Back from your Princess Sailing? Please write/submit your review...

[sweetcupcakegrl]

Originally Posted by JuliaSd

My husband and I just returned from our Southern Caribbean cruise on Princess Ruby.

The ship experience was somewhat of a disappointment, and we won't be sailing Princess again.
My husband and I are in our late 20s.... 90% of the ship's passengers were 70+ with walkers, scooters, "accidents", etc.
The ship itself is beautiful.... very nice cabins.

Stateroom:
We booked Oceanview Guaranteed. We were assigned P333 - Plaza Deck. Very last room of the hallway. Great room. Close to everything! It's a short walk from the Piazza through the gallery. We enjoyed the fact that we could walk out of our room and be close to everything in the Piazza. The room was quiet for the first 6 days. the first 6 days, the room was outstanding. on the 7th day... the sea got a bit rough and our room turned into a terrible noisy whirpool sound. We could NOT sleep! The room was extremely noisy from the waves hitting the ship and from the stabilizers. We asked to switch rooms, luckily there was ONE room available on deck 11, although inside stateroom - we took it in the heartbeat. It was much quieter on deck 11.
In addition, there were no items available at the mini bar, we had to ask for water or soda.

In addition, the hairdryer was a piece of crap. Bring your own. It blows slightly warm air and if you have long hair... it takes 30+ mins to dry your hair. Terrible!

Ask for robes. The towels were nice. The beach towels are thin and worn out.

Shower: The shower curtain cloth was somewhat annoying.... what happened to the glass doors? The water kept spilling all over the floor with no drain.

The bed and the sheets super comfy! We slept like babies for the first 6 nights! Pillows are heaven.

I really liked the lighting in the room too... very nice and soft lighting.

Live Entertainment: Excellent! WOW! I've never heard such beautiful voices all in one place... the bands, the musicians, the violinist, the dancers... simply amazing!

General Entertainment Dull.... but our target audience is 70+ afterall. Movies under the stars is a great idea. Although during the day, that deck is sooo loud with those movies.

Food: Not so much.... we're a young couple and are not so picky about our food. The food on Princess Ruby was very disappointing.... Flavorless and sometimes too salty. THe best selections were: Lobster, Pasta with clams, Pizza on the Lido deck, Shrimp and Greek salad at the International Cafe.

Service: The crew seemed tired, worn out, uninspired and forgetful. We've sailed Carnival and Royal Caribbean before.... by far the service on Royal Caribbean was better.

Laundry: I asked for my $200 jeans to be dry cleaned.... and to my surprise i found them to be washed and ironed.... They shrunk! Thank you Princess!

Tour Desk and booking tours: A Passenger is forced to book a tour at the Port of call two days prior to the actual port of call. The tour desk is open from 9am -10am (we're asleep) and from 5pm-7pm (getting ready for dinner and going to dinner). When are we supposed to book a tour?
WHy don't we have an automated option on TV to book a tour? Or why can't we book a tour from our stateroom? Why do we physically have to go to the Tour desk.
Unforunately, all tours we wanted to do were sold out.... and the tour desk person did not try to sell us any other options, which was disappointing. He just simply said "sorry, those tours are unavailable".

Lounge Chairs I thought the policy is that you cannot reserve lounge chairs. I've noticed many people just leave their towels on the chair and disappear for the whole day. Sometimes there were no loungers available. Very annoying!

Crowd Senior citizens!!!!!!! Retirees! if you're under 50.... I would urge you against sailing on Princess. We spoke to the crew and they confirmed that Princess passengers are mostly older folks.

One tip to older folks, please watch what you eat! If you're diabetic, please don't load up on those desserts. If you have a stint in your artery due to heart attack, please don't eat red meat every night. Geez! We were shocked with these ppls diets!
One older gentleman, for dinner - loaded his plate with bunch of different cakes and desserts and ate everything! For breakfast, this older lady had 3 muffins, bagel and a donut - gross!

Ports of Call
Enjoyed all ports of call. Dominica was our favorite. The port is hideous. If you find a right cab driving they can make or break your Dominica experience. we went to Ti Tou Gorge and Hot Springs for $45/pp. Unforgettable experience!

Final Bill It would be nice to see our bill progress on our TV set, just like how they do it at the hotels. Why do we need to go to Purser's desk to find out about our bill?

Disembarking
PAIN! We had to be out of our room by 8am and in the "meeting" place by 8:50am. We sat at that room for over an hour. THen, we had to stand in line at customs... the line was all sorts of "line" ppl shoving and pushing, yelling. Bottom line, disembarkation process was very disorganized.

Princess Survey Did not receive a promised Princess Survey in my email. And I sure do have alot to say! I contacted customer service to email me the survey.

Overall, I feel like no one really went out of their way to make our cruising experience a great one. Everyone was merely doing what they are supposed to be doing and not more. Will not sail on Princess again

totally agree with this statement too. on the crown princess this past weekend was a disaster... whats wrong with the northerners stealing the chairs and saving them for their friends... and the one s who play majong.. and say you can not learn its too hard to teach you... excuse me mrs. moron.

I will never travel with them again like myself i have alot of pet peeves with them... here are some of them:
We were quite diapointed in this cruise ship, although we did make the best of it, since we spent alot of money to this and I wanted to celebrate my 60th birthday with my honey.
I thought that this ship would have been better than carnival or the other ships we have done, since we traveled well over 50 ships. We travel every 4 months on cruises, since we both work for ourselves and we do alot of traveling, this will be my last ship with Princess. This did not meet my expectations nor did the food.

The first thing I saw that the shows were nothing like Royal Caribbean, they were below my expectations. Also the food was so so, cool most of the time and since there was alot of people we had anytime dining which is the only thing I enjoyed and the the night before the cruise we went to Embassy Suites hotel and had a glorious evening there with Free Drinks that did not cost us a dime.

Another disapointment was the coffee club who pays 29.00 for freshly brewed coffee, no more fruit punch and lemonade for free only coffee that was not brewed was free... everything else unless you go up to lido deck which closes at 12 midnight, then you have to pay for coffee 1.75 in a paper cup at the 5th floor international cafe...

Not in rccl.. they give you all the coffee, hot tea, fruit punch you can drink, its all free.

Unlike the professional actors and acts,. they were nothing like the rccl.

where did they get those two comedians Albert and Seymour, if you google them on the net and try to find them you can not, they are not known so who were these funny men? the cruise director was a joke. He was not a funny man and why do they shut the bars down at 11:30, is everyone dead at this time. Oh I forgot 80% of the cruise ship is over 80 yrs old... they are closing shop at 9 pm... its bedtime.

and also all the smokers in the casino.. Gatsby.. was nearly stinky enough to give you asthma unless you have it like me. I could not play my 5.00 slots, so I did not win.

and another pet peeve I had was nasty smelling toliets. I am not thinking that these places are supposed to smell like Roses either but at least clean them with bleach... overflowing with seweer water and talk about the food... Every cake and dessert tastes the same do they not use sugar and flavorings?

What I can not understand is this, why don't they cater more to the people our own age. I am a young 60 yr old, not old at all, but my kids tell me mom, you need to look like a sixty yr old, but I look like a 29 yr old, and I am happy, outgoing and do not look my age, or act like an older person. I keep myself young. I could not understand why they wanted to over charge the public for the photos, in rccl they were 20.00 each, here they were 39.00 each. Every where we went someone wanted to sell me somthing. and those Art Shows are the biggest farce... Never buy from them, the picture or oils are nice but the shipping is 300.00 for the print... some of them you can buy on posters dot com and for hell of a less.

Also... Diamonds international, stop sending people to this place who rip people off of good stones, their stones are not the greatest they buy cheap emeralds, diamonds and rubies, sapphires and tell you they are good, I know I am the jeweler I know the difference, Not to buy there buy at home you will get a big discount at home not here.( you may get a stone it may be a zircona and never know unless you view by a trained eye or a scope and a reputable dealer back home)

Where was all the entertainment for 50 and over... not as good as Rccl... I heard that this ship went down with the dogs. It sure has...

Lower the prices for drinks, no one wants to pay for soda for 8.60 plus 1.15 tip.. that to me is a rip off.
Bring famous shows on board, and famous comedians, not like those to LA guys who may have been to prison and tell it like it is. and to embarrass the elderly for being late for their show.

also where was all the photographers for the formal nights, only 4 photographers were there for the formal nights, no pictures sorry soon was my dinner and it was getting close to 10 pm... soon no more food.

The pools were so so... who wants to run for a chair you got to get up early to claim one or your SOL.

but the weather was so so, hot humid, and the rocking and the rolling on the ship was just too much for my tummy... Princess can not avoid this, its not her fault its time to take ginger tablets and eat green apples and try to sleep it off..

[sweetcupcakegrl]

This was the worse trip i ever spent 2000.00 on... cranky chefs, food was horrible and tasteless who said the entertainment was good who r u fooling?? this ship was for seniors who looked like they were going to a nursing home retreat with all northern easterners and people from other countries.. this is not what i wanted to be at but my agent convinced me this was going to be a great cruise well janet it was not.

so I wanted to tell you that mr. proctor was a jerk, he mistreated alot of us to put sanitary cream before he shook your hand, tastless the least.

never again on princess... oh I did say to them on the survey that I how I hated their ship and meant it..

the only thing that I liked was the free champagne they gave me decorated my door and gave me a free b day cake.. thats the highlight of it no more.

[cool cat cruiser]

Very good review. Could you tell me which number cabin your parents were in. We are booked midship (C330) on Grand Princess next august and am wondering whether to ask for another cabin as having suffered vibration problems on Azura definitely dont want to go through that again (the ship was full so couldnt have a cabin change) had such trouble sleeping it spoiled the cruise.

[cool cat cruiser]

Originally Posted by canmark

It's been two months since returning from my first-ever Princess cruise, and I am only now able to write a review.

I took the Grand Mediterranean cruise (June 21 to July 3, 2011) on Ruby Princess, traveling from Venice to Barcelona. The one variation on this cruise itinerary (which runs back and forth from Barcelona to Venice and Venice to Barcelona throughout the summer) was that we were stopping in Cannes rather than Monte Carlo due to the Royal Wedding of Prince Albert.

I was traveling with a group of relatives, ranging in age from 4 to almost 80, although most were middle aged or older. Many had cruised on Princess before, although my brother and me (who were sharing a cabin) were first timers. In addition to the 12-day cruise, we spent one night in Venice and two nights in Barcelona at the beginning and end of the cruise.

We arrived at the ship in Venice via water taxi. There was a Princess representative on hand and our luggage was taken from us at the water taxi dock. We walked to the terminal and checked in quite easily. We checked in sometime after 1 pm and were able to go directly to our cabin. Our steward was Alex (who was Russian or Eastern European, judging from his accent) and he was very nice and attentive. We went for lunch at the Horizon Court. Some of the group wanted to return to Venice; others were going to stay on the ship and familiarize themselves with the layout. My brother and me were given tickets to the Biennale (the biannual international art festival) by some other members in our group (who had used part of the ticket in the morning) and so we went back to Venice using the Princess shuttle. If you don't use the mandatory shuttle ticket you can return it for a refund, but I found it very convenient. The shuttle boat was docked next to the ship and took you to a dock near the Piazza San Marco--and not far from the Arsenale, where the Biennale exhibits were.

The sail away was the following morning. As expected, there were large crowds on the upper deck. However, I discovered that the Promenade deck was relatively quiet. This is a good place to view the sail away if you don't want to deal with crowds. It's easy to cut across to both sides of the ship, or you can go out to the bow of the ship for lovely views. I also discovered the "secret" area at the front of the ship on Lido deck (you walk to the very front of the ship through two unmarked doors to a nice lookout area at the front).

The next day was at sea and I used that time to explore the ship. I took a lot of photos in the early morning when the ship was quiet, and later in the cruise I took photos during the day when areas like the pool deck were very busy. I was very happy with the range of amenities, the number of venues for entertainment, the quality of food and service. Despite being a large ship with 3,000 passengers, it didn't feel excessively crowded. I was always able to find a lounge chair on deck. Only once did I have to wait more than a minute or two to get a table in one of the main dining rooms for "anytime" dining.

With a large group with different interests and experiences (some had been to Europe before, others had not), we had everyone book their own land excursions from Princess using the personalizer in advance of the cruise. Some comments on the shore excursions that I took:

Athens - Acropolis & Time On Your Own in the Plaka
Very reasonably price, you visit the Acropolis with a guide (with free time to explore on your own), and drive by other sites in the bus. During the "time on your own in the Plaka" we actually walked over to the (excellent) Acropolis Museum. We did a quick tour of that, had lunch in their lovely cafe, and returned to meet the group. Given Greece's economic hardships, I was surprised that Athens was such a beautiful and thriving city. I would definitely return.

Kusadasi - Ephesus
I took the very reasonably priced Ephesus tour and was very pleased. The guide was very good and we returned to the ship (it was only a half-day port call) with time too look around the neighboring area (which includes a bazaar, restaurants, and very pleasant areas for walking). Others who had taken the longer tour which includes the Virgin Mary Shrine found they got back just before the ship was to depart, and were unable to look around the port area.

Side note: a person in our group dropped his wallet in the bus. By the time he reported it the bus had already left. The tour operator said they would take his wallet to Istanbul (our next port call) as either the driver or the bus itself was going there (and the tour operator in both cities was the same company). He did indeed get his wallet returned the next day in Istanbul which was much appreciated.

Istanbul - St. Sophia, Topkapi, Blue Mosque & Bosphorus Cruise
Comprehensive, full day tour (at a reasonable price; tours in Turkey and Greece were much cheaper than Italy), included the main historic highlights of Istanbul. The only drawback was that it was a Sunday and the Grand Bazaar was closed. The city was nicer than I imagined and would certainly return.

Mykonos
Free shuttle bus service was offered from the town to the ship. Mykonos town is quite beautiful, even as it is tourist-oriented. Plenty of shops and restaurants, winding, narrow lanes and gorgeous white-washed buildings. Now I see why the Greek islands are so popular. Just beautiful.

Naples - Mount Vesuvius Hike & Pompeii
Taken by bus to near the top of Vesuvius and walk about 20-25 minutes to the rim of the crater. It's dry, dusty, quite steep and strenuous, but certainly manageable if you are in reasonable shape (we had several seniors in or group who handled the walk no problem). Great views of the bay of Naples. Then a tour of Pompeii. I was surprised at the size of the town/area that has been preserved.

Civitavecchia - Rome on your own
The 1.5 hour drive to/from Rome does cut into your time in the city. I did my own thing, using the subway and visiting the Colosseum, Capitoline museum, Pantheon, Trevi Fountain and Spanish Steps. Others in the group did the tour that included St. Peter's and the Sistine Chapel, and was told that the Sistine Chapel, though beautiful, was just packed with people.

Livorno - Florence, Pisa & Accademia Museum
Given the distance from the port to Florence (it was a good 2 hours before we were on the ground in Florence), this overview tour was just that. While we saw Santa Croce, the Ponte Vecchio and the Duomo, we were not able to go into any of them. We did go into the Accademia to see Michelangelo's David (magnificent), but that was about all wee saw in the museum. We had about 20-30 minutes free time in Pisa to look at the Leaning Tower, Duomo (cathedral) and Baptistery (quite a site, situated as they are in an open field of grass, rather than in a city center). Unless you are only looking for an overview, I would recommend on of the other tours that focuses on one area (Florence only, say) and gives you more time to explore.

Cannes
Had to tender to port. Did the "Petit Train," a train-like vehicle on wheels. I think it was 10 Euros for the 50 minute or so drive around the town, which was worth it, I think. I then walked along the Croisette and through a bit of the town, but then had to return to catch the tender back to the ship. It was a long (30 minute) wait in the hot sun. These half-day port calls don't give you much time, alas.

Barcelona
Our group had arranged a later debarkation time (debarkation is usually by deck level, but our group was spread out on a few different levels) and we had also chartered a bus to take us to our hotels (we were staying in 3 different hotels). This proved very convenient, as there was a huge lineup for taxis at the port. Dividing the cost of the bus by 29 people made it no more expensive than a taxi (maybe even cheaper).


I was very happy with my cabin, B253, an inside cabin on the Baja deck, very near the front elevators. The seas were very calm and there was very little motion or hallway noise. (My parents were initially in an inside cabin near the middle of the boat on Caribe deck, but there was so much vibration in their cabin that they asked to be moved. They were given an inside cabin at the very front of the Baja deck.) While an balcony would have been nice, I was perfectly happy with the size and comfort of the inside cabin. It's cheaper, too, and given the costs of airfare and shore excursions and other expenses, one needs to cut back in some areas. (I must admit that I'm still confused by the "upgrade fairy." My father, who ended up with the bad cabin, was one of the organizers of our group and had encouraged a number of people to join. My parents had been on two previous cruises with Princess. Another couple, who joined our group and were on their first-ever cruise, got upgraded from an inside cabin to a balcony. It seemed a bit unfair that the repeat cruiser who had brought in more business for Princess got no upgrade--and, in fact, got a cabin with a bad vibration--while newbies got multiple upgrades. But, whatever...)

Although I didn't by any of the ship photos, I know others did. We also had arranged the ship photographers to take a photo of the 29 people in our group on the staircase in the Piazza. This was a nice keepsake. I myself took a lot of photos, so didn't need to buy any extras.

My one disappointment was the cancellation of the Ultimate Ship Tour. I was looking forward to it, but they said that not enough people had signed up. I can't believe that in a ship of 3,000, there weren't 6-12 people who wanted to take that tour (despite it's high cost--$150). I think it wasn't promoted enough.

I've posted photo galleries of the cruise on Flickr. They are divided by location (ports of call), although I've also grouped the photos of the ship and food in their own galleries for those interested in just those things.

The whole collection can be found here:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/canmark...7627467543129/

Photos of Ruby Princess (taken from the previous sets) can be found here:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/canmark...7627487642066/

Photos of the just the food of Ruby Princess (taken from the above sets) can be found here:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/canmark...7627200836565/


I now understand why cruising is so popular. It's a very enjoyable way to travel, and I look forward to doing another cruise some day.

sorry canmark forgot to quote message

[bugspost]

I have only been on two cruises....RCI & Princess. I loved RCI & Princess disappointed me. It mostly was the attitude of the crew w/the exception of my cabin steward. I will never cruise Princess again because of this. The dining room staff were grumpy & complaining all the time. The pursers were just rude. I don't get it............don't they realize the outcome of their attitudes??? It was not just I that noticed this...........many passengers commented on it.
Having said that..........although it wasn't an amazing customer service experience..........I & the other 5 of us made the best of it.....we spent too much money to let it damper our spirits but I will definitely spend my $$$ on other cruiselines now. Trying NCL next year!

[campergal]

You guys are getting me nervous. We are going on our first Princess cruise in less than 2 weeks. We have sailed with RC, Celebrity and Silver Seas. All have been wonderful. The only complaint I would have would be with Silverseas and that was the noise in the room. They moved us. With all the unappetizing food, service, and everything else that people complain about (we are a young 66) I'm beginning to wish I had never found this website. Look for my post in February.

[bugspost]

Originally Posted by campergal

You guys are getting me nervous. We are going on our first Princess cruise in less than 2 weeks. We have sailed with RC, Celebrity and Silver Seas. All have been wonderful. The only complaint I would have would be with Silverseas and that was the noise in the room. They moved us. With all the unappetizing food, service, and everything else that people complain about (we are a young 66) I'm beginning to wish I had never found this website. Look for my post in February.

You might have an awesome time.............don't let this thread scare you. It all just depends on the staff, etc.................we got on our cruise after the staff had dealt w/two days of horrendous weather w/many getting sick. I think that might have had something to do w/their crappy attitude....don't know....the bad thing was it was OUR first Princess cruise & now I will go elsewhere. I had only cruised RC & absolutely loved them..........next year....trying NCL...........but regardless..........I would never let anything ruin my cruising experience....take lemons & make lemonade as they say...HA HA
Let us all know in FEB...how it was!! Bon Voyage!!

[LucyR.]

I have enjoyed reading the negative reviews because I had fun laughing at what they had to say.

I had a wonderfull time because it was the cruisers I met that made it fun for me. I loved my inside cabin B712 insider, located near the elevator. I also cruised with the cruise critic roll call cruisers and had fun
meeting them.

Food - The food has gone downhill in the formal dinning rooms. The food is better at the Buffet because there are better selection of foods BUT.. I don't like to serve myself cafeteria style. The food was okay but not fantastic. The ice cream was really differently made. It was not great.
My favorite dessert was cherry jello.

Example: Sapphire used to have beautiful large cobb salads before Carnival bought Princess cruiseline. The new style of cobb salad is minimal sized. It had some iceberg lettuce, and the other ingredients
were kept separate on the plate in tablespoon sized on the plate.
The Blue cheese dressing was always watery.

Sapphire used to serve large plates of food at the dinning rooms but now they serve smaller porttions which I think is okay for seniors and kids.

ANYTIME DINNING: Don't choose anytime dinning if you have a large group of 8 or more persons. We went through hell and back with the reservation people. You have to make a reservation if you have a large group. Every night we had to hassell with the matri di to seat us 7 persons together.
On the last night for dinner I pulled a fast one by making a reservation for 2 persons and I called my friends to make their own reservations for just two persons. When it was time for dinner we 7 showed up and told the Matri Di that we wanted to share a table with other people. The other people were all of my 6 friends.LOL,LOL. The Matri Di made a face and got us a table.
Our major problem was that the Matri Di's would not allow us to reserve a table for the whole week BUT....yet they allowed other cruisers to reserve tables for the whole week.
Our group had to fight every night for a large table for all of us. One night I got real angry because they gave us a small table in a lousy noisy area and added another chair to the table. I got so angry that I told the group that I was going to request to sit with other people in a larger table. One of the men told off the Matri Di and we got a larger table and treated us with great service.
I WANT TO MAKE SOMETHING CLEAR.... We all would show up at 5:30p.m. when the door would open and there were lots of empty tables to choose from. The Matri Di's would act as if there were no tables available. They would say those tables were taken. But when we would sit down to eat... I would notice that there were lots of empty tables
that wouldn't fill up until 7p.m.
I wasn't going to let the Matri Di's tell me there were no tables available since I was the first one inside the dinning room and also had a reservation for my friends and myself.
We would all sit down and laugh at the drama of fighting with the Matri Di's.
On the last few days of the cruise the Matri di's learned that we were a group of friends and would sit us all at a table for breakfast and lunch.
Even on disembarkation morning we all got to sit together for breakfast
at our favorite table with our favorite waiter.
I gave the Matri Di a small tip in an envelope. He was pleased and surprised.
I did have a fantastic time on the ship and met lots of really nice people.
I have an extroverted personality and I met people very easily on the ship.
For the people who have booked a Princess cruise.... you will have a fantastic time on your cruise. Mostly couples show up. I hardly saw any solo cruisers. LucyR.

[LucyR.]

PART 2 - OF MY REVIEW

30 passengers who stayed at the Marriott Hotel were given their boarding ship cards BUT THEIR LUGGAGE was left behind at the hotel.

I heard that Princess was supposed to take the luggage to the Sapphire
Ship but didn't do it at the time they were supposed to do it.

They say that customs wouldn't allow Princess to take the luggage on board the ship because the passengers were not traveling with their luggage.
It was a major disappointment for all of those cruisers. I met two ladies at the gift shop where they were given some toiletries and said they would be allowed to borrow some of the dresses from the gift store.
I felt sorry for them because all of their beautiful clothes was left at the terminal port. Sad incident. LucyR.

[LucyR.]

PART -3 Review = Sapphire Princess, Dec.10,2011

The dead-line to be on the ship was 3p.m. It was really strange that we had the MUSTER DRILL at 3:15p.m. while we were still at the cruise terminal. The ship wasn't leaving until 4p.m. I am used to attend the Muster Drill at 4p.m.
We left late because a Princess bus load had not arrived at the cruiseport
on time. Those cruisers must have missed out of doing the Muster drill.