Misled about our room.

The cruise and food were amazing! There are a few complaints about the cruise and the biggest one was because  misrepresented the balcony room. 

1. Our biggest complaint...our balcony room with an "obstructed view." It was terrible! I cannot believe a Princess Cruises would even have rooms like this on the ship! We looked at many other ships (from other companies while we were at ports of call) and none of them have balcony rooms this crappy.  The lifeboats obstruct 50+% of your ocean view. DO NOT GET AN OBSTRUCTED VIEW BALCONY, 

UNLESS YOU ARE PAYING ABOUT THE SAME AS AN INSIDE ROOM! We would not have even gone on this cruise, if we knew the balcony would be that terrible. We always get balcony rooms and spend a lot of time on the balcony...not this time, because it was terrible! You can only see the ocean, if you stare out toward the horizon. You cannot see the ocean below and that is if you are standing up! If you are sitting down, all you can see is the sky and the lifeboat...you can't even see the ocean!

We SPECIFICALLY asked how bad the "obstructed view" was and we were told "nobody complains and it is not bad." We were told that a small part of the ship might be in the way (on the left, or right) and that it will not be much of an obstruction. 

Here is the comment from a rep, when we asked about the room:

***Also, the obstructed view cabins are only at a 30% obstruction and I have not had  any issues or complaints from any other passengers who have gotten these cabins before. I’ve stayed in one myself a couple of times as well and they were fine. You are still going to have a nice 70% view from your balcony and more likely than not, you’re not going to be in your cabin that much anyway with all the great things to do on the ship and at the ports of call.*** THIS IS A TOTAL LIE!

On top of that, there was a guy siting inside the lifeboat on our first day and an old beer can rolling around on the lifeboat the entire cruise. The beer can was actually kind of funny. 

We met other people on the ship with obstructed balcony views and their cruise was either free, or deeply discounted. 

2. It is very difficult to get drinks at the buffet. The servers are more concerned about cleaning the tables off, than they are with getting you something to drink. We had to go to the server stations and get our own drinks MANY times. The servers seem to make an effort to avoid you, because they are too busy cleaning tables. You have to flag the servers down to get drinks, because they rarely check on you (like every other restaurant, or cruiseline does).  Royal Caribbean does a MUCH better job with service at the buffet. Princess needs separate servers and bus staff. Servers should only serve and should not be cleaning tables off. Not only is it VERY unsanitary, but the service was greatly hindered. 

3. The 24-hr International Cafe could use a better variety of food. Some of the food is ok, but there are very few appealing items to eat and the selection is VERY small. The selection is mostly the same every day. Pizza would be a great addition.

I will be notifying Princess Cruises about how misrepresents the rooms.