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