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

[Ombud]

48 minutes ago, pamps2801 said:

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

Order in the morning for delivery around 3pm

3 hours ago, KKB said:

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.

OMG Rock Opera & Spotlight Bar were amoung the best shows I've seen on a ship 

[SiliconCruiser]

On 7/2/2022 at 3:32 PM, geri said:

 

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

 

Is the Captain's Cocktail party only for Elite members now?  It used to be for Elite and Platinum.

[geri]

I believe the cocktail party was for both Elite & Platinum.  I’m not certain as I did not attend.  (Went there at 5 pm, the door wasn’t open yet and the line was snaking down the hall so I decided to just skip it.

[Steelers36]

On 7/2/2022 at 6:32 PM, geri said:

* 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.)

Obviously, you are not interested in the TD experience, but wondering if you spoke to, or heard of anyone else looking for that and managing to get the same table location and waiters each night?

 

Princess has promised this all along since DMW was launched and some of us expect them to deliver on that and there has been mixed results to date.

[rabin1]

Question about amenities you are discussing above.

Do you think they are based on the type of cabin you are in meaning like club class or suites or others? I was on CP in Dec/Jan The blue bag was in my closet with the rob. The canapes were I agree icky. The second time I got them they were chocolate covered strawberries.

[caribill]

 

On 7/2/2022 at 5:32 PM, geri said:

* 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. 

 

 

For several years before the pandemic these type "shows" had been replaced by regular showroom entertainment.

 

However, back in the days of true traditional dining, the first night often had only one performance and it was in the middle of the second seating.

[caribill]

 

On 7/2/2022 at 5:32 PM, geri said:

* 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. 

 

 

For several years before the pandemic these type "shows" had been replaced by regular showroom entertainment.

 

However, back in the days of true traditional dining, the first night often had only one performance and it was in the middle of the second seating.

[geri]

9 hours ago, Steelers36 said:

Obviously, you are not interested in the TD experience, but wondering if you spoke to, or heard of anyone else looking for that and managing to get the same table location and waiters each night?

Yes you can do TD, but rather than you having to pick the ships defined time of “early” or “late” you pick your own time, what days of your trip you want that time and whether you want to dine by yourself or with others.  So if you enjoy “early” seating, and your definition of “early” is 6:30 then go on the Medallion app and pick 6:30 as your dining time and choose it for everyday of your trip.  The first day on board, as you check in for dinner, tell the Maitre’D you want this same table every day and he/she will secure it for you along with about a 10 minute grace period.  I can attest that it worked very well as we did this very thing on our trip.  In fact one day we pushed our dinner time out by 45 minutes due to our shoreside plans and the table was held for us (of course we did talk to the Maitre’D the night before and asked if this could be done as we enjoyed our waitstaff and did not want to change).

[geri]

8 hours ago, rabin1 said:

Question about amenities you are discussing above.

Do you think they are based on the type of cabin you are in meaning like club class or suites or others? I was on CP in Dec/Jan The blue bag was in my closet with the rob. The canapes were I agree icky. The second time I got them they were chocolate covered strawberries.

There very well might be a difference with cabin class.   I have “elite” status and was in a balcony room and there was no blue bag.  I wasn’t interested in the bag so I did not ask for it either.  

[KKB]

14 hours ago, Ombud said:

 

OMG Rock Opera & Spotlight Bar were among the best shows I've seen on a ship 

Perhaps ALL ships are starting to bring it.

RCCL Quantum had a Rock show (Queen theme) that really was the first huge Broadway-esque production show I remember seeing on a cruise ship. That was 2018.

2019 we were on NCL & Million Dollar Quartet was great. (I'm a bit young to LOVE it, but I appreciate much of that music; my folks would be big fans)

Then Eclass productions last year & this--music from 90s-2000s. 

(I do know some older people didn't like them as well as they didn't know the music as well)

Really glad. That is my jam. 

Productions are getting more contemporary, keeping up with their demographics.

GOOD

 

Having not sailed Princess in 8 years I am reminded that there was ALWAYS a "wedding band"--not an insult, but the direct opposite. It's a cover band that plays those songs we all hear at weddings & fills the floor.

 

That has been missing on other lines, especially Celebrity. 

LOTS of music choices, but sometimes I struggle to find one that "fits"--and I shouldn't, I am a fan of many kinds of music. 

 

Did figure out on Edge that the musical acts didn't have one style but all played a wide variety. That made it a bit tricky as you never knew what you were going to get. Toward the end of the 2nd week I figured that out! It shouldn't take that long...

Edited July 4, 2022 by KKB

[4x4bob]

We were on the Discovery Princess in may.  We did not ask for any canapes on formal night, but they were delivered to our cabin.  Wife took one look and said Yuk.  I tried one.  The rest we dumped.  None were delivered the second formal night.

When we go out on the Diamond in November will make sure I ask for the chocolates. 

And yes, I did notice things that were missing or changed.  However, did not impact our cruise in any way.

Bob

[amajaa]

Has anyone tried the Canapés on Emerald Princess, we were on her recently and never tried them but are on it again soon and wondered if it was worth trying.

 

Also has anyone tried the afternoon tea deliver to stateroom on Emerald? We didn’t try that either . I assume you can only get this once per cruise 

[habita]

On 7/2/2022 at 3:32 PM, 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:

 

* 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!

 

[habita]

Are there any free internet hours for elite now?

[CineGraphic]

11 minutes ago, habita said:

Are there any free internet hours for elite now?

 

 NO

[Ombud]

18 minutes ago, CineGraphic said:

29 minutes ago, habita said:

Are there any free internet hours for elite now?

 NO

Not intentionally. And they need to fix it. I bought wifi pre cruise and lost connection the 1st night (still between Seattle & Victoria so less than 12 miles out). Navigator couldn't fix it. IT Mgr couldn't fix it. So he deleted it for me and credited my account. Still had it the next morning and IT Mgr said it would drop off that day. Never did -- it actually got better. So it wound up being free-to-me. Apparently intranet couldn't work without internet?? But how it that even possible?? He said it -- I don't believe it but I'll try that theory out in 2 months. Frankly whomever is in charge of that dept division wide needs to go while s/he has any reputation left

[Ombud]

12 hours ago, Steelers36 said:

Obviously, you are not interested in the TD experience, but wondering if you spoke to, or heard of anyone else looking for that and managing to get the same table location and waiters each night?

 

Princess has promised this all along since DMW was launched and some of us expect them to deliver on that and there has been mixed results to date.

Me!! Until the final night this time. But that's just been on the Emerald, Ruby, and Discovery. Did not have that experience on the Majestic. 

[geoherb]

1 hour ago, amajaa said:

Also has anyone tried the afternoon tea deliver to stateroom on Emerald? We didn’t try that either . I assume you can only get this once per cruise 

 

You can order it more than once. 

[Steelers36]

3 hours ago, geri said:

Yes you can do TD, but rather than you having to pick the ships defined time of “early” or “late” you pick your own time, what days of your trip you want that time and whether you want to dine by yourself or with others.  So if you enjoy “early” seating, and your definition of “early” is 6:30 then go on the Medallion app and pick 6:30 as your dining time and choose it for everyday of your trip.  The first day on board, as you check in for dinner, tell the Maitre’D you want this same table every day and he/she will secure it for you along with about a 10 minute grace period.  I can attest that it worked very well as we did this very thing on our trip.  In fact one day we pushed our dinner time out by 45 minutes due to our shoreside plans and the table was held for us (of course we did talk to the Maitre’D the night before and asked if this could be done as we enjoyed our waitstaff and did not want to change).

Your reply above seems to conflict with your earlier post about no TD and read like you were doing random daily times.  I gather you were just trying to say that TD was no longer a set two times each night.  Agree.

 

I do know how DMW works and what to setup to ATTEMPT to get the TD experience (same time, table, waiters).  I am happy to read that you were accommodated by speaking with the DRO.  This is much like we used to do pre-DMW.  I would book us into Early TD and then see the MD (now DRO) on Day 1 to negotiate a somewhat delayed start time and a table location.  

 

However it is happening, I have a sense that more folks who ask to secure same table each night are now getting it.

 

 

[lbfluffy]

We were on the discovery two weeks ago. It was my first cruise as an elite and I received canapés  not chocolates.They were ok. My friend liked the salmon one.

[Thrak]

To the OP: Thank you for your post and please don't take this the wrong way but...

 

Pet Peeve: CP is Sea Princess which is no longer with the fleet. Caribbean Princess is designated as CB.

 

If you look at ships on the Princess site the abbreviation for each ship is embedded in the URL for that ship. Note the "cb-caribbean-princess" portion at the end of the URL.

 

https://www.princess.com/ships-and-experience/ships/cb-caribbean-princess/

 

Yes, I'm being a crabby old man but I see this stuff over and over again on this site and it bugs the heck out of me. If one is going to use an abbreviation for a ship it would be nice if they took the time to find out the correct abbreviation.

 

For future reference here are the correct abbreviations. I'm including ships - such as Sea Princess (CP) - which are no longer with the fleet so you can see what the designations were and why some other ships don't use the ones you might think they would use.

 

CB - Caribbean Princess
CO - Coral Princess
KP - Crown Princess
DP - Dawn Princess
DI - Diamond Princess

XP - Discovery Princess
EP - Emerald Princess

EX - Enchanted Princess
NP - Golden Princess
AP - Grand Princess
IP - Island Princess
GP - Regal Princess
RP - Royal Princess
RU - Ruby Princess
SA - Sapphire Princess
CP - Sea Princess
TP - Star Princess
SP - Sun Princess

MJ – Majestic Princess
YP – Sky Princess

PA - Pacific Princess

[Thrak]

On 7/3/2022 at 5:11 AM, 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.

 

 

Wowie Zowie! We had no interest in the canapes but those chocolates look pretty darn good! I think we'll give it a shot on our next cruise. (Of course that's not until December so who knows what Princess will be offering at that time.)

 

We also found the blue bag on a hanger on our recent cruise.

Edited July 4, 2022 by Thrak

[c-boy]

 

                            OK

[CineGraphic]

1 minute ago, Thrak said:

 

Wowie Zowie! We had no interest in the canapes but those chocolates look pretty darn good! I think we'll give it a shot on our next cruise. (Of course that's not until December so who knows what Princess will be offering at that time.)

 

By then you'll get one of these.....

 

 

 

[JF - retired RRT]

3 hours ago, amajaa said:

Also has anyone tried the afternoon tea deliver to stateroom on Emerald? We didn’t try that either . I assume you can only get this once per cruise 

Whenever afternoon tea is served.