Small Cutbacks Noticed

[JF - retired RRT]

36 minutes ago, Nebr.cruiser said:

 

Surprisingly little to no extra events for the inaugural cruise, unless we missed something.  Boarding was chaotic. 

Maybe, because that "first" cruise wasn't the official inaugural cruise? IIRC, that's scheduled for the 29th (?).

[cr8tiv1]

I just returned from a b2b on the Grand Princess.  Granted, it was in a suite so unable to compare to other cabins.

 

Turn down service was available upon request (no chocolates / although I did find a notice somewhere that it should have been available).  Laundry returned same day.

 

Tubed items and soap bars

 

No Pen and Paper unless I requested it (could not get it from Purser, but got LOTS of pens from Captain Circle person.

 

I thought food was good, especially with low salt options (no gravies).  My prime rib was good.  Baked potato whenever I wanted it.  Loved smaller portions.  Princess did a terrific job with medium / medium rare.  Ice cream varied but only on lunch menu.  Yes, lots more seafood options

 

Best downsize was no more flyers.

 

Entertainment could have been MUCH better.  B class entertainers.  

 

Peanut cookies only at the IC

 

Shortage of staff everywhere (Covid related??).  But others managed to fill in to keep everything going.

 

I'm not a buffet person, but food seemed adequate.  I could always find something to eat.  Self served in individual containers or served by crew.

 

Elite, Platinum, Suite Lounge was pretty much the same the few nights I ventured in.

 

My biggest complaint was that suite tender pass was useless.  Long lines after tickets stopped.

 

All in all, I still enjoyed my cruise.  Crew is overworked and under-appreciated.  The crew is what makes cruising enjoyable for me.  

 

 

 

 

[Waynetor]

Baked, mash or fries are always available on request.  

 

If you want the meat in item 'A' but want the veg. from item 'B'. just ask.  

 

You can always ask about portion size and ask for more if desired.  Eg. the surf and turf has 3 shrimp but ask for more to be added if desired.  Same, the crispy chicken is 2 pieces but I asked for 3 sometimes.  I always ask for extra strawberries on the cheese cake or extra banana on a bananas foster order. 

[Coral]

5 hours ago, cr8tiv1 said:

I just returned from a b2b on the Grand Princess.  Granted, it was in a suite so unable to compare to other cabins.

 

 

You seem to be on the Grand a lot lately!!! 🙂 

[waltd]

2 hours ago, cr8tiv1 said:

I just returned from a b2b on the Grand Princess.  Granted, it was in a suite so unable to compare to other cabins.

 

Turn down service was available upon request (no chocolates / although I did find a notice somewhere that it should have been available).  Laundry returned same day.

 

Tubed items and soap bars

 

No Pen and Paper unless I requested it (could not get it from Purser, but got LOTS of pens from Captain Circle person.

 

I thought food was good, especially with low salt options (no gravies).  My prime rib was good.  Baked potato whenever I wanted it.  Loved smaller portions.  Princess did a terrific job with medium / medium rare.  Ice cream varied but only on lunch menu.  Yes, lots more seafood options

 

Best downsize was no more flyers.

 

Entertainment could have been MUCH better.  B class entertainers.  

 

Peanut cookies only at the IC

 

Shortage of staff everywhere (Covid related??).  But others managed to fill in to keep everything going.

 

I'm not a buffet person, but food seemed adequate.  I could always find something to eat.  Self served in individual containers or served by crew.

 

Elite, Platinum, Suite Lounge was pretty much the same the few nights I ventured in.

 

My biggest complaint was that suite tender pass was useless.  Long lines after tickets stopped.

 

All in all, I still enjoyed my cruise.  Crew is overworked and under-appreciated.  The crew is what makes cruising enjoyable for me.  

 

 

 

 

Agree.   How did you like the Steak Diane?  Also not impressed with the entertainment this time around.   Crew seemed in good spirits.

[cr8tiv1]

2 hours ago, Coral said:

You seem to be on the Grand a lot lately!!! 🙂 

 

I love the Grand Princess.  I'm pretty limited since Window Suites are only on the Grand and Caribbean.  Hmmm.  San Pedro (car ride) or Fort Lauderdale (air fare).  I am hoping the Grand will return in 2023.  I had considered LA to Vancouver.  Airfare from Vancouver back was more than twice the cost of the cruise.  That deterred a lot of folks.  

 

@waltdMy steak Diane showed up as a "steak" with the sauce on the side since I try to do a low sodium diet while cruising.  Asked for it medium rare and that's how it came.  I thought the steak meals were pretty spot on.  My first Spencer steak at the Crown Grill was disappointing.  I had the lamb chops on 2 subsequent visits.  They were outstanding.

 

And where were you?  Never ran across you, even at the meet and greet.  Guess I didn't mingle enough.  

Edited April 6, 2022 by cr8tiv1

[waltd]

Also love the Window Suites.  We were in F305. Only downside was the heater didn't work.   Went home sick with a head cold and sore throat.   Got tested when I got home and now, I have Covid.   This will be a cruise to remember. lol We did have a good time and the staff amazing.

[cr8tiv1]

@waltdSo we were "neighbors" and I never saw you in the hall.   My "thermostat dial" worked.  I always travel with an alarm clock that has a temp reading.  Was able to keep my cabin between 68 night and 75 day degrees.  Surprised it was only your cabin.
 

[Nebr.cruiser]

8 hours ago, JF - retired RRT said:

Maybe, because that "first" cruise wasn't the official inaugural cruise? IIRC, that's scheduled for the 29th (?).

Well, we did each get a certificate saying we had sailed on the inaugural cruise.

 

Also, we did expect some glitches with the first cruise; many things did smooth out after a day or so, mostly service related.  I don't see how food can be blamed on it being an inaugural cruise, or entertainment.

 

One good thing was that the shower seemed slightly larger and there was a ledge for shaving legs, etc.

 

I don't think I should have to ask specifically for, say, a baked potato, or at least say something about it.  Note:  I don't really need or want baked potatoes, but my husband does.

Edited April 6, 2022 by Nebr.cruiser

[caribill]

5 hours ago, cr8tiv1 said:

 

  I had considered LA to Vancouver.  Airfare from Vancouver back was more than twice the cost of the cruise.  That deterred a lot of folks. 

 

 

That is why I take a Princess xfer to the Seattle airport and then a much more reasonably priced flight to get home.

[cr8tiv1]

6 hours ago, caribill said:

 

That is why I take a Princess xfer to the Seattle airport and then a much more reasonably priced flight to get home.

I would have done this cruise in a heart beat, if my daughter in Seattle was available that weekend for a visit.  She had to be out of town.  

[mpk]

On 3/24/2022 at 6:45 PM, Kmkub said:

I, personally, support almost all of these changes. 

 

Yeah, I can at least see the logic in most of the changes.  Like the butter thing- most of it goes in the dumpster, as they have to change it out for every guest.  It melted too much, anti-coronavirus measures, etc etc etc.   I don't think Princess is trying to save the $0.02 for each butter pat, but trying to reduce waste.  I realize that this thread outlines a parade of small minor changes, not just one.  Sort of like that old saying about a thousand cuts.

 

Nevertheless, I'll give them the benefit of the doubt.

[PrincessLuver]

20 hours ago, Nebr.cruiser said:

We just got off the Discovery Princess inaugural cruise.  We definitely noticed cutbacks; some we didn't care, others we did.

 

We were fine with the once a day room cleaning; we often tell our steward no nightly turn down anyway.  I did notice no bar soap; I'm not a body wash person, but managed.  

 

The most noticeable cutbacks were in food quality and quantity.  This is something that probably we disliked the most.  No beef at all one night.  No longer a steak on the anytime side of the menu.  Portions definitely smaller, although this I personally don't mind, as by the time I get to the main course, I'm pretty full.  No baked potatoes, even on prime rib night.  

 

The prime rib was pathetic.  We did come late (8:50) and they realized how awful our 1/4" well done dried out prime rib was and really attempted to make it better.  The waiter, head waiter, etc. all came over, concerned.  At that point we were pretty full anyway and didn't care.

 

Lobsters were laughably small and tasteless.  No seconds offered, but that was ok since they were awful.   No roll basket on the table, offered one and one pat of butter.  They would give you more if asked.

 

Buffet food was good to pretty bad.  No more freshly made waffles, etc.  One quarter of a soft waffle, obviously warmed up.  Little variety and few special dishes.  I enjoyed the International Cafe more, and after a few attempts ate little at the buffet, except for breakfast.-

 

Service overall was excellent, although there were not enough servers in the buffet.  If you cannot serve yourself, there should be more than 2 or 3 people behind the counter.  Drink service in the buffet was really bad the first day--I saw several people quite angry, and we waited quite a while ourselves--but it did improve as the cruise went on.

 

Entertainment was spotty and mediocre.  Some of the singers who performed around the ship were good.  Only one production show, Rock Opera, which was great, but I expect two shows.  Covid related? on the cast?  Other acts were ok, but that's it.

 

I loved not getting all the advertisements in our room!  The Medallion worked fine, although we didn't use it much as we seldom order anything.  It was handy for getting into the room and off and on the ship.  

 

Surprisingly little to no extra events for the inaugural cruise, unless we missed something.  Boarding was chaotic.  Check in fast and easy, waiting for the shuttles to take us to the other dock was long and trying.  I think they finally ordered extra buses and then it speeded up a lot.

 

It was a good but not fantastic cruise.  

 

We are on the DiscoveryPrincess second cruise and the issues you mentioned remain.  We have done three Inaugural cruises with Princess and usually there is little fanfare or none at all.  

 

We have been surprised how slow the service is in the MDR's but we usually always book Club Class and this time it was unavailable so maybe that is not news.  It looks like they shrunk the mini suite a little and our most noticeable surprise is that in Gigi's Pizzeria, Bistro Sur La Mer and Sabatini's they use no table clothes  and it comes off as either cafeteria style or Denny's as far as elegance.  Basically it looks like Princess' cutbacks are death by a thousand paper cuts.

[c-boy]

13 hours ago, cr8tiv1 said:

 

I love the Grand Princess.  I'm pretty limited since Window Suites are only on the Grand and Caribbean.  Hmmm.  San Pedro (car ride) or Fort Lauderdale (air fare).  I am hoping the Grand will return in 2023.  I had considered LA to Vancouver.  Airfare from Vancouver back was more than twice the cost of the cruise.  That deterred a lot of folks.  

 

@waltdMy steak Diane showed up as a "steak" with the sauce on the side since I try to do a low sodium diet while cruising.  Asked for it medium rare and that's how it came.  I thought the steak meals were pretty spot on.  My first Spencer steak at the Crown Grill was disappointing.  I had the lamb chops on 2 subsequent visits.  They were outstanding.

 

And where were you?  Never ran across you, even at the meet and greet.  Guess I didn't mingle enough.  

😲 Spencer steak, now there's a throw back to the decade(s) gone bye.

[4cats4me]

They used to give welcome cookies in the staterooms , too, on embarkation day.  

[wineglass]

We were on the Discovery inaugural on the 27th. I agree with most of the items mentioned above. The whole bus thing at embarkation was a mess. We arrived at 1pm and there was a line of luggage waiting to be transferred 10 ft deep and 1/2 a block long…with one small haul van to transfer it. I told my wife departure would be delayed for luggage, and I was right. They were wise to decide to dock at berth 93 on return. Our biggest disappointment was Sabatini’s. No tablecloths, slow service and the removal of lobster 3 ways from the menu without any mention of it. The hazelnut ice cream dessert was a bust.. just a big hollow ball of chocolate with a teaspoon on ice cream. It will be a long time before I ever book that restaurant again! The service throughout the ship was very slow. If you asked, they tried to comply, but you HAD to ask or nothing was done. The only quick, friendly service were the two ladies who met you at the MDR door. Another complaint: we always had traditional dinning and except for the first night would just walk straight in to our table. Now, you must always que up at the door and HOPE you get the table you want. Our MDR waiter tried, but he was overworked with no helper and often forgot our orders. Most dinners took over 2 hours to eat start to finish. This was our third Princess cruise since last November, and our 2nd inaugural. It was also the least enjoyable of the three. Still, any day at sea is better than a day on land.

[richstowe]

15 hours ago, cr8tiv1 said:

I love the Grand Princess.  I'm pretty limited since Window Suites are only on the Grand and Caribbean.

Why do you prefer to go with  Window Suites ? Do you dislike balconies ?

(I'm assuming this is a suite without a balcony .)

[memoak]

39 minutes ago, richstowe said:

Why do you prefer to go with  Window Suites ? Do you dislike balconies ?

(I'm assuming this is a suite without a balcony .)

People like them because they ate usually cheaper but have full suite perks. Many times cheaper than mini suites but more perks

[JF - retired RRT]

17 hours ago, Coral said:

You seem to be on the Grand a lot lately!!! 🙂 

It's the only one on the west coast that has Window Suites.😉

[atexsix]

To those back from Discovery, were there white meat chicken portions available?  What about turkey?  We couldn't find white or lean meat options on our Holland America cruise last year, it was not to be had anywhere on the ship, even after a request was put in.  

[Nebr.cruiser]

1 hour ago, atexsix said:

To those back from Discovery, were there white meat chicken portions available?  What about turkey?  We couldn't find white or lean meat options on our Holland America cruise last year, it was not to be had anywhere on the ship, even after a request was put in.  

My husband ordered white meat only one night in the MDR and I think that's what he got.  Pretty small portions though.  There was turkey on the menu one night, but none of us ordered it.

[Nebr.cruiser]

2 hours ago, wineglass said:

We were on the Discovery inaugural on the 27th. I agree with most of the items mentioned above. The whole bus thing at embarkation was a mess. We arrived at 1pm and there was a line of luggage waiting to be transferred 10 ft deep and 1/2 a block long…with one small haul van to transfer it. I told my wife departure would be delayed for luggage, and I was right. They were wise to decide to dock at berth 93 on return. Our biggest disappointment was Sabatini’s. No tablecloths, slow service and the removal of lobster 3 ways from the menu without any mention of it. The hazelnut ice cream dessert was a bust.. just a big hollow ball of chocolate with a teaspoon on ice cream. It will be a long time before I ever book that restaurant again! The service throughout the ship was very slow. If you asked, they tried to comply, but you HAD to ask or nothing was done. The only quick, friendly service were the two ladies who met you at the MDR door. Another complaint: we always had traditional dinning and except for the first night would just walk straight in to our table. Now, you must always que up at the door and HOPE you get the table you want. Our MDR waiter tried, but he was overworked with no helper and often forgot our orders. Most dinners took over 2 hours to eat start to finish. This was our third Princess cruise since last November, and our 2nd inaugural. It was also the least enjoyable of the three. Still, any day at sea is better than a day on land.

We found the service in the MDR to be quite good and our meals moved along nicely.  We always do what used to be called 'My Time' (I think) and like to go to the first show and eat right afterwards.  We had no trouble getting a table; only waited once for more than 5 minutes, on the first night.

 

I know lines were much longer if you like to eat earlier.  It looked like a mess.

 

We ate at the Crown Grill and did have a table cloth; no cloths in the buffet though.

 

We had issues getting water throughout the cruise, (we don't normally drink alcohol or pop).  Once at the International Cafe two different servers took our order and never showed back up.  I finally just went to the bar and got some water.

[atexsix]

12 minutes ago, Nebr.cruiser said:

My husband ordered white meat only one night in the MDR and I think that's what he got.  Pretty small portions though.  There was turkey on the menu one night, but none of us ordered it.

Thanks!  Small portions are fine, Dad can't eat much at his age, plus I'm the foodie in the family.

 

8 minutes ago, Nebr.cruiser said:

We found the service in the MDR to be quite good and our meals moved along nicely.  We always do what used to be called 'My Time' (I think) and like to go to the first show and eat right afterwards.  We had no trouble getting a table; only waited once for more than 5 minutes, on the first night.

 

I know lines were much longer if you like to eat earlier.  It looked like a mess.

 

We ate at the Crown Grill and did have a table cloth; no cloths in the buffet though.

 

We had issues getting water throughout the cruise, (we don't normally drink alcohol or pop).  Once at the International Cafe two different servers took our order and never showed back up.  I finally just went to the bar and got some water.

Did they go around the MDR trying to get people to buy water?  We found it obnoxious on our HAL cruise when they did that, along with the magic tricks.  I'm sorry but we'd prefer not to be disturbed like that while eating.  I mean geez louise we pay decent money to sail on a ship, I'd at least like to experience some elegance.

 

 

Edited April 6, 2022 by atexsix

[Nebr.cruiser]

Just now, atexsix said:

Thanks!  Small portions are fine, Dad can't eat much at his age, plus I'm the foodie in the family.

 

Did they go around the MDR trying to get people to buy water?  We found it obnoxious on our HAL cruise when they did that, along with the magic tricks.  I'm sorry but we'd prefer not to be disturbed like that while eater, we'll attend the circus if we wanted that.  

 

Just now, atexsix said:

Thanks!  Small portions are fine, Dad can't eat much at his age, plus I'm the foodie in the family.

 

Did they go around the MDR trying to get people to buy water?  We found it obnoxious on our HAL cruise when they did that, along with the magic tricks.  I'm sorry but we'd prefer not to be disturbed like that while eater, we'll attend the circus if we wanted that.  

We were not asked once at dinner to buy water--or anywhere else.  My DH and sister and I are very big water drinkers and they were great at keeping our glasses filled.  I didn't mind the smaller main dish portions either; by the time I've had the starters, etc., they are about right.  Even my husband didn't complain except maybe at the teeny-tiny lobster.  We are both 76.

[atexsix]

4 minutes ago, Nebr.cruiser said:

 

We were not asked once at dinner to buy water--or anywhere else.  My DH and sister and I are very big water drinkers and they were great at keeping our glasses filled.  I didn't mind the smaller main dish portions either; by the time I've had the starters, etc., they are about right.  Even my husband didn't complain except maybe at the teeny-tiny lobster.  We are both 76.

I had lobster once on HAL and it was laughably small, so I didn't even bother ordering it on surf/turf night. And I don't mean that in an ungrateful way, it was in the MDR and not like we were paying for it at a specialty restaurant.  The portions in general were just funny, at breakfast one morning I received (no joke) a thimble sized portion of cottage cheese.  Why do I bring this up?  Because HAL and Princess, being sister lines, seem to be incorporating similar changes to their menus and portions.