Their port stops are great if you have not experience the west coast. Don't understand why we would have a day at sea between San Diego & LA. It is only 2 hrs drive. We could be a bit biased, because we were comfortable or having that much fun on this ship. We would not cruise again with Princess. That's for sure.
Embarkation
5 out of 5
It was easy, not sure it was due to the timing.
Ship experiences
Food and Dining
1 out of 5
The food was a disappointment, particularly the first night. Meats, fish & vegetables were all overcooked. Meats were tough, so we stick to the stew meats & fresh fruits. On our first night, chocolate souffle in the dining room was more of a vanilla souffle. The staff at the dining room has no idea of where places are located in the ship or know the timing of the shows. Was late to a show one night dining with a group, & had to catch the later showing. We begin to go to the buffet, which we usually tried not to in other cruises we had been on, because the food is not that much better at the dining rooms. The layout of the ship is confusing, can't get to Botticelli from the the front / mid-ship of the 6th floor as an example.
Yogurts were preloaded with granola in the breakfast buffet, so the granola was soggy. We ended up getting yogurt by itself & adding granola cereal to it. The wild berry cobbler has no crumb compared to the dining room, but looks like it has been adjusted toward the end of the cruise. Server behind the bread / pastry bar has no way to reheat croissants or rolls.
Alfredo's Pizzeria: There were bugs flying around the ingredients for making the pizza. Took the server quite a while to get our salads & soup from International Cafe to the Pizzeria dining area.
International Cafe: Can't believe you can't get a coffee or tea without charge after Horizon Buffet closed.
Onboard Activities
2 out of 5
Not much entertainment / activities. If there are activities, they are kind of dull, not much of movement, only joined Zumba in the morning during sea days. The ship was swaying too much for my husband to work out in the gym. Shows did progressively getting better. Some of the activities have the same timing or coincide of another. The activity list seemed like it was thrown together at the last minute & not available on printed copy or app until the morning of or the night prior.
TV has movies, but it is slow to load with commercials, scrolling is not intuitive, & jumps around on its own.
Entertainment
1 out of 5
When they have Broadway style show, they are decent, but we only had 2 on our 7 night cruise.
Children's Programs
We didn't bring any kids.
Service and Staff
2 out of 5
Personnel seemed nice.
Ship Quality
1 out of 5
This is the first cruise ship that we have been on that I wake up with sore throat & coughing every night, since we were on this cruise. No sore throat after disembarkment with all the smog in LA. Unsure whether there are any filters for air ventilation. According to the housekeeper, there's no humidifier, so we have to leave our balcony door opened the whole cruise to help the sore throat situation. Should've asked whether there's a filter that can be changed out.
Decor of the room is dated. There was a blood stain on the bed sheet. Was told sheets wouldn't be changed for 7 days unless asked to protect the environment, rules from cruising thru Alaska. We understand the conservation concern, but with lack of activities & coup up in our room watching movies / surfing web on our bed, sheets should be change more often, like every other day, maybe during port days.
Cabin / Stateroom
1 out of 5
Same as mentioned above.
Ship tip
Check out the age & size of the ship. Comfort could be an issue due inability to maintenance their ventilation system. No sore throat after disembarkment with all the smog in LA. I can see how people get sick on the ship. The ship also sway enough that my husband was not sea sick, but not able to workout on the gym.
First time to Vancouver. It certainly a city that we want to check off. We embarked our cruise in this city, so no excursion was offer thru Princess, but found a pre-cruise excursion thru Priceline, which is pretty cool. Description says they would take our luggage to the ship while we were on the tour, but we were the only ones had luggage, so they did not have to make a special & accommodated our luggage in the tour bus.
Hop on & off was good, since we want to stop at the Fishermen's Wharf & Chinatown. If you want to stop at another location, you might have to wait for vehicle with seat available. Wharf & Chinatown are the 2nd & 3rd stops, so we were able to do a whole tour & loop to our wharf stop.
The Hop on & Off Old Town Trolley was not available thru Princess, but available on Old Town Trolley we site. Hop on & off was good, since we want to stop Hotel Del Coronado & the second to the last stop, Little Italy. We saw some people had to wait, because there were no seats available.
The Hollywood & LA Beaches Highlight Tour was not available thru Princess, probably because this is our disembarkation city. It was a goof your if you are in LA the first time.
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