Regals room service and Alfredo fees now pulled

[sashas_mom]

Agree 100% RDC! Why raise the fare....I rarely use room service and let it be my decision if I want to eat at a pay venue!!

 

I agree too. I don't want to give Princess any ideas about raising the fares to cover these things. I'd rather choose what I want to spend our money on and leave the fares lower.

 

I do thank Princess for listening.

 

I wonder if those on the Regal will get their portfolio credited? Doubt it. We are just a minority on the ship, wonder if they even know about the uproar that occurred by faithful Princess cruisers and Cruise Critic.

[ceba]

Totally agree.

 

Unfortunately Princess will not be the only one doing this, I'm sure other cruiselines (much like the airlines) will end up doing the same thing. :(

 

You're absolutely right. Princess (and other lines) are in business to make money. And this is business. I understand the disappointment, but "times they are a changin", folks.

Edited May 26, 2014 by ceba

[Mom33]

I think the main reason they pulled the charges was that it was done without previous notice.

 

Well, now we've been notified so we can expect it to be reinstated.

 

I agree with your post. :)

[jagoffee]

I would expect that just as many if not more would prefer the fees to a increase in the base fare. At least with the fees you have the option to use the service and incur the fee or not, just as with many existing fees and services offered.

 

I believe you are correct. If Princess is going to increase their revenue it is much better to charge those who use a service than change the base cost for those that may never use the service. My DW and I almost never use room service. They could also increase the value of a suite by perhaps including "free" room service.

 

Obviously a lot of details that should be worked out if Princess decides to implement a change in the future. One does not need a "trial run" to find out that cruisers were not going to like these two changes.

 

Smart to rescind the changes, but it does make you wonder- "what were they thinking?"

[remydiva]

HA!!! 'Trialed"!! Baloney ... talk about a euphemism for "we're gonna do it no matter how our loyal cruisers feel"! Princess management already knows they are going to reinstate those fees, once the temporary recision time period has passed.

 

After the dust settles a little, a notice will be publicized by Princess, and the fee will be reinstated, and, we know, almost certainly instituted fleet-wide too. Over the years I have read so many complaining posts on CC about Princess' "nickeling and diming" practices, but it appears that it is just going to get worse.

 

One way or another, they are gonna stick us with it, plus however many others they can dream up ..... much like the airlines. Fees for "this, that and another thing" get instituted, and if we want to fly, we pay, and they earn multiple MILLIONS from those fees. Looks like cruising on Princess is heading that way too, so they too can reap millions more.

 

I'm disappointed in Princess. I thought they were of a better class than that. I'm one of those who would rather pay an extra $50 or so for my fare, and not have these fees tacked on.

 

Yup they got caught with their hands in the cookie jar aka our wallets.:eek:

 

After a suitable length of time, notification will show up first in small print and then buried in the passenger contract...just like when they changed the policy about how many bottles of wine you could bring on board.:(

[kruisey]

Feel that $3 for bringing tea and coffee to the cabin is OK?

When even hotels supply this free in their hotel rooms.

There are many persons that travel with Princess that are not as steady on their feet and do not wish to harm others and themselves carrying hot beverages.

What is the true solution?

I have an idea but i don't want Princess to read it..;)

[remydiva]

if Princess saw me first thing in the morning BEFORE I get some coffee into me, they would pay ME $3 a day to stay in my room!:p

[AE_Collector]

We went on a lot of cruises never using room service since we assumed there would logically be a charge for it. If there is no charge to go get your own food and coffee at the buffet there certainly would be a charge if the crew were to take your order, assemble it and deliver it to your room individually.

 

Then we found out that there was no charge for the service and got so we order coffee and a small amount of food through room service in the morning and have always tipped for its delivery as I appreciate not having to go out early to get coffee for my wife!

 

I am sure that many do not use room service and that is a perfect example of something that they should not have to pay a little extra for in the base cruise price. What was the $3 charge called and is some or all of it a tip/service charge? If it replaced the tip the new charge would have little monetary affect on us.

 

Some discussions here on CC make me think of the notion of one "setting their hair on fire". Suggestions to flood the Princess Facebook page with everyone's dissatisfaction and the idea that we will all spill hot coffee on ourselves if we have to go get it ourselves. Most people would probably stay at the buffet to have their coffee if they felt they were likely to dump it on themselves.

 

Neither the cruise lines nor the airlines are wildly profitable, especially the airlines. From our view, cruise fares just get cheaper all the time and are an amazing value! As a shareholder I like to see the companies make enough profit to remain viable. Isn't the daily surcharge if oil prices rise above $70 a barrel message still on cruise web sites yet I can't even remember when oil was below $70 now and still no $9/day/person surcharge.

 

All of the above is JMHO or "the way I see it".

 

Terry

Edited May 26, 2014 by AE_Collector

[san diego sue]

I totally agree with you Kruisey. I was prepared to pack my coffee mugs and carry my coffee back to cabin. Use to do this and have burned my hands more than once.

Worse than the charge for breakfast in cabin is they were going to charge for the complimentary fruit basket.So dumb.

 

I think it is a matter of time and we will see those charges mentioned on our cruise personalizers prior to a cruise. Princess' mistake was not notifying in advance.

[insidecabin]

.... Isn't the daily surcharge if oil prices rise above $70 a barrel message still on cruise web sites yet I can't even remember when oil was below $70 now and still no $9/day/person surcharge.

 

All of the above is JMHO or "the way I see it".

 

Terry

 

The issue with a fuel surcharge is they can't apply it to all existing bookings equaly.

 

in the EU/UK for a $9pd surcharge.

 

if you paid less than $90pd they have to allow you to cancel with a full refund if you paid over $450pd they can't charge it.

between they have to aborb the first 2% relative what you did pay.

[CruisingJs]

I agree too. I don't want to give Princess any ideas about raising the fares to cover these things. I'd rather choose what I want to spend our money on and leave the fares lower.

 

I do thank Princess for listening.

 

I wonder if those on the Regal will get their portfolio credited? Doubt it. We are just a minority on the ship' date=' wonder if they even know about the uproar that occurred by faithful Princess cruisers and Cruise Critic.[/quote']

 

I saw a letter posted by someone currently on the Regal. It said all charges would be credited back to their onboard account.

[Loonbeam]

From what I have been able to gather, the bigger concern was not about the fees themselves but the deployment, namely people making false advertising claims, etc and the exposure therefrom.

 

I strongly suspect we will see the room service charge return in some form (I am thinking per order, that's just speculation) with proper notice and changes to documentation. Alfredos charges may return but apparently the whole price versus included drink really annoyed a lot of non drinkers, so perhaps in a different form (a la carte for some/all items would be my guess but I have no info to back that up - purely speculation that they would follow the IC model).

[Cruiserkenn]

Just read on the Princess Facebook page that they are stopping the new fees for the time being. My thoughts anyone on cc and Facebook needs to comment on princess Facebook page and hammer them with some thoughts on these new changes.

 

 

This is a copy of the post

 

 

After 26 cruises with Princess, I'm very disheartened to hear about the new room service fees. If the room service quality was equivalent to that if a hotel, maybe--but I can get a full, hot breakfast on other lines, and not pay anything for it. I think Celebrity has you beat.

Like · · 35 minutes ago near Aliso Viejo, CA, United States

Shreddie Shred likes this.

 

 

Princess Cruises Hi Todd, we appreciate your feedback regarding our room service. We've listened to our valued guests and Facebook fans. Based on the feedback, for the time being both room service and Alfredo’s pizzeria charges being trialed on Regal Princess will be halted. We acknowledge we need to provide our guests prior notification of any such changes to our onboard experience, and we promise to do this in the future.

Like · Reply · 1 · 25 minutes ago

 

Thanks so much for this good news! Fantastic!

[Nancyquilts]

I would hope that Princess uses any room service fee to be in lieu of tips. Now that dh has balance problems and I use a walker we have been enjoying having room service deliver tea in our cabin each afternoon. If a pot of water, two cups and two tea bags will possibly have a $3 charge, it will certainly cover any usual tips in my mind.

[Northender]

I think the main reason they pulled the charges was that it was done without previous notice.

 

Well, now we've been notified so we can expect it to be reinstated.

 

You got that right. :eek:

[lovevacadays]

I love that Princess cruisers took to Facebook and emailing Princess about this. It seems it helped in the short term. I guess they did not want to have any issues regarding false advertisement.

 

It will be a shame if they reinstitute these changes.

[oskidunker]

For imposing charges without notification. What mindset determined that this was the right thing to do?

[Kenswing]

I love that Princess cruisers took to Facebook and emailing Princess about this. It seems it helped in the short term. I guess they did not want to have any issues regarding false advertisement.

 

It will be a shame if they reinstitute these changes.

 

It will be a shame WHEN they reinstate these charges.. I'm sure as soon as they can revamp their marketing materials and update the website these charges will be back..

[stoneharborlady]

I would hope that Princess uses any room service fee to be in lieu of tips. Now that dh has balance problems and I use a walker we have been enjoying having room service deliver tea in our cabin each afternoon. If a pot of water, two cups and two tea bags will possibly have a $3 charge, it will certainly cover any usual tips in my mind.

 

I think you would be kidding yourself to belive the charge will go to tips for the crew. It will go straight to Princess. I would bet my last nickle on it.

[bhopal21]

I think you would be kidding yourself to believe the charge will go to tips for the crew. It will go straight to Princess. I would bet my last nickel on it.

 

I agree. The crew would not see a penny of it.

 

Mike:)

[caribill]

 

I am sure that many do not use room service and that is a perfect example of something that they should not have to pay a little extra for in the base cruise price.

 

I disagree.

 

There are many things on a cruise ships that are included in the cost of a cruise that all passengers do not utilize. According to your thinking, the following should also have separate pricing because many do not use the feature or service:

 

o Skywalkers disco

o Exercise machines in the gym

o Swimming pools

o Hot tubs (I bet less than 5% of passengers use these)

o Dancing with live bands

o Eating in the main dining rooms

o Trivia contests

o Attending production shows

o Champagne fountain

o Soft-serve ice cream on the Lido deck

o Use the telephone in the cabin for any reason

o Ballroom dance lessons

o Enrichment lectures

o MUTS

o The TV in the cabin

etc.

 

Not every passenger does everything that is included in the base pricing.

 

 

Isn't the daily surcharge if oil prices rise above $70 a barrel message still on cruise web sites yet I can't even remember when oil was below $70 now and still no $9/day/person surcharge.

 

Princess has increased fares to account for the permanently higher cost of oil. Although some slow selling itineraries do get great savings, the majority of fares are higher than several years ago.

 

 

see above in red

[bhopal21]

Obviously part of the problem is the overbuild in the cruise industry. These monster ships are coming off the line and there are not enough passengers to fill them.

 

Just before we went on our B2B in February Princess was giving full credit for a cruise fare towards a future cruise.

 

Last week someone posted about being on the CB for a 3 or 4 day cruise for $149.

 

These are desperate moves for any corporation to take and signal trouble in the industry.

 

The new CEO's have been directed to raise earnings and they don't know where to start.

 

Mike:)

[shredie]

Good point, caribill. I haven't been in a ship pool in years. But I have had to pay for it in my base fare. I have used room service a lot. Now shouldn't my no-pool behavior offset my morning coffee costs? If we go this way, we will be break everything down to an individual price and we will be pulling out our cruise cards every three minutes to charge something. I do not begrudge any of you your swimming pool (or treadmill or comedian or dance floor) so please don't complain that you have to pay for something I like but you don't.

Edited May 26, 2014 by shredie

[Ethel5]

obviously part of the problem is the overbuild in the cruise industry. These monster ships are coming off the line and there are not enough passengers to fill them.

 

Just before we went on our b2b in february princess was giving full credit for a cruise fare towards a future cruise.

 

Last week someone posted about being on the cb for a 3 or 4 day cruise for $149.

 

These are desperate moves for any corporation to take and signal trouble in the industry.

 

The new ceo's have been directed to raise earnings and they don't know where to start.

 

Mike:)

 

bingo!

[Pam in CA]

If/when they reinstate the fees, they should honor the published amenities at time of booking. Just my opinion.