Cutting costs

[Lostinthe50s]

We were on the 8/20 sailing on the CB and noticed a lot of cost cutting and deterioration of service. We were on the Crown a few years ago and it was much better.

They did away with the seafood buffet on embarkation and we could never get a straight answer what was going to be served until it actually opened at 5:30. The answer we kept getting all week when asking what was going to be on the buffet for dinner was always-its up to the chef.

I drink decaf coffee and almost every day there was a sign on the coffee spout that it was closed for maintenance,and this was during breakfast and lunch.

The food that was on the buffet was not attended to frequently which led to it being cold or crusty on top. My wife and I both had french toast one day and it was cold and hard from sitting.

We had anytime dining and were always trying to be sold bottled water and wine.

One of the back pools was closed with a net over it on our last day and it was very hot out,do not know the reason why.

Our room steward was fabulous and did a great job but the dining room staff seemed overworked with the waiter doing everything and having many tables. Most did not appear to be happy.

Sandwiches at the buffet were pre wrapped in plastic wrap and not freshly made like on carnival. My wife asked for french toast one morning in the dining room,it is not on the breakfast menu and was told that it would be a very long time if she ordered it,so she ordered something on the menu.

I know that the Cruise line has to make money and that its a business but as a consumer I will spend my money where I feel I am getting value.

We paid extra to go on princess for the reason we thought it would be the same experience that we had the other 2 cruises that we had taken. We felt that we had gotten more for our money on Carnival.

We had a good time in spite of all of this and have never had a bad cruise but just feel that quality and service have deteriorated.

I do have to compliment customer service as our friends air stopped working as did their fridge,and he is a diabetic , plus their toilet stopped working. The lady at the desk was very polite and prompt in having it all taken care of and following up .

[Iamcruzin]

Unfortunately with the state of the economy cut backs have to be made to keep afloat. No pun intended. For my personal taste Princess has never had the best sandwiches for lunch but seem to have a much better selection of hot dishes. I usually have a salad and pizza or burger at lunch because it’s something different than I eat at home for lunch. I don’t know why the pool was drained maybe it was for maintenance. I can tell you that on my last trip the kiddy pool spilled over and the water came through the ceiling of the dining room in the buffet. It was as very rough sea day. Sorry about the bathroom situation but nobody has had worse bathroom situations than Pam from CA . She literally has seen it all and then some and it happened to her on different cruise lines. I always choose anytime dining and I have to admit that the service is different than in traditional but for us it is worth the trade off.

[Sapphire723]

I'm sorry that you had a rough time. It seems like most of the issues you had were about the buffet. Since I'm not a big buffet eater, I've not noticed any decline, but that does not mean it isn't there.

 

One thing to note, though, is that it does throw a wrench into the kitchen if you order something that isn't on the menu. The way the kitchen is set up, they have certain people pumping out the same dish so that it can be ready soon after someone orders it. The prep work and the set up is all done for those dishes only. When you order something that isn't on the menu, they have to stop what they're doing and gather the things needed for that dish which takes much more time than a normal dish would. This makes it time consuming to make your dish and also makes the food come out slower for other people. Sometimes I like to get things that are not on the menu (like escargot), but I request it from the head waiter the day before so that the kitchen is able to prepare for my order the night I want it. This is why your server advised you that it would take a while. I am sure that he did not want you to be upset when your breakfasts took much longer than normal, but he also was trying to accomodate your wishes.

[Pam in CA]

I'll try to respond to your questions. I've been on the Crown three times over the last few years and haven't noticed any deterioration or cost-cutting measures.

 

-- With the decaf, did you ever ask for it in the buffet? I've never had a problem asking for tea. Someone is always at my table asking whether I want juice, coffee, etc., plus there are carts that go around to the tables on a regular basis with both coffee and decaf, and juice. I'm surprised you never saw them.

 

-- I've never experienced any kind of a hard sell for bottled water or wine. Heck, I've never had them even ask me if I wanted bottled water. They just come around and pour fresh, clear water into my glass in the dining room and refill it throughout the dinner. If someone wants wine, you can order it. Never had anyone try to sell me wine.

 

-- Chances are that the pool was out of service because someone brought their non-potty-trained child to the pool or someone did something they shouldn't have. It's for your safety to close the pool and until the pool is drained, scrubbed and re-filled, it'll be out of service no matter what the weather is.

 

-- I never have the sandwiches in the buffet. I make my own. There are plenty of fixings to be able to do that: a variety of meat, cheese, vegetables, condiments etc. I know making it yourself is a bit of a bummer but it's definitely an option and you can choose exactly what you want in your sandwich without having to explain it.

 

-- French toast is definitely on the breakfast menu in the dining room but not every day. If you want it, just let them know the day before. Very easy to ask for. Same thing for anything at lunch or dinner: let the Maitre d' or Head Waiter know. They are more than happy and willing to make something special for you.

 

I'm glad you had a good time. I think it would have been better with a little more research.

[landnsea]

I have posted this before and for those of you that have missed it I'll post it again, Of the many cost cutting measures that Princess has implemented the one that stands out the most, Princess continues to replace there cheap Phillopino labor with cheaper labor from India.

On your next cruise see for yourself.

 

John

[Loonbeam]

Princess (along with every other cruise line) is cutting costs, there is no question about it. Fuel prices alone mandate either that or reinstating the dreaded fuel surcharge...

 

That said, I don't think some of your buffet issues are entirely born of cost cutting if at all. More likely its a matter of an exec chef who doesn't pay enough attention to it (not entirely uncommon) or treats it as an afterthought. One thing I have noticed on reviews is that bad comments on the buffets seem to follow certain ships and chefs (I haven't done a recent analysis.)

 

Ditto with the coffee. The cost of preparing coffee in bulk is so minimal to start with, turning off the decaf would represent such a minimal savings as to be negligible.

 

Now, the sandwiches and staffing in the dining room are definitely areas where cost is a factor. Pre-prep saves time and ingredient money and there are less staff in the DRs, which has an impact.

 

Others have commented on the pool situation, but again, its not going to cut costs a significant amount to close a pool, so that is not likely the cause. If it was for one day, my suspicion was the pool had to be shocked, which renders it unswimmable for up to 24 hours depending on the quantity needed.

 

One key note, look at the price you paid for the Crown and compare it to your Caribbean cruise. Adjusted for inflation and route, and I would not be surprised to see them be similar. Cruise lines have not been able to raise fares, so they have to cut. Stinks, but that's business.

 

And final note, regarding the hard sell, that seems to occur when Princess runs promotions for the staff to sell a certain item (which is cost related because its a revenue generator). Unfortunately that's just bad luck.

[Loonbeam]

While true, its not so much the labor costs themselves but the agency costs. The employee pay rate is about the same for both countries, but the Indian employment agencies the lines use charge a smaller cut.

 

I have posted this before and for those of you that have missed it I'll post it again, Of the many cost cutting measures that Princess has implemented the one that stands out the most, Princess continues to replace there cheap Phillopino labor with cheaper labor from India.

On your next cruise see for yourself.

 

John

[4cats4me]

The decline in food at the Horizon Court was quite noticeable on our last cruise compared to the cruise 3 months before. Of course, the good food was on the Sapphire and the not so great food was on the Golden.

It really depends on who the master chef is on board. On the Emerald 3 years ago everything seemed like it was flavored with curry. The head chef was from India. On the last cruise the head chef was from England.

On the Sapphire a few months ago the head chef was from Italy. I've always noticed that the food is so much better when the head chefs are either French or Italian.

[ldubs]

I don't think the OP was asking questions so much as saying they felt they got more for their money on Carnival. Or, that based on their experience with Carnival, they had higher expectations from Princess. I have been fairly loyal to Princess for some time now. It has been about 15 years since I was last on Carnival, so I cannot make a fair comparison. I am going a a multi-family Carnival cruise in January. It will be interesting to see how it compares.

[ldubs]

I have posted this before and for those of you that have missed it I'll post it again, Of the many cost cutting measures that Princess has implemented the one that stands out the most, Princess continues to replace there cheap Phillopino labor with cheaper labor from India.

On your next cruise see for yourself.

 

John

 

 

You mean Filipino as in from the Philippines.

 

Salamat.

[Woobstr112G]

Princess (along with every other cruise line) is cutting costs, there is no question about it. Fuel prices alone mandate either that or reinstating the dreaded fuel surcharge...

 

That said, I don't think some of your buffet issues are entirely born of cost cutting if at all. More likely its a matter of an exec chef who doesn't pay enough attention to it (not entirely uncommon) or treats it as an afterthought. One thing I have noticed on reviews is that bad comments on the buffets seem to follow certain ships and chefs (I haven't done a recent analysis.)

 

Ditto with the coffee. The cost of preparing coffee in bulk is so minimal to start with, turning off the decaf would represent such a minimal savings as to be negligible.

 

Now, the sandwiches and staffing in the dining room are definitely areas where cost is a factor. Pre-prep saves time and ingredient money and there are less staff in the DRs, which has an impact.

 

Others have commented on the pool situation, but again, its not going to cut costs a significant amount to close a pool, so that is not likely the cause. If it was for one day, my suspicion was the pool had to be shocked, which renders it unswimmable for up to 24 hours depending on the quantity needed.

 

One key note, look at the price you paid for the Crown and compare it to your Caribbean cruise. Adjusted for inflation and route, and I would not be surprised to see them be similar. Cruise lines have not been able to raise fares, so they have to cut. Stinks, but that's business.

 

And final note, regarding the hard sell, that seems to occur when Princess runs promotions for the staff to sell a certain item (which is cost related because its a revenue generator). Unfortunately that's just bad luck.

 

This must have been the case when we sailed on the Golden in February of this year. The HC was truely terrible (yes, I know food is a subjective thing). It was beyone the worst bufffet of any of our cruises on any line.....

 

Bob

[ldubs]

This must have been the case when we sailed on the Golden in February of this year. The HC was truely terrible (yes, I know food is a subjective thing). It was beyone the worst bufffet of any of our cruises on any line.....

 

Bob

 

I had the same thought about Sapphire in May '10. HC was terrible compared to other Princess cruises we have experienced. I hope Princess is reading this because I'm on the Sapphire again in a couple of weeks.

 

Hey Exec Chefs -- wake up! :)

[jrzebird]

We were on the 8/20 sailing on the CB and noticed a lot of cost cutting and deterioration of service. We were on the Crown a few years ago and it was much better.

They did away with the seafood buffet on embarkation and we could never get a straight answer what was going to be served until it actually opened at 5:30. The answer we kept getting all week when asking what was going to be on the buffet for dinner was always-its up to the chef.

I drink decaf coffee and almost every day there was a sign on the coffee spout that it was closed for maintenance,and this was during breakfast and lunch.

The food that was on the buffet was not attended to frequently which led to it being cold or crusty on top. My wife and I both had french toast one day and it was cold and hard from sitting.

We had anytime dining and were always trying to be sold bottled water and wine.

One of the back pools was closed with a net over it on our last day and it was very hot out,do not know the reason why.

Our room steward was fabulous and did a great job but the dining room staff seemed overworked with the waiter doing everything and having many tables. Most did not appear to be happy.

Sandwiches at the buffet were pre wrapped in plastic wrap and not freshly made like on carnival. My wife asked for french toast one morning in the dining room,it is not on the breakfast menu and was told that it would be a very long time if she ordered it,so she ordered something on the menu.

I know that the Cruise line has to make money and that its a business but as a consumer I will spend my money where I feel I am getting value.

We paid extra to go on princess for the reason we thought it would be the same experience that we had the other 2 cruises that we had taken. We felt that we had gotten more for our money on Carnival.

We had a good time in spite of all of this and have never had a bad cruise but just feel that quality and service have deteriorated.

I do have to compliment customer service as our friends air stopped working as did their fridge,and he is a diabetic , plus their toilet stopped working. The lady at the desk was very polite and prompt in having it all taken care of and following up .

 

Well Lost, I was on the same cruise and I guess it's all in the perception. I really didn't see what you did, but that doesn't mean your observations aren't valid.

 

As for the coffee, I encountered the "closed for maintenance" sign a couple of times. It was simple, I walked to the coffee station at the other end of the dining room and got it. Or, I sat down and one of the waiters would come and ask what I wanted to drink. I was always greeted with a smile and some personal chit-chat about the weather, what I was going to do that day, etc. I prefer the buffet for breakfast because of the vast selection, and I was never disappointed. Granted, I don't eat eggs or french toast, but love the fruit selections and various cheese, fish and museli. Everything I ate was fantastic and the service was over and above in the buffet, better than I have experienced in several years. Oh, and much to my surprise, the coffee was GREAT! Last year it was undrinkable.

 

I think your experience at breakfast in the dining room was a result of the waiter telling you that it would be some time if you got the French Toast. How annoyed would you have been if you had ordered it and it took 20 minutes to get, without warning?

 

On the last day they were covering all of the pools in anticipation of the hurricane. They had to do a fast disembarkation and an even faster embarkation and get out of there by 3:00. They started to prepare as much as they could the day before, without interrupting our enjoyment of the cruise, and I think they did a great job. All of this while customer relations was trying to rearrange bookings or book passengers as a result of cancellations of flights and closing of mass transit in NYC. I understand that 600 passengers on our cruise stayed on for the next one, getting off in either Halifax of back to NYC. And they mostly all had to get new staterooms!

 

I had Traditional Dining and there has never been finer service in any dining room. I'm sorry that you had a different experience because mine was amazing. The food the first couple of dinners was not memorable at all, but the other 5 days were culinary delights. Our waiter, assistant waiter and head waiter were so attentive and service was perfect. Not once did anyone try to sell us water or wine. The first night they asked if we preferred bottled water or tap and if we wanted wine. No to both questions and we were never asked again. And every night the waiter brought me my iced tea, and other folks at the table their drink of choice.

 

The entire crew, the productions shows, the food service and customer service were all awesome. I did this same cruise last year and the production shows were 200% better this year. The entertainment staff that ran various activities were personable and went above and beyond to include me and others. I was in the Pop Choir and that was an amazing time.

 

Again, I didn't notice any deterioration of service, and I am a tough task master. However, I did go on the cruise determined to enjoy my first solo cruise, and I did. I hope that the OP finds his perfect fit for cruising.

[jrzebird]

Oh, and the comment about cheap labor from the Phillipines and cheaper from India - well it hit me the wrong way. But, nonetheless, I saw about 10 people from India working there and the vast najority were from the Phillipines. Good, hardworking, honest people all, and I'm sure where they come from doesn't mean they give poor service. Geesh.

[RickEk]

I have posted this before and for those of you that have missed it I'll post it again, Of the many cost cutting measures that Princess has implemented the one that stands out the most, Princess continues to replace there cheap Phillopino labor with cheaper labor from India.

On your next cruise see for yourself.

 

John

 

And this matters because...???:confused:

[Kinkacruiser]

Some day I'll get to see a seafood buffet on embarkation day.I have ceratinly read about them on the board but have seen or enjoyed one downunder.

 

Sorry to disagree, but I have seen no slipping of food presentation or standards on Princess.

[pablo222]

I'll try to respond to your questions.

 

What questions? The poster wrote a bunch of declarative

statements about his cruise. I didn't see any questions.

[Lostinthe50s]

Pam ,you were not on my cruise on the CB,how can you tell me that princess had French toast in the main dining room on some days when they did not. They also tried to push bottled water and wine every day in the dining room at dinner,so please don't tell me what I experienced

As for sandwiches at the buffet there was not corned beef or pastrami or turkey breast for sandwiches, as on Carnival where they were prepared fresh.

I have also sailed on the crown in the past as you have and the service was much better.

Thank you Pablo as you had said,I was only making statements of my experience , not asking a question.

[OhioDogLover]

We were on CB this summer and there were a few issues that we hadn't seen on other Princess ships. (We were on an earlier sailing, in July.) It had been a couple of years since we had been on Princess, we had been on Carnival and X in the meantime. For better or worse, we put it down to the staff, ship and the itinerary. (Some of the service was exemplary, some, well. . . ) DH even wondered if this was some kind of training ground because things just weren't the same as they had been on other Princess cruises. To be fair, there are those who really liked everything, too.

I think things vary from cruise to cruise, depending on the week (or weeks).

We going to try the Ruby this winter. I expect that things will be "back to normal" on Princess.

Ohiodoglover

[JMHAM1]

It's a buffet--what do you want? Buffets on land or on sea is just that...cheap food that is easy to keep out prepared middle of the road for the masses.

 

We had a worse than average buffet one time on CCL the cruise before a dry dock. No fresh fruit of any kind. Lots of hot dogs. Kind of like they were cleaning out the freezers.

 

I didn't go hungry but I did notice it. We typically skip the buffet except for breakfast or out by the pool.

[Parvatiiv]

We were on CB this summer and there were a few issues that we hadn't seen on other Princess ships. (We were on an earlier sailing, in July.) It had been a couple of years since we had been on Princess, we had been on Carnival and X in the meantime. For better or worse, we put it down to the staff, ship and the itinerary. (Some of the service was exemplary, some, well. . . ) DH even wondered if this was some kind of training ground because things just weren't the same as they had been on other Princess cruises. To be fair, there are those who really liked everything, too.

I think things vary from cruise to cruise, depending on the week (or weeks).

We going to try the Ruby this winter. I expect that things will be "back to normal" on Princess.

Ohiodoglover

 

You'll enjoy Ruby, she's a great ship and has some fantastic and enthusiastic crew.

 

We've actually had crew on other ships tell us that CB is the least desirable ship to work on causing the one's assigned to be more or less miserable. From what I've seen and heard form other travelers, it all boils down to morale making the experience less enjoyable for passengers. These are words direct from crew working on Emerald, Ruby, Crown, and Star to give some specifics. Maybe I'll run a poll on my next trip to see if the same consensus comes back.

[pablo222]

They also tried to push bottled water and wine every day in the dining room at dinner,so please don't tell me what I experienced

 

The waiters are incented to sell wine and bottled water.

They can earn a 'day' off. (where a day might be two hours)

 

My favorite waiter pooh-poohs this, and says he is busy enough

at his station, and can't be bothered.

 

I have experienced this on other cruiselines, especially selling

bottled water at dinner. It must have fantastic margins!

[OhioDogLover]

"We've actually had crew on other ships tell us that CB is the least desirable ship to work on causing the one's assigned to be more or less miserable. From what I've seen and heard form other travelers, it all boils down to morale making the experience less enjoyable for passengers. These are words direct from crew working on Emerald, Ruby, Crown, and Star to give some specifics. Maybe I'll run a poll on my next trip to see if the same consensus comes back. "

 

I can't do the quotes the same as others and will work on it. Thanks for the input on Ruby, I KNOW we will have a great time.

I would like to read what your informal "Crew poll" comes up with.

 

Ohiodoglover

__________________

[geoherb]

I appreciate the warning the OP posted. It reinforces my belief that food and service in the dining room are better than they are in the buffet.

 

We have had waiters try to sell us wine and bottled water. But with traditional dining in the evening, our waiters learn that tap water is fine for us. The waiters also annoy us with pitches for wine tastings and the special drinks after dinner with the precious souvenir glasses. But sometimes I am in the mood for the limoncello.

[BosoxI]

The waiters are incented to sell wine and bottled water.

They can earn a 'day' off. (where a day might be two hours)

 

My favorite waiter pooh-poohs this, and says he is busy enough

at his station, and can't be bothered.

 

I have experienced this on other cruiselines, especially selling

bottled water at dinner. It must have fantastic margins!

 

$3.50+ for bottled water. We got it at almost every meal this past cruise, as we ordered only a glass of wine, not a bottle, as we usually do. The waiter would usually encourage us to buy a bottle but it was never a hard sell. The water being sold is San Benedetto, and I find it inferior to San Pelligrino, but it's not a big issue for us.

Also, there are posters who are apologists for Princess and who will defend against any comment they perceive as negative, no matter how innocent or well founded that comment might be. Sometimes I think certain posters are shills planted by Princess to counter honest but critical comments. And I am a loyal Princess customer but I'm not married to the line