Just off C.P.: Changes I noticed as an “Elite” since last trip 2.5 years ago.

[geri]

Just off the Caribbean Princess from 1 week trip along the Western Caribbean.  Having done 23 Princess cruises I noticed a few changes in place since my last Princess trip 2.5 years ago.  Some of these changes may be permanent based on a strategic plan or they may be related to C19 procedures. In either case I thought I’d share:

 

* Cabin service is back to being done twice a day as a standard.  Apparently during Covid it was done in the evening only if requested.  That is no longer the case.

* A fresh ice bucket in the fridge will be done daily, but must now be requested. It is not an automatic. Talk to your steward or order it on the Medallion app.

* The “elite” perk of canapés in the room on formal night will be 4 chocolates.  You must request it.  (I did for both nights.  Night one it arrived.  Night two it never showed.)

* There are photographers on board for family pictures, but there was absolutely no costumed “pirates” etc standing at the end of the dock or interrupting dinner and so forth.  Picture taking was done in a much more classy manner. A welcome change in my opinion! 

* There is a Captains Cocktail party for Elite members.  There was no cocktail party for the entire ship, no champagne waterfalls, no balloon drops.

* The standard for years of the first night “overview of acts” in the show lounge and last night “goodbye from the staff” review in the show room is eliminated.  There was a distinct feeling that Princess recognizes the majority of people boarding the ship have done so in the past and these redundant type shows are no longer necessary.  Instead the show lounge hosts true entertainment shows every evening of the trip.

* Lounge acts are truly acts and not cruise staff in outfits trying to rev-up the audience (ie. Recall the old 70’s party with staff in over-the-top caricature 60’s outfits or country night with  Hee-Haw style outfits etc.).  There are now bands or instrumentalists or singers in various lounges each night with a 45 minute music genre focus.  (For example guitarist playing famous 70’s guitarists songs; orchestra doing a show on crooners and Italian love songs; band playing true 70’s disco or tunes from the 80’s etc. etc.)

* There is no longer any dining room doing the “early” or “late” seating routine.  Instead use the Medallion App to pick the times you want to eat on any given day for dinner.  Basically all dining rooms are now open seating, which is a wonderful thing.  (No more people securing a set seating and then coming to use the Anytime Dining room.)

* If you book an excursion ahead of time the full price shows on your app, but once you board look at your statement and you’ll see the 10% Elite discount is applied.

* You will get a 1 paper sheet “Princess Patter” on your bed each evening which lists the basic overview of the day.  If you want details on what is listed or info on sales etc you need to go on the Medallion App.  No more papers advertising “Effy sales”  or “last chance sale” or “massage deals” etc.  If knowing about these things are important to you go on the App and check off your notification preference to get the information.  I presume you’ll be messaged on daily basis with this info.

 

On cabin arrival there was a paper list of “Elite” benefits in my room.  I snapped a picture (as you can see the chocolates were high on my list😄!)

Hope this info’s been helpful!

[Ombud]

Here's a picture of my vegetarian elite tea setup for 1:

 

[JimmyVWine]

8 minutes ago, geri said:

Hope this info’s been helpful!

Very!  Thank you. 

[JF - retired RRT]

Chocolates instead of soggy canapés...hope that's true on all ships.🥰

[memoak]

8 minutes ago, JF - retired RRT said:

Chocolates instead of soggy canapés...hope that's true on all ships.🥰

Gawd save me from all those chocolates from the casino. Are the elite ones the same when we were on the Majestic in May there were still canapes

[Jeter02]

The balloon drops have been discontinued for a few years already, even during New Year's. It all had to do with environmental reasons.

[cr8tiv1]

1 hour ago, geri said:

Just off the Caribbean Princess from 1 week trip along the Western Caribbean.  Having done 23 Princess cruises I noticed a few changes in place since my last Princess trip 2.5 years ago.  Some of these changes may be permanent based on a strategic plan or they may be related to C19 procedures. In either case I thought I’d share:

 

* The “elite” perk of canapés in the room on formal night will be 4 chocolates.  You must request it.  (I did for both nights.  Night one it arrived.  Night two it never showed.)

 

* The standard for years of the first night “overview of acts” in the show lounge and last night “goodbye from the staff” review in the showroom is eliminated.  There was a distinct feeling that Princess recognizes the majority of people boarding the ship have done so in the past and these redundant type shows are no longer necessary.  Instead the show lounge hosts true entertainment shows every evening of the trip.

 

 

Thank you for sharing.  I am curious as to what the chocolates (replacement for awful canapés) looked like.  Any photos?

 

I really do miss the first night and last night shows in the Princess Theater.  But that happened a very long time ago (pre-pre Pandemic).  

 

I was on one ship that had the London Pub interactive show in the explorer's lounge.  What a hoot that was.  But later heard it was very CD specific.

 

Missed Dave Cole's "Upon the Sea" finale. Plus the over the top pre-show by the cruise director staff with balloon tosses and YMCA!

 

Miss the Talent Crew Show.  One of the best programs Princess had.  So many talented crew members who just loved sharing their talents.

 

Entertainers' solo shows in the Aft Lounge (oh, I forgot...that's been removed).  I saw the Crooner's Piano players do a tribute to Sinatra and on a different cruise, a tribute to Gershwin.  Not to forget to mention Tiki Dave Surf Show.  And where did the classy trios/quartets, violinists, go? 

 

Dance bands in the Wheelhouse have been replaced with a mic'd acoustical  (now that is a oxymoron).

 

Not all of these cost Princess any money.  But a lot changed when Princess decided to split the Cruise Director assignment to create an Entertainment Director and Front of the house Cruise Director.   Someone needs to let Princess know that some things do work and should be left alone.

 

 

[Mittens101]

2 hours ago, Ombud said:

Here's a picture of my vegetarian elite tea setup for 1:

 

Oh my that tea set up looks delicious 

[GonzoWCS]

Thanks for this!

 

Cheers

[Coral]

Those canapés were horrible. Chocolate would be a great alternative!

[cruzsnooze]

Was there the  gold mesh bathroom elite bathroom amenity? Did you get the blue tote bags on your bed the first night?

Edited July 3, 2022 by cruzsnooze

[PacnGoNow]

We had to ask for ours last time. 

[geri]

Here are answers to the previous questions:

* Chocolates:  No pictures.  They were very basic house made type chocolates.  The type you’d make at home with melted chocolate poured into a design tray to harden. 2 were white and 2 were milk and they were shaped into flowers or seashells.  Very basic and not in a Godiva league, but definitely much better than the terrible tasting canapés!

* The gold mesh bathroom amenity is gone.  I asked about it and was told by the stateroom attendant they were eliminated.

* There was no blue Princess bag on the bed.  Late in the week I saw about 5 people walking around with them so they either got them by asking for it at the front desk or they brought their old one from home.

[tml1230]

Geri, thank you for this report! extremely informative and useful...to me it sounds like princess is on the right track!

[CineGraphic]

25 minutes ago, geri said:

Here are answers to the previous questions:

* Chocolates:  No pictures.  They were very basic house made type chocolates.  The type you’d make at home with melted chocolate poured into a design tray to harden. 2 were white and 2 were milk and they were shaped into flowers or seashells.  Very basic and not in a Godiva league, but definitely much better than the terrible tasting canapés!

* The gold mesh bathroom amenity is gone.  I asked about it and was told by the stateroom attendant they were eliminated.

* There was no blue Princess bag on the bed.  Late in the week I saw about 5 people walking around with them so they either got them by asking for it at the front desk or they brought their old one from home.

 

We were on the CB in January, and the blue bags were on a hangar in the closet with the laundry-bag, and price list.

 

Here's a pic of the chocolates we received.....much better than described above.

 

[JF - retired RRT]

39 minutes ago, CineGraphic said:

Here's a pic of the chocolates we received.....much better than described above.

 

WOW!! Those look yummy!

[chamima]

14 hours ago, cr8tiv1 said:

I was on one ship that had the London Pub interactive show in the explorer's lounge.  What a hoot that was.  But later heard it was very CD specific.

 

Missed Dave Cole's "Upon the Sea" finale. Plus the over the top pre-show by the cruise director staff with balloon tosses and YMCA!

 

Miss the Talent Crew Show.  One of the best programs Princess had.  So many talented crew members who just loved sharing their talents.

 

Entertainers' solo shows in the Aft Lounge (oh, I forgot...that's been removed).  I saw the Crooner's Piano players do a tribute to Sinatra and on a different cruise, a tribute to Gershwin.  Not to forget to mention Tiki Dave Surf Show.  And where did the classy trios/quartets, violinists, go? 

 

Dance bands in the Wheelhouse have been replaced with a mic'd acoustical  (now that is a oxymoron).

 

Not all of these cost Princess any money.  But a lot changed when Princess decided to split the Cruise Director assignment to create an Entertainment Director and Front of the house Cruise Director.   Someone needs to let Princess know that some things do work and should be left alone.

 

 

 

Sounds like you've been spoiled (as have I !!) by some really outstanding crew.

Doesn't happen on every cruise - even pre-Covid.

I also love the crew talent show and hope they bring that back.

I do have to say that we also cruise on Celebrity and, while there are some nice things about that line, the entertainment never matches up to the quality and quantity on Princess.

 

 

I

2 hours ago, CineGraphic said:

 

We were on the CB in January, and the blue bags were on a hangar in the closet with the laundry-bag, and price list.

 

Here's a pic of the chocolates we received.....much better than described above.

 

 

 

We were on the CB is early January and got those soggy canapes. The chocolates look MUCH better!

Blue bag was in the closet as you described. Easily missed.

 

Edited July 3, 2022 by chamima

[Ombud]

No blue bags or upgraded toiletries on Discovery Princess. And the formal night canapés were 6 gross looking tiny round fishy things. I refused them

[topspot]

We got off of the Caribbean Princess yesterday.  Here is a picture of the pitiful chocolates we received on the first formal night.  We did not request them the second night.  

[CineGraphic]

17 minutes ago, topspot said:

We got off of the Caribbean Princess yesterday.  Here is a picture of the pitiful chocolates we received on the first formal night.  We did not request them the second night.  

 

Same chocolates as ours, just not decorated.

It's due to either supply shortages, staff shortages, or cutbacks made by the bean counters.

Eliminating "edible paint" will probably save them a few sheckles this year.

Edited July 3, 2022 by CineGraphic

[Cruise Raider]

18 hours ago, JF - retired RRT said:

Chocolates instead of soggy canapés...hope that's true on all ships.🥰

 

We were just onboard the Ruby a couple of weeks ago and we got the canapes, they weren't soggy at all, though.  

[KKB]

6 hours ago, chamima said:

 

Sounds like you've been spoiled (as have I !!) by some really outstanding crew.

Doesn't happen on every cruise - even pre-Covid.

I also love the crew talent show and hope they bring that back.

I do have to say that we also cruise on Celebrity and, while there are some nice things about that line, the entertainment never matches up to the quality and quantity on Princess.

 

I used to agree about the entertainment on Celebrity.

I still prefer live music choices on Princess.

But shows on Celebrity Eclass was AMAZING. They brought it for that class.

[Coral]

6 hours ago, topspot said:

We got off of the Caribbean Princess yesterday.  Here is a picture of the pitiful chocolates we received on the first formal night.  We did not request them the second night.  

Wow - they should at least put it on a smaller plate.

[pamps2801]

On 7/2/2022 at 3:40 PM, Ombud said:

Here's a picture of my vegetarian elite tea setup for 1:

 

 

 

 

Very nice. At what time of the day can you order this.

[geoherb]

It's interesting to see the changes being made. I was on the CB in December. I had an order form for a new selection of canapés. They were delicious. On the Regal in February, they delivered cream puffs on formal night afternoons. They were pretty bad.