Coastal - West Coast Cruise Reviews

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All Cruise Port Stops Cancelled - Waste of Money Cruise. by redgal74

Sail date: / Traveled as: Couple
Ship: Radiance of the Seas

We just got off a 4 day cruise on Radiance of the Seas that sailed from Los Angeles on Monday, April 22nd to Vancouver. We were less than 24 hours into our cruise and we were told the ship had propulsion issues and all of our port stops were cancelled. We have been on 14 Royal Carribean cruises in less than 8 years. While the service was fantastic on the cruise we just took, we were extremely disappointed when we found out all port stops had been cancelled due to mechanical issues. We specifically booked this cruise as it stopped in places that we truly wanted to visit. Aside from the cruise cost, we spent a significant amount of money on flights, hotels, drink and dining packages and child care to go on a cruise that did not stop. We would have not spent this amount of money on a cruise that did not stop whatsoever. Too make matters worse, we quickly found out that this same propulsion issue occurred multiple times on the Radiance of the Seas, and, as a result, several sailings on her were cancelled last year. In addition, Radiance of the Seas has just gone through dry dock and we were told several repairs were made. Cleary this wasn't the case. All Royal Carribean offered passengers for their inconvenience was half of one cruise far back in the form of onboard credit. This did little or nothing for the majority of passengers to offset the cost of travel. We are beyond disappointed and are strongly debating cancelling a cruise we booked in January 2025 on Utopia of the Seas. We have spent tens of thousands of dollars with Royal Carribean and to not be offered a future cruise credit or discount is poor customer service. We found out that the next several sailings on Radiance have been cancelled due to these mechanical issues. Those passengers received a full refund and a credit towards another cruise. Passengers on our cruise/sailing should have been offered future cruise credit/discount. It's very disappointing.

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Fun one week cruise by LindaGrant

Sail date: / Traveled as: Couple
Ship: Crown Princess

Good cruise for the money. Please do something about the ventilation in the casino or prohibit smoking in the interior of the ship totally. Smoke and odor goes almost into the Princess theater. Normally we wold have gambled but could not even go in for a few minutes. Passengers from the casino carry the odor and the elevator ride very unpleasant

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Relaxing short get-a-way by JCFlan

Sail date: / Traveled as: Singles/Friends
Ship: Discovery Princess

A fun 3 day get-a-way!

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Great trip😍 by ltrappenberg

Sail date: / Traveled as: Singles/Friends
Ship: Norwegian Bliss

Great trip San Francisco was super nice we had a great time on board good staff service good food

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Boring Cruise by CruisingRUs

Sail date: / Traveled as: Couple
Ship: Koningsdam

I doubt very much we will sail with Holland America again. Their staff was wonderful, but it didn't make up for all the other disappointments. We have cruised on 19 cruises and this was the bottom of the bucket out of all our cruises.

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Disappointing first time on Princess by jopeng98795268

Sail date: / Traveled as: Family (older children)
Ship: Crown Princess

We've cruised many times but never on Princess. We arrived at 11:30am, an hour after they opened for embarkation. The line was already wrapped around the lawn area, and then more lines once you got inside. It was cold and raining and we didn’t get on the ship until 1pm, an hour and a half after we arrived. So different from Royal where we were dropped off at the front, greeted by porters who whisked away our bags, and walked onto the ship 15 mins later. The good thing about having to wait so long was that our rooms were ready by the time we got there, so we went straight there to drop off our bags. Food: Buffets usually get a bad rap but we usually find something we enjoy at each one. Not on the Crown. Even the salad was bad. They need to invest in some salad spinners because their salads were dripping with water, the dressings had no flavor, the ingredients (like the chicken, tomatoes, and hard boiled eggs) were shredded/chopped to where they were unrecognizable. Maybe this appeals to the older crowd who need their food chewed for them, but I prefer my salads to have some bite. Dinner was not any better. You fill out a dining preference sheet ahead of time where they ask if you prefer a table by the window, and if you prefer a fast, medium or slow speed of dining. I don’t know why they ask because it was never accommodated. The servers were great but the only dining room that seemed to have assistants was Michalangelo. As a result, everything took a really long time, which would be fine if the food was worth waiting for, but it wasn’t. I really think most of the dining room food is from the same batch as the buffet. I waited an hour for chicken and waffles which tasted like the buffet waffles with chicken tenders on top. And it wasn’t even hot or fresh. One night I got fajitas which looked like someone scooped it from the buffet and put two pieces of stale tortillas on it, with the same guacamole and tomato mush that they serve in the buffet line. I would think at least in the dining room that they would use real avocados to make their guacamole, but it was the same stuff that looked like it was squeezed out of a tube. We were really excited to see the Salty Dog Grill. How can you go wrong with hot dogs, burgers and chili cheese fries made to order? Well apparently you can overcook all the burgers, serve the hot dogs on stale dry buns, and put one squirt of processed cheese and one teaspoon of chili on a basket of fries. The pizza from Slice was pretty good though, and the ice cream sundaes looked good as well. High Tea sounded like a great idea. But the reality was a really long line of people, being told you have to be seated with strangers unless you wanted to wait even longer, and then being served lukewarm tea. Servers walked around with trays of food, which disappeared before they could get to your table. One tray was the sandwiches, which was just tuna or egg salad served on some hard round rolls. It would have been simple enough to make them with sliced bread or have some cucumber cream cheese in them,...they have all the ingredients. But it seems that Princess is all about streamlining rather than quality. We saw another tray with desserts and cookies which looked unappetizing, like someone pulled them from the buffet line. Then as our table mates got tired of waiting for more of the same, they finally came out with a tray of dry scones. This entire time our tea was not refilled. It was very disappointing. I wish they would just not do it at all if they can’t attempt to do it correctly. Thermal spa: Since there wasn’t much to do on the ship, I thought I’d get the Thermal Spa package which was $150 for 5 nights. It was supposed to include access to their steam room, sauna, waterfall fog showers, and ceramic heated chairs, as well as an exclusive pool and hot tub area. This was the biggest rip off. There was no hot water in the showers the entire time I was there. The sauna was barely hot and they finally shut it down on the last day to fix it. Of course that would also be the same day that the ceramic chairs weren’t working, and the steam room was dangerously over heated,...I couldn’t stay in there longer than 3 minutes, it was that hot. The “private” pool was also never filled our entire trip. Halfway through I asked to speak to the spa manager. The lady took my room number but he never got in touch with me. On the last day I again asked to speak to him and the lady at the desk was very defensive, telling me that the showers are supposed to be cold (how do you get a fog shower without heat, and if they’re supposed to be cold, why didn’t any of their staff say so when other passengers reported it? There was even a maintenance guy there fixing the lights and he said he would look into it) The most the lady would do was to refund me a day, which I had no choice but to take. She was not very nice about it and told me she would call me in 20 minutes. Again I didn’t get a call all day and had to go back to see if it was refunded to me. By the way, I ended up using the free sauna in the changing area on the last day, which was so much better than the Thermal Suite one. I had to take my necklace off for the first time because it was burning from the heat,...it hadn’t done that at all previously because it wasn’t working all trip. And there’s a free steam room and showers (with hot water!) in the changing room too. So really the only thing you’re paying for are the ceramic beds in the Thermal Suite. Entertainment: Everything was just meh. The production show was uninspired. It looked very rehearsed and routine with no energy and no heart. I overheard another passenger say that having white people trying to sing soul music didn’t work. Possible, but I just don’t think any of the singers were amazing. Again, as was the theme for the cruise, they were just average. There were two comedians. The first one, Scott Belford, was so bad that it was painful to watch. I don’t know how Princess could hire him as an entertainer. Do they watch his shows?? It was like amateur night, with jokes like “I love it when my wife walks right by the coat closet,...only to put her jacket on the back of a chair 20 feet away.” cue laughter from comedian and no one else “At least she doesn’t do it 24/7 like I do. She has me beat there” cue uncomfortable laughter from one person in the audience. We had to walk out, it was so incredibly cringey. The second guy was an impressionist and he was really funny. Or maybe he just looked like a rockstar next to the first guy. We saw two of his shows and he was the highlight of the entire entertainment schedule. Our room was on the Piazza level mid ship, which was super convenient for access to dinner, gangway, shops, bar, etc. The main area of the ship is there as well, in front of the elevators. This is where they do the games, live music, and the welcome/farewell ceremonies. Makes it really difficult to talk to customer service though, as their counter is one floor above the open atrium where everything is happening. The merchandise sales were crazy. They had three four-foot tables that they put along the railing. People were pushing and shoving trying to get to the cheap $10 items that they were selling. You won’t be able to get to the front unless you have ninja powers, so I would suggest going near the end. Don’t worry, the cheap tacky watches and shawls and hats will still be there. Other things to know: Soda package comes with mocktails, but not bottled water for some reason. You also can’t chat with your shipmates unless you have the old version of the app, which is so incredibly dumb. Why would you release a version of the app with less functionality? The ship itself offers very little to do. Most advertised activities are just sales pitches. The free mini facial session consists of sitting on hard chairs in a meeting room with someone giving you a bit of cleanser/toner/ etc to rub on, then a cold wipe to clean it off, and then moisturizer. Meanwhile they’re trying to “educate” you on why their products are superior. It’s really not a facial at all. Neither are the free “massage samplers”. We went to the art auction (we were that bored) and the lady hosting it was telling the audience how lucky we were that we weren’t going on the Hawaii trip right after our sailing. She was dreading the upcoming 8 sea days. After going on the Crown with 2 sea days, I can understand her dread. Normally I’m a bit envious of the cruisers getting on while we are getting off, but this time I was glad to be home. I think it’s safe to say that this will be our last trip on Princess.

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It was a nice trip. by tagtlt007

Sail date: / Traveled as: Family (young children)
Ship: Discovery Princess

We are elite Captain's Cir and find the new policies regarding specialty dinning to be boring and less quality (Particularly Alfredo's). Also, the plus packages for long voyages when view more carefully are not as good as it first appears. It says, based on 7 day cruise, but the language says it applies to entire voyage, thus a 16 day Hawaii or 30 day LA to Sydney are not as good--2 dinning for 7 ok, 2 dining for a 16 not good, and 2 dining for a 30 is terrible. YOU NEED A REDUCTION FOR NON-ALOCOLIC DRINKERS. We have two cruises planned and schedule for 2024. If you don't make changes, our rating is only go lower and lower. PS: The taste of the food has gone down since we started cruising with you years ago; is it that you don't use the Italian chefs of the past, or just more passengers mean lower quality?

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Good Cruise but too crowded by rebtom2

Sail date: / Traveled as: Family (young children)
Ship: Discovery Princess

The embarkation process is ridiculous !!! One giant long line and no place for platinum or elite members to go check in separately. The dining reservations are also ridiculous !!! You can't ever book a table at a specialty dining room, but when you go there, they let you in and all the tables are empty. They said its because passengers book tables and then don't cancel them. They should do a better job of managing this issue.

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Had a great time during our 4 Day Get Away Cruise aboard the Princess Discovery. by Rick007

Sail date: / Traveled as: Couple
Ship: Discovery Princess

We had a great time during our cruise aboard the Princess Discovery booked using . We have booked cruises before using other travel agencies and cruise lines but we are very happy with our experience with and Princess that we are now actually thinking of going on another cruise sometime next year using and Princess once again.

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Adam Savage at Sea by jhelmcamp

Sail date: / Traveled as: Family (young children)
Ship: Discovery Princess

Great, short trip. This is a great option for people looking for a quick getaway.

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Not as expected by marvalouz

Sail date: / Traveled as: Couple
Ship: Crown Princess

Overall I do not recommend this cruise unless you just want to sleep and eat.

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The Covid Cruise by GFN

Sail date: / Traveled as: Large Group
Ship: Koningsdam

Ship design was precarious, too many people for too few staff members, and public areas weren't kept up regularly. (Likely due to the thrice-mentioned staffing issue.) Half of my family contracted COVID on the boat, and we were treated like utter garbage when that revelation hit. Other than our room stewards (who were excellent), the room itself (the balcony view was breathtaking), and the food in the main areas... this is likely the last cruise I'll ever go on. Period.

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Enjoyable itinerary by Sheetss

Sail date: / Traveled as: Couple
Ship: Discovery Princess

Overall I'm glad we did this ship and this itinerary, but it definitely wasn't our favorite cruise.

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Lots of fun but too short! by DrJET

Sail date: / Traveled as: Couple
Ship: Koningsdam

We booked this cruise at the last minute while on another, longer cruise and really enjoyed it. But we'll likely stick with the longer cruises that have more ports.

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Just ok by kristwinsmom

Sail date: / Traveled as: Couple
Ship: Koningsdam

This review asked for photos and we didn’t take any. Omg. I guess that says something about the cruise. We relaxed on this cruise but we probably won’t book Holland America again.

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PRINCESS NOT LIVING UP TO PREVIOUS EXPECTATIONS by djtraugott

Sail date: / Traveled as: Couple
Ship: Discovery Princess

THIS IS ONE OF PRINCESS'S NEWEST SHIPS. IT HAS BEEN STRIPPED DOWN OF PRINCESS AMENITIES. THE CABINS DO NOT EVEN HAVE PAPER AND PEN ANYMORE TO USE. NO BAR SOAP. ALL LIQUID SOAPS FOR SHOWERING AS WELL. HAD TO ASK FOR ICE BUCKET. TV'S HARD TO OPERATE. NO BAGS {REALLY!} FOR PEOPLE WHO PURCHASE ANY SHOP MERCHANDISE. VERY LITTLE ITEMS TO CHOSE FROM WITH PRINCESS LOGO ON THEM. TOO HIGH END FOR LOCALS TO USE THE SHIP FOR A WEEK OF VACATION. THE FOOD? REALLY A BIG DISAPPOINTMENT. ALL DIFFERENT TYPES OF MEAT HAD GRIZZLE ON THEM. SMALL BROKEN BONES IN THE CHICKEN PIECES BECAUSE THE CARVING STAFF IS TRYING TO MAKE CHICKEN PIECES SMALLER. SOME ITEMS NOT ABLE TO KNOW WHAT TYPE OF DISH IT WAS. PRINCESS REALLY GONE DOWN HILL. OLDER CRUISERS KNEW THE DIFFERENCE. MAYBE YOUNGER CRUISERS WILL ACCEPT THE STRIPPED DOWN CHANGES BUT NOT US OLDER CRUISERS. WILL LOOK TO OTHER CARRIERS TO SEE IF THEY HAVE CHEAPENED THEIR SHIP LINE PRODUCTS AS PRINCESS HAS DONE.

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Was a relaxing cruise of the west coast. by suztucker

Sail date: / Traveled as: Couple
Ship: Discovery Princess

We enjoyed the cruise. Was an older crowd of people, many our age. There weren't many children on the cruise. Overall, we had a restful time and enjoyed the cruise. Might even do it again, but hopefully on a smaller ship.

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Beautiful Ship! by dtextqueen

Sail date: / Traveled as: Couple
Ship: Discovery Princess

This was a wonderful cruise. Our cabin was beautifully appointed and large. Dining rooms were not as elegant as other ships. Food was fair to good. Entertainment was wonderful with many different venues. Elevators were horrible. Long waits and 95% of the time very crowded.

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Great Ship! by flcheri

Sail date: / Traveled as: Couple
Ship: Celebrity Eclipse

The Eclipse is a beautiful ship with great venues and entertainment. The itinerary was great as well. We had a fantastic time!

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Costal Cruise by gjschaeffer

Sail date: / Traveled as: Couple
Ship: Celebrity Eclipse

Overall the cruise was good. Disappointed that the Santa Barbara port was fogged out. We would go again.

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