My wish list for Princess

[MsSoCalCruiser]

2 hours ago, memoak said:

Those lounges are very small and not really set up with plumbing. What would you put in there ?  Remember most are right next to the smoking area of the casino

Which is why it makes total sense to put an arcade there, lol. 

[Cruise Raider]

47 minutes ago, JimmyVWine said:

Flowers took a nose dive when Greg LaFollette left, and what was left of the brand suffered even more once Joan and Walt Flowers sold the brand to Huneeus.  But despite all that tail-spinning, it is still probably the best Chardonnay on board.  Not saying much.

Flowers is far from being a premium Chardonnay. We used to be able to be able to get Rombauer, the best Chardonnay ever made.  But, seriously, Wente Riva Ranch (@@$14 bottle), and even Bogle (@$9 a bottle) and many Napa Valley local wines are far superior to Flowers, which lacks any distinction of a great Chardonnay, are so much better at a far better price.  Well, anything is better than that Canyon Road .. but that’s not saying too much, as it is undrinkable.  I’m not even a wine snob but really, that stuff is garbage.  
I can sometimes find an unadvertised Hartford Chardonnay, which is great, but I think I’ve drank the whole stock on several different Princess ships.  
 

[doghog]

1 hour ago, MsSoCalCruiser said:

Which is why it makes total sense to put an arcade there, lol. 

I walked in the one on our recent (27 March - 6 April) Enchanted cruise. They sure did their best cramming as many games and rides in that space. 🙄 Unbelievable. No matter the time and everytime I walked by the place it was always empty.  Move the photo gallery and the arts gallery on the Enchanted to the old Churchills and turn the space where the photo gallery and art gallery  is into a dedicated Platinum/Elite Lounge. 🍻

[JimmyVWine]

1 hour ago, Cruise Raider said:

Flowers is far from being a premium Chardonnay.

That is true today. But when Greg was making the wine, it was top notch. Back then, when it developed its reputation, it was a small production boutique winery. For example, the 1997 Porter Bass Chardonnay had a production level of 180 cases. By contrast, the 2021 Sonoma Coast bottling now surpasses 20,000 cases. Nothing is the same except the name. The current owners are trying to succeed off of the name instead of the product. 

 

Edited April 19 by JimmyVWine

[JimmyVWine]

1 hour ago, Cruise Raider said:

I can sometimes find an unadvertised Hartford Chardonnay, which is great,

Greg LaFollette also helped launch that brand (Hartford Court). Great stuff for the price. 

[Cruise Raider]

2 minutes ago, JimmyVWine said:

That is true today. But when Greg was making the wine, it was top notch. Back then, when it developed its reputation, it was a small production boutique winery. For example, the 1997 Porter Bass Chardonnay had a production level of 180 cases. By contrast, the 2021 Sonoma Coast bottling now surpasses 20,000 cases. Nothing is the same except the name. The current owners are trying to succeed off of the name instead of the product. 

 

 I fear the same may happen to Rombauer since Gallo bought them.  It’s yet to be seen but I am assuming it may nit be for the better as far as the wine is concerned.  

[Cruise Raider]

Just now, JimmyVWine said:

Greg LaFollette also helped launch that brand (Hartford Court). Great stuff for the price. 

Wow, it’s so much better than the Flowers chard!  

 

[JimmyVWine]

Just now, Cruise Raider said:

Wow, it’s so much better than the Flowers chard!  

 

So much better than the current Flowers Chardonnay. 

[beshears]

Bemidji Ty, as for myself, as long as it is "self serve", I always carry a wet wipe, so I can wipe my hands down good, after touching the utensils that others have touched as well.

[damiross]

2 hours ago, Bemidji Ty said:

Changes I would make are: 1. Service in buffet would be cafeteria style where you hold your plate and staff serves the food.  

...

2. Teach the staff to read their audience.

No.  I go to the buffet so I can have the quantity of food I want and the part of the food I want.  For the latter, I'll give an example.  Let's say there's a meat dish that contains the meat, carrots, and mushrooms.  I would want to service myself the meat and carrots portion of the dish.  If I got the mushrooms, they would be wasted because I wouldn't eat them.

 

I agree with your point 2.

[OzKiwiJJ]

With the flu season ramping up in Australia along with new variants of Covid-19, just in time for our world cruise to begin, what I would like to see is Princess clamping down on inconsiderate people who insist on carrying on as usual, sneezing and/or coughing heavily over and around other passengers and, of course, not wearing masks. With the medallion technology it would be very easy to identify those people and pass on their details to the Medical Centre who should then require those people to be tested for flu and Covid, and the testing should be covered by Princess. If positive they should be required to isolate for several days (typically 5-6 for Covid) but medical treatment would be optional. If negative to flu and Covid but still showing symptoms they should be asked to isolate as well, and they don't then they should have to test every day at their own cost until their symptoms disappear.

Edited April 19 by OzKiwiJJ

[MsSoCalCruiser]

1 minute ago, damiross said:

No.  I go to the buffet so I can have the quantity of food I want and the part of the food I want.  For the latter, I'll give an example.  Let's say there's a meat dish that contains the meat, carrots, and mushrooms.  I would want to service myself the meat and carrots portion of the dish.  If I got the mushrooms, they would be wasted because I wouldn't eat them.

 

I agree with your point 2.

I don’t think we have to agree with each other because this is a wish list.

[memoak]

46 minutes ago, doghog said:

I walked in the one on our recent (27 March - 6 April) Enchanted cruise. They sure did their best cramming as many games and rides in that space. 🙄 Unbelievable. No matter the time and everytime I walked by the place it was always empty.  Move the photo gallery and the arts gallery on the Enchanted to the old Churchills and turn the space where the photo gallery and art gallery  is into a dedicated Platinum/Elite Lounge. 🍻

There is no way that PAC West is going to give up the large area they have for their art work. The are a vendor and not Princess

[Steelers36]

I am thinking that when PCL re-did their wine list back pre-pandemic, they had a wine consultant advise them and help select labels.  It was a vast improvement over the previous situation.  When they came with the Plus and basically dumbed down the basic wines available BTG on the plan, it seems they abandoned most pretense to a "fine" wine list.  I am thinking they no longer have an expert in the matter, nor are paying the same consultant source to help them again (not anyone else).  So the "interesting" labels have been getting drunk up and are being replaced with what consensus seems is rather uninspiring - or a shade above plonk.  

 

It appears they have decided to build out the wine list with lower cost selections that they then slap a large markup on.  Sure, they still have some eye-watering price tags, but is that only because stick is still kicking around from circa-2019?

 

I do bring my own if at all feasible, so can ignore what they offer.  But it is sad to see - if they are reverting back to a "blah" list.

 

There's a restaurant we are going to with family tomorrow evening for dinner.  They purport to be one of the nicer places to dine out in this not-large city.  That said, they have been around for a couple generations, so quite traditional.  I looked at the wine list earlier today.  I couldn't believe it and had not seen anything this bad for ages.  Unfortunately, they do not allow BYOW, so perhaps I will just have a beer.  It's like it was assembled without a care and of course as soon as you see a list with no vintage and incomplete label names, you know to run the other direction.  But I don't have a choice.  On the ships, you also have to live with what's on offer or BYO.

 

[JamieLogical]

10 hours ago, damiross said:

No.  I go to the buffet so I can have the quantity of food I want and the part of the food I want.  For the latter, I'll give an example.  Let's say there's a meat dish that contains the meat, carrots, and mushrooms.  I would want to service myself the meat and carrots portion of the dish.  If I got the mushrooms, they would be wasted because I wouldn't eat them.

 

I agree with your point 2.

 

This one I have mixed feelings about. I do think that people serving themselves is unhygienic and honestly just try not to think about it too much, because when I do, it really grosses me out. However, having sailed on several sailings post-restart when staff were serving the food in the buffets on all the cruise lines, I found that I wasted MUCH more food. I had gastric sleeve years ago and can't eat more than 5-7 oz. in a sitting, so I take one or two bites worth of the foods I want to try when serving myself on a buffet. When the staff were serving, even when I would ask for "just a tiny bit" of something, I would end up with half a plate-full or even a whole plate-full.

[JimmyVWine]

6 hours ago, Steelers36 said:

When they came with the Plus and basically dumbed down the basic wines available BTG on the plan, it seems they abandoned most pretense to a "fine" wine list.  I am thinking they no longer have an expert in the matter, nor are paying the same consultant source to help them again (not anyone else).  So the "interesting" labels have been getting drunk up and are being replaced with what consensus seems is rather uninspiring - or a shade above plonk.

This is all true.  And you also have to add in the reality of total consumption.  With the introduction of Plus and Premier, guests are probably doubling, if not tripling the amount of wine that they consume each cruise.  This leaves PCL in a quandary if it wants to curate a list that is consistent across every ship--a goal that I contend is pointless.  To achieve the goal of consistency, PCL has to order only wines that are made in industrial-sized production levels.  And doing that results in buying industrial wine.  Bleh.  

 

But not to further depress anyone...take a look at this!

https://www.carnivalcorporation.com/news-releases/news-release-details/cheers-princess-cruises-earns-15-wine-spectator-awards

 

[Steelers36]

44 minutes ago, JimmyVWine said:

This is all true.  And you also have to add in the reality of total consumption.  With the introduction of Plus and Premier, guests are probably doubling, if not tripling the amount of wine that they consume each cruise.  This leaves PCL in a quandary if it wants to curate a list that is consistent across every ship--a goal that I contend is pointless.  To achieve the goal of consistency, PCL has to order only wines that are made in industrial-sized production levels.  And doing that results in buying industrial wine.  Bleh.  

 

But not to further depress anyone...take a look at this!

https://www.carnivalcorporation.com/news-releases/news-release-details/cheers-princess-cruises-earns-15-wine-spectator-awards

 

So, with respect to WS award which they have received when they did the big revamp, is this turning into another PCL marketing promise and they don't/can't deliver on?  The printed paper menu used to demonstrate some seriousness.  Of course, WS is judging on the bottle list.  Is PCL not providing these wines any longer, or is the issue with the BTG listings which are typically consumed by the guests on packages?

[doghog]

10 hours ago, memoak said:

There is no way that PAC West is going to give up the large area they have for their art work. The are a vendor and not Princess

I know exactly who they are along with all the shops, spa and photo gallery, ect. Contractors. That's why Princess should tell them where they will set up shop. 

 

Anyway just my wish. Don't rain on it. 😂 Will that ever come to fruition. I was born at night, but not last night. 😁 Cheers. 🍷

Edited April 19 by doghog

[JimmyVWine]

40 minutes ago, Steelers36 said:

So, with respect to WS award which they have received when they did the big revamp, is this turning into another PCL marketing promise and they don't/can't deliver on?  The printed paper menu used to demonstrate some seriousness.  Of course, WS is judging on the bottle list.  Is PCL not providing these wines any longer, or is the issue with the BTG listings which are typically consumed by the guests on packages?

Could be that the list they submitted is already out of date.  Or they could have submitted the Crown Grill list and tried to pass it off as the fleetwide list.  The "Award of Excellence" is a joke as it requires nothing more than the submission of an unverified paper list. Only when a restaurant gets to the top award level, "Grand Award Winner" is an on-site inspection required.  One thing is for sure--A list that says this should never win an award:

  

[Cruise Raider]

43 minutes ago, Steelers36 said:

So, with respect to WS award which they have received when they did the big revamp, is this turning into another PCL marketing promise and they don't/can't deliver on?  The printed paper menu used to demonstrate some seriousness.  Of course, WS is judging on the bottle list.  Is PCL not providing these wines any longer, or is the issue with the BTG listings which are typically consumed by the guests on packages?

When they were pushing the Clos Du Bois Chardonnay in the packages, I didn’t want it for a couple of years after that.  Now, I would love it if they served it.  I have found Kendall Jackson by the glass on one ship.  I’d be more than ok with that but it’s not fleetwide.  The Mer Soliel with the yellow label (not the silver) is also quite nice, better than the Stags Leap they serve in the MDR, but they no longer have it by the glass.  We always purchase at least the Plus Package and usually upgrade to the premier package on the Royal class ships where the casual dining venues are better.  But, not being able to get a good Chardonnay by the glass is a bit disconcerting.  I can always find a good red, though… so, there is that!  
 

 

[Cruise Raider]

I have one more addition to my wish list that could be easily accomplished.  
I really need a couple more places on the post cruise survey for commendations for specific crew members.  5 areas of service are just not enough and I always feel someone that has made our cruise special is being left out.  
I also learned that if you don’t fill out your post cruise survey within 3 days of disembarkation, the crew never sees your comments.  While I understand it, it’s not always easy to get to it within 3 days while also unpacking, doing laundry, cooking meals, sorting mails and paying bills, etc.  If we fly to get home from our cruise, I always work on it at the airport.  It takes me at least 2 hours to fill it out completely.  

Anyway, 5 areas for the commendations are not enough.  I wish Princess would add a few more options to this.  
 

 

[JimmyVWine]

5 minutes ago, Cruise Raider said:

When they were pushing the Clos Du Bois Chardonnay in the packages, I didn’t want it for a couple of years after that.  Now, I would love it if they served it.  I have found Kendall Jackson by the glass on one ship.  I’d be more than ok with that but it’s not fleetwide.  The Mer Soliel with the yellow label (not the silver) is also quite nice, better than the Stags Leap they serve in the MDR, but they no longer have it by the glass.  We always purchase at least the Plus Package and usually upgrade to the premier package on the Royal class ships where the casual dining venues are better.  But, not being able to get a good Chardonnay by the glass is a bit disconcerting.  I can always find a good red, though… so, there is that!  
 

 

The biggest negative change is the disappearance of Vines as a venue.  A ship with Vines has the ability to serve smaller production wines served only at that venue and only to the people who cared enough to ask.  Yes, Vines has a published list, but anyone who has been there knows that they have many other off-list wines on the shelf.  While it is certainly nice to have a well-curated list, failing that, striking up a relationship with the crew members in Vines could result in a perfectly satisfactory wine experience for an entire cruise.  Take away Vines and you take away the ability to walk into the MDR with a nice glass of wine and the ability to drink well throughout the afternoon and evening.   

[Cruise Raider]

12 minutes ago, JimmyVWine said:

The biggest negative change is the disappearance of Vines as a venue.  A ship with Vines has the ability to serve smaller production wines served only at that venue and only to the people who cared enough to ask.  Yes, Vines has a published list, but anyone who has been there knows that they have many other off-list wines on the shelf.  While it is certainly nice to have a well-curated list, failing that, striking up a relationship with the crew members in Vines could result in a perfectly satisfactory wine experience for an entire cruise.  Take away Vines and you take away the ability to walk into the MDR with a nice glass of wine and the ability to drink well throughout the afternoon and evening.   

Agreed! 

[memoak]

15 minutes ago, JimmyVWine said:

The biggest negative change is the disappearance of Vines as a venue.  A ship with Vines has the ability to serve smaller production wines served only at that venue and only to the people who cared enough to ask.  Yes, Vines has a published list, but anyone who has been there knows that they have many other off-list wines on the shelf.  While it is certainly nice to have a well-curated list, failing that, striking up a relationship with the crew members in Vines could result in a perfectly satisfactory wine experience for an entire cruise.  Take away Vines and you take away the ability to walk into the MDR with a nice glass of wine and the ability to drink well throughout the afternoon and evening.   

On Ruby now and Vines has a very nice New Zealand Pinot within the plus package

[memoak]

1 hour ago, doghog said:

I know exactly who they are along with all the shops, spa and photo gallery, ect. Contractors. That's why Princess should tell them where they will set up shop. 

 

Anyway just my wish. Don't rain on it. 😂 Will that ever come to fruition. I was born at night, but not last night. 😁 Cheers. 🍷

Dine a contractor is paying to be on ship they really get the space they contracted for