underwhelmed by Princess (Emerald)

[XBGuy]

48 minutes ago, cruisingourmet said:

I had no Idea that so many folks on here mostly Agree with me about the Food & Activities.

 

Yes, many do agree.  Also, however, most agree that there is a lot of inconsistency.  I attribute this to the ship's hospitality management.  Specifically, the ship's Maitre d' and the ship's Executive Chef.  I have learned that if I really enjoy my experience in a venue on one cruise, that is no guarantee that I my experience will be matched on subsequent cruises.  I happened to cruise on the Emerald Princess last April and found the dining to be pretty good.  However, your experience was different.  No surprise.

 

48 minutes ago, cruisingourmet said:

 

There are a very few Princess loyalists that have defended the food, but were you onboard recently?

 

Dec. 1 - Dec 8, 2018 , Ruby Princess.  That one was pretty good.  We had dinners in Crown Grill and SHARE.  Since we were in a suite, we were able to order off the Dining Room menu and did that twice.  We also had the Ultimate Balcony Dinner one evening.  All were satisfactory.  One evening we ordered from the Pizza place on the Lido deck and took it back to our room.  We had an aft-facing balcony that was protected from the wind.  So, dining there was very pleasant.

 

• My wife really liked the "Burger of the Day" from the Dining Room Menu.  We enjoyed the two meals we had.
• At the Crown Grill, I had a Veal Chop and my wife ordered the Mussel Pot, her favorite CG entree.  The Veal Chop was fine, but, certainly, not memorable.  I was OK with the mashed potatoes.  My wife was disappointed that the Mussel Pot was quite salty.  One of our consistent complaints about Princess meals is that they tend to be over-salted.  On the plus side she, as always, loved the Garlic Fries.  She always orders that in the Crown Grill as her appetizer.  I'll add that I did order the Beef Tartare.  If it was cooked, that escaped me.  It tasted like Beef Tartare.
• The Ultimate Balcony Dinner, of course, is a nice experience because we love the attention that we get from the servers.  The Filet Mignon was, well, Filet Mgnon.  I was pleased to see that it was prepared rare as I had specified but was disappointed by the (surprise) level of salt.
• The Pizza Parlor on the Ruby Princess has been rebranded as Slices (changed from Prego), and it has some additional items on the menu.  I tried the Stromboli and enjoyed it.  I'm sure that somebody will jump in here and whine, "Oh, it was terrible.  Nothing like we used to get when I was a kid in Chicago" or Brooklyn or wherever Stromboli comes from.  A disappointment for me is that you cannot count on Pepperoni Pizza at Slices.  They say they have Pizza Margarita and a special Pizza every day.  My wife asked for a slice of Margarita, and was quite disappointed to receive a cheese pizza.  No Pizza Margarita in sight.  Big miss.
• I have never had a bad meal in SHARE, and this past visit did not disappoint.  This was our first encounter with the new menu.  We enjoyed this meal immensely.  The headwaiter did not impress me.  I'd brought a bottle of my own red wine.  We were seated by a young lady.  No big deal.  If the headwaiter is momentarily busy, I would rather be seated by anybody rather than stand around waiting for him.  We were only seated for a few moments when the headwaiter did come by, greeted us and inspected my wine.
  
  "We'll have to charge you for the wine."
  
  Well, that was a bit of a surprise since I had signed the chit at the pier before we boarded.  I turned the bottle and told him, "Here is the 'Corkage Paid' sticker right here."
  
  "Oh, they put it on a different place."
  
  Eye Roll.  There aren't that many places to put a one-inch sticker on a 750ml bottle of wine, but, somehow, he was stumped.
  
  The other, only slightly, disappointing thing about our SHARE experience was the server.  She was competent, but in my previous visits to the venue, the servers have been outstanding.  Not really a big deal.  We did not need her help enjoying ourselves.

 

 

48 minutes ago, cruisingourmet said:

 

I'm looking for a sea day Princess Patter so you can see how little there was to do onboard.

 

I will say the food NOT made in the Main Kitchen was quite good, the Pizza station & Hamburger stand on the Pool deck made tasty food. In other words, it need not be Gourmet to be delicious. Just good ingredients well prepared and THAT IS NOT TOO MUCH TO ASK OF ANY CRUISE SHIP !

 

Our regular routine on after boarding on sailaway day is to head to the Lido, deck go to the Trident Grill (or, in the case of the Ruby Princess, the Salty Dog Grill) and order burgers and fries.  By the way, the new menu for the Salty Dog Grill includes tacos.  We intended to try them some day, but never did get around to doing that.

 

And there is no reason to shout.

 

 

Yes

[Wishing on a star]

I am a big fan of the Princess Piazza!!!

Do not mind the lay-outs at all.

Most everything about the Regal was absolutely wonderful!!!!

 

And, my comments about the food are in relation to the food we had on our last, previous, Princess cruise,  which was really good!!!!  Same line...  pre cut-backs.    The differences were obvious and very very real.   Not just me not being happy with the Princess (mass-market) product, or being picky or negative.  Maybe others would prefer to stick to pizza and burgers on deck.  That is their perogative.  But, feel like I know low quality and fake enhanced food when I see/taste it.  (Margarine, with no butter available anywhere any more...  (it was available on our last cruise...  but now, gone.)   Hard to even find enough sugar to sweeten tea...  But absolute tons of cheap chemical sweeteners.  Rationed banana's  at breakfast...  upon demand only.....  These are a few of many examples... 

 

I see these things...  Maybe others simply do not?

 

It is true that sometimes things are personal taste... I thought the Curtis Stone dish that I tried was just disgusting.  Not necessarily because of the quality or cut-backs...  But, because of the taste.  And, I will admit that this is 'preference'.  Just another one of many dishes that I was served that was left almost uneaten.  The 'putty' potato balls/croquettes...  the dark brown over cooked, fake cheap beef that was supposed to be the 'medium or med/rare' Beef Wellington"type' dish.   And, ohhhhh.... the Green Fruit Tea that is actually an extra charge at the IC...  I was looking forward too...  I paid for ONE... it was basically Kool-aid.

Edited January 1, 2019 by Wishing on a star

[Wishing on a star]

Creativegenious -  it is good to hear you, and the one other cruiser make similar comments.

About the drinks...  Ordered on drink made with the 'mixer' at Sailaway.  OMG...  threw half of it out.

We got paper and wrote down our own recipe for a Pina Colada  (Cocunut Rum, pineapple juice, heavy cream... etc....)    And that is what enabled us to get some drinks we could actually consume and enjoy.

 

We did enjoy a good Key Lime Pie Martini!!!!  We asked to upgrade to top shelf vodka, and pay for that...  and guess what...  Another 'NO' from a princess staff.   Really????    They can't get you what you want, even with paying extra for it???   We should have been pushy and said...  "OK, then SELL us a shot of the good liquor..  and use that in the drink."

 

I hate to bash Princess.  I really do...  And most things about the REGAL were really great!

But, I simply can not deny that the current cutbacks being implemented in food and service are a deal-breaker.

 

[Colo Cruiser]

22 minutes ago, Wishing on a star said:

Creativegenious -  it is good to hear you, and the one other cruiser make similar comments.

About the drinks...  Ordered on drink made with the 'mixer' at Sailaway.  OMG...  threw half of it out.

We got paper and wrote down our own recipe for a Pina Colada  (Cocunut Rum, pineapple juice, heavy cream... etc....)    And that is what enabled us to get some drinks we could actually consume and enjoy.

 

We did enjoy a good Key Lime Pie Martini!!!!  We asked to upgrade to top shelf vodka, and pay for that...  and guess what...  Another 'NO' from a princess staff.   Really????    They can't get you what you want, even with paying extra for it???   We should have been pushy and said...  "OK, then SELL us a shot of the good liquor..  and use that in the drink."

 

I hate to bash Princess.  I really do...  And most things about the REGAL were really great!

But, I simply can not deny that the current cutbacks being implemented in food and service are a deal-breaker.

 

Did you have the Premium Beverage Package?

[floridalover5623]

12 hours ago, Wishing on a star said:

We did enjoy a good Key Lime Pie Martini!!!! 

What ! You didn't think Princess's key lime pie was any good? 😉😉

[ABoatNerd]

Seriously, no butter and real sugar?

 

Pathetic Princess.

 

Princess is now off our consideration list.

 

Thank you Wishing on a star and cruisingourmet for your posts.

 

The constant downgrading on the cruise lines (including my Oct 18 cruise on Oceania which had significant food downgrades and many other issues) is turning me off cruising.

 

Every consumer has a tipping point. In reading posts across the brands, there is an ever rising discontent about the rapid increase in downgrades. 

 

My impression is that the cruise lines are so full of themselves that they think consumers will keep rebooking despite noting a reduction in the product. 

 

Well this consumer has no cruises booked.

 

 

 

 

 

[TracieABD]

I am person who enjoys a good meal, but does not cruise for the food. There are inconsistencies across ships- and between cruises. I am always amazed that they manage to feed as many people as they do.

 

I have a 34 day cruise planned for later in the year... I do hope the food is good for that cruise- with 19 sea days, if it is a "miss", it will be a looooooong month.

[suzyed]

42 minutes ago, TracieABD said:

I am person who enjoys a good meal, but does not cruise for the food. There are inconsistencies across ships- and between cruises. I am always amazed that they manage to feed as many people as they do.

 

I have a 34 day cruise planned for later in the year... I do hope the food is good for that cruise- with 19 sea days, if it is a "miss", it will be a looooooong month.

We were on a 25 day sailing this past fall...and the food was seriously lacking in the MDR.  We liked the specialties, they were still good and the pizza up on deck was yummy as was the food at the grill up by the pool. 
We even tried ordering the "kids" spaghetti and meatballs as we have done in the past.  The meatballs were raw!  One of our travel companions actually got sick from eating them.  We showed the waiters and they said they would bring it to the attention of the head waiter which they did.  Even after trying to fix it in the kitchen they still came out raw!
The next night the head waiter himself was in the kitchen with the chef and brought us out some meatballs that were properly cooked.  I have to say they were really trying to help and to please us!
I can honestly say that I only had two delicious meals in the MDR during dinner in 25 days!  Sad.
Am I going to stop sailing on Princess?  No. We still like them but sadly will just lower our expectations as far as dinner is concerned.  Hey!  At least we don't have to worry about gaining too much weight!
BTW,  we had real butter and there was always sugar available (although I don't use it).

Edited January 1, 2019 by suzyed

[Coral]

19 minutes ago, suzyed said:

We were on a 25 day sailing this past fall...and the food was seriously lacking in the MDR.  We liked the specialties, they were still good and the pizza up on deck was yummy as was the food at the grill up by the pool. 
 

On my summer cruise to Norway - my food was mediocre at best. The salads and pastas were probably the best choices until the end of the cruise when the salads looked awful. The beef was the worst choice. I also ordered the spaghetti and meatballs a few times as a last resort. They were fine on my sailing.

[TracieABD]

56 minutes ago, suzyed said:

We were on a 25 day sailing this past fall...and the food was seriously lacking in the MDR.  We liked the specialties, they were still good and the pizza up on deck was yummy as was the food at the grill up by the pool. 
We even tried ordering the "kids" spaghetti and meatballs as we have done in the past.  The meatballs were raw!  One of our travel companions actually got sick from eating them.  We showed the waiters and they said they would bring it to the attention of the head waiter which they did.  Even after trying to fix it in the kitchen they still came out raw!
The next night the head waiter himself was in the kitchen with the chef and brought us out some meatballs that were properly cooked.  I have to say they were really trying to help and to please us!
I can honestly say that I only had two delicious meals in the MDR during dinner in 25 days!  Sad.
Am I going to stop sailing on Princess?  No. We still like them but sadly will just lower our expectations as far as dinner is concerned.  Hey!  At least we don't have to worry about gaining too much weight!
BTW,  we had real butter and there was always sugar available (although I don't use it).

 

Thank you for closing the loop on this. I really appreciate it! I wish you better culinary luck on future cruises!

[cruisingourmet]

I got a call from Princess Customer service regarding the email I sent them a week ago which was mostly the original posting here.

 

She said "We will answer you in 6 to 8 weeks" We are way behind in customer service.

 

I don't know if there are that many complaints or what but I suppose it confirms that they got my email...

[Ombud]

On 12/26/2018 at 7:53 PM, cruisingourmet said:

 

• vegetables either served mushy or almost raw
• a mashed potato ball that was dry and crusty inedible
•  

As a vegetarian I can attest to their doing veggies RIGHT. Hot but not soft. Guess you call it 'almost raw' but it's right IMHO. And the flavors don't run together. Broccoli taste like broccoli, carrots taste like carrots, cauliflower taste like cauliflower, and so on. So many times all the vegetables taste like the seasonings that got dumped on them. But not on the Royal class & Diamond / Sapphire ships

 

Must admit I've never had their mashed potatoes but their latkes are good ---  interestingly different than on land but nicely flavored

 

But then I only eat in MDR, Alfredos, & International Cafe

 

Helps my waistline that I have to do stairs / walk length of ship to get almost anywhere

Edited January 2, 2019 by Ombud

[mreasier]

21 hours ago, Coral said:

On my summer cruise to Norway - my food was mediocre at best. The salads and pastas were probably the best choices until the end of the cruise when the salads looked awful. The beef was the worst choice. I also ordered the spaghetti and meatballs a few times as a last resort. They were fine on my sailing.

We were on the same cruise on the Sapphire - Hi Coral.  We had traditional late dining while Coral had Anytime.  Our food and service was among the best we have had on almost 30 Princess cruises.  My theory is that food quality seems to be better with late traditional when the galley is much less busy.  I suspect quality also improves in Anytime later in the evening.  The traditional dining room was only about half full most nights and the Anytime dining rooms were probably getting pretty empty by that time.  Late dining was 8:15.

[Coral]

5 minutes ago, mreasier said:

We were on the same cruise on the Sapphire - Hi Coral.  We had traditional late dining while Coral had Anytime.  Our food and service was among the best we have had on almost 30 Princess cruises.  My theory is that food quality seems to be better with late traditional when the galley is much less busy.  I suspect quality also improves in Anytime later in the evening.  The traditional dining room was only about half full most nights and the Anytime dining rooms were probably getting pretty empty by that time.  Late dining was 8:15.

I should have eaten with you 2! You may be right - the people I had dinner with many nights thought the same thing I did. They maybe more consistent/better with Traditional dining food. I usually eat Traditional dining and didn't clear on this trip (for early). 

[suzyed]

2 hours ago, mreasier said:

We were on the same cruise on the Sapphire - Hi Coral.  We had traditional late dining while Coral had Anytime.  Our food and service was among the best we have had on almost 30 Princess cruises.  My theory is that food quality seems to be better with late traditional when the galley is much less busy.  I suspect quality also improves in Anytime later in the evening.  The traditional dining room was only about half full most nights and the Anytime dining rooms were probably getting pretty empty by that time.  Late dining was 8:15.

I wonder if that will change now that the dining times are earlier with Late dining now at 7:15 and early dining at 5:00?  

[Wishing on a star]

Interesting comments about Early -vs- Late dining.   Thank you for mentioning that!

 

Now, I will remind everyone here that my comments were based on my current experience, with the current and ongoing changes and cutbacks to the menus, recipes, and service..   Our last cruise, pre cutbacks, on the CORAL princess was an excellent experience in the MDR.

 

But, now, I am thinking that the Early Dining might have also been a contributing factor.

We do not usually do early dining...  but on this cruise, with the very early night-fall this time of year,  and wanting to be up and out early taking advantage of the sunshine and nice weather...  Mornings reserved in the Sanctuary/Retreat Cabana...  Etc...   Yes, we did early dining.

 

I am now thinking that part of the 'over-cooked' and yucky aspects of our food might be that, in anticipation of the Early dining,  which is now slightly earlier...  Some of this stuff was like it was prepared way in advance, and had sit under heat lamps for like 1-2 hours.

 

(This doesn't change the over salty/MSG, fake, over processed aspects.....)

 

Seriously,....  it was THAT bad.  Overcooked, dried up...  Really unappetizing.  Those potato 'croquettes' were seriously overcooked, browned, hard...  I am talking hockey pucks....  Same for that disgusting Beef Welling'type' dish.  I am truly not trying to 'bash' but just stating the obvious.

 

PS:   Yes, the key lime pie martinis were good!!!!   But top shelf liquor might have made them even better...  And, yes, we were paying our own way, no Beverage Package.  We should have been able to PAY for a martini made with the better Vodka.   The word 'NO' should never have been in anyone's vocabulary.

(And, this came from the one staff member onboard that we really loved who was very friendly, had a huge smile, etc...)

Edited January 2, 2019 by Wishing on a star

[XBGuy]

I've really enjoyed reading the various comments in this conversation.  I would like to thank everybody for their contributions.

 

Here is something that I truly hope the OP comes back and gives his opinion.  To me the two incidents that I am reporting just should not happen in a fine dining restaurant (and I really don't want to get into a discussion of the definition).

 

1. This happened in the Crown Grill.  I'd ordered Lamb Chops for my entree.  The good news is that the kitchen prepared them to my specification, and they were great.  The bad news is that plopped on the plate next to the chops was a glob of green jelly.  Lamb entrees are very often accompanied by a mint sauce.  It is fine for a home chef/cook to substitute mint jelly, but for a venue that wants to be viewed as a "white tablecloth" restaurant, that is just not right.
    
2. This one happened in Sabatini's.  I really don't remember what I'd ordered, but, when the server delivered my entree, he asked if I would like a "Balsamic Reduction" to to go along with it.  That sounded good.  He came back with a jar of some commercial product that, I'm sure, I could find in many U.S. supermarkets.  No, that is just wrong.  Even the kitchen did not want to spend time with an accompaniment like that, I would not send a jar out to the dining room.  Pour some out of the jar into a ramekin and send that out.  If they really wanted to impress, pop it into a microwave for 30 seconds and warm it up.

As I have stated multiple time on Cruise Critic, and, undoubtedly, in this very conversation, I know that the operation of the ship's dining venues is, very much, dependent on the management of both the front of the house and the back of the house.  Here is an appendix to item 1, above.  On a subsequent cruise, and I have no recollection of whether or not it was the same ship, I, again, ordered Lamb Chops at the Crown Grill.  This time they were completely unadorned--no mint sauce and no mint jelly.  They were delicious.

[cruisingourmet]

1. I agree a mint sauce would be better than jelly and I guess did they offer it or did you asked for it. I personally don't hate mint jelly and if served on the side in a small ramekin I'd not make too much of it, especially if the chops were of quality and cooked as ordered.

 

2. I again think placing the glaze in a small ramekin would be a nice touch.

 

I think they have done away with Sabitini's and replaced it with SHARE.

The crown grill has nice ambience and good service but the food just only slightly better than MDR

 

I had the rib eye and it was not great because it was only 1/2"  thick which I felt was skimpy for a "premium Steak house"

 

Finally, I remembered at our Cruise Critic meet up, which was well attended by the Ship's officers, a CC member mentioned that the optional upsell card tucked into the corner of the MDR menu was tacky. I didn't think much about it on day 2 but perhaps there was a subtle message, you want better quality you will have to pay $$

 

THIS MAY BE THE BEGINNING OF A TREND.. They are putting prices in the MDR Menu for an upsell.. The NEXT STEP logically will be prices next to every item on the menu. Don't laugh, Carnival eliminated ALL FREE ROOM SERVICE as of Jan 1 2019

 

FWIT .. We were on the Late 7:15 dining and that is where all this post originated from.

Edited January 2, 2019 by cruisingourmet
add

[RDC1]

Here is the reality of cruise line food.

 

Amount spent per passenger day across all of their owned cruise lines based upon last 10Q (food costs divided by passenger days)

 

CCL  $11.37

RCL  $12.00

NCLH $10.19

 

Cruise line food  is  comparable with hotel banquet food. While there has been changes the MDR's have always been in the hotel banquet food level, with greater variety of choice.

 

Note this is all money spent for food so it most likely also include that spent for the crew, so these should be considered to be max per passenger numbers. 

Edited January 3, 2019 by RDC1

[cruisingourmet]

1 hour ago, RDC1 said:

Here is the reality of cruise line food.

 

Amount spent per passenger day across all of their owned cruise lines based upon last 10Q (food costs divided by passenger days)

 

CCL  $11.37

RCL  $12.00

NCLH $10.19

 

Cruise line food  is  comparable with hotel banquet food. While there has been changes the MDR's have always been in the hotel banquet food level, with greater variety of choice.

 

Note this is all money spent for food so it most likely also include that spent for the crew, so these should be considered to be max per passenger numbers. 

 

This might explain why RCL & Celebrity have not disappointed my with their MDR offerings, they seem to spend more. Any stats on Princess?

Edited January 3, 2019 by cruisingourmet
add

[Mike45LC]

23 hours ago, cruisingourmet said:

Finally, I remembered at our Cruise Critic meet up, which was well attended by the Ship's officers, a CC member mentioned that the optional upsell card tucked into the corner of the MDR menu was tacky. I didn't think much about it on day 2 but perhaps there was a subtle message, you want better quality you will have to pay $$

 

THIS MAY BE THE BEGINNING OF A TREND.. They are putting prices in the MDR Menu for an upsell.. The NEXT STEP logically will be prices next to every item on the menu. Don't laugh, Carnival eliminated ALL FREE ROOM SERVICE as of Jan 1 2019

 

 

I too am concerned about the upsell to Crown Grill steaks in the Main Dining Room and what that might portend for the future.  However, as I noted earlier in this thread, on our Dec 8 Ruby sailing, I found the non-up-sold beef to be pretty good this past trip, much better than on my two 2017 Princess cruises.

[RDC1]

27 minutes ago, cruisingourmet said:

 

This might explain why RCL & Celebrity have not disappointed my with their MDR offerings, they seem to spend more. Any stats on Princess?

these are across all lines held by each of the 3 holding companies. so Princess is buried in the ccl number, just as celebrity and Azmara is in the rcl numbers.

 

no way to breakout individual lines only the complete holding company.

[XBGuy]

 

On 1/2/2019 at 12:27 PM, cruisingourmet said:

I think they have done away with Sabitini's and replaced it with SHARE.

The crown grill has nice ambience and good service but the food just only slightly better than MDR

 

Your comment about SHARE is not entirely accurate.  Sabatini's has been replaced with SHARE on three Princess ships--Emerald Princess, Ruby Princess and Sun Princess.  I am pretty sure it will not be added on additional ships.

 

I am a bit disappointed that you did not respond to my query regarding SHARE.  My conclusion has to be that you did not visit it.  If that is the case, then I think you missed out.  I have stated multiple times here on Cruise Critic that SHARE is, consistently, the finest dining experience on Princess--my comment regarding the headwaiter on my most recent cruise, notwithstanding.

 

I agree with most of your comments regarding the Crown Grill.  My wife and I dine there--and SHARE and Sabatini's--regularly, because we prefer that dining experience.  I might quibble a bit about the superior quality of the beef over that served in the dining room.  I find the quality of beef at Crown Grill to be inconsistent.  I have had some pretty chewy cuts in Crown Grill.  I have, of course, also had some excellent cuts.  I really think that if you are not "married" to beef, the finest entree they serve is the sea bass.

 

 

On 1/2/2019 at 12:27 PM, cruisingourmet said:

I had the rib eye and it was not great because it was only 1/2"  thick which I felt was skimpy for a "premium Steak house"

 

Finally, I remembered at our Cruise Critic meet up, which was well attended by the Ship's officers, a CC member mentioned that the optional upsell card tucked into the corner of the MDR menu was tacky. I didn't think much about it on day 2 but perhaps there was a subtle message, you want better quality you will have to pay $$

 

THIS MAY BE THE BEGINNING OF A TREND.. They are putting prices in the MDR Menu for an upsell.. The NEXT STEP logically will be prices next to every item on the menu. Don't laugh, Carnival eliminated ALL FREE ROOM SERVICE as of Jan 1 2019

 

FWIT .. We were on the Late 7:15 dining and that is where all this post originated from.

 

Personally, I'm OK with the charges for alternative dishes in the dining room.  I see it at the same as the charge for alcoholic beverages.  The diner can decide.  If Princess can make a couple bucks, that's a couple bucks they don't have to add to future passage tickets.  I know I'm in the minority on that opinion.

 

[TracieABD]

Just now, XBGuy said:

 

 

Your comment about SHARE is not entirely accurate.  Sabatini's has been replaced with SHARE on three Princess ships--Emerald Princess, Ruby Princess and Sun Princess.  I am pretty sure it will not be added on additional ships.

 

I am a bit disappointed that you did not respond to my query regarding SHARE.  My conclusion has to be that you did not visit it.  If that is the case, then I think you missed out.  I have stated multiple times here on Cruise Critic that SHARE is, consistently, the finest dining experience on Princess--my comment regarding the headwaiter on my most recent cruise, notwithstanding.

 

I agree with most of your comments regarding the Crown Grill.  My wife and I dine there--and SHARE and Sabatini's--regularly, because we prefer that dining experience.  I might quibble a bit about the superior quality of the beef over that served in the dining room.  I find the quality of beef at Crown Grill to be inconsistent.  I have had some pretty chewy cuts in Crown Grill.  I have, of course, also had some excellent cuts.  I really think that if you are not "married" to beef, the finest entree they serve is the sea bass.

 

 

 

Personally, I'm OK with the charges for alternative dishes in the dining room.  I see it at the same as the charge for alcoholic beverages.  The diner can decide.  If Princess can make a couple bucks, that's a couple bucks they don't have to add to future passage tickets.  I know I'm in the minority on that opinion.

 

I agree with you on the upsell prospect. I have no issue paying extra to receive extra... I do know there are many other people that would vehemently disagree with me on this. It really boils down to a matter of personal preference.

[cruisequeen4ever]

 Just goes to show how subjective food is. I was on the Emerald and September and had good food (not the best I’ve had on Princess but good). I was on Celebrity in 2017, and aside from the stir fry station in the Oceanview Cafe, it was very mediocre. Princess still has far superior food to Celebrity in our opinions.