stirling Steak House on embarkation night and had the best steak I have had in ages and I had a special suite breakfast in Sabatini's each morning. I found the main dining room menu resembled the usual Princess routine with some occasional changes. All in all I could not fault the food one bit. I found the portion size to be very generous and could not have asked for more.

 

During the cruise they seemed to look after passengers as best they could. One example I ended up with almost free designer clothing from the boutiques just for taking part in their passenger fashion parade. I was invited to all of the past passenger and most traveled passenger parties where the drinks flowed and so did the food.

 

In all honesty I had a fantastic time and have now booked three more Princess cruises in the next year.

 

Perhaps you were on another cruise line or ship because your description certainly does not sound like the cruise that I was on.

[ontheweb]

I am reminded of the old Henny Young man story of the person coming back from the "mountains". (Yeah, you New Yorkers know where I mean.) When asked how the food was, she replies 'it was terrible and they didn't serve enough of it'.

 

Yes, I not only know what you mean, but we actually live in "the mountains". But, it's not the way it used to be.

[RJ2002]

We were on Diamond Princess for a 9 day cruise around Hokkaido, Japan.

This was my 6th cruise but 1st with Princess. I've cruised 4x with Crystal, 1x with Celebrity.

 

To be honest, I was quite flabbergasted by how bad the cruise was. Especially shocking was:

1. The crew's attitude. The crew was completely cheerless: you could tell they were doing their job as if they are on an assembly line. No friendly greetings in the hallway. Some staff were not trained properly. At Sabatini, the waitress had somebody else's lobster shell on a plate and proceeded to deshell my lobster using the same utensils and plate she'd already used for another guest. Clueless personnel (not equipped with any Princess uniform/hat/jacket/flag) was responsible for Russian excursion. On and on and on.

 

2. The food in the Main Dining Room. Many nights we skipped the MDR since the food was just horrendous: portion was tiny and ingredients were subpar. Thank goodness for the 14th Deck.

 

3. The attempt to nickel and dime the passengers (my jaw dropped when after paying $30 for Bingo, Princess refused to provide pencils to mark the paper...instead expecting us to shell out a further $2.5 for special markers).

 

By no means am I trying to badmouth Princess. In fact, despite the bad service, I am not discounting the idea of a future Princess cruise. I really liked the room layout and the fact that pretty much dresscode was casual throughout the cruise.

 

So, did we just have bad luck with a bad crew? Should we give Princess another try?

 

We were on the Diamond in May/June this year, and our experience was quite different, though I can't comment on Bingo as we don't play.

 

We found the staff to be very polite and helpful. The Russian excursion was run by a local Russian company, but our tour was as organized as it could be I suppose.

 

For the dining room, I guess we are not big eaters. We ordered 4 courses most nights and found the portions to be just fine.

 

This just goes to show that we all have different expectations.

[Kineticoh20]

Another analogy is $75 per night at motel 6 then jump to $275 Hyatt Regency then jump to Ritz Carlton or Mandarin Oriental. A logical person would expect amenities and service to elevate each time. If one is used to the Ritz that person would not think the Hyatt was up to par. But expecting Ritz service at the Hyatt is foolish! and would most certainly have the client feeling like the original poster.

[newcruzer2]

I am with those who a) were not horrified by how the lobster was handled and b) think the OP is better accustomed to the services provided by Crystal.

 

Well my opinion is... was it a matter of hygiene? NO ....but it was LAZY of the wait staff and would have made me feel like, I was in a 'less than' QUALITY establishment.

[Editrix]

We were on Diamond Princess for a 9-day cruise around Hokkaido, Japan.

 

To be honest, I was quite flabbergasted . . .

1. The crew was completely cheerless.
   
2. The food in the main dining room . . . was just horrendous.
   

 

I'm struggling to understand these two points.

 

Not one crew member smiled? Not one? I would be flabbergasted too.

 

What specifically made you react in horror to the food? Maggots? Cockroaches? Hair? Too much salt? Sloppy plating? Or just the small portions and subpar (in your opinion) ingredients?

[Colo Cruiser]

I'm struggling to understand these two points.

 

Not one crew member smiled? Not one? I would be flabbergasted too.

 

What specifically made you react in horror to the food? Maggots? Cockroaches? Hair? Too much salt? Sloppy plating? Or just the small portions and subpar (in your opinion) ingredients?

 

 

As far as the food a good point was made in post #15

[Montrealais]

I also was shocked on my first Princess cruise! :eek:

 

Shocked by the fact that I had not booked one before! :D

[Cairn Mom]

Another analogy is $75 per night at motel 6 then jump to $275 Hyatt Regency then jump to Ritz Carlton or Mandarin Oriental. A logical person would expect amenities and service to elevate each time. If one is used to the Ritz that person would not think the Hyatt was up to par. But expecting Ritz service at the Hyatt is foolish! and would most certainly have the client feeling like the original poster.

 

 

Great analogy!! Princess is not a good fit for the OP which is fine. There are many other cruise lines for him/ her to choose from,or he/ she can cruise exclusively with Crystal. If I were the OP I would not cruise Princess again. I don't think he/ she will ever be happy with the line. Crystal and Princess are our favorite lines, but they are very different. On cruises with lots of sea days,we like the larger assortment of activities offered on Princess. On port intensive itineraries, we prefer personal attention offered by Crystal.

[dwgreenlee]

We were on Diamond Princess for a 9 day cruise around Hokkaido, Japan.

This was my 6th cruise but 1st with Princess. I've cruised 4x with Crystal, 1x with Celebrity.

 

To be honest, I was quite flabbergasted by how bad the cruise was. Especially shocking was:

1. The crew's attitude. The crew was completely cheerless: you could tell they were doing their job as if they are on an assembly line. No friendly greetings in the hallway. Some staff were not trained properly. At Sabatini, the waitress had somebody else's lobster shell on a plate and proceeded to deshell my lobster using the same utensils and plate she'd already used for another guest. Clueless personnel (not equipped with any Princess uniform/hat/jacket/flag) was responsible for Russian excursion. On and on and on.

 

2. The food in the Main Dining Room. Many nights we skipped the MDR since the food was just horrendous: portion was tiny and ingredients were subpar. Thank goodness for the 14th Deck.

 

3. The attempt to nickel and dime the passengers (my jaw dropped when after paying $30 for Bingo, Princess refused to provide pencils to mark the paper...instead expecting us to shell out a further $2.5 for special markers).

 

By no means am I trying to badmouth Princess. In fact, despite the bad service, I am not discounting the idea of a future Princess cruise. I really liked the room layout and the fact that pretty much dresscode was casual throughout the cruise.

 

So, did we just have bad luck with a bad crew? Should we give Princess another try?

 

Please stick with Crystal as I never travel on them.

 

I have over 250 nights on Princess and while some experiences are better than others I can clearly state I have never had a bad experience on Princess. I have also cruised on Oceania, NCL, Carnival, HAL, RCI, and Celebrity. Princess is, by far, my favorite.

 

I have seen Princess go to great lengths to try to accommodate impossible guests that do not want to be made happy. You travel thousands of miles and spend thousands of dollars to complain about spending $30 plus $2.50 to play bingo? I am not so sure you want to be made happy.

[elliair]

I would agree with others and recommend that you stick with the luxury lines. I would, but I prefer taking several yearly cruises on Princess for the same price.

 

Paul

 

I consider Princess a luxury line. However, the only other line I have to compare it to is Carnival. We were looking into Celebrity cruises and didn't like the itineraries. So, we'll stick with Princess and all the nice perks we get.:D

[ar1950]

So I wonder if the OP expects the food handlers in the gallies to handle each food on each dish with seperate serving utensils? He would either pass out or have a heart attack if he ever went into the food prep areas and saw that the foods were touched by utensils used on different dishes. One knife to chop all the lettuce, one giant spoon to atir all the veggies, one ladle to pour all the soups. Bet seperate ones are not even used in his daily food prep.

 

Wonder where the OP has gotten too? Another single poster then nothing.

 

The thing that got me was that the OP said "thank goodness for deck 14". Did they bring their own serving utensils? If not, I wonder if they noticed how many people used the same utensils and, also, those utensils touched all of those other peoples' plates? :rolleyes:

[Brisbane41]

I'm struggling to understand these two points.

 

Not one crew member smiled? Not one? I would be flabbergasted too.

 

What specifically made you react in horror to the food? Maggots? Cockroaches? Hair? Too much salt? Sloppy plating? Or just the small portions and subpar (in your opinion) ingredients?

 

If you care to read my reply on page 3 you will see I addressed this. I was also on Diamond Princess in Japan on a 25th July sailing.

 

To cut the long story short I believe the complaints aired by this person are fabricated and completely fictitious. The staff were happy, friendly and accommodating. They described Diamond Princess as the happy ship because they all loved being on it.

[Cairn Mom]

If you care to read my reply on page 3 you will see I addressed this. I was also on Diamond Princess in Japan on a 25th July sailing.

 

 

 

To cut the long story short I believe the complaints aired by this person are fabricated and completely fictitious. The staff were happy, friendly and accommodating. They described Diamond Princess as the happy ship because they all loved being on it.

 

 

I do not think the OP fabricated his experience. He just had unreasonable expectations. If he wants people who are going to bend over backward for him then there is nothing like the personal attention you get( and pay for) on Crystal. By the way, there is Bingo on both the Symphony and Serenity- lol.

[ar1950]

Well my opinion is... was it a matter of hygiene? NO ....but it was LAZY of the wait staff and would have made me feel like, I was in a 'less than' QUALITY establishment.

 

Lazy? It just seems efficient. I'm sure that I would rather have my lobster de-shelled as soon after I get it as possible. I would not want to wait for the wait person to run back, dispose of the other shell, plate and utensils, then have to get clean stuff and come back to my table. In all likely hood the reality is that they probably would just dump the shell and bring back the same plate and utensils anyway. Just sayin'.

 

YMMV

[pris993]

Please stick with Crystal as I never travel on them.

 

I have over 250 nights on Princess and while some experiences are better than others I can clearly state I have never had a bad experience on Princess. I have also cruised on Oceania, NCL, Carnival, HAL, RCI, and Celebrity. Princess is, by far, my favorite.

 

I have seen Princess go to great lengths to try to accommodate impossible guests that do not want to be made happy. You travel thousands of miles and spend thousands of dollars to complain about spending $30 plus $2.50 to play bingo? I am not so sure you want to be made happy.

 

I have traveled on Crystal, not recently... because I thought it was very similar to Princess, Holland America and Celebrity... but the price was a lot more, so did not feel I got the value for what I paid. I have also cruised on Cunard, both the Queen Mary 2 and the Queen Victoria... love the Queen Victoria, thought the Queen Mary 2 was an interesting experience I would not repeat, even though I went on the Queen Victoria twice and would go again. I felt Crystal was over rated, so was the Queen Mary 2.

 

A few years back I booked a NCL cruise because I liked the itinerary. NCL was a lot cheaper... I use it by comparison... food and service in the MDR in no way compared to Princess, Holland America, Cunard etc... but I could not complain because the fare was a lot cheaper. On NCL I skipped the MDR for 11 nights, felt the buffet was okay and better.

 

I think the OP may have had a bad experience... every ship in a line is not the same, crews very really depends on the leadership on board...

[OCruisers]

We were on Diamond Princess for a 9 day cruise around Hokkaido, Japan.

This was my 6th cruise but 1st with Princess. I've cruised 4x with Crystal, 1x with Celebrity.

 

To be honest, I was quite flabbergasted by how bad the cruise was. Especially shocking was:

1. The crew's attitude. The crew was completely cheerless: you could tell they were doing their job as if they are on an assembly line. No friendly greetings in the hallway. Some staff were not trained properly. At Sabatini, the waitress had somebody else's lobster shell on a plate and proceeded to deshell my lobster using the same utensils and plate she'd already used for another guest. Clueless personnel (not equipped with any Princess uniform/hat/jacket/flag) was responsible for Russian excursion. On and on and on.

 

2. The food in the Main Dining Room. Many nights we skipped the MDR since the food was just horrendous: portion was tiny and ingredients were subpar. Thank goodness for the 14th Deck.

 

3. The attempt to nickel and dime the passengers (my jaw dropped when after paying $30 for Bingo, Princess refused to provide pencils to mark the paper...instead expecting us to shell out a further $2.5 for special markers).

 

By no means am I trying to badmouth Princess. In fact, despite the bad service, I am not discounting the idea of a future Princess cruise. I really liked the room layout and the fact that pretty much dresscode was casual throughout the cruise.

 

So, did we just have bad luck with a bad crew? Should we give Princess another try?

 

Maybe Princess just isn't a good fit for you? At least you gave Princess a try.

Maybe you'd should go back to Crystal or Celebrity ... or give some other cruise line try.

[caribill]

Another analogy is $75 per night at motel 6 then jump to $275 Hyatt Regency then jump to Ritz Carlton or Mandarin Oriental. A logical person would expect amenities and service to elevate each time. If one is used to the Ritz that person would not think the Hyatt was up to par. But expecting Ritz service at the Hyatt is foolish! and would most certainly have the client feeling like the original poster.

 

But Motel 6 will have free Internet.

 

You will need to pay for Internet at the Ritz.

[Aus Traveller]

Lazy? It just seems efficient. I'm sure that I would rather have my lobster de-shelled as soon after I get it as possible. I would not want to wait for the wait person to run back, dispose of the other shell, plate and utensils, then have to get clean stuff and come back to my table.

 

YMMV

That was my thinking also. :)

[Kineticoh20]

But Motel 6 will have free Internet.

 

You will need to pay for Internet at the Ritz.

 

Actually it's free