Star Princess - Disappointing

[victory2020]

My last cruise on Princess & it was on the Star - worst cruise I have been on & haven't been on Princess since. I'm on these boards to see if it's worth another try (since my best cruise ever was on the Sea Princess).

[Clutterlady]

Victory 2020, could you please tell me why your Star cruise was that bad. Thinking of re-booking the Star next year, we were canceled due to the fire.

[victory2020]

[quote name='Clutterlady']Victory 2020, could you please tell me why your Star cruise was that bad. Thinking of re-booking the Star next year, we were canceled due to the fire.[/quote]
The ship was packed (due to low price) - children unsupervised everywhere & when I went to purser's office to tell them kids were throwing ice down stairwell & could be dangerous, reply was that they can't tell people's kids what to do. A dog was smuggled on to ship & again, pursers office didn't seem to care(it was a good customer that did the smuggling). Maitre'd was very rude to me ( & actually berated me) when I inquired about a special order I had placed the day before with different Maitre'd. Service in general wasn't as good as normal & lines were EVERYWHERE. For grand tea it took about 1/2 hr in line. Debarkation also took a long time. There was one nice purser that helped me when I went to her in tears after the maitre'd incident. Besides that crew were all burned out & it showed.

[Clutterlady]

Victory2020 sorry to hear you had so many problems on your Star cruise! Can't believe someone smuggled a dog on board. How the heck could they have gotten away with that??:confused:

[2ladies]

We were on the Star a few weeks before the fire - the dining room staff were awful I agree. There appears to be a morale problem with Princess. Just come off the Golden - it was OK - but noticeable 'no' attitude to passengers from middle management. Feeling we got was that passengers were a bit of a nuisance!!

The Cruise Director and his staff were excellent however. Since Dining Staff don't work for tips anymore, the incentive to serve customers has been lost. The geniuses who run Princess don't seem to have worked this out though!! Probably don't care anyway as the ships are running full for every cruise!! They don't care if you don't return - plenty more pax to take your place.

As a Brit, I used to be so proud of Princess - the service was special pre Carnival. An English lady I met on board the Golden on our last morning in the 'platinum' lounge, said it now reminded her of Butlins Holiday Camp!! Now that is really really rude - but I couldn't dispute it!!

However, you have to bear in mind that everything is relative. Some people thought it was marvellous. Depends on your expectations!! Unfortunately, we have been spoilt by Celebrity and Radisson. And Royal Carribean is seeing a marked improvement also!! We had a wonderful transatlantic on the Jewel of the Seas in May.

[peterv]

Well as long as it is equal to a Butlins, I'd hate to see it slip to the level of a Pontins though, scary! :D

Cheers,
Peter

[2ladies]

Peter - that is just too too funny!! Wish I'd thought of that!!

By the way, I couldn't do a booking on board and get the shipboard credit. The UK problem the wrong way round. I would HAVE to book the cruise with a UK agent - and because I had a US credit card, that was no good!! Would have banked one for a future cruise sometime - wouldn't you think they would want customers?

[victory2020]

[quote name='Clutterlady']Victory2020 sorry to hear you had so many problems on your Star cruise! Can't believe someone smuggled a dog on board. How the heck could they have gotten away with that??:confused:[/quote]
Very small dog - it was running around the adult spa area. Yuk! The spa people did nothing because they all thought it was cute & probably hadn't seen a dog for awhile.

[Oppgaard]

We do a lot of cruising (4-5 per year) but for some reason have never been on Princess until our upcoming cruise Sept. 12. Our favorite cruise line is Celebrity and then would come Royal Caribbean and Norwegian. We are not fond of Holland America and Carnival is our absolutely least favorite.

We are booked in an aft Vista Suite and have been looking forward to this cruise for a long time. We were told by some other people who were in a similar suite that they thoroughly enjoyed the cruise and service was fantastic. I hope what I have been reading have been isolated cases and that our upcoming cruise will be as much or more than we have anticipated. I know I am going to get on the cruise with a great outlook and in a good mood and hopefully it will spread to the crew. Sometimes you get back what you give and I plan on giving a lot of good attitude and friendly smiles.

I will be writing about our experience on the STAR while I am on board and posting it to CC.

[Host CJSKIDS]

[quote name='Oppgaard']We do a lot of cruising (4-5 per year) but for some reason have never been on Princess until our upcoming cruise Sept. 12. Our favorite cruise line is Celebrity and then would come Royal Caribbean and Norwegian. We are not fond of Holland America and Carnival is our absolutely least favorite.

We are booked in an aft Vista Suite and have been looking forward to this cruise for a long time. We were told by some other people who were in a similar suite that they thoroughly enjoyed the cruise and service was fantastic. I hope what I have been reading have been isolated cases and that our upcoming cruise will be as much or more than we have anticipated. I know I am going to get on the cruise with a great outlook and in a good mood and hopefully it will spread to the crew. Sometimes you get back what you give and I plan on giving a lot of good attitude and friendly smiles.

I will be writing about our experience on the STAR while I am on board and posting it to CC.[/QUOTE]

Don't worry, you're always going to have good and bad opinions on a cruise as we all like different things and expect different things. I cruised on the 3/19 Star in a penthouse suite and loved it. Up until the fire, it had been a fantastic cruise and the crew that we encountered everywhere was wonderful. Both my family and our friends who were cruising with us thought that this was one of the best that we had ever been on. The service from our room steward was top notch and the bartenders and servers we had in the dining room were also great.

[WK-Orlando]

Enjoy it while you can. I think the industry is close to falling off a cliff. The service and quality has been dropping at the same rate the ship size is growing. They are finding it harder to get the submissive third world staff they once got from eastern europe and now have to pull from further down the ladder... The rate of pay is not longer as attractive as the dollar is nearly worthless compared to years past...

There are so many ships, that the better ports have been ruined and Alaska is just sad compared to years past. Most of the ports have turned into cruise line owned strip malls with the same shops in every port.

For those in the know, you can get a good trip for now and for those who never sail pre Carnival expansion, it is a fun trip. Tours from private operators are cost effective and if you know the system, you can keep your bill down but of course that hurts the profitability of the lines.

The reality is that they are cutting prices to never seen lows and have labor and fuel costs that are growing along with increased port fees and regulations. All of the people who went missing, the assaults, fires, etc etc are giving fuel to those who want more government oversight and rules. While that may be good in some ways, the prices will have to go up to cover it. Eventually, there will be too many ships to fill at the profitable prices and there will be trouble. Wait until the Dems take back DC and they put US labor laws into affect on those ships and see what happens...

I just got a 10 day for $500 per person on a Princess window... That has to be a near loss for them that they will hope to recover from bar and extras. Carnival has had even better deals... Not sure what the operating costs are but given that RCL has at least two ships in the pipe as does Princess.

I count 19 deliveries due by the end of 2007.

Here is a list ...
[URL="http://www.cybercruises.com/orderbook.htm"]http://www.cybercruises.com/orderbook.htm[/URL]

If they retire the mid size ships, I am out. As it is, the largest ship I will sail now is like the Island and I prefer the Sea or Sun. 3700 is just too many people... RCL has a 5400 passenger job due in 2009!

For now, enjoy it while you can and if the service is not to your liking, go Celebrity...

[peterv]

[quote name='2ladies']Peter - that is just too too funny!! Wish I'd thought of that!!

By the way, I couldn't do a booking on board and get the shipboard credit. The UK problem the wrong way round. I would HAVE to book the cruise with a UK agent - and because I had a US credit card, that was no good!! Would have banked one for a future cruise sometime - wouldn't you think they would want customers?[/quote]

Thanks!

I will never understand Princess and their desire to have two separate booking systems. But they do make more off of us then they do the US.

Anyway, glad you got your status and your credits. The cruise was OK for you I hope? Looking forward to my holiday in less than a month now!

Cheers,
Peter

[rjg41]

Some comments:

We are leaving on Star for 25 days soon so we'll get our own first hand look at things. While we don't doubt the sincerity of those posting and am sure the incidents happened, we have not bought into "the cruise industry is going to hell" thought. We have read much of the same comments about Celebrity and have sailed with them 4 times in the last four years and have seen no degradation.

1) On the dog. If it is a "service dog" for medical reasons they are allowed. the passenger must provide applicable paperwork. Besides seeing eyes dogs, these can include dogs that sense seizures coming, etc. No one "smuggled" a dog on.

2) "Auto tipping" - While Princess automatically adds the standard tips each day to you bill you have the right to cancel them at any time and when you do the staff members know. I know people who cancel the "auto" system as soon as they board and tell the staff that serve them, we will take care of you at the end of the cruise, thus a little incentive. The system is nothing like NCL where it is a "service charge" and not voluntary in any way. For any of you that "blame" Carnival for "auto tipping", it started before Carnival bought Princess.

3) As for staff attitude, we too had a maitre'd from hell....three years ago. While that was our only Princess cruise to date, we sensed a different atmosphere with the staff then we have experienced on Celebrity or Royal Caribbean. Our waiter and room steward were great but the others lacked something. So for us that will not be seen as a change. While our cruise was just after Carnival bought Princess, they had not begun to have any influence yet so that was not the reason. FYI, Celebrity and now Royal Caribbean run very intense training sessions for all their staff, on a regular basis, on providing "outstanding customer service".

Stay tune, we'll report back shortly after Oct. 7.

[2ladies]

Hi Peter - yes, the cruise was OK. Dining Room service appalling mainly, with a few exceptions. Room Steward exceptionally good!! Food OK. Nowhere near as good as it used to be, but a good itinerary. Got to the Edinburgh Tattoo at last without any hassles from flying etc. We were on the handicapped bus as Mum is elderly and amazingly, it drove right INTO the arena!! And picked us up in the arena also. Very well organised I have to say. Cruise Director and Staff v. good and v.good guy in the piano bar. So we enjoyed it. But, there is a lack of something I can't put my finger on. I think it is the attitude of management on board - not very accommodating to passenger requirements. Its a mass production!! Nothing personal about it. The Maitre D' never smiled, never came near a table - v. surly!! Goes from the top down, I always think!!

[GOLDENBONNY]

[quote name='victory2020']Very small dog - it was running around the adult spa area. Yuk! The spa people did nothing because they all thought it was cute & probably hadn't seen a dog for awhile.[/quote]

no animal lover here a guess:D

[2ladies]

How do you smuggle a dog onboard? Put it in your luggage? Put it through the x-ray machine as handbaggage? In your pocket is the only way - make sure there is no metal on the collar though!![IMG]http://boards.cruisecritic.com/images/icons/icon10.gif[/IMG]

Must be an 'assistance' dog of some kind. The QM2 is the only ship I know of with kennels. (and QE2?). And even then, I assume they have to keep to their own areas.

A little tactless to let it run around the Spa though, as some people are afraid of dogs. I would point out that the dogs are not 'yuck' - its the owners who allow their animals to defecate in public areas without clearing it up, who are yuck!

[corkpopr]

Well, i have to agree with some points. the service has dropped each cruise on all of the princess fleet. no rudeness, just going thru the motions so to speak. food in the PC dining rooms satisfactory but not great.
now to complain about entertainment, that is not fair! cruise ship entertainment is the absolute worse, not just princess. i have seen shows at my kids elementary school and the senior citizens center that are much better. RCCL, never. Carnival has the best service i have ever seen and i love HAL and Celebrity. But carnival has the worst passengers also so......
Personally, i could have a great cruise on a freighter if i have a book, lounge chair, wine, and a cigar!

[irwinler]

We were on the May 15 Baltic cruise (first after the fire) and had a great cruise, good food, and good service. Our only complaint was that the band was too loud and often drowned out the peformer. There was a piano player and the band was too loud for him; the only good part of his performance was the last piece where he played requests without the band. We told him and the stage manager (during the back stage tour), but the band still played loud in subsequent performances. We did the personal choice dining, but had great servers in both dining rooms.

We were supposed to be on the Star for back-to-back cruises (transAtlantic and Baltic), but due to the fire, had to make other arrangements - we took NCL Jewel for the transAtlantic portion. That was our most disppointing cruise (food awful, service in the dining room terrible, many people got sick, including us). So, the Star was a welcome change! Many people agreed with us about how bad the Jewel was, but some CC reviews gave it top marks. We noticed that those giving rave reviews were in the most expensive cabins and ate at the dining rooms that cost extra.

We still like Princess the best and our recent Carnival cruise was much better than the NCL. We also like Costa and Royal Caribbean. After our up-coming cruise on Voyger of the Seas, I think we will opt for mid-size ships.

BTW, our son and granddaughter were on the Star for the "fire cruise" and were very pleased with the way the crew handled everything and the service they got from Princess in providing lodging and a return flight home. He wants to sail on the Star again and we would, too.

This was my 12th cruise; DH's 11th.

[Enigma666666]

It will be interesting to see over the next few years if Princess loses cruisers. I have to believe the repeat cruisers are going to be the most profitable for any cruise line. So let's see if Carnival's strategy of cutting corners eventually drives people to other cruiselines. Although they seem to want to move Princess to a lower category. At least it's worked on me, I'm done cruising Princess.

[jsc0626]

[quote name='Enigma666666']It will be interesting to see over the next few years if Princess loses cruisers. I have to believe the repeat cruisers are going to be the most profitable for any cruise line. So let's see if Carnival's strategy of cutting corners eventually drives people to other cruiselines. Although they seem to want to move Princess to a lower category. At least it's worked on me, I'm done cruising Princess.[/quote]

I'm with you Enigma. We are done cruising Princess also. And we were a group of 10 family memebers that have made 4 cruises with Princess! They told me it will take 4 to 6 weeks to respond to my request for information and an explanation regarding my daughter's incident in the Skywalker Disco. Why should it take a company 4 to 6 weeks to respond to such a thing? I believe this goes directly to the heart of the issue Princess has in how it deals with it's passengers and the service they deliver.

[Juliadlf]

We were on the 8/23 sailing.

Food and service were very good. Had Traditional dining in Amalfi. Room steward - Gil- was excellent.

Entertainment - not our style but not bad for a cruiseship. Embarkation/Disembarkation - very smooth and easy.

 

I was waiting for the big disappointment but none came.;) Well, not exactly true. Didn't win in the casino.

 

For those who followed the thread about the Stockholm train issue, you did have to change trains because of work being done on the line. Not a big deal. Several people on the ship did the train and had no issues at all. Best to recheck the train schedule BEFORE you make your final travel plans for this port.

 

And to those who have posted their disappointment, it's your opinion and whether you cruise Princess again or not, it is your choice and your money so go with a line that you do like. Better to be a happy cruiser than an old fustrated fart who makes everyone miserable. :p

 

For us, we will cruise this line again and will try some of the others as well.

Our money and our choice!!

 

Julia

[sultan_sfo]

Thank you for posting the CORRECT information.

 

(This reply is not aimed at you Julia but for that know-it-all who kept insisting on his incorrect information.) /Sultan

 

We were on the 8/23 sailing.

...

For those who followed the thread about the Stockholm train issue, you did have to change trains because of work being done on the line. Not a big deal. Several people on the ship did the train and had no issues at all. Best to recheck the train schedule BEFORE you make your final travel plans for this port.

Julia

[cruisenut2001]

I had to go back to my review of the cruise and I think this seems it up:

 

"We didn't once have to go to the purser's desk and ask for a tip reduction, but this was also the only cruise that we didn't ask for a tip envelope either."

 

I'm really beginning to think that it was the ship or it's manager. We just got off the TP and had a handful of Make a Difference(sp) cards and tip envelopes. I would have to give 8s and 9s to the Sun, Diamond (technical problems I won't blame on anyone but the designer), and Tahitian. There just seemed to be something off with the Star (example: waiters reading catalogs rather than taking orders). We'll keep sailing on Princess, so long as they keep taking us to places we want to visit at the price we want to pay. Value ranks very high with my budget.

[LadyRx]

We were on the Star during the fire with CJSKIDS and SUNSHINE426. We thought the staff was wonderful. In fact, we have an upcoming cruise on the Star again in November for our anniversary! :)

[Enigma666666]

Julia...i'm glad you had a good cruise. You are right. It's personal preference but i still think princess has an issue. It's not an isolated dissatisfaction. Thanks for posting the Stockholm train issue to confirm my experience. I knew I didn't imagine it!!