Small Cutbacks Noticed

[Coral]

40 minutes ago, julia said:

I'm just trying yo wrap my head around not having a pen in your purse or man-bag! Between the two of us, we probably have 6 or 8 easily (and the DH has a handy little notebook that gets used often!)

I didn't. I don't use a pen anymore when I am out. Everything goes on my credit card or I use my phone. I just don't write things down anymore when I am out.

[MISTER 67]

9 hours ago, Mud_Shark said:

I didn't know there was a Hate-on for towel animals.  I thought everyone loved them.  My wife collects them throughout the cruise, photographs them in various group poses in the room, and then dissects them at the end of the cruise to see if she can replicate them.  Don't know if Princess ever did them as we have only been cruising since 2013, but Carnival still does them.  They even have towel animal takeover day on the pool deck where they are on every deck chair and bench.  We like it!

 

Don

Forget the towel animals but I also collected the stamps for the Princess Passport books and miss collecting them. I also miss the chocolate on the pillows at night but all not that much as you can have tons of chocolate throughout the day on the ship, a Love Boat dream is a great chocolate fix.

We took 2 cruises on Caribbean Princess in November and December and on both cruises our cabin was serviced twice a day without asking. We thought that the pens and pads were missing due to Covid along with the other usual cabin paraphernalia.

We are sailing this coming Sunday on the Rotterdam and it will be interesting to see what HAL has cutback on.

 

 

Edited March 16, 2022 by MISTER 67

[ontheweb]

1 hour ago, donaldsc said:

 

You can hang them up and let them dry and reuse them - just like I assume that you do at home.  How many of us change our towels at home twice per day?  There are other cutbacks on ships that would be more of a pain to me than towels.  I would definitely be extremely annoyed if they discontinued the paper patter.  I may be a luddite but having paper is a lot easier to use than  having to look up stuff on my phone especially as I don't carry my phone around with me on a cruise.

 

DON

And if you are even more of a luddite and don't even have a smartphone, having printed paper is even more important.

[pms4104]

Some/many of the cutbacks mentioned here cost Princess virtually nothing ... 

 

As for the paper items, the reasoning might be Covid, or it might be environmental issues ... 

 

But the cost is nothing when compared to how much the beverage pkg portion of Plus must be eating away at their already red ink ... drip by drip and not yet replaced plastic bottle by plastic bottle. 

 

To say nothing of the Medallion, with continuous updates and "improvements" ... and the batteries are throw-away rather than environmentally  rechargeable.

 

Princess can't or refuses to see the big picture.

[Louby-Lou]

3 hours ago, Coffeeluvr05 said:

Baked potatoes are available in the MDR.  Two ladies sitting next to us ordered them on our recent sailing on the Majestic at the end of February.  I always forget that it is ok to ask for things not on the menu and was thinking "darn it, I should have ordered one!" but we had finished our dinner at that point.

Yes, I got them in the DR but not in the buffet.  Back in the day, the ones in the DR were good-sized Idaho potatoes but the ones on Regal were really small!

[dickinson]

4 hours ago, MissP22 said:

Chocolates-- We got a Princess Chocolate cake last night and saved the chocolate sides in a glass to have later.

 

I've noticed many cutbacks in food for the buffet and DR. Missing are prime rib, the cowboy steak was less than 1/4 inch thick. The selections for the Platinum/Elite lounge have been pathetic.  It's not worth taking the time to go any more.

Not to mention there are less production shows than past years.

 

In February on the Regal we had prime rib in the MDR on both our b2b cruises.

[Mike45LC]

Some things don't strike me as important -- of course, this is highly personal and subjective.  My "I don't care" might be someone else's luxury.

 

No pens or pad of paper -- I never travel without my own selection of office stuff, including pens, pencils, highlighters in multiple colors, post-its, pads, stapler, paperclips, ...   (Somewhere, I might still have stationery from Crystal, engraved with my name and cabin number -- I don't think that the engraved paper in every cabin is what forced Crystal into debt.)

 

Chocolates:  This would bother me, so I bought a bag of Hershey's Miniatures and they are ready to throw in my suitcase, to be doled out every night.  I think the bag has something like 32 small candies so this one bag (cost was about $3) is enough for my upcoming cruise.  Problem solved. 

 

I did notice that Princess still listed evening chocolates as a benefit under the Mini-Suite amenities.

 

Towel animals:  I remember these from other cruise lines, but never on Princess.  

 

Towels:  I always hang up my used towel for reuse, but the steward has always changed them every day.   I am happy either way.

 

[CineGraphic]

1 hour ago, pms4104 said:

But the cost is nothing when compared to how much the beverage pkg portion of Plus must be eating away at their already red ink

 

The plus package is saving their a$$.

They've never sold so many packages before.

There is profit to be made even if someone drinks 15 drinks per day, because most won't or can't drink that much.

The cost for an ounce and a half of booze, or a small wine pour is minimal.

Every night the bottles are inventoried and measured in tenths.

They've got this down to a science.

[Coffeeluvr05]

1 hour ago, dickinson said:

 

In February on the Regal we had prime rib in the MDR on both our b2b cruises.

We had prime rib in both the MDR and the buffet on our recent Majestic sailing in February.  It was a good cut too!  

[pms4104]

1 hour ago, CineGraphic said:

 

The plus package is saving their a$$.

They've never sold so many packages before.

There is profit to be made even if someone drinks 15 drinks per day, because most won't or can't drink that much.

The cost for an ounce and a half of booze, or a small wine pour is minimal.

Every night the bottles are inventoried and measured in tenths.

They've got this down to a science.

If Plus is saving Princess' buns ... then the powers that be should be hiring more phone reps, training them properly, issuing refunds more timely ... the list goes on and on.

 

More likely Plus is helping Princess build capacity ... so there are more people paying actual money to cruise Princess ... cash flow, dontcha know.

[ssawjo]

Never ate the chocolate candies anyway.  Have to watch my sugar.  But I did bring them home for my son to enjoy.

[marden1970]

5 hours ago, Lady Arwen said:

Yup!  I’ve been carrying a pen and little notebook in my handbag since I was a very young lady.  That and tissues and lipstick and tic tac mints! lol. Old habits die hard.

And a dime for the phone!

[brisalta]

13 hours ago, caribill said:

 

It has not been a Princess thing as log as we have been on Princess.

 

However on some Princess cruises they did have a towel animal class in the atrium.

 

Princess organizes towel animals if a passenger is celebrating a special event such as wedding anniversary, birthday, etc..

[Eglesbrech]

1 hour ago, CineGraphic said:

 

The plus package is saving their a$$.

They've never sold so many packages before.

There is profit to be made even if someone drinks 15 drinks per day, because most won't or can't drink that much.

The cost for an ounce and a half of booze, or a small wine pour is minimal.

Every night the bottles are inventoried and measured in tenths.

They've got this down to a science.

 I would agree. I have purchased plus for convenience but I very much doubt I will ever have anything like 15 drinks a day.

 

All cruise lines are making little cuts here and there, some don’t bother me, some will. The trick for the line is not to annoy too many passengers to the point they won’t book again. 

[Kmkub]

 

We are personally grateful that we can now opt out of the evening turn down service. We only asked our steward to take away any dirty dishes and leave us the patter. This worked great on our two cruises this year. We are fine that the bathroom is cleaned just once/day. It's a personal choice; just tell the cabin steward your personal preferences when you board.

 

The app has a way for you to contact your steward directly, to ask for just about anything. You can also order any housekeeping items directly from the app as well.

[MsSoCalCruiser]

8 minutes ago, Kmkub said:

 

We are personally grateful that we can now opt out of the evening turn down service. We only asked our steward to take away any dirty dishes and leave us the patter. This worked great on our two cruises this year. We are fine that the bathroom is cleaned just once/day. It's a personal choice; just tell the cabin steward your personal preferences when you board.

 

The app has a way for you to contact your steward directly, to ask for just about anything. You can also order any housekeeping items directly from the app as well.

How do you contact your steward directly and not someone else on the app?

[Kmkub]

18 minutes ago, MsSoCalCruiser said:

How do you contact your steward directly and not someone else on the app?

I don’t remember exactly, but somewhere in the app there’s a way to send a message directly to your steward. 

[c-boy]

2 hours ago, Coffeeluvr05 said:

We had prime rib in both the MDR and the buffet on our recent Majestic sailing in February.  It was a good cut too!  

been on the menu every night this week

[Billish]

20 minutes ago, CarelessAndConfused said:

 

How do you know all that?  Sounds like a lot of assuming going on there.  Some cocktails actually cost a decent amount to make (relative to a $15 per day revenue on it).  But even if it cost them nothing, the math would imply that they would need to sell 4 Plus packages for every Drinks package sold before.  Even if you included some new wifi customers that would not have bought separately, you're still looking at well above 3x they have to sell to make the same profit as before.  I'm not convinced that's going on.  And once again, even with the volume pricing they get, various cocktails may cost $0.50 or more per drink to make, which eats away at that $15/day drink package.

 

 

 

 

Sorry, your convoluted  "logic" is beyond me.

Alcoholic drinks cost Princess less than $1 each. Specialty coffees,  teas, mocktails etc even less.  WiFi costs virtually nothing.  At $40 pppd Princess are making a fortune out of PP!

And given the cost of PP versus the old drinks package,  they are probably selling 10 times more PPs than drinks packages.. Even non-drinkers buy the PP for the soft drinks, coffee etc. 

Edited March 16, 2022 by Billish

[2 cruises a year]

6 hours ago, Lady Arwen said:

Yup!  I’ve been carrying a pen and little notebook in my handbag since I was a very young lady.  That and tissues and lipstick and tic tac mints! lol. Old habits die hard.

No hatpin? 😉

[2 cruises a year]

6 hours ago, Lady Arwen said:

The towels are not an issue for me either.  I have to admit, though, coming back to our cabin in the evening finding a turned down bed and dimmed lights and my Princess Patter to read in bed, was always one of the little pleasures of cruising.

I agree completely.  This, (evening turn down) to me more than anything.  Most of the issues on this thread are in this category.  People say that they do (fill in the blank) at home.  Agreed, but I'm on vacation,  I am not at home, I enjoy all of these little things.  They are little, but special and nice.  For now, I accept the cutbacks for the reasons mentioned.  Covid and billions in debt.  But I do hope that they return as soon as practical.

[caribill]

Cruising used to be like staying on land at a luxury hotel. That is why there was turn-down service each evening, chocolates on the pillows, etc.

 

So many of the cutbacks are essentially changing the experience from being in a luxury hotel on land to a run-of-the-mill motel on land.

 

But many liked to cruise on Princess because there were different and better than most other competitive cruise lines.  But bit by bit Princess is eliminating what made them special and being more and more like the competition. Gone are such niceties as the welcome cookie in the cabin on embarkation day, crepes during the Champagne fountain event, free Internet for full suite passengers, and, yes, the evening chocolates on the pillow each evening.

 

And Princess is also becoming more like the competition by building bigger and bigger ships that can not go to ports that allowed Princess in the past to have many unique itineraries that can no longer be offered. Some itineraries just cannot be offered anymore with today's ships such as the sailings up the Amazon River to Manaus. Some other ports that Princess still goes to now and then are overwhelmed by the number of people on a large ship. For example, the Falkland Islands and Tahiti are great for ships with 1200 passengers or less. Bring a ship with 2600 passengers or more to such ports means a poor experience for passengers as the tourist infrastructure does not allow all passengers to do the (Princess or independent) excursions they want. And with just two (aging) ships left in the fleet that can go through the original Panama Canal locks, it will not be too far in the future that Princess will no longer be able to offer that itinerary.

 

Honestly, if Princess is not that different from the competition, there are enough cruise companies offering the same Caribbean ports out of south Florida that price can become the deciding factor, not the cruise line. Same with Alaska cruises to what are now overloaded ports with a number of large ships in port there each day. Ditto voyages out of Galveston.

[MsSoCalCruiser]

@caribillI agree with you 💯.  Princess has always been our favorite line but I’m thinking of trying another cruiseline if the prices are lower.  It actually makes me sad.  

[tawlaw1526]

5 minutes ago, MsSoCalCruiser said:

@caribillI agree with you 💯.  Princess has always been our favorite line but I’m thinking of trying another cruiseline if the prices are lower.  It actually makes me sad.  

I also 100% agree!   It actually makes me sad too.   

[GatorGirl1313]

Having cruises in the past few months on Royal Caribbean, I didn't feel that they were making any cutbacks to service or quality. Booked another RCI cruise while on-board in fact. I hope my upcoming cruise on Discovery Princess doesn't feel lacking in comparison.  First world problems for sure.... but companies should be aware we have choice and too many little cutbacks that seem to devalue one's overall experience will lead to us choosing other lines.  I am extremely easy to please and have never had a bad cruise but I also want to spend my money on the best cruise product.