Princess has become a 2nd rate cruise line!

[phaelon56]

You make many good points Sue. I lack the cruising experience in the both number of cruises and breadth of time to be able to make comparisons but it seems that all can agree on the fact that the cruise market has changed.

 

Some truly "premium" cruise lines including Radisson, Crystal and Seabourn have chosen to focus on delivering the higherst possible level of service, food quality etc and kept the number of passengers per ship relatively low while mainiting a high crew to passenger ratio.

 

What used to be considered "premium" is now in nearly all cases (not just with cruise ships) diluted so much by virtue of passemnger volume and market prices for competitive prices that it's just anohter mass market product.

 

When you mention your appreciation for five star (I assume you mean 4* NYT and 3* Micheline type) restaurants and hotels it becomes self-evident even to me as an inexperienced cruiser that Princess can no longer meet your needs in its current incarnation.

 

Not sure if I agree with the Holiday Inn analogy. I'd be more inclined to use the analogy of Princess being like a nice Marriott or Hyatt hotel and the true "premium" cruise lines being akin to a real five star hotel (which Marriott's and Hyatt's certainly are not).

 

I had a great experience on Princess in the fall of 2003 and certainly expect/hope that I will again this fall. But I'm not expecting a truly luxury/five star type experience in terms of food, or service. I can rarely afford to travel or dine out at that level but have done so and do know and appreciate the difference.

 

For many of us it's all about value for the money. I know that on Princess I'll almost certainly get acceptable food (not stellar but decent enough) and expect that for the most part I'll get decent to very good service (I am truly sorry to hear of your bad experience - especially with an inattentive room steward - I think that's an aberration but it's certainly unacceptable).

 

I also recognize that they have big ships catering to the mass market and some aspect of the experience won't be to my liking but it's what I can afford this year. I'd rather travel on a middle-of-the-road cruise experience than not have one at all.

 

And when I can afford better I'll pay the extra money and savor the exeprience that much more. I just checked the price for a Radisson Seven Seas cruise departing at the same time as and on an itinerary similar to my upcoming Princess cruise. Both lines are discounting cabins for these sailings because it's a slow time of year but Radisson's percentage of discount is even higher than that offered by Princess.

[phaelon56]

You make many good points Sue. I lack the cruising experience in the both number of cruises and breadth of time to be able to make comparisons but it seems that all can agree on the fact that the cruise market has changed.

 

Some truly "premium" cruise lines including Radisson, Crystal and Seabourn have chosen to focus on delivering the higherst possible level of service, food quality etc and kept the number of passengers per ship relatively low while mainiting a high crew to passenger ratio.

 

What used to be considered "premium" is now in nearly all cases (not just with cruise ships) diluted so much by virtue of passemnger volume and market prices for competitive prices that it's just anohter mass market product.

 

When you mention your appreciation for five star (I assume you mean 4* NYT and 3* Micheline type) restaurants and hotels it becomes self-evident even to me as an inexperienced cruiser that Princess can no longer meet your needs in its current incarnation.

 

Not sure if I agree with the Holiday Inn analogy. I'd be more inclined to use the analogy of Princess being like a nice Marriott or Hyatt hotel and the true "premium" cruise lines being akin to a real five star hotel (which Marriott's and Hyatt's certainly are not).

 

For many of us it's all about value for the money. I know that on Princess I'll almost certainly get acceptable food (not stellar but decent enough) and expect that for the most part I'll get decent to very good service (I am truly sorry to hear of your bad experience - especially with an inattentive room steward - I think that's an aberration but it's certainly unacceptable).

 

I also recognize that they have big ships catering to the mass market and some aspect of the experience won't be to my liking but it's what I can afford this year. I'd rather travel on a middle-of-the-road cruise experience than not have one at all.

 

And when I can afford better I'll pay the extra money and savor the exeprience that much more. I just checked the price for a Radisson Seven Seas cruise departing at the same time as and on an itinerary similar to my upcoming Princess cruise. Both lines are discounting cabins for these sailings because it's a slow time of year but Radisson's percentage of discount is even higher than that offered by Princess.

[phaelon56]

Oops. Left one important set of numbers out of my previous post.

 

The direct "apples to apples" cost comparison for Radisson Seven Seas vs Princess on the specific cruise itinierary, date, cabin type,, number of days etc. before port charges, taxes, miscellaneous fees etc.

 

Radisson - $2,548

Princess - $1,049

 

The number speak for themselves. I would certainly expect Radisson or others in the luxury class to be a much better experience - it sure as heck better be for more than 2X the money!

 

And coffee used to be small, medium and large before small became tall, large became grande and some new size appeared as venti. And the prices soared. But I digress {:-)

[Sue K]

This is my very last post as I am tired of being beaten up by a bunch of closed minds. I was TRYING to be helpful.

 

I just need to clear a few things up. We are not stupid, we did realize that charges for internet were added and then deducted. They just were not all deducted and not until we got home and my husband went over our bill very carefully did he realize it (after numerous trips to the Purser's office trying to straighten it up) that there were still internet charges that had not been deducted, and no it was not wireless. He called Princess and they agreed it was wrong and would refund us the money. That was five weeks ago and we still have not received our refund. My guess is we probably won't unless we keep calling them about it.

 

We were on the Grand Princess starting in Venice on June 7th. We did not arrive on board ship until June 8, one hour before they left. We missed all of the Venice sight seeing we had planned. Fortunately we had been there before but there were still things we wanted to do. We were charged tips for this first day for both dining and our room service. They deducted it after a trip to the Purser's office by my husband but then they doubled the tips for the second day. Fortunately the ship had been in Venice the first night so we did not have to follow it to another port. Our luggage did not arrive until two days later but that's another story. We have traveled on Princess more recently than 1997, 1998 or whatever some of you have stated. Yes, we have seen changes through the years but it just keeps getting worse. We spent $14,000 on this cruise and for that money I would expect something better. We are world travelers and there are few places or countries we have not been so we do not just sail.

 

I am sorry but I am not going to send my Princess letters to anyone because there are some intimate details in them and I am tired of being rediculed by all of you.

 

I do not spend a lot of time on these boards because I THOUGHT I knew Princess. We knew what trip we wanted to take and made the reservation. I did go on these boards last year before we took our Disney cruise because that was a new experience.

 

Finally, as I stated in my last post, all we have gotten from Princess is three form letter in response to my three letters to them. They have all of you so snowed they don't give a darn. And most of you have nothing to compare them to so you think they are the end all. How sad! But I will be lurking and waiting to read those post of dissatifaction in the future which I know are inevidable.

[Northender]

spongerob - have you been holding out on us, you Princess employee, you.:D

 

Now the OP is walking on glass. This just gets better and better :)

 

 

 

.....I am sorry but I am not going to send my Princess letters to anyone because there are some intimate details in them and I am tired of being rediculed by all of you. Told ya so guys.:D

 

 

Second Class Cruiser

[stellalimelight]

Hi ,

 

Really, try the Radisson Seven Seas line. Their service is excellent. My mom is usually very fussy and she still raves about the Paul Gauguin and it has been almost 4 years

[LARGIN]

Interesting Sue about the letters. I wrote a nice letter a few years ago about being upgraded to a room that turned out to be very noisey around 3AM because of a problem with the ship stablizer. The day after I complained to the Pursor, the Engineering Officer came to our room and told us that he personally heard the noise but there was nothing he could do until the ship hit port for a wet dock. He suggested that we write Princess. Within 2 weeks, we received a nice letter of apology along with a $2000 credit for our next over and above any deal we could get. Princess did right by us..

[coiran]

Again, I suggest to the OP, You are better off not cruising Princess if you are accustomed to 5 star hotels and dining - Princess will not offer that - they also do not have 5 star pricing so - it becomes a matter of - how much does one want to pay to get the service he/she desires.

 

I am a second rate cruiser, and other than one Disney cruise, think that Princess is the greatest - but since I have only left my block once, what do I know!! BTW the Disney cruise offered nothing more than Princess other than towel animals and was 50% higher in cost than a comparable Princess cruise.

 

I guess I would consider Disney to be third rate.

 

Ron

[waterrats]

sorry to hear sue k is leaving this thread.

 

I stay at 4 and 5 star hotels when i need a room. It is possible that some of the older princess ships don't have the same service at CB. It was my first cruise on Princess and thought it was great. When you board they all great you and even have people running the elevators during embarkation. No complaints here other than their lack of sports activities on the ship. Am sailing her again this September and will love it.

[WeBeGone]

Now that the OP is quitting this thread can't we just let this thread die a peaceful death ? Those of us that love Princess will never be convinced otherwise, and people like the OP won't either. Let's move on folks. I think we're wasting our time beating a dead horse.

[Kruznut]

Northender, I think it's just gotten progressively more Bizarre to me and beginning to wonder who the OP is working for ?

[spongerob]

spongerob - have you been holding out on us, you Princess employee, you.:D

 

Nope, I'm just a run of the mill Second Class Cruiser, and proud of it. I think I called this thread accurately in my second contribution, post #20.

 

Waterrats, it's my opinion only, but from my experience the service on the rest of the Princess fleet is not like what you find on Caribbean Princess. It's better!

[tinabc]

Sue K,

 

I'm sorry to hear that your cruise wasn't as wonderful as it should have been. When things go wrong and there isn't a quick resolve that makes for a very frustrating time, period. The posters on this board for the most part have a fierce loyalty to their cruise line of choice and do not want to hear any complaints about it. They even make excuses for it like a parent would make excuses for a spoiled child. I wish you good luck and hope that you find some one to fix the mistakes that were made. Lets hope that your next trip is GREAT!

[land lover]

Just have to add my 2 cents, read about 30 posts and then decided to add this....is it just me or hasn't service declined everywhere, don't other people have these problems on a daily bases and in daily life........look at a princess brochure...does it really picture what really is........I mean lower your expectations...Our first cruise was 22 years ago....we payed twice as much as a Caribbean cruise is today...I fly to Europe today and pay the same I paid 30 years ago.....something has got to give.......:)

 

If I plan a trip or cruise I am delighted when nothing goes wrong, but this is the exception especailly with a family of five....we always have problems so for you people that don't....count your lucky stars.......and for the rest of us it is called life...............

[calikak]

Wow, $14,000 for a cruise! We didn't spend nearly that much for our Europe cruise this year, including the pre- and post-cruise stays that made the trip 3 weeks long. If I'd spent that much on a cruise for two people, I'd probably be angry about the level of service Princess offers too.

 

That's an awful lot of money to spend on a cruise without spending $75 per person for the flight deviation so you can pick your own flights. Someone who's platinum on Princess should know by now that it's worth it to spend the $75 for the deviation so you don't end up flying a weird itinerary. And even if the OP didn't know this, then this supposedly fantastic travel agent should have told them.

[CGTNORMANDIE]

HI SUE,

 

8 great cruises on Princess and 1 bad one...not bad. You need to decompress and then start planning something on another line. You were very fortunate to have had 8 cruises before you got the "cruise from hell".

 

It is funny but I hear the same thing on RCI, CELEBRITY, CUNARD etc. etc. One bad cruise and they are all bad...or something like that.

 

Most of us have had a bad cruise at some point in our lives. Talk to anyone with more than 20 cruises under their belt and I will tell you...you will hear some tales of woe. The funny thing is...not one of those people gave up cruising...we just keep cruising on...and on...and on...well...you get the idea.

 

"Into each life a little rain must fall"...have fun on your next cruise...and let's hope it doesn't stink!!!

 

ROSS

[Host CJSKIDS]

Again, I suggest to the OP, You are better off not cruising Princess if you are accustomed to 5 star hotels and dining - Princess will not offer that - they also do not have 5 star pricing so - it becomes a matter of - how much does one want to pay to get the service he/she desires.

 

I am a second rate cruiser, and other than one Disney cruise, think that Princess is the greatest - but since I have only left my block once, what do I know!! BTW the Disney cruise offered nothing more than Princess other than towel animals and was 50% higher in cost than a comparable Princess cruise.

 

I guess I would consider Disney to be third rate.

 

Ron

 

Now, I've done 4 Disney cruises and 2 Princess in the last few years, just got off The Golden Princess on July 21st and I can honestly say that Disney is no where near third rate! No matter what cruise/travel book you read, Disney always gets incredibly high marks. I for one do believe that the service is better on Disney, just my opinion. My husband and I also think the food is a tad better as does my husband. While our cruise this time around on The Golden had much better service than it did on the 10/24/04 sailing, I still don't rank it as highly as I do Disney. Large difference in the size of the cabins as well. My kids had an inside cabin across from our mini-suite and it was smaller than on Disney and didn't have a sofa in it and as much storage.

 

Our good friends who have cruised Disney, NCL, and RC quite a few times took their first Princess cruise this past October and thought it was okay. Our other friends cruised on the CP last August and hated it while our other friends cruises on the CP this in July 05 and loved it. Everyone has different opinions and everyone should be entitled to express those opinions.

 

I will continue to cruise Princess because I do like the choices, Disney only goes to limited ports, but I don't find Princess as perfect as other posters on this board!

 

To the OP, sorry your cruise didn't live up to your expectations. There is nothing like paying good money for a vacation and looking forward to it only to not enjoy it. If you choose to try another Princess cruise, I hope you enjoy it and if not, I hope you enjoy whatever line you do cruise.

[Host CJSKIDS]

Wow, $14,000 for a cruise! We didn't spend nearly that much for our Europe cruise this year, including the pre- and post-cruise stays that made the trip 3 weeks long. If I'd spent that much on a cruise for two people, I'd probably be angry about the level of service Princess offers too.

 

That's an awful lot of money to spend on a cruise without spending $75 per person for the flight deviation so you can pick your own flights. Someone who's platinum on Princess should know by now that it's worth it to spend the $75 for the deviation so you don't end up flying a weird itinerary. And even if the OP didn't know this, then this supposedly fantastic travel agent should have told them.

 

 

How did you get away with spending so little and staying for 3 weeks? Boy do I need your secret!! I spent $15,800 just on the airfare and cruise fare for our July cruise for our family, 5 people, an inside and a mini-suite towards the front of the ship.

[Richard Stein]

I disagree that Princess is a second class line. I have elite status with both Celebrity and Princess and am doing one cruise on each line this year. We did the same thing last year. Celebrity may have better food in the main dining room, but Princess is not far behind. Princess has more balconies, goes to more places and has reasonable fares for repeaters. I do not get these three things from Celebrity. I also have 50 days on HAL, and three cruises each on RCCL and NCL so I have tried all the popular cruise lines. In a recent Conte Naste Poll where Celebrity bragged about having 6 ships in the top 11, 4 of the other top 11 ships were Princess ships and one was HAL. Having looked at Celebrity's pricing for next year, I may be crossing them off my list, but will stick with Princess.

[MizzouMary]

We recently took our 9th cruise with Princess and it will be our last! It is so sad to see how Princess has lost it's first class luster and service. If you have never cruised before you might think everything was fine but we had eight past cruises to compare it with. Carnival recently bought Princess and you can tell. It has become a 2nd class cruise line still charging 1st class fares. My cruise travel agent warned us but sad to say we didn't listen!

 

If Carnival were a 2nd class cruise line, then how would the company have been able to grow to a fleet of 20 ships, in addition to purchasing six other cruise lines? According to an article in the USA Today newspaper:

 

"since this inauspicious debut in the early 1970s, Carnival has become the belle of the ball, growing to a fleet of 20 modern cruise ships. The line expects to carry a record 3.3 million passengers this year, which represents close to a third of the total number of North Americans who will cruise in 2005. Additionally, Carnival's parent company owns Costa Cruises, Cunard Line, Holland America Line, Princess Cruises, Windstar Cruises and The Yachts of Seabourn."

 

We have sailed with Carnival four times and have been extremely pleased with the service and quality of food. However, there are always going to be minor glitches on any vacation. I have yet to go on a vacation that has been absolutely perfect. It is unfortunate that you experienced so many problems on your cruise. However, it sounds like you were the exception and not the norm.

 

We will be trying Princess and Holland America for the first time within the next four months and I look forward to comparing the two with their parent company.

[calikak]

How did you get away with spending so little and staying for 3 weeks? Boy do I need your secret!! I spent $15,800 just on the airfare and cruise fare for our July cruise for our family, 5 people, an inside and a mini-suite towards the front of the ship.

 

Well, for 5 people, that's more understandable, this was just my husband and I! One cabin is a lot less expensive than two. :D But unless you're in a full suite, there's no way someone should be paying that kind of money for just two people to take a 12-night cruise.

[johnql]

If Carnival were a 2nd class cruise line, then how would the company have been able to grow to a fleet of 20 ships, in addition to purchasing six other cruise lines?

Come on now, we all know that size has very little to do with quality. And before anybody jumps down my back, I am not saying anything against Carnival. My point is simple: corporate management and strategy have far more to do with growth than the quality of a product.

 

If quality alone was the sole criterion for corporate success, Apple would have crushed Microsoft 20 years ago. (Just one example)

[cruizingmomma]

As a loyal customer to Carnival I have to tell you - that your issues dont sound like something that was caused by Carnival.

 

I have been on many Carnival cruises - and look forward to my first Princess cruise - a vacation is what you make of it - and if one cruise left a sour taste in your mouth - and changes your feelings of the cruiseline forever, shame on you.

[coiran]

Well, for 5 people, that's more understandable, this was just my husband and I! One cabin is a lot less expensive than two. :D But unless you're in a full suite, there's no way someone should be paying that kind of money for just two people to take a 12-night cruise.

 

Calikak - don't forget - the OP was accustomed to 5 star hotels and restaurants - so I assume they flew first class and probably had the Owner's Suite which could easily have cost $14000 for the two of them.

 

Ron

[Richard Stein]

Carnival has owned HAL longer than Princess and has not interfered in operations of either line. I have sailed HAL 6 times since the merger and Princess 2 times and do not see that Carnival is the problem. Carnival is a better line today than it was 10 years ago. I am sorry when people have problems on cruise lines. I have had my worst problem on a Celebrity cruise. Took it up with the line and sailed them twice since with no problem. Sail again and if the same problem is there, find another line or other type of vacation.