Enchanted Princess: Waitstaff’s Opinion of New Premier Package With Unlimited SD

[Lady Arwen]

We spoke in length last night to a couple of our servers about the rollout on the next cruise.  There is a shortage of staff in the Specialty dining restaurants and servers in the MDR have been advised they could be moved over to one of the SD restaurants.  This will leave the MDR in a severe shortage of staff.  We were told that as of last night crew from the buffet were being brought up to MDR to learn their new jobs by Saturday.

 

Nobody is happy and it shows.  Our server said that the SD restaurants have been understaffed for quite some time and that’s why dinner takes over two hours.  They wonder how it’s possible to serve all the guests with the new Premier package when there’s not enough hours to serve that many guests.  He’s thinking dining hours may have to be expanded thus longer hours for an already overworked waitstaff.

 

He believes this will turn into an epic fail for Princess and to expect a large daily increase in price in the near future.

 

If you’re sailing next week with the new package, please pack your patience.  The crew are doing their very best to get through this.

[JF - retired RRT]

Sounds like another thing that the "big thinkers" decided to do without finding out if it was feasible to do it.

[RLK33853]

Thanks for the information.  Speculation thus far has been all over the map without anyone actually knowing how this will work.

 

One more reason for us to look at and book other cruise lines/options.  With over 50 cruises on Princess (beginning in the 1980's),  we are finding that they continue to try to emulate other mass market lines with packages which cheapen their product.  Very sad in our opinion but as I've said in the past, I really don't think Princess cares about our loyalty as long as they keep attracting new cruisers.

 

If you can afford a little more per day I suggest trying Viking - they put out a product very much like Priness of old (except for the entertainment - which is a little Mickey Mouse).  Or if you have a little more, try Crystal which is over the top.  Just our opinion.

 

We have 3 Princess cruises coming up in the next six months and it's starting to look like they may be our last.

[JimmyVWine]

32 minutes ago, JF - retired RRT said:

Sounds like another thing that the "big thinkers" decided to do without finding out if it was feasible to do it.

And this is exactly what happens when a previously uni-class cruise line tries to shift to a multi-class system.  I have no doubt that Princess will make things work...for the SD/Signature/Reserve Dining experience.  The people who pay more will see few, if any changes in the overall experience.  But at what cost?  The Steerage Class is going to see major differences in both the MDR and Buffet service. Just as an airline is not going to let its First Class experience bear the brunt of service shortages, a cruise line isn't going to let its Suite/Signature/Premier Class experience suffer.  It will likely become very evident very soon that Princess has become a Three-Class Cruise line comprised of Suite/Signature; Premier; and Everyone Else.  Instead of paying $90 extra per day to get an elevated cruise experience, guests are going to pay $90 extra per day just to retain the experience that are used to.  

[Lady Arwen]

1 hour ago, RLK33853 said:

Thanks for the information.  Speculation thus far has been all over the map without anyone actually knowing how this will work.

 

One more reason for us to look at and book other cruise lines/options.  With over 50 cruises on Princess (beginning in the 1980's),  we are finding that they continue to try to emulate other mass market lines with packages which cheapen their product.  Very sad in our opinion but as I've said in the past, I really don't think Princess cares about our loyalty as long as they keep attracting new cruisers.

 

If you can afford a little more per day I suggest trying Viking - they put out a product very much like Priness of old (except for the entertainment - which is a little Mickey Mouse).  Or if you have a little more, try Crystal which is over the top.  Just our opinion.

 

We have 3 Princess cruises coming up in the next six months and it's starting to look like they may be our last.

I agree with you.  We don’t have any Princess sailings booked, just HAL and Celebrity.  We’re actually docked beside a Viking ship this morning.  Really nice size.  Sadly, Princess will not be our first or even second choice in the near future.  Only time will tell.

[cruising.mark.uk]

1 hour ago, Lady Arwen said:

We spoke in length last night to a couple of our servers about the rollout on the next cruise.  There is a shortage of staff in the Specialty dining restaurants and servers in the MDR have been advised they could be moved over to one of the SD restaurants.  This will leave the MDR in a severe shortage of staff.  We were told that as of last night crew from the buffet were being brought up to MDR to learn their new jobs by Saturday.

 

Nobody is happy and it shows.  Our server said that the SD restaurants have been understaffed for quite some time and that’s why dinner takes over two hours.  They wonder how it’s possible to serve all the guests with the new Premier package when there’s not enough hours to serve that many guests.  He’s thinking dining hours may have to be expanded thus longer hours for an already overworked waitstaff.

 

He believes this will turn into an epic fail for Princess and to expect a large daily increase in price in the near future.

 

If you’re sailing next week with the new package, please pack your patience.  The crew are doing their very best to get through this.

The argument that reassigning staff to SD will cause a staffing crisis in the MDR doesn't make sense to me.

 

I assume that the ship is staffed broadly to have enough staff to serve everyone a meal each evening.  Assume for the sake of argument that is one staff member per 50 pax who dine.  So, if 500 additional pax book into SD on a given night (and those bookings have been made in advance so will not come as a surprise to the staff), there will be 500 less people dining in the MDR.  Therefore, 10 wait staff can be reassigned to SD.  In broad terms, that reallocation of resources should be enough to feed all the extras in SD with no decline in service and also to feed everyone who remains in the MDR, also with no decline in service.

[Lady Arwen]

1 minute ago, cruising.mark.uk said:

The argument that reassigning staff to SD will cause a staffing crisis in the MDR doesn't make sense to me.

 

I assume that the ship is staffed broadly to have enough staff to serve everyone a meal each evening.  Assume for the sake of argument that is one staff member per 50 pax who dine.  So, if 500 additional pax book into SD on a given night (and those bookings have been made in advance so will not come as a surprise to the staff), there will be 500 less people dining in the MDR.  Therefore, 10 wait staff can be reassigned to SD.  In broad terms, that reallocation of resources should be enough to feed all the extras in SD with no decline in service and also to feed everyone who remains in the MDR, also with no decline in service.

Try explaining that to the waitstaff currently finding themselves in positions that they haven’t been trained for.  The servers in the buffet are not ready to take on positions in the MDR.  Our server said that it started last night and the mistakes being made are pretty bad.  Guests are getting frustrated, but trying to go with the flow because they know it’s not the servers faults.  
 

I tend to believe the info coming straight from the horse’s mouth.  In theory your idea works fine, but not necessarily in practice.  Only time will how it works or doesn’t work.

[canadarocks]

@Lady Arwen sorry you are onboard with bad weather and a rollout of a whole new system. Hopefully Princess will figure out how to implement their new Premier dining quickly! 

 

[Wishing on a star]

Thanks for posting this insight!

I do believe that what you are posting has some truth behind it.

 

The thing is, even IF Princess is able to hire more staff and 'catch-up' for having to provide an elevated service to a LOT more guests...  That will take time.   And, that is assuming that they will be able to hire.  Staffing for cruises seems to be a huge challenge right now.  And, yet the cruise lines continue to build more and LARGER ships.  ( again, no grip on how things work in reality )

 

The thing is,  staffing aside...  if you take these Specialty Dining venues, and book them up solid, that changes the whole experience.   I have BTDT...  Crown Grill was like a busy chain steakhouse on a Saturday night.  The service AND the food suffered, as well as the whole vibe/experience.  😕  

 

Even before this, with the APP and the new dining system...  Restaurants, including the MDR for reserved times, are booked up months in advance.   It is easy to see that this is a problem that creates frustration,  a sense of chaos, etc.

[memoak]

Think I am going to be glad that I have reserve class dining next month 

[cruising.mark.uk]

9 minutes ago, Lady Arwen said:

Try explaining that to the waitstaff currently finding themselves in positions that they haven’t been trained for.  The servers in the buffet are not ready to take on positions in the MDR.  Our server said that it started last night and the mistakes being made are pretty bad.  Guests are getting frustrated, but trying to go with the flow because they know it’s not the servers faults.  
 

I tend to believe the info coming straight from the horse’s mouth.  In theory your idea works fine, but not necessarily in practice.  Only time will how it works or doesn’t work.

Actually, I'm also not convinced that the staff on day one of a new system are best placed to provide anything close to an accurate assessment of how it will work in the longer-term.  Many of them are bound to be nervous about change and, therefore, to start off by looking at it as a bad thing doomed to fail.  And that sense is likely to be exacerbated by inevitable teething problems for the first days / weeks / months of implementation of anything new.

 

I sense from reading these boards that many on here are very keen to see these new arrangements fail in typical CC 'glass half empty' fashion.  Personally, I'm an optimist and am fairly sure Princess will get this right and that unlimited SD is something that my wife and I will benefit from via the new Premier package.

 

Another case in point.  We've just boarded today.  The new system is not yet in place, but our experience confirmed what I had thought from previous trips - SD slots are held back to allow them to be booked on the ship.  We booked 2 SD in advance on the App 3 days ago, but dates and time slots were limited.  At about half past three today, we booked two more slots by going to speak to the staff at the SD restaurants and we secured our preferred dates and times at the first opportunity.  Those dates and times were not available on the App.  If that is how it will work fleet wide, then there should, under the new arrangements, still be an opportunity to book on the ship.

[azbirdmom]

Understaffing is nothing new and has been obvious since they started sailing full again.  They used to be able to sell specialty restaurants to capacity without impacting service elsewhere.  There is only so much specialty space so unless they have a plan to staff up fully again this will definitely create a lot of bad vibes at every level.

[memoak]

The other thing to watch for is what happens when suite passengers try to get some SD reservations through the concierge or suite breakfast managers. If that happens I wonder what Princess will do as suite guests are used to having this happen for them

[Lady Arwen]

5 minutes ago, memoak said:

The other thing to watch for is what happens when suite passengers try to get some SD reservations through the concierge or suite breakfast managers. If that happens I wonder what Princess will do as suite guests are used to having this happen for them

Good point!  

[TravelGirlinDallas]

It's been 3 years since the restart. Why are they still so understaffed?

[Lady Arwen]

20 minutes ago, canadarocks said:

@Lady Arwen sorry you are onboard with bad weather and a rollout of a whole new system. Hopefully Princess will figure out how to implement their new Premier dining quickly! 

 

We’re still enjoying ourselves, thankfully.  We don’t eat in the MDR and the service in the SD restaurants is still very good, but the waitstaff are pushed to their limit.  Every night we tell them straight away not to worry about us because we have nowhere to go and to take their time.  Those going to the shows are a little more pressed for time and get a little antsy.

[cruising.mark.uk]

10 minutes ago, memoak said:

The other thing to watch for is what happens when suite passengers try to get some SD reservations through the concierge or suite breakfast managers. If that happens I wonder what Princess will do as suite guests are used to having this happen for them

They might be 'used' to having it happen, but its not a published suite perk,  is it?  If not, why should those in suites have any priority over anyone else, unless they have also booked the new Premier package?

[Lady Arwen]

15 minutes ago, memoak said:

Think I am going to be glad that I have reserve class dining next month 

Yes, I’m quite confident that they will ensure your dining experience is not impacted.  You paid a premium and you should receive quality service.

[cruising.mark.uk]

20 minutes ago, Wishing on a star said:

 

 

Even before this, with the APP and the new dining system...  Restaurants, including the MDR for reserved times, are booked up months in advance.   It is easy to see that this is a problem that creates frustration,  a sense of chaos, etc.

See my post 11 above - this is demonstrably not the case for SD on the sold out sailing of the Caribbean that starts today.

[memoak]

12 minutes ago, cruising.mark.uk said:

They might be 'used' to having it happen, but its not a published suite perk,  is it?  If not, why should those in suites have any priority over anyone else, unless they have also booked the new Premier package?

Does the premier plan have a concierge. No it does not. They never book every table in advance and never have. Otherwise we would not be approached all the time in the casino and be offered free SD meals. On the Grand we were told not even to worry about reservations they would always have room for us.   It is kind of like Billy Idol’s line on the plane in Wedding Singer. “We generally let first class passengers do what they want to do”   Many perks exist that are not written down like free self service laundry tokens for elites who find their laundry will take 4 days because there are a thousand elite passengers on their cruise

Edited August 29 by memoak

[cruising.mark.uk]

1 minute ago, memoak said:

Does the premier plan have a concierge. No it does not. They never book every table in advance and never have. Otherwise we would not be approached all the time in the casino and be offered free SD meals. On the Grand we were told not even to worry about reservations they would always have room for us. 

I'm sure that's been the case in the past.  But, it might not be under the new arrangements if there is pressure on SD capacity.  And, as someone who has sailed about 50% of their Princess cruises in suites, I won't have a problem with that.  Those who have purchased the new Premier will have paid for the privilege of unlimited SD.  Those in suites will not have paid for guaranteed access to SD except for their freebie on the first night, unless they have also purchased the new Premier.

[JimmyVWine]

1 hour ago, cruising.mark.uk said:

I assume that the ship is staffed broadly to have enough staff to serve everyone a meal each evening.  Assume for the sake of argument that is one staff member per 50 pax who dine.  So, if 500 additional pax book into SD on a given night (and those bookings have been made in advance so will not come as a surprise to the staff), there will be 500 less people dining in the MDR.  Therefore, 10 wait staff can be reassigned to SD.  In broad terms, that reallocation of resources should be enough to feed all the extras in SD with no decline in service and also to feed everyone who remains in the MDR, also with no decline in service.

The math is not that linear.  It would be if the MDR dining experience and the Specialty dining experiences were identical or close to identical. But they are world's apart in terms of number of courses served, tableside preparation (deboning fish, extracting lobster from shells, etc.) and pace.  Moving 500 diners over from the MDR to a SD venue does not correspond to moving 10 servers in the same direction.  It might take 20 servers to move over in order to adhere to the demands, pace and expectations of the SD experience.  That leaves the MDR 10 people short.

 

I don't know exact numbers, but my observations have been that at any one time, two servers in the MDR might be servicing 2 tables for 2, a table of 4 and a table of 8.  That is 16 people who will complete their dinners in about an hour fifteen, or an hour and a half.  Meanwhile, 2 servers in Sabatinis are serving 3 tables for 2 and a table for 4 which is 10 people who are having an hour and a half meal. So that is 2 servers for 16 people for 75-90 minutes compared to 2 servers for 10 people for 90 minutes.  

Edited August 29 by JimmyVWine

[555]

27 minutes ago, cruising.mark.uk said:

 

 

15 minutes ago, Lady Arwen said:

We’re still enjoying ourselves, thankfully.  We don’t eat in the MDR and the service in the SD restaurants is still very good, but the waitstaff are pushed to their limit.  Every night we tell them straight away not to worry about us because we have nowhere to go and to take their time.  Those going to the shows are a little more pressed for time and get a little antsy.

We just opted for the new Premier package a few days ago & from what I can see so far it's not going to work smoothly for a long time. Unless they hire new people quickly their whole dining system will collapse. 

I tried to get specialty dining reservations by calling Princess (since the app is useless) and they can't seem provide anything either. Unless we have reservations before we board I'll definitely cancel. What's the use of paying extra for special meals when they can't provide a reservation even close to what we would like.

This has got to be one of the worst disasters Princess has ever implemented, aside from introducing the app before it was ready.  

[memoak]

14 minutes ago, cruising.mark.uk said:

I'm sure that's been the case in the past.  But, it might not be under the new arrangements if there is pressure on SD capacity.  And, as someone who has sailed about 50% of their Princess cruises in suites, I won't have a problem with that.  Those who have purchased the new Premier will have paid for the privilege of unlimited SD.  Those in suites will not have paid for guaranteed access to SD except for their freebie on the first night, unless they have also purchased the new Premier.

Inside cabin  + premier package. Full suite without package who do you think will get the attention from senior staff ?  I will say that it always helps that we don’t mind eating later like 8:00. Most Princess passengers seem to think they have to eat at 5:00 to avoid missing out on something 

 

[mtnesterz]

39 minutes ago, TravelGirlinDallas said:

It's been 3 years since the restart. Why are they still so understaffed?

Because it's not just Princess staffing their ships. It's all cruise lines, which are mostly all sailing fully booked and the ships keep getting bigger and needing more and more staff.

One cruise line, Cordelia, plans to triple their fleet within a year. They all need to be staffed.

We saw the new Icon of the Sea which was in port the same day as our Princess sailing. I thought the Enchanted Princess was big. Next to the Icon it's small. She has 2350 crew. That's just one ship. Sun Princess something like 1600. Soon they'll be adding the Star.

Where do you get, then train, that many people who willing to work a ship contract?

Edited August 29 by mtnesterz