The calculator is giving my rating as a 4. At best, I would rate it a 3
Embarkation
4 out of 5
Long lines. One security referred to it as the human parking lot.
Ship experiences
Food and Dining
2 out of 5
Dining room food was good but you could never get a reservation for more than 2 people. Many issues with the mobile app as it did not work well. Whenever I called the 800 number, the people did not understand English. They could speak it, but they did not understand it. They are basically in a call center in Thailand. I was told that by an agent I was speaking to. Buffet food was all way over cooked - everything super dry.
Onboard Activities
3 out of 5
Typical fitness center.
Entertainment
2 out of 5
Comedian was the worst I have ever seen anywhere. People were walking out of the show. Some musicians were good. Informative shows were good.
Service and Staff
3 out of 5
Our suite stewards were excellent. Room service was good - over 1 hour late on one occasion. Many ship personal spoke English but did not understand English including guest services. One girl at guest services kept telling us to use the mobile app to make dinner reservations even though we told her the mobile app did not work properly. Then she told us to just go to the restaurant. they in turn told us we would just have to wait until a party of our size just does not show up for their reservation - highly unlikely.
Ship Quality
5 out of 5
The ship was very clean.
Cabin / Stateroom
5 out of 5
Very comfortable, clean, great stewards. We left them an extra tip even though we had already pre-paid the tips.
Keep in mind you are in Alaska. The towns are like old Western towns with your typical gift shops. We did not book any Princess excursions due to all the issues I had early on trying to make dinner reservations. I understand from others that doing the excursions on your own were less expensive.
Is this your first cruise? First cruise on Princess? For starters, it's Port Authority that runs things off the ship, so you can't blame the cruise line. If you were getting over cooked dried out food on buffet then you arrived just before closing, cause in all my Princess cruises, I've never seen food that you described. Lastly, you can make reservations at one of the restaurants for same table every night if yiu choose to, I've never had an issue. You never said how big your group was, but if it's 6 or more, yes you will have issues no matter which cruise line you cruise on. Also, I'm guessing you were the one with issues of communication at guest services. Practically all crew on ships are from other countries and because you can't understand them, doesn't mean they can't speak proper English, it's because you are frustrated already, and you don't want to give them any latitude for English being their second language.
Thanks for the review. Sorry you could not get the reservations worked out. Yes the app can be occasionally buggy but once I figured out how to work it everything was fine. If you have an issue on board making dinner reservations, go to the restaurant early to figure it out. Don’t wait till the middle of dinner rush to hope they have a table for a large group without a reservation.
*Cruiseline.com is not a booking agent or travel agency,
and does not charge any service fees to users of our site. Our partners
(travel agencies and cruise lines) provide prices, which we list for our
users' convenience. Cruiseline.com does not guarantee any specific rates or
prices. While prices are updated daily, please check with the booking site
for the exact amount. Cruiseline.com is not responsible for content on
external web sites.
Contact us
Submitting...
Need help from a personal vacation planner?
Loading...
Find the perfect cruise with weekly tips and cruise deals for as little as $30/night!
Sign up for weekly cruise deals
Join other subscribers and get the best
cruise deals of the week in your inbox every Thursday.
