Chairs removed to make more room?

[PekingeseLady]

I am glad the chairs are gone.  Princesses rooms are very small.  Just my 2 cents, LOL

[Thrak]

2 hours ago, oskidunker said:

So there were no barrel chairs in outside rooms, right? Just balconies?

 

No, we definitely had them in Ocean View cabins. I have a nasty back. You know that 1-10 pain scale they always ask about? With pain medication I live at 3. I'm "used to it" but it still hurts all the time. Sitting on the bed really isn't good for me and I don't like lounging around when I'm in the cabin. My wife always makes use of that chair and we use the table for lots of stuff.

 

It might not be too bad for 3-5 day cruises but many of us prefer 10 days or longer and it isn't right not to have a chair. We're booked for a 12 day followed by a 14 day this coming fall and that's too long to be without a chair in the cabin. Our 28 day cruise saw a fair amount of use of the chair.

 

This reminds me of "we changed the early dining to a time suitable for pre-school children because people complained that they wanted earlier dining". What a crock.

[Thrak]

34 minutes ago, Ep010835 said:

 

Jswartz@princesscruises.com

 

As others have said, I'm pretty sure that just goes to customerrelations@princesscruises.com It's highly unlikely Ms.Swartz would set herself up for a deluge of email from "mere customers".

[oskidunker]

Will be on the Grand Mar 20 th. I think the chairs have been removed. 

[Ep010835]

21 minutes ago, oskidunker said:

Will be on the Grand Mar 20 th. I think the chairs have been removed. 

 

This is what we found earlier this week on the Grand. 

Just a mid-deck storage room that someone left open. 

[caribill]

Other addresses:

 

Collin Steinke   Director, Customer Relations   csteinke@princesscruises.com

Lorna Warren   Vice President Guest Services     lwarren@princess.com

[kb4683]

6 hours ago, caribill said:

Other addresses:

 

Collin Steinke   Director, Customer Relations   csteinke@princesscruises.com

 

Lorna Warren   Vice President Guest Services     lwarren@princess.com

 

Should Lorna's email address also be @princesscruises.com?

Edited February 23, 2019 by kb4683

[omc329]

I got my reply back in a voicemail. Not impressed. She acknowledged my email, restated the obvious, that they had been removed, and gave some 'small' hope one 'might' be able to get one if asked. She did not mention any of the reasoning I listed as to the negatives of this decision.

 

Life is good. There are lots of cruise lines and choices out there. Me, and those who travel with me, (ie, they lost more than one customer), will look around for a while. I have a cruise booked this year and next year with Princess. The next two are with X. That'll take us well into '21. Plenty of time to think over what's next.

 

I am disappointed, but it seems to be a pattern with me. My first 2 cruises were with Carnival. We left because the smoke issues were too bad. We sailed Norwegian happily for years until Del Rio came in and created his vision of feestyle. No thanks. We will hit Platinum on Princess next spring, just in time to head out and look for yet another line. Phttttt!!! We'll find out if we like X after that.

 

River cruising....hmmmmm..... Sounds like a nice plan.......

 

Gotta love having lots of choices! 🙂

[hpeabody]

14 hours ago, Thrak said:

 

As others have said, I'm pretty sure that just goes to customerrelations@princesscruises.com It's highly unlikely Ms.Swartz would set herself up for a deluge of email from "mere customers".

 

Michael, You are exactly correct.  My email to Ms Swartz was handled by Customer Relations and did not have a positive outcome.  They are gonna do what they are gonna do and we passengers just have no say in the matter.  I am positive the other cruise lines will be quite happy to take on former Princess passengers. 🙂  I for one will be looking.  For me it's not one thing, it's the culmination of many things over the last year or so driving me away.

[westendgirl]

I would encourage everyone who agrees that the chair removal is ridiculous to call or send an email to Princess. I sent an email yesterday (polite but firm) to Customer Relations and received a call-back same day.

 

She stated it is fleet-wide and was commenced last May (??). There are limited chairs available if you ask your steward. However, they are monitoring complaints on this subject so there is a glimmer of hope. Please join me in emailing or calling Princess. We love Princess and think of it as a luxury hotel of sorts - not Motel 6 with no place to sit.

[louden]

1 hour ago, hpeabody said:

 

Michael, You are exactly correct.  My email to Ms Swartz was handled by Customer Relations and did not have a positive outcome.  They are gonna do what they are gonna do and we passengers just have no say in the matter.  I am positive the other cruise lines will be quite happy to take on former Princess passengers. 🙂  I for one will be looking.  For me it's not one thing, it's the culmination of many things over the last year or so driving me away.

I have just sent the following to Ms. Swartz and the other two executives quoted earlier.

 

"Dear Ms Swartz and other Executives:

 

I just received the latest Princess newsletter promoting the three accomplishments recently achieved on one day.  I was amused by the following statement at the end of the newsletter: " Princess is the fastest growing premium cruise line in the industry — and we’re committed to bringing guests the best cruising has to offer."

 

How can you seriously make this statement while at the same time remove the barrel chairs from the cabins making them unsuitable for any purpose other than sleeping.  This coupled with other cutbacks instituted by Princess makes the above quoted statement laughable.

 

The Cruise Critic thread related to the chair removal has had over 18,600 views and 379 postings.  People are not happy to the point of cancelling cruises.  We have already decided we will no longer normally book balcony cabins because they are either unusable (Regal Class) or no longer have comfortable furniture.  We are contemplating cancelling our 25 day B2B Mediterranean and trans-Atlantic crossing aboard the Emerald.

 

Princess seems to have decided to alienate its most valuable consumer, the seasoned mature cruiser.

 

For your consideration."

 

[voljeep]

Next up for Princess?

 

PCRP - Premium Chair Rental Package(s) from basic ( folding chair, no arms ) to deluxe - Lazy Boy with massager and cupholder

 

PBRP - Premium Bath Room Package - ala carte - toilet paper, wipes, tissue, soaps, conditioners, shampoos, lotions, bath towels

[Doug R.]

1 minute ago, voljeep said:

Next up for Princess?

 

PCRP - Premium Chair Rental Package(s) from basic ( folding chair, no arms ) to deluxe - Lazy Boy with massager and cupholder

 

PBRP - Premium Bath Room Package - ala carte - toilet paper, wipes, tissue, soaps, conditioners, shampoos, lotions, bath towels

With thinking like that you just may be able to get an executive job with Princess. 😎🤣

[louden]

5 minutes ago, voljeep said:

Next up for Princess?

 

PCRP - Premium Chair Rental Package(s) from basic ( folding chair, no arms ) to deluxe - Lazy Boy with massager and cupholder

 

PBRP - Premium Bath Room Package - ala carte - toilet paper, wipes, tissue, soaps, conditioners, shampoos, lotions, bath towels

PCRP -  Available in 1/2 day, all day or cruise package rate like the Sanctuary!

Edited February 23, 2019 by louden

[paradiselivin1]

I find this distressing as we LIKE those little barrel chairs and the little round table.  We often eat breakfast in the room and the weather is not always conducive to eating on the balcony early in the morning. The continued cost-cutting by this cruise line is a move in the wrong direction.  Both the chair and table were in our stateroom in late November/early December. Will hate to see them go in an effort by Princess to save yet more money.  Our next two cruises are 14 days or longer and hate to anticipate the changes...

[oskidunker]

Have emailed Princess. Do you think they removed the chairs to save maintainance on  them, to make cleaning the room easier or to drive people to public areas of The Ship? Some 25 year old probably got a bonus for suggesting this. reminds me of  Direct tv making the font smaller that no one could read, which they took 6 months to reverse. I too will look at Celebrity next time. Ridiculous and short sighted. 

Edited February 23, 2019 by oskidunker

[Reader0108598]

2 hours ago, hpeabody said:

 

Michael, You are exactly correct.  My email to Ms Swartz was handled by Customer Relations and did not have a positive outcome.  They are gonna do what they are gonna do and we passengers just have no say in the matter.  I am positive the other cruise lines will be quite happy to take on former Princess passengers. 🙂  I for one will be looking.  For me it's not one thing, it's the culmination of many things over the last year or so driving me away.

Am Elite and just booked with another cruise line!  I mean you may as well move to any crappy cruise line right! 

[louden]

Another annoyance is the method of implementation.  We usually book our cruises about 18 months in advance.  We decide on itinerary and cabin type depending on the cruise and how we expect to use the cabin.  It is very annoying to learn either a few months before boarding or at time of boarding that the cabin and/or balcony are not furnished as expected.

 

Why can Princess not announce these changes in advance along with a rollout program so that guests can alter their plans if they so wish?  Wouldn't it also be a good idea to poll guests about proposed changes? 

Edited February 23, 2019 by louden

[K D cruiser]

Well, this stinks!  We'll be on the Ruby in a couple of weeks and I hope we can request a chair.  My husband loves to sit and read a book there.  As with most Princess decisions, I'm sure this has to do with money.  If you're staying in your room, you're not out spending money on the ship.  With over 30 Princess cruises, we have noticed a change over the years and not for the better.  I'm pretty this will be our last Princess cruise.  Too bad.

[Reader0108598]

2 minutes ago, K D cruiser said:

Well, this stinks!  We'll be on the Ruby in a couple of weeks and I hope we can request a chair.  My husband loves to sit and read a book there.  As with most Princess decisions, I'm sure this has to do with money.  If you're staying in your room, you're not out spending money on the ship.  With over 30 Princess cruises, we have noticed a change over the years and not for the better.  I'm pretty this will be our last Princess cruise.  Too bad.

Right if they think that will make me spend money ...wrong it just makes people mad!

 

Edited February 23, 2019 by Reader0108598

[JAT0303]

4 hours ago, omc329 said:

I got my reply back in a voicemail. Not impressed. She acknowledged my email, restated the obvious, that they had been removed, and gave some 'small' hope one 'might' be able to get one if asked. She did not mention any of the reasoning I listed as to the negatives of this decision.

 

Life is good. There are lots of cruise lines and choices out there. Me, and those who travel with me, (ie, they lost more than one customer), will look around for a while. I have a cruise booked this year and next year with Princess. The next two are with X. That'll take us well into '21. Plenty of time to think over what's next.

 

I am disappointed, but it seems to be a pattern with me. My first 2 cruises were with Carnival. We left because the smoke issues were too bad. We sailed Norwegian happily for years until Del Rio came in and created his vision of feestyle. No thanks. We will hit Platinum on Princess next spring, just in time to head out and look for yet another line. Phttttt!!! We'll find out if we like X after that.

 

River cruising....hmmmmm..... Sounds like a nice plan.......

 

Gotta love having lots of choices! 🙂

 

I also just received my voice mail response after sending 3 e-mails over a period of a week.  The response was the same as others have mentioned but also included a statement that the change was made to "Allow more living space for our guests. We do still have the tables available and they're not in use a lot of our guests are storing them in the closet but those will still be available."  In my original e-mail to Jan Swartz, I suggested they do a robust survey of their customers to see if indeed the majority of people wanted the chair and table gone.  If they were to do that,  they might learn that a significant portion of their guests like to be able to spend time in their cabins sitting on chairs instead of the bed.

[kjg46]

2 hours ago, louden said:

PCRP -  Available in 1/2 day, all day or cruise package rate like the Sanctuary!

 

I like your comments. Maybe that would be new 3 For Free Promo.

Should forward to Jan S

 

All the best

 

[geocruiser]

A uncomfortable PAX is a unhappy PAX!

 

[Loreni]

You may not find what you are looking for on Celebrity.  Do some reading on what is going on with the Edge cabin and “balcony” furniture.  We are also unhappy with the chair removal, but Celebrity doesn’t look like a good fit.

 

For those of of you who are considering leaving Princess, what type of vacations do you enjoy when not cruising.  Or put another way, what is it about cruising that you enjoy most and how much of this can be replicated on a land-based vacation.  

 

The sad truth is that DH and I, any many of you, fit into a category that the cruise lines are trying to shed.  The marketing departments want to boast attractive cabins, balconies, and room service.  But management doesn’t really want you using these...and if you try to, you will be punished with uncomfortable furniture, absent furniture, limited room service menus, and possibly even fees for room service.  For this strategy to work it has to subtle, the passenger has to think he choosing not to be in his cabin or on his balcony.  Otherwise, it is disrespectful and offensive.  But there is a category of passengers that they frankly don’t mind offending.

 

I usually don’t go where I’m not wanted, and it might be possible to have a better vacation at a resort or somewhere.   I was thinking about all the things I like about cruising and how they are getting harder to enjoy.  Remember being able to walk laps on a shaded outdoor promenade deck?  Or being able to lounge on a steamer chair on the promenade deck?  Having a reclining lounge chair on your balcony and a table suitable for dining? An oceanfront resort could offer some of this, and I have enjoyed resort vacations.  Ideally, I would love to find a small, pedestrian-only, seafront village.  I tried Mackinac Island, it was just OK.  Any other ideas?

[dchip]

The chairs are gone, period! Once again we are on the Royal right now in a balcony cabin. We do not have a barrel chair. We cannot get a barrel chair. 

 

 We are on day 22 of 49. My back is screaming!! DH uses the desk chair. He has had a hip replacement and can’t sit on the bed. This is just not right.

 

The chairs are not coming back. I have talked to the steward, customer service  desk and Captain’s Circle. Suggestions are don’t stay in your cabin!

 

Denise