Club Class wait Not Acceptable

Hey CruzSnooze,

We crossed paths once, I seem to remember it was a 7-day Mexican Riviera cruise on the NCL Jewel in Jan 2016.

Hope you have been doing well.

Just ignore the posters with the snarky remarks, too many people like to hide behind the anonymity that the interet

provides, most of them wouldn't have the gall to say those comments in a face to face situation. But I don't need to

tell you that, you have plenty more experience on here than I do.

Take care of yourself and be well.

 

 

Fred

Hi Fred, I've done the Jewel and the Star NCL to Mexico so you're probably right about crossing paths. Thanks for the kind words. One thing prevalent on these boards are cheer leaders who think their cruise line can never be wrong and it's the passenger who's not tolerant. I feel that when I buy a product or service it should minimally live up to it's advertising and promise. You'd think I ranted about never sailing with Princess again over this incident which would be incorrect, I have 4 more cruises booked and then I do plan to look at smaller ships.

Hi Fred, I've done the Jewel and the Star NCL to Mexico so you're probably right about crossing paths. Thanks for the kind words. One thing prevalent on these boards are cheer leaders who think their cruise line can never be wrong and it's the passenger who's not tolerant. I feel that when I buy a product or service it should minimally live up to it's advertising and promise. You'd think I ranted about never sailing with Princess again over this incident which would be incorrect, I have 4 more cruises booked and then I do plan to look at smaller ships.

 

Now that you mention it, I think it might have actually been on the NCL Star in Nov 2014. I seem to remember we exchanged pleasantries at the Internet Cafe.

We haven't been cruising much lately, last-minute deals seem to be getting harder and harder to come by. Although this year we did manage to snag 3 so far. Last year we did nada. In 2016 we did 7 cruises.

Hope to cross paths with you again one of these days and apologies for hijacking your thread here.

Edited February 18, 2018 by 558

.....but the issue that was unacceptable was pagers for Club Class with a 25 minute wait. I was under the impression the CC was a minimal wait. They stated that everyone wanted to eat at the same time that night. W

Reading all the comments it seems the OP is in a very small minority of people who have had such a wait. Perhaps a little more information might get a little more sympathy.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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My understanding is that with Club Class your table is the sane and will always be waiting for you with the same waiters. If not true, I would not book it

 

 

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My understanding is that with Club Class your table is the sane and will always be waiting for you with the same waiters. If not true, I would not book it

It's not true. The hostess will seat you in whatever table is available in the Club Class section. A lot of times, people have favorite waiters and will end up sitting in their sections the whole cruise. We ended up having different waiters on our Royal Princess cruise in December because we sometimes ate by ourselves and sometimes joined four others. The only table for six in the Club Class was in a different waiter's section. We had to wait about 15 minutes one night when we joined the four other passengers because another group were finishing up at that table.

Our Club Class meals we generally share with other people, so different table, sometime different staff, or you can sit at table for two ( but this seamed a little to quick ) we preferred sitting others, to meet different people particularly at dinner with wine, quite a few times we were still siting there talking over drinks for an hour once finish our meals, and there was never any hurry up and finish from any of the staff, just the check to see if we needed anything else .

 

Cheers Don

We were never promised the same wait staff nightly. The adverts said "dedicated" staff. That likely means dedicated to the CC area as in "not rotating thru regular dining." If you want a particular server, you can ask for a seat in his section, but this might involve the dreaded waiting if his section is full.

Now that you mention it, I think it might have actually been on the NCL Star in Nov 2014. I seem to remember we exchanged pleasantries at the Internet Cafe.

We haven't been cruising much lately, last-minute deals seem to be getting harder and harder to come by. Although this year we did manage to snag 3 so far. Last year we did nada. In 2016 we did 7 cruises.

Hope to cross paths with you again one of these days and apologies for hijacking your thread here.

I had unlimited internet on the cruise so I did spend some time there. The prices have been higher when you break it down to a per diem. This year prices are high and there are few really good incentives. I prefer Princess to NCL but wouldn't hesitate to book on either line since they're more alike then different.

I agree with the OP. After paying the big $$$ to stay in CC and then be handed a pager and 25 minute wait is not acceptable. I do think Princess was caught in a situation where many in suites and CC showed up at the same time to dine. While they certainly could not invent more tables, they could have offered something to the inconvenienced pax like wine with their dinner or a cocktail while they waited. Situations like this can happen making for angry pax but a small offer along with sympathy can go a long way for customer service.

 

When you charge significantly extra money for a service and then find yourself in a situation where beyond your control you are not able to deliver that service, an offer of sympathy and something tangible is demanded. It is called good customer relations and costs little to do.

Yup, if they had handed you a complimentary glass of wine with that pager, there would have been a lot less whining!

I know! Sending a hug your way. Let's keep this in perspective. During a busy period everyone must wait. Paying extra doesn't change time or build more tables. ...

 

Yes, let's do keep this in perspective. Why is a multi-billion dollar corporation excused from providing the resources it knows or ought to know are needed to satisfy a product sold ("...expedited seating with no wait...")?

They actually do invent more tables for CC dining. Twice on the Grand Princess, we have been seated close to the CC dining. We have watched the waiters whip the white tablecloths and alstroemerias off the tables and replace them with the grey CC tablecloths and potted orchids. We have also seen them do the opposite when CC was empty and Anytime was waiting for tables. It was pretty comical.

 

Cheers, Denise

I agree with the OP. After paying the big $$$ to stay in CC and then be handed a pager and 25 minute wait is not acceptable. I do think Princess was caught in a situation where many in suites and CC showed up at the same time to dine. While they certainly could not invent more tables, they could have offered something to the inconvenienced pax like wine with their dinner or a cocktail while they waited. Situations like this can happen making for angry pax but a small offer along with sympathy can go a long way for customer service.

 

When you charge significantly extra money for a service and then find yourself in a situation where beyond your control you are not able to deliver that service, an offer of sympathy and something tangible is demanded. It is called good customer relations and costs little to do.

 

I agree with you completely. Princess did not deliver the service that was promised, so it sure would have been a nice gesture to offer a complimentary cocktail or some other token form of compensation for the pax inconvenience.

This happened to me on the Grand last September. They said come back in 30 minutes. When I complained that this was not how Club Class was supposed to work, they said five minutes. I never went back, after that night. The Maitre'd did give me a free dinner at Sabatini's to make up for it. Sabatini's was great!

 

PS - my experience on the Grand was at 7:30pm, on a non formal sea day.

We were on CB over Christmas and New Year and there was certainly a bit of a problem for the first couple of nights and the staff were quite stressed out as they were definitely short of tables.

 

However after the lady in charge of CC dining had a chat with her superiors, the area assigned to CC was increased in size and the problem did go away, though one night we noticed that, in order to avoid us having to wait, they quickly changed all the linen on one table to re-assign it from ATD to CC.

Happy to learn that in at least a few reported instances Princess has stepped up and provided something meaningful to inconvenienced pax. When I referred to "invent tables" I was referring to physically adding more tables to the MDR which is not possible. Repurposing tables from ATD to CC is always an option and interesting that they in fact have done that in the past. The bottom line here is that if Princess is going to charge hundreds or even thousands more for the same stateroom based on certain promises, then they need to deliver all the time or they are going to find themselves with empty staterooms.

On page 24 of the recent Capt Circle magazine it again states Club Class dining with no waits. Seems advertised and reality are two different things.

I was on the Caribbean Princess for a 12 night British Isles cruise and had a very positive experience with CC dining. My party of 3 never waited. We had the same wait staff at lunch and dinner. In fact on one night they changed a table size to 4 for us so we were with the same wait staff. It was not something we asked for, but it was appreciated.

Think outside the box. Every single cruise line is a professional training organization - they train new staff probably on every cruise. They could easily add additional staff to CC and maintain the same level of service; you and I both know it can be done. They could also add additional staff as support staff, and not disrupt the relationships already formed between the "permanent" CC staff and passengers.

 

Sorry you had to wait. That said, the Princess complaint department is NOT this forum, contrary to popular belief. None of us are empowered to fix the problem(s) you encountered.

any wait over 2-3 minutes should result in an automatic , no questions asked, $25 OBC for each person in the waiting party

Yup' date=' if they had handed you a complimentary glass of wine with that pager, there would have been a lot less whining![/quote']

With all the drink packages, a glass of wine might not have any value.

 

1) Stuff Happens

2) The appropriate fix, was to give diners immediate seating in a specialty dining restaurant.

Just got off the caribbean Princess and she has major problems with speed and shortened port times but the issue that was unacceptable was pagers for Club Class with a 25 minute wait. I was under the impression the CC was a minimal wait. They stated that everyone wanted to eat at the same time that night. Well wasn't that the issue with the MDR and why CC was introduced for a fee to avoid the wait times.

Paying extra $800 to$1000 per person for a club class mini suite is outrageous. As you just experienced

.

 

Sorry you had to wait. That said, the Princess complaint department is NOT this forum, contrary to popular belief. None of us are empowered to fix the problem(s) you encountered.

Who said this was the Princess complaint dept. Nobody asked you to fix any problems. People come here to share their experiences and exchange ideas.

Trying Club Class for the first time next month. Having to wait excessively like this would be extremely disappointing.

Sure, a glass of wine for the trouble would be nice, but then, if it happens multiple nights that would be annoying too. Add to that, not everyone drinks, so a free beverage might not be a deal to everyone.

 

It's disappointing that you pay so much extra but then have to wait. I really hope that we don't have this problem on our cruise.

On page 24 of the recent Capt Circle magazine it again states Club Class dining with no waits.

Good point. Not only is it the standing Princess policy, it also was published just days ago.

 

I agree Princess shouldn't promise something it can't deliver, and that includes the Medallion fiasco.

 

Jim