Cruise seemed to be geared towards elderly/retired people. If you weren't retired, staff didn't bother with you. Cruise director was ok, but not great. Won't take another Princess cruise.
Embarkation
5 out of 5
Very easy.
Ship experiences
Food and Dining
1 out of 5
Anytime dining room was always crowded or had a long line. You could never make a reservation to sit with just your family. Had to get our own coffee at buffet because no one would ever come over to us. Never did find the free lemonade or water for buffet. Food was not good at all other than pizza station and not much variety. Not many options for restaurants that you didn't have to pay for compared to other cruises I have been on. Staff not overly friendly compared to other cruises I have been on.
Onboard Activities
2 out of 5
The track was so small that you would have to run 100 laps to get a mile in. Boat seemed to be geared towards retired people. Not many activities for people younger adults. Bought Bingo tickets in Casino. Person selling tickets was rude.
Entertainment
3 out of 5
Movies under the Stars were good but you had to get there VERY early to even get a seat. Did enjoy The Voice of the Ocean competition.
Children's Programs
5 out of 5
My teenager loved the teen club. Made many friends during the week. She loved the dance and some of the other activities that were planned.
Service and Staff
2 out of 5
Room steward was fantastic. Room was always clean and steward was always smiling and friendly. Waiters were less than friendly every place we went. No one went out of their way to make the experience special for us, yet I noticed they were extremely friendly towards the elderly repeat customers. Went to The Vine one night and was never even asked if we wanted to purchase a drink. Everyone around us was asked. We had to ask the waiter if it was ok for us to order a glass of wine. Very disappointing.
Ship Quality
1 out of 5
Ship was clean but the design was so confusing that in the week we were there, we never did figure it out. Even our teenagers had trouble and we have been on several cruise lines before and could figure out the layout after the first day.
Cabin / Stateroom
4 out of 5
Room size was small. Shower was very small. Beds small but comfortable. Cabin always clean. THANK YOU for that!
Beautiful city what we saw of it. Did an excursion but not through cruise line. Wished we had more time there. Hop on hop off bus messed up our entire day by not showing up at times.
Did the 17 mile drive tour. Disappointing in the fact that if you sat on the wrong side of the bus, you never saw anything. People should have to switch seats part way through so everyone can enjoy the view at some point. Very expensive to see nothing unless we got off the bus. Tour guide was FANTASTIC! Gave us a lot of history and explained so much about the area.
Pretty city. Did a trolley tour of the city. It was ok. Got an Uber and the driver told us to see Ocean Beach. It did not disappoint. Beautiful, beautiful place. Spent a better part of the day there shopping and enjoying the beach.
Did an excursion that we did not book through the cruise. Took ATV's to La Bufadora. Loved it there. Loved our tour guide and loved everything about the excursion.
Sorry you didn’t completely enjoy your experience. If you spend ur money you should get ur minimum expectations met. So. . . if I’m going to spend my hard earned money on something you’d better believe I’m going to research it BEFORE I spend.
Princess is a bit more expensive for a reason. It caters to the seasoned crowds which tends to eliminate the younger kids. Carnival is a great line for younger, fast paced generation who loves their drinks and parties.
A basic google search yields these basic characteristics of the cruise lines. Princess is owned by Carnival so they know there was a market for older folks with a bit more money to spend.
Lastly, YouTube is ur best friend! ANYTHING you want to know about cruise lines and cruising i(in general) can be found there with a simple ‘click’!
If you are not a tech savvy person then your research will be more difficult.
Thank you for the review. Going on our first Princess cruise in November. We are middle aged, but not in retirement age yet... hoping for a great Princess Cruise experience.
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