Fell short of expectations

Cruises: 4-6 cruises

Review: 1

Helpful Votes: 10

Review summary

We booked this 28 circle Mediterranean cruise in Australia some 8 months prior because of the amazing itinerary, and the promise of a seamless 28 days onboard. Three months prior to departure we were advised of an itinerary change now excluding Kusadasi because of uncertainty in Turkey, and a repeat call of Kotor was substituted in place. Understandable I guess. About 2 mobths out we were advised Malta was now out, for reasons of captains discretion. Another call at Kotor was added (total of 3 visits!), as well as Crete and Khios. We were very dissapointed as both Kusadasi and Malta were key reasons we chose this cruise. We figured the additional greek islands would be ok. A final itinerary was released, and now we were suddenly visiting Athens x 2, Sicily x 2 and Kotor by 3. Not impressed. Anyway, we booked relevant tours for each port and went in with positive and open minds. When we boarded, we received vouchers for only a handful of tours. I logged into my Princess account and my bookings were gone. In panic, I queued in the shore excursions line for 30 mins, only to be advised they only had visibility for the first 7 days, as this was a 7 day cruise! Well, we had booked 28 days. It turns out that this 28 day cruise sold to us in Australia, was sold in USA and Europe as 4 individual 7 day segments. This explains the repeat ports, but not why Princess did not advise of this in Australia. Apart from missing key ports we had originally booked for, we now had several repeat ports and a disjointed cruise experience where every 7 days we had to reconfirm excusions, obtain a new drinks package sticker and have a rotation of passengers joining. In addition, this meant repeat entertainment each week, as well as the food menu. The ship itself, the royal princess, was fantastic as were the staff, with the exception of the future cruise consultant who was rude and condescending. Most ports were great, albeit the repeat ones were a waste for us. All up we rate this experience with Princess 6/10 and will be exploring future options with other cruise lines.

Ship experiences

Food and Dining

Onboard Activities

Entertainment

Children's Programs

Service and Staff

Ship Quality

Cabin / Stateroom

Ports of call

Barcelona, Spain

Cartagena, Spain

Gibraltar (U.K.)

Marseille (Provence), France

Genoa, Italy

Livorno (Florence & Pisa), Italy

Civitavecchia (Rome), Italy

Messina, Sicily

Kotor, Montenegro

Corfu, Greece

Souda (Chania), Crete

Mykonos, Greece

Piraeus (Athens), Greece