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

[JuliaSd]

party animals!

[cruiseaholic777]

I have cruised on most of the major cruise lines. I think the few people complaining about Princess would complain about everything. My family of 5 are all platinum members, i guess we are just clueless. I like RCCL and celebrity but princess has more things that my family like. The food on Princess is much better than Carnival and a little better than RCCL. But i still haven't had a bad cruise, my Carnival cruise wasn't the best but it was still good.

keep cruising

[Merit]

WE are booked on the Diamond Princess in July in Caribeean deck. You said that your view was blocked by a solid beam. What was your cabin number?

[mermaid72]

Why are so many people on this board/thread so prejudiced against senior citizens?
It's rude, and beside, one of these years they will be a senior too! DUH
My last cruise was on HAL, I am a senior. My partner & I spent much of our time hiking, river tubing & snorkeling. We do not have walkers or scooters.
Nor do we fill our plates with donuts & dessert.... but if we did, what business is it is of yours?

I am off on my first Princess cruise soon, but now am wary of all these arrogant and prejudiced fellow passengers. Are you all like this?
I sure hope not!

[ssbeagle]

Originally Posted by mermaid72

Why are so many people on this board/thread so prejudiced against senior citizens?
It's rude, and beside, one of these years they will be a senior too! DUH
My last cruise was on HAL, I am a senior. My partner & I spent much of our time hiking, river tubing & snorkeling. We do not have walkers or scooters.
Nor do we fill our plates with donuts & dessert.... but if we did, what business is it is of yours?

I am off on my first Princess cruise soon, but now am wary of all these arrogant and prejudiced fellow passengers. Are you all like this?
I sure hope not!

I don't think you will have anything to worry about on your Princess cruise. Young people seem to be in the minority on the longer cruises but plentiful on the shorter ones. No one says anything. If they do, it's because they don't know any better.

[Gottogofishin]

My wife and i celebrated our 28th anniversary onboard the Diamond. The trip was from Whittier to Vancouver in 7 days. We had a room with a dirty window that never did get cleaned. The room was clean and our steward took care of us very nicely (balloons and announcement on our door on our big day) at sea.

Buffet breakfast always had something else- usually left over shrimp or ham with the eggs in the morning. Alot of food I had never heard of- but thats OK I guess- I was on a cruise a long way from home.

Beers $6/each plus tips a bit high I thought.

We only did 1 excursion thru the boat- Zip line in Ketchikan. Wife loved it.

Dinner-something else I thought. I was always looking for something I would be interested in- an it never really arrived. They always had beef, pork and chicken on the regular menu , but usually names of food you could not even pronounce. And then you didnt know what to look forward to either. Our
guy who took care of our table -Mark- did a good job with his assistant.

The trip itself was beautiful! Princess could not do anything about the great weather or the birds, whales and other animals that showed up. We had a naturalist onboard who talked and talked and talked- even if there was nothing to talk about. Please just keep quiet until something happens that people need to hear about. He started talking about how male and female squids get together when the national park boat came up next to us. He thought it reminded of them when they had *** and then the female squid ate the male! PLEASE- WAY TOO MUCH INFORMATION! He also said the Diamond would not eat the boat that just dropped off 2 pilots to go into the park. I was happy about that.

We had a a great time all by ourselves and enjoyed the trip. We shall return one day- not sure if it will be Princess or not.

[luvtravel]

We took the land/cruise tour in Alaska on the Diamond Princess...ending in Vancouver. Our first time on Princess....(travelled twice before to Alaska on HAL, and to other locations on HAL, RCCL, Azamara, Celebrity, Renaissance) and were very pleased with most of it. The land tour was terrific...very well organized, great accommodations and the train experience was great. We had a verandah on the 12th deck...room was fine. Its a little outdated, but we were very comfortable. The food on the Diamond was really good...we also tried the Italian restaurant for $15 each...and it was just about the best restaurant experience we've ever had. Last year we were on a RCCL cruise in the Mediterranean where they had cut back so much..there was not even a choice of dressing for salad and not good entres..we saw many sent back ... this was a totally different experience on Princess we are glad to say. The couple of negative experiences occurred with the customer service. Friends had preordered for us (and paid for) a bottle of wine for our room or 'sail away' - it was our anniversary. It was not there, not even heard of by any staff...and I had to go daily to the cust. svc. to ask them to check. They never did find the order. Also..your ship tab is not available to look at on tv...and they don't give you your final bill until the morning of disembarkment..too late to ask questions. Prior to that the lines at the customer service are horrendous and its not nice to spend your last day on the ship standing in line. Heard many complaints...its almost they do this on purpose. All other trips we've taken with other lines give you preliminary bills a day or two ahead of getting off so you have time to resolve problems. One other odd thing...the night before disembarking...all night long there were employees yelling, hollaring, singing, whistling at the top of their lungs. Sometimes in the hallway but most often from the inside passages they use...almost like it was the end of the cruise and they were taking off their 'polite' masks. Otherwise all the staff were very nice. Back to positives...took the kitchen tour and had a great time with the preliminary gettogether with the head chef and maitre'd...terrific and the lounges and bands, etc. were great...we like to dance and had a number of opportunities each night. We went to a couple of wine tastings ($10 & $25 each)...well worth it and the sommolier was fun and informative. We loved the naturalist on board and enjoyed all his commentary....actually wished their would have been more....as he was not allowed to continue during certain times when the rangers were on board and in the vicinity of different towns. Overall we had a wonderful time and will definitely be taking Princess again.

[cathylene]

We just returned from our Alaskan cruise. It was fantastic. The ship was wonderful, and we thoroughly enjoyed every minute.
It was first experience with Anytime Dining. It worked out perfectly. We liked the Pacific Dining room so much, we ate there every night. We simply made a reservation for the time that fit us. Excellent food and service.
The Horizon Buffet was nothing special, but there were so many extra touches that really worked: International Buffets were featured for lunch and dinner; the Belgian waffle station, Home made ice cream every day, great fresh fruit, the coffee bar (Buy the Coffee card- it's a bargain).
The staff was friendly and fun. We played lots of trivia, team games, and line dancing.
Ask me anything,
Cathy

[gagal1233]

Originally Posted by King James

Just back from 15 day Crown Princess from Quebec to Ft Lauderdale, Fla.
Nothing wrong with the trip but what we paid for a full suite we didn't get what we had received on the Coral Princess in the way of accomidations. The suite was not as illustrated in their brochure alothough the two rooms were nice. The balcony view was obsturcted by solid steel railing. We had to travel from the very front of the ship to the very rear of the ship for meals. The meals left a lot to be desired. All in all our expenrences with Princess Cruise was below what
we received on NCL

I just cruised EPIC on NCL and thought the food was far worse than princess and the service terrible. I'd never been on NCL before and had been on princess about 4 times. I think we get used to a certain cruise line, get used to how they operate, and then compare to that. I will say out of my princess cruises, I had one bad one but the rest were great. So I'm willing to try NCL again. I've heard the Alaska cruise is great. Give princess another try.

[SwankieG]

Originally Posted by CRLess

A couple of comments about your review. Cruises over 7 days are generally attract an older crowd, not the party crowd you would see on a typical 7 day cruise. I too was on this cruise and I would disagree that "90% of the ship's passengers were 70+ with walkers, scooters, etc". I thought the passenger mix was excellent and was surprised that it was actually younger than I was expecting. In fact, I would be willing to bet we saw less than 10 different "scooters" the entire voyage. This was our first 10 day cruise and won't be our last (by the way, we are mid-40's in age and this was my 10th Princess cruise and NOT my last). Our roll call group was over 100 people strong, and I would be willing to bet there was less than 10 of them that were over 70 (and 4 of them were in my immediate group).

Tours were available to book on-line well in advance of boarding the ship. No need at all to line up at the Excursion desk to book a tour.

Your comment about loading plates is kind of childish. How do you know what those people were doing? If you saw me in the buffet loading a plate with cheese, salami, and grapes, which I did often for happy hour in our two adjoining cabins, would you have thought that of me, even though it was for 6-8 people? I agree people get carried away at buffets, but don't assume....

Finally, Princess is not to blame for the disembarkation. It was a customs/immigration issue (you know, our government at work). I have never seen such a ridiculous situation in the customs/immigration area as we saw this cruise.

Amen, Chris! I did a 14-day Los Angeles - Hawaii - Los Angeles over a Thanksgiving holiday.

Yes, the cruisers are predominantly older but the scooters are not that prevalent. On the plus side, there are few problems on board and we had the run of the ship with about three dozen other night owls each night.

Port tours and spa services can be booked in advance and, if you don't, you're likely going to be S.O.L. as savvy cruisers take advantage of the advance bookings ASAP.

As for "loading up" the plates. We were known for making afternoon buffet runs to bring back muchies for the room. If one of us was feelign under the wather, the other would make a food run since the menus change daily and it's fun to order something other than room service.

The only advice I can offer is worry about your own fun, make sure that you have fun and do your homework so you can have fun. We were first-time cruisers back then and probably the type that can have a great time in a shipping container but, honestly, your cruise is what you make it.

[SwankieG]

Originally Posted by Cruise Junky

How is it possible that my girlfriend in her early 30s just returned from this cruise and thought it was excellent, partied every night, danced every night and yet according to the OP was surrounded by 90 year olds?

Your cruise is what you make it. I cruise with my best girlfriend and my family and we always have the best time while we hear others complain. Life is an adventure; sieze the day!

[stinadds]

My husband and I took the sailing from Vancouver to Whittier in early June on the Diamond. This is my fourth and husband's second cruise, none with Princess. We are both in our 30's.

Getting on the ship was excellent, very smooth and quick. No issues there.

Overall we found the customer service to be very lacking. The first day our room didn't get made up until 1:30pm. After that we were on shore for the whole day so we don't know what time it got made up. There were always glasses, plates and things on the tables on the lido deck. There was hardly a clean table to sit at and then looking at all the plates and things piled up on the cans was not a pretty sight. When we did sit down for breakfast at the buffet it took the whole meal before anyone asked if we wanted anything to drink. Finally one day my husband got up and went to a station to pour himself some juice and the waiter yelled at him, but the waiter walked by our table at least 5 times and never stopped!

We went to check out a puzzle at the library and the staff lady was on the phone with friends while we stood there for 10 min waiting to check out the puzzle. We finally put it down and left.

We were looking at booking our next cruise on the ship and went to the future cruise desk. The sign said that he would be back in 15 min. We waited over a half hour and when we said something he made a rude remark to us. We didn't book because we were treated quite rudly by him. He basically told us to cruise somewhere else! He just lost quite a few potential and lifetime customers.

The customer service was getting very frustrating for us. We just wanted to enjoy ourselves and we couldn't because we always had to ask for things. We went to a show and never got served drinks.

The shows were mediocre at best. The comedians were excellent. My highschool put on better productions with better musicians than Princess did.

Dinner was the best time of day. Our servers were great and the food was good. A few things we sent back, but there was always something good to eat. We were disapointed that King Crab was only a appetizer and not on the dinner menu. You can't go wrong with the pasta, excellent!

We didn't book any excursions through the ship, so I can't comment on that. But the ones we did book off the ship were excellent! We had so much fun.

The naturalist on board was horrible, he talked and talked and talked about nothing! It reminded me of a horribly long sermon at church. When we were in glacier bay, the NPS took over and that was a nice relief.

At night after dinner, we had the late seating, the place basically closed up. We were usually so tired we just went to bed.

We did have a problem finding an open hot tub that was warm. There were at least 6 tubs that we could choose from, but only one would be open!

The other guests on the ship were great and friendly. We were always striking up conversation. Our tablemates were fun and even though we were quite younger than most of the people on the ship we were able to relate. We did run into a few younger couples, but we definitly felt like the minority.

Getting off the ship was seamless. We had a transfer from Whittier to Anchorage.

I don't think we'll be sailing on Princess again anytime soon. We are hoping to try another line, but I hope it isn't the cruise industry in general that is lacking in service nowdays. I have had such good service on my other cruises and this time I was truly dissapointed. Good thing the views and wildlife were so great or I think I would have a worse taste in my mouth from the cruise.

[onmytime8]

On the Golden Princess to Alaska, too many children were unattended and when we asked where their parents were, the usual answer was...."asleep in the cabin".
Several times we saw small children ALONE in elevators, pools, hallways, etc. A possible tragedy waiting to happen.

[happytrails42]

Not really sure where to start … This vacation was a two-year in the making vacation for my husband and I -- celebrating a birthday milestone and wedding anniversary rolled into one. It also gave us enough time to save the money for the once in a lifetime trip since we wanted to do something really special. This was also our first experience with cruising and with Princess.

Our itinerary – 1 night Seattle/1 night Fairbanks/2 nights Denali before boarding the Coral Princess. While at the Fairbanks Princess Riverside Lodge we experienced two incidents which left us baffled. Upon check-in – comfortable hotel room, we found that we could purchase a RT shuttle ticket for $5.00 pp through the tour desk which would take us into downtown Fairbanks. We purchased a tix for each of us, were given a timetable of drop-off/pick-up locations and times and set off. We were dropped off at the Fairbanks Visitor Center and before exiting, I asked – just to make sure – about the pick-up locations/times. The driver said there would be a bus picking up at our drop off point (FVS) at 9:40 or 9:45 pm. I have since lost the exact schedule so my times could be a little off.

We had dinner and proceeded to the Ice Museum for the Photo Symphony on Lacey & 2nd Streets which began @ 8:00 pm and ended by 8:45 pm. We leisurely strolled back to the Visitor Center and got there around 9:05 pm. We saw some other folks sitting on the benches and asked if they were waiting on the shuttle and they replied yes. We all waited and waited and waited. By 10:00 pm we still had not been picked up, didn’t see any buses whatsoever. The other family called their lodging facilities (Rivers Edge – used for overflow) and got the number of the Princess Riverside Lodge and placed a call to them re the shuttle. They were told by the tour desk that the shuttle had already completed their respective runs for the evening. The couple explained the situation to the tour desk and they dispatched someone right away. By the time we got back to the lodge it was pretty late.

The next morning we had breakfast downstairs with a bill totaling $19 and some change. I gave our waitress $30 – a $10 and $20 dollar respectively and asked for some $1 bills in the change. She returned a short time later, apologized and said the restaurant did not have any singles. We didn’t want to stiff her; however we were forced to give her a $5.00 tip for a meal that didn’t even come to a total of $20. Her service was good – but not good enough to warrant a tip of that amount. You would think the lodge and/or restaurant would plan ahead but maybe that is asking too???

Then off to the Denali Princess Lodge. We were in building 11 which is up the hill from the main lodge – basic hotel type room, comfortable -- however, it would be wonderful if the rooms had A/C since it was pretty warm during our visit. The next am we embarked on the Tundra Wilderness Tour – we upgraded from the Natural History Tour when we originally booked the trip – first bus out at 6:00 am and an excursion we thoroughly enjoyed. We saw it all – coyote, wolves, wolf pups, caribou, bears and moose. When we returned, we did our own hike at Horseshoe Lake where we were very up-close and personal to a moose having a snack in the lake. The following morning we were off on the Denali Express for an all-day trip down to Whittier to board the ship.

The train ride was long however it went by pretty quick since we got along very well with our table companions. We were checked-in while still on board so when we got to Whittier, we grabbed our gear and boarded the ship and went right to our cabin – a mini suite on the Dolphin deck – D334.

Overall, the room was what we expected – it suited us fine. Our cabin steward was GREAT – very friendly and accommodating.

We found the food in the MDR mediocre to say the least and our wait staff was not much better. They blew us off and wouldn’t even look our direction after we told them for the umpteenth time that we were not interested in purchasing a bottle of wine. We ate there on the two formal evenings since we found the posted dinner menus not to our liking so we indulged elsewhere. We tried The Bayou Restaurant one evening and our meal was FANTASTIC – can’t really understand how the food quality could be so very different from the MDR.

On three separate occasions during our 7-day cruise, specifically July 5, 8 and 9, we were awakened by a very startling and loud series of abrupt noises in the early morning hours, starting at approximately 4:30-5:00 am. On each of the three dates noted above, the noises continued like clockwork every 15-20 minutes for several hours, making it impossible to sleep. We called Passenger Services (PS) and described what we were hearing as sounding as if someone took an entire counter filled with bottles of shampoo, hair conditioner, bath gels and like items and pushing them abruptly into a bathroom shower or tub – boom boom boom boom boom. When the persons from PS arrived, they said they were there about the “squeaking” noises. We told them the noises were never described as “squeaking.” Said persons sent by PS witnessed the noises firsthand. The noises we heard were thunderous startling interruptions to our well paid for rest and relaxation. We were given several explanations by the folks sent to our room – waste disposal, rough seas, flushing the pool lines and redirecting water to the engine room, none of which are acceptable to us.

The highlight of our cruise was the excursion we booked through Princess – Photo Safari by Land and Sea which is provided by Gastineau Guiding. Our guide, Stacy Lee, is very knowledgeable about photography as well as nature itself – a certified naturalist in fact. We believe Capt. Bryan is a comedienne in the off-season – very pleasant and easy going guy. We saw a lot of whale tails and two whales breaching – almost simultaneously – spectacular would be an understatement! We would highly recommend this excursion and Gastineau Guiding to anyone thinking of visiting Juneau.

During the entire trip – our bags were picked up and delivered to each location without a hitch. I will say that Princess has this down to a science – not sure how they do it but they do this well.

The disembarkation in Vancouver (boat to bus) seemed a little disorganized but we were back in Seattle via motor coach by early afternoon.

As other posters have mentioned – numerous kids left alone and running wild – on auto pilot, left to their own devices. Not a very smart thing if you ask me – but no one is asking.

We have contacted Princess regarding the above “noise” issue and are waiting to hear back. We haven’t let this experience turn us off entirely to cruising but we would think again about booking with Princess.

My apologies for the lengthy review ...

[rcarrosq]

This is our first time on Princess but our 15th cruise. We usually cruise to Mexico or the Caribbean but this is our first time to Alaska.

While I won't say we had a bad cruise, I will say that Princess left alot to be desired. Just to set the record straight, we are in our 60's and met up with family and friends onboard. I read what folks are saying about Princess and I'm afraid I have to agree with some of it.

The waiters, bartenders, and even some of the photographers are rude and unprofessional. While I was happy to see that there was someone to serve your coffee in the grill instead of having everybody milling about the coffee area, it would have been nice if the servers actually paid attention to who needed coffee. Most of the time, the waiters would obviously avoid eye contact and after the first 2 or 3 days, I would just go get my own coffee, much to their dismay. They were also slow to remove dirty dishes and bar service on the Lido deck was mostly non-existent.

I did have an issue with one of the photographers who I believe intentionally took a photo and then deleted it. My husband and I were posing with some of their characters up on deck and our friend was standing at a distance with his camera. When the photographer saw this, she rudely said "If you're taking a picture, why am I here?" He put the camera down and joined us in the photo and even though I searched over and over, I never saw that picture. I even had the photo lab check the computers and the picture wasn't there either. Very unprofessional.

We chose anytime dining and lucked out when we found a very good waiter in the Pacific Moon dining room. He smiled, sang, brought samples of other dishes for us to try, and really made it fun to be at his table. We were relieved to find him because the first place we went to, the waiters were sullen, sarcastic and VERY slow.

All in all, it was not a bad cruise but I put that off to the friends and family we had with us. Sorry to say I will not be cruising with Princess again until they give better training to their staff on the meaning of customer service.

[finderbinder]

Had a great trip state room was spaceous and plenty of storage space. Didn't care for Ocho Rios but loved Princess Caye Island, Grand Cayman and Cozumel. The Dolphin experience is excellent I did the Deluxe Dolphin and spent close to an hour in the water with 2 dolphins and it was great. I would highly recommend it. The ship and staff were very friendly and helpful! GO! I would do it again if I get the chance.

[charleskatz@comcast.net]

we just got back from the NYC-NYC NewEngland coast cruise, balcony cabin
was beautiful.
had made prior dining arrangements, all screwed up, returned several
entree's as too salty.
formal dining room dress code, a joke. (trailerparkpicnic)
fantastic entertainment and spa,in cabin service superb.
Hard to have a complete cruise enjoyment experience with these distractions.

[Perry143]

As usual Princess met all my expectations. We lucked out with fabulous weather despite a Halifax cancellation because of Hurricane Earl but thoroughly enjoyed our full day in New York as a result. Everything on the ship was clean and maintained and our room steward was fabulous. The 3500+ passengers on this ship made the Horizon Court a little crowded on port days when everyone was trying to access it at the same time prior to exiting for the day. Food, entertainment and staff were all wonderful. Won at bingo! The only thing to dampen our great vacation was parents who didn't teach their children respect for others. Will certainly travel again with Princess.

[PrincessCruiser101]

They were very clean and well kept but so few!! There should be washrooms near every restaurant (if not in them). We feel the waiters and waitresses in the buffet area were overworked. Maybe you should hire a few more. Other than that, it was a great ship, beautiful with great food and entertainment!!!

[Musky Ike]

Originally Posted by Perry143

As usual Princess met all my expectations. We lucked out with fabulous weather despite a Halifax cancellation because of Hurricane Earl but thoroughly enjoyed our full day in New York as a result. Everything on the ship was clean and maintained and our room steward was fabulous. The 3500+ passengers on this ship made the Horizon Court a little crowded on port days when everyone was trying to access it at the same time prior to exiting for the day. Food, entertainment and staff were all wonderful. Won at bingo! The only thing to dampen our great vacation was parents who didn't teach their children respect for others. Will certainly travel again with Princess.

We were on the same cruise. I think that "a little crowded" is an understatement for the horizon court. It was wall to wall some times. I was a bit dismayed by the empty tables in traditional for dinner. If you aren't ever going to show free up the table for others. Loved Boston and Bar Harbor, St. Johns was nothing special. NYC is an experience to remember. Did not like the comedian, I think it was Phil Tag? just not funny, all he did was pick on people and then wonder why they didn't answer his questions, duh.