Princess has become a 2nd rate cruise line!

[donna5]

What presents did princess give you before, they were probably from a Travel Agent. If not, then I want to know where my presents are. Am Elite and never received presents from Princess.

 

The salad and pasta at the table have been gone for quite awhile.

 

The internet should be free for you. They put the charge on the invoice and then it is taken off the next day or two. (Sometimes you have to add up the previous days to figure it out, since they may combine several days for the deduction.

[oskidunker]

You will save money on air fare and it has been widely known for sometime, planning your own air gets you there when YOU want to get there.

 

Your kids should have sent you a card with the amount they credited to you IN ADVANCE.

 

The extra cost restaurants are a gimmick. I have never tried them and never will as long as the food in the dining room continues to please me.I can get steak any time and cook it myself.

 

I am platinum and never had trouble with free internet.

 

Table side presentations have been gone for 10 years. Yeah, I miss them but that won't ruin the cruise.

 

Pay double and book Crystal and maybe the presentation is a little better. Or as a guy from my gym just told me."I don't think Crystal is much different from Princess." Go figure.

 

Sitmar is gone and so is the product, as we used to know it.

[Coral]

If the OP hasn't cruised in a number of years - one would be quite surprised at the change in mainstream cruising over the last several years. I have only been cruising for 7-8 years but I have noticed a difference also. Though, this difference isn't just Princess - it is all the main steam cruise lines. If you want something better then that, look at Radisson, Oceania, Silversea, Crystal, etc.... You will pay more but you will get the attention and service that you want.

 

On a side note - my TA is a high volume TA and is selling more and more Princess then ever before. There are several people out there who are not happy with Celebrity's/RCCL's new pricing policy and have switched to Princess.

 

Overall - Princess provides a great product for the price. I have not found another line to match it (have cruised Celebrity, RCCL and Carnival) of the lines I have sailed.

 

The Carnival factor - people forget that Carnival Corp also owns Cunard, Holland America, Seaborne, and several others. The changes that occurred after Carnival Corp purchased probably would have occurred anyway. Many changes in Princess occurred before the purchase - they had to to stay profitable.

[bjboothman]

Anyone wonder why cruisers can't seem to find cruisecritic when they are doing the legwork prior to a cruise and learning about things like specialty restaurants, and the demise of tableside cooking, but yet find this site right away when they have a complaint?

 

I'm sorry Sue had a bad experience but honestly, some of those disappointments could have been avoided by doing a little homework prior to the trip. There is never a good excuse for poor service from the purser's desk, however.

[Druke I]

SueK

 

Thank you for returning and giving us some details regarding your displeasure with your last cruise. Sorry it did not meet your expectations.

 

Perhaps your expectations were not realistic for today's cruise experience - I think all lines have changed, and few offer the type of service that was common in the 60s or 70s. Princess is certainly not Sitmar.

 

One poster suggested Crystal - my two cruises experience with Crystal I thought disappointing - I was expecting more service than they provided. I was expecting superior elegant - they provided very good, with some snobbery issues. I found Crystal in the mid 90s to be very much like P&O was in the 60s, and Sitmar in the 70s.

[Toto2Kansas]

Well, after reading all the complaints, I have to make a comment here.

 

First of all I would like to know what type of 'gifts' Princess used to give to past passengers? I have been sailing with Princess since 1993 and have not once seen a gift because of being a past passenger???? This point totally confuses me. Are you telling me that we should have been getting gifts as past passenger like RCI and Celebrity do all those years and didn't receive them????????????????????????

As for free internet, we once were charged when we were not supposed to be. One trip to the purser and the charges were refunded to us, and this was after the merge with Carnival.

 

With all of the trips down to the pursers desk, why didn't you remove the auto tip that was in place? You could have easily done that and then tipped only those that YOU thought deserved it, which doesn't sound like there were many.

 

Now, booking Princess air, or any cruise lines air is always a gamble especially if you do not pay the deviation fee. Sorry, but with access to the internet this is something that is widely known so it pretty much ends up being, you get what you pay for. If you do not pay the difference, then you get exactly what they give you and actually have no room to complain as this wasn't just you but all cruise lines seem to do this.

 

Although your cruise took several trips to the pursers desk to resolve problems, that never were taken care of, sorry but to me that tells me that someone wasn't doing something right. Maybe it was a misunderstanding or there was a new purser on duty or whoever went down to complain did not get their point across. But we sail on Princess several times EACH YEAR and have always had problems (when we run into them, which isn't very often) taken care of immediately with an apology.

 

As for the food. Well, I love the fact that there is alternate dining now with different foods offered. It gives those on longer cruises a change instead of the same dining room and same food choices over and over again.

 

I am sorry you were disappointed in your cruise. I am sure your letter will bring nothing but a discount on your next Princess sailing, which I am sure you will just throw away. Too bad it can't be transferred over to one of us that still thinks that Princess is a quality product and we will continue to sail with them every chance we get.

Hopefully whatever cruise line you decide to try next pleases your likes a bit more than Princess has.

[VinTek]

Anyone wonder why cruisers can't seem to find cruisecritic when they are doing the legwork prior to a cruise and learning about things like specialty restaurants, and the demise of tableside cooking, but yet find this site right away when they have a complaint?

 

I'm sorry Sue had a bad experience but honestly, some of those disappointments could have been avoided by doing a little homework prior to the trip. There is never a good excuse for poor service from the purser's desk, however.

 

I think your some of your comments are spot on. It's well known that some aspects of cruising have changed over the years, generally resulting in some lost services but greater access to a wider range of prospective cruisers. They could have obtained the higher level of service they expected on another cruise line (Crystal, perhaps?), albeit at much higher cost. However, what is well known to those of us here a CruiseCritic may not be well known to people who cruise infrequently.

 

There is 1 issue that I wherein I believe that the OP has legitimate complaints. This is where Princess seemed to be unable to come up with the right billing for this couple. I'm usually a fairly forgiving individual, but I do expect that business is able to correct billing errors quickly OR adequately explain the questionable items on a bill. I have questioned my bill before, and have either been given a quick correction, or been enlightened as to the nature of a charge. Granted, the OP's children probably should have notified their parents that they had $500 in shipboard credit coming to them before the trip (maybe they wanted to surprise their parents?) but that does not excuse Princess for getting it wrong.

 

As for the flight problems, I would have expected that a good TA been able to see the problems with the flight arrangements and offered alternatives, perhaps at higher cost if the rate that Princess offered on their group booking was not available. As a former TA myself, it's what I would have done. I place the blame on this one with the TA, but the billing error for the day missed resides with Princess.

 

I can't comment on the complaint about the cabin service being terrible because the complaint was non-specific.

 

A thought just occurred to me. The OP was indeed entitled to free Internet access, but only via the Internet center on the ship. They may have been under the mistaken impression that free access extended to wireless access to their laptop. Just a possibility.

[T_Bird]

On a side note - my TA is a high volume TA and is selling more and more Princess then ever before. There are several people out there who are not happy with Celebrity's/RCCL's new pricing policy and have switched to Princess.

 

What is RCCL's new pricing policy?

[atlcple2]

I have been reading and posting on these boards for a few months now. I have found that posts like this one that are so negative, are few and far between. I have posted recently taking up for Carnival...the Spirit class ships are unbelievable! Excellent everything and I would cruise with them again in a heartbeat. Like another poster above, we wanted to try out another cruise line to compare what we have been on and what we want in the future from a cruise. I can understand your frustration about charges on your account...I have to wonder if there was a problem with their computers or something of that nature? or perhaps there was a new employee? mistakes happen, no one is perfect...I think I would have waited and gone once to take care of all the problems and not ruined my vacation running down to the purser's desk 15 times. Carnival had the Supper Club similar to Sterlings, and it was worth the extra $$....remember people, it is an ALTERNATIVE DINING experience! That doesn't mean that there is anything wrong with the regular dining rooms...just an alternative. I'm sorry that the "little things" ruined your cruise....as has been said many times..."Don't sweat the small stuff!" Even if I was unhappy with things on a cruise (an line), I wouldn't let those things ruin my vacation...I might not book my next cruise with that line, so they might lose my business, but I would still enjoy myself regardless...remember, you are on vacation!!!!!!

[Toto2Kansas]

What is RCCL's new pricing policy?

I am not Coral, but I can answer that question. NO MORE DISOUNTING!

You can book direct through the cruise line or through a TA and the price will be virtually the same.

[coiran]

As ststed before, we have 15 Princess cruises logged since 1996 (well before Carnival) and have noticed only very subtle changes - not enough to dissappoint us. On many Princess ships the internet is charged each day and taken off on the last evening - automatically, without complaining. We have never tried the extra fee dining rooms because the food in the regular dining rooms is hard to improve on. We are elite and have never received any gifts from Princess as a past pax. We will continue to sail with Princess.

 

Sorry you had a bad experience - if you get a future cruise credit from Princess please forward it to us.

 

Ron

[Juliadlf]

As a possible cruiser of Princess and a first timer going on Carnival, I'm a bit uncertain as to the validity of the post. Sorry, but MHO. I've been on these boards for a few months and have seen posts like this come on and then pooofff, the poster is gone.:rolleyes:

 

We have traveled many cities and we always check our hotel bills and more often than not, something is on the bill that shouldn't be. So it's not just a cruise ship problem but the hospitality industry as whole. We expect excellent service but life isn't always that easy...

[ajl111]

Hi Sue,

 

I too am sorry you had such problems and would like to see what you sent to Princess (alatta111@hotmail.com). I also had a major disappointing cruise recently so I know how deflated you must feel. As someone else pointed out, it would have been nice if you knew of some of the changes beforehand so your expectations were more realistic with how Princess has been doing things lately. I was very sad to not see some of the special touches. I've only seen the tableside cooking and salads on the smaller ships (Royal and Regal) lately -- dining staff came right out and said it's not possible on the larger and newer ships. I know that I never had a problem with the online charges, but do know that they will charge you each day that you use the internet -- but give you a full credit at the very end of the cruise. I was in a panic about it when I happened to check my account during a 15-day cruise. When I asked about that at the Purser's desk, they pointed out to me that a full credit would appear at the end and sure enough, the credit showed up at the very end of the cruise. Also, I totally believe you when you said your travel agent doesn't recommend Princess. My travel agent also prefers to book nonPrincess -- I got an "oh please, not Princess" response when I last checked with her (she is not with Orbitz).

[naplesam]

Sue K,

 

Your relatives more than likely put the $500. they paid for your OBC on a credit card. You have a copy of your Princess receipt showing only $100. Easy to fix I think. Just have your relative contact their credit card company and they can do a partial "chargeback"----that this if that is what really happened! ;) You have the proof necessary to fix this one! :cool:

[flickchick]

This certainly is an interesting thread. I've been on 4 Princess cruises, and am booked on the CB for next month. In June, my partner and I took our first (and last) cruise on Carnival. While the two may be owned by the same parent, they are far from providing the same experience. On the Carnival Glory, we were disappointed in so many things we decided that if it were our first cruise ever, we might not choose to cruise again. Our problems were with embarkation (staff members ignored boarding passengers), activities (only one movie shown in a venue besides your cabin during the whole cruise, crummy art auctions, outrageously expensive bingo) and numerous other little things that added up to disappointment. I agree with others that you can still have a good time even if the cruise does not meet your expectations, and we still managed to have fun. I'm surprised that travel agents would not recommend Princess, since ours (who has been in the business for many years) still thinks they are a great line.

 

I guess to each his own, but we're running back to Princess as fast as we can.

 

Happy Cruising, Chris

 

Past cruises: Sea Princess 2001, Ocean Princess 2002, Coral Princess 2003, Golden Princess 2003, Carnival Glory 2005

 

Looking forward to the Caribbean Princess 8/05!

[phillipahain]

I do have to agree that pursers desk is a total shambles especially billing when you dare to live in 2 places

 

all our forms had extra written on them

 

CHARGE IN USA Dollars .........they converted the dollars to pounds at a lousy exchange rate plus 3%

 

Since we have a dollar account more than one balloon went up

 

In the end they compensated us but not without a lot of table thumping and an insistance they phoned our bank to prove their error

[travelnnana]

As Coral said in her post "Princess provides an excellent product for the cost" - There are high end cruise lines where I hope you would not have nit-picky problems such a Sue pointed out - Sue I hope you will let us know when you have fund the perfect cruise line - I for one like the Princess itineraries - We have done the Med, Alaska, Panama Canal. Are booked for Australia/New Zealand and Mexico (a quick get-away for West Coast people). Have plans for the Baltic, Hawaii etc in the future.

[jnc411]

Hello, I am so sorry that your cruise experience was a bad one. Our last three cruises have been on Princess. We have had some minor problems, but nothing compared to what you posted. I can see your frustration. On our last cruise there was a major problem with the air conditioning or lack of air conditioning in our cabin that due to mechanical problems couldn't be solved during our cruise, but we didn't let that ruin our trip and when we arrived back home I wrote Princess about the problem and they responed very prompltly, and issued us a little future credit toward a cruise, and I appreciate that . I don't know anything about gifts , nor do we book suites , so we don't get free internet (but I think that would be great ). We usually don't go to the surcharge restaurants, and if we have a discrepiancey with the bill, we call the pursers desk first , then go down there if it warrants it. We did have one problem regarding onboard credit through the Captians Circle, and one visit to the CC desk solved that. I am sure it is not an easy job keeping all these billings in order and done correctly, and mistakes are made.Most ships are huge, its more like a floating city. We have been happy with Princess and the service from the crew.I think most are hard working and aim to please the passangers. I do hope you don't give up on cruising, and find a cruise line that meets your expectations. We love to cruise ,you meet such nice people and visit interesting places,whats not to like.

Cori

[Stanley]

SueK, I think the fact that your flight delays getting to the cruise just put you in a bad state of mind at the very beginning. If you had gotten there smoothly at the start I believe your cruise would have been a completely different experience and that some of the things that have upset you would have seemed minor. We've all had this sort of experience in one way or another. If you can't shake it off at the start you're doomed for failure or disappointment.

[johnql]

To the OP, why not just copy and paste your entire 6-page letter to Princess into this thread? A lot of people feel that details are important. Details tell us exactly what went wrong and details tend to establish credibility.

[OCruisers]

Sue .... Glad you took the time to post. Every opinion is IMPORTANT!

 

We are long time Princess Cruisers (20+ Princess Cruises) who also sail on other lines. Very much agree with Deb (quote below):

 

As far as the "cut backs" go...I'm afraid you will see the same occuring on most lines in order to keep prices down. Unfortunately...a sign of the times!!

Deb

 

Still, we love to cruise...and we still love Princess!!!

 

Happy Sailing! OCruisers :)

[Bushido]

My wife and I just recently returned from the July 16 cruise to Alaska and can say it was our best vacation ever. We have cruised Carnival twice before (Pride & Victory) and feel they do a great job as well. However the overall experience with Princess was just amazing. I have posted my review in another thread and stick to it 100%. We are already booked for next summer.

 

Everyone is entitled to your opinion. Good, bad, or indifferent. If you don't particularly care for something then you should move onto something different.

 

Good Luck to all in there travels

 

Imagine the light

Shining bright upon the sky

Empty your being

[halj]

Sue K, Sorry to hear that you had a disappointing cruise. I will not re-hash what has already been said, but I have sailed on several lines and find Princess one of the best. True nothing in this world is perfect, just part of the adventure. If the DW and I went on vacation and nothing at all went wrong we would start to wonder and be worried that the earth would stop rotating. You need to be able to roll with the punches and make the best out of what you get. In my experience not even Celebrity, Crystal or Cunard are perfect either.:cool:

[cusyl]

I am sorry you had so many problems on your cruise. Sounds as if they are experiencing a few problems. Sure hope they get it together before our cruise on the Grand next June. We are considering flying the day before the cruise in order to not have that problem you encountered. They probably book the cheapest airfare which would probably have the longest route, may try to upgrade that aspect of it.

We are finally Platinum as well and I am expecting to have the free internet. I will check each day to make certain they have credited it. I understand they charge your account but then take it off again.

[Toto2Kansas]

I am sorry you had so many problems on your cruise. Sounds as if they are experiencing a few problems. Sure hope they get it together before our cruise on the Grand next June. We are considering flying the day before the cruise in order to not have that problem you encountered. They probably book the cheapest airfare which would probably have the longest route, may try to upgrade that aspect of it.

We are finally Platinum as well and I am expecting to have the free internet. I will check each day to make certain they have credited it. I understand they charge your account but then take it off again.

 

Definitely fly in the day prior. If you arrive the day your ship sails, then it isn't the ships fault if there are problems with the flights, even if you booked the airfare through the cruise lines. They buy the ticket but have no control at all over the flights. Some still think that if they book their air through the cruise line that the ship will wait for them if they arrive late. This will only happen occasionally and only when it envolves a large number of cruise passengers on a flight.

 

Don't look for the internet charges to be removed or credited from your account until your final bill that last morning. They will charge you each time you log on, but the actual total charges will not be removed until the end of the cruise, so don't get too excited if they are still showing up throughout your voyage. ;) But if they are there the last morning, just pop down to the purser's desk and they will remove them. Sometimes even the cruise lines have computer problems. :)