Cutbacks

[SumoCitrus]

I've been reading about a lot of noticeable cutbacks on HAL ships over on the Holland America board. It seems many people are upset with reductions in food and service quality. Previously, we only sailed on HAL but we are trying our first Princess cruise in December.

 

Have any recent Princess cruisers noticed cutbacks? If so, what did you observe? For us, it will be hard to notice as first timers. I am just curious to see if this is something that is being done across all Carnival-owned lines.

[sirclean]

Just back from Discovery Princess (on a Thanksgiving Cruise). 

Discovery is one of the LARGE Ships.  I preferred to travel on those like the Star, which were all sold/transferred.  So this is my first experience with this size ship, and it was at or above capacity given all of the extra passengers (kids) on the trip. 

I can not say that I noticed lower quality food. I have been on 22 Princess cruises before this one, so I have tasted most every meal, and I didnt notice much difference.  (I really like Onion soup, but it is now on the 'every day' list, not once a week, so I can tell you that the onion soup is no where what it was, but given that it is every day now, it probably is very, very different... like prepackaged in a bag, and kept warm until needed, and not prepared fresh for the one day).  Otherwise, the food was as good as I remembered.

 

The internet was worse, (see the Internet: Unlimited but Unusable thread).  But that is not a cutback, just a flaw with the company. 

 

I will say that service was stretched to its limits, but I didnt feel that was because they cut back on staff, but more that the ship was stressed to its capacity limits (and beyond). 

 

IF this is your first Princess Cruise, come with an open mind!  Dont let anyone else poison your opinion! 

 

Princess target clientele is different from Holland America.  They have different types of events and you may (or may not)! prefer the 'vibe' of the line.  (Also, IF you continue with Princess, you will notice that Alaska on Princess is different from Mexico or Hawaii on Princess).  The bottom line is that it is going to be a new experience for you!  Enjoy it, and dont look for bad things that may not be bad to you!!

[SumoCitrus]

Thank you very much! I am looking forward to it.

[iamaqt2]

Yes, Princess like every other cruise line has instituted many cutbacks.  Some to save money, and some because of supply chain issues.  A big one for me is the removal of the New York steak on the Always Available MDR menu.  Also the MDR menus in general have shrunk, with fewer nightly offerings and greatly reduced portion sizes.  
Another place it's noticeable is the buffet.  Lower quality fruits, deli meats and cheeses for sure, along with cheaper cuts of meats.
Staffing is also an issue.  This is industry wide and not specific to Princess. 
None of these things will make me not cruise, but for long time cruisers on Princess, they are definitely noticeable.

[pris993]

Welcome to Princess.  We have cruised HAL, we are 2 star on HAL.  Each line has its pluses and minuses.  We will be on our 32 Princess cruise in December.  In the past 10 years, we have cruised Princess, HAL and Cunard.  Have gone back to Princess since the Pandemic.  See some changes but not enough to make me not book Princess.  The staff on Princess are fantastic, much like HAL.  Hope you enjoy your cruise. 

 

[VibeGuy]

Princess has dealt with supply chain disruptions by dumbing down the wine by the glass program, after spending some serious effort improving it before the shutdown. 
 

On Ruby I didn’t notice a decline in food quality - in fact, fin fish sourcing and execution has improved substantially.  The only place I really notice cutbacks is in the room service menu.  I miss the lasagna.  

[shorefolks]

We just got off a trans-Atlantic on Emerald Princess. It was our 10th Princess cruise, 31st overall, and the first Princess cruise where we emphatically did NOT buy a future cruise credit. Our biggest complaint by far was the food. Cutbacks were immediately noticeable. Cheaper cuts of meat were pervasive. Overall, the food was tasteless and lacking in variety. 

Some examples: (1) the onion soup was indeed of the cheapest commercial grade, so loaded with salt as to be inedible (and I use a lot of salt myself); (2) a prime rib required a steak knife to be cut; (3) one night's dinner selections included "vegetarian" cassoulet (there is no such thing, unless you count canned baked beans), chicken drumsticks, and make-your-own empanadas; (4) the shrimp cocktail contained 4 miniature shrimp.  Dinner in the past would involve choosing the best of several good entrees; it is now down to picking the dish you will dislike least. The best food on the ship is from the pizzeria or the International Cafe, but you can't eat there all day, every day.

Entertainment was mediocre. There was no staff show. Enrichment lectures were almost non-existent and almost always irrelevant. Six straight days at sea became a chore.

On the plus side, the service was excellent from the usual charming group of Filipinos. However, the ship had only 1800 passengers. What would it have been with a full 3000-plus?

In sum, this was a very disappointing return to cruising after 3 years. We have an Oceania cruise in January to Antarctica. We were already looking forward to it very much, now probably more so. The contrast should be interesting.

[sparks1093]

I haven't sailed on Princess yet but have noticed a decline in quality in a large number of products (included lower food quality) and services since COVID reared it's ugly head. Service due to staffing issues (either not being able to hire enough people or having to hire unskilled people) has also been noticeable. Food supply issues are affecting our local grocery store. I say that to point out that until society as a whole returns to some sense of normalcy we might want to wait to hold a cruise line to a higher standard for experiencing the same issues (and from what I've read these issues do cut across cruise lines).