Terrible Embark and Disembark. Food was a step above other cruises. The International Cafe has a nice variety of quick bite meals 24 hours. Ship was very clean with a great crew. There were Multiple decks to explore and several ways to get to them. We never had a problem finding a nice place to sit inside or out. Casino was very small with not many slots. I wish the ship had a arcade. 1st Princess cruise even with the terrible embark we will sail princess again.
Embarkation
2 out of 5
The Medallion did not make check in faster. Once in the waiting area it was completely disorganized with people standing around everywhere. There was no organization as to how they boarded the ship. We received an email as to our boarding time at 2pm per our cabin floor number. We did not arrive at the port until 140pm however the floor emails made no difference in the boarding process. We were given a boarding card but there were no marked sections in the waiting area and they did not board by sections numbers. Workers were just randomly telling people to board. Our row was told to board and then when we got to the entrance someone yelled at everyone to sit back down. Worst embarkation process in all of our cruises.
Ship experiences
Food and Dining
4 out of 5
Food court was a step above previous cruises with a nice variety of food throughout the 10days. They did not serve the same things over and over. Only ate in the MDR twice because my husband is very picky and would not try anything on the menu. Food was very both times. Drinks were stronger than other cruises. We did not try specialty
Onboard Activities
4 out of 5
Atrium activities were fun. Egg Drop, Airplane contest, ect.
Entertainment
4 out of 5
Did not enjoy the shows in Theater other than the comedy. Musicians around the ship were very good.
Service and Staff
5 out of 5
Staff was very friendly and attentive everywhere on the ship.
Ship Quality
4 out of 5
Cabin / Stateroom
5 out of 5
Balcony cabin seemed to be the same as other ships. Never seemed crowded with plenty storage for everything. Really liked the open closet space with plenty of room for all clothes with shoes, hamper, and excursion bags to be stored on the floor. Bathroom, shower seemed to be a bit smaller but were fine. Balcony space was comparable with 2 chairs and a small round table.
Ship tip
The Movie they played at Movies under the stars always comes on your Cabin On demand the next day. So if you our torn between a movie and another activity you can watch the movie in your stateroom any other time on your cruise.
Tender Port ... Very slow tender Were were on a large tender inside with about 50 other people inside. They only had 2 fans working and the windows did not open. The 5/10 min trip took almost 25 mins. Other tender boats went around us. We did self snorkel on the left side. Not much to see, others saw a lot more on other side. Take your towel. We were told you could get them on the gangway but there were none. Then we were told you could get them on the island. We ask 4 princess workers were the towels were and they either didn't know or kept directing us to the booths to buy a towel. We ended up with no towel on the island. Did no eat at the buffet on island as there were flys all over the food. Tender trip back to the boat was a lot faster took less than 10 mins.
Two Site turtle with ship wreck snorkel. I highly recommend. Wish we had more time but the Castaway 4 crew are great. Lots to see on the coral and and the ship wreck. There were several divers under us on the ship wreck, and sharks sleeping on the reef. Very cool..
Trip to Botanical gardens and waterfall. Both were terrible. Tour guide was ok to give facts but seemed more interested to be on her cell phone. Others on our tour were going to ask for there money back. Princess should take this off there excursion list. I wish we would have went on the whale watching excursion instead.
Waterfall, Grand Etang, Tour guide very informative on island information. Island was a lot nicer than I thought it would be. Grand Etang lake was nothing spectacular. Take the overlook path beside the restrooms. It is steep hike but the view at the platform overlook is worth the 10 min hike. The waterfall was very pretty but not enough time is spent there. I enjoyed this tour because of the information given and the drive thru the island not because of the places we actually went.
Went to Klein Bonaire with ship excursion Excellent. 2 guides stayed on island with us and put up a small shade tent. The reef snorkel is great so we did it twice. Saw several fish and a see turtle.
Island tour, Turtle snorkel and Knip beach. This was a 6 hour tour to the west side of island but it was on a big bus and he tour guide kept you engaged with information the whole time. The tour did not seem to long at all. Several sea turtles and fish at the snorkel. Beach was very clean and several fish to see if you snorkel by the cliff edges. Recommend a vest if you are not comfortable as the water gets deep very fast and current was a bit strong in a few areas. (you need to pay 1$ to use bathroom no water or sanitizer so that was gross) We also stopped at a cliff. Make sure to Go into the cave and up to the top path both views are worth it. Flamingo stop was just ok.
Again no organization. They had groups go 5 mins apart but they started at 750 when our time was 730 so people were coming from all staging areas at the same time to get in line. They need a better process. Customs was fast.
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