Princess Cruises-Why so many loyal cruisers?

[dorisis]

:) Thanks for your prompt reply! I have heard of the perks and incentives to repeat cruises on the same cruise line. We have only been on four cruises, each on a different cruise line. We love Celebrity, and would definitely book again.

 

Happy Cruising!

 

Celebrity has some fine perks when you become Elite.

[Cuizer2]

Hello,

 

I'm new to this message board, so bear with me! In talking to fellow cruisers, there many we have spoken to who are very loyal to Princess, and will not cruise with any other cruise line. When I ask why, the answers are vague--just that they like Princess the best. Can anyone be more specific?

 

Thanks for any comments you can offer!

 

You'll get more responses if you post this question on the Princess board.

[wxman4all]

Military perks are the best in the industry..

[Sandy Sails]

I dunno - until they can guaranty me that I won't have to sleep on a rock hard mattress, I won't be sailing Princess again.

Agree that once you climb the ladder in the loyalty club, the perks are great.

[marco]

Go on a Princess cruise..........you'll answer your own question.

[PhoneGoddess]

The only bad thing about the cruise was that we somehow got a cabin with the hardest mattress I have ever slept on! It took us a week to get the problem resolved, even after going through all the proper channels. We finally went to one of the officers and told him the problem. We are not cranky complainers, and we approached him cordially and respectfully. He was quite rude to us at first, and asked us why we waited a week to complain, and why we didn't follow the "chain of command." We told him we had gone through our room steward, our head steward, and the customer service desk several times, with no help! We felt like we were being chastised by the school headmaster, but then he settled down, and had our problem fixed almost immediately. From then on, when we ran into him on the ship, he was more than cordial to us.

 

I don't think it makes any difference what category cabin you are in when it comes to the mattresses. They change them as needed. So you can sail the same ship 2x in one year and have a very comfortable mattress one time and a rock hard mattress the other time - both in the the same type of cabin. I personally like a firm mattress, so I have never had a problem but I can understand why it might be uncomfortable for some.

[dadroy]

We are loyal Princess cruisers. We enjoy Princess and have has wonderful cruises with them. The things we like about them are:

 

Immediate access to rooms when boarding.

 

Great meals (I know food is subjective, but we like the food).

 

Also, the food is not gamed up fast food like the burger joints on other lines. Princess serves reasonable portions of good quality food.

 

The rooms are basically the same, which means you can get the room set up quickly. Pam from Californian says it is almost like going home.

 

They have great itineraries. We have enjoyed the cruises we have taken because they go to a variety of locations and we have seen a lot of interesting places and things.

 

They have great customer service on the ships. Yes, I know you will find a bad crew member from time to time, but, for the most part, the crews have been great.

 

There is a lot to do on the ships and places of places to do nothing.

 

Princess loyalty program also has some good perks once you get past 6 cruises. These are a great selling point for us.

 

To put it simple, we have no reason not to cruise Princess.

 

I remember one day we were having some tea (and snacks) in the buffet. There were 5 other ships in port and across th pier was an RCCL ship. There was a woman on one of the upper decks wistfully looking across at us. I said to my wife "You know what she's thinking? She wants to be here on this ship!" She laughed and agreed.

 

I hope this helps you get a better idea about Princess loyalty.

 

What he said, Except I would say this about Holland America, my favorite line.

 

Dear wife would say the same as above (minus rooms ready when we board) about Carnival

 

She and I differ as to whether Holland or Carnival is better.

[jean s]

We really enjoy Princess and will become elite with our next cruise. We have cruised on other lines but come back to Princess for its loyalty benefits, overall atmosphere and itineraries. I am a bit disappointed with the two new builds however. We prefer ships with a promenade deck as when we are at sea we want to feel as if we are at sea and not on a floating hotel. So we will continue to sail on the older Princess ships and probably sail more often on Holland America.

[gotta cruise again]

I agree with all the previous posts about why people like Princess. I've sailed with them since the early 1980's.

 

I'd add that we rarely experience lines (unless you arrive for traditional dining early and have to wait for the doors to open--we don't mind waiting and chatting in the lobby!). You can always find a quiet or at least not too noisy/busy place to sit. We've stayed in cabins from inside through mini-suite and happy with all (but of course, prefer larger cabins!).

 

I recommend to people who have never cruised or are considering a different cruise line to check out a book or 2 from the library, as current a version as they can find, to read about the different lines. Each has its own culture and fitting the cruise line's culture to what you prefer should make for a better cruise experience.

 

Also, the book gives the opportunity to compare ships you are considering. For example, if you find 2 different line's ships with similar pricing for similar cabins going to about the same ports, you then might want to look at the specifications of the ships. We sailed on a Princess ship and then a couple years later a different line's ship. Both were about the same length, width, and tonnage. However the other line had about 1000 more people onboard. Which ship had lines for everything and you always felt as if you could never find a quiet space (which you could not). Staff was about the same on both ships too. So which ship had better customer service?

 

Yes, we had a Princess cruise we didn't particularly enjoy: ports were great; room and ship as expected; weather was wonderful...but the food was not up to par anywhere (except Chef's Table which was exceptional). We had a mini-suite and a poor cabin steward; entertainment was blah. We were very disappointed. None of the above were so bad that a formal complaint on any of them was needed: they just all rolled together to make a poor cruise experience. We were thinking of trying another line for the next cruise but it happened that a great deal and great friends all wanted to go on a different Princess ship the following year so we went...all became right with the world of Princess again! (BTW: we did 'complain' about that poor experience in the online survey and noted that the particular ship is getting lots of favorable comments on the board--likely because many also voiced their disappointments too).

 

Hope this helps!

[dorisis]

We have been cruising for almost 50 years on many many lines. At one time Princess had the very best choice of foreign itineraries, so we chose that line. Now that is no longer true since more and more ships are cruising all over the world. For us Princess has changed so much since the early days and we no longer enjoy the "big ship" ambience. So when we do chose Princess it is usually on one of their 4 small ships. Elite perks are nice and so are the OBCs which can be combined.

[sail7seas]

Another voice to say that all the cruise lines have very loyal repeaters. We sailed Princess about 5 or 6 times and then stopped. We had such a bad experience we never returned. We sailed RCI, Celebrity (about the same amount as Princess), Carnival (sort of but that's a long story :D) and we settled on HAL as our cruise line of choice. You could reasonably say that seeing we have sailed them over 80 cruises, we are loyal to HAL. :)

[Beachdude]

I can't say we are loyal to Princess, but they are our favorite cruise line between RCI, Carnival, Princess, and Celebrity. All of which we have cruise one or more times in the last three years. What we like the most about Princess is their very friendly and aim-to-please staff.

 

I don’t think the Princess’s food is any better than the other lines, and may be a little worse as of last month. But it is hard to tell because all the lines are presently cutting in the food and food services department. I also don’t think the Princess’s entertainment is better than the other lines.

 

With the cuts we see on all the lines, Princess’s friendly services just stick out the most for us right now. I will say we are hearing some good things about Carnival improving their crew services. We have been frustrated by the industry cuts and are leaning away from cruising for other forms of travel. But if we do continue cruising, we might give Carnival a try again to see if the rumors are true.

 

Burt

[kelkel2]

Hello,

 

I'm new to this message board, so bear with me! In talking to fellow cruisers, there many we have spoken to who are very loyal to Princess, and will not cruise with any other cruise line. When I ask why, the answers are vague--just that they like Princess the best. Can anyone be more specific?

 

Thanks for any comments you can offer!

 

Although I am not "loyal" to princess. I did enjoy our Princess cruise. The service was wonderful and the ship was beautiful. The food in the Dining room was really good with a lot of choices. They also send out mailers and emails with deals that you qualify for once you have sailed with them. I guess I can't speak for others, but it really is a wonderful cruise line with a wonderful product.