Comparing Princess to P&O.

[david63]

51 minutes ago, yorkshirephil said:

Half the problem with the websites is that depending where you look they contradict themselves

On top of which they often say different things in different countries - or are interpreted differently in different countries. It would be so much more simple if there were pictures of what is or is not acceptable.

[Thedonkeycentrehalf]

14 hours ago, terrierjohn said:

A further comment on what is still standard on Princess but missing on P&O, or at least not automatic.

 

Evening turndown service, including fresh towels and cabin tidying.

Two facecloths regularly changed.

Body lotion along with shower gel and shampoo/conditioner, in bathrooms

Orange juice and Apple juice available all day in the buffet.

Soft serve free ice cream available from pool deck kiosk.

Iced face cloths brought round pool and sun decks by deck attendants.

Cold drinks and iced facecloths on return to ship.

 

Will add if I detect anything else.

P&O were providing iced water on return to the ship in the Caribbean this winter.

 

Free ice cream would probably have an impact on my waistline over a two week cruise!

[Thedonkeycentrehalf]

 

Edited May 13 by Thedonkeycentrehalf
Double post

[terrierjohn]

14 hours ago, terrierjohn said:

A further comment on what is still standard on Princess but missing on P&O, or at least not automatic.

 

Evening turndown service, including fresh towels and cabin tidying.

Two facecloths regularly changed.

Body lotion along with shower gel and shampoo/conditioner, in bathrooms

Orange juice and Apple juice available all day in the buffet.

Soft serve free ice cream available from pool deck kiosk.

Iced face cloths brought round pool and sun decks by deck attendants.

Cold drinks and iced facecloths on return to ship.

 

Will add if I detect anything else.

A slight addendum to the above, the buffet also serves iced tea and lemonade all day, one side has that, the other has orange and apple juice.

[TRLD]

5 hours ago, Gettingwarmer said:

The original poster was asking specifically about formal night in MDR where Princess do still request tie on website. 

The web site might list it, but the line does not enforce it. We do about 80 to 100 days a year on cruise ships. About half of that on Princess. Have not carried a tie or jacket in the past 10 years. These days, on average, on formal night you will find maybe 20% really dressing up  with a tux, the majority 60% in a suit or sports coat with tie, and about 20% in a nice shirt, no tie. Some variation depending upon passenger mix, more UK more formal, less UK less formal. 

 

Keep in mind that P&O passengers are almost all UK.   Where as Princess, even for Southampton departures, will.usually have the largest group being US.

[john watson]

9 hours ago, david63 said:

On top of which they often say different things in different countries - or are interpreted differently in different countries. It would be so much more simple if there were pictures of what is or is not acceptable.

 

Yes attire is often described by the general populous using different language in US for example what exactly is a Pantsuit? Is it a good idea to wear suspenders in lieu of a belt?

 

Regards John

[david63]

41 minutes ago, john watson said:

 

Yes attire is often described by the general populous using different language in US for example what exactly is a Pantsuit? Is it a good idea to wear suspenders in lieu of a belt?

Another one that I find confusing is the use of the term "dress shirt" - means something totally different in the UK to the USA

[Cruisemeister2002]

Must admit looking forward to our Princess cruise later in the year. After having been a loyal P&O customer for many years suffering the affects  of an horrendous 35 night cruise onboard Ventura last March/April where they couldn't get anything right I have switched allegiance to Princess. As with every cruise line reports vary, but in the main seem to be o.k. with Princess. We are also partaking in the Plus package which allows 15 x $15 drinks per day which includes juices, water and speciality coffee, two desserts per day, two gym sessions, two casual dining . We are also Elite tier, which as with P&O gives 10% off purchases, free laundering, mini bar, wine tasting, afternoon tea in cabin, priority boarding and ship to shore tendering (But not shore to ship)  .The ship is medallion class therefore cabin access via medallion, delivery anywhere on the ship of drinks , food and goods from shops. Ability to bid for upgrading cabin after final payment made although I believe this is getting a common thing throughout most cruise lines.  Also by the time we embark we will be able to have set dining times which they are reintroducing, along with anytime dining and walk in. 

[terrierjohn]

Just to add I had the best MDR meal of the cruise yesterday, pork chop, roast potatoes and ratatouille. The chop was at least one inch thick, four inch diameter and absolutely delicious, and significantly superior quality to anything we have recently had on P&O.

[david63]

2 hours ago, Cruisemeister2002 said:

two desserts per day

You may want to pass on those (I have seen them!)

[Ranchi]

53 minutes ago, david63 said:

You may want to pass on those (I have seen them!)

Agree. The desserts are truly awful. After we were refused simple gelato instead of one of our two daily desserts we requested ‘Godfather’s but hold the sauce, nuts, cream, biscuits etc.’ (Jack Nicholson did it with more style in Five Easy Pieces.) Worked for us. 

Edited May 14 by Ranchi

[Cruisemeister2002]

15 hours ago, Ranchi said:

Agree. The desserts are truly awful. After we were refused simple gelato instead of one of our two daily desserts we requested ‘Godfather’s but hold the sauce, nuts, cream, biscuits etc.’ (Jack Nicholson did it with more style in Five Easy Pieces.) Worked for us. 

 

15 hours ago, Ranchi said:

Agree. The desserts are truly awful. After we were refused simple gelato instead of one of our two daily desserts we requested ‘Godfather’s but hold the sauce, nuts, cream, biscuits etc.’ (Jack Nicholson did it with more style in Five Easy Pieces.) Worked for us. 

I am quite surprised by what you say. Not that the desserts are awful, but that you were refused just ice cream. As I have now booked a cruise on Princess I tend to visit their section on this forum rather than P&O and the general feedback seems to be that if you just ask for one or two scoops of ice cream with no fancy bits on top then they will gladly accommodate you. There does though to be different ideas from one ship to another and also possibly one member of staff to another which can be confusing.                            

[Cruisemeister2002]

On 5/13/2024 at 10:14 PM, david63 said:

Another one that I find confusing is the use of the term "dress shirt" - means something totally different in the UK to the USA

I have a bit of a wicked sense of humour, but I never intentionally try to offend. One guy on the Princess part of this forum, an American, was saying that he doesn't use the free laundering of shirts as they came back stiff. After writing a reply, I decided to delete it as a) I didn't want to offend and b) I wasn't sure his sense of humour was the same as mine. The deletion was as such " Perhaps before you send your shirts to be laundered you should take the ***** tablets out of the pocket, that's why they are coming back stiff"

[Ranchi]

I’m not sure what was going on. For the first few days the gelateria was happy to provide plain gelato as part of the plus package (in place of your daily premium desserts) Later on though, they refused to do this hence the work around. I’m sure some will like the premium desserts but they were too rich for my taste. 

[terrierjohn]

A further possibly final comment on food quality comparison.

We had afternoon tea in the buffet the other day, and as well as warm freshly baked scones, they had genuine clotted cream as well as jam, and we also had a couple of the sandwiches, and desserts which were delicious. The P&O chefs should take lessons from Princess in how to make edible pastry.

We watched the wait staff in the buffet today and were impressed with how efficient they all were, ensuring tables were cleared quickly, and the tea, coffee and juice service is also very efficient, and the orange juice is stronger and sweeter than the watery stuff provided on P&O.

 

You will have gathered from my posts that I am far more impressed with Princess service and food quality standards than with P&O, but rather than bore everyone with a final update, I will be happy to answer any specific points you might have.

 

[Cruisemeister2002]

8 minutes ago, terrierjohn said:

A further possibly final comment on food quality comparison.

We had afternoon tea in the buffet the other day, and as well as warm freshly baked scones, they had genuine clotted cream as well as jam, and we also had a couple of the sandwiches, and desserts which were delicious. The P&O chefs should take lessons from Princess in how to make edible pastry.

We watched the wait staff in the buffet today and were impressed with how efficient they all were, ensuring tables were cleared quickly, and the tea, coffee and juice service is also very efficient, and the orange juice is stronger and sweeter than the watery stuff provided on P&O.

 

You will have gathered from my posts that I am far more impressed with Princess service and food quality standards than with P&O, but rather than bore everyone with a final update, I will be happy to answer any specific points you might have.

 

I presume you are on Sky Princess ? What are the cabins like compared say to Ventura. Have you had what some seem to describe as these awful deserts (The ice cream one's with all the toppings) We are on Sky Princess later in the year and have taken up the option of the Plus package. If you have also got this what is it like regarding choice. Some say the wine is from boxes and it's not that good. Also we come under the Elite tier which as you probably know includes mini bar, free laundry, shoe polishing, afternoon tea in cabin, canapes on formal nights, priority boarding and shuttle ship to shore. If you are Elite, how did you find these. Thanks.

[Josy1953]

29 minutes ago, Cruisemeister2002 said:

I presume you are on Sky Princess ? What are the cabins like compared say to Ventura. Have you had what some seem to describe as these awful deserts (The ice cream one's with all the toppings) We are on Sky Princess later in the year and have taken up the option of the Plus package. If you have also got this what is it like regarding choice. Some say the wine is from boxes and it's not that good. Also we come under the Elite tier which as you probably know includes mini bar, free laundry, shoe polishing, afternoon tea in cabin, canapes on formal nights, priority boarding and shuttle ship to shore. If you are Elite, how did you find these. Thanks.

We were on Sky Princess at the end of March / beginning of April.  The mini bar consisted of 2 vodka, 2 gin, 2 scotch and 2 bourbon minitures, 2 cans of coke,

2 cans of Sprite, 2 cans of tonic water and 4 bottles of water.

Free laundry if left in the cabin before going for dinner the steward took it and it was back in the cabin when we got back the following night, we have never used the shoe shine.  On this trip we didn't have any shuttle ports but when we have used it in the past we were given a pass to go directly to the shuttle when there was one at the shuttle platform from the ship and on return from the port there was a separate queue for elite and we were boarded before the queue of non-elite passengers.

[david63]

36 minutes ago, Josy1953 said:

The mini bar consisted of 2 vodka, 2 gin, 2 scotch and 2 bourbon minitures, 2 cans of coke,

2 cans of Sprite, 2 cans of tonic water and 4 bottles of water.

But you can ask your cabin steward to swap them around for whatever you want - so instead of two of each you can have, say, eight gin

[Josy1953]

2 hours ago, david63 said:

But you can ask your cabin steward to swap them around for whatever you want - so instead of two of each you can have, say, eight gin

Yes you can, we usually asks to change the bourbon for scotch and the vodka for gin, we have never had a problem.

[Interestedcruisefan]

Hi Guys. Long time no speak. 

 

We are halfway through a 7 night Alaskan Cruise on Ruby Princess. 

 

First time on Princess. This follows a 14 night Canada Road Trip with our daughter who's working in a ski resort in Canada with her boyfriend. 

 

We've had a great holiday.

 

As for Princess  we came with high hopes as its my parent's favourite cruise line and they swear by it. 

 

But honestly it's been very average compared to what we anticipated. (We had promised our daughter it would be high quality)

 

The Good:

 

Standard cabin is decent size

Big TV

Good channels on TV

Special interest speakers - absolutely excellent. Best we've seen on a cruise. (Maybe its because it's Alaska and they are so passionate about where they live and have great stuff to talk about)

Being able to have drinks delivered anywhere on ship with medallion (we are on Premier plus so it's included). We actually won Premier Plus first day!!! In a raffle. Would have cost 80 US dollars each per day!!

 

 

The Average:

Decent theatre entertainment and theatre spec (could arrive 5 mins before Showtime for reserved seats for Premier plus)

Meal in MDR was decent (could only pre-book shared tables in any of the MDRs all week). If not you have to queue.

Meal in Sabatinis (speciality) was decent (not amazing).

 

Poor:

Queues. Worst I've seen on any cruise. 

If you want a coffee or ice cream or slice of pizza or cake its a minimum 10 minute queue. Every time. I've stopped eating ice cream as a result!!

Will post pics. 

The other day my wife went for nice coffee to add to her and my daughters breakfast and queued over 25 minutes. Meanwhile my daughter had queued up and plated and eaten her breakfast before it got cold

The queues are every day. 

The queues just to get in the buffet are back to the pool area at lunchtime if you go at busier times. Never experienced that anywhere before on a cruises.

 

 

Again will post pics.

Never seen anything like it.

The buffet itself the poorest we've had on a cruise ship. Really poor quality pastries for breakfast. Really poor quality desserts. Hot and cold. Eggs all hard for breakfast. Poor sausage. The usual plastic desserts.  Definitely no better than P and O and less choice. Worse IMO. Which has really shocked us.

 

The queues for the buffet far worse. They make the big P and O ships seem calm and civilised in comparison 

 

Staff happiness/friendliness. Poor in comparison to previous cruises. Just ok. Not bad but not great. Something doesn't seem right on here? 

 

Have had to book Sabatinis twice For our included speciality meals for premier plus as we can't get in Crown Grill

 

 

 

Also for those who like formal then Princess from Vancouver isn't a cruise for you. They have 2 formal nights in 7. We don't do formal. But it's the first time on a cruise where being casual on formal night seems to at least match the numbers wearing formal. 

 

Honestly we came on board thinking it would be better than P and O. It's honestly been worse in too many ways. 

 

 

And to show I'm not overly pro for P and O I can say Azamara (which we did in Cape Town in January) was proper high end crushing in terms of service and quality. Just lacking in entertainment. 

 

I honestly couldnt recommend Princess itself after this cruise. Maybe we have just fallen very unlucky with this cruise.

 

However, still having a great holiday. 

 

 

Edited Saturday at 08:20 PM by Interestedcruisefan

[Interestedcruisefan]

Here are pics of the queue on day 2 just to get into lunchtime buffet

 

The queue for coffees and cake and also for ice cream and pizza are ongoing and the queues aren't managed well. As some people don't even realise they are queuing for ice cream in the pizza queue and vice versa. It's so off putting even getting involved. Hence I don't bother now. And my premium plus entitles me to premium ice cream sundaes as well!! So I'm missing out!!

 

When you do get to the front of the queue the girl who makes the sundaes is on her own and you wait another 5 to 10 minutes even if she's not got  backlog and just serving you.

 

The second day I was warned 30 minute delay for premium sundaes once I got to front of queue so I had a standard cone instead!!

 

It's really poor. Glad I didnt pay for Premier Plus or would be complaining. 

 

It reminds me of a badly run all inclusive hotel from the 90s 

Edited Saturday at 08:16 PM by Interestedcruisefan

[Interestedcruisefan]

That image above is the queue just to get into the lunchtime buffet when it's in full flow

 

its currently being run with staff serving everyone due to tummy bug on board etc

 

Edited Saturday at 08:29 PM by Interestedcruisefan

[Interestedcruisefan]

Here's the queue for coffee earlier today

 

Everything  seems so slow 

 

And queues just seem to be accepted by the management as nothing done about them 

 

 

Edited Saturday at 08:32 PM by Interestedcruisefan

[Interestedcruisefan]

To add to this embarkation at Vancouver we were told would be 11am to 3pm.

 

The day before we were emailed it would be delayed 2 hours. (We assume they were deep cleaning the ship)

 

We arrived at 1pm as requested.

 

Queued 25 mins to drop cases off in queues they had waiting for us

 

Then queued somehwere else for 30 minutes to get medallions

 

Then queued somehwere else for 60 minutes to get through security

 

Then queued somewhere else for 45 minutes to get through customs

 

Four different queues totalling over 2.5hrs

 

Again by far the worst we've ever experienced with any cruise line

 

 

Edited Saturday at 08:39 PM by Interestedcruisefan

[Interestedcruisefan]

Ps we just tell our parents it's all great! Lol

 

As they recommended Princess to  us