Not as good as they used to be.

This review is more about the Princess Cruise Line than any particular cruise. We are Elite level cruisers on Princess with 24 cruises on that line. Over the years we have found that the level of accomodation and service has slowly declined. However, the main problem with Princess is one that is also true of many companies. That is, the company is so compartmentalized that problems that might be adressed by one department talking to another often get ignored. In addition, Customer Service is a department whose main job is to keep the higher executives insulated from the public. There are several issues that I wish I could discuss with anyone who could actually affect a change, but that can never happen in a system where we are told that Customer Service has no way to contact higher level executives. Examples of problems that cannot be adressed are: the fact that "sugar free" desserts are often made with fruit in or on them which then makes them unhealthy for diabetics who make up 10-15% of Princesses customers, the fact that there are no longer cushions onboard ships for passengers who feel that the beds are too hard, even with the recent upgrade, the fact that prices on the website do not match what we are offered when we call in, which is actually a form of bait and switch which is an illegal selling practice, the fact that we often get entirely different answers to questions depending on who we speak to on any particular day, and that those answers often do not match what happens on ships. I am sure that I could find other things that are relevant, but the main problem is a lack of communication betweeen the customer base and anyone at Princess who could actually fix problems, or at least respond to them. Years ago I suggested that they create an office of Customer Ombudsman who would have the ability to talk with anyone at Princess and get answers as to why certain things happen. Obviously that hasn't happened and I have heard little from Princess regarding that or any of my other concerns. I either hear "that's a good idea" or a simple recitation of Princess's policies on a particular subject, which does nothing to actually address any of my concerns. This has become more common as time has gone by.

Since this is almost the first response to your initial post, I'm not going to quote your post since it is so close. When I first saw the subject, I thought "Oh, boy, here we go, a rant!" but that was not the case at all, at least to my way of thinking. Your points were well made and pretty much on target. An ombudsman, especially in an industry such as this, seems to me to be a very good idea and one that could serve both the company and the customers. While there would undoubtedly be many cases where one "side" or the other would not walk away fully satisfied, and undoubtedly some where neither would be happy, a lot of times both would walk away (cruise away? :) ) feeling that they came out ahead.

Now, will the establishment of an ombudsman position at PCL ever come to pass? I suspect not, but I've been wrong before and hopefully this will be another time where that will be the case. Someday, some company may take that step and it might catch on throughout the industry and become the norm. Right now I'm trying to figure out what the shortcoming(s) might be of that happening. So far, I haven't been able to come up with any.

In any event, thanks for starting this thread on such a level-headed plane! Hope you have a Merry Christmas and Great Cruising New Year! :D

Tom

Like the idea of an ombudsman. John Heald acts in that capacity for CCL (the line, not the Corp). Another thought is tweeting your concerns individually or posting this on FB. Companies are increasingly responsive to social media in ways email doesn't seem to crack. Thought 3:

Determine the Princess email protocol, look at their corporate website and share concerns with various department heads or VPs. And lastly, trust that people from PC monitor this site and investigate. Concerns from one of their top customers should be noted.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

This problem is far more endemic than just the cruise line. As companies outsource customer service and technical support more and more, it becomes increasingly frustrating and a waste of time to try and contact any large company with which you may have a concern. Customer service reps simply tend to parrot the standard company line and seem trained to deal with only the most basic of issues, and seem trained to avoid forwarding your concern to anyone with any real power to effect change. It has become so frustrating over the years that now, the first instinct is NOT to even make an initial call to customer service to any large company because you can only beat your head against the wall so many times.

I say this with only very limited exposure to Princess customer service but with enough bumps on my head from other companies in the past few years, such as internet providers, banks, cell phone companies, software companies, web hosting etc. I realise that Princess sales and customer service reps are still located in North America, but for how much longer? Tech support is heading off shore.

Don

It's a problem everywhere. Cuts are being made all over the cruise industry and the only line I've read about with no obvious cuts being visible is Viking Ocean cruises. Somewhat sad but as cruising becomes more affordable the fare reductions have to come from somewhere unfortunately :-(

Dan

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I trace it right back to when the Swartz person took over.

the only line I've read about with no obvious cuts being visible is Viking Ocean cruises.

Viking Ocean's first ship Viking Star was launched in April 2015. If the line has already made significant cuts in only 20 months of existence it is in a lot bigger trouble than Princess.

I trace it right back to when the Swartz person took over.

They started before this.

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At one time, Princess was considered a step above a main stream cruise line. They were called a premium cruise line. Sometime in the early 2000's they started to decline. Or at least that is when I saw it.

I would do anything to have the same line that we had in the late 90's. I LOVED that Princess. I am sure if I had cruised in the early 90's, I would want to go back to that time frame.

Princess isn't the only line that has declined, it seems like all the lines have declined.

It is odd - they seem to have a mentality of "how can we cut costs" which goes along with extra charges for things they didn't used to charge for and put more people on the ship. Back in the 90's I felt like the mentality was "how can we improve the experience".

I sort of believe the opposite of the OP - I think Corporate Princess knows exactly what is going on on the ships (except for the dumping situation).

This review is more about the Princess Cruise Line than any particular cruise. We are Elite level cruisers on Princess with 24 cruises on that line. Over the years we have found that the level of accomodation and service has slowly declined. However, the main problem with Princess is one that is also true of many companies. That is, the company is so compartmentalized that problems that might be adressed by one department talking to another often get ignored. In addition, Customer Service is a department whose main job is to keep the higher executives insulated from the public. There are several issues that I wish I could discuss with anyone who could actually affect a change, but that can never happen in a system where we are told that Customer Service has no way to contact higher level executives. Examples of problems that cannot be adressed are: the fact that "sugar free" desserts are often made with fruit in or on them which then makes them unhealthy for diabetics who make up 10-15% of Princesses customers, the fact that there are no longer cushions onboard ships for passengers who feel that the beds are too hard, even with the recent upgrade, the fact that prices on the website do not match what we are offered when we call in, which is actually a form of bait and switch which is an illegal selling practice, the fact that we often get entirely different answers to questions depending on who we speak to on any particular day, and that those answers often do not match what happens on ships. I am sure that I could find other things that are relevant, but the main problem is a lack of communication betweeen the customer base and anyone at Princess who could actually fix problems, or at least respond to them. Years ago I suggested that they create an office of Customer Ombudsman who would have the ability to talk with anyone at Princess and get answers as to why certain things happen. Obviously that hasn't happened and I have heard little from Princess regarding that or any of my other concerns. I either hear "that's a good idea" or a simple recitation of Princess's policies on a particular subject, which does nothing to actually address any of my concerns. This has become more common as time has gone by.

I can talk about the sugar free stuff that's labeled. 99% of the sugar free items is not fit for a diabetic period. The desserts are made with flour which is high in carbohydrates. Sugar may not be added to the flour, but the flour is actually worse than the sugar. As a lo-carber here, to satisfy my urge to eat something sweet, I end up eating just the icing and leaving the cake behind. Or, I'll just eat the sugar free mousse but leave the shell behind. I never eat anything that has fruit on top of it.

On our last cruise I watched a gentleman sitting next to us with a hamburger, a big plate of fries and the real thing desserts. He shot up with insulin then dug in. Some diabetics just eat whatever - regardless if they're on a cruise or not. Only you can control what you put in your mouth. But all cruise lines are ignorant of what diabetics should and shouldn't eat. It's personal responsibility. JMHO.

This review is more about the Princess Cruise Line than any particular cruise. We are Elite level cruisers on Princess with 24 cruises on that line. Over the years we have found that the level of accomodation and service has slowly declined. However, the main problem with Princess is one that is also true of many companies. That is, the company is so compartmentalized that problems that might be adressed by one department talking to another often get ignored. In addition, Customer Service is a department whose main job is to keep the higher executives insulated from the public. There are several issues that I wish I could discuss with anyone who could actually affect a change, but that can never happen in a system where we are told that Customer Service has no way to contact higher level executives. Examples of problems that cannot be adressed are: the fact that "sugar free" desserts are often made with fruit in or on them which then makes them unhealthy for diabetics who make up 10-15% of Princesses customers, the fact that there are no longer cushions onboard ships for passengers who feel that the beds are too hard, even with the recent upgrade, the fact that prices on the website do not match what we are offered when we call in, which is actually a form of bait and switch which is an illegal selling practice, the fact that we often get entirely different answers to questions depending on who we speak to on any particular day, and that those answers often do not match what happens on ships. I am sure that I could find other things that are relevant, but the main problem is a lack of communication betweeen the customer base and anyone at Princess who could actually fix problems, or at least respond to them. Years ago I suggested that they create an office of Customer Ombudsman who would have the ability to talk with anyone at Princess and get answers as to why certain things happen. Obviously that hasn't happened and I have heard little from Princess regarding that or any of my other concerns. I either hear "that's a good idea" or a simple recitation of Princess's policies on a particular subject, which does nothing to actually address any of my concerns. This has become more common as time has gone by.

The declines are everywhere.