Princess Corp is watching!

[trevor182]

IF you are reading this Princess, then I want you to know that your customers do NOT appreciate paying the price of a cruise and finding that you expect us to continue to sleep on old, worn, threadbare, and frankly painful mattresses!

 

How can you bring a ship into dry dock, and do a complete overhaul and still leave years' old, pancake thin, hard-as-nails mattresses on the beds?! :(

 

Why didn't you, Princess, replace all of the very old and worn mattresses with brand new mattresses this past dry dock a few months ago? It is completely inexplicable to redo an entire ship and leave this most basic element of passenger comfort unchanged.

 

When we work hard all year to save for a once-a-year-cruise vacation, the least we can reasonably expect is to be able to sleep on a comfortable bed; one that does not leave us with back pain, and head-to-toe body aches and pains.

 

There are no eggcrates created by man that could have helped or mitigated the discomfort of these pitiful mattresses.

 

Replace the worn mattresses on the CB with new mattresses!

 

PLEASE.

I was just on the Caribbean Princess. I was perfectly comfortable and can't remember when I have slept so well.

[trevor182]

Well said.

 

I believe Philip works for Princess or some other line. A majority of his posts are always in defnse of the cruise industry....

 

Bob

It didn't sound to me like he was defending anyone, just telling it like it is. I think the whiners on this site can't come to grips with the fact that running any business is complicated. Reading some of these comments make me wonder if they have any clue about the real world and how things get done, or how much it costs. I really wonder if some of you have ever had to be responsible for anything.

[Live4Vacay]

It didn't sound to me like he was defending anyone, just telling it like it is. I think the whiners on this site can't come to grips with the fact that running any business is complicated. Reading some of these comments make me wonder if they have any clue about the real world and how things get done, or how much it costs. I really wonder if some of you have ever had to be responsible for anything.

 

Trevor, I agree with you that running a business is complicated. Why? Because a P&L statement and customer satisfaction are dynamic, they go hand-in-hand, and it is not always what looks nice on paper at first that ends up resulting in long-term success for a business. That is why CEO's that get paid in short-term incentives sometimes take risky measures that ruin otherwise long-standing companies - seeking a quick buck! While many of the suggested improvements made on this thread may cost Princess money up front, hurting SHORT-term profits, they will add to a better experience and people would be willing to pay more. Not necessarily the same clients mind you. Unless of course, Princess's value proposition is, "cheap price = no-frills." This coincides with Phillip's point that RCL charges more for the luxury of having interactive flat-planels, etc. Maybe the real issue here is that Princess just doesn't know where they fit in the value proposition ladder. They offer some nice amenities like MUTS but then chinz out on basics like coffee & eggs. What message does that send? Personally, I am an occassional cruiser who prefers land-based vacations so I could care less what they do. However, some people here need to realize that the "real" world starts and ends with customers and not with a blind focus for someone else's bottom line. A successful business knows how to get to an attractive bottom line while attending to the market's needs and wants, not from convincing them why they need to alter their expectations so they can make a healthy profit. Get it?

[stellalimelight]

Oh 8 Bells, I am with you on that!! Hello Princess....please upgrade your coffee to STARBUCKS!!!! :rolleyes: That hot mud you are serving has NO flavor at all!

 

 

Starbucks is bitter. I say Seattle's Best Henry's blend. Me I just pay for the coffee card and then I am fine.

[NJRonbo]

Phil,

 

Greatly appreciate your input.

 

It has changed my attitude about some of the nitpicking that

I made in my prior posts.

 

It's good to have someone put these things in perspective, and

actually, it's not too difficult to understand how the economy,

rising costs and the chance of lawsuits are greatly affecting many

of the decisions being made from the cruise companies.

[houch]

I have just been reading all of the posts (complaints). I found it to be childish complaining about each individual's personal preferences. If you want everything like you have at home then I suggest you remain at home.

 

I cruised with one line once that was not to my liking in many ways, so I won't cruise that line again.

 

I love Princess and I love cruising. Though all might not be like I have at home, I just adapt.

[kooljamming]

It didn't sound to me like he was defending anyone, just telling it like it is. I think the whiners on this site can't come to grips with the fact that running any business is complicated. Reading some of these comments make me wonder if they have any clue about the real world and how things get done, or how much it costs. I really wonder if some of you have ever had to be responsible for anything.

 

I agree. Princess is a business though some try to treat it or even defend it like family. Any change affecting them is viewed as a betrayal. I wonder what background in Business, Finance, Economics and Marketing some have, because they always seem to know what would be best for the multi-million dollar company:confused:. I like cruising but prefer nice middle-upper all inclusive resorts. I go knowing if things go wrong, they are on the ball to make it right. The resorts know these vacations aren't done 2 to 3 times per year but once if you are lucky. Their business approach is to separate you from your cash upfront before you arrive. I kinda like that because then you go having it all paid for:) I have a choice and when one kind of vacation or company is not working for me, I move on.

 

Heck, I do not EASY access to my bill and hope they don't offer that option. If knowing is that important I can check at the desk, which I sometimes do, mainly to figure out what DH is up to in the casino:eek:.

[LunaMoon]

"I was just on the Caribbean Princess. I was perfectly comfortable and can't remember when I have slept so well."

 

Thank you, Trevor 182! I am so glad to hear that!

 

We were on the CB before the dry dock and the mattresses WERE definitely in need of replacement.

 

AND after the dry dock, cruisers posting here were unanimously reporting that Princess did NOT replace the mattresses, and the bedding was still old and worn and uncomfortable. It was still as if you were trying to sleep on your grandmother's ancient and lumpy hard-as-rock bed that was stored in the attic! :eek:

 

So when, I wonder were the new mattresses brought on board?

 

AND have all the mattresses been replaced in all the cabins?

 

Trevor, when did you cruise on the CB? Did you notice if the worn bedspreads had been replaced too?

 

Or are you saying that the mattresses were still the old worn ones, but you still had a comfortable, good night's sleep?! :confused:

 

AND IF that's the case, then, Princess must realize that many of its passsengers do not want to spend their hard-earned money, and their precious vactation in Spartan conditions.

 

If some people don't mind hard, thin, and old bedding, that's fine. But a reasonably new and comfortable mattresss to sleep on is not a perk; it is a basic service of this industry.

[elsje]

elsje,

 

Just one error in your post - I don't work for - nor speak for - Princess. I really don't know what the people at Princess are doing or thinking about your spending patterns.

 

But industry-wide, the general idea on a mass market ship is to keep your mind off your spending totals

I do know that RCI ships with interactive television took a huge financial hit when they installed it. Onboard spending took a nose-dive and has never recovered. One of the reasons you usually pay more for an RCI cruise is covering the cost of those lost revenues. Another is paying for the installation of the interactive television that never pays for itself.

 

You need to understand that there are just two groups of people running cruise lines today; the Lawyers and the Accountants. These two groups rarely agree on how things should work. The Lawyers are paranoid about all the lawsuits from American passengers. They want to do everything possible to avoid liability and litigation. They are responsible for taking a lot of the fun out of mass market cruising in order to protect the companies. The Accountants worry only about profit and loss. They only want to decrease costs and increase revenues. We can blame them for whatever cut-backs we see - and for any tricks we use to get you to spend more money onboard than you planned. In a sense you are correct - it is double speak. One management group is pushing us in one direction (liability and risk); the other management group is pushing us in another (profit and loss). If you speak to someone working in another mass market industry; airline, hotel, auto manufacturer, you will hear pretty much the same story.

 

While I applaud your fastidious nature about spending (I am the same way), you should know that most mass market cruisers are not like me and you. That's why we have long queues at the front desk of my ship at the end of every cruise. We spend enormous amounts of time going over every item on the bills with passengers who have no memory of spending anything the entire cruise.

And at the end of the day, Mass Market cruising is not about you or me - it's about the Masses. Whatever the Majority of people on a mass market ship want to do and buy is of utmost importance.

 

Thanks for the explanation. It was not my intend to state you actually worked for Princess ;) the wording got the best of me. [\[/b][/b]

[PescadoAmarillo]

The Accountants worry only about profit and loss. They only want to decrease costs and increase revenues. We can blame them for whatever cut-backs we see - and for any tricks we use to get you to spend more money onboard than you planned.

Philip, I'm sure you intended this statement to represent your opinion only, as it is not a statement of fact. With an advanced degree in accounting, I don't know of ANY company where the accountants call the shots. This is a common misconception. The reality is far closer to the fact the the stockholders demand certain returns on their investments, forcing senior management to rule with a quarterly EPS (earnings per share) mentality. The accountants are the messengers, not the authors of the revenue maximation/cost reduction tale, and, in fact, have seen (and allowed) their entire profession (to) cross to the dark side as they have succumbed to pressures to get creative in their accounting treatments in order to meet senior management directives. If we should hang our heads in collective shame, it is for the latter item, and not for our profit maximation suggestions.

 

I sure the lawyers can tell a similar story.

 

So your opinions reflect an angst toward the messengers, but your ire might be more accurately directed at all of us as stockholders.

[PescadoAmarillo]

Maybe the real issue here is that Princess just doesn't know where they fit in the value proposition ladder. They offer some nice amenities like MUTS but then chinz out on basics like coffee & eggs. What message does that send?

I agree, but would have to argue that MUTS is another of Princess's "coffee and eggs". MUTS must have an enormous return on investment, compared to live entertainment costs. Couple that with the fact that MUTS has allowed Princess to add another 600 or so (I'm not taking the time to check this number, please forgive) passengers to virtually the same sized ship, and attract a larger number of families with young cruisers (with lots of cruises in their future), and I view MUTS as a economic measure, rather than a perk.

 

But as for Princess not knowing where they fit in the value proposition ladder...so true! Or maybe even more accurate to say that they are trying to fit every rung in that ladder, with "small ship cruising" and the mega-Grands. Based on CCL stock (the only measure (albeit imperfect) of Princess's performance), it seems this diversification is working for them.

[gipper77]

We have cruised for many years , 43 plus with Princess. No one makes us buy what we don't want or spend on extras. It all depends on the individual. On our recent cruise on the Star there were about 10 people watching Muts and they were well covered up. I walked by and called them die hards and they all chuckled. They were doing what they wanted to do. We are paying less for our cruises now than when we first started to cruise and still enjoying them. Have things changed? Of course they have but so have we. Maybe we are not as picky as some people, but I know that we have always gotten our moneys worth.:)

[caribbeanboy]

I think that the type or brand of mattresses that Princes uses if definitely different than the other cruise lines.

 

I was on Ruby's maiden voyage and I double check with the cabin steward and she told me that yes I was the first one to sleep on that bed. And guess what it didn't feel like a new bed at all.

[DGNY]

IF you are reading this Princess, then I want you to know that your customers do NOT appreciate paying the price of a cruise and finding that you expect us to continue to sleep on old, worn, threadbare, and frankly painful mattresses!

 

How can you bring a ship into dry dock, and do a complete overhaul and still leave years' old, pancake thin, hard-as-nails mattresses on the beds?! :(

 

Why didn't you, Princess, replace all of the very old and worn mattresses with brand new mattresses this past dry dock a few months ago? It is completely inexplicable to redo an entire ship and leave this most basic element of passenger comfort unchanged.

 

When we work hard all year to save for a once-a-year-cruise vacation, the least we can reasonably expect is to be able to sleep on a comfortable bed; one that does not leave us with back pain, and head-to-toe body aches and pains.

 

There are no eggcrates created by man that could have helped or mitigated the discomfort of these pitiful mattresses.

 

Replace the worn mattresses on the CB with new mattresses!

 

PLEASE.

 

If memory serves, all mattresses on the CB were replaced a year ago (before dry dock). I was on the ship last June, and recall leading up to my cruise reading how every week they were swapping out more and more mattresses. I certainly didn't have any problems with my mattress.

[Paka]

If Princess Corp is listening.....I have read on the CC that the cabins on the Golden were not refurbished. I sure hope Princess realizes that the cabins are very important to the cruiser. Redoing the tile in the bathrooms, getting new blankets and mattresses are little things, but do so much to make the cruise so enjoyable. So Princess...if they need to be replaced...I hope you do so. I love the Golden and will be on her in October. I hope you have her shinning like the star she is! Princess is still my favorite cruise line. I think they are doing a great job!

[Grizabellachinchilla]

While you are listening, Princess, if you are planning any perks for passengers whose cruise has been affected by the swine flu situation, please consider free Internet minutes!! There must be a few like me who have to pay for this service. I believe ice cream is now complimentary - if so, much appreciated. GC

[DrivesLikeMario]

If Princess Corp. is watching, maybe they will fix the web cam on the Star Princess?

[RCDR]

I think that the type or brand of mattresses that Princes uses if definitely different than the other cruise lines.

 

I was on Ruby's maiden voyage and I double check with the cabin steward and she told me that yes I was the first one to sleep on that bed. And guess what it didn't feel like a new bed at all.

 

So glad that this mattress thing is brought up! I have just sent Princess a serious complain letter of our experience on the Golden Princess early May, the mattress and pillows was HORRIBLE. I was honestly shocked as to how cheap Princess is on this issue. When their competition is upgrading their bedding (NCL has the best bedding), they will P-off so many passengers like me that just dont think its worth not sleeping well on a cruise....regardless of pricing. I will just stay home:eek:

[DrivesLikeMario]

If Princess Corp. is watching, maybe they will fix the web cam on the Star Princess?

 

Well, now I'm a believer...the webcam has been fixed! :D YAY!!!

[EKELLEY]

Please bring a ship back to Galveston or to the Port of Houston.

[spindrift]

YES - PLEASE bring a ship back to Galveston or the beautiful new Port of Houston.