U.S. Cruise Reviews

 The staff and cleanliness were excellent. The food in the Lido dining room was much better than the food in the main dining-room. On 3 different days we were given bath towels with holes in them. They shrunk the state room in this ship leaving us with only one comfortable chair to sit on. This cruise was not up to Princess standards tha I experience in the past 

Did not know what to expect even though I heard positive things from other people.  I thoroughly enjoyed my cruise, the food was excellent in abundance...never hungry, the staff was very friendly and most helpful when lost.  Everything ran like a dream very well executed from the excursions to meals to entertainment.  Even though I did not do most of the excursions there was enough to on the ship for entertainment.  The complaint I do have was that the pillows on our bed were too soft, would have preferred something more firm, and also no top sheets were used.  The maps or directions of faucalities could have been more clearer, some were quite confusing.   Other than that I would gladly go on another cruise

We enjoyed the cruise because it was easy in all aspects.  The stops were great because you didn't really need to buy shore excursions except possibly in LA.  The staff on the ship was very accommodating and the shows were excellent.  The food was good and the boat was very steady.  The weather was fantastic as well.  Ensenada is much clean than before.  Great value especially if you live in the Bay Area since you can get the boat without airfare which is a real plus.  It's a great alternative to the Mexican Riviera if you want a different experience.

All ports were excellent - especially for the first time cruiser.  Naturally, it was more hectic in Santa Barbara because of having to use the tenders.  The April weather was ideal (mid 60's) at all stops for a spring cruise.  Unfortunately, the pool water was much too cold for adults, but the kids completely dominated it anyway.  A cruise at Easter vacation is not for adults who can't tolerate kids. The food was excellent and so was the entertainment and accommodations.

Ports of call were great - how could they NOT be!  San Francisco, Santa Barbara, San Diego and Ensenada.  Very friendly people and terrific service. I am a Royal Caribbean loyalist so going on a Princess ship was new for me.  I did not have the best of expectations, but then again, this cruise was pretty cheap, so I had little to loose.  The food was outstanding... much better than my recent experience on the Quantum of the Seas with Royal Caribbean.  The ship is magnificent (and I haven't sailed on a ship under 6400 or 4400 passengers lately, so I thought at first that this 3100 passenger ship was "tiny" :) )  We had HUGE 20' swells outside of San Francisco that looked very scary and a lot of us were looking outside completely shocked that the ship wasn't even tilting at all... completely stable.  That was quite remarkable.  This cruise is the perfect model of a fantastic cruise experience!

I've cruised over 40 times, but this was my first cruise with Princess.  When I walked into my cabin, I was pleasantly shocked...it was almost as large as our bedroom at home!  It was a handicapped room, and everything was accessible and beautifully decorated.  There was room for BOTH my scooter and my husband's scooter (without having to compromise any aisles or moving-around spaces.

The food/service in the main dining room was EXCELLENT every night.  We enjoyed our staff, our table-mates, the menu selections, and the atmosphere.  Unfortunately, we were never impressed with any of the food on the buffet lines, so we used Room Service for most of our lunches.  My husband enjoyed the hamburgers at the outside grill by the pool area, and I likes most of the freshly baked pizza selections (it had thin crust, and was not too greasy like on some ships).

Every show that was presented by the production staff (4 singers and 13 dancers) was AMAZING.  They were the highest quality of any shipboard musical productions that I had ever seen.  They were better than many of the Vegas shows I've seen.  Great sets...great costumes...talented professionals!!! 

I wasn't crazy about the selection of shipboard activities.  I know that it wasn't advertised as "The Fun Ship", but I would have liked more games, demonstrations, and classes.  We had a lot of "down time" for relaxing, but I like to stay a bit busier.  We didn't even get "towel animals" on our bed at night!

The photography department was sub-par.  The photos were overpriced (Why do I need 2 copies printed of the same pose on each $20 sheet?), with poor workmanship (With digital cameras, they SHOULD be able to see if the subject took a good, clear photo before the move on.), and not displayed in a timely manner.  We usually buy 10-20 photos on a one week cruise...this time we only found 4 that we liked enough to purchase!

The "disembarking" process was FANTASTIC!  It was efficient, organized, and stress-free.  It was a better experience than we have ever had before.  All of the other cruise lines need to take notes on how Princess can pull this off.  It was a good way to end our cruise on a positive note.

All things considered, we really enjoyed the week.  It was very relaxing, and we made many new friends.  Thank you Princess for a wonderful cruise and for a new set of precious cruise memories!!!!   

I've been on many cruise lines but this was my first on Princess. I'm from SoCal so the locations wasn't set to be the highlight of my trip. My wife and I wanted a quick get away and thought we would take advantage of a local cruise and see what Princess had to offer.

The cabin was good and the steward did a great job. No towel animals so a little disappointing but not a big deal. The shows were OK but I was surprised to see a comedy act as the main show a couple times during the week and especially on formal night. Bar service was horrible for both poolside and lounges. I'm not a big drinker but I rarely saw a pool waiter and had to walk to the bar for all my drinks. It was not crowded but I do think the ultimate drink package they sell may be driving them to stay away from service. I bought the package for $50 a day but to get my moneys worth I had to seek out the bars. 

Food and restaurants was my biggest let down. The dining rooms were horrible and the buffets were worse! We did not get the typical individualized waiter service in the traditional dining that we experienced in other cruises. By day 3 they know what you like, greet you by name, etc... None of that! We thought it was just our waiter but other passengers said the same. We tried the anytime dining to see if it was better....Nope.

I've been on multiple cruises with Royal Caribbean, Disney, Celebrity, Carnival, Norwegian and now Princess. I've always thought of Princess as kind of the elite cruise line until now. They are at or near the bottom.     

Our first time ever....very impressed with all the restaurants, Princess Theater, beautiful pools and hot tubs.

Just a pity that the Captain of the Ship only has "dinner" with the Elite Passengers.  Never saw him once!!

Otherwise the customer service was excellent and very friendly!!!!! Highly recommended by us

We had an excellent experience and have completed both questionnaires from CruiseOnly and Princess, Thank you!                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                               

First the good, the room was pleasant for and interior cabin and closet space, although not needed for a seven day cruise was plentiful.  The bath was remarkably small and it was very hard to keep the floor from getting wet and slippery when you showered.  The entertainment was typical, except they had a very good comedian one night.  The pizza bar was good, ice cream limited to 2 flavors daily and the buffet was decent.

The main dining room, especially the main courses, ranged from OK to bad.  The best meal I had was meatloaf...and that should tell you something.  The first night was prime rib.  My tablemate reported that her prime rib was not medium rare, an opinion I seconded.  The waiter said they were, no offer to take the meat (?) back.  The meat was tough, dry and their was one are that looked medium, which we both tried, it was not even the consistancy of beef.  By night three I realized beef was not an option on this trip.  Even on lobster night (which they coupled with shrimp)  I felt the lobster, while flavorful, was almost translucent and undercooked.  The deserts were the only meal highlight.  We could not get refills on tea nor could we seem to get hot coffee with our desert.

Attempting to get a wheelchair to get to the end of the pier proved another challange.  We called the front desk, they said ask when we disembark at security.  Security sent us to the front desk, the front desk said we needed a "medical" note from the ship's doctor (who was off until 5:00 pm) to get a wheel chair.  When I objected to this the clerk took off for about 15 minutes, then came back and said OK go to security.  Security then said they could take is 30 ' to the end of the ramp, but to get to the end of the pier, we would need the Port Authority and they didn't supply wheelchairs.  We gave up and walked slowly to the end of the pier.  On the way back we passed at least 15 "Princess Cruise" wheelchairs??

Disembarkation was a nightmare.  I was told by the headquarters early walk-off was at 7:30...I had tight flight connections, which thankfully I made at Long Beach airport.  I got off the ship at 8:15, 45 min. late.  My friends, whom I had driven with on departure, got off at 12:30 for a 10:15 am disembarkation. 

The ports were fine, except we were in San Francisco on a Monday when almost all musuems are closed.

All told...pay the extra and take Celebrity.

Overall, the cruise was good...loved the ports until the last stop.  Not thrilled with Encinada.  Callifornia was great. There seemed to be less attention to detail as in previous cruises we noticed.  We were talking with our table mates and they felt the same way.  Felt that maybe since the tips were already included, they didn't need the little extra attention.  Nothing terrible but just different.

Beautiful ship, good onboard entertainment, food is plentiful but could be better, would like to see different daily activities, going through customs in Long Beach was a nightmare....should have had customs come on ship instead of us getting off.

Service was great, the ship is oddly configured.  You cannot get to certain decks from the above one, must go to middle of ship then down.

The big sale at the end of trip, was a joke.  The prices were the same as in shops throughout the cruise.  Long Beach was a dead stop.  We went to Walmart and Ross there.  The lines were long to get back on the ship in Santa Barbara, maybe not enough tinders?  The dembarkation was easy and quick.

These people take your personal drinks from your baggage and destroy it. There was no notice on the bording pass that says you may not take drinks on the ship. They also messed up the Fed inspection in Long Beach. People had to stand in line for hours to leave the ship. I most likley will take this cruise again.     

The cabin was kept clean, however there was mode in the bathroom. The cabin had a terrible smell, (One Night) which we had to call maintenance, and was told it was due to not enough air circulation. Told us to leave air down very low, for about 30 minutes. Room service was not that great. The coffee was warm and the pastries were very cold. (Not enough selections) Our waitress at dinner was not very professional, at times she was rude to my friend. (She was nice to me.) We went to see a movie and it was SO COLD. Because it was so cold, I got sick, and could not go to the first Formal Dinner. The only time the food was half way good was on the second Formal Dinner. I was still feeling sick and could not really enjoy myself. (Due to the cold theater) The elevators were not working on two occasions.The DJ played music for the young, rather than for the older people. Needless to say I was very disappointed, being that I was looking forward to the cruise. I felt like asking for a refund. Because I paid both fares. ($1,760.99)

I must say all the crew showed us lots of respect and was very nice and friendly. This was my first time with Princess Cruise and the last time. SO SORRY.

Ms. Betty Phelan

11/01/13

We looked forward to our first cruise on a Norwegian ship, after many others on Holland America, Celebrity, and Royal Caribbean.  Unfortunately, this was not up to the standard of those 3.  The complimentary restaurants (only 2) were very noisy due to low ceilings, and the specialty restaurants (Norwegian brags that there are more than 10!) were disappointing as well.  Food quality was good, but not outstanding.  Service WAS pleasant, however, and staff never failed to try hard to do their best!  The layout of the ship was disjointed, and it was difficult to walk the length of the ship without walking through the Argentinian restaurant, for example!

     Entertainment was good, but not outstanding.  We enjoy taking a few classes on cruises, such as computer or photography classes, but nothing like that was offered.  The atrium, or the central plaza, was where the chefs of the specialty restaurants demonstrated a few of their dishes....and a huge screen there was showing a movie a few times.  Singers were good....

     The BEST part of the cruise was the Thermal Suite, a part of the spa which was open to the few who bought a pass!!  The whole 5 days was $89, about 1/2 the cost of a massage!  We loved relaxing on the heated lounges, the whirlpool and jacuzzi, the herbal steam room and sauna.  It is located at the very front of the ship, so we enjoyed a beautiful view of the water as we relaxed...a great place just to get away from the crowds and read.

     The weather was very rough for the first two days, and many people got seasick, which fortunately we don't experience!  But the filthy hallways and stairways we had to walk through should have been cleaned MUCH more quickly!

     The cabin we were assigned was not bad, but carpet was so dirty it smelled dusty, and was visually desperately in need in cleaning.  The bath had no amenities...only a wall dispenser of shampoo and bath gel.  A small bottle of lotion would have been most welcome!

Very relaxing time.  Food was not as good as we expected. Service at the traditional dining restaurant was wonderful but the food itself was not great.

My stateroom and service there was pleasant.  Best breakfast on the room service menu was an egg McMuffin-like sandwich, not really a hot breakfast such as eggs, bacon, hash browns, etc as on Holland America... a  little disappointing as I didn't really want to get dressed to go out of my room for breakfast.  Food, in general, was not the quality of Holland. Had lamb roast that required a steak knife to cut and was very "chewy"; mushroom soup and cold pumpkin soup had very little flavor; pasta dishes didn't come with enough sauce and were, therefore, "pasty"; lobster and shrimp dinner came with plain white rice, thought that was an odd pairing but seafood was very good.  Guess it depends on what one's previous experience has been but just having the meals prepared for me and not having to do the dishes was great!!!  Spa was very nice as were the professionals there, very caring and very attentive to one's needs.  All in all was a rejuvenating time for me.

For the cost, you're better off spending a little more and experiencing a full cruise (especially since they are so inexpensive now days).  I thought it would be fun for my kids and grandkids. The grandkids loved swimming in the pool and the food.  I wasn't overly impressed with the ship - I prefer Royal Carribbean.

My wife and I had a great cruise. We were impressed with the food and the service and we able to enjoy resting and some fantasitic views of California.

Jim