High expectations

Favorite part of the cruise was being on a traveling hotel room. The convenience of waking up at different destinations was awesome. The ship was very nice and impressive, being on the newest ship in the world was pretty cool. The destinations were amazing and we had a great time while spending time in port. But overall I'd say we were disappointed with our experience. I don't know if it was because we had high expectations and it was our first cruise, but customer service was definitely lacking. We heard over and over that Princess was there "for your every need" , "staff available at anytime", and "we treat you like royalty". We did not find that.  Since it was our first cruise,we were expecting to be greeted by staff upon boarding to be explained how everything worked;food/drink options, timing,lay of ship, overall advice and recommendations.We never were. Also we were never given an option of where and what day or time our free specialty dining could be reserved, it was made for us the day we embarked. We also were suppose to have a special anniversary dinner on our Day at sea that our travel agent booked for us, and they had no record of it and staff were not helpful in figuring it out- a simple "you do not have a specialty dinner available" was the answer.  When we approached the front desk with questions and concerns, we did not find them to be "meeting our every need", they actually weren't very helpful or upbeat, and we never got a clear answer. We often felt like we were bothering staff with our lack of cruise experience. The times we did witness staff being overly friendly and talkative, it was them saying "open your wallets", " spend that money" , "youre on vacation" . Every day we heard staff on a microphone telling us to spend more money on the ship....and we probably would have if customer service was more helpful and attentive that it was our first cruise. Dining was also confusing for us because we were never explained our personal options. Again, this was our first cruise ever so we didn't know. Two different staff told us we could call ahead for a reservation -"even request a table by the window" since we were Anytime Dining. "Just call the dining line,you can even ask what the menu is for the next day".  Well we called and inquired about a reservation twice and were told we weren't allowed. And when we called asking about the menu, they did not know. Dinners in the dining rooms were very lengthy. We were given a buzzer upon entry, waited at least 10 minutes for a table, 45 minutes at the most. Then the time between courses was very drawn out,averaging 20 minutes between. Once we waited 40 minutes for our entree plates to be cleared and to be given the dessert menu. Excursions: we were advised to book as many excursions through Princess as possible since they were so "amazing".We booked 3 and were happy with 2. The Mykonos beach excursion was very disappointing and we're unsure what we paid for... which seemed to be an $80, 5 minute bus ride to an expensive beach where we were required to buy a $20 drink to use a sunbed and servers were rude. The excursion seemed to explain we were going to 2 famous beaches, with reserved sunbeds, and a guided tour and setup.Our guide never even "guided" us on the bus or provided information on the island.  Though he was kind and helpful before the excursion ended when I asked if there was another beach my husband and I could find. Little did we know we could have walked to many comparable beaches, for free, and experience more beautiful scenery and attractions along the way. We regretted not doing Mykonos on our own.  

Overall we expected better. We would plan to cruise again with our family for the convenience of traveling to multiple destinations, but not with Princess.