My wish list for Princess

[Torfamm]

15 minutes ago, Cruisemeister2002 said:

Until this forthcoming cruise we have always gone for second sitting 8.30 p.m. as we like being seated with the same people each night as we have made many friends over the years. I don't know if all Princess ships are anytime dining now, but P&O still have some ships that do first and second sitting. Mainly their older ships which quite frankly are getting past it.

There haven’t been any Princess ships with traditional dining in a long time. You can request a shared table, but not that it will be shared with the same group of strangers every night.

Edited March 30 by Torfamm

[Potstech]

Provide a way to connect blue tooth headphones to the TV.

Provide a way to have a simple HDMI input to the TV.

Have a way to customize the app so passengers do not have to go thru various menus to get the information they need or want.

Fire John Padgett now.

 

[tonit964]

52 minutes ago, Cruisemeister2002 said:

I would like to see packages available that have choices that can be mixed and matched. Maybe if you don't want 15 drinks in a day as some days especially those where you may be on an excursion most of the day you'd have to be an alcoholic to down that many between late afternoon and bed time. Also one part of the package is two gym sessions, personally I have never been to a gym in my life and don't intend to start at 74. I know that it will be pointed out to me that Princess informs the customer of what a package costs and entails and you have a choice as to whether to take one out or not.

The 15 drinks a day is just the limit they impose. You don't need to come anywhere near that to make the package worth it.

[Cruise Raider]

1 hour ago, memoak said:

I really don’t appreciate being called an alcoholic. Some of use don’t go to bed until 1:00 am we have plenty of time for cocktails. I am 73 and yes I go to gyms. Packages are what they are   I don’t get a discount from Medicare if I don’t go to a doctor one month

I agree .. I like wine with my lunch and dinner but move onto club soda after dinner for the most part.  But, even if I didn’t, it wouldn’t make me an alcoholic.  I’ve never tried to ‘get my money’s worth’ by drinking 15 drinks a day.  I want to feel ok the next day when I get up .. but we all have our tolerance levels to alcohol.  We never come close to that level just because we have the package.  

[blizzard44ca]

5 hours ago, JamieLogical said:

 

Maybe don't think of ti as a surcharge to pick your cabin so much as a discount to NOT pick your own cabin...

Then they need to let you be able to select from ALL the cabins when you refuse the “discount”. Right now, they don’t let you pick from the lowest tier.

[Sea Hag]

Since we're all wishing for things we're unlikely to get, here's my very unlikely to get wish. I wish they had a package that offered me only the things that I actually want. This mythological package would include: crew appreciation, wifi, and specialty coffee. Maybe one casual dining and one specialty. Maybe. No alcohol, no silly "premium" desserts, no exercise classes, no reserved seating in shows I'll never go to anyway. Just a short list of the few things at a reasonable price. The impossible dream. 😂🤣

[memoak]

1 minute ago, Sea Hag said:

Since we're all wishing for things we're unlikely to get, here's my very unlikely to get wish. I wish they had a package that offered me only the things that I actually want. This mythological package would include: crew appreciation, wifi, and specialty coffee. Maybe one casual dining and one specialty. Maybe. No alcohol, no silly "premium" desserts, no exercise classes, no reserved seating in shows I'll never go to anyway. Just a short list of the few things at a reasonable price. The impossible dream. 😂🤣

So there could be up to 3,000 different plans one for each guest. I would hate to try and administer that

[Sea Hag]

1 minute ago, memoak said:

So there could be up to 3,000 different plans one for each guest. I would hate to try and administer that

Ah, it's all tracked by their computer network. What could possibly go wrong? 🤣😂

 

And I did say "impossible dream."

[d9704011]

3 minutes ago, memoak said:

So there could be up to 3,000 different plans one for each guest. I would hate to try and administer that

Surely Princess can develop an app for that?  Oh yeah.... the impossible dream!

[d9704011]

1 minute ago, Sea Hag said:

Ah, it's all tracked by their computer network. What could possibly go wrong? 🤣😂

 

And I did say "impossible dream."

Looks like we were on same wave length.

[OzKiwiJJ]

13 hours ago, richsea said:

Amen! Thought I was alone with that.These old knees have a tough time climbing the pool ladders!

Some of the current Princess ships I've been on have pools with steps. The Lotus Spa pools on the Grand class ships, the Retreat pool on Royal, the Sanctuary pool on Coral.

[OzKiwiJJ]

9 hours ago, richsea said:

It used to be normal to pick your own cabin, & a discount if you booked a guaranty; still is on other lines. Now, it’s definitely a surcharge, if you can even book a specific room.

It's actually not a surcharge as what they seem to have done is remove the lowest category in cabin classes, typically the "F" category, for being booked directly so the pricing that shows for "choose your own" is one category higher so slightly more expensive.

 

However it's annoying for people who preferred those blocked category cabins. 

[CruiseCrabs]

On 3/29/2024 at 10:24 AM, Cruise Raider said:

I actually meant so I could turn it up so I don’t have to stick my head in the hallway to hear the announcement.  The emergencies would come through as normal. 

I wish they would drop a transcript into the app.

[ldubs]

16 hours ago, Torfamm said:

I don’t think we’ll ever see the return of old style fixed dining with assignments to shared tables. The number of people who eat in the MDR every night is too small to make that practical.

 

We’ve been able to get the same private table for our party for the whole cruise about 90% of the time if we ask once onboard

 

Fixed dining doesn't have to be shared [among strangers] tables.  We used it in the old days with just our party.  I'm not following that the MDR isn't used by many folk.  Seems pretty busy to me.  

[Torfamm]

27 minutes ago, ldubs said:

 

Fixed dining doesn't have to be shared [among strangers] tables.  We used it in the old days with just our party.  I'm not following that the MDR isn't used by many folk.  Seems pretty busy to me.  

Private tables for just your party are still available and you can reserve for the same time, in the same MDR for every night if you like. Generally, you can even ask for the same table.
 

The only thing not available is asking to be assigned to the same table with the same group of strangers for the duration of the cruise.
 

I don’t know the exact numbers, but there’s no doubt that many, if not most, passengers take advantage of specialty restaurants, casual dining, the buffet, etc for dinner at some point in their cruise. That would mean empty seats in traditional dining.

In the old days, when there was no option for dinner but the MDR, traditional dining was an obvious choice. Creating that system made dinner easier to manage. On today’s cruise ships with many options, things are more complicated.

[ldubs]

10 minutes ago, Torfamm said:

Private tables for just your party are still available and you can reserve for the same time, in the same MDR for every night if you like. Generally, you can even ask for the same table.
 

The only thing not available is asking to be assigned to the same table with the same group of strangers for the duration of the cruise.
 

I don’t know the exact numbers, but there’s no doubt that many, if not most, passengers take advantage of specialty restaurants, casual dining, the buffet, etc for dinner at some point in their cruise. That would mean empty seats in traditional dining.

In the old days, when there was no option for dinner but the MDR, traditional dining was an obvious choice. Creating that system made dinner easier to manage. On today’s cruise ships with many options, things are more complicated.

 

Other dining options have been around for years now.  Our experiences apparently differ.  To me the MDR is still heavily used.  At 100% capacity, probably not.  In the long ago good old days of the envelopes, the last night of the cruise saw a lot of vacant tables. 😀

 

I didn't realize a "mixed" table could no longer be reserved for the same time slot.  Learn something new every time I log on to cruise critic.  

[Torfamm]

9 minutes ago, ldubs said:

I didn't realize a "mixed" table could no longer be reserved for the same time slot.  Learn something new every time I log on to cruise critic.  

 You can make reservations for a shared table. There is just no way to request that it be with the same people each night unless you arrange that as a group. 

[MsSoCalCruiser]

18 hours ago, nasa1974 said:

I wish the IT group would make facial recognition available on the Princess app. It's a pain to type ALL the information every time you open the app.

I don’t have to type in any information each time I open the app. 

[richsea]

7 hours ago, OzKiwiJJ said:

Some of the current Princess ships I've been on have pools with steps. The Lotus Spa pools on the Grand class ships, the Retreat pool on Royal, the Sanctuary pool on Coral.

Yes they do, but the newer Royal class ships, like Enchanted, do not. We try not to book the older ships because of the lack of sitting area in their balcony rooms, preferring deluxe rooms on Royal class.

[richsea]

7 hours ago, OzKiwiJJ said:

It's actually not a surcharge as what they seem to have done is remove the lowest category in cabin classes, typically the "F" category, for being booked directly so the pricing that shows for "choose your own" is one category higher so slightly more expensive.

 

However it's annoying for people who preferred those blocked category cabins. 

We try staying in deluxe balconies cat. DB or above & most times can’t pick a specific room unless you book 3 people per room.

[richsea]

17 hours ago, Cruise Raider said:

I do miss that so I try to book early.  I need a specific type of cabin .. I know, I know .. I don’t really need it but I like it like it more when I can pick exactly which way the bed faces.  It’s a sleep thing for me.  So, if I can’t sleep well, why bother to book?  I hope that test fails miserably!  

Didn’t realize there was a way to do that. How can you tell which way the bed faces?

[Cruise Raider]

15 minutes ago, richsea said:

Didn’t realize there was a way to do that. How can you tell which way the bed faces?

It is in the app under ‘explore the ship’ map.

the little door alcoves indicate where you walk in the door and the head of the bed is opposite that.  So, if your door alcove is on the left as you are facing it, the head of your bed faces forward, as in D407.  
This map used to be for all ships on the old app, but you could only see it for other ships than the one you’re on while on land.  Since it was in the old app, I know they can apply it to the new app for all ships or at least have it available at the future cruise office when picking a cabin.  
BTW, I think that for the inside cabins, the bed just faces the center.  
 

Edited March 31 by Cruise Raider

[Cruisemeister2002]

16 hours ago, memoak said:

I really don’t appreciate being called an alcoholic. Some of use don’t go to bed until 1:00 am we have plenty of time for cocktails. I am 73 and yes I go to gyms. Packages are what they are   I don’t get a discount from Medicare if I don’t go to a doctor one month

All I can say is good luck to you if between late afternoon and even 1 a.m. you can down fifteen cocktails or whatever. That's your choice and I appreciate that. I can't and neither can my wife. I accept a package is what it is, but the question was "What would people like to see made available on a cruise" Mine was that perhaps Princess could offer exchanges for certain parts of a package or where the usage of an item or items was lower than the limits set that an alternative could be offered.

[Cruise Raider]

3 minutes ago, Cruisemeister2002 said:

All I can say is good luck to you if between late afternoon and even 1 a.m. you can down fifteen cocktails or whatever. That's your choice and I appreciate that. I can't and neither can my wife. I accept a package is what it is, but the question was "What would people like to see made available on a cruise" Mine was that perhaps Princess could offer exchanges for certain parts of a package or where the usage of an item or items was lower than the limits set that an alternative could be offered.

Princess probably set that limit so people with the package were not buying their friends drinks.  They probably break even at about 6 drinks and it’s still a bargain for passengers.  IMO 

 

[HaveDogWillTravel]

16 hours ago, Cruisemeister2002 said:

Until this forthcoming cruise we have always gone for second sitting 8.30 p.m. as we like being seated with the same people each night as we have made many friends over the years. I don't know if all Princess ships are anytime dining now, but P&O still have some ships that do first and second sitting. Mainly their older ships which quite frankly are getting past it.

Cunard has first and second seatings.  I know 5:30 is the early seating as that’s what I have booked. Your preference of 8:30 is likely the late seating. Their new ship Queen Anne debuts soon.