For us a disappointing cruise. Not bad, just nowhere near as good as our previous Princess cruises, or our other Celebrity and Disney cruises.
I feel like a lot of the cruise lines seem to move the best staff, entertainment and focus on their latest flag ships, so the older cruise ships and itineraries suffer because of this, and maybe that’s what the case was here.
I know there were lots of people on board that thought it was great and had no problems, so this is purely my opinion, but as a frequent cruiser, I won’t be rushing back to Princess any time soon.
Embarkation
4 out of 5
Not bad, as platinum members we were rushed through, however, we were delayed getting onboard due to the previous cruise having an out break of the Norovirus (not Princesses fault) but it did spoilt the experience somewhat.
Ship experiences
Food and Dining
3 out of 5
Again, disappointing compared to our last cruises with Princess. We always dine in the main restaurants in the evening and the food at our table 80% of the time was served slightly warm, or even cold.
The main buffet area (Horizon Court) has a wonderful selection of food, but due to the Novovirus risk, it had become a no touch zone, so you could not serve yourself to anything, not even a cup of coffee or a wooden stirrer. Again this was not Princesses fault and they were trying hard not to let the virus spread, but it felt so restrictive and like you were being watched all the time, it also caused queues and became almost unpleasant to eat in there.
On this ship breakfast and lunch were NOT available in the other restaurants, the buffet area was the only place to eat breakfast and proper lunch unless you ordered room service or had a pizza or burger by the pool. Having said that, pizza and Burgers were in my opinion the best food on the boat and I hate junk food. They were cooked fresh and were always piping hot, I think I lived on these for 10 days.
We also paid the extra $29 per person (6 of us) to go to the Bayou cafe, again no atmosphere, we were the only people in there, the waiter that showed us in was pretty grumpy, almost hostile and the food was no better than the main dining room, again served Luke warm and even though there was a different selection, for me didn’t improve my overall dining experience on this cruise.
Onboard Activities
3 out of 5
The ship was refurbished I believe in 2014 and I understand that around 20% of the public areas were removed to add 120 or more state rooms. So more people on board and less to do. Based on the other passengers, I’d say we were the younger end of the spectrum and all 6 of us found there was a lack of things to do, for an itinerary with so many sea days.
The gym had been moved to the 5th floor with no windows and was small and stuffy, being in there on sea days when it was rough outside was not possible.
The evening shows were mainly okay and we went to all of these, but sadly sail away and deck parties seemed quiet and unsupported by passengers and the whole ship to us lacked a good atmosphere but that may be the age thing (we all range from mid to late 40s to 50s). Previous Princess cruises have had BBQ on deck, ice sculpting, napkin folding, fruit carving and so much more outside but there was nothing apart from a mans sexy legs competition which was actually a bit like a holiday camp event, not a premium cruise line event.
Entertainment
4 out of 5
The shows in the main theatre were pretty good, captains champagne tower night also good, the rest was a little poor.
Service and Staff
4 out of 5
Staff are always good and serve you so well
Ship Quality
4 out of 5
As I’ve mentioned, the ship lacked some areas I’d expect on a premium cruise line and whilst I know it was a smaller ship for the Panama Canal, she is still around 90k tonne and our first princess ship was Dawn, who was around 77K, but she had so much more available.
Due to the Norovirus, the ship was being cleaned constantly so no fault there at all.
Cabin / Stateroom
4 out of 5
All cabins are well equipped, very clean and tidy. They could do with a few more power points as most people travel now with multiple devices that need charging.
Thanks for your review. We're Elite but are taking a break from Princess in favor of other lines that have not undergone as many changes. Hope to hear some positive reviews soon so we can return.
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