PrincessLuver

2 hours ago, Pickels said:

We always prefer to have the same staff at dinner; they would know our dining preferences; what I can eat, what I can't eat and, it just makes for a great one-on-one situation.  You get to know the staff and they get to know you.  If we can't reserve the same table each night, then it's off to the MDR which is no biggy; we've done that for all of our cruises and it was great!

The idea of Reserve Class is that the tables are reserved for everyone in that category.  Usually there is never a problem and you almost always will have the same staff every night if you want and pretty much same table but it is not guaranteed.  It just depends when you get there.  They will know your preferences believe me.  But if others want a window seat that you think is yours they will not hesitate to allow them to sit there.  However, we have never had a trouble getting any table we wanted in Reserve Class if it was not being occupied.

44 minutes ago, Pickels said:

Good Morning Rick&Jeannie; Question:  Can you still request the same table (for two) in the MDR Reserve Section?  Since 2003, we're always have done this and have been successful!  Thanks. 

We do Reserve Class on all our cruises and have never found the need to request a permanent table because there is always plenty of good ones available.  I am not sure if wait staff would do that because if someone wanted a window table and they said it was reserved then that would open a whole can of worms for the staff.  We have never seen them reserve individual tables in Reserve Class.

17 hours ago, Droink said:

I've never understood why dressing a specific way somehow adds to or ruins a cruise experience?!?  It's ludicrous.  Just eat, drink and be merry! 

Agree.  I do not see where dress is out of control or out of bounds on all the cruises we do.  Princess suggests a dress code and people have the option to dress formally or more business casual.  It is not that big a deal and we certainly do not care what others are wearing anywhere on the ship at anytime.  The real code Princess should be promoting is " passengers just need to mind their own business and enjoy their cruise."  Live and let live.

10 hours ago, memoak said:

If you are not going to use the suite breakfast or reserve dining you are mostly buying size of stateroom and laundry

We agree and we tend to book long cruises and depending where we are going depends on if we will get a suite or not.  However we have found that most Reserve Class Mini-Suites meet our needs just as well as a suite.  We are Elite so the laundry, mini-bar, and priority boarding and disembarkation work out just fine getting a mini-suite.  Also, we tired of breakfast in Sabatini's and found we had just as many choices for breakfast in the Reserve Class dining room.  We do not think what Princess charges for suites on some ships is really worth what little specialness you will receive.  

We received three emails like this from Princess for a 21 day cruise we were on in June.  They said the cruise was sold and booked as a 21 day cruise but it was actually three 7 day cruises and that Princess accounting was sending out three different folios to make their books correct.  We received one folio on the ship for 21 days so nothing changed except it is just more confusion coming from the "I Like This Boat!" new regime at Princess.

14 hours ago, trvlwrld said:

For the last week almost every cruise I look at says current pricing not available.   Yes, I have reinstalled, cleared caches, restarted, rebooted, deleted…done it all, but all the cruises I have been looking to book say the same thing.  The one exception finally showed a price today and it is $1400 more than when I looked a little over a week ago!  I have reluctantly been able to put aside my frustrations with all the “new” charges and call center issues,  but enough is enough!  I know many here have jumped ship to Celebrity or HAL, but I really wanted to stay with Princess.  Good-bye Princess, hello Celebrity!

Agree.  We are trying to stay with Princess but all the issues we have had with the Philippine call center, being put on hold for over 30 minutes is the new norm, and then not being able to do simple procedures such as adding a FCD to a booking have just become too frustrating.  The Princess zealots will say get a TA of it it is worse at CCL or RCCL do not seem to care either about what is really going on at Princess.  Hope you really enjoy Celebrity.

Most of the Royal Class ships we have been on recently it has not been possible to access.  Others may have figured a work around but we have not.

On 8/11/2023 at 10:10 AM, sabrefan said:

Very used to country club casual type dress for dinner.

You will be just fine with country club casual and even that maybe over dressing for Princess these days.  Princess' so called dress code are suggestions only.  We have never seen anyone turned away from the dining room in all the cruises we have done and we have seen plenty of so called dress code violations welcomed into the MDR.

They restaurant managers are too busy trying to find tables for people now instead of being line monitors.

Princess seems to be more in the business these days of promoting alcohol consumption than elegance.

5 hours ago, Papa Yoda said:

 

... except for the hostess Fortuna Luck: 

 

Fortuna Luck is the best thing about Princess Bingo besides winning.  Most players like how she livens up the games.  Of course Bingo does draw old fuddy duddies too.

9 hours ago, Mike45LC said:

I think the increased revenue will not offset the loss in customer loyalty.  The stock will continue to tank.

I agree.  They are throwing in a couple free pizzas, two workout classes, and some DQ deserts and people are just going gaga.  I doubt these are the cruisers who sail on Princesses 20+ day cruises or World Cruises.  Probably 7 day cruisers.  And nobody knows for sure that 75% of these packages are being bought on cruisers.  Speculation run rampant on CC as usual.  Princess should start selling timeshares next onboard because it sound like they may have a built in customer base.

5 minutes ago, SCX22 said:

 

When airlines started to charge for checked baggage in economy, passengers complained.  Passengers continued fly these airlines and pay the checked baggage fee.  The airlines that made this change are still thriving.

LOL.....yes and we all know how popular flying is these days not to mention that "unruly passenger incidents" have increased dramatically in recent years.  

1 hour ago, traveldayz said:

It has already come to pass that you can no longer claim the veteran AND the shareholder OBC - 1 only.

Of all the things Princess has taken away in the past year, especially for people at the Elite level, this move has left the strongest stench in ours mouths.  My wife and I are both veterans and also own CCL stock.  It makes no sense that as a group that Veterans have to choose one OBC or the other.  No other group is having to make a choice between the OBC's they get to use.  Princess really showed their disloyalty to veterans by this move.  It has been a major reason for us sticking with them over the years.

Their new management is just burning the gang planks as they go.  No reason to own their stock now and no real reason to keep coming back when they are targeting one group.  

I get the feeling. especially from our Princess CP,  that this is only the beginning and they are going to be limiting everyone in the future to one OBC of choice.

23 minutes ago, Earthworm Jim said:

 

But from Princess' point of view, they might not care. Say you're a standard passenger who doesn't drink enough to make the Plus package worthwhile. I'm not privy to Princess' accounting, but perhaps they only break even on the cruise fare for such passengers. Or maybe they even lose money? Maybe they view standard passengers as a drain who by take up cabins which could otherwise have been sold to more profitable passengers.

 

That said, a standard passenger could be spending enough gambling, or on shore excursions, or in the shops to make them more worthwhile to Princess.

Correct.  Just because people book the Standard pricing in no way means they are not spending plenty of money on the ships.  We do spend but we do not want to subsidized the drinking habits of others by getting involved in Princess' all inclusive packages.  Why pay for things that we do not need, use or want.  Let others do that.  Cheers! 🙂

1 hour ago, JGmf said:

 

Re: stiffing the crew to make a righteous point that you don't like Princess' changes - that's petty and ridiculous. 

Ahhh.  I think Princess is being petty and ridiculous by all the new ways it is finding too stiff its' passengers.  Stiff away!!

1 hour ago, cruzsnooze said:

I sure won't be booking full suites anymore since I get nothing for it. I liked room service as included but that take away is a deal breaker. I don't drink so no packages meet my needs. I have a few more cruises booked then I will be looking at other ways to travel. I took some bus tours and liked them and will be looking more closely at them again. 

   Flame away but my daily gratuity will be cut in half on my next cruises. I had reduced it  by 20% now it will be 50%. With all this gouging Princess can compensate their crew.

Agree.  Cutting gratuity is one way to fight back and let them know that what they are providing is now basically all up-charges and not exemplary service.

1 hour ago, kywildcatfanone said:

Agree.  This has nothing to do with the pandemic or the possibility of going out of business.  That has to do with making higher profits on every passenger that boards the ship.  Make everything you can cost a bit more, see how it goes, and if the uptake is still good, do it again in 6 months, and keep doing that.  

I'm pretty shocked that these ongoing price increases, and benefit cuts are being received so well by so many.  I think it's the world we live in now.  The costs of the packages to me are wildly outrageous, as well as an 18% (will be 20% soon I'm sure) gratuity being added to a bartender handing you a bott of water.  

I get it though, they have done their research and I'm sure 80% will do what they currently do, and the other 20% will be filled by new cruisers who didn't know what the good old days were like, and the cycle will continue.

I suspect when we finish out our current bookings, we might be done and looking for new vacation types.  Cruising used to be a good value.  That has changed a lot over the last year. 

Agree.  There seemed to be much more upset when Princess started SAVING theater seats for certain groups.  We surprisingly found last year that our land based trips in Europe were much more bang for the buck and more fun than cruising.  Thank you Princess for your greed!!

11 minutes ago, AlibearNS said:

We hover between Celebrity and Princess, Elite now on both. In the last year we've sailed 1x on Celebrity and 3x on Princess because we consider the app features a huge draw, along with the free room service. We also love having Alfredo's as an alternative complimentary dining option.
Now, as I understand it, if you don't have Plus or Premier you have to pay a one off charge just to use the Ocean Now delivery on the app? And, with Plus, we can only use Alfredo's twice for free, even on a longer voyage? 
And they kept those stupid, childish desserts?
I honestly think Princess is going the wrong way with this, devaluing their brand, giving us no reason to choose them now over Celebrity, who, despite the tacky room service charge, do have a classy feel and offer a daily drinks hour for elites. 
Sad times, Princess.

We are headed this way too.  Princess seems to be making too many changes that are taking from (devaluing) their loyal customers instead of adding enhancements for keep them happy and coming back.

When times get tough again, as they often do, their loyalist will probably be long gone if this keeps up.

And you know they are going to just keep finding ways to raise prices as they have often done in the past 9 months....wow.....what a roller coaster they are becoming.

23 minutes ago, ldtr said:

So lets see.  Lets say that the cruise lines all changed their business model.

 

Your base fare would go up by the amount of tips.  That means that unlike today where tips are paid after the cruise, unless you select to pay them in advance, you will now have to pay the amount 90 days before the cruise starts.  Because the fare goes up, your insurance costs also goes up since it is based up the new fare.  So if all else is neutral  your costs as a passenger have increased over the current system, the amount of money at risk is increased, and the amount of funds you have to pay earlier has increased.  Not exactly a good deal for passengers.

 

Of course that would not be the end of it.  There are also advantages to the crew and the cruiseline under the current system.

 

To the cruise line whose accounting systems are run in accordance with US accounting standards (listed on US exchanges) the money received for tips is processed outside of the companies books.  Any money they receive as gratuities is not counted as revenue and the money they pay to the crew is not counted as an expense.  As long as certain rules are met.  One of which is that all monies received must be distributed to the crew that are part of the gratuity pool. Another is that the gratuitiy must be optional (can be removed).  That makes it pretty certain that the money is in fact going to the crew.  While if the system changed and the money flow remained exactly the same with fares going up $16 per person per day and salaries going up the same amount now being classified as revenue and expense, it would not impact corporate income taxes, but it would impact net margin in a negative way.

 

Then comes the crew depending upon their countries of residence gratuities are often taxed differently with gratuities often getting better tax treatment.

 

To put it simply moving gratuities into the fares would be a negative for passengers, the cruise line and the crew.  Even though it would prevent some from removing the gratuity amount.

No one really knows what happens to the gratuities passengers automatically pay.  

9 minutes ago, JGmf said:

 

Read: stiffing the crew.  It is what it is. Can't candy-coat or use righteous justification.

It's also known as Princess stiffing their passengers too(changing what they promised after you paid for a cruise).  Crew can get in line I guess.  

11 minutes ago, whitecap said:

At the current $16 per day per guest ($32 for a couple) that comes to $448 on a 14 day cruise.  By having the automatic gratuities taken off my account, I have just saved $448 minus any tip that I might give to my room steward or other crew member who does a great job providing services to me, my DW and our cabin.  We will be able to provide our room steward an amble gratuity and still be well ahead and enough to splurge on a couple of nights of room service and pay the $5 per delivery (no need to tip the person delivering since the $5 fee should cover that).  Princess convinces some to pay the higher/new fees and thus increases their profit/income, we found a way to decrease our expenditures and still be able to enjoy our cruise.  Win Win.   

 

Agree.  Let Princess start paying a living wage to their crew with their new found profits from price gouging their loyal passengers.  We have attended many Most Traveled Functions and they always say because of your loyalty we are in business.  Looks like their business model is changing.  

Also, we have referred many a family member and friend to Princess but can no longer feel comfortable getting them involved in the Nickel and Dime Circus.

7 minutes ago, SCX22 said:

 

To Princess' credit, they did take on an astronomical load of debt to survive the pandemic.  The "nickel and diming" isn't uncalled for so they don't default on their debt.  How else are they supposed pay back their creditors?  The creditors won't take drinks, room service, or specialty dining as payment.

 

You have to be joking.  They are price gouging, moving the goal posts and providing a much poorer product.  This is no different than what the airlines did when they unbundled their services.  

I expect the creative charges to keep coming, ie. MDR is $10.00 extra each night per passenger but you can still eat in the buffet free.   But Princess is going to enhance your buffet experience by adding a new express line to the buffet for $5.00 extra per use.  It is true there are suckers born every minute. 

1 hour ago, dns65 said:

 

Princess wants to get rid of the non-revenue generating customers.  Buy Princess Plus or Premier or otherwise be prepared to be nickle and dimed on your cruise. 

Have a feeling they are going to be driving a lot more passengers to Viking, Oceania, Silver Sea etc.  What they use to include in their price is now extra for Standard Fare and now they are adding all kinds of nickel and dimming costs.   No way to support what they are doing.  Will get more bang and less hassle and cheapness from other cruise lines.  New management will kill the goose that has always laid their golden egg - their most loyal customers.

On 3/9/2022 at 7:25 PM, roxievegas said:

any one know what the rules are for the Blackjack Tournament ?

 

We have an entry for the cruise next week.

Have they started the tournaments again?  We have not seen any BJ tournaments since before Covid-  Our last cruise was 21 days in June 2023.

I really miss the Princess CSR's before this recent change.  I wonder if Princess just let all that experience, knowledge of product and goodwill go.  I feel sorry for those agents if that happened and what general incompetence customers get when they get put through to Princess' new call center.

Free laundry if you are  in a suite and you are not Elite.  Not so in a Reserve Class Mini.