Beautiful Land but Disappointing Ship

Cruises: 4-6 cruises

Review: 1

Helpful Votes: 38

Review summary

To Whom It May Concern at Princess Cruise Lines: I’d like to write you a scathing review about my recent experience on Golden Princess, but before I do, I’d like to establish some critical speaking points. The first point is that I did not pay for my cruise. I understand the distaste of a depleted bank account can taint one’s perspective, but please be assured that this was not a factor in my experience. The second point is that I do not want anything from Princess as compensation of my poor experience. I do not want discounts on future cruises or a refund on any of the ancillary items we paid for. Third, I would like you to keep in mind that Princess was the 4th cruise line with which I have sailed. I’m no expert, but I’m not a novice either and I have realistic expectations and ideas of how a cruise ship experience should feel. And fourth, I will begin this letter by highlighting some positive experiences so that you understand I am not a miserable human being incapable of experiencing any joy in life. My favorite things about the cruise were some of its employees. Denzil and Hazel at the bar in the atrium on Deck 7 were such a pleasure to order from. They always had smiles on their faces and the fact that they remembered our names and the names of our family members made me feel very special. Another great duo was Annetta and Anesu in the spa area. They were really sweet and down to earth. We enjoyed Richard in the dining area, who was very quirky and put on a great “magic show” for our nephew and our friends’ son. Although I cannot remember her name, our server at “Pasta” was an excellent server and very informative. She was from Peru and had recently renewed her contract and was only on her second day back on the ship when we had her. Another pro were the whiskey selections. We were able to try whiskeys that would have gone for a much higher price back home, which helped make the experience more memorable. Some mixed drinks, however, had some soda water to water the drink down and that was not appreciated. We enjoyed our experience at the Pasta dining restaurant as well, mostly in regard to the food. Another thing I appreciated is that the US Park Ranger spoke about climate change. I was worried that Princess would ban any such speech for fear of angering passengers. The many complaints I have are long, so I will address each separately in a new numbered paragraph: 1. The booking agent did not inform my partner’s family that the airlines had a different policy than the US Customs and Border Protection. Because the booking agent failed to do so, my future sister-in-law had to miss her flight on Delta from OKC to YVR and instead get a last minute flight on Southwest from OKC to SEA and then drive across the border to Vancouver with hours to spare. 2. I am told by my future father-in-law that Princess was supposed to have arranged transfer from the airport to the hotel in Vancouver, but this did not occur. In addition, Princess did not arrange transfer from the hotel to the ship in the morning. Instead, we used shuttles not affiliated with Princess to make the transfers. 3. My partner ordered several surprises for me and the other rooms. For example, he ordered stuffed moose for the kids. The rooms received their “enjoy the moose” notes without the moose. We had to go physically pick up the moose from a gift shop instead of them being delivered as well. My partner and I also ordered flours for every room and they were much smaller than pictured on the website. Another example is that he ordered champaign and strawberries together, but the strawberries were delivered on their own. That same bottle of champaign also caused a huge fiasco. We were going to drink the champaign while looking at the glacier. He called down to have it delivered, only to find out that the bottle he ordered was the only bottle that room service did not deliver and that he could not get the bottle except from the dining room, which didn’t open for another 2 hours. We went to guest services, almost missing the glacier, who said that we could drop off the champaign voucher and they would deliver the bottle of champaign. Two hours later, we still hadn’t received our bottle of champaign and we recollected our voucher so that we could collect our bottle with dinner. 4. We were surprised to find out that ALL hot tubs closed at 10 PM and that many had a temperature that was barely lukewarm. One customer was so upset he started being very vocal with the staff about the temperature of the pool and hot tub. Other passengers began complaining as well and it was only then that they raised the temperature, but even then the temperature was barely enjoyable. If steam is not coming off of water in frigid temperatures, then it’s probably not hot enough. Why in the world would you close down a hot tub? Maybe having a drink and good conversation until 1 AM is my kind of vacation but Princess prevented that from happening. 5. We had trouble understanding many of the crew. I have a soft spot for people that speak English as a second language. I understand English is not most crew members’ first language, but I also expect Princess to have stricter language criteria on who can work on the ship. 6. While I commented on some staff that were sweet in my “pro” section, the majority of crew members were laze fair or flat out rude. I heard one lady order something in line and the crew member said “Which one? You just pointed, I can’t read minds and that’s the point of the words.” I wished I defended her but I was in so much shock that I remained quiet. She walked away with her head hanging low and seeming sad. I walked in one shop to ask where I could make change and the worker repeatedly said “We are closed, go downstairs,” to which I finally had to raise my voice over his and say, “I understand you are closed and I’m not trying to buy anything. I also understand you are recommending I go downstairs but I am asking you where can I make change for this $20?!?” 7. This is probably my biggest complaint: the food was NOT good. Plain and simple. I’ve eaten at 3 star Michelin restaurants and I’ve eaten at hole in the wall restaurants. Good food is universal. I know that if we were “suite elite” members or whatever you call it that our food probably would have been better, but I still have basic expectations that the quality of the food is good for regular passengers as well. The food was also not consistent. One night the crème brûlée was buttery and the other night it was sweeter. 8. Another complaint I had about the food was the inconsistency of when I could get some. There were nights the staff would shut the buffet down at 9:30 and nights they would shut it down at 11:30PM. There seemed to be no rhyme or reason. And also, why would you not have food available 24/7. I heard one man in the hot tub say that some diabetic passengers were complaining that they had low blood sugar and couldn’t’ wait the 45 minutes to 1 hour it would take for room service to deliver food after buffet hours. Crew had to physically go in the kitchen and find food for these hypoglycemic passengers. 9. The ship had several leaking areas of water (that landed on me) such as a leak in the library. The ship also had many strange odors, especially between mid-ship and forward on deck 9. 10. We tried to make dinner reservations for a restaurant only to be told we could not do it at guest services but had to call a phone number. Guests should always come first and that means that saying no should never be an option. The guest services employee should have called on our behalf or dialed the number for us. Unfortunately, the “no mentality” was pervasive on the ship. No one employee went above and beyond. 11. While we enjoyed our meal at Pasta, we were frustrated with the hours the restaurant was open and also with the fact that when we walked in we were not greeted. We were not told “Just a moment and we will be with you.” Instead we just stood there until we asked if we seat ourselves. In addition, I asked an employee a direct question and she said she would be right back with the answer, but she never returned. Overall, there were so many things I felt the cruise ship could have easily done to make our experience better. I recommend hiring an employee whose sole job is to walk around and gauge customers’ experiences. This would create real-time feedback. I recommend that you make the following easy changes at a minimum: 1. Improve food quality 2. Improve availability of food 3. Keep the hot tubs and pools warmer 4. Keep the hot tubs open longer or indefinitely 5. The staff must never refer the clients to a different department but help the client through the process of obtaining help from the appropriate department. 6. Items ordered must be delivered on the day intended and coordinated precisely. I am still very thankful for the experience and for the beauty of Alaska. It was a blessing to be given the chance to enjoy such an opportunity and hopefully I don't sound like a spoiled brat. I just feel bad that my future in-laws shelled out a lot of money for me and I felt like their experience (as well as mine) could have been better.

Embarkation

Ship experiences

Food and Dining

Onboard Activities

Entertainment

Service and Staff

Ship Quality

Cabin / Stateroom

Ports of call

Vancouver (Canada Place), British Columbia

Ketchikan, Alaska

Juneau, Alaska

Skagway, Alaska

Cruise Glacier Bay

Cruise College Fjord, Alaska

Whittier (Anchorage), Alaska

Disembarkation

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