Changes on Princess

[TriumphGuy]

8 hours ago, geocruiser said:

We have done that our on next Regal cruise only because we had a large credit with Princess of over $1,200 PP from a canceled cruise.  After this cruise unless the price is right for a cabin that can seat two people we are moving back to one of the many other cruise lines that we have traveled on.  I just don't want a "standing room only cabin" on Princess.

After our February cruise on Crown Princess, where we did not have a chair and were told they were being removed fleet-wide, we cancelled our Australia cruise for April 2020 and opted to try HAL. Danged if I'm going to fly halfway around the world and not have a comfortable chair to sit on! I emailed them and let them know I cancelled. Didn't make any difference.
I'm banging this drum as long and hard as I can. Removing seating from a cabin is not only mean, but stupid. In fact, I would call it ageist. Younger folks may not care or need a place to sit but older folks do. Princess can go pound sand.

Edited July 30, 2019 by TriumphGuy

[geocruiser]

10 minutes ago, TriumphGuy said:

After our February cruise on Crown Princess, where we did not have a chair and were told they were being removed fleet-wide, we cancelled our Australia cruise for April 2020 and opted to try HAL. Danged if I'm going to fly halfway around the world and not have a comfortable chair to sit on! I emailed them and let them know I cancelled. Didn't make any difference.
I'm banging this drum as long and hard as I can. Removing seating from a cabin is not only mean, but stupid. In fact, I would call it ageist. Younger folks may not care or need a place to sit but older folks do. Princess can go pound sand.

I agree.  Princess will live on with out me and my money.  It is a shame that Princess will not give people a chair to sit on who want one.  Come back new?? With a NEW back pain. 

[c-boy]

how the hell did you people turn this into another chair thread   

 

 

.. 

[geocruiser]

I another change that has happened is the embarkation day lunch menu has changed.  There are less choices now. But there is still enough to choose from.

Edited July 31, 2019 by geocruiser

[patrickmoran]

11 hours ago, steelers36 said:

This I have not read or heard anything about.  So, in building Sky and Enchanted there was no change to balcony sizes?

 

Starting with the Royal, P shrunk the depth of the standard and deluxe balconies (3 feet). No big balconies on the Caribe deck anymore.

[Steelers36]

19 minutes ago, patrickmoran said:

 

Starting with the Royal, P shrunk the depth of the standard and deluxe balconies (3 feet). No big balconies on the Caribe deck anymore.

Well aware.  It was kind of a rhetorical question as one might think Princess would have made an effort to extend balcony sizes in the latest builds after all the rave (NOT!) reviews they got when Royal launched.

[MissP22]

20 hours ago, jasbo49 said:

You can no longer count on your cabin being ready if you board early. On some ships anyway, they are not ready until 1 p.m.

 

Jim

True. It might not be ready to use but you still can drop off your bags & go to lunch. 

[MishelleMcc]

On 7/30/2019 at 5:45 AM, camper49 said:

We upgraded to a balcony deluxe because of the chair. More $$ of course. 

I thought I read that you just have to ask your Steward for a barrel chair if you want it.  Can someone clarify?  Thank you!!

[geocruiser]

2 hours ago, MishelleMcc said:

I thought I read that you just have to ask your Steward for a barrel chair if you want it.  Can someone clarify?  Thank you!!

Yes, you can ask.  BUT that doesn't mean that you will get a second chair.  No second chair can be promised.  This info was given to me via a phone call from Ms. Jan S. office.

Edited July 31, 2019 by geocruiser

[MishelleMcc]

1 hour ago, geocruiser said:

Yes, you can ask.  BUT that doesn't mean that you will get a second chair.  No second chair can be promised.  This info was given to me via a phone call from Ms. Jan S. office.

Thank you!!  I may start campaigning early then!🤞

[RRFan]

Skynight's post #17 is a very comprehensive list.  I would add that gratuities are higher, but beds are GREAT and TV's much better with movies you can stop and return to later without having to search.  As far as food, I think the quality of PCL's food is still about the same, but the quantity has certainly been slashed.  The portions are much smaller than the last time you cruised; however, you can always ask for another entree or an additional serving of something.  I've heard they are limiting passengers to only 2 lobster tails per person, but I can't say that with certainty.  They have eliminated bread sticks from the standard bread basket on the MDR tables, but you can ask for bread sticks and tell your waiter that you would like bread sticks every night and you won't have to ask again.   The Horizon Court on the Royal class ships is a huge improvement from the older ship's HC offerings and all coffee up there is brewed coffee rather than the "syrup" type coffee on some ships. 

[Jeter02]

29 minutes ago, RRFan said:

Skynight's post #17 is a very comprehensive list.  I would add that gratuities are higher, but beds are GREAT and TV's much better with movies you can stop and return to later without having to search.  As far as food, I think the quality of PCL's food is still about the same, but the quantity has certainly been slashed.  The portions are much smaller than the last time you cruised; however, you can always ask for another entree or an additional serving of something.  I've heard they are limiting passengers to only 2 lobster tails per person, but I can't say that with certainty.  They have eliminated bread sticks from the standard bread basket on the MDR tables, but you can ask for bread sticks and tell your waiter that you would like bread sticks every night and you won't have to ask again.   The Horizon Court on the Royal class ships is a huge improvement from the older ship's HC offerings and all coffee up there is brewed coffee rather than the "syrup" type coffee on some ships. 

Funny you should bring up the bread sticks. My dad and I were thrilled they away with them (yes you can request and they will get). We always said it wasted calories, as it was tasteless. We do live ourselves some yummy ship rolls though.

[MissP22]

33 minutes ago, RRFan said:

I've heard they are limiting passengers to only 2 lobster tails per person, but I can't say that with certainty. 

They only limit people to 2 each is initially when placing an order.

I believe the only reason is so that everyone can be served in a reasonable amount of time & not have people eating 6 each while the others sit there with nothing. 

[TriumphGuy]

On 7/31/2019 at 8:01 AM, MishelleMcc said:

I thought I read that you just have to ask your Steward for a barrel chair if you want it.  Can someone clarify?  Thank you!!

Why should you have to ask for a chair??? It's basic furniture! 

[TriumphGuy]

On 7/30/2019 at 7:57 PM, c-boy said:

how the hell did you people turn this into another chair thread   

 

 

.. 

Because I bring up this stupid management decision as often as I can. People have the right to know.

[SargassoPirate]

37 minutes ago, TriumphGuy said:

Because I bring up this stupid management decision as often as I can. People have the right to know.

 

Agree.  We got sucked into a cruise on the Ruby, good fare with a non-refundable deposit.  Cruising with some friends. THEN we learn that the barrel chairs are being removed.  A boneheaded decision by some bean counter that will surely cause a flood of complaints to corporate.  Stuck with the cruise, I plan on taking a portable foldup beach chair on board to use in my cabin.  We'll be on land several days before the cruise and I'll find one at a discount store somewhere.  

 

 

 

[LoriPhil]

The Sky deck plans show extended balconies in the fore and aft dolphin decks - deluxe balcony cabins I believe.  Would assume Enchanted Princess would have the same.

 

we love the Enclave spa area on Royal class ships, which is open well into the evening.  I have a horrible back and really enjoy the large hydrotherapy pool, heated tile beds etc.  no windows but we think it has a nice ambience.

 

we have no complaints about the food - I’ve never left the table hungry, and it’s cool having many courses to enjoy.  We still get a split order of the fettuccine Alfredo to accompany the meal, and they still have fabulous crunchy hard rolls, so yay.  

 

Enjoy your cruise!

Edited August 1, 2019 by LoriPhil

[MishelleMcc]

1 hour ago, TriumphGuy said:

Why should you have to ask for a chair??? It's basic furniture! 

I don't know why they were originally removed but some of  us would still like to have them so since it's not standard cabin furniture, I will request it be put in our cabin.

[Britboys]

I hadn't cruised on Princess for almost 19 years until last month!  I thought the food was pretty reasonable really although agree that the choice was sometimes a little limited - apart from the always available - and especially so the breakfast in the main dining room, which I thought was very limited indeed. The food was of good quality and cooked as requested (I tend to ask for rare meats and always got this).  I am fairly conservative in my food tastes (I don't like anything spicy) and found this limited my choice in the Horizon Buffet both at breakfast and lunchtime.  There seemed to be quite a few asian-oriented options available.  This was aboard Coral in Alaska.  Service was excellent throughout the ship.

 

I thought the entertainment was good with the production shows outstanding.  I didn't feel the shows were particularly short.

 

They sensibly seem to have removed plastic straws but still destroy whole forests of trees daily with all the flyers delivered to your cabin inviting you to spend money 🤨

 

We had a standard balcony and I can't say I missed the barrel chair at all...

 

Overall, I was impressed with Princess but as they have very few smaller ships (by today's standards), I don't expect to become a regular passenger.  I prefer ships with 2000 pax or less.

Edited August 1, 2019 by Britboys
addition

[MissP22]

3 hours ago, TriumphGuy said:

Why should you have to ask for a chair??? It's basic furniture! 

 

3 hours ago, TriumphGuy said:

Because I bring up this stupid management decision as often as I can. People have the right to know.

Good luck. 

[Sanz]

Thank you to everyone.  We now have an idea about what we can expect on our cruise. 

 

Still shaking  my head over the alternative "daily hamburger"

 

I thought that the balcony stateroom was too small for the barrel chair. However, I thought it was a necessity. I thought about booking a balcony for a second, before I decided to book a deluxe balcony. I saw the picture of the balcony room after this and my mouth dropped.  I will never consider one again.

 

We tried to book a deluxe balcony for any date,  for our preferred itinerary.  There were none available, so we booked a mini-suite.   

Edited August 2, 2019 by Sanz

[CarolandNate]

With the changes, I am up in the air as to what plan to choose.  When we went to Alaska a couple of years ago, pre medallion net, we got an hourly plan for 240 minutes for $99 (included the bonus minutes).  It was easy to blow through that and a couple of times we forgot to log out.  And while the ship's intranet was accessed in airplane mode, I don't remember whether internet access required that as well..  That caused problems.  Plus it was really slow and it blew through minutes.  That was a 7 day and this is a 15 day, so......  Basically you have to watch what you do.

 

Not too long after we booked we saw the three level plans, which provided bandwidth for different functions. They were each unlimited, but the price went from $99-$199 depending on the level.  I was pretty much set on getting the top tier, the premier for $ 199 (or possibly discouted to $139) .

 

Then came single device unlimited at $9.99 per day, if you purchase the full voyage and if you do it in advance, there is a 15% discount to $129.  While unlimited, only one device is able to be on at a time.  We figured that since we really don't need to be using interenet all that much and the price was right, it was fine.

 

Now there is a multi device plan 4 devices for  $14.99 per day. which is $225.  While it's more than the single device, it is matter of how badly we would want to spend another $75-$100. 

 

Here 's the big question on that.  Is one plan 4 device plan good for the two of us.  Since the  single device requires a log out for one person before the other gets in, that is obvious.  In the 4 device, two or more can be in simultaneously.  The part that makes me curious, is that on the cruise personalizer, it has both of our names.

 

Lastly, there is the issue of keeping the phones in airplane mode.  How is that going to work.  Do you keep it in airplane mode for this as well as the ship's intranet.  Obviously in airplane mode, you are protected from getting unwanted calls or texts.  Nor do you have to remember to put it into airplane mode when you step off the ship in countries that will charge for Travel Pass. 

 

Any help out there

[Kingofcool1947]

On 7/29/2019 at 8:11 AM, Sanz said:

We have not cruised on a Princess ship for 8 years.  We just booked a Mediterranean cruise  on Enchanted Princess.  How has the Princess experience changed, since we were last on one of their ships?

 

Dress code.

Edited August 4, 2019 by Kingofcool1947

[Kingofcool1947]

On 7/29/2019 at 8:11 AM, Sanz said:

We have not cruised on a Princess ship for 8 years.  We just booked a Mediterranean cruise  on Enchanted Princess.  How has the Princess experience changed, since we were last on one of their ships?

 

After 30+ cruises, many on Princess, the changes that I have noticed is:  the dress code has been dumbed down, quality of food not as good, and smaller servings.  The demographics is getting younger, which is good.  It is still a mass market cruise line with all the short comings and cost cutting.    IMO, Princess is still a step above Party Carnival,  but well below  Celebrity,   or luxury cruise lines like Oceania,  for service, quality of cuisine, and elegance  of the staterooms.    FWIW, Oceania is my cruise line of choice.  Then Celebrity, and at the lower tier, Princess.   

Enjoy your cruise. .  Life is short.  

 

[dbeckett]

On 7/30/2019 at 4:24 PM, steelers36 said:

This I have not read or heard anything about.  So, in building Sky and Enchanted there was no change to balcony sizes?

We have sailed on the Regal and Majestic.  The Balcony was petite to the point we will not book a Royal class ship in future