Gary, thank you for this video. All your points are correct. We just got home from a 5 week cruise on the Sky Princess. We sailed on her October 2019 and now last month. The changes were amazing. Yes we expected less crew but that was just the start of the downfall. The food was really bad, and we are avid Princess cruisers. There were times we ended up eating at the International Cafe since the MDR didn't have a good menu and the buffet looked very unappetizing. I do not complain unless there is a reason and the time to complain is now. We are canceling a Princess cruise next year, we have to go on the one in Dec since final payment has been made. Princess, bring back the smaller ships and the attention that your customers expect. Thank you for letting me vent.
We have been on 2 Princess cruises this year, Panama Canal and British Isles, both 14 (15) days on Emerald and Island Princess …we experienced non of the negatives. We are going on another cruise again soon. That will be our 7th cruise with Princess since 2019. We love this cruise line, learned our lesson and try to avoid cruising when school is out because this “new way of parenting” seems to inconvenience others. Children running around unattended, feeding themselves, entertaining themselves on a “family” vacation. We love Princess because we don’t want to pay for things that have no value-add to us, like specialty dining and beverages/alcohol. We love having the option of opting out of these when choosing to pay the Standard fees. The Medallion experience has been improving every cruise and now the staff is more comfortable using it and greeting you by name. The door unlocks perfectly in front of you and it’s easy to book excursions. Checking in on embarkation day is a breeze. There are minor glitches but the most important functions work properly. We never used the internet, because the whole point of cruising for us is to be disconnected from it, but a little internet always trickles through MedallionNet and Google Search works, so it’s fun looking up information about sea creatures and check the maps for the next port of call.
Having only been on one cruise in my life, I can’t obviously compare lines or previous experience but my trip to Alaska with my parents last year was amazing. We sailed in the Majestic Princess in September 21. The staff were amazing, super friendly and personable, the price was great, the drinks and the food were great, and the entertainment and activities though reduced due to Covid were still plenty. There were few kids on board as this was pre kid friendly vaccines, but it also felt inclusive for all generations. Princess also made sure to reimburse us for any excursions changes as there were a few. I found the medallion app mostly reliable and even my 65+ year old parents had no trouble using it. I feel like Princess is making premium cruising more accessible and less intimidating for first time and younger cruisers, with less stress about dress code( at least in Alaska), interesting activities for different ages, and many dining and beverages choices. I Am glad we ended up on Princess for our trip and plan on sailing with them again in the future
What an unkind thing to say. There's no need to have previous experience to give a relevant, detailed, thoughtful review, which is exactly what @vanniechan has done.
@@redrospective Yes you're right, now that I look at my reply it did sound unkind. I meant no disrespect. I was only trying to point out that after 23 cruises you learn that sometimes things don't always go as planned. Had some great cruises, but also my share of nightmare cruises. Take care and happy Thanksgiving!
@@denniscostabile4264 Hi Dennis, thanks for clarifying. Yes, there's definitely valuable perspective gained from multiple cruises (on the same or different lines). I just think that first-time cruising must be extremely important for the cruise industry (and therefore for cruisers too) because getting that experience right ensures more repeat cruisers which keeps the ship sailing (literally and metaphorically!) So that's why I think vanniechan's perspective is valuable and that it's important that they and people in a similar situation feel welcomed and able to share. I'm in the UK so we don't have Thanksgiving but Black Friday is getting bigger every year, so we get all the commercials but not the tasty food! I hope you have a great day tomorrow.
I’ve always cruised with Princess and have never had any issues, to me they are the best cruise company with best services, everything is first class with friendly staff, I will continue cruising with Princess because I know I can go wrong trying another one .
I think part of the increase in families is the cruise cost. I find Princess substantially less expensive than Other lines. I keep looking at other lines and any cruise I have looked at is usually $800-1000 higher. This is based on the fares with no included perks which is the best option for me.
We are platinum on princess and are noticing the changes. Seems they are morphing into carnival. I miss their small ship experience. May be time to change. Great videos we watch every one of yours.
Thanks so much for watching and adding your thoughts. Definitely they seem a bit “adrift” but so many people sailing with them are saying same things so hopefully they will tighten up!!!
There's nothing wrong with Carnival, which you seem to be alluding to. I've cruised 48 times on many ships and, in some ways, Carnival is much better. Those that are critical of Carnival haven't cruised with Carnival or are inexperienced. All cruise lines have their signature and all ships have different crews and, therefore, are different.
Friends on Celebrity Edge for two weeks followed by Regal Princess for two weeks. Princess self service laundry was a nice plus on a longer trip. Other than that they gave the edge to Celebrity. Food on Princess was good, yet they now charge for a second main in the MDR. The Princess new fare structure is the move to bundle. Celebrity and NCL have variations on it. Don’t like it as they show a lower fare, you click on it and they immediately push a higher fare. Feels like bait and switch. Prefer Royal’s simple fares. You have the option to add on what you want without feeling like a have not. Thanks for a great video!
Thank you for this updated information. Also, condolences to the people of the UK on the death of Queen Elizabeth. What a gracious and remarkable woman she was. Related to cruising: Just watched a tv show that featured her Britannia yacht. I hope the transition to King Charles III goes well.
What I object about Princess are basically the cabins. If you decide to pay a bit more to cruise on Princess, shouldn’t you expect a better cabin experience? But they don’t offer you one unless you choose a more expensive cabin. No seating in their basic balcony cabins. A shower curtain instead of glass shower doors. No place to rest you feet when you need to shave your legs. Of course if you spend more money you can have these conveniences. The problem is, most other cruise lines don’t charge extra for couch. And newer ships on other cruise lines usually come with glass shower doors and a shave bar at no extra cost. I happen to have a bad back. The thought of spending a week sitting on a bed instead of a couch, whenever I’m in my cabin, hurts just thinking about it. So that tells me Princess has decided to give their passengers less , hoping they’ll spend more, when I get these basic conveniences at no extra cost on Royal, HAL and Celebrity. It all comes down to how you treat your customers.
Totally agree about the cabins. They even removed the one barrel chair from balcony rooms. As an alleged premium line, it is a travesty that in order to watch TV, you must sit on the bed. We now will inly sail the Royal class ships in a deluxe balcony that at least has a loveseat, but Royal balconies are also the smallest at sea. We left Celebrity after many years due to their increased fares, but now will probably strongly consider a return to them.
Hi, Gary, Thanks for all your great videos. We agree about the changes Princess Cruises is making. Overall, we're disappointed by them. We are Elite with Princess and have been on eight cruises since the return to sail in August 2021 on both Grand and Royal class ships. There has been a marked downward change in the quality of the cruises. Some of it can't be helped with the current labor shortages all cruise lines are coping, so we tend to overlook that, expecting it to improve over the next year. When we boarded Majestic Princess in August 2021, right after startup, we expected food to be fantastic as they would be looking to spoil us upon return. While we enjoyed the cruise, the menu was underwhelming in the MDR. Crown Grill was excellent as always. Our Regal Princess cruises (3) in Nov/Dec 2021 also had a disappointing menu in the MDR. Service was better as the ship was about 30% full on each cruise. In February this year we sailed a B2B on Caribbean Princess. In all our cruising, this was the first time we couldn't wait for the cruise to end. Service was fair and food mediocre, but our biggest complaint was the non-stop ear-splitting music around the pool every afternoon (82-85 decibels continuously). Since it wasn't a school break period, most of the passengers were 60+ and many would just leave the pool area because you couldn't talk to the person next to you. I talked to several officers about it but nothing changed. It was awful. I imagined it was what a Carnival cruise is like. Princess may be trying to woo a younger crowd, but there weren't young people on this cruise yet they didn't adjust the music or the volume. We also noticed after January the internet was considerably worse, to the point on our cruise on Emerald Princess in April and Enchanted Princess last month, it was almost unusable. It was a constant complaint among passengers. We're leaving on a 21-day Med Cruise in two weeks on Regal Princess and we're praying the internet is better. We like Princess, but we're afraid they are going to leave us behind. We're trying Azamara Onward in December and Oceania Riviera in January to see if we'll enjoy them that much more to make the higher cost worth it. Keep up the excellent work and keep on cruising! Kevin
Just returned from a 14 day cruise on the Royal Princess to Alaska. Medallion System worked well as a room key but every other feature of the app was a dismal failure. PRINCESS REALLY NEEDS TO FIX (or scrap) THE MEDALLION SYSTEM.
We took our first Princess cruise in January 2022 out of Los Angeles to Hawaii. LOVED this cruise, LOVED the medallion, never had a problem. It worked flawlessly. This was my husbands 1 st cruise and I was a little nervous, as this was a 15 day cruise. He loved it. We do have to say the food was a little under. I have been on cruises before.
A few years ago I did a huge trip with Princess to Alaska. Solo. I took every excursion I wanted since it was a "Bucket Trip." Loved the Princess Lodges! Would definitely do it again. But, solo to the Caribbean? I found it almost "boring". But, after the Pandemic, I was grateful and patient. Seriously.....we have a lot to be grateful for so we must not, must not forget that.
I’m on a segment of the 2023 world cruise. I think the Wi-Fi is actually very good, the food on board is fine, and I think the issues with the medallion is more user based than the system. The island princess is an older vessel, but it does the trick. I actually do not want to cruise on a floating amusement park. I Agree the the value and cruise locations are unmatched by most of the major lines.
I went on a Princess cruise in May. It was my fourth Princess Cruise, and my first time cruising with princess since 2019, before the pandemic, and we went on the Sky Princess. And I must say... the services was a bit disappointing. Many niceties such as the chocolate you get when your room is serviced had gone. There was no balloon drop. Gone was the free popcorn with the movies under the stars. Something definitely felt off about the whole trip. I'm sure much of this could be explained by covid or budget cuts, so okay. But. One thing was so bad it can not be excused... The food was awful. I found myself eating at the Salty Dog most nights, because the restaurants had done a complete nosedive. Compared to my first Princess Cruise in 2011 - and the food I experienced on Celebrity - the food on the Sky Princess in 2022 is in DIRE need of improvement. Firstly, I have allergies and they KEPT GETTING IT WRONG. They almost fed me something which had my allergen in it, and one night they even gave me the wrong meal. But aside from that, the food itself left so much to be desired. I found most evenings that I dined in the restaurant, my starter was a bowl of vegetables in hot water that they called soup. Every soup I had was the same. Random vegetables and a bit of meat in hot water. Often with a fancy name, but it was all just the same and because of my allergy it's about all I could have from the already very limited menu. I paid 5 grand for this?! Come on! Likewise, most of my mains involved some cut of red meat in some generic gravy (also often given a fancy name), where the meat was often full of fat and gristle. There was one evening where I had veal and was so excited for it. The veal was basically inedible, it was something like 70% gristle and that's not even an exaggeration. Also, on port days they often used to serve local dishes from the country of the port you were staying in, that was largely no longer a thing. I dare say the food situation in the restaurants was unacceptable. And then there was the buffet. The buffet seemed to have less than half the options it used to have, and everywhere was so tucked away and impossible to find. It felt more like getting a school meal than anything else. No longer could you spoon yourself out some food, now they dished it to you. The buffet felt sprawling and confusing, and the food again had done a total nosedive in quality. Also, I went to get myself some water and a steward told me off because the dispenser is now staff only. Since when?! There was absolutely no sign telling me that this was staff only. It never was before! This is why I ate more at the Salty Dog Grill than any other restaurant or buffet. Princess, you need to URGENTLY step up your food game, because you have fallen into serious decline with that.
Took a cruise on the Regal Princess in December of 2019. Everything was great, especially the food. My post pandemic cruise was May 2022 on the Grand Princess. What a disappointment in many areas and we'd booked a full suite! The food was the worst of the 13 Princess cruises we've taken. This last cruise made us Elite but we're thinking about jumping to Celebrity and trying out HAL. Princess has lost its way.
We always felt there were many similarities between HAL and Princess. While we like HAL a lot better, some of it is solely personal preference. We kind of felt like Princess was a slight step down from HAL. Princess was more of a 4.5* cruise and HAL more 5*. But again, personal preference. For instance, we don't care about big shows or name brand comedians, but adore a very happy and healthy crew. HAL has better crew than many six star lines, imo. But both lines have suffered in many categories during the past few years. HAL has tried to recover its reputation for food quality, as Gary talked about a while back. Princess seems to be really trying to up their game with regards to technology. Time will tell. The only Princess cruises we are even remotely interested taking are the older ships with window suites that are priced less than balconies.
I am sure these are lovely changes for those with children. It is a reason for those of us who do not want them in our spaces on vacation to choose a different line. I am fond of children. I am also very fond of peace and quiet.
We've been on two Princess cruises this year. I agree 100% the quality of the food has gone down as well as the service. We've been sailing on Princess since 1991 and noticed the quality is just not there anymore. They have taken away many of the nice things we were use to. That said, we are booked on two more Princess Cruises next year and all things considered we still love Princess.
Been on Princess twicw before the pandemic and went on HAL recently to Alaska. The menus and choices were pretty limited on HAL, eg. only choice of ice cream in the main dining was vanilla....and the overall quality across board was so so. Thought it was not as good as Princess, now it looks like they are about the same... everything was going downhill... I hope things would improve, fingers crossed!
I also started w/ Princess in 1991 when there was still a lot of Sitmar influence. What I wouldn't do to sail aboard the original Pacific/Island & Dawn/Fair Princess's! They didn't have all the bells & whistles of modern day ships, but there was a completely different atmosphere onboard. The focus was on the service, food, passengers, & crew. Lovey era of cruising!
@@trainattendant5810 Our first Princess cruise was on the old Dawn Princess and it was fantastic. We then went on the Island Princess, again perfect. Those were the days!
Those who have been cruising for several years know that amenities and perks have been reduced or eliminated long before the pandemic. Now that cruising has resumed, we have to be patient and expect changes. With the total shutdown for a couple of years, it's a challenge for cruise lines to stay afloat (pun intended). Many ships were scrapped to reduce the fleet. It's a bit harsh to expect things to be what they were. If you expect perfection, you'll be disappointed. We shouldn't even expect what was normal. I'm just glad that cruising is back. Give me a lounge chair on deck with an adult beverage and a view of the deep blue sea and I'm happy!!
@@trainattendant5810 I agree. Cruising was much different back in the day. You may recall that not many people had cruised back then and it was believed that it was for those with money. Nowadays, cruise lines are appealing to a larger market with alll of the amenities on ships. Cruising and vacationing on a ship are two different experiences. I enjoyed cruising better in the Sitmar days!
Agree with everything except you understated the food issue. I am used to Carnival, but my family took the Grand Princess in Alaska last June. A bucket list trip for my 75 year old mother.. I am celiac. Carnival is very accommodating by providing gluten free versions of virtually any of their dishes, allowing me to choose breakfast and dinner items the night before. I expected similar service from Princess. Many of the menu items were a "no, that cannot be adjusted" answer. Additionally, I was told there was no option for dessert. They would bring me something. That something was five nights out of seven chocolate mousse. I was upset that we spent nearly $16,000 for four of us and they offered me pudding for dessert. Additionally, no one in my party thought the food was above mediocre, and Sabatinis was horrifyingly bad. The Princess trip was so disappointing, I canceled the inside cabin British isle cruise with my mother next summer with Princess and booked Carnival balcony for less money.
All cruises are what you make of it. Carnival is not Motel 6. The Panorama is a beautiful ship with all of the amenities that are needed for all passengers. The Breeze is another excellent choice. If you expect perfection, you'll be disappointed in everything life has to offer. I've cruised 48 times all over the world on several cruise lines and many ships. Cruise lines are different with their own signature experiences. I have enjoyed every cruise from three to 21 days and several B2B. Usually, complainers are too demanding or are inexperienced. It's best to try each cruise line and find what is most appealing. Also, crew turns over on 6-8 month contracts, so the experience may be very different on the same ship. As in day-to-day life, there will be disappointments, but letting them be the focus is counterproductive.
I loved almost everything about my cruise on the Majestic last year. I found the Medallion program to be a game-changer. The app was extremely glitchy, but I loved the medallion itself. As for the food that week, it was horrifying. Whether you ate in the MDR or any of the specialty restaurants, the food was pretty revolting. Even Alfredo’s pizza was awful. Everyone I was with complained about the food. As for overall value, I felt like Princess has much more to offer. So there’s goods and bads with Princess. Now, if I’m headed to a more tropical destination, I prefer NCL or RCL.
On the discovery princess right now on it’s way back to Seattle (stopping in Victoria BC) the service is very good, the staff really makes every effort to please. The wifi is not good at all. The medallion experience is okay, I like that it automatically opens the cabin door. I feel like they could have more onboard activities on sea days. The thermal spa is beautiful but very small and extremely over crowded. Overall I would give the experience an 8/10. I am booked on the Enchanted Princess in October to New England.
Just come off the Enchanted, on a N Europe cruise. Its a lovely ship but the food was variable, wifi almost unusable and there wasn't much 'serious' entertainment. Mainly sales events and slightly cheesy quizzes. Staff were lovely
@@andyrawlins I'm on the Enchanted Princess now on the Transatlantic. The service is excellent. But I agree that the wifi is practically unusable. I actually had to ask for a reasonable refund even though they acknowledged the issues with it. The food was horrible in the buffet. It's almost as if Princess has given up after Covid. Sad. Also on these new ships the full walk around Promenade deck is gone. And the walking track is on a very small windy dec k 17! Horrible ship design! Very hard to get from one e d of the ship to the other. The rooms are the smallest I have seen at sea. But at least comfortable and functional. Sadly may be my last Princess cruise.
Going on my first cruise from Vancouver to San Francisco on Princess, sort of a 3-day "test" cruise to see how it is before I take my sister to Alaska in the spring. I got a solo balcony room midships for only $200, added on crew appreciation and a soda package, total about $300. My airfare will cost more than that. I'll only have to take 2 days off from work, hopefully will eat some tasty food, do a little gambling, some reading, and see the shore as it passes by. I seldom drink alcohol, so the soda package and regular coffee is fine with me. Last thing I want is wifi, I get enough computers at work. To me, it's like a weekend in Vegas without the rip-offs of resort fees and so on. I already know the casino games will be more in favor of the house, but it's hard to mess around with the rules on craps, so that's the game for me for the little gambling I will do. Really looking forward to this little getaway, and this Tips for Travellers channel has been instrumental in helping me make the right choices. Thank you!
For me I am moving back to Holland and Celebrity for adult cruising. For quick cheaper trips 4 or 5 days to sail with my teen grandkids I go to Carnival.
I have been meaning to watch this vid for ages. Well, we just got back from 2 months of travel that included a b2b on Azamara, followed by 12D on Celebrity (Dubai to Australia to New Zealand). After 10+ years of cruising, we learned A LOT! We were supposed to join friends on Princess on a transatlantic this spring, but due to a drastic change in my wife's health, we had to cancel the Princess cruise. We have been in love with Azamara for years. Small ships make a HUGE difference in the cruise experience. Celebrity couldn't come close, and this was our second experience with them. My chief complaint was the unreal noise level on Celebrity, with 2600 passengers on board. Whether it was the band noise on Level 3 reverberating up the atrium to Deck 8, or the out of control kids screaming or running everywhere, or just being unable to hear conversation in the main dining room during dinner, serving 1000 people a pop, we didn't like it! Now knowing Princess is even larger in all categories we dislike, pricing would have to be spectacular for me to book with them. Next BIG lesson is that you most definitely get what you pay for. Food in Celebrity was good to very good, and always served cold. Not merely my experience, but those of long time Celebrity cruisers. Celeb is unquestionably less expensive than Azamara, but when the nickel and diming is included, it isn't that much less expensive. So all in all Gary, you have delivered a video that knocked the ball out of the ball park, and saved us a lot of money and future grief. I won't say I'll never travel with them, just that it is highly unlikely that we would actually go and seek them out. Now let me check out their Japan cruises. Thanks again, excellent job. Oh, my offer to join you as a travel partner still stands...
I have found the ships to be in good condition and well looked after. The food has been very good and a good choice. The service in the restaurants has been good especially club class. The bar service has been bad the App is awful and the internet in Europe terrible.
It seems like the Carnival executives have decided all their subsidiaries need to be more like Carnival. Don't know why they couldn't just let Princess be princess, they could've branded the mega ships as Carnival.
That's nonsense! All cruise lines have their signature experience and will be different. I've cruised 48 times all over the world with several cruise lines and many ships. I've enjoyed every single one. If you expect perfection, you'll be disappointed. Carnival is much better in some ways, just as Princess is much better in some ways. The Carnival Panorama is a beautiful ship with all of the amenities that are needed. Those that are critical of Carnival haven't cruised with Carnival or are inexperienced. Cruising has just returned and there will be hiccups. There are staffing shortages and many employees are inexperienced. That's true onboard ships and at businesses ashore. Some venues on ships are still closed. While disappointing, at least the ship is at sea with me onboard. Suck it up and Bon voyage!!
The Princess line is not trying as hard as some other lines to find its way--they are not refunding promptly, rectifying shortcomings, attending to Covid suffering passengers or meeting their itineraries as they could. Fix the Crown and refurb where needed! The medallion is not lining up to the hype and is not yet consistently reliable---possibly rolled out too early??? I, personally prefer their smaller ships, but if they chose to accommodate a different crowd, my money can and will go elsewhere.
We prefer the smaller Princess ships like Diamond Princess and Coral Princess. The venues we like such as Explorers Lounge and Wheelhouse Bar have been replaced by restaurants on the big new ships. As we like music and dancing there was entertainment every nite in the venues mentioned above. Unfortunately on the big new ships pretty well all the dancing and music is in the atrium which becomes horribly crowded. The medallion app has a lot of glitches. We prefer the old card system. As elite members of Princess we have noticed that many of the benefits have been removed so loyalty is no longer rewarded.
We also are elite members and I couldn't agree with you more. Unfortunately I'm assuming you're in my age group lol We are dinosaurs and our opinions no longer matter. But every chance we get we try to go on the smaller cruise ships in the offseason when children are few lmao
We cruised from Brisbane and Sydney to all South Pacific destinations with Princess achieving a Platinum status. The final cruise from Sydney was with their large Majestic Princess. That finished us with cruising. Too big, too impersonal, too many people, poor service and a decided drop in food quality. When it all comes down to it, the big ship phobia is all about economies of scale and contribution to the bottom line. At circa 3500 passengers that pales when compared to the recent RC Wonder of the Seas with a capacity of just shy of 7000 passengers. I could never contemplate being on a ship of that size. They have never built a ship that is unsinkable. Let us just hope that tragedy never befalls a mega ship....the loss of lives will be horrendous.
This is a spot on analysis of Princess in 2022. I sailed aboard Discovery Princess in April & don't think I'll be returning. This after cruising over 30 years with Princess. So many changes to the line regarding ship design/size, food, service, ect. Truth be told I don't think Princess is concerned with loosing us Elites & Platinums. Back in the 90's Princess was a decidedly upscale line. Miss the days when Princess was a very British & Italian experience(I miss Sitmar!) On Discovery in April the whole experience felt like staying at an airport corporate chain hotel, not a beloved cruise line. Too many people everywhere all the time. Crew interaction felt anonymous & perfunctory. The constant daily MUTS playing action/adventure movies at inappropriately high volumes made lounging by the pool impossible. The Retreat & Wake View pools were too small h shallow. The lack of a fully encircling promenade deck & observation lounge is egregious. My six previous cruises to this Discovery were aboard Viking Ocean. Night & day, apples & oranges!
Took a huge Princess cruise over a decade ago with kids, loved it. Took one with my mom a few years after that and again it was good but sad I didn’t get a balcony room. Have another one next month with in laws, back to a balcony room. Hoping it’s good.
Went on the our first Princess cruise 3 weeks ago. Crown Princess out of Seattle doing the Inside Passage. Gary is spot on, totally agree with almost everything he said. Medallion nice, app glitchy, food so so, service uneven.
Hi Gary we have just got off the Coral Princess around Australia cruise. There wasn't any kids on board most had walkers lol. We found the medallion to be great, is it perfect , no . But like any technology it will improve. Wifi was also good, Trouble with wifi can be with weather related. People sometimes complain about nothing. One woman complained to the desk that the captain was going too fast🤷♀️. It was an amazing cruise the staff were unbelievable. The captain did a wonderful job missing all the storms. We are now looking to go to fiji on the Royal Princess which is here as well.
Did our first Princes trip. 14 days Caribbean. Really disappointed and do many ways. Just got off a Holland America Europe trip not as good as pre covid but booked two more trips. Princes is following Carnaval business model and that's dead for us. Enjoy and get out there.
The medallion program just seems like a typical way for big corporations to lean on data to make things easier for them, couching it as a big win for the customer, which is baloney. Disney does crap like that all the time.
Very good overview of the issues and positives about Princess. It’s our favorite cruise line. Last year when Alaska opened to cruises I got right online and booked a cruise. This summer we and 6 other family members took the Princess UK cruise. Our 11 year old granddaughter was with us. She very much enjoyed the kids club. She enjoyed the entire cruise and wants to go on another. I do like the medallions but agree about the app. It’s slow and we ended up not using many of the features. One reason we like Princess is the itineraries. We enjoy going to different places and Princess has the variety we desire. We are booked this winter for the Panama Canal and winter 2024 going to Australia and New Zealand.
Just disembarked the Coral Princess after a short cruise from Sydney first cruise back for over 2yrs. We are Elite with Princess we found the Medalion a pain good service in main dining room the food was good and the crew were glad to have us back I made a purchase in the shop a gift they had no bags to put the item in very poor however we've waited so long to cruise here. Booked on Majestic in November so we hope it's better we are just glad our ships are back Hooray!
We were on the Emerald Princess British Isles cruise in late July. Although we did have fun, we were disappointed overall by the items you mention including service, food quality, and medallion app functionality. We were ALSO disappointed by many other things including the lack of any recognition of our 3 special events (we had 2 birthdays and 1 anniversary in our group, and the only recognition was a tiny icon on the screen next to the appropriate door), a couple of people on the cruise director's team who had some laughs at the expense of guests but not in a completely benign way, a changed dining reservation without notification, and a strange charge on my bill that I'm still trying to figure out after calling, emailing, etc, and some odd entertainment. We also had to get in the slower line to embark because I didn't input a credit card for my children's use. (First I had resisted entering one because I don't let my kids purchase extras on the ship, and later, when I realized that would keep us out of the expedited lane to board, I tried to enter it but the app would not save the info! So despite a lot of preparation for boarding, we were in the slow line.) I've emailed Princess to offer feedback because the survey link had expired by the time I got home and I received no response.
Customer service is a big issue for Princess in our experience. My in-laws were booked into a mini-suite next to ours on an upcoming journey however Princess inexplicably placed them on a wait list and so they’ve lost their stateroom. 5 months later, multiple phone calls and hours spent dedicated to trying to sort out the issue and it is yet to be rectified. Very poor.
I think it’s a big mistake to have ‘high tech’ as a USP. Especially when the tech doesn’t work properly. The other cruise lines with physical differentiations are better.
Looking forward to rebooking our P&O cruise from Brisbane up to the tropics & back next year & we’ve thoroughly enjoyed this cruise line previously. No bells & whistles but relaxing as we’re not at work.
Yes, the bells and whistles are designed to attract the non-typical cruiser. I don't need them to have a great cruise experience. I began cruising in 1978 when ships were small and there was an MDR with two seatings. There were no "speciality" restaurants and one formal night that was formal. That was a true cruise experience. Nowadays, ships are floating theme parks. Give me a lounge chair on deck with an adult beverage and a view of the deep blue sea and I'm happy.
@@caseytcat888 Good to hear Casey, we all have those nice things we like & my wife & I both work 60+ hours a week so all those add on restaurants & pampering services are super nice 🤠
@@sumosprojects oh, I agree with you. Nothing wrong with pampering. I'm fine with specialty restaurants and other amenities. I don't need the water slides and those things that are aimed at young families. I avoid them and prefer a more subdued experience.
Most who say Princess is fine have never traveled on Viking, Oceania or Azamara (or the ultra-luxury). Compared to Celebrity or Carnival it's not bad. We said "No more" after a terrible European cruise with food so bad many sent it back (the buffet was just horrible with a lot of self-service), the constant nickel and diming approach for water, wine, coffee, soda, and halls were blocked with the junk from their stores they hawked when we were at sea. I speak another language (and can get by in a few more) but I simply could not understand the folks on the ship. We got back and I refused to fill out the "how can we improve" form because they obviously are not reading them.
We love sailing on Princess Cruises. They seem to cater to older adults which we like as we are in mid-70’s. I wouldn’t change a thing. Also we love our medallion’s
I have issues with Princess which I don't hear mentioned in your video. It is the entertainment. Daytime entertainment consists of trivia, trivia, trivia, game shows, game shows, and more game shows. Evening entertainment is song and dance shows over and over. What about bringing in some interesting lecturers like Cunard? Maybe it's just me.
Took the British Isles Princess cruise in June. Unless there are major changes, I would never sail with them again. The Emerald Princess looks old and tired. The public spaces had dirt and finger smudges. The food was absolutely terrible (except in the one specialty restaurant that was open). The medallion is mediocre at best and Wi fi was not very good. Lots of Covid on the ship and the medical crew was overwhelmed and not that responsive. Many ship excursions cancelled at the last minute. We also felt nickel and dimed to death- especially when we had to purchase a water package (really?).The upside was it was nice that your cabin door opened automatically with the medallion and the crew was really great.
I enjoyed my cruise on the old Princess, but it just couldn’t compete with some of the cruise lines I prefer more. I might be interested in the new Princess, but only if my grandchildren are interested. Other than the multigenerational emphasis, the new changes make me less interested in Princess, not more.
Gary, we are big fans, and wish you would do a similar video about what has happened to Cunard. We recently got off a repositioning cruise from LA to Barcelona. We had been on the Queen Elizabeth about ten years ago, and had fine time. So we thought this was a safe bet. Wow,we’re we wrong. We ran into a couple who had Diamond Status on Cunard and the told they thought the line had sunk terribly. But it gets worse. On the first night at the late seating for dinner we discovered that they had closed the other main dining room on the third floor. The result was that everyone was packed like sardines into the the other dining room. I told them I didn’t want to sit so close to people, but they said they couldn’t reseat us that night. We were too exhausted to leave after boarding the ship that day. They did reseat us later, but every time we looked we had a table with social distancing they would later jam more people. All because they made the irresponsible and cheapskate decision to close that other dining. Well you can probably guess where this is going… we later tested positive for Covid, and they isolated us, and my husband got sick. I will give them this, their doctor was competent once we had problems. But they get a totally failing grade for their irresponsibility. In a lot of other ways the whole experience did not seem very classy, as it once was, confirming the view of the Diamond passengers. I told Cunard I wanted a partial refund given how strikingly stupid and wayward their actions were to the recommendations of the CDC. The sadly hilarious part is that so many people were sick on the ship that it was turned away from Bermuda, where the ship is registered! In the Captain, s word the visit had become Untenable. When in fact it was their own actions and cheapness that were untenable in the midst of Covid. If they don’t make this right for us I feel I am going spend some more time writing cutting reviews about just how bad this all was, to warn other.
Their customer service is awful. Double charged our checking account and took hours on the phone to fix it. Then they gave a comp they later took back! Had it in writing from them but they said it was a mistake by one of their reps and they can't give complimentary upgrades to smooth over a problem. Just wow!
Thank. You for this video. 1st in addition to various pkgs I think the new bid for upgrades are going to bite Princess. Food just completed a 16 day Canada/Greenland with princess. Here are my takeaways: the food has improved since March but not to 2019 quality. We were impressed over the 16 days no menu repeats( of course princess favorites offered daily at all 3 meals and lobster tail was offered all 3 gala nights). We were also surprised that each evening (near the end of dinner)chefs came around and asked about our experience. The night my husband did not eat his dry chicken breast we had a card and treats in our room the next night. We are not elite and like you choose for destination not brand. I have been lucky to get selected for chef table I was in heaven but that was 2019 hope to get picked for one again
Even though princess doesn't have solo cabins, I frequently find great deals off solo-suppliment for normal cabins. Hopefully that stays and isn't just because we're still transitioning from covid-times.
Agreed, I’ve sailed on 3 Princess cruises as a solo traveler since the restart of cruising and I have also found great fares. I think a lot of it has to do with what Gary said in the video, they have to fill up the ships. I always attend the solo meet ups and I have met some interesting people from around the world. I’m sailing solo on Princess this December on a Panama Canal cruise.
We do have the Sky Princess booked in December and the Discovery in 2023, the last Royal class. Though we’ve earned Elite class over the years, that’ll be it for us on Princess. Truth is they’ve not been the same since taken over by Carnival. We don’t do Carnival. Though no doubt pricier, we have booked 10 cruises over the next 24 months on cruise-lines that offer better itineraries, better accommodation, better food and better service. For example Celebrity Apex and Ascent. Oceania Vista (x3), MSC Seascape and Regent Seven Seas Grandeur. As a for instance, we did the Caribbean in December in an S1 Sky suite on the Enchanted Princess. There was no plug for a bedside CPAP or an available extension cord. The minibar had a small gin and that was it! Nothing else available. No welcome wine/champagne or fruit bowl as is customary for suite-guests. Smoking was still being allowed in the casino. They had ‘special’ no-smoking nights 🥳 We had a very large balcony at the aft but no wi-fi 🤷🏼♂️ Suite design had the A/C blasting in our face in bed so we couldn’t sleep. They had to block it off (with cardboard). Room service coffee with cream ordered but no cream delivered. Could barely taste alcohol in cocktails. Mask rule was not enforced by staff. Many passengers flaunted it by cruise-end by not wearing a mask at all. Steak house not serving even half-decent beef. We have over the years come to love Princess and it’s with great sadness we see them decline so badly. We’re very fortunate to be in a position to pick and choose. Being selective is not being snobby. It’s just that after 25+ years cruising and with 50 cruises under our belt, we know the good from the bad. Wishing you all safe-travels from here in Vancouver BC
You could enhance all of your cruise experience, if you tried Carnival. I began cruising more than 40 years ago in 1978 and have cruised all over the world with several cruise lines and on many ships. I've thoroughly enjoyed 48 cruises from three to 21 days. All cruise lines have their signature experience and strive to provide a great cruise vacation. It's what they do. If passengers expect perfection, they will probably be disappointed. Including the cruise that I just finished, I have eight cruises booked in the next 12 months including two B2B. Cruises are what you make of them and I don't let a disappointment deter me. I just consider it to be something that made my cruise different than the last cruise and different than the next cruise. I was B2B on the Carnival Panorama inaugural and it really is a beautiful ship. Each ship is different and can't really be rated against other ships even within the same cruise line fleet. They're all struggling with the restart after the shutdowns. Many staff members are new and inexperienced. Local businesses are having the same challenges. Crew turns over with 6-8 month contracts and the same ship may provide a different experience from cruise to cruise. It's the nature of the beast and the world we're living in. Bon voyage!!
Thanks for this video. A a regular Princess traveller, I appreciate your honesty. I found in my recent 2 cruises, the food is not up to par and I am hoping this will improve. I am NOT a fan of the medallion. I t has more hype than functionality. As far as the price packages, I am a plain person and go for the traditiona price and will gladly buy A drink when it suits me, not a week's worth.
In May I took a UK cruise on the Emerald Princess. It was the same for me as two previous pre-Covid Princess cruises (same route) except that the buffet food was served by the staff. I only used the Medallion for basic non-app uses. My biggest disappointment was that the gift shop had been outsourced so they no longer sold ship-specific souvenir magnets. I had been looking forward to my fifth ship magnet.
Sailed on my very first cruise back in May on the Disney Dream. I have a West Coast cruise booked on the Grand Princess the end of April. As I don't have any real point of comparison, I will be going into this cruise with open expectations.
I am finished with Princess just as soon as I use up the credits. One goal they have is to run off the loyalty passengers (Elite) to save themselves a few dollars on trivial perks. The Medallion app is a disaster, especially with the dining reservations, where no reservation gets recorded and there are long lines at all three dining rooms. Coupled with a weeks-long snafu on the website (where large numbers of people could not long on) Princess shows it has the worst IT department at sea. The elimination of traditional dining is the worst sin, IMO. We are now HAL fans and hope fervently the corporation doesn't ooze over onto them, too.
Went on a Princess cruise to Norway in August 2017. Kids were everywhere and the ship didn't have the facilities to handle the demands of so many children. But the food and service was quite good.
Thank you Gary for a comprehensive and interesting video on Princess. We are Elite Level Cruisers and haven't been on a cruise with Princess since just before Covid Lockdown (Feb 2020). We will give them another opportunity later this year, but as you say, their Pricing Packaging seems complicated and their Drinks packages are outrageous. 🤨
My wife and I are getting Elite status on our next cruise. Sad to say it will probably be our last cruise with Princess. Had a nightmare year dealing ( and trying to reach them) with customer service and relations.
Sorry to hear you having that issue. Though I am hearing that a lot and had same on my last cruise when issues arose on flights and transfers booked through them
We have no complaints for Princess. If we don’t want a cruise with a lot of kids, we don’t sail in summer (regardless of cruise line). The kids clubs are there to keep them entertained and out of the main areas. Have had no problem with the medallion app. Food and service is outstanding. Also, I’ve used the chat feature on their website to get customer service and it was fast and easy.
I got off the Discovery Princess in June and I was on the Caribbean Princess in March. My service was fine but the entertainment, (rap), passenger's lack of manners, ( girls running through the atrium in string bikinis) and Carnival style activities were a turn off. I am an older Princess cruiser and I have enjoyed Princess because it offered a premium, adult experience with class. I have two cruises booked currently, however, I booked on Celebrity' because they have kept their higher standards. I will wait and see what happens in the future with Princess.
Just finished our 34th Princess Cruise. 15 days to Hawaii and back. Crew was great. Unfortunately, there has been a definite shift in the food. The food is NOT as good as it was. You can tell that they use the cheapest ingredients for everything. The food is substandard. After so many cruises we were well aware of their menus. Not anymore. It’s sad to have to say it but the food is cheap. I think we might be done unless it turns around. Medallion was constantly frozen and not working.
I’ve been cruising since I was 4 and have been on 7 Princess Cruises with my 8th one this May. I’ve been on 5 other cruise lines but Princess has been my favorite overall. I do see the changes you have pointed out and I do miss using the keycards. But me and my parents love the cruise line!
My wife and I recently took a round UK cruise with Princess, our first cruise since Covid struck, and we were very, very disappointed. There was no single big issue but there were lots and lots of little things that were very poor. As you say, the Medallion App was very patchy; whenever we ordered food or drinks it took ages for them to deliver it and we constantly saw waiters walking around aimlessly with a tray of food or drinks looking for the passengers who ordered it. There also seemed to be a lot less staff in general on the ship. The food, in terms of the choice and the quality was worse than I have ever experienced before on a cruise. Based on this experience we will not be cruising with Princess again.
Princess is my favorite line, however, I have not been on a Princess cruise since 2018, pre-pandemic. My next cruise will be a Princess cruise and I'm hoping that the service/food/ and overall quality I have come to love is still there. If any qualities are lacking, I'm hoping that Princess will address these deficits.
We sailed for 2 weeks on the Sky in the Caribbean last December. Both weeks were 1/3-1/2 full, as they were just getting started post-pandemic. Everything was quite fine--I love the medallion and the internet service. We'll be back this Dec on the Regal, hoping for another excellent experience. To us, it's a floating resort!
Crown Princess in 2022 has been a disaster for passengers, however Princess refuses to advise passengers of ship’s mechanical issues and cancellation of ports until after you have given them your money.
on Island Princess from late Sept til Mid Oct 2022, they cut off a lot of food including the regular NY steak as a daily MDR menu item. Also, their meat and fish options were also reduced greatly in all food outlets. very disappointing.
I find princess going slightly family-friendly is good for us. Our last cruise we were the youngest couple on it (28 for me, 26 for my husband) so it would be nicer seeing some other folks our age that aren't members of the party-boat scene
I agree with pretty much all of your assessments. Service is still lacking a year after you posted this video so your hope of it improving is quashed. Also food is getting worse not better. Medallion app/ocean now still don't work. I don't really consider princess to be in the premium category.
I admit that the Medallion app has had issues in the past but I think it’s constantly improving. We had no major issues when we sailed on Panama Canal cruise. Most issues are either user error or just a matter of closing and restarting the app.
Just got off Royal Princess and the service of the crew was great, food was barely ok, WiFi was terrible, ship didn’t offer enough shows/music that we were interested in.
I am on the Emerald presently doing the British Isles. I preferred the food we had on the transatlantic on the NCL Escape last May but the embarkation and disembarkation was chaotic and Princess was a breeze. Next week we will be on the Celebrity Silhouette and in November on Holland Koningsdam. So we will find what will be our best cruise company for us.
Did 3 Alaskan cruises this summer, Majestic, Discovery and Crown Princess. I felt the good in the MDR and speciality restaurants were more of the Princess quality on the Crown. All ships had spotty Wi-fi but found the app to order things to your location very consistent. Discovery and Majestic had lots of multi-generational cruisers but not so on the Crown. MDR service most consistent on the Crown. I am hoping things will have improved by my winter cruises on the Enchanted.
We have used Princess on several family cruises pre COVID and booked again for next April. Princess have been doing great 3rd/4th cabin deals for years now (as have HAL). I would like to see future Princess ships being a bit more innovative with their design. I know a lot of people like the consistent look and feel but feel that Celebrity have really raised the game with their Edge class ships and Princess may need to be a bit less conservative next time.
Gary, thank you for this video. All your points are correct. We just got home from a 5 week cruise on the Sky Princess. We sailed on her October 2019 and now last month. The changes were amazing. Yes we expected less crew but that was just the start of the downfall. The food was really bad, and we are avid Princess cruisers. There were times we ended up eating at the International Cafe since the MDR didn't have a good menu and the buffet looked very unappetizing. I do not complain unless there is a reason and the time to complain is now. We are canceling a Princess cruise next year, we have to go on the one in Dec since final payment has been made. Princess, bring back the smaller ships and the attention that your customers expect. Thank you for letting me vent.
Sorry to hear! But definitely an issue
We went on Majestic Princess for 30 days in September and were so disappointed in the food in the MDR and International Cafe. Last time on Princess.
We have been on 2 Princess cruises this year, Panama Canal and British Isles, both 14 (15) days on Emerald and Island Princess …we experienced non of the negatives. We are going on another cruise again soon. That will be our 7th cruise with Princess since 2019.
We love this cruise line, learned our lesson and try to avoid cruising when school is out because this “new way of parenting” seems to inconvenience others. Children running around unattended, feeding themselves, entertaining themselves on a “family” vacation.
We love Princess because we don’t want to pay for things that have no value-add to us, like specialty dining and beverages/alcohol. We love having the option of opting out of these when choosing to pay the Standard fees.
The Medallion experience has been improving every cruise and now the staff is more comfortable using it and greeting you by name. The door unlocks perfectly in front of you and it’s easy to book excursions. Checking in on embarkation day is a breeze. There are minor glitches but the most important functions work properly. We never used the internet, because the whole point of cruising for us is to be disconnected from it, but a little internet always trickles through MedallionNet and Google Search works, so it’s fun looking up information about sea creatures and check the maps for the next port of call.
Having only been on one cruise in my life, I can’t obviously compare lines or previous experience but my trip to Alaska with my parents last year was amazing. We sailed in the Majestic Princess in September 21. The staff were amazing, super friendly and personable, the price was great, the drinks and the food were great, and the entertainment and activities though reduced due to Covid were still plenty. There were few kids on board as this was pre kid friendly vaccines, but it also felt inclusive for all generations. Princess also made sure to reimburse us for any excursions changes as there were a few. I found the medallion app mostly reliable and even my 65+ year old parents had no trouble using it. I feel like Princess is making premium cruising more accessible and less intimidating for first time and younger cruisers, with less stress about dress code( at least in Alaska), interesting activities for different ages, and many dining and beverages choices. I Am glad we ended up on Princess for our trip and plan on sailing with them again in the future
One cruise in your life? Yep you should not comment!
What an unkind thing to say. There's no need to have previous experience to give a relevant, detailed, thoughtful review, which is exactly what @vanniechan has done.
@@redrospective Yes you're right, now that I look at my reply it did sound unkind. I meant no disrespect. I was only trying to point out that after 23 cruises you learn that sometimes things don't always go as planned. Had some great cruises, but also my share of nightmare cruises. Take care and happy Thanksgiving!
@@denniscostabile4264 Hi Dennis, thanks for clarifying. Yes, there's definitely valuable perspective gained from multiple cruises (on the same or different lines). I just think that first-time cruising must be extremely important for the cruise industry (and therefore for cruisers too) because getting that experience right ensures more repeat cruisers which keeps the ship sailing (literally and metaphorically!) So that's why I think vanniechan's perspective is valuable and that it's important that they and people in a similar situation feel welcomed and able to share. I'm in the UK so we don't have Thanksgiving but Black Friday is getting bigger every year, so we get all the commercials but not the tasty food! I hope you have a great day tomorrow.
I’ve always cruised with Princess and have never had any issues, to me they are the best cruise company with best services, everything is first class with friendly staff, I will continue cruising with Princess because I know I can go wrong trying another one .
I think part of the increase in families is the cruise cost. I find Princess substantially less expensive than Other lines. I keep looking at other lines and any cruise I have looked at is usually $800-1000 higher. This is based on the fares with no included perks which is the best option for me.
We are platinum on princess and are noticing the changes. Seems they are morphing into carnival. I miss their small ship experience. May be time to change. Great videos we watch every one of yours.
Thanks so much for watching and adding your thoughts. Definitely they seem a bit “adrift” but so many people sailing with them are saying same things so hopefully they will tighten up!!!
@@tipsfortravellers we are going to book Holland for the Panama canal right now! Thanks!!! Retirement has begun and you are so so so helping us!
There's nothing wrong with Carnival, which you seem to be alluding to. I've cruised 48 times on many ships and, in some ways, Carnival is much better. Those that are critical of Carnival haven't cruised with Carnival or are inexperienced. All cruise lines have their signature and all ships have different crews and, therefore, are different.
Friends on Celebrity Edge for two weeks followed by Regal Princess for two weeks. Princess self service laundry was a nice plus on a longer trip. Other than that they gave the edge to Celebrity. Food on Princess was good, yet they now charge for a second main in the MDR. The Princess new fare structure is the move to bundle. Celebrity and NCL have variations on it. Don’t like it as they show a lower fare, you click on it and they immediately push a higher fare. Feels like bait and switch. Prefer Royal’s simple fares. You have the option to add on what you want without feeling like a have not. Thanks for a great video!
Thank you for this updated information. Also, condolences to the people of the UK on the death of Queen Elizabeth. What a gracious and remarkable woman she was. Related to cruising: Just watched a tv show that featured her Britannia yacht. I hope the transition to King Charles III goes well.
What I object about Princess are basically the cabins. If you decide to pay a bit more to cruise on Princess, shouldn’t you expect a better cabin experience? But they don’t offer you one unless you choose a more expensive cabin. No seating in their basic balcony cabins. A shower curtain instead of glass shower doors. No place to rest you feet when you need to shave your legs. Of course if you spend more money you can have these conveniences.
The problem is, most other cruise lines don’t charge extra for couch. And newer ships on other cruise lines usually come with glass shower doors and a shave bar at no extra cost.
I happen to have a bad back. The thought of spending a week sitting on a bed instead of a couch, whenever I’m in my cabin, hurts just thinking about it. So that tells me Princess has decided to give their passengers less , hoping they’ll spend more, when I get these basic conveniences at no extra cost on Royal, HAL and Celebrity.
It all comes down to how you treat your customers.
Totally agree about the cabins. They even removed the one barrel chair from balcony rooms. As an alleged premium line, it is a travesty that in order to watch TV, you must sit on the bed. We now will inly sail the Royal class ships in a deluxe balcony that at least has a loveseat, but Royal balconies are also the smallest at sea. We left Celebrity after many years due to their increased fares, but now will probably strongly consider a return to them.
I think the medallion is awesome. I have not had problems with it. Easy to find my travel buddies. Wi-Fi was fine.
Just came off the Majestic Princess south from Anchorage to Vancouver. Almost no kids at all. It was a great cruise, no complaints.
Just finished a 14 day on at 60 we were some of the youngest passengers on board. The app was great to use and we food the service wonderful .
Hi, Gary,
Thanks for all your great videos. We agree about the changes Princess Cruises is making. Overall, we're disappointed by them. We are Elite with Princess and have been on eight cruises since the return to sail in August 2021 on both Grand and Royal class ships. There has been a marked downward change in the quality of the cruises. Some of it can't be helped with the current labor shortages all cruise lines are coping, so we tend to overlook that, expecting it to improve over the next year. When we boarded Majestic Princess in August 2021, right after startup, we expected food to be fantastic as they would be looking to spoil us upon return. While we enjoyed the cruise, the menu was underwhelming in the MDR. Crown Grill was excellent as always. Our Regal Princess cruises (3) in Nov/Dec 2021 also had a disappointing menu in the MDR. Service was better as the ship was about 30% full on each cruise. In February this year we sailed a B2B on Caribbean Princess. In all our cruising, this was the first time we couldn't wait for the cruise to end. Service was fair and food mediocre, but our biggest complaint was the non-stop ear-splitting music around the pool every afternoon (82-85 decibels continuously). Since it wasn't a school break period, most of the passengers were 60+ and many would just leave the pool area because you couldn't talk to the person next to you. I talked to several officers about it but nothing changed. It was awful. I imagined it was what a Carnival cruise is like. Princess may be trying to woo a younger crowd, but there weren't young people on this cruise yet they didn't adjust the music or the volume.
We also noticed after January the internet was considerably worse, to the point on our cruise on Emerald Princess in April and Enchanted Princess last month, it was almost unusable. It was a constant complaint among passengers. We're leaving on a 21-day Med Cruise in two weeks on Regal Princess and we're praying the internet is better.
We like Princess, but we're afraid they are going to leave us behind. We're trying Azamara Onward in December and Oceania Riviera in January to see if we'll enjoy them that much more to make the higher cost worth it.
Keep up the excellent work and keep on cruising!
Kevin
Just returned from a 14 day cruise on the Royal Princess to Alaska. Medallion System worked well as a room key but every other feature of the app was a dismal failure. PRINCESS REALLY NEEDS TO FIX (or scrap) THE MEDALLION SYSTEM.
We took our first Princess cruise in January 2022 out of Los Angeles to Hawaii. LOVED this cruise, LOVED the medallion, never had a problem. It worked flawlessly. This was my husbands 1 st cruise and I was a little nervous, as this was a 15 day cruise. He loved it. We do have to say the food was a little under. I have been on cruises before.
A few years ago I did a huge trip with Princess to Alaska. Solo. I took every excursion I wanted since it was a "Bucket Trip." Loved the Princess Lodges! Would definitely do it again. But, solo to the Caribbean? I found it almost "boring". But, after the Pandemic, I was grateful and patient. Seriously.....we have a lot to be grateful for so we must not, must not forget that.
I’m on a segment of the 2023 world cruise. I think the Wi-Fi is actually very good, the food on board is fine, and I think the issues with the medallion is more user based than the system. The island princess is an older vessel, but it does the trick. I actually do not want to cruise on a floating amusement park. I Agree the the value and cruise locations are unmatched by most of the major lines.
I went on a Princess cruise in May. It was my fourth Princess Cruise, and my first time cruising with princess since 2019, before the pandemic, and we went on the Sky Princess. And I must say... the services was a bit disappointing. Many niceties such as the chocolate you get when your room is serviced had gone. There was no balloon drop. Gone was the free popcorn with the movies under the stars. Something definitely felt off about the whole trip. I'm sure much of this could be explained by covid or budget cuts, so okay.
But. One thing was so bad it can not be excused...
The food was awful. I found myself eating at the Salty Dog most nights, because the restaurants had done a complete nosedive. Compared to my first Princess Cruise in 2011 - and the food I experienced on Celebrity - the food on the Sky Princess in 2022 is in DIRE need of improvement. Firstly, I have allergies and they KEPT GETTING IT WRONG. They almost fed me something which had my allergen in it, and one night they even gave me the wrong meal. But aside from that, the food itself left so much to be desired. I found most evenings that I dined in the restaurant, my starter was a bowl of vegetables in hot water that they called soup. Every soup I had was the same. Random vegetables and a bit of meat in hot water. Often with a fancy name, but it was all just the same and because of my allergy it's about all I could have from the already very limited menu. I paid 5 grand for this?! Come on! Likewise, most of my mains involved some cut of red meat in some generic gravy (also often given a fancy name), where the meat was often full of fat and gristle. There was one evening where I had veal and was so excited for it. The veal was basically inedible, it was something like 70% gristle and that's not even an exaggeration. Also, on port days they often used to serve local dishes from the country of the port you were staying in, that was largely no longer a thing. I dare say the food situation in the restaurants was unacceptable.
And then there was the buffet. The buffet seemed to have less than half the options it used to have, and everywhere was so tucked away and impossible to find. It felt more like getting a school meal than anything else. No longer could you spoon yourself out some food, now they dished it to you. The buffet felt sprawling and confusing, and the food again had done a total nosedive in quality. Also, I went to get myself some water and a steward told me off because the dispenser is now staff only. Since when?! There was absolutely no sign telling me that this was staff only. It never was before!
This is why I ate more at the Salty Dog Grill than any other restaurant or buffet.
Princess, you need to URGENTLY step up your food game, because you have fallen into serious decline with that.
Took a cruise on the Regal Princess in December of 2019. Everything was great, especially the food. My post pandemic cruise was May 2022 on the Grand Princess. What a disappointment in many areas and we'd booked a full suite! The food was the worst of the 13 Princess cruises we've taken. This last cruise made us Elite but we're thinking about jumping to Celebrity and trying out HAL. Princess has lost its way.
We always felt there were many similarities between HAL and Princess. While we like HAL a lot better, some of it is solely personal preference. We kind of felt like Princess was a slight step down from HAL. Princess was more of a 4.5* cruise and HAL more 5*. But again, personal preference. For instance, we don't care about big shows or name brand comedians, but adore a very happy and healthy crew. HAL has better crew than many six star lines, imo.
But both lines have suffered in many categories during the past few years. HAL has tried to recover its reputation for food quality, as Gary talked about a while back. Princess seems to be really trying to up their game with regards to technology. Time will tell.
The only Princess cruises we are even remotely interested taking are the older ships with window suites that are priced less than balconies.
Holland America is better than Princess
I am sure these are lovely changes for those with children. It is a reason for those of us who do not want them in our spaces on vacation to choose a different line. I am fond of children. I am also very fond of peace and quiet.
I’m glad the cruise line is more appealing to families as I have young kids. We went on our first cruise this year.
We've been on two Princess cruises this year. I agree 100% the quality of the food has gone down as well as the service. We've been sailing on Princess since 1991 and noticed the quality is just not there anymore. They have taken away many of the nice things we were use to. That said, we are booked on two more Princess Cruises next year and all things considered we still love Princess.
Been on Princess twicw before the pandemic and went on HAL recently to Alaska. The menus and choices were pretty limited on HAL, eg. only choice of ice cream in the main dining was vanilla....and the overall quality across board was so so. Thought it was not as good as Princess, now it looks like they are about the same... everything was going downhill... I hope things would improve, fingers crossed!
I also started w/ Princess in 1991 when there was still a lot of Sitmar influence. What I wouldn't do to sail aboard the original Pacific/Island & Dawn/Fair Princess's! They didn't have all the bells & whistles of modern day ships, but there was a completely different atmosphere onboard. The focus was on the service, food, passengers, & crew. Lovey era of cruising!
@@trainattendant5810 Our first Princess cruise was on the old Dawn Princess and it was fantastic. We then went on the Island Princess, again perfect. Those were the days!
Those who have been cruising for several years know that amenities and perks have been reduced or eliminated long before the pandemic. Now that cruising has resumed, we have to be patient and expect changes. With the total shutdown for a couple of years, it's a challenge for cruise lines to stay afloat (pun intended). Many ships were scrapped to reduce the fleet. It's a bit harsh to expect things to be what they were. If you expect perfection, you'll be disappointed. We shouldn't even expect what was normal. I'm just glad that cruising is back. Give me a lounge chair on deck with an adult beverage and a view of the deep blue sea and I'm happy!!
@@trainattendant5810 I agree. Cruising was much different back in the day. You may recall that not many people had cruised back then and it was believed that it was for those with money. Nowadays, cruise lines are appealing to a larger market with alll of the amenities on ships. Cruising and vacationing on a ship are two different experiences. I enjoyed cruising better in the Sitmar days!
Agree with everything except you understated the food issue. I am used to Carnival, but my family took the Grand Princess in Alaska last June. A bucket list trip for my 75 year old mother..
I am celiac. Carnival is very accommodating by providing gluten free versions of virtually any of their dishes, allowing me to choose breakfast and dinner items the night before. I expected similar service from Princess. Many of the menu items were a "no, that cannot be adjusted" answer. Additionally, I was told there was no option for dessert. They would bring me something. That something was five nights out of seven chocolate mousse. I was upset that we spent nearly $16,000 for four of us and they offered me pudding for dessert.
Additionally, no one in my party thought the food was above mediocre, and Sabatinis was horrifyingly bad.
The Princess trip was so disappointing, I canceled the inside cabin British isle cruise with my mother next summer with Princess and booked Carnival balcony for less money.
You're saying that Carnival is better than Princess?!?
@@cherylkoski7184 surprisingly, yes. I see Carnival as the Motel 6. I was extremely disappointed to pay a lot more to get worse food.
All cruises are what you make of it. Carnival is not Motel 6. The Panorama is a beautiful ship with all of the amenities that are needed for all passengers. The Breeze is another excellent choice. If you expect perfection, you'll be disappointed in everything life has to offer. I've cruised 48 times all over the world on several cruise lines and many ships. Cruise lines are different with their own signature experiences. I have enjoyed every cruise from three to 21 days and several B2B. Usually, complainers are too demanding or are inexperienced. It's best to try each cruise line and find what is most appealing. Also, crew turns over on 6-8 month contracts, so the experience may be very different on the same ship. As in day-to-day life, there will be disappointments, but letting them be the focus is counterproductive.
I loved almost everything about my cruise on the Majestic last year. I found the Medallion program to be a game-changer. The app was extremely glitchy, but I loved the medallion itself. As for the food that week, it was horrifying. Whether you ate in the MDR or any of the specialty restaurants, the food was pretty revolting. Even Alfredo’s pizza was awful. Everyone I was with complained about the food. As for overall value, I felt like Princess has much more to offer. So there’s goods and bads with Princess. Now, if I’m headed to a more tropical destination, I prefer NCL or RCL.
On the discovery princess right now on it’s way back to Seattle (stopping in Victoria BC) the service is very good, the staff really makes every effort to please. The wifi is not good at all. The medallion experience is okay, I like that it automatically opens the cabin door. I feel like they could have more onboard activities on sea days. The thermal spa is beautiful but very small and extremely over crowded. Overall I would give the experience an 8/10. I am booked on the Enchanted Princess in October to New England.
WiFi in Alaska is always poor.
Just come off the Enchanted, on a N Europe cruise. Its a lovely ship but the food was variable, wifi almost unusable and there wasn't much 'serious' entertainment. Mainly sales events and slightly cheesy quizzes. Staff were lovely
@@andyrawlins I'm on the Enchanted Princess now on the Transatlantic. The service is excellent. But I agree that the wifi is practically unusable. I actually had to ask for a reasonable refund even though they acknowledged the issues with it. The food was horrible in the buffet. It's almost as if Princess has given up after Covid. Sad. Also on these new ships the full walk around Promenade deck is gone. And the walking track is on a very small windy dec k 17! Horrible ship design! Very hard to get from one e d of the ship to the other. The rooms are the smallest I have seen at sea. But at least comfortable and functional. Sadly may be my last Princess cruise.
Going on my first cruise from Vancouver to San Francisco on Princess, sort of a 3-day "test" cruise to see how it is before I take my sister to Alaska in the spring. I got a solo balcony room midships for only $200, added on crew appreciation and a soda package, total about $300. My airfare will cost more than that. I'll only have to take 2 days off from work, hopefully will eat some tasty food, do a little gambling, some reading, and see the shore as it passes by. I seldom drink alcohol, so the soda package and regular coffee is fine with me. Last thing I want is wifi, I get enough computers at work. To me, it's like a weekend in Vegas without the rip-offs of resort fees and so on. I already know the casino games will be more in favor of the house, but it's hard to mess around with the rules on craps, so that's the game for me for the little gambling I will do. Really looking forward to this little getaway, and this Tips for Travellers channel has been instrumental in helping me make the right choices. Thank you!
The new ship looks amazing. I cannot wait to be on board. Thank you princess for giving me one more reason to love sailing with Princess!
For me I am moving back to Holland and Celebrity for adult cruising. For quick cheaper trips 4 or 5 days to sail with my teen grandkids I go to Carnival.
I have been meaning to watch this vid for ages. Well, we just got back from 2 months of travel that included a b2b on Azamara, followed by 12D on Celebrity (Dubai to Australia to New Zealand). After 10+ years of cruising, we learned A LOT! We were supposed to join friends on Princess on a transatlantic this spring, but due to a drastic change in my wife's health, we had to cancel the Princess cruise. We have been in love with Azamara for years. Small ships make a HUGE difference in the cruise experience. Celebrity couldn't come close, and this was our second experience with them. My chief complaint was the unreal noise level on Celebrity, with 2600 passengers on board. Whether it was the band noise on Level 3 reverberating up the atrium to Deck 8, or the out of control kids screaming or running everywhere, or just being unable to hear conversation in the main dining room during dinner, serving 1000 people a pop, we didn't like it! Now knowing Princess is even larger in all categories we dislike, pricing would have to be spectacular for me to book with them. Next BIG lesson is that you most definitely get what you pay for. Food in Celebrity was good to very good, and always served cold. Not merely my experience, but those of long time Celebrity cruisers. Celeb is unquestionably less expensive than Azamara, but when the nickel and diming is included, it isn't that much less expensive. So all in all Gary, you have delivered a video that knocked the ball out of the ball park, and saved us a lot of money and future grief. I won't say I'll never travel with them, just that it is highly unlikely that we would actually go and seek them out. Now let me check out their Japan cruises. Thanks again, excellent job. Oh, my offer to join you as a travel partner still stands...
I have found the ships to be in good condition and well looked after. The food has been very good and a good choice. The service in the restaurants has been good especially club class. The bar service has been bad the App is awful and the internet in Europe terrible.
It seems like the Carnival executives have decided all their subsidiaries need to be more like Carnival.
Don't know why they couldn't just let Princess be princess, they could've branded the mega ships as Carnival.
That's nonsense! All cruise lines have their signature experience and will be different. I've cruised 48 times all over the world with several cruise lines and many ships. I've enjoyed every single one. If you expect perfection, you'll be disappointed. Carnival is much better in some ways, just as Princess is much better in some ways. The Carnival Panorama is a beautiful ship with all of the amenities that are needed. Those that are critical of Carnival haven't cruised with Carnival or are inexperienced. Cruising has just returned and there will be hiccups. There are staffing shortages and many employees are inexperienced. That's true onboard ships and at businesses ashore. Some venues on ships are still closed. While disappointing, at least the ship is at sea with me onboard. Suck it up and Bon voyage!!
The Princess line is not trying as hard as some other lines to find its way--they are not refunding promptly, rectifying shortcomings, attending to Covid suffering passengers or meeting their itineraries as they could. Fix the Crown and refurb where needed! The medallion is not lining up to the hype and is not yet consistently reliable---possibly rolled out too early??? I, personally prefer their smaller ships, but if they chose to accommodate a different crowd, my money can and will go elsewhere.
More kids? No thanks! Love your videos, mate, you do good work.
We prefer the smaller Princess ships like Diamond Princess and Coral Princess. The venues we like such as Explorers Lounge and Wheelhouse Bar have been replaced by restaurants on the big new ships. As we like music and dancing there was entertainment every nite in the venues mentioned above. Unfortunately on the big new ships pretty well all the dancing and music is in the atrium which becomes horribly crowded. The medallion app has a lot of glitches. We prefer the old card system. As elite members of Princess we have noticed that many of the benefits have been removed so loyalty is no longer rewarded.
We also are elite members and I couldn't agree with you more. Unfortunately I'm assuming you're in my age group lol We are dinosaurs and our opinions no longer matter. But every chance we get we try to go on the smaller cruise ships in the offseason when children are few lmao
We cruised from Brisbane and Sydney to all South Pacific destinations with Princess achieving a Platinum status. The final cruise from Sydney was with their large Majestic Princess. That finished us with cruising. Too big, too impersonal, too many people, poor service and a decided drop in food quality. When it all comes down to it, the big ship phobia is all about economies of scale and contribution to the bottom line. At circa 3500 passengers that pales when compared to the recent RC Wonder of the Seas with a capacity of just shy of 7000
passengers. I could never contemplate being on a ship of that size. They have never built a ship that is unsinkable. Let us just hope that tragedy never befalls a mega ship....the loss of lives will be horrendous.
I hope Princess gets their things together as they used to be our favorite. I like the same ship layout on all their ships.
This is a spot on analysis of Princess in 2022. I sailed aboard Discovery Princess in April & don't think I'll be returning. This after cruising over 30 years with Princess. So many changes to the line regarding ship design/size, food, service, ect. Truth be told I don't think Princess is concerned with loosing us Elites & Platinums. Back in the 90's Princess was a decidedly upscale line. Miss the days when Princess was a very British & Italian experience(I miss Sitmar!)
On Discovery in April the whole experience felt like staying at an airport corporate chain hotel, not a beloved cruise line. Too many people everywhere all the time. Crew interaction felt anonymous & perfunctory. The constant daily MUTS playing action/adventure movies at inappropriately high volumes made lounging by the pool impossible. The Retreat & Wake View pools were too small h shallow. The lack of a fully encircling promenade deck & observation lounge is egregious. My six previous cruises to this Discovery were aboard Viking Ocean. Night & day, apples & oranges!
I miss Sitmar, too. Was pleasantly pleased that Sitmar served Omaha Steaks in the MDR!!
Took a huge Princess cruise over a decade ago with kids, loved it. Took one with my mom a few years after that and again it was good but sad I didn’t get a balcony room. Have another one next month with in laws, back to a balcony room. Hoping it’s good.
I don't cruise, but I enjoy hearing your insights and tips on the cruises you take.
Went on the our first Princess cruise 3 weeks ago. Crown Princess out of Seattle doing the Inside Passage. Gary is spot on, totally agree with almost everything he said. Medallion nice, app glitchy, food so so, service uneven.
Hi Gary we have just got off the Coral Princess around Australia cruise. There wasn't any kids on board most had walkers lol. We found the medallion to be great, is it perfect , no . But like any technology it will improve. Wifi was also good, Trouble with wifi can be with weather related. People sometimes complain about nothing. One woman complained to the desk that the captain was going too fast🤷♀️. It was an amazing cruise the staff were unbelievable. The captain did a wonderful job missing all the storms. We are now looking to go to fiji on the Royal Princess which is here as well.
Thanks for sharing your experience! It is staggering what people complain about !
We have Enjoyed many Cruises in Our 30 Years , But
Princess is Our GO TOO for Alaska ... But They are all
great ...And ,
Cruise ON !!!
You have to “shop” when choosing a cruise line. Select one that suits your preferences and your “age”!!!
Have been on 3 Princess cruises - won’t be going again. Catering to more mass market very unappealing.
Did our first Princes trip.
14 days Caribbean.
Really disappointed and do many ways.
Just got off a Holland America Europe trip not as good as pre covid but booked two more trips.
Princes is following Carnaval business model and that's dead for us.
Enjoy and get out there.
The medallion program just seems like a typical way for big corporations to lean on data to make things easier for them, couching it as a big win for the customer, which is baloney. Disney does crap like that all the time.
Planning a Panama Canal trip in end of March 2024....hope things get ironed out by then !
Very good overview of the issues and positives about Princess. It’s our favorite cruise line. Last year when Alaska opened to cruises I got right online and booked a cruise.
This summer we and 6 other family members took the Princess UK cruise. Our 11 year old granddaughter was with us. She very much enjoyed the kids club. She enjoyed the entire cruise and wants to go on another.
I do like the medallions but agree about the app. It’s slow and we ended up not using many of the features. One reason we like Princess is the itineraries. We enjoy going to different places and Princess has the variety we desire. We are booked this winter for the Panama Canal and winter 2024 going to Australia and New Zealand.
Just disembarked the Coral Princess after a short cruise from Sydney first cruise back for over 2yrs. We are Elite with Princess we found the Medalion a pain good service in main dining room the food was good and the crew were glad to have us back
I made a purchase in the shop a gift they had no bags to put the item in very poor however we've waited so long to cruise here. Booked on Majestic in November so we hope it's better we are just glad our ships are back Hooray!
We were on the Emerald Princess British Isles cruise in late July. Although we did have fun, we were disappointed overall by the items you mention including service, food quality, and medallion app functionality. We were ALSO disappointed by many other things including the lack of any recognition of our 3 special events (we had 2 birthdays and 1 anniversary in our group, and the only recognition was a tiny icon on the screen next to the appropriate door), a couple of people on the cruise director's team who had some laughs at the expense of guests but not in a completely benign way, a changed dining reservation without notification, and a strange charge on my bill that I'm still trying to figure out after calling, emailing, etc, and some odd entertainment. We also had to get in the slower line to embark because I didn't input a credit card for my children's use. (First I had resisted entering one because I don't let my kids purchase extras on the ship, and later, when I realized that would keep us out of the expedited lane to board, I tried to enter it but the app would not save the info! So despite a lot of preparation for boarding, we were in the slow line.) I've emailed Princess to offer feedback because the survey link had expired by the time I got home and I received no response.
Customer Service sucks on Princess ships.
I have just look at video of New Sun Princess (2024). Ultra modern. Unreal. Very impressive. Tempting.
Customer service is a big issue for Princess in our experience. My in-laws were booked into a mini-suite next to ours on an upcoming journey however Princess inexplicably placed them on a wait list and so they’ve lost their stateroom. 5 months later, multiple phone calls and hours spent dedicated to trying to sort out the issue and it is yet to be rectified. Very poor.
Princess usually comes thru with an even better solution for your benefit .. so be patient
Ditto, Gary. I hope Princess gets their app working efficiently soon.
Good to know about Princess. We are thinking of taking an Alaska cruise next year, so we will try to book HAL.
I think it’s a big mistake to have ‘high tech’ as a USP. Especially when the tech doesn’t work properly. The other cruise lines with physical differentiations are better.
Looking forward to rebooking our P&O cruise from Brisbane up to the tropics & back next year & we’ve thoroughly enjoyed this cruise line previously.
No bells & whistles but relaxing as we’re not at work.
Yes, the bells and whistles are designed to attract the non-typical cruiser. I don't need them to have a great cruise experience. I began cruising in 1978 when ships were small and there was an MDR with two seatings. There were no "speciality" restaurants and one formal night that was formal. That was a true cruise experience. Nowadays, ships are floating theme parks. Give me a lounge chair on deck with an adult beverage and a view of the deep blue sea and I'm happy.
@@caseytcat888 Good to hear Casey, we all have those nice things we like & my wife & I both work 60+ hours a week so all those add on restaurants & pampering services are super nice 🤠
@@sumosprojects oh, I agree with you. Nothing wrong with pampering. I'm fine with specialty restaurants and other amenities. I don't need the water slides and those things that are aimed at young families. I avoid them and prefer a more subdued experience.
Most who say Princess is fine have never traveled on Viking, Oceania or Azamara (or the ultra-luxury). Compared to Celebrity or Carnival it's not bad. We said "No more" after a terrible European cruise with food so bad many sent it back (the buffet was just horrible with a lot of self-service), the constant nickel and diming approach for water, wine, coffee, soda, and halls were blocked with the junk from their stores they hawked when we were at sea. I speak another language (and can get by in a few more) but I simply could not understand the folks on the ship. We got back and I refused to fill out the "how can we improve" form because they obviously are not reading them.
I just priced a week long Alaska cruise for two on Viking. $12,000. For a saving of $ 7,000, I'll put up with a slightly inferior food menu.
We love sailing on Princess Cruises. They seem to cater to older adults which we like as we are in mid-70’s. I wouldn’t change a thing. Also we love our medallion’s
I have issues with Princess which I don't hear mentioned in your video. It is the entertainment. Daytime entertainment consists of trivia, trivia, trivia, game shows, game shows, and more game shows. Evening entertainment is song and dance shows over and over. What about bringing in some interesting lecturers like Cunard? Maybe it's just me.
Good take on the review Gary. I appreciate your objective approach to this assessment.
Took the British Isles Princess cruise in June. Unless there are major changes, I would never sail with them again. The Emerald Princess looks old and tired. The public spaces had dirt and finger smudges. The food was absolutely terrible (except in the one specialty restaurant that was open). The medallion is mediocre at best and Wi fi was not very good. Lots of Covid on the ship and the medical crew was overwhelmed and not that responsive. Many ship excursions cancelled at the last minute. We also felt nickel and dimed to death- especially when we had to purchase a water package (really?).The upside was it was nice that your cabin door opened automatically with the medallion and the crew was really great.
I enjoyed my cruise on the old Princess, but it just couldn’t compete with some of the cruise lines I prefer more. I might be interested in the new Princess, but only if my grandchildren are interested. Other than the multigenerational emphasis, the new changes make me less interested in Princess, not more.
Gary, we are big fans, and wish you would do a similar video about what has happened to Cunard. We recently got off a repositioning cruise from LA to Barcelona. We had been on the Queen Elizabeth about ten years ago, and had fine time. So we thought this was a safe bet. Wow,we’re we wrong. We ran into a couple who had Diamond Status on Cunard and the told they thought the line had sunk terribly. But it gets worse. On the first night at the late seating for dinner we discovered that they had closed the other main dining room on the third floor. The result was that everyone was packed like sardines into the the other dining room. I told them I didn’t want to sit so close to people, but they said they couldn’t reseat us that night. We were too exhausted to leave after boarding the ship that day. They did reseat us later, but every time we looked we had a table with social distancing they would later jam more people. All because they made the irresponsible and cheapskate decision to close that other dining. Well you can probably guess where this is going… we later tested positive for Covid, and they isolated us, and my husband got sick. I will give them this, their doctor was competent once we had problems. But they get a totally failing grade for their irresponsibility. In a lot of other ways the whole experience did not seem very classy, as it once was, confirming the view of the Diamond passengers. I told Cunard I wanted a partial refund given how strikingly stupid and wayward their actions were to the recommendations of the CDC. The sadly hilarious part is that so many people were sick on the ship that it was turned away from Bermuda, where the ship is registered! In the Captain, s word the visit had become Untenable. When in fact it was their own actions and cheapness that were untenable in the midst of Covid. If they don’t make this right for us I feel I am going spend some more time writing cutting reviews about just how bad this all was, to warn other.
Their customer service is awful. Double charged our checking account and took hours on the phone to fix it. Then they gave a comp they later took back! Had it in writing from them but they said it was a mistake by one of their reps and they can't give complimentary upgrades to smooth over a problem. Just wow!
Kids are not a problem. Kids are wonderful. Bad parenting, lack of supervision is the problem in my opinion. Embrace the kids, they are our future.
I just took my kids away on their first cruise and they loved it 👍
Thank. You for this video. 1st in addition to various pkgs I think the new bid for upgrades are going to bite Princess.
Food just completed a 16 day Canada/Greenland with princess. Here are my takeaways: the food has improved since March but not to 2019 quality. We were impressed over the 16 days no menu repeats( of course princess favorites offered daily at all 3 meals and lobster tail was offered all 3 gala nights). We were also surprised that each evening (near the end of dinner)chefs came around and asked about our experience. The night my husband did not eat his dry chicken breast we had a card and treats in our room the next night. We are not elite and like you choose for destination not brand. I have been lucky to get selected for chef table I was in heaven but that was 2019 hope to get picked for one again
No I paid to relax.
Kids are great - when they’re yours or your friends. But the noise and clamour of others is just awful when trying to rest.
@@monicaemm4109 I have the same view about people in general
Even though princess doesn't have solo cabins, I frequently find great deals off solo-suppliment for normal cabins. Hopefully that stays and isn't just because we're still transitioning from covid-times.
Agreed, I’ve sailed on 3 Princess cruises as a solo traveler since the restart of cruising and I have also found great fares. I think a lot of it has to do with what Gary said in the video, they have to fill up the ships. I always attend the solo meet ups and I have met some interesting people from around the world. I’m sailing solo on Princess this December on a Panama Canal cruise.
We do have the Sky Princess booked in December and the Discovery in 2023, the last Royal class.
Though we’ve earned Elite class over the years, that’ll be it for us on Princess.
Truth is they’ve not been the same since taken over by Carnival. We don’t do Carnival.
Though no doubt pricier, we have booked 10 cruises over the next 24 months on cruise-lines that offer better itineraries, better accommodation, better food and better service.
For example Celebrity Apex and Ascent. Oceania Vista (x3), MSC Seascape and Regent Seven Seas Grandeur.
As a for instance, we did the Caribbean in December in an S1 Sky suite on the Enchanted Princess.
There was no plug for a bedside CPAP or an available extension cord.
The minibar had a small gin and that was it! Nothing else available.
No welcome wine/champagne or fruit bowl as is customary for suite-guests.
Smoking was still being allowed in the casino. They had ‘special’ no-smoking nights 🥳
We had a very large balcony at the aft but no wi-fi 🤷🏼♂️
Suite design had the A/C blasting in our face in bed so we couldn’t sleep. They had to block it off (with cardboard).
Room service coffee with cream ordered but no cream delivered. Could barely taste alcohol in cocktails.
Mask rule was not enforced by staff. Many passengers flaunted it by cruise-end by not wearing a mask at all.
Steak house not serving even half-decent beef.
We have over the years come to love Princess and it’s with great sadness we see them decline so badly.
We’re very fortunate to be in a position to pick and choose. Being selective is not being snobby.
It’s just that after 25+ years cruising and with 50 cruises under our belt, we know the good from the bad.
Wishing you all safe-travels from here in Vancouver BC
You could enhance all of your cruise experience, if you tried Carnival. I began cruising more than 40 years ago in 1978 and have cruised all over the world with several cruise lines and on many ships. I've thoroughly enjoyed 48 cruises from three to 21 days. All cruise lines have their signature experience and strive to provide a great cruise vacation. It's what they do. If passengers expect perfection, they will probably be disappointed. Including the cruise that I just finished, I have eight cruises booked in the next 12 months including two B2B. Cruises are what you make of them and I don't let a disappointment deter me. I just consider it to be something that made my cruise different than the last cruise and different than the next cruise. I was B2B on the Carnival Panorama inaugural and it really is a beautiful ship. Each ship is different and can't really be rated against other ships even within the same cruise line fleet. They're all struggling with the restart after the shutdowns. Many staff members are new and inexperienced. Local businesses are having the same challenges. Crew turns over with 6-8 month contracts and the same ship may provide a different experience from cruise to cruise. It's the nature of the beast and the world we're living in. Bon voyage!!
I have been cruising for 13 years and I am going on a medallion cruise I hoe it dose not take away from the traditional cruising experience.
Thanks for this video. A a regular Princess traveller, I appreciate your honesty. I found in my recent 2 cruises, the food is not up to par and I am hoping this will improve. I am NOT a fan of the medallion. I t has more hype than functionality. As far as the price packages, I am a plain person and go for the traditiona price and will gladly buy A drink when it suits me, not a week's worth.
In May I took a UK cruise on the Emerald Princess. It was the same for me as two previous pre-Covid Princess cruises (same route) except that the buffet food was served by the staff. I only used the Medallion for basic non-app uses. My biggest disappointment was that the gift shop had been outsourced so they no longer sold ship-specific souvenir magnets. I had been looking forward to my fifth ship magnet.
The technology jump in a few years is impressive, Medallion worked amazingly well
Gone very expensive but my favorite cruise line
Sailed on my very first cruise back in May on the Disney Dream. I have a West Coast cruise booked on the Grand Princess the end of April. As I don't have any real point of comparison, I will be going into this cruise with open expectations.
I am finished with Princess just as soon as I use up the credits. One goal they have is to run off the loyalty passengers (Elite) to save themselves a few dollars on trivial perks. The Medallion app is a disaster, especially with the dining reservations, where no reservation gets recorded and there are long lines at all three dining rooms. Coupled with a weeks-long snafu on the website (where large numbers of people could not long on) Princess shows it has the worst IT department at sea. The elimination of traditional dining is the worst sin, IMO. We are now HAL fans and hope fervently the corporation doesn't ooze over onto them, too.
Went on a Princess cruise to Norway in August 2017. Kids were everywhere and the ship didn't have the facilities to handle the demands of so many children. But the food and service was quite good.
Thank you. Your reviews and information summaries are always excellent.
Thank you Gary for a comprehensive and interesting video on Princess. We are Elite Level Cruisers and haven't been on a cruise with Princess since just before Covid Lockdown (Feb 2020).
We will give them another opportunity later this year, but as you say, their Pricing Packaging seems complicated and their Drinks packages are outrageous. 🤨
My wife and I are getting Elite status on our next cruise. Sad to say it will probably be our last cruise with Princess. Had a nightmare year dealing ( and trying to reach them) with customer service and relations.
Sorry to hear you having that issue. Though I am hearing that a lot and had same on my last cruise when issues arose on flights and transfers booked through them
We have no complaints for Princess. If we don’t want a cruise with a lot of kids, we don’t sail in summer (regardless of cruise line). The kids clubs are there to keep them entertained and out of the main areas. Have had no problem with the medallion app. Food and service is outstanding. Also, I’ve used the chat feature on their website to get customer service and it was fast and easy.
I got off the Discovery Princess in June and I was on the Caribbean Princess in March. My service was fine but the entertainment, (rap), passenger's lack of manners, ( girls running through the atrium in string bikinis) and Carnival style activities were a turn off. I am an older Princess cruiser and I have enjoyed Princess because it offered a premium, adult experience with class. I have two cruises booked currently, however, I booked on Celebrity' because they have kept their higher standards. I will wait and see what happens in the future with Princess.
I'm finding that Princess Plus is added to the cruise booking without being asked. Beware, everyone!
Just finished our 34th Princess Cruise. 15 days to Hawaii and back. Crew was great. Unfortunately, there has been a definite shift in the food. The food is NOT as good as it was. You can tell that they use the cheapest ingredients for everything. The food is substandard. After so many cruises we were well aware of their menus. Not anymore. It’s sad to have to say it but the food is cheap. I think we might be done unless it turns around. Medallion was constantly frozen and not working.
I’ve been cruising since I was 4 and have been on 7 Princess Cruises with my 8th one this May. I’ve been on 5 other cruise lines but Princess has been my favorite overall. I do see the changes you have pointed out and I do miss using the keycards. But me and my parents love the cruise line!
My wife and I recently took a round UK cruise with Princess, our first cruise since Covid struck, and we were very, very disappointed. There was no single big issue but there were lots and lots of little things that were very poor.
As you say, the Medallion App was very patchy; whenever we ordered food or drinks it took ages for them to deliver it and we constantly saw waiters walking around aimlessly with a tray of food or drinks looking for the passengers who ordered it. There also seemed to be a lot less staff in general on the ship. The food, in terms of the choice and the quality was worse than I have ever experienced before on a cruise.
Based on this experience we will not be cruising with Princess again.
Great vid guys thanks for sharing your time with us 2 Canadians 🇨🇦 living in Mexico sending you support cheers ✌️🥰🙏
Interesting point on solo cabins. Will be hard to fill mega ships if they can't cater for that part of the market.
Princess is my favorite line, however, I have not been on a Princess cruise since 2018, pre-pandemic. My next cruise will be a Princess cruise and I'm hoping that the service/food/ and overall quality I have come to love is still there. If any qualities are lacking, I'm hoping that Princess will address these deficits.
We sailed for 2 weeks on the Sky in the Caribbean last December. Both weeks were 1/3-1/2 full, as they were just getting started post-pandemic. Everything was quite fine--I love the medallion and the internet service. We'll be back this Dec on the Regal, hoping for another excellent experience. To us, it's a floating resort!
Crown Princess in 2022 has been a disaster for passengers, however Princess refuses to advise passengers of ship’s mechanical issues and cancellation of ports until after you have given them your money.
Just got off p&o Iona and it was an extreme contrast to my Norway cruise with Princess in June. I really much prefer when it’s adult only
Great video! Very informative and no fluff! Keep up the good work - your time is not wasted!
on Island Princess from late Sept til Mid Oct 2022, they cut off a lot of food including the regular NY steak as a daily MDR menu item. Also, their meat and fish options were also reduced greatly in all food outlets. very disappointing.
I find princess going slightly family-friendly is good for us. Our last cruise we were the youngest couple on it (28 for me, 26 for my husband) so it would be nicer seeing some other folks our age that aren't members of the party-boat scene
I agree with pretty much all of your assessments. Service is still lacking a year after you posted this video so your hope of it improving is quashed. Also food is getting worse not better. Medallion app/ocean now still don't work. I don't really consider princess to be in the premium category.
I admit that the Medallion app has had issues in the past but I think it’s constantly improving. We had no major issues when we sailed on Panama Canal cruise. Most issues are either user error or just a matter of closing and restarting the app.
Just got off Royal Princess and the service of the crew was great, food was barely ok, WiFi was terrible, ship didn’t offer enough shows/music that we were interested in.
I am on the Emerald presently doing the British Isles. I preferred the food we had on the transatlantic on the NCL Escape last May but the embarkation and disembarkation was chaotic and Princess was a breeze. Next week we will be on the Celebrity Silhouette and in November on Holland Koningsdam. So we will find what will be our best cruise company for us.
Did 3 Alaskan cruises this summer, Majestic, Discovery and Crown Princess. I felt the good in the MDR and speciality restaurants were more of the Princess quality on the Crown. All ships had spotty Wi-fi but found the app to order things to your location very consistent. Discovery and Majestic had lots of multi-generational cruisers but not so on the Crown. MDR service most consistent on the Crown. I am hoping things will have improved by my winter cruises on the Enchanted.
We have used Princess on several family cruises pre COVID and booked again for next April. Princess have been doing great 3rd/4th cabin deals for years now (as have HAL). I would like to see future Princess ships being a bit more innovative with their design. I know a lot of people like the consistent look and feel but feel that Celebrity have really raised the game with their Edge class ships and Princess may need to be a bit less conservative next time.