Disappointing
Island Princess Cruise Review to Transatlantic
18 Night Fire & Ice Explorer (Ft. Lauderdale To Southampton)
Sail date: May 26, 2022
Ship: Island Princess
Cabin type: Suite
Cabin number: C707
Traveled as: Couple
Reviewed: 1 year ago
Review summary
We are avid cruisers and decided to try Princess for the first time. We were excited about this cruise, with the highlight being a stop in Svalbard, at Longyearbyen. We originally booked a balcony, then upgraded to a mini-suite under the impression we would be in club class. After spending $20K+ including excursions we were excited to go. On the second night, after eating in club class the first day and being seated on day 2, we were informed we were not club class, removed from the club class dining area, and with the chaos occurring in the main dining room we reluctantly ate at the buffet. We shrugged it off and decided it was the travel agents mistake. I will not go into a lot of detail as you are likely already aware of how disastrous the 1st leg of the journey from Ft Lauderdale to Southampton was since there were many elites and numerous complaints. There are always minor issues on every cruise but we certainly didn’t expect to be on a shakedown cruise. Hour-long waits for dining, cold food, 2+ hours for meals and then a Covid outbreak that was handled poorly. With 8 out of the first 9 days at sea we had high expectations of the medallion app that you continuously hype and require everyone to use. What a disappointment. No Wi-Fi service, no explanation and I had to ask for a refund 13 days into the cruise (after being told by other passengers that they already received a letter informing them of a refund). I guess if I hadn’t asked we would have never received a credit. Next came a letter informing us that the stop in Svalbard had been canceled. Now granted, we were offered the ability to cancel the Norway portion of the cruise if we wished, but since we were informed while on the 5-day at sea portion and no access to Wi-Fi to make other arrangements, it was a meaningless gesture. So here we were, 5 days at sea, crappy service, no Wi-Fi and a Covid outbreak with little info available, closing areas, canceling activities, spotty enforcement of mask requirements but the dining rooms filled in the evening, so we were unsure of our risk. Like I said, we paid $20K for a Princess shakedown cruise. When we reached Iceland we were at least able to get off the ship and purchase data for our phones. After the 1st portion of the cruise we were given a survey to fill out and we expressed these concerns and frustrations but heard nothing back. The Norway portion of the cruise was a significant improvement despite the disappointment of missing Svalbard and replacing it with stops more associated with a northern lights cruise. We want to thank several of your crew for their smiles, attitude, helpfulness and great service. Especially steward Dadapeer, main dining waiter Jason, drink servers Belho, Hornamla, Pranab, Daniel and Kanie, the bartenders in the casino and explorers lounge and dining hostess Duscia, who after an initial misunderstanding went out of her way to make our experience as enjoyable as possible. We met many platinums and elites on the cruise who kept telling us not to judge Princess by this cruise, but what else can we rely on after 34 days? This wasn’t the worst cruise we’ve been on, but it came close. We certainly got the impression that Princess does not value our business and it’s unlikely we will return.Embarkation
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Ports of call
Lerwick, Shetland Islands, Scotland