Caribbean Princess - service complaints

Can someone who has recently sailed aboard the Caribbean Princess find their "Log of the Cruise" if one was provided and post the total number of staff and crew?

It is my contention that the staffing levels on this ship might be inadequate. Space was made for additional passengers without ill effect on the "feel" of the ship, but I do not believe that staff levels were increased compared to previous generations of Grand-class ships. Does this translate into noticeably reduced service and higher demands on the crew?

Great question, Rob! I'd love to know as well.

But in travelscrapper's excellent post reviewing food/service on CB, the point was made repeatedly that they noticed crew members standing idly and not making an effort, and also that staff seemed to get things plain wrong. To my way of thinking those are MUCH worse than simply being short of staff, which is easily solved by hiring more people. That's indifference/incompetence.

Spongerob,

May I also ask for someone who had recently been on the Grand &/or Golden also post the same information so we can compare. (Maybe you already have that information.)

Great thought to look at this information, considering all the hupla lately concerning the "service level" on the Caribbean Princess.

I'm still looking for the one from our Caribbean Princess sailing but the one from our Golden Princess sailing (for comparison purposes) say 3100 Passengers and 1000 crew under "Ship's Particulars" on the back page. I don't see a reference to exact passengers and crew on that particular (13 March 2004) sailing.

I was on the 9 day 9/18 cruise and thought the service was outstanding. We ate in the Palm PC each night (except 2) and whether we sat by ourselves or with others we found the waiters to be very nice and very efficient. We ate at the Caribe twice and were actually surprised that the service was so good. We grabbed apps and sat down at a table that was set beautifully. A server came over took our drink order which was delivered by a different server. When we finished apps we got up and got our main course and when we returned table was clear and napkins and utensils were replaced with clean ones. This happened both trips to Caribe, the last being on the 9th night.

There seems to be a lot of complaints about these 2 cruises and I think it might have to do with all the frazzled passengers. We had great and friendly service wherever we were on board.

I've been lurking here for quite sometime. Sailed on the infamous September 11/04 sailing. Thought everything was great (except some of the passengers - boiler makers at 7:30 am on the balcony) and we did not have any service issues. Service in the dining room was slow at times but we were never treated rudely by any crew. Then again we are not very 'demanding' passengers.

Info from the Sept 11/04 log of the Cruise indicates normal crew at 1200.

Sailed on the Grand to the Western Caribbean in April 04. Log - indicates 1060 crew.

For what it's worth:

Caribbean Princess

Cruise Critic Rating:

Lifestyle Category: Premium

Ship Size: 116,000 tons

Service Entry Date: 2004

Passenger Capacity: 3,110 passengers

Crew Capacity: 1,142 crew

Space Ratio: 37.2

Crew to Passenger Ratio: 1 to 2.7

Ship Registry: Bermuda

Golden Princess

Cruise Critic Rating:

Lifestyle Category: Premium

Ship Size: 109,000 tons

Service Entry Date: 2001

Passenger Capacity: 2,600 passengers

Crew Capacity: 1,150 crew

Space Ratio: 43.2

Crew to Passenger Ratio: 1 to 2.3

Ship Registry: Britain

This could be outdated info. It's from the travelocity Website.

It is possible that there may have been enough crew, but they were not in the correct areas. There were always a ton of waiters around the pools and in th showrooms for drinks last week on the Diamond, yet not enough foodservers in the restaurants. Our waitress, Magdalena, from formal night at Sterling was back at the buffet in the morning. I asked her if she got any sleep and she said 3 hours. Just because the passenger to crew ratio looks right or wrong doesn't mean it is :)

I agree, the measurement could be just as meaningless as space ratios. My theory (and that's all it is) is that higher passenger:crew ratios will make more work for the crew and possibly result in noticeable reductions in service. The observation that crew members aren't situated properly or being supervised is also an extremely good one.

My question is necessarily focused on the recent reviews, there have been several comments made during the months this ship has been in service that the on-board experience is not up to normal Princess standards. There could be a preponderance of less-experienced crew, too.

Sponge Rob~I believe you have hit the nail on the head, when you stated, crew members not being supervised. From what we observed last week...many crew members were mistreating passengers terribly. Some of the staff acted like they had no one to answer to, and they definately did not seem to be worried about their actions being reported.

I know some passengers can be very demanding~and shame on them. The staff has a difficult job, at best. But what got me fired up, was the rude behavior to some of the passengers just for being there.

Let me make myself clear...NOT all staff was rude, some of the staff was top notched. But it was quite evident that the rude staff were slacking and making the work load heavier for the top notched staff. This is the issue I would like to see Princess address.

It just seemed to me that team work among the staff was not there. For example: We were sitting at the AFT pool deck one morning having our coffee. A young female staff, was walking down the deck stairs with a supply of napkins and cups. She fell on the stairs half way down, and the napkins flew all over the pool area. Passengers ran to help her up and retrieve the flying napkins. There was a male staff, that just stood there smoking his cigarette. He never went to assist her or help with the clean up. I guess he was on break.:rolleyes: Not to mention he was smoking on the wrong side of the ship.

All in all, CB just did not seem to be a tight runned ship. I will definately try CB again. Hopefullly it will be better next time. But for this cruise it is too late...

~Kathi~

While not making excuses...............let's not forget either the stress the crew has had for the better part of a month with hurricanes............wasn't the ship directly affected by 2 hurricanes in 3 weeks?? Again, I'm not making excuses, but can you imagine the number of upset passengers (to no fault of Princess) because of missed flights, lack of hotel rooms, lost days, added days.....well you get the picture..........we can choose to go on vacation to "get away".......they have to get ready for a new set of passengers..........no matter how bad the weather or the previous passengers were.........

And again, I'm not making excuses................but you may well have some psycological factors at work here as well.

We actually saw more supervisors than ever before when we were on the Diamond last week, mostly around the bar area. Anytime two waiters got together, someone was on them like a duck on a june bug, directing them where to go. As managers, Ed and I both noticed it, and were also surprised at how unprofesionnally the supervisors spoke to the crew. On the other side of the arc, we also saw more crew relaxing in the public rooms at night. We even ran into one of our waitresses relaxing in Mazatlan. Not sure how this equates to service, I'm all for giving them some more time off. Just wonder if the extra time off is what's causing the issues. If there's a set number of crew and they al get an extra four hours off a week, that's a lot of crew coming out of the ratio without actually coming out of the ratio, if you know what I mean.

Being new to Princess (next month in fact).........does Princess allow off duty staff in the public areas??????

I have never seen this on any of our RC cruises...........not particularly for or against this.........just never seen it before..........is it allowed??

Jim, some crew members are allowed to use public areas. They are required to wear their gold ID badges at all times.

My question and concern is does Princess know this? Are people putting their complaints on the comment cards or actually writing to Princess about the problems with the staff? There is absolutely no excuse for "mistreating passengers terribly", "crew members not being supervised", "noticed crew members standing idly and not making an effort", or "rude staff". Princess management has to get on that ship and straighten out these issues.

Bernie, that's an interesting observation. Since I work for an international organization, with plenty of non-US-derived management, I think I can say with some experience that there is a distinct difference in management styles.

My next comment is admittedly a generalization, but I find that European management styles tend towards autocratic and short tempers are part of the mix. They are less likely to use coaching methods and more conscious of status within the organization.

Again, my comments are general, and I will freely admit that I've had some great foreign managers, and some terrible domestic examples.

Spongerob-

As I've gotten older, I have definitely matured in my management style as well. It is so hard to find quality help, I try to treat them as best I can. The challenge lies in treating the not-so-quality help as well. We noticed it in one particular instance becaue the supervisor was yelling at the poor waitress who was carrying tray after tray of drinks in heat hot enough to melt my cruise card and she was in a long sleeve shirt, black vest and panythose. She was very nice in all of our contact with her (before and after)and he ripped into her becuase there were empty glasses on a table. Everyone's style is different. I left my last job becuase my boss talked to her dog better than she did to us. My comment was not intended as a criticism, but more as an observation of how quick the bar supervisors were to react to the service issues there. Your comment is interesting because I remember having a problem at a hotel in London fixed so quickly it was amazing. I could hear the yelling going on in the back and never received a quicker or more sincere apology anywhere. Of course we felt guilty for the rest of the day after that, but there service was great for the rest of our stay.

I really tried to treat all of the service staff as nice as I possibly could even to the point of trying to tip my steward $20 EXTRA on the first day. I have worked in the service industry myself and realize how hard they work. For some reason they just didn't seem interested in helping. I did see numerous staff people in the lounges later at night and they were having a grand ole time. In my humble opinion it was very inapporpriate. I would agree that there did not appear to be any supervision. I think this is a managment problem.

Bernie~I too hate to see a supervisor yell and scream at a worker. There is a time and place for decent conversation between the two, out of the ear shot of customers.

I dont know if management is the problem or not...whatever it is Princess needs to nip this in the bud before it gets any worse. If ignored it could ruin their reputation.

Yes, I did fill out the qestionaire form before leaving the ship. I reported what was great and not so great. I will also be mailing them a letter.

Not everything on this ship is terrible. As I have said she is a beautiful ship. Great shows! And some of the staff is top notched! However too many of the staff/management needs to be checked on. They cannot be mad at the passengers just because we are on the ship. Sort of dampens the festive mood. I thought I would scream if I saw one more set of eyes roll. Or a smart mouth reply to a coworker or passenger.

I think it would be wonderful if the cruise lines would send an employee on cruises as a passenger for him/her to make their report. Of course they probally already do.

You know, if there were only a few posts complaining about the cruise, then that would be one thing. But this is the majority.

We are going on another cruise this Feb. I am not sure whether to go with Princess or wait and try them another time when they have worked some bugs out.

~Kathi~

I did see numerous staff people in the lounges later at night and they were having a grand ole time. In my humble opinion it was very inapporpriate. I would agree that there did not appear to be any supervision. I think this is a managment problem.

Or a smart mouth reply to a coworker or passenger.

Could you describe this incident? It is totally outside of anything I’ve experienced on a Princess ship.

I was on the Caribbean Princess' 9/18 9-day cruise. Although I wasn't impressed with the service in the dining rooms, it was more due to its impersonal nature than lack of politeness, speed, etc. I just missed the cameraderie one has with the servers in traditional dining. However, the service in the two specialty restaurants was much friendlier and felt more personalized.

Our cabin steward, Chai, was efficient as well as friendly. Always called hello to us by name in the hallways when she saw us.

On the rest of the ship, while I can't say anyone rushed to wait on us hand and foot (not that I would have wanted that), I saw no instances of rude personnel. Whenever we had dealings at the information desk, everyone was polite. Same in the photo shop.

But maybe I was just lucky.

bdjam

Then they were officers acting inappropriately. I just don't think they should be dancing with the guest, in the bar, late at night.

I was also obvious that those rules are even more lax in port. They were having a good time at Carols and Charlies also. Not officers staff.

Just my opinion but I think on board service in all areas has gone down in the past couple of years. Most of the Cruiselines have instituted the policy of adding tips to everyones shipboard account automatically. This insures an equal distribution of tip money regardless of how an employee performs.

The bottom line is many of the service personnel do not "try as hard" as they did in the past when they looked forward, at the end of each cruise, to be compensated for good and even excellent service. With the new policy they all are guaranteed their tips. What we have noticed is that the service personnel just "do their job". The personel touch is just not there anymore. Of course there are exceptions -- We don't have any compliants in this area but do miss the little extra nice attitude that used to be displayed by the personnel.

The crew are permitted off the ship while in port. Apparently one of their incentives for good services is extended off-duty priveleges in port. Basically, it's their 'weekend' and time to blow off some steam. I've even run into crewmembers I recognized and bought them a drink on shore.

Here comes a blast, but it is ok, cause I want to know. If the staff is off duty, and I DON"T know what is allowed, regular staff, or officers, wouldn't it be up to the passenger to have conversations with them? If I wanted too, would I be told "no you can't", or if I didn't, Don't the good old "NO" still apply??? :confused: