We have done 2 Carnival cruises, 1 Norwegian - all 7 day, and then 10 days with Celebrity and now this one with Princess.
Was expecting this to be a bit more of a luxury cruise and did not find that to be the case.
I know leading up to departure there were still cabins available, so not sure if they cut staff to reduce costs. Seemed to be a shortage of on-deck staff, excursion staff, dining room staff. Marketplace buffet only had both sides open on port mornings. Not enough activities, just lots of focus on boutique sales (prices were the same day 1 - day 10)
Embarkation
5 out of 5
Luggage was taken right out of the cab, line up inside terminal was relatively short. Process was quick and easy, we were onboard in minutes and our cabins were ready.
Ship experiences
Food and Dining
3 out of 5
Food was just ok, not great. Even at Crown Grill the steak was only average. We had Anytime dining and most nights had to wait to be seated (5-6 nights the wait was 30+ minutes), I have never had that amount of wait time on any other cruise. I think people with Traditional seating were going whenever they wanted, room cards were never checked by the Hostess. 2nd last night was Chef's menu - choices were limited, unappealing and food was disappointing.
Drinks were expensive, it was hard to find a menu at any of the bars, and there were never any drink specials or happy hour deals.
Onboard Activities
2 out of 5
No activity around the pool except Movies at Sea or Discovery videos. Discovery videos were very repetitious (2 or 3 sets of pictures on constant replay), and there were no captions telling you where shots were taken. Evening entertainment seemed geared to older passengers, way too mellow. Crafts were limited and uninteresting. Went to Stargazing, but it was a cloudier night and they could not get the bridge to turn off the lights so we couldn't see anything (funny enough, after I left that event and walked further down the deck it was completely dark around the pool for Movies at Sea). They said they would try to hold Stargazing again another night, but that never happened.
I did a lot of reading and my husband watched a lot of movies on TV
Entertainment
3 out of 5
Voice of the Ocean was fun, and the finale was very good due to the "celebrity" participation.
On other ships they always had a special comedy venue, and late evening shows were adult based humour. This boat had comedy shows in the regular theatre, and show was family friendly at all times. Although 1 comedian did seem to want to add some adult content, he held back due to 4 teenage boys sitting in the front row.
Musical shows were OK but not great. Opening night show seemed to promise better things, but subsequent shows did not meet expectations.
Children's Programs
No kids with us
Service and Staff
3 out of 5
Room steward Prasad was very friendly and helpful.
Most of the dining room waiters were nice, but some seemed very stressed and overworked.
Front desk staff tried to be helpful, but didn't always have all the training or knowledge to help.
Excursion desk was not staffed evenings before port, so it was frustrating to try to get trips booked. Princess@Sea app did not work to book excursions and IPad on desk did not always work either. Front desk staff did not know how to reset the excursion IPad, and excursion staff did not respond to calls from them.
Ship Quality
4 out of 5
Cabin / Stateroom
4 out of 5
Loved the extended balcony, lots of room for us and friends next door to sit
Ship tip
Currently has a mechanical problem that effects the speed, won't be fixed until 2018. Our port times were adjusted due to this issue, but due to medical emergency in Grand Cayman they had to try to make up time getting back to Port Everglades - so last day and a half was very rough and rocky. I don't have seasickness issues, so was not a problem on the boat, but have had a hard time getting land legs back once at home. Still feel rolling and rocking 5 days later, usually this has cleared up in a day or 2.
Our original flight time was moved and rather than cut it too close to departure, we went down a day ahead. Stayed on the beach in Ft Lauderdale and made for a very relaxing day/night before, and no stress on embark day.
It's a beach with some snorkling. There was a rush for the tenders, but we weren't in any hurry so took our time. Only issue was we got to the island at 1 pm and knew 1 BBQ was closing but 1 was still open until 1:30. We asked 3 different staff members on shore and not one of them could tell us which BBQ to go to. The 1 closest to docks closed at 1:00, and it was the 1 further down the beach that was open to 1:30. BBQ meats were very good, but salad and fruit was very limited.
No real artisans onsite, it was all manufactured products
Loved the contrast between the old city and modern skyline. Fort was great. We did the Fort/Las Bovedas/City tour thru Princess. David the guide was very good. Vendors in old city were very persistent but not rude. Due to mechanical issue on boat we were only there from 6:30 am - 12:00, which was not really long enough and was a bit too early. At end of tour when we had free time there were no restaurants/bars open yet for drinks.
Las Bovedas weren't what I would call artisan shops, mostly manufactured products.
It was interesting to approach the locks, see the bridge under construction, hear the wildlife on the shore at dawn. The locks are just like any set of locks in North America, so once you do the first set you've been there, done that. Gatun Lake is pretty, but not much to see if stay on the boat all day.
We did an excursion to Panama City (Pacific coast) and the old Mira Flores locks & museum. The guides Manuel and Giovanni were great. Very interesting and funny, even managed to control the obnoxious passenger in the front row. Once again loved the differences between the old Panama City and new modern skyline. Artisans here were true artisans, and were not pushy at all. Guides made sure we took restroom breaks, and all stops were clean and modern. Lock museum was well done and interesting. Buy the book here, much cheaper than the cruise ship store. Boats for the ferry boat excursion were in the locks while we were here, and they were jam packed with people, did not look comfortable, also they had to wait quite a while for transport ship to join them in the lock before it would lower.
Itinerary was changed to Christobel due to mechanical difficulty on ship. Not much of interest at this port, and after our full day excursion we were just happy to get back on board for dinner
Looks like many caribbean ports. Gulf side seems very rocky, not many sandy beaches to see. We did the Rainforest/Arial tram tour. Interesting guide and trip to the rain forest. Lots of frogs, snakes, spiders and butterflies at the reserve, but no monkeys or sloths to be seen. Arial tram is not much of a ride, 8 min up and down the side of a hill, not what I expected when they said you travel thru the canopy. Waterfall is nice, but you only get to the mid-point of the falls on the path, so not as impressive as it could be if you could get down to the bottom. Bus driver spied a sloth on the way back to the boat, so stopped for photos, but it was pretty high up in a tree.
Very flat island. We did a Wreck/Reef snorkling & scenic tour. Wouldn't really call it a scenic tour as we never left sight of the boat or dock area. Wreck is a bit of misnomer, as it has been blown up, so not your normal boat wreck. There were lots of fish both at the wreck and the reef area. Guides Keith and Katie were very nice.
Interesting to see the scuba divers down on the reef.
However, if we go back here again, I would do it on my own, you can swim from shore to the wreck and the reef. Don't need to pay for an excursion.
Other snorkling tours and glass bottom boat tour also stayed right within the harbour, you never lose sight of the cruise ship. A bit disappointing.
Downtown area is like any caribbean port with all the duty free and diamond international stores.
Due to medical emergency, where we lost about 8 hrs going back/forth to Grand Cayman we were going to be about 2 hrs late to Port Everglades.
1. Tues night/Wed morning - no one knew if we were going to be late to port or not. Front desk had not been told of any delay by crew, so passengers weren't sure what was going to happen
2. Wed noon Captain announced we would arrive approx 9 am Thurs instead of 7 am.
3. Wed evening received new list of disembark times/locations
We had decided right from the beginning to walk off with our luggage, so were assigned to group B (2nd group off the boat), as we had a flight from Ft Lauderdale at 11:50 am. All disembark instructions told us to be in Island dining room at 8:50 am, gave us tickets for group B, and told us not to come early, everyone would be allowed into dining room based on ticket, and allowed off the boat with their group.
We headed down to dining room at 8:30 expecting to wait for elevator and then wait in line outside until group A was gone. Dining room was wide open and jam packed with people. Rachel was at the door, but not checking tickets. Group A, B, Gold status, 9:00+ disembark times all inside, some with luggage and some not. This was a nightmare, everyone trying to get off at same time, and boat did not finish docking until at least 9:15. No one ever checked for our ticket, for most part people group B's waited for group A's to go, but some didn't. Then once inside the terminal we found another group was being sent from the other end of the boat at the same time. What happened to 1 group at a time? Lines criss-crossed at the elevators/escalators and it was hard to get to the escalators past the wheelchairs, strollers etc ... Once down in the terminal everything was great. Non-US customs had no line up, line for cabs moved quickly, and luckily no lineups at the airport for check-in or security. So we made our flight without any issues, but there were many passengers that had flights at 10 am, 10:30 am that would not have made the flight.
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