Island princess service issues…

[awesomefat]

Let me ask another question… how often should I see a server in the casino to take a drink order?   If I am there for 3 hours, I probably see the server 3 times.  I see the casino manager or Pitt boss stroll by every 5 minutes.  I have been using them to get a server for me.  This is the island princess where the casino is very tiny.  If they want me playing in the casino, I should be able to use the app and get a drink in less than 10 minutes, or order with a server conveniently.  That just is not the case on this sailing and I don’t want to leave my lucky machine (lol) and risk someone else taking it just to go to a bar and place an order.  That being said, every bar I have gone up to so far has had quick service.  So this does not seem to be an issue with the bars being too busy.

 

I really do dislike being difficult and I do realize these are first world problems.  My main concern here is that princess is selling a service and not delivering it.  If they can’t maintain the staff to serve or the product to dispense, don’t upsell people on these things.

[memoak]

My wife and I usually play slots together. I will usually walk up to the bar to get 2 drinks (one in each of our accounts) while she makes sure my machine stays sctive.  No big deal 

[DallasGuy75219]

1 hour ago, awesomefat said:

I see the casino manager or Pitt boss stroll by every 5 minutes.  I have been using them to get a server for me.  This is the island princess where the casino is very tiny.  If they want me playing in the casino, I should be able to use the app and get a drink in less than 10 minutes, or order with a server conveniently.  That just is not the case on this sailing and I don’t want to leave my lucky machine (lol) and risk someone else taking it just to go to a bar and place an order.

Have told casino management your underlying issue/told them you won't be gambling nearly as much?  Sometimes they're too focused on the immediate issue (finding you a server) rather than the underlying issue (not enough bar servers in the casino).

[DallasGuy75219]

1 hour ago, memoak said:

My wife and I usually play slots together. I will usually walk up to the bar to get 2 drinks (one in each of our accounts) while she makes sure my machine stays sctive.  No big deal 

Some people travel by themselves and don't have that luxury, or their SO plays a different game or just doesn't want to be in the casino as much (or at all). 

[Doug R.]

20 hours ago, beg3yrs said:

Not my experience at all. They've been delivered from the nearest bar except when you are in your cabin. Then room service delivers drinks.

Not on the Enchanted, I was in the Vista lounge watching a football game and due to the lack of waiters I ordered through the app. Forty-five minutes later my order arrived, my second drink since a waiter finally came around prior,

[awesomefat]

So I just came into the casino and waived the casino manager over.  He said he would get me a waiter.  About 10 minutes later he came back and said the bar was backed up and it might be awhile.  The pit boss then came over and told me that there were only 2 servers on this level of the ship and they are understaffed.  I understand this as a reason, but how am I supposed to react to that? 

[cr8tiv1]

10 minutes ago, awesomefat said:

So I just came into the casino and waived the casino manager over.  He said he would get me a waiter.  About 10 minutes later he came back and said the bar was backed up and it might be awhile.  The pit boss then came over and told me that there were only 2 servers on this level of the ship and they are understaffed.  I understand this as a reason, but how am I supposed to react to that? 

 

Glad you reached out to the manager and pit boss.  

 

1.  They should have flagged you as a customer who wants to be checked on, frequently.  

 

2.  Not enough servers?  Common problem.

 

3.  Princess should NEVER have rolled out an app with this promise.  They have stretched their staff thinner than thin.  It is a fail on the developers part, the "genius" that pushed it (not naming names), and WILL NEVER deliver on its promise.  Pushing the beverage package and not providing enough servers is a really bad business decision.  

[DallasGuy75219]

58 minutes ago, awesomefat said:

So I just came into the casino and waived the casino manager over.  He said he would get me a waiter.  About 10 minutes later he came back and said the bar was backed up and it might be awhile.  The pit boss then came over and told me that there were only 2 servers on this level of the ship and they are understaffed.  I understand this as a reason, but how am I supposed to react to that? 

Abruptly stop gambling and come back a few days later and tell the casino manager why.  If you keep gambling despite the lack of service there's no incentive for Princess to change.  And assuming you have a drink package, fewer drink orders = more profit for Princess.

[dns65]

On 5/13/2023 at 12:38 PM, awesomefat said:

The same is true of the signature cocktails, they are not able to make some of the drinks on the menu.

 

Had the same issue at Good Spirits on the Royal recently.  They could make maybe half a dozen of the drinks on the menu.  Not sure why they are unable to adequately stock their liquor.

[cr8tiv1]

47 minutes ago, DallasGuy75219 said:

Abruptly stop gambling and come back a few days later and tell the casino manager why.  If you keep gambling despite the lack of service there's no incentive for Princess to change.  And assuming you have a drink package, fewer drink orders = more profit for Princess.

 

And I will throw in the "special desserts" and extra gym classes.  PURE PROFIT for Princess.  

 

Has anyone given thought to why they raised the Specialty Dining cover charges?  

1.  Overall, food prices have gone up (valid).

2.  Makes it more appealing to charge passengers more but include it in the Premium Beverage Package (more bang for the buck).

3.  Fill up the Specialty Dining rooms so you can't book reservations with your 2 extra credits.  

 

But I digress.  I have been in venues where the server will come over once and then never be seen again.  It was much better when they were trying to sell you drinks.  At least it looked like they were interested.  I don't want them to become like Carnival, where they are pushy.  Just service when needed.  

[awesomefat]

How many points in the casino make me “important” in the eyes of the manager?  I have not noticed an improvement and I’m over 2500 points so far on this cruise and it’s day 3 of 15.  Feels like I have spent plenty to be worth good drink service, but maybe I’m deluding myself lol.

Thoughts?

[cr8tiv1]

Just now, awesomefat said:

How many points in the casino make me “important” in the eyes of the manager?  I have not noticed an improvement and I’m over 2500 points so far on this cruise and it’s day 3 of 15.  Feels like I have spent plenty to be worth good drink service, but maybe I’m deluding myself lol.

Thoughts?

 

I had a problem on a ship recently.  Casino Manager came over to help me.  I asked him about numbers (which I will never reach and didn't care to retain the information).  He mentioned how many points I would need for each level (drinks, etc).  Drinks, I think, are a mute point now with the beverage packages.  But you could ask what the incentives are.  Good Luck.  

[Kellyansapansa]

2 hours ago, awesomefat said:

The pit boss then came over and told me that there were only 2 servers on this level of the ship and they are understaffed.  I understand this as a reason, but how am I supposed to react to that? 

With compassion and understanding. The crew at all levels are doing the best they can under very challenging circumstances. Many industries are struggling to recruit and retain adequate numbers of staff. It's not isolated to the casino on your ship and nobody is doing this just to annoy you. 🤷‍♀️

[awesomefat]

Compassion and understanding is fine for the workers, but the cruise line itself was still quite happy to charge me a lot of money for a lot of promised undelivered perks.  They are not a charity.  I understand that this is not an individual worker’s fault and they are all likely overworked and under appreciated, but at some level the business should be held accountable.  If they are going to sell me something they can’t deliver, their practices need to change, and that is the point of posts like this.  Presumably we are all cruisers who rely on forums like this to determine where to spend our next cruise dollar.

[DallasGuy75219]

1 hour ago, cr8tiv1 said:

 

And I will throw in the "special desserts" and extra gym classes.  PURE PROFIT for Princess.  

I just don't see those as having any impact on 99.9% of cruisers' decisions on whether to buy Princess Plus. If someone wasn't going to buy at $60 or even $50, would those two additional benefits push them to buy at $60?

 

But I guess some people aren't smart enough to compare the $60 to what they would have spent/used/consumed a la carte, or they see at the advertised "54% savings" and would buy Plus at any rate.

 

Edited May 15, 2023 by DallasGuy75219

[DallasGuy75219]

1 hour ago, Kellyansapansa said:

With compassion and understanding. The crew at all levels are doing the best they can under very challenging circumstances. Many industries are struggling to recruit and retain adequate numbers of staff. It's not isolated to the casino on your ship and nobody is doing this just to annoy you. 🤷‍♀️

Compassion and understanding aren't going to fix the problem.  Management-level staff on the ship can't add more bar servers on their own but they can report to landside that they are losing gamblers and gambling revenue due to inadequate service.

[cr8tiv1]

3 minutes ago, DallasGuy75219 said:

I just don't see those as having any impact on 99.9% of cruisers' decisions on whether to buy Princess Plus. If someone wasn't going to buy at $50, would those two additional benefits push them to buy at $60?

 

But I guess some people aren't smart enough to compare the $60 to what they would have spent/used/consumed a la carte, or they see at the advertised "54% savings" and would buy Plus at any rate.

 

 

It will for me.  I have begrudgingly paid the increase from $40 to $50 for the Plus Beverage Package.  But will not spring for the $60/day to include the desserts and classes.  I may be in the minority, but I would have preferred the choice of a third package....Wifi, crew incentive, beverages...without the added extras for $50.

[DallasGuy75219]

1 hour ago, cr8tiv1 said:

Drinks, I think, are a mute point now with the beverage packages.  But you could ask what the incentives are.  Good Luck.  

@awesomefat wasn't looking for comps, just adequate drink service for the package they already paid for or the drinks they were willing to pay for a la carte. 

[DallasGuy75219]

2 minutes ago, cr8tiv1 said:

 

It will for me.  I have begrudgingly paid the increase from $40 to $50 for the Plus Beverage Package.  But will not spring for the $60/day to include the desserts and classes.  I may be in the minority, but I would have preferred the choice of a third package....Wifi, crew incentive, beverages...without the added extras for $50.

For you the previous Plus package isn't worth $60, and desserts and exercise classes don't get you to $60 in value.  So that's pretty much my point, that those additional benefits don't justify the $10 increase for most people.

[Nelsj099]

5 hours ago, awesomefat said:

Let me ask another question… how often should I see a server in the casino to take a drink order?   If I am there for 3 hours, I probably see the server 3 times.  I see the casino manager or Pitt boss stroll by every 5 minutes.  I have been using them to get a server for me.  This is the island princess where the casino is very tiny.  If they want me playing in the casino, I should be able to use the app and get a drink in less than 10 minutes, or order with a server conveniently.  That just is not the case on this sailing and I don’t want to leave my lucky machine (lol) and risk someone else taking it just to go to a bar and place an order.  That being said, every bar I have gone up to so far has had quick service.  So this does not seem to be an issue with the bars being too busy.

 

I really do dislike being difficult and I do realize these are first world problems.  My main concern here is that princess is selling a service and not delivering it.  If they can’t maintain the staff to serve or the product to dispense, don’t upsell people on these things.

I basically sat at the UTH table as long as the casino was open on my last cruise (the slots were too tight to win anything).  I had fantastic drink service by the end (Grand).  They would see me and ask what I wanted, I rotated through 3 main drinks in the casino and would keep bringing them.   They said they would buy my drinks but I had the drink package so I must have reached some magic number that I didn't know about.   I know this is not normal behavior but it was my first time being able to go to a casino in about 3 years due to covid and being locked in China. Instead of ordering coffee with the server in the casino which I saw people do, I ordered through the APP the server was shocked when it showed up.  Lol maybe because I tipped him all week and then someone else brought my coffee.  But when other players ordered coffee it slowed down the whole service in the casino not worth ruining anyone else's day. 

 

I hate when they have bad drink service but I have had other people bring drinks to the casino so it is an option to order on the app. 

[caribill]

15 hours ago, macandlucy said:

Re Ocean Now and drink orders getting cancelled:

 

Not saying this is the cause of every cancellation because it definitely isn't, but sometimes it is.

Once you place your order (ie add to basket, then click on basket and place order), while that order is still in the queue (ie no one has started to make it yet) there is the option to cancel it. The option to cancel is a bar at the bottom of your phone, which can accidentally be clicked on if you put had put your phone down after ordering and then go and pick it up. I did that several times myself on my first Medallion cruise. 

 

I have also had orders cancelled by someone other than me -- I can only assume the bar (or room service) where the drinks would be coming from, and I do not understand why that happens. Extremely annoying I agree.

 

And there are the posts that have said the drinks never arrived, but the app says they were delivered.

[caribill]

3 hours ago, cr8tiv1 said:

 

It will for me.  I have begrudgingly paid the increase from $40 to $50 for the Plus Beverage Package.  But will not spring for the $60/day to include the desserts and classes.

 

Part of the excuse for raising the price to $60/day is that the crew incentive amount has gone up.

[caribill]

Pre-app, Princess had x number of people to deliver food and drink.

 

With the introduction of the app, I do not think that the number of people who deliver food and drink was increased.

 

But the workload has greatly increased as many people do use the app to order food and beverages to be delivered to where they currently are on the ship.

[gottagocit]

One thing to consider is you are not allowed to use your “device” while seated at a blackjack table so using the app to order is out unless you stop playing and step away from it for a moment or two to place the order. 

[macandlucy]

7 hours ago, caribill said:

 

And there are the posts that have said the drinks never arrived, but the app says they were delivered.

Yes, that has happened to me as well (heavy Ocean Now user). I can't understand why that would happen either, and I always wonder if someone else is enjoying our drinks or if they were just too busy and clicked "delivered" because they didn't have the staff to deliver it. Or maybe it's a technical glitch. Either way, it shouldn't happen.

 

I'm a big fan of Ocean Now and really do think it's a game changer, but it has to work. It's been around for a while now and I expect anything that was just growing pains should be over by now. I hope they don't give up on it.

 

I should also add that I do use Ocean Now a lot -- at least twice a day, and most times our orders are delivered correctly and in a timely fashion. When it works, it's great.