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The good, bad and the ugly!


Hobbes67
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We recently returned from our 10 day cruise on the Ruby to the Sea of Cortez.

 

The good - internet times have improved significantly.  There were issues in the beginning where you would log out, it would verify you were logged out, and then it would eat up your time.  If you went to the internet manager he would help you and return your minutes.  After a few days they ironed everything out and it was working well.  Make sure you actually type in logout.com to verify you are logged out.   Also, the food I thought was pretty good.

 

Another good - If you go to Cabo I highly recommend the Luxury 1/2 day sailboat excursion.  Princess really got it right on this.  Price was good, food was excellent and overall a wonderful excursion.  The company was Cabo Adventures if you find yourself in Cabo, and they can be found right on the dock.

 

Bad - If you are a senior this cruise director and staff might not work for you.  They were very loud, most music questions on trivia and movies were geared to current not oldies.  I heard many complaints about them.  Never saw them around as I did with previous staff.  Comments I heard was that they were pretty full of themselves.

 

Ugly! - If you enjoy going to any of the activities (trivia, bingo, zumba etc.) this was not the cruise for you.  The Art people booked  Club Fusion every day for a private auction of about 100 people.  The day of the Captains party they booked Explorers for there event which left pretty much nothing available during that time.  One day Princess tried to use the Wheelhouse for Trivia, however it did not work well.  When Explorers was used for Zumba, Bingo and Trivia on some days, half of the room was blocked off with Art set up for the regular Art events.  This reduced the number of people that could participate.  In addition, people moved chairs and blocked walkways which I would think would be a fire hazard.  One day they actually reserved Club Fusion, set up Explorers with Art, and had a Art event in the Wheelhouse, all at the same time.  If this is going to be a practice with Princess I will never cruise with them again.  (This was my 25th cruise) 

 

I am not sure how you can find out ahead of time if this is going to happen on other ships, but I know I would not book again at this time.

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Thank you for taking the time to jot down your notes, Hobbes.

 

I have not been on as many Princess cruises as you have, but I can't recall having ever seen an art auction in any  venue other than the Explorers Lounge.  Interesting. 

 

We were on the 10-day Sea of Cortez cruise in December, 2017--also on the Ruby Princess.  For us it was a very enjoyable cruise.  We thought that the two Sea of Cortez stops, La Paz and Loreto, were outstanding.

 

We are going on the Los Angeles-Alaska roundtrip on the Ruby Princess next month.  So, we'll see if moving the art events to Club Fusion is the new thing.

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9 minutes ago, Colo Cruiser said:

Have seen several art displays/auctions in Club Confusion in the last 6 months on other ships.

 

Y'know, CC, I probably spoke rashly. 

 

Mea culpa, mea culpa, mea maxima culpa.

 

As a rule I don't have much interest in the daily events at these venues, and it is entirely possible that there have been art events in Club Fusion on our cruises.  I do know that quite often I have walked past the Explorers Lounge while an art auction was in progress or being set up.

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2 minutes ago, XBGuy said:

 

Y'know, CC, I probably spoke rashly. 

 

Mea culpa, mea culpa, mea maxima culpa.

 

As a rule I don't have much interest in the daily events at these venues, and it is entirely possible that there have been art events in Club Fusion on our cruises.  I do know that quite often I have walked past the Explorers Lounge while an art auction was in progress or being set up.

My cruises all seem to run together anymore. Ha I know great problem to have.

I don't care for that venue much...hence the confusion. :classic_blink::classic_biggrin::classic_blink:

I use those aft elevators quite often and always see the art lined up in the entry way to CF.

Almost seemed like it was there way too much.

I agree about Explorers. It's stacked up outside everytime I walk past.  🙄

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I see a shift in art auctions/sales on cruise ships as a whole.  Some lines are already ahead of the curve, princess is behind, obviously making that big push for art revenue before the auction collapse.  With ships now offering relatively reliable and semi-fast internet, the perspective art buyers are now more educated and are able to get a better idea of market value and avoid overpaying.  So the rollout of medallionnet is unintentionally not helping.  Revenue is not being generated in the fashion it once was from auctions and cruise lines need to figure out other ways to get it using the same space, time, and clientele.

A focus on art appreciation and education seems to be the trend. Celebrity offers self guided tours on ipads of their art gallery, Crystal and Seaborn have art lectures and often times a resident artist onboard.  Im hoping to see more lines head in this direction and away from the park west total ship art auction days.

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18 hours ago, imapost2003 said:

I see a shift in art auctions/sales on cruise ships as a whole.  Some lines are already ahead of the curve, princess is behind, obviously making that big push for art revenue before the auction collapse.  With ships now offering relatively reliable and semi-fast internet, the perspective art buyers are now more educated and are able to get a better idea of market value and avoid overpaying.  So the rollout of medallionnet is unintentionally not helping.  Revenue is not being generated in the fashion it once was from auctions and cruise lines need to figure out other ways to get it using the same space, time, and clientele.

 

 

Most participants in the art auction get caught up in the moment and do not go online to check actual value in the middle of the auction.

 

Most experienced cruisers know there is little value in the pricing of the art presented at the auctions and know this without using the Internet,  and they do not bother to attend an art auction unless it is for entertainment purposes or for the free glass of sparkling wine.

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But wait, there's MORE! Buy this ugly and overpriced piece of "art" and I'll throw in two more! Yes, that's RIGHT!! Three for the price of one!!! GAH! I hate even walking past the art auctions. We always check out the art in the gallery when we walk through and have never seen anything I would want to hang on my walls. I know taste is subjective and there are many who like what is offered and who actually purchase the pictures. To each his/her own. I don't judge them for liking the stuff and buying it. As long as it makes them happy then I'm pleased for them. I just wish the art auctions weren't so intrusive and didn't take up the venue so often.

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We too did the 1/2 day luxury sail when in Cabo on a Thanksgiving Cruise and thoroughly enjoyed the trip. I asked the captain if there was enough time on the way back to Cabo to raise the sails and go silent. The crew happily obliged and I got to steer the boat for about 30 mins or so for the run back to port. 😉

 

 

 

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On ‎3‎/‎4‎/‎2019 at 6:06 AM, TracieABD said:

That is just not fun... I wonder if there was a charter group that focused on art aboard for your cruise...

 

Either way- No bueno!

 

Probably close...

Just like a VIP casino cruise where the a large percentage of the total passengers are casino invitee's  , the Princess Art concessioner  also does these type of cruises where previous "high roller" art purchaser's are offered a free or discounted cruise to attend a so called "Art Intensive" program and these cruises end up taking a large percentage of the total bookings for that sailing.  

 

I was on a California Coastal last year on the Crown, that was one of these "Art" cruises,  though on that cruise they only took over the Explorer's for the whole cruise not Club Fusion too  - On that cruises the attendee's were required to commit to six hours a day to so called art lectures on all the sea days.

 

Thanks, but no thanks 

Srpilo

 

Edited by srpilo
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2 hours ago, srpilo said:

 

Probably close...

Just like a VIP casino cruise where the a large percentage of the total passengers are casino invitee's  , the Princess Art concessioner  also does these type of cruises where previous "high roller" art purchaser's are offered a free or discounted cruise to attend a so called "Art Intensive" program and these cruises end up taking a large percentage of the total bookings for that sailing.  

 

I was on a California Coastal last year on the Crown, that was one of these "Art" cruises,  though on that cruise they only took over the Explorer's for the whole cruise not Club Fusion too  - On that cruises the attendee's were required to commit to six hours a day to so called art lectures on all the sea days.

 

Thanks, but no thanks 

Srpilo

 

OMG, 6 hours a day trapped in a room with used car salespersons, er I mean cruise ship art experts.  :classic_biggrin::classic_biggrin:

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On 3/2/2019 at 11:56 AM, Hobbes67 said:

We recently returned from our 10 day cruise on the Ruby to the Sea of Cortez.

 

The good - internet times have improved significantly.  There were issues in the beginning where you would log out, it would verify you were logged out, and then it would eat up your time.  If you went to the internet manager he would help you and return your minutes.  After a few days they ironed everything out and it was working well.  Make sure you actually type in logout.com to verify you are logged out.   Also, the food I thought was pretty good.

 

Another good - If you go to Cabo I highly recommend the Luxury 1/2 day sailboat excursion.  Princess really got it right on this.  Price was good, food was excellent and overall a wonderful excursion.  The company was Cabo Adventures if you find yourself in Cabo, and they can be found right on the dock.

 

Bad - If you are a senior this cruise director and staff might not work for you.  They were very loud, most music questions on trivia and movies were geared to current not oldies.  I heard many complaints about them.  Never saw them around as I did with previous staff.  Comments I heard was that they were pretty full of themselves.

 

Ugly! - If you enjoy going to any of the activities (trivia, bingo, zumba etc.) this was not the cruise for you.  The Art people booked  Club Fusion every day for a private auction of about 100 people.  The day of the Captains party they booked Explorers for there event which left pretty much nothing available during that time.  One day Princess tried to use the Wheelhouse for Trivia, however it did not work well.  When Explorers was used for Zumba, Bingo and Trivia on some days, half of the room was blocked off with Art set up for the regular Art events.  This reduced the number of people that could participate.  In addition, people moved chairs and blocked walkways which I would think would be a fire hazard.  One day they actually reserved Club Fusion, set up Explorers with Art, and had a Art event in the Wheelhouse, all at the same time.  If this is going to be a practice with Princess I will never cruise with them again.  (This was my 25th cruise) 

 

I am not sure how you can find out ahead of time if this is going to happen on other ships, but I know I would not book again at this time.

 

Maybe the onboard activities were geared toward a younger demographic, and not for the older PAXs.  Spring break?

Better luck onyour next cruise.

 

King

Edited by Kingofcool1947
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The average age of the people onboard was 70 so if they were gearing activities to the younger demographic they didn't open their eyes to see who was sailing with them.

 

There was approx. 100 of the people that were invited to the "Private art sessions" each day.  That was only a small percentage of the passengers.  I believe that this was a very bad decision on the part of Princess.

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21 hours ago, ldubs said:

OMG, 6 hours a day trapped in a room with used car salespersons, er I mean cruise ship art experts.  :classic_biggrin::classic_biggrin:

But the tradeoff, on this cruise, was that the 106 VIP big fish art pax were on a 10-night cruise, invited by Princess, and sailed for FREE.

 

Some people can/will endure almost anything if the price is right!

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On 3/6/2019 at 7:10 PM, pms4104 said:

But the tradeoff, on this cruise, was that the 106 VIP big fish art pax were on a 10-night cruise, invited by Princess, and sailed for FREE.

 

Some people can/will endure almost anything if the price is right!

 

They must sell a lot more "art" than I would think.   Anyway, I suppose a lot of folks must like the art auctions otherwise they wouldn't have them.  I'm pretty much OK if they disappear completely.      

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