TR: Ruby Princess Pt. 4 - Cruise Review Days 6-8 (2/4-2/6/2011)

On 2/11/11 1:16 AM, GodsOnSafari wrote:

Our dinner was, once again, quite good, and my hope of getting my
birthday celebrated a couple days early did occur. Man, that is a
serious cake they bring out! I should have picked a different night
too, because apparently this is Baked Alaska night on the ship. Didn't
know that. How did I not research Baked Alaska? This blows Carnival's
sad sack version of the dessert out of the water. You get a slab of
the merengue/dough covered ice cream concoction delivered and between
that and the good entrée (Strip steak, which I chose over the
delicious looking lobster tail - d'oh!), I was finally at the point
where it seemed like I could see why Princess had its reputation. And
yet, as good as it was, it did feel a bit like it was just a little
bit too late. I wanted to love you, guys. Really.


Over the past few years, Carnival Corp seems to have taken steps to make
Princess a Low Price Leader. One hotel director said they were trying
to position Princess against Royal Caribbean. And in many cases
Princess does offer lower prices than most other lines. But along with
that comes cost cutting... and along with fuel, food is one of the major
costs. And since they can't cut fuel costs, they go after food costs.

If you want significantly better food, and don't want to pay the money
for the big boys (Crystal, Silversea, etc.), then Celebrity, Cunard and
Holland America are nice mid-way alternatives. They may not be in
Crystal's league as far as food, but they're significantly better than
Princess, RCI or NCL. On my Sapphire Princess sailing a few weeks ago
(Mexican Riviera) I must have sent back 4 or 5 meals simply because they
were so bad. One night I sent back a second entree. My friends at the
table started teasing me that I was too fussy. I cut off a piece of the
veal for them to try... and they said "yeah, you can't even chew it". I
don't think I ever had to send back anything on Celebrity, HAL or
Cunard. Since they charge a little more, they can afford to buy better
quality food.

--Tom

Over the past few years, Carnival Corp seems to have taken steps to make
Princess a Low Price Leader. One hotel director said they were trying
to position Princess against Royal Caribbean. And in many cases
Princess does offer lower prices than most other lines. But along with
that comes cost cutting... and along with fuel, food is one of the major
costs. And since they can't cut fuel costs, they go after food costs.

If you want significantly better food, and don't want to pay the money
for the big boys (Crystal, Silversea, etc.), then Celebrity, Cunard and
Holland America are nice mid-way alternatives. They may not be in
Crystal's league as far as food, but they're significantly better than
Princess, RCI or NCL. On my Sapphire Princess sailing a few weeks ago
(Mexican Riviera) I must have sent back 4 or 5 meals simply because they
were so bad. One night I sent back a second entree. My friends at the
table started teasing me that I was too fussy. I cut off a piece of the
veal for them to try... and they said "yeah, you can't even chew it". I
don't think I ever had to send back anything on Celebrity, HAL or
Cunard. Since they charge a little more, they can afford to buy better
quality food.

--Tom

What I see with Princess is inconsistency in their restaurants and ships. I
have had great food and service on the Crown and Caribbean Princess and
horrible food on the Sapphire. Of the cruises I have taken (more than 30)
on the different lower cost lines, I have found Princess to be the best and
give their frequent guests better service and food than the others
(Carnival, RCL or NCL. I agree with the statement that they are competing
against RCL. I have talked with those that came off a RCL cruise and
immediately started a Princess cruise and they said that there was no
comparison. They were top tier on both Princess and RCL frequent guest
programs and they stated that Princess was better for customer service and
food quality.

Used to love princess,but since carnival took over that line has fallen
in quality,the last cruise we took on princess was the "RUBY PRINCESS"
and it was not what we call a good ship or a good cruise,therefore we
hesitate to book princess anymore.We now usually cruise either royal
caribbean or celebrity,and either from bayonne or baltimore,no more
hassels of flying.





cruise lover(~~~~~)






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