Onboard Royal Princess?

[rkacruiser]

Georgie562 kindly posted the Officer List serving on Royal Princess during their cruise.  In my opinion, of those whom I recognized, there were two "winners" and one "loser".

 

During my Royal Princess cruise, the Hotel General Manager, Michael Prasse, had his team functioning at an excellent level in all areas other than the MDR's Galley.  Service in all guest areas under his supervision was excellent.

 

Billy Hygate was not the Entertainment Director on my cruise.  (No compliment about the gentleman who was in that position.  The entertainment and music were cruise highlights.)  Mr. Hygate is a very veteran Princess staff member.  I remember him as a CD on one of my original Royal Princess cruises.  He sang on some evenings.  I have one of his CD's that he offered for sale.  Great voice; personable; guest oriented:  one is fortunate to have Mr. Hygate as an Officer during their cruise.

 

Giovanni Sistro was the Executive Chef during my Royal Princess cruise.  MDR cuisine was very disappointing under his direction.  (The most enjoyable meal was the Embarkation Lunch,)  He must not have any control of the Chef's of Sabitini's and Crown Grill because they provided the best dinners I had on Royal Princess.

[1emerald1]

8 minutes ago, rkacruiser said:

Georgie562 kindly posted the Officer List serving on Royal Princess during their cruise.  In my opinion, of those whom I recognized, there were two "winners" and one "loser".

 

During my Royal Princess cruise, the Hotel General Manager, Michael Prasse, had his team functioning at an excellent level in all areas other than the MDR's Galley.  Service in all guest areas under his supervision was excellent.

 

Billy Hygate was not the Entertainment Director on my cruise.  (No compliment about the gentleman who was in that position.  The entertainment and music were cruise highlights.)  Mr. Hygate is a very veteran Princess staff member.  I remember him as a CD on one of my original Royal Princess cruises.  He sang on some evenings.  I have one of his CD's that he offered for sale.  Great voice; personable; guest oriented:  one is fortunate to have Mr. Hygate as an Officer during their cruise.

 

Giovanni Sistro was the Executive Chef during my Royal Princess cruise.  MDR cuisine was very disappointing under his direction.  (The most enjoyable meal was the Embarkation Lunch,)  He must not have any control of the Chef's of Sabitini's and Crown Grill because they provided the best dinners I had on Royal Princess.

Not happy to hear you were not happy with the Executive Chef.  On the 4/27 cruise we have been notified from Princess that the Maitre D' will be Generroso Mazzone.  Maybe they will change the chef before my cruise....

[rkacruiser]

6 minutes ago, 1emerald1 said:

Not happy to hear you were not happy with the Executive Chef.  On the 4/27 cruise we have been notified from Princess that the Maitre D' will be Generroso Mazzone.  Maybe they will change the chef before my cruise....

 

My Maitre d' Federico Arcos was a gentleman whom I knew from previous original Royal Princess cruises and is a class act.  Guest friendly and extremely competent; it was a pleasure to sail with him again along with his wife who was the Royal Princess Bar Manager.  (First met her on my second original Royal Princess cruise.)  Bar service was excellent regardless of which bar I patronized.  

[candide333]

19 hours ago, ceilidh1 said:

 

Pre-purchased medallion net as I got an email saying I could apply my elite minutes to receive discounted price of $59.99. Found out on board that the discounted price was $52.

 

i spoke with 2 Princess reps who said that if you prepurchased the $59.99 , you could get the difference as OBC. I was told the discounted price for Platnum or Elite was $45. It is worth a try. 

 

 

 

[stvandy1]

20 hours ago, Georgie562 said:

 

What night was this taken. What night did they have the Brazilian night in the Horizon Court?

[Georgie562]

19 minutes ago, stvandy1 said:

What night was this taken. What night did they have the Brazilian night in the Horizon Court?

 

These are Sunday’s patter

[stvandy1]

3 minutes ago, Georgie562 said:

 

These are Sunday’s patter

Sunday? Darn. I’m doing Crown Grill on Sunday.

[stvandy1]

Just now, 4cats4me said:

Gee, the Royal is starting to sound like the cruise from hel.  I was pretty stoked about our upcoming cruise in 10 days. We had a great time on the Royal last April.  We have always loved the buffet on the Regal/Royal.  

Wonder if they’ve had a big turnover of employees this week? 

I’m just going to enjoy myself and hope the new crew has it down in the next 11 days. I’ll make whatever adjustments are needed to enjoy my cruise.

[ceilidh1]

4 hours ago, candide333 said:

 

To be honest I have spent more time at passenger services trying to get mistakes fixed than anywhere else. I’ve given up at this point and trying to salvage the few remaining days we have! I have written a letter that I intend to give a copy of to front desk, captains circle and future cruise desk highlighting all of the issues and the lack of response or caring to fix them. This is the first cruise in 10 years where I will not put down a future cruise deposit. I also have 3 cruises booked between now and spring 2020 that I intend to cancel. I’ve had it with princess at this point in time!

[Griller]

5 hours ago, ceilidh1 said:

To be honest I have spent more time at passenger services trying to get mistakes fixed than anywhere else. I’ve given up at this point and trying to salvage the few remaining days we have! I have written a letter that I intend to give a copy of to front desk, captains circle and future cruise desk highlighting all of the issues and the lack of response or caring to fix them. This is the first cruise in 10 years where I will not put down a future cruise deposit. I also have 3 cruises booked between now and spring 2020 that I intend to cancel. I’ve had it with princess at this point in time!

I can vouch you aren't exaggerating about the failings of the Passenger Services desk.

They have a lack of comprehension about what you tell them.

Nazarene, one of the ladies there, listened to me for several  minutes about an Immigration  Visa problem which may have been caused by the ships administration, made me wait  while she went out the back to consult with her supervisor then came back and told me Princess have no control over credit cards. Nazarene, that's a different sort of Visa...…………………….

One native English speaker there is Emily, she had less problem understanding issues, but what really worked for me to some extent was demanding to see Carla the  boss of Passenger Services and refusing to take No for an answer.

I never did get to see her but I did get to meet with Luca the PS Manager, a nice guy who did make things happen. If you want to catch him informa

Edited March 27, 2019 by Griller

[HBCcruiser]

8 hours ago, ceilidh1 said:

To be honest I have spent more time at passenger services trying to get mistakes fixed than anywhere else. I’ve given up at this point and trying to salvage the few remaining days we have! I have written a letter that I intend to give a copy of to front desk, captains circle and future cruise desk highlighting all of the issues and the lack of response or caring to fix them. This is the first cruise in 10 years where I will not put down a future cruise deposit. I also have 3 cruises booked between now and spring 2020 that I intend to cancel. I’ve had it with princess at this point in time!

 

Have you tried contacting the hotel general manager or someone higher up on the chain? I’d be pretty angry too. 

[Georgie562]

13 hours ago, stvandy1 said:

Sunday? Darn. I’m doing Crown Grill on Sunday.

What I meant to say Sunday night patters for Monday

So this is For Monday.

[stvandy1]

33 minutes ago, Georgie562 said:

What I meant to say Sunday night patters for Monday

So this is For Monday.

Guess I will check the patter each day or princess@sea

[greenie082756]

We will be on Royal April 6th.

 

I try really hard to not let negative or very positive posts affect me and our experiences.

I have really been looking forward to being on the Royal.

I hope that all the quirks are worked out. 

Thanks for posting.

 

 

[ceilidh1]

12 hours ago, Griller said:

I can vouch you aren't exaggerating about the failings of the Passenger Services desk.

They have a lack of comprehension about what you tell them.

Nazarene, one of the ladies there, listened to me for several  minutes about an Immigration  Visa problem which may have been caused by the ships administration, made me wait  while she went out the back to consult with her supervisor then came back and told me Princess have no control over credit cards. Nazarene, that's a different sort of Visa...…………………….

One native English speaker there is Emily, she had less problem understanding issues, but what really worked for me to some extent was demanding to see Carla the  boss of Passenger Services and refusing to take No for an answer.

I never did get to see her but I did get to meet with Luca the PS Manager, a nice guy who did make things happen. If you want to catch him informa

I have asked three times to speak with a supervisor and have been told there was not one available! Last night I was told that the soda package issue was resolved and they would go ahead and charge me for the soda package.....ummm, NO! I’ve already GOT the package! I give up!

[stvandy1]

33 minutes ago, ceilidh1 said:

I have asked three times to speak with a supervisor and have been told there was not one available! Last night I was told that the soda package issue was resolved and they would go ahead and charge me for the soda package.....ummm, NO! I’ve already GOT the package! I give up!

I’m just glad I print off all my paperwork and bring them all in an 8.5x11 Manila envelope. On Golden Princess, they didn’t record my wife’s gratuities. I pulled out the paperwork which proved that I did. These Guest Service Personnel fixed it for me. Too bad these guest service personnel haven’t figured it out. Hope the higher brass can help you.

[stvandy1]

I’m just hoping that when my cruise starts in 10 days that all the kinks will be worked out.

[1emerald1]

49 minutes ago, ceilidh1 said:

I have asked three times to speak with a supervisor and have been told there was not one available! Last night I was told that the soda package issue was resolved and they would go ahead and charge me for the soda package.....ummm, NO! I’ve already GOT the package! I give up!

I'm getting stomach knots just reading what you've gone through!  I too have had very poor experiences with guest services, both times were related to Princess gift cards which were not honored.  Won't go in to details but I will never buy a Princess gift card again.

[ceilidh1]

2 hours ago, stvandy1 said:

I’m just glad I print off all my paperwork and bring them all in an 8.5x11 Manila envelope. On Golden Princess, they didn’t record my wife’s gratuities. I pulled out the paperwork which proved that I did. These Guest Service Personnel fixed it for me. Too bad these guest service personnel haven’t figured it out. Hope the higher brass can help you.

Believe me, I have ALL the paperwork and printed confirmation that I have already purchased the soda package. Makes no difference. They won’t even look at it. Said it has to come from corporate.

 

To add to this - today they assured me that my daughters soda package has now been applied ( it hasn’t). My sons package, which has been fine until now, has now disappeared and we are now being charged for his drinks too. It’s actually comical at this point. I’m not fighting any more - will just go down on the last night and refuse to leave until it’s all refunded!

[stvandy1]

1 hour ago, ceilidh1 said:

Believe me, I have ALL the paperwork and printed confirmation that I have already purchased the soda package. Makes no difference. They won’t even look at it. Said it has to come from corporate.

 

To add to this - today they assured me that my daughters soda package has now been applied ( it hasn’t). My sons package, which has been fine until now, has now disappeared and we are now being charged for his drinks too. It’s actually comical at this point. I’m not fighting any more - will just go down on the last night and refuse to leave until it’s all refunded!

If it’s on your paperwork, they darn well better accept it. Since it would be listed in the travel summary. They must have a bunch of newbies. I think someone at Princess, maybe the Customer Service manager needs to hold a training session with them. That is totally ridiculous. I’m getting neither the beverage, drink or coffee packages. I’m diabetic and have been banned from liquor. Soda I cannot have very much and I cannot stand coffee. I’ll have to drink maybe milk and water. An occasional soda or hot chocolate. I did put in $500 onboard credit which I may not use the whole amount. I am a bit of a tightwad. This is totally unfair. Give Guest Services Hell. Why they wouldn’t look at your paperwork is beyond me. That’s what the printout is for. After all, it was generated by Princess themselves.

[stvandy1]

Do you use Princess@sea to keep tabs on your account?

[Amy G]

20 hours ago, ceilidh1 said:

To be honest I have spent more time at passenger services trying to get mistakes fixed than anywhere else. I’ve given up at this point and trying to salvage the few remaining days we have! I have written a letter that I intend to give a copy of to front desk, captains circle and future cruise desk highlighting all of the issues and the lack of response or caring to fix them. This is the first cruise in 10 years where I will not put down a future cruise deposit. I also have 3 cruises booked between now and spring 2020 that I intend to cancel. I’ve had it with princess at this point in time!

Have you thought about posting something on Twitter?  Bad press on Twitter often gets things moving quicker.  I am so sorry you are having to deal with this!

[ceilidh1]

3 hours ago, stvandy1 said:

Do you use Princess@sea to keep tabs on your account?

Yes - that’s how I know instantly that they are charging for drinks. So far there is almost $100 charged between two kids that should not be on there....one of them is showing a soda package (but being charged all day today) and the other is still not showing the package (even though passenger services have assured me it has been fixed).

[ceilidh1]

3 hours ago, stvandy1 said:

If it’s on your paperwork, they darn well better accept it. Since it would be listed in the travel summary. They must have a bunch of newbies. I think someone at Princess, maybe the Customer Service manager needs to hold a training session with them. That is totally ridiculous. I’m getting neither the beverage, drink or coffee packages. I’m diabetic and have been banned from liquor. Soda I cannot have very much and I cannot stand coffee. I’ll have to drink maybe milk and water. An occasional soda or hot chocolate. I did put in $500 onboard credit which I may not use the whole amount. I am a bit of a tightwad. This is totally unfair. Give Guest Services Hell. Why they wouldn’t look at your paperwork is beyond me. That’s what the printout is for. After all, it was generated by Princess themselves.

Not only do I have the paperwork but I also have the card that is in the room at embarkation with the tumbler- there is absolutely no reason for them to have doubted we purchased the package. Yet they did! I do intend to write to customer relations about this - I’ve never had such bad service in the 12 years I have been cruising!

[idahospud]

21 minutes ago, ceilidh1 said:

Yes - that’s how I know instantly that they are charging for drinks. So far there is almost $100 charged between two kids that should not be on there....one of them is showing a soda package (but being charged all day today) and the other is still not showing the package (even though passenger services have assured me it has been fixed).

Are they getting fountain drinks or cans for that kind of price?

Edited March 28, 2019 by idahospud