Pros
Despite what Glassdoor shows, Jan Swartz is not the current president and has never been CEO. The biggest "pro" since John Padgett became president was that I always got paid on time and my check never bounced.
Cons
There used to be so many pros about working for Princess. But I was somewhat disappointed when cruise benefits were dramatically reduced before COVID and even further reduced in the time that followed. This combined with continuously increasing gratuities and other onboard fees means shoreside employees essentially do not get any onboard discounts. This may sound whiny or entitled, but typically a benefit of working in the travel industry is getting amazing discounts. It benefits both sides when employees (in most industries) use the product where they work. In addition to that, they revoked the flexible work schedule that had been in place for over a decade (9/80 pre-pandemic and Flex Fridays post) and most recently announced a mandatory return to the office/hybrid schedule after 4 years of being fully work from home. Everyone I knew probably averaged 60 hours per week. This was due to often absurd meeting schedules as well as senior management imposing unrealistic deadlines- despite their lack of organization, genuine direction, or knowledge of the Princess product. For its entire existence- 50+ years- Princess headquarters have been in Los Angeles, CA. So when employees started noticing changes like all new jobs being posted in FL, we asked and were told that the company was still based in (Santa Clarita) CA. All the while, numerous legacy Princess employees were and continue to be let go and replaced by offshore contractors and dreadfully unqualified Florida locals, many of whom were brought over from competitors. These constant “organizational changes” resulted in an extensive loss of knowledge and experience, not to mention constant chaos and feelings of concern and fear. John Padgett and his team of equally corrupt, dishonest, dumb, toxic, unethical, unqualified chaos creators have destroyed the vibe and obliterated the great culture that existed before their arrival.
