What's Gotten Better

[MissP22]

2 hours ago, Buckeye10640 said:

- I like the medallion

- I like the less formal dress in MDR (and yes I know some consider this a negative)

Surprisingly enough, there are many people dressing up for formal nights on the Enchanted this trip.

It's still very lenient without any enforcement that I can see. They allow people to taylor their clothing to what they choose. 

[billco]

15 minutes ago, MissP22 said:

Surprisingly enough, there are many people dressing up for formal nights on the Enchanted this trip.

It's still very lenient without any enforcement that I can see. They allow people to taylor their clothing to what they choose. 

Same here on the Discovery. Dress to Impress Night was impressive. All forms of dress from ball caps to tuxes. The photographers were busy and most seemed to be having a good time.

[sammyjoanne]

I suppose I can only compare from when I went to Hull to Zebruggre in Belgium 30 years ago with my then boyfriend (whos now husband of 25 yrs) and that was an inside cabin with bunk beds lol .

I will say this though, comparing to some of the hotels on dry land, the bed wow, I have the best night sleep on Princess having been on the Ruby last year. And the crown grill was one of the best steaks I've ever tasted.

[KLM3164]

Great topic! My first cruise was in 1986 and it was fun to reflect on then and now. Here’s my list of what’s gotten better.

 

1.Muster drill

2. Affordable beverage packages with gratuities and Wi-Fi included 

3. Balcony cabins. Back in 1986 there were few cabins with balconies. Most exterior cabins just had windows or portholes. I love that the ships of today offer mostly balcony cabins. 

4. Unlimited internet 

5. Medallions

6. Princess beds

7. Tub/shower combo in mini-suites

8. Auto gratuities 

9. Digital photos instead of printed photos (not all ships yet)

10. Club class dining 

11. Alfredo’s/Gigi’s pizzeria

12. International Cafe

13. Having a morning vanilla latte delivered to my room every morning and enjoying it on my balcony.

14. No smoking on balconies

15. Production shows

16. Retreat and wake view pools

17. Forward facing M6 mini-suites (the Fab Four cabins) on Royal class ships

 

[pmallen]

8 hours ago, MTNest93 said:

As a 1st time cruiser (July 2023) I truly appreciate seeing this thread!  

Have a wonderful cruise!

[Redwing55]

One of the best threads ever!  Great idea.  Frankly, all my improvements are listed so I'm tapped out.  Still, I admit that although I enjoyed being disconnected while cruising, having internet is just so large a part of my life, that I'm glad it's available at a somewhat reasonable cost.

 

I also think (?) that Princess has expanded the use the Piazza as great entertainment venue on most ships.  I think that really kicked off with the Royal class of ships.  Some may have issues with it, but I love the option for another entertainment/people watching venue.

[Torfamm]

I’m surprised that no one had mentioned cost. I recently posted in another thread about my memories of my first cruise in 1982. A seven day Caribbean Cruise on Carnival in very small cabin with a tiny porthole and not a single electrical outlet was over $1,200 per person, nearly $4,000 in today’s dollars.
 

A similar cruise in a much more comfortable ocean view cabin today is still easily available for that same $1,250 per person. 

[caribill]

On 3/3/2023 at 1:57 PM, Cruise Raider said:

 

I was on the Royal just a couple of days back.  I was on the Ruby back in November when they were just starting to roll this out.

 

Ruby only had one person when we were on it at the end of December.

[CruisingWalter]

On 3/3/2023 at 11:15 AM, pmallen said:

Now its your turn. What do you think has gotten better about Princess specifically,  or cruising in general?

 

Food quality in the MDR was on point for the most part. You don't appreciate how good the Princess MDR service and food are until you cruise other lines for comparison. (we've cruised 8 different lines, four since the restart)

 

Medallion is fantastic for entry and purchases. It didn't work for us for drink service as our drinks were 'delivered' to unknown persons meaning we had to go to the bar to actually get our drinks, but otherwise I much prefer this to the cards.

 

+1 on the coffee quality in the buffet vs. the syrup. Still not great, but at least drinkable now. 

 

Alfredo's is a welcome addition to the fleet. We always enjoyed the poolside pizza, but Alfredo's could easily be an upcharge and we would still go there. So good.

 

Good Spirits Bar. Awesome to finally have a good, craft cocktail bar in the fleet. When we sailed Crown in 2018 I literally could not get a decent Old Fashioned in any bar. Good Spirits is on par with the World Class Bar on Celebrity. Such a great bar with good staff and amazing drinks.

 

Crown Grill is greatly improved over our last experience. In fact we were not going to visit based on our last experience on Crown Princess, but our friends convinced us to go on Sky Princess and it was delightful. 

 

Original Shows are still amazing and probably the most underrated thing about Princess Cruises. They're now incorporating some new tech as well as delving into some more modern and 'younger' storylines such as 5 SKIES leaning into Ready Player One. The Spotlight Bar show that just debuted on Sky Princess is fantastic. I have no idea how the performers memorize the songs and choreography for three original shows. They're great.

[MissP22]

2 hours ago, CruisingWalter said:

Medallion is fantastic for entry and purchases. It didn't work for us for drink service as our drinks were 'delivered' to unknown persons meaning we had to go to the bar to actually get our drinks, but otherwise I much prefer this to the cards.

I believe this is partly due to the ships sailing at full capacity. Many of our orders (desserts) have taken 30 plus minutes to arrive while some have even been cancelled automatically. 

They're doing their best to help out the kitchen staff. I've had head waiters go out of their way at lunch to check on the progress. 

[CruisingWalter]

29 minutes ago, MissP22 said:

I believe this is partly due to the ships sailing at full capacity. Many of our orders (desserts) have taken 30 plus minutes to arrive while some have even been cancelled automatically. 

They're doing their best to help out the kitchen staff. I've had head waiters go out of their way at lunch to check on the progress. 

 

In our case it was in Princess Live! during Trivia or game events each time. Specific venue with specific staff with a specific bar serving. We saw them delivering all around us, but somehow our drinks we 'delivered' to a phantom location. 🙂 

[SargassoPirate]

Regarding the coffee, I was up early one morning on the Caribbean Princess and saw the crew restocking the coffee station.  The coffee syrup was Nescafe.  

 

For sure it's better, but still not as good as fresh brew.

 

 

[SargassoPirate]

Another big What's Gotten Better for me is they no longer pre-set the tables in the Horizon Court with your tumblers and coffee mugs placed upside down on the table or placemats that was probably wiped off with a used cloth napkin from the previous diner.  Covid probably killed that and I hope it stays dead.

 

Hand washing stations at the entrance to the HC is a big plus, especially for those too ignorant to wash their hands without prompting.

 

 

[jaycruising]

My first cruise was in 2016 so not a long time cruiser and have only done 4, and one since the restart, but this is what I really enjoy (most of which has already been shared)

 

1. The medallion, put it in a wrist strap and it was brilliant, didn’t have to worry about where it was or have to dig it out when returning to the ship. I don’t often have pockets, don’t want to carry a purse, if I don’t have to, and this gives me the freedom. 
 

2. Love that I could order French fries to wherever I wanted… sitting in the wheelhouse bar in the middle of the day, etc.

 

3. The plus packages, we keep the gratuities on and always get Internet, so with the limited price difference we get the package now.  Previously the drinks package didn’t make sense for us, so we would just pay per drink and bring our own soda and water on board… don’t have to deal with that now. 
 

4. The beds, from our first cruise to today, what a difference. 
 

5. And most importantly, the NEW MUSTER DRILL, I love the ease of getting it done on my own. I am not a crowd fan and not having to go and sit in there and wait and then everyone trying to get back to their rooms at the same time since we had to haul life jackets 

[MissP22]

2 hours ago, SargassoPirate said:

Another big What's Gotten Better for me is they no longer pre-set the tables in the Horizon Court with your tumblers and coffee mugs placed upside down on the table or placemats that was probably wiped off with a used cloth napkin from the previous diner.  Covid probably killed that and I hope it stays dead.

 

Hand washing stations at the entrance to the HC is a big plus, especially for those too ignorant to wash their hands without prompting.

 

 

In the past 15 days I've only see 3 or 4 people using the wash sinks.

BUT there are just loads of people standing thoughtout the buffet eating with their fingers.  I've never seen so many.

Lots of newbies on our trip.

[jaycruising]

39 minutes ago, MissP22 said:

In the past 15 days I've only see 3 or 4 people using the wash sinks.

BUT there are just loads of people standing thoughtout the buffet eating with their fingers.  I've never seen so many.

Lots of newbies on our trip.

Ewwwww

 

We didn’t eat at the buffet at all on our last cruise for that exact reason

[PescadoAmarillo]

2 hours ago, SargassoPirate said:

Another big What's Gotten Better for me is they no longer pre-set the tables in the Horizon Court with your tumblers and coffee mugs placed upside down on the table or placemats that was probably wiped off with a used cloth napkin from the previous diner.  Covid probably killed that and I hope it stays dead.

This is a huge improvement. Massive.

[pmallen]

How about departure ports in the US? Back in the day, it seems like it was pretty much LA for Mexico, Ft. Lauderdale for the Caribbean,  maybe NY for New England, and that was pretty much it. Now you've got lots of choices with lots of cruise lengths available.

Edited March 5, 2023 by pmallen

[BDevilCruiser]

15 hours ago, Torfamm said:

I’m surprised that no one had mentioned cost. I recently posted in another thread about my memories of my first cruise in 1982. A seven day Caribbean Cruise on Carnival in very small cabin with a tiny porthole and not a single electrical outlet was over $1,200 per person, nearly $4,000 in today’s dollars.
 

A similar cruise in a much more comfortable ocean view cabin today is still easily available for that same $1,250 per person. 

I'll second this.  My upcoming cruise (7 days) in a solo inside cabin on Regal is less than half what my (9 day) cruise was on Crown in 2007.  Plus with OBC, I'll probably have a zero bill at the end of the trip, as opposed to >$600 at the end of the previous one.

 

[Crystabel]

On 3/3/2023 at 9:46 AM, Crystabel said:

Love the option of the Plus package. It has saved us money at the end of the day. And I’m sold on having a laundromat on board the ships. 

Something I forgot to add and hasn’t been mentioned, free distilled water for those who use a C-Pap machine. DH uses one, and I order it through the Medallion app. ahead of the cruise. It’s usually in our stateroom when we board. There’s a charge for it on some of the other cruise lines. 

[SargassoPirate]

6 hours ago, MissP22 said:

In the past 15 days I've only see 3 or 4 people using the wash sinks.

BUT there are just loads of people standing thoughtout the buffet eating with their fingers.  I've never seen so many.

Lots of newbies on our trip.

And then they'll wonder how they got norovirus. And when they do, I don't feel sorry for them.  I protect myself by hand washing and sanitizing.

 

 

 

 

[PaperSniper4]

Croissants on Princess have gotten much, much better in the 30 years we've been sailing. We like to start our cruise day with croissants and coffee on the patio, brought to our cabin at an early hour.

If those two are good, the rest of our day will surely be good also.😎

 

 Doug

[Coffeeluvr05]

On 3/3/2023 at 12:00 PM, gottagocit said:

Do you need to request a table for breakfast the day before for a specific time as you would for dinner?  Or did you do it that morning and ask for the next available table? How were you notified when it was ready?

thanks 

For reference, this was on the Carnival Panorama.  It is an on demand sort of thing so no, not the night before.  While we were getting ready we would just request a table for however many were going to breakfast and we would get a message pop-up (with cute music and all) on our phone to let us know our table was ready and even the table number.  Some days it was less than a 10 min wait but on sea days when they had their sea day brunch it could be longer.

[MissP22]

3 hours ago, PaperSniper4 said:

Croissants on Princess have gotten much, much better in the 30 years we've been sailing. We like to start our cruise day with croissants and coffee on the patio, brought to our cabin at an early hour.

If those two are good, the rest of our day will surely be good also.😎

 

 Doug

Now that I'll agree with. especially when heated.... 

[Cruise Raider]

On 3/4/2023 at 11:40 PM, caribill said:

 

Ruby only had one person when we were on it at the end of December.

 

Perhaps there were a couple that may have been quarantined.  I've seen that happen more than once since the restart.