Princess calls me just one day after emailing execs.

[Pizzasteve]

25 minutes ago, HogTide said:

Great and appropriate response!!

I wasnt making appologies for Princess.  As noted in my prior post, staffing a service right now is extremely difficult and any cruisers expecting perfection per times when diseases and staff shortages were not issues might be better off spending elsewhere.

 

We have cruised on other lines recently and been very happy, so I do not mean to add a current Princess perspective other than a friend did one recently and had a good time (though did have issues with her flight and a poor Princess response to her need to get to her ship at its next port). 

 

It was clear that staffing help lines and other nice extras was not up to par.  That said, she dealt with it and enjoyed what was offered.  I feel bad for her and the people who have been dissappointed with Princess,  but also have seen a lot of entitlement mentality on cruises, especially when folks are paying $50-$100 per day for housing, gym, 3+full meals, maid services, free shows, transit to and from vacation sites, etc. Not to mention inflation of key input costs like fuel, food, labor.

 

Cruises can be great values, but in the current times some of what people expect per dollar is going to be less than they had in the past and complaining is unlikely to alter that sad truth. Listing recent complaints wont change that either, and obviously many cruisers have been satisfied as well.  Only a real look at a statistically valid sample of post cruise ratings would tell a full picture.  

 

So in summary, the complaints do have some merit, but we can learn from them what to expect.  I doubt the situation will change much within a year or so.

 

I wish everyone well, including dissapointed cruisers and the cruise line employees.

Edited July 18, 2022 by Pizzasteve

[Itchy&Scratchy]

On 7/16/2022 at 1:08 PM, ldubs said:

If they were doing a good job the negative thread titles wouldn't be there.  

well, I don't know. People will always find something to be unhappy about, no matter how trivial or serious.

[awinte2]

Would you mind to give me the email that you used to send to Princess.

 

ty

Arlene

[PescadoAmarillo]

14 hours ago, Pizzasteve said:

but also have seen a lot of entitlement mentality on cruises, especially when folks are paying $50-$100 per day for housing, gym, 3+full meals, maid services, free shows, transit to and from vacation sites, etc. Not to mention inflation of key input costs like fuel, food, labor.

 

Cruises can be great values, but in the current times some of what people expect per dollar is going to be less than they had in the past and complaining is unlikely to alter that sad truth.

So, in effect, you’re advocating that those of us who loved Princess Past NOT cruise right now. It difficult to book a cruise and then try to pay an additional $50 to $100 per day to ensure past service levels are in place. The price is the price, and basically Princess itself is choosing not to price its product to keep up with inflation and is instead being satisfied with offering a new, discount experience.
 

But somehow I feel that even paying more on a per diem basis (as people are reporting that they are doing for 2023 cruises) is not going to guarantee Princess Past service. 

[ontheweb]

On 7/16/2022 at 3:47 PM, CineGraphic said:

 

My initial email listed about 10 problems including those two. Another major problem was the constant smell of weed in our hallway. Everyone knew which cabin it was coming from, but nothing was done. So much for their "no tolerance" policy.

 

We were given a small amount of FCC and told that our letter would be placed on top of an already large pile of similar complaints.  She assured us that they would all eventually be read by someone.

Everything was blamed on Covid, no surprise there.

They blamed there was a constant smell of marijuana on Covid? LOL

[CineGraphic]

44 minutes ago, PescadoAmarillo said:

But somehow I feel that even paying more on a per diem basis (as people are reporting that they are doing for 2023 cruises) is not going to guarantee Princess Past service. 

 

And that's why we're forking our hard-earned cash over to someone else for a change.

 

I will happily spend my money with a company that gives me what I paid for, instead of one that is cutting back to stay afloat. The "Princess Treatment" is rubbing me the wrong way right now, and the product is sub-par.

[awinte2]

Can you tell me what email address you sent it to.

[CineGraphic]

33 minutes ago, awinte2 said:

Can you tell me what email address you sent it to.

 

Main address I used:

Jan Swartz Group President of Holland America Group      jswartz@princesscruises.com

 

I also CC'd the following:

Mario Siebaldi Senior Vice President Guest Experience      msiebaldi@princesscruises.com

Collin Steinke Director, Customer Relations       csteinke@princesscruises.com

[Roberto256]

On 7/16/2022 at 8:37 PM, Steelers36 said:

I think most of the regulars on here realize by now that calling PCL early is a good way to beat the long hold times. 

 

For some reason, that made me think of Yogi Berra ...  ...that place is so crowded ... no one goes there anymore.

 

It's good that the regulars have figured out a way to get help on their problems.

Might be better if princess figured out a way to fix the problems...

 

 

[cruisingrob21]

Comparing my last Princess cruise (May of 2022) vs my recent HAL voyage (last week on the Eurodam) - its evident that the entire industry is struggling.  However, Princess seems to have lost it's way.  While there were some disappointments on HAL (smaller MDR menus than I remember, still seemingly random closures of Lido buffet, a lot of repeats in the lido at lunch, loss off cooking demonstrations, ship needing a bit more TLC in isolated areas, no IC equivalent) there were some nice surprises like HAL doing some "Game shows", some pretty good shows in the main theater, and 2 comedians doing 2 sets and were both pretty good.  The staff was excellent.  For the first time since I can remember there was ALWAYS something to do at night - my last HAL voyage gave you one or two options at night and after that, things pretty much shut down - this was not the case on the Eurodam.

 

Since this was an Alaskan cruise and apparently SE Alaska's summer is over starting last week - I was thankful to have a covered pool area to sit around and appreciated that it helped alleviate some crowding in other venues on the ship.  Princess only has a handful of ships with covered pools now and I've been disappointed that on all the Royal class ships, the only place to have a climate controlled view from higher up is the buffet area and gym.  

 

My travel companions all thought that everything about HAL was better than Princess this time around except the food quality.  They haven't been on Princess since covid and I think food across all lines has declined slightly.  That being said, I think we may put HAL over PCL going forward, when itineraries are equal.

 

Princess has relatively new leadership and I'm not sure that those in charge are in "sync" on what they see Princess becoming. It's no longer a semi-quirky, but lovable upmarket line, with large, but manageable ships and a top notch onboard soft product.  As mentioned elsewhere, its gone fully toward the medallion tech and the new ships seem to put more distance between passengers and the ocean.  RCCL's big ships have been accused of doing this, but I'd argue its not as intentional as some would suggest whereas Princess has all but abandoned promenade decks and views from deck 7 and now appear to merely transport passengers from port to port.  Of course, this is coming from an older HAL ship with a wide, inviting promenade and several lounges where an oceanview complemented the venue.

[mnocket]

Does anyone really think that long hold times are a surprise to the executives?  I mean every call center has robust statistics (in real time) concerning things like wait time.  It's purely a business decision.... "how much are willing to pay to reduce wait times?".   The answer..... not enough to actually do it. 

[cruisingrob21]

40 minutes ago, mnocket said:

Does anyone really think that long hold times are a surprise to the executives?  I mean every call center has robust statistics (in real time) concerning things like wait time.  It's purely a business decision.... "how much are willing to pay to reduce wait times?".   The answer..... not enough to actually do it. 

Like so many things, I think its a mix.  Certainly they could pay people much more and they would get better staff willing to do the job.  But I'd also guess that since most of their call center staff was laid off during the pandemic and probably chose to get jobs elsewhere rather than wait around for the cruise lines to start up again.  And finally, before covid I'm guessing that about half the calls, or more, coming in were quick fixes.  Now many of the calls are dealing with complicated issues related to FCCs, canceled voyages, covid guarantees, etc.  

 

So having fewer staff that are relatively inexperienced dealing with more complicated issues from a customer base that is understandably frustrated and potentially confused by new policies, you have a recipe for disaster.  Should Princess charge more for cruises to hire more call center staff and train them better - which might drive passengers numbers down even further?  The demand and supply equation is tenuously balanced right now and for a business, they are doing anything they can to get bookings up.  I worry that getting bookings is prioritized over keeping bookings currently. 

[Triptkr]

On 7/16/2022 at 8:37 PM, Steelers36 said:

I think most of the regulars on here realize by now that calling PCL early is a good way to beat the long hold times. 

 

Yes, of course address any dining/food/drink issues on board.  And @CineGraphic did so.  I am sure it was an exception mistake as I have not heard of this before.  On its own, it could be seen as a "small stuff", but seems to be just another in a line of issues that were off-base from prior cruising experiences with PCL for @CineGraphic. 

 

I do notice at times, you seem to be more apologetic for Princess.  We have liked Princess as well for a long time and I am very saddened and disappointed in the Princess of 2021 and 2022 (thus far). 

 

The following are not "small stuff" things:

 

• Not meeting marketing hype over the MedallionClass App and DineMyWay.  
• Saying one thing and it not at all being the case on the ships.
• Leaving many people up in the air with no access to cruise registration for months on end until releasing a web version of part of MedallionClass App.
• Endless System and data integrity errors and still some persist over a year after launch.
• Inability to staff and train to meet renewed cruise demand (granted this is an industry-wide issue, but PCL is particularly hampered by all kinds of issue calls due to their failed systems implementations).
• Lack of documentation and clear publishing of policies and procedures around things like MedallionNet, Dining reservations, OBC as refundable or not.

 

I could probably go on, but all of the above have been addressed in innumerable threads on the Princess board here on CC.  Not to mention thousands of posts on DMW and MedallionClass App.

 

Don't get me wrong completely here.  I am also a CCL shareholder and I want PCL to succeed.  I fear they are going to bleed customers.  IDK how many.  It does seem that recent voyages are going off not badly, so there is some hope.  I still think we need to see what happens after we regular long-time customers have exhausted our Covid-19 FCC's. 

 

 

If I could I would add to your list of bullet points.  One being the smoking going on in the aft region of the promenade deck, all so the crew 'has a place to smoke'.  Meanwhile that smoke drifts up, up, up and disrupts people's experiences they've been waiting for and are paying (a lot) for on their balcony.   Not to mention it makes it impossible for those who would like to walk completely around the promenade deck.  

[Steelers36]

1 hour ago, Triptkr said:

If I could I would add to your list of bullet points.  One being the smoking going on in the aft region of the promenade deck, all so the crew 'has a place to smoke'.  Meanwhile that smoke drifts up, up, up and disrupts people's experiences they've been waiting for and are paying (a lot) for on their balcony.   Not to mention it makes it impossible for those who would like to walk completely around the promenade deck.  

I had not heard of this issue lately and was thinking they had the crew back smoking below decks - or wherever it was before.  Such as what's wrong with the bow area perhaps?

[rbtan]

On 7/16/2022 at 12:22 PM, CineGraphic said:

When you email a company with a concern or complaint it's always nice to know that your concerns are taken seriously and addressed in a timely manner, so imagine my surprise when I received a call from Princess corporate just one day after emailing them earlier this week.

One could easily assume that the content of the email concerned them quite a bit to garner such a quick response.

 

Were they upset that I was served an appetizer that came off of another table in Sabbatini's, or concerned that passengers were screaming F-Bombs in the middle of the piazza? Of course not.

When I emailed these same folks about those concerns from our last cruise in April, it took Princess over 8 weeks to respond, so what was it that Princess felt was more important than addressing their current sub-par product?

 

Here's what Princess felt was important enough to address right away:

Just thought the executive offices should see some of the current thread titles on Cruise Critic’s boards. 

If you’re not concerned, you should be. 

 

Princess let me down badly 

 

Poor Communication and Treatment related to COVID+ Test on Alaska Cruise 

 

Does one HAVE to use the Medallion? 

 

Here's a scarey headline for CCL stockholders: Carnival Stock Could Fall to $0 in a Worst Case Scenario 

 

We're planning on comparing John Padgett's way of thinking with Richard Branson's

 

Which pier in New York? When do they tell us? 

 

I Sure Hope Princess Contracts With Starlink! 

 

4 hours of being put on hold to resolve missing $50 referral obc ($25 for each person) 

 

Emailed to Jan Swartz and Collin Steinke, how soon will I get any replies

 

Cashing out your bank at the casino- am I being skimmed? 

 

Change of pace, Whos's sticking with Princess? 

 

We’ve always sailed Princess but we are intrigued by Virgin! '

 

 

The rep who called me stated that out of all of the thread titles the one that bothered her the most concerned waiting on hold for 4 hours.

I told her how folks were posting screen shots of their current hold times, as if it's now some kind of competitive sport.

 

The rep blamed all of the problems on Covid, stating that crew is constantly getting sick and needs to be replaced.

When I stated that none of this should be a surprise to them, that they've been operating for almost a year now, she agreed that they should have a better grasp on things by now. They are clearly struggling.

 

I don't know about you, but it bothers me that thread titles on Cruise Critic seem to be more important to them than providing the product as advertised.

 

 

 

That "ad" does Tom Lehrer proud!

[CineGraphic]

9 minutes ago, rbtan said:

That "ad" does Tom Lehrer proud!

 

I've had the pleasure of interviewing Tom about 10 years ago.

He was delighted when I told him that I once convinced a preacher to perform the "Vatican Rag" in a church talent show.

[rbtan]

11 minutes ago, rbtan said:

That "ad" does Tom Lehrer proud!

Keith loves your Icon. I've no clue who he is. Keith said he's an old time actor who it was once said looked like he was weaned on a pickle. Jimmy Finlayson was his name, keith says.

[rbtan]

3 minutes ago, CineGraphic said:

 

I've had the pleasure of interviewing Tom about 10 years ago.

He was delighted when I told him that I once convinced a preacher to perform the "Vatican Rag" in a church talent show.

I know Tom Lehrer from Keith's collection of his recordings & a few of his videos.

[TwoBadKnees]

2 hours ago, Steelers36 said:

I had not heard of this issue lately and was thinking they had the crew back smoking below decks - or wherever it was before.  Such as what's wrong with the bow area perhaps?

Wouldn't smoke at the bow potentially float to any balcony of the ship, whereas smoke at the stern only affects the stern?

[cruzin4us]

On 7/16/2022 at 3:26 PM, CineGraphic said:

The pandemic is nothing new. Princess has been sailing for almost a year, and it's clear that there are problems. When something doesn't work, you try to fix it until it does. Princess could easily sail with less ships since it's so hard to keep the current fleet staffed, but the bean-counters are more important than customers. 

 

BINGO......If they don't have enough crew to completely staff the ship then take a ship out of service and fill the remaining ships with that crew.

I didn't mind some of the venues being shut down when the ships were at 40-50% capacity, but now that the ships are at full capacity I'm not finding the cruise experience to be anything more than standard.....nothing great. 

The Covid excuse is running a bit thin for me.

 

[Steelers36]

1 hour ago, TwoBadKnees said:

Wouldn't smoke at the bow potentially float to any balcony of the ship, whereas smoke at the stern only affects the stern?

That did occur to me, but I suspect it rises and is gone quickly??  Wasn't this area open to crew before?  TBH, IDK where the pre-Covid smoking areas were for the crew.  Perhaps they have their own Churchill's type room below decks?  

[gvre]

14 hours ago, Itchy&Scratchy said:

well, I don't know. People will always find something to be unhappy about, no matter how trivial or serious.

 

Yeah agree… seems like he is the guys screaming get off my lawn..32 Princess cruises and enjoyed them all!!

[caribill]

On 7/16/2022 at 11:22 AM, CineGraphic said:

The rep who called me stated that out of all of the thread titles the one that bothered her the most concerned waiting on hold for 4 hours.

I told her how folks were posting screen shots of their current hold times, as if it's now some kind of competitive sport.

 

I thought Princess waiting times while on hold would be the ultimate in poor customer service, but Monday I found a company (not a cruise line) that has even worse treatment.

 

When I called to speak with a rep to order a part, the recording essentially said:

 

Due to a high number of calls than usual, there is a long wait time to speak with someone. Please pick from the following two options.

(a) Press 1 to schedule a callback

(b) Press 2 to hang up

 

So I pressed 1 and the recording then said I could schedule a call back in the afternoon Friday, four days from when I was calling. I was offered 1:45 PM (but it did not say if that was for my time zone or the company's. If 1:45 PM was not acceptable, then I could choose 2:45 PM.

 

 

On 7/16/2022 at 11:22 AM, CineGraphic said:

 

 

Love it !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[dickinson]

2 hours ago, caribill said:

 

I thought Princess waiting times while on hold would be the ultimate in poor customer service, but Monday I found a company (not a cruise line) that has even worse treatment.

 

When I called to speak with a rep to order a part, the recording essentially said:

 

Due to a high number of calls than usual, there is a long wait time to speak with someone. Please pick from the following two options.

(a) Press 1 to schedule a callback

(b) Press 2 to hang up

 

So I pressed 1 and the recording then said I could schedule a call back in the afternoon Friday, four days from when I was calling. I was offered 1:45 PM (but it did not say if that was for my time zone or the company's. If 1:45 PM was not acceptable, then I could choose 2:45 PM.

 

 

 

Love it !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

Wow.  Never had a recording like that never mind actually scheduling a callback appointment time.

[TwoBadKnees]

9 hours ago, Steelers36 said:

 Wasn't this area open to crew before?   

Maybe smoke drifting from the bow to a lot of balconies is why smoking areas were moved to the stern. May have had a lot of complaints.