Small Cutbacks Noticed

[greenie082756]

Our cruise is coming up in a few weeks. This will be our 9th cruise with Princess, and it's been 27 months since we last got off a cruise ship.

 

We did get the Plus package. We are not big alcoholic drinkers however we do love our specialty coffees which I personally can drink 3 -4 a day 🙂 . Not to mention sodas and water. Trying to figure out how to make my coffee card last a 15 day cruise was a challenge. Glad I do not have to count daily coffees anymore. 

We have not done the Plus package (drinks, Wi-Fi and gratuities) ever. This will be an interesting comparison against the other cruise lines we will be on this year and next. Its not that we don't love Princess because we do. Just want to try different lines for itinerary and price differences. Not to mention how we feel while on board.

 

I expect the plus package will go up as time goes on - hopefully not too much.

[WAvoyager]

I wonder how many people will be incentivized to consume more of the more expensive items because of Plus.  I’m not a big drinker.  I have a nice collection of wines, and premium spirits, so I’m not a teetotaler by any means.  I just don’t usually feel comfortable paying a big premium to order alcohol when I’m away from home. 

 

I would’ve bought Plus even if I didn’t touch a drop of alcohol.  WiFi and bottled water, coffee, mocktails and shakes, and never having to think about adding onto an additional bill at the end of the cruise, make it well worth the price.  But now, since there’s no extra cost for ordering a Grey Goose martini…

 

maybe the real reason for offering Plus is to make sure all of the passengers are pleasantly inebriated, driving up customer satisfaction survey result, and increased spend in the casino and shops!  🤣

Edited March 18, 2022 by WAvoyager

[Coral]

10 hours ago, WAvoyager said:

 

 

maybe the real reason for offering Plus is to make sure all of the passengers are pleasantly inebriated, driving up customer satisfaction survey result, and increased spend in the casino and shops!  🤣

I think having tips included is a huge incentive for Princess so that people are not removing tips.

[dog]

Would like fresh towels, garbage & dishes removed while out at dinner. I take my own pen, post it notes& never eat chocolate nor seen a towel creature on Princess ship 

[Daniel A]

This past year, I have taken a number of road trips involving nightly stays at moderate to luxury priced hotels.  None of them had pads and pens available anymore.  Gone were the binders detailing hotel information and services and local attractions.  These cutbacks are clearly in response to minimize touch points as a Covid prevention measure.  Most of the hotels required you to call the desk each day if you wanted room service, otherwise, make up your own bed and hang up your towels in the bathroom.  Mind you, these were not budget hotels.  I have just returned from a multi-day stay at one of the top-rated luxury hotel chain's resorts.  Our 'adjoining' rooms were located on different floors, one of the rooms was not ready until 2 hours after check-in time, our suite's refrigerator was missing and we had to call down to get it replaced, there were no cups or glasses in the room and you had to read a small note on a sticker in the bathroom to learn that you had to schedule room cleaning service each day and how to do it (you needed to schedule the room cleaning the day before.)  The waitress in the high-priced restaurant was poorly trained (one example:  she poured our hot coffee right over our laps rather than off to the side.)

 

This isn't a rant, it's just that the hospitality industry as a whole is hurting and will take some time to recover.  At some point, many of these 'missing' items will return after the Covid obsessions evaporate.  Until then, we can either deal with the inconveniences or stay home.  It's an individual choice.

[Princessfan20]

9 hours ago, Coral said:

I think having tips included is a huge incentive for Princess so that people are not removing tips.

 

I am of the opinion that Princess does not really care very much about crew tips or otherwise they would pay all their employees living wages.  

 

I am of the opinion that Princess Plus is nothing more than a mass marketing strategy to sale cruises and make people feel like they are getting something for nothing.

[Coral]

10 minutes ago, Princessfan20 said:

 

I am of the opinion that Princess does not really care very much about crew tips or otherwise they would pay all their employees living wages.  

 

I am of the opinion that Princess Plus is nothing more than a mass marketing strategy to sale cruises and make people feel like they are getting something for nothing.

This is a common practice for all main stream cruise lines - not just Princess. Right or wrong, this is how it has always been with cruising. 

[Daniel A]

47 minutes ago, Princessfan20 said:

I am of the opinion that Princess does not really care very much about crew tips or otherwise they would pay all their employees living wages.

And what is the standard you are using to define what a 'living wage' is?  These crew members families do not live in Beverly Hills or Scarsdale.  The money they are earning is apparently enough of a draw in their home countries.  Many recent posts demonstrate how grateful they are to see their jobs returning.  I've never seen a crew member panhandling at an elevator bank... 🤦‍♂️ 

[loge23]

Love to hear from the Corporate Grinch that came up with eliminating the chocolates!

I suppose that idea saved his/her miserable job!

[donaldsc]

4 minutes ago, loge23 said:

Love to hear from the Corporate Grinch that came up with eliminating the chocolates!

I suppose that idea saved his/her miserable job!

 

The chocolates they put pout were really lousy cheap chocolates.  The cruise lines will never spend the money for good chocolate.  If one wants to have decent chocolates, buy a bag of them and bring them w you.  You can then put them out each night and pretend that the chocolate fairy brought them.

 

DON

[loge23]

2 hours ago, Daniel A said:

And what is the standard you are using to define what a 'living wage' is?  These crew members families do not live in Beverly Hills or Scarsdale.  The money they are earning is apparently enough of a draw in their home countries.  Many recent posts demonstrate how grateful they are to see their jobs returning.  I've never seen a crew member panhandling at an elevator bank... 🤦‍♂️ 

One waiter told me that that's why we see mostly folks from the Phillipines, Eastern Europe, and Mexico as servers - because of the pay scale. Most western Europeans won't take the contract. The person I spoke with maintains an owned apartment in a Eastern European country where all they pay is the yearly tax, with is very low by our standards - a couple of hundred dollars. They are not getting their full pay during the ramp-up due to the lower passenger counts. It's still something, but about what a junior server makes during regular passenger loads. His regular salary wasn't bad at all and afforded him a comfortable life back home (when he IS home).

[loge23]

2 minutes ago, donaldsc said:

 

The chocolates they put pout were really lousy cheap chocolates.  The cruise lines will never spend the money for good chocolate.  If one wants to have decent chocolates, buy a bag of them and bring them w you.  You can then put them out each night and pretend that the chocolate fairy brought them.

 

DON

I don't go for the chocolates, don't need them, and don't necessarily miss them - but it was a nice, welcome touch - along with the pad and pen. 

[WAvoyager]

4 hours ago, Princessfan20 said:

 

I am of the opinion that Princess does not really care very much about crew tips or otherwise they would pay all their employees living wages.  

 

I think the argument is that if they can ensure that tips are collected from passengers, then they can continue to pay a sub living wage, and subsidize it with passenger paid tips.  
 

Obviously, Princess does care how much their employees make - either (cynically) because higher wages = lower turnover = lower costs to retrain and better output, or (optimistically) because they do care about their employees.  Either way, it’s obviously better on Princesses part to ensure that as much of income as possible is paid by someone other than Princess, so Princess can pay the least amount necessary for their employee hiring and retention goals.

[WAvoyager]

On 3/18/2022 at 10:21 AM, greenie082756 said:

We did get the Plus package. We are not big alcoholic drinkers

 

.

Whew!  Glad to hear that.   I try to keep to being a little alcoholic myself.

 

😉

[WAvoyager]

1 hour ago, loge23 said:

Love to hear from the Corporate Grinch that came up with eliminating the chocolates!

I suppose that idea saved his/her miserable job!

And if it did, would that really be such a bad thing?

 

18 months of expenses without income…. I’m okay with pretty much any cuts that were made to save jobs.  

 

Sorry, I’m sure you didn’t mean it to come out this way, but that’s a really privileged statement to make.

[Kmkub]

1 hour ago, loge23 said:

Love to hear from the Corporate Grinch that came up with eliminating the chocolates!

I suppose that idea saved his/her miserable job!

I’m on the other side. I always wondered who was eating those lousy chocolates with so many delicious sweet treats available 24/7.

 

We used to take them all home for the kids, but they didn’t like them, either. Eventually, we just threw them in the drawer and forgot about them.

[Kmkub]

1 hour ago, loge23 said:

I don't go for the chocolates, don't need them, and don't necessarily miss them - but it was a nice, welcome touch - along with the pad and pen. 

I don’t understand this point at all.  You don’t miss them but are still a bit annoyed they are gone?

[Baystate]

On 3/17/2022 at 7:00 PM, vjmatty said:

I have to ask, when you come out of the shower you’re drying a clean body, assuming you washed properly….same for washing your hands, you’re drying clean hands. So why can’t towels be used more than once?

So, I do wash the hand towel that is in our master bathroom daily, but not the one in the main bathroom unless we have company.  We mainly just use the bathroom in the master bath.

 

I am not concerned about the amount of water or electricity used.  I'd rather just have clean fresh towels.

 

 

[MsSoCalCruiser]

2 hours ago, loge23 said:

Love to hear from the Corporate Grinch that came up with eliminating the chocolates!

I suppose that idea saved his/her miserable job!

I would totally give up chocolate to help anyone save their job.  I didn’t think it was that great to start with but even if it was I would still give it up to help someone.

[Thrak]

We always ate the chocolates. I usually had mine in the morning when I got out of bed. Not great chocolate but we don't really have chocolate very often and didn't have a problem with it. On our upcoming cruise in May we should have plenty of chocolate. A year or two ago Princess had a Valentine's Day special that included a 19 piece box of Godiva chocolates. I've had them moved from cancelled cruise to cancelled cruise to cancelled cruise, etc. On our current booking Princess has included them for each of us. I figure that 38 pieces of decent chocolate for a 12 day cruise will work out nicely. 😁

 

 

[Doug R.]

5 hours ago, loge23 said:

Love to hear from the Corporate Grinch that came up with eliminating the chocolates!

I suppose that idea saved his/her miserable job!

You would be surprised how much money such a seemingly minor cut like this can save:

 

Nearly 30 years ago American Airlines made a startling discovery. They determined that eliminating one olive from each passenger’s salad plate would reduce costs by $40,000. The story made headlines because the cost of an arbitrary garnish had a surprising impact on costs.

[Cruise Raider]

I never cared about the evening turndown service so, I for one, am happy they discontinued it (if not requested). Every time we would tell the room stewards they didn't have to come in for the evening, they seemed to think they were going to get in trouble or that you might stiff them on the tipping which has never been the reason we tell them they could skip our cabin.  Now, we don't even have to argue about it as they would always insist it was no trouble.  

Now, I leave nice (individually wrapped) chocolates on the bed for our stewards.  They get a real kick out of it and we do, too.  As for the pen and paper, we always have a notepad and pen in our carry on bag.  We noticed they haven't had envelopes for additional tips so we also bring along some thank you cards and envelopes.  It seems so much more personal to give them a thoughtful thank you card with a tip anyway.  

I get why these things are important for some but we like cruising more now than we have in the past.  I think Princess is using their money more wisely and as a patron and stockholder, I can truly appreciate that.  I hate wastefulness and this seems to fit that philosophy better.  

[Lucky TGO]

The cut-back that got me upset was when Princess sold you the older coffee cards.

You were told they would be good until you used all the punches on the card. ( They Lied) 😡

Princess made all the coffee cards expired and offered NO compensation for your card.

 

Tony

 

[WAvoyager]

2 hours ago, Thrak said:

A year or two ago Princess had a Valentine's Day special that included a 19 piece box of Godiva chocolates. I've had them moved from cancelled cruise to cancelled cruise to cancelled cruise, etc. On our current booking Princess has included them for each of us. I figure that 38 pieces of decent chocolate for a 12 day cruise will work out nicely. 😁

 

 

 I’m hope they’re not the same chocolates from two years ago!  Hate to think of them having to keep moving them from place to place…. 😉

 

seriously though - I’ll have to see if they have those chocolates available on our upcoming cruise.  Lots of onboard credit to use, and Godiva chocolates are a good way to use them.

[mpdog42]

13 hours ago, Princessfan20 said:

 

I am of the opinion that Princess does not really care very much about crew tips or otherwise they would pay all their employees living wages.  

 

I am of the opinion that Princess Plus is nothing more than a mass marketing strategy to sale cruises and make people feel like they are getting something for nothing.

What would you consider a Honest Wage? (Serious Question)