This was a decent cruise considering it was so short. I only booked it because of the cruise credit promotion they were offering. But I was just on the Sapphire Princess two weeks ago and it is striking how different the ships were in terms of service. The Sapphire was excellent across the board from service to food to entertainment. This one was hit and miss. I don’t know that I would have been as bothered by this one had I not had such a good one so recently. I am supposed to do this ship again in a couple of years and I probably will still but I’m having second thoughts whether I want to be on this ship for 12 nights.
Embarkation
3 out of 5
Embarkation was something of a mess. This was not entirely the fault of Princess though as the problems were mostly the port staff. They were allegedly short handed so the security line was very long. I went to a different line to drop off my bag but was then folded into the front of the security line so I was on board quickly. The people I was traveling with that opted to carry on their bags had to wait through the whole line and I was on board an hour before them. Once you made it to a Princess employee it was fast.
Ship experiences
Food and Dining
3 out of 5
The food was decent on board. For this short trip we didn’t do any specialty dining so it was just main dining, buffet and pool deck. I enjoyed the pool deck food and service was quick. The buffet was fine and I was even able to find a table each time. The main dining one night was fine. The other night the steak was way overcooked. That same meal, my friend said his fish was also way overcooked. And service at that dinner was very slow and they never even came back and asked how the food was so I couldn’t send it back. We left before dessert because it had taken so long.
Onboard Activities
4 out of 5
This was a short cruise so we had limited time to do much. The trivia’s and game shows were good. Allwyn is an assistant cruise director but he was very funny and better than the actual cruise director. The indoor pool was packed because the weather made using the outdoor one not really an option.
Entertainment
3 out of 5
We saw the stage show both nights of the cruise. The Countrymen were the first night and they are labeled as Motown meets boy band. They were decent singers and had some good song choices but there songs are all mashups so they sing only partial songs and often over top of each other. It was distracting and we left early. The production show the other night was good. The set pieces and production were quite good and there were some good songs. The lead female vocalist was excellent. Some of the other singers were not as talented but it was an enjoyable show. The piano singer in the crown grill was pretty good but I wasn’t thrilled with his song choices. There was a duo there as well that played well.
Service and Staff
3 out of 5
Service was hit and miss on board. My room steward was fine after I got him to vacuum on the first day. The floor was a mess and clearly had not been vacuumed. He did that but I never saw him again. The room was otherwise fine. We had the one bad main dining experience with service but the other was good. Overall bar service was decent. Everyone we contacted was friendly.
Ship Quality
3 out of 5
The ship has some pros and cons compared to other Royal class ships. I liked the Hollywood conservatory and indoor pool as opposed to the Sanctuary on the other ships. This is a major improvement. But the small tv studio style Princess Live is awful. It is terrible compared to the more open design on the newer ships (or even the older smaller ships). Most of the ship was clean and appeared in good shape. There were small details like railings that need staining but overall it looked good. The pickleball court was much better than on the smaller ships.
Cabin / Stateroom
5 out of 5
For one person it was fine. Showers are still small but better than on the Grand class. Bed was comfortable.
Disembarkation
4 out of 5
They were running behind so the crew seem kind of flustered. But overall it was good. Off the ship pretty quick but I just lined up because I didn’t want to wait for my scheduled time because of my flight time.
Allwyn is the CD not an assistant 😊 short cruises are hot or miss. I was on the Saphirre for a short cruise and it was the worst Princess cruise out of 45. I was in the Majestic in August for the Wild Corwin Alaska cruise and it was absolutely fabulous all around. Agree about the live area. Good news is it’s being dry docked in February and will be remodeled with numerous changes : removals and additions of venues. It will look a lot more like the newest Royal Class ships.
Ya. I understand what you’re saying. We were on the Majestic recently, and truly it was great…..
But you do see differences from ship to ship.
But what always confuses me, is day one. Often it seems to be disorganized, but they do day quite often…..
Glad you enjoyed tho.
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8 Comments
Cruisers4Lyfe 28 days ago
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