Princess seems to be back

[c-boy]

32 minutes ago, Rodarm said:

It was refreshing to read this thread, I was getting tired of hearing from all the whiners. Can I hang out with you guys? 👍😀

  🙂Post of the week .... 4 stars on yelp

[Ombud]

18 minutes ago, Kay S said:

Food trucks?

Don't you have gourmet Cali-Mex, Greek, French, Middle Eastern food trucks around you?

[Cruise Raider]

25 minutes ago, Kay S said:

Food trucks?

 oh my .. the food trucks here have some of the best food around.  And it is far from being cheap food!  They park outside a winery or brewery and have lines that are so long … but, worth the wait!  They have some great recipes, I can attest to that!  

the Maine lobster truck is my favorite!  I think the rave started around the time CoVid hit.  Places couldn’t seat people without having food available .. so that was solved by the trucks going from place to place.  Oooo yummmm is what I have to say.  They even started parking in neighborhoods and announcing where they would be.  

[Kay S]

35 minutes ago, Ombud said:

Don't you have gourmet Cali-Mex, Greek, French, Middle Eastern food trucks around you?

Nah.  I live in the sticks.  😁  I thought you were saying there were food trucks on the ship. 🤣

[Colorado Coasty]

1 hour ago, Rodarm said:

It was refreshing to read this thread, I was getting tired of hearing from all the whiners. Can I hang out with you guys? 👍😀

Yup, but no thread is safe from the serial whiners.😉

[trekkerlady]

3 hours ago, Steelers36 said:

 

 

 

What I would like to hear/read is if they have restored the quality of beef at least back to what it was pre-Covid.  IMO, the cuts of beef used, particularly in premium SD areas, is not at all up to what it was before.  Our experience on Regal was not good in terms of production quality either, but this was not the past 2-3 months and I may be perceiving and improvement.  In the same time period (Oct-Nov), the Island was far superior in food prep.  I put it down to exec chef and galley mgmt. 

 

I just got back from a 7 day on Caribbean Princess.  We ate in Crown Grill one night and my filet was cooked to perfection.  I ordered the smaller portion.  My entire meal was delicious.  And the service was spot on and quick.  We did not eat in the main dining rooms so can't speak to that.

[FritzG]

8 hours ago, MissP22 said:

Especially when on of the main course items is broiled chicken and nothing else was appealing. 

On the Enchanted in February/March the broiled chicken was terrible.  On past cruises it was my go-to when nothing on the menu appealed to me. It was a “real” chicken breast. Now it’s thin, dry, and seems to be a precooked commercial product. 

[MissP22]

11 hours ago, FritzG said:

On the Enchanted in February/March the broiled chicken was terrible.  On past cruises it was my go-to when nothing on the menu appealed to me. It was a “real” chicken breast. Now it’s thin, dry, and seems to be a precooked commercial product. 

I didn't even try it.

We eat enough chicken at home and I expect something better on a ship. 

[SargassoPirate]

While food quality on a ship is subjective and always up for debate, I've never gone hungry on a ship. 

 

After a couple of years of not being able to cruise, give me an open promenade, somewhere to get something to eat when I'm hungry, and a wee dram in the evening with some low volume music and I'm good. 

 

Most everything else is just sizzle.

[JimmyVWine]

Spoiler Alert!!  Coming Soon..."Review and Travel Journal of Our Regal Cruise to England/Guernsey/Ireland/Scotland and Wales-A Crowning Achievement"  I will be chronicling and reviewing our cruise that ended yesterday in another long and self-indulgent series of posts.  But I need to process my photos first.  But to cut to the chase, I agree 100% with the theme of this topic and experienced nothing, (and I mean nothing) that would persuade me that the Princess product is something I need to put in my rearview mirror.    

[wowzz]

1 hour ago, JimmyVWine said:

Spoiler Alert!!  Coming Soon..."Review and Travel Journal of Our Regal Cruise to England/Guernsey/Ireland/Scotland and Wales-A Crowning Achievement"  I will be chronicling and reviewing our cruise that ended yesterday in another long and self-indulgent series of posts.  But I need to process my photos first.  But to cut to the chase, I agree 100% with the theme of this topic and experienced nothing, (and I mean nothing) that would persuade me that the Princess product is something I need to put in my rearview mirror.    

Really looking forward to your review Jimmy.

[Guest ldtr]

1 hour ago, JimmyVWine said:

Spoiler Alert!!  Coming Soon..."Review and Travel Journal of Our Regal Cruise to England/Guernsey/Ireland/Scotland and Wales-A Crowning Achievement"  I will be chronicling and reviewing our cruise that ended yesterday in another long and self-indulgent series of posts.  But I need to process my photos first.  But to cut to the chase, I agree 100% with the theme of this topic and experienced nothing, (and I mean nothing) that would persuade me that the Princess product is something I need to put in my rearview mirror.    

I was on the same cruise.

[FLAlaska]

I was on the Sky in February and loved it, no issues. But I am easy to please... Service was great, App worked great, Room service no issues and I was perfectly fine with MDR and the Buffet.

[antsp]

On 5/8/2023 at 3:46 PM, MissP22 said:

They're back alright, with price increases to boot and elimination of some perks along with a reduction in food quality.

They are giving cruises away almost in the UK, and now half price Princess plus. 

[dreaminofcruisin]

It's nice to see such an uplifting post. I have enjoyed all of my post-covid cruises even with their hiccups.

 

The one thing I haven't heard anyone mention has improved is the selection of wines included in the Plus package....especially white... 

That's the one thing on which I think Princess is NOT 'back'...... 

[Guest ldtr]

16 minutes ago, antsp said:

They are giving cruises away almost in the UK, and now half price Princess plus. 

Probably because the uptake rate of packages is the UK is considerbly lower then in US  On transatlantic you had about 60 seats reserved for production show, on the next cruise in UK maybe 15.

[antsp]

5 minutes ago, ldtr said:

Probably because the uptake rate of packages is the UK is considerbly lower then in US  On transatlantic you had about 60 seats reserved for production show, on the next cruise in UK maybe 15.

The actual cruises are cheaper too

[Guest ldtr]

35 minutes ago, antsp said:

The actual cruises are cheaper too

In the UK they have to compete with P&O, and several.European lines that tend to price lower.

 

In addition the UK market has not  recovered as fast as the US market. Basically as far as the market and number of passengers booking they are 6 to 9 months behind the US trend line compared to.pre covid.  Just as they gave good deals in the US to get occupancy back they are now doing that in other markets. Once they get to their targets in that market the rates will normalize.

 

In the UK it was cheaper for me to fly to Switzerland, then to travel from Southampton to London City Airport.

[antsp]

3 minutes ago, ldtr said:

In the UK they have to compete with P&O, and several.European lines that tend to price lower.

 

In addition the UK market has not  recovered as fast as the US market. Basically as far as the market and number of passengers booking they are 6 to 9 months behind the US trend line compared to.pre covid.  Just as they gave good deals in the US to get occupancy back they are now doing that in other markets. Once they get to their targets in that market the rates will normalize.

 

In the UK it was cheaper for me to fly to Switzerland, then to travel from Southampton to London City Airport.

European flights are extremely cheap, I've just flown to France, return for less the $50

[JimmyVWine]

1 hour ago, dreaminofcruisin said:

The one thing I haven't heard anyone mention has improved is the selection of wines included in the Plus package....especially white... 

That's the one thing on which I think Princess is NOT 'back'...... 

While this is true to a degree, as I will go into in more detail when I post my review and journal, over the course of 8 days on the Plus Plan, ordering a mix of "included" and "extra cost" wines, three adults ran up a bill of just under $122 in wine costs.  That is $40 per person for the length of the cruise, or $5 per person per day.  It is pretty easy to drink well at little extra cost.  And in achieving this, we ordered one, and only one glass of the "generic" wines that are listed in the Plus section of the lists.  My daughter wanted to experiment to see what the generic Sauvignon Blanc tasted like in Alfredo's.  It was perfectly fine if you like the New World style of SB, which we do.  I'd guess it was Kim Crawford or the equivalent.  So my advice for wine drinkers on the Plus Plan is to use your 15 drink per day limit to experiment with one or two generics per day, trying different ones each time to see if any of them are OK for you.  If they are, then you have made some new friends for the cruise. If not, pour them in the nearest potted plant and order something else from the extra cost side of the list.  You aren't going to go broke unless you order glass after glass of Veuve Clicquot which checked in at a ridiculous $24 per glass.   

Edited May 9, 2023 by JimmyVWine

[wowzz]

4 hours ago, antsp said:

They are giving cruises away almost in the UK, and now half price Princess plus. 

If they are giving cruises away, why is the same cruise that we are booked on in July 2023, £1000 more in July 2024 ?

Edited May 9, 2023 by wowzz

[antsp]

29 minutes ago, wowzz said:

If they are giving cruises away, why is the same cruise that we are booked on in July 2023, £1000 more in July 2024 ?

They are giving them away now, not next year. 

[wowzz]

5 minutes ago, antsp said:

They are giving them away now, not next year. 

OK - not much help as we are booked up for this year, and the prices are still higher than when we booked 12 months ago.

[wowzz]

3 hours ago, JimmyVWine said:

While this is true to a degree, as I will go into in more detail when I post my review and journal, over the course of 8 days on the Plus Plan, ordering a mix of "included" and "extra cost" wines, three adults ran up a bill of just under $122 in wine costs.  That is $40 per person for the length of the cruise, or $5 per person per day.  It is pretty easy to drink well at little extra cost.  And in achieving this, we ordered one, and only one glass of the "generic" wines that are listed in the Plus section of the lists.  My daughter wanted to experiment to see what the generic Sauvignon Blanc tasted like in Alfredo's.  It was perfectly fine if you like the New World style of SB, which we do.  I'd guess it was Kim Crawford or the equivalent.  So my advice for wine drinkers on the Plus Plan is to use your 15 drink per day limit to experiment with one or two generics per day, trying different ones each time to see if any of them are OK for you.  If they are, then you have made some new friends for the cruise. If not, pour them in the nearest potted plant and order something else from the extra cost side of the list.  You aren't going to go broke unless you order glass after glass of Veuve Clicquot which checked in at a ridiculous $24 per glass.   

Good advice. 

On Sky in April, we found the generic Malbec and Pinot Noir to be OK, and then we upgraded to Silverado CS at night. 

Looking forward to your recommendations prior to our return to Sky in July.

[Ombud]

12 minutes ago, antsp said:

They are giving them away now, not next year

Is this the 1st time you've seen drop & go fares for cruises departing soon?? Those are often 50% off out of SF. 

Edited May 9, 2023 by Ombud