Sea Princess Cruise Reviews - Reviews

I was very disappointed in this cruise I was not happy with the room or the food that was in the horizon court. 

The room was so small for the 4 people in my family it was almost unbearable and to top it all off my husband & I was not allowed to have our beds together because of some lame reason of it was to dangerous for my children on the bunks but my sister had 1 child in a bunk above her bed and she was allowed to have the beds together. It did not make sense to me the difference between 1 child in 1 bunk or 2 children in 2 bunks. 

Sun Princess truly lights up the seas, serving up tantalizing cuisine, dazzling live entertainment and new experiences with our Discovery programs. Relax in The Sanctuary, a tranquil haven reserved for adults, or put your feet up at Movies Under the Stars, whatever you decide to do, your time on board will be unforgettable

Love this ship the food & service is excellent. Cabins are getting a little dated, however, they are clean and comfortable. The entertainment is always professional & enjoyable.

Great ship with friendly staff. Did was good and or favourite was the pizza. We found for us that the activities were not as good as P&O and felt it suited the older crowd. As a casino player we found the rewards for playing no way near as good as P&O.

A lovely cruise, great tablemates, beautiful food and beautiful scenery

You just can't please some people!!!!!! Been on the Sun Princess 3 times and I love it. Not to many people and you get to o make more friends sure there are older people but it's better for getting space in and around the pool !!!! Anyhow just go and enjoy and stop complaining !!!

Loved this cruise, the food was great and a huge selection, enjoyed being able to eat at any time throughout the day.

New Zealand was amazing with the Fiordlands being the highlight for me. Also loved Akaroa and Tauranga.

Couldn't fault the service on Sea Princess the crew were all friendly and helpful.

This was a fantastic back-to-back cruise, and one we will remember for a long time!

Our 30th wedding anniversary cruise had been 18 months in the planning, and it was well worth the wait!

Our whole family (9 in total) went on the 2015/2016 New Year cruise around New Zealand on the Sea Princess. Apart from the rough Tasman crossing which was of course no fault of the Princess line, we couldn't fault the cruise, the ship or crew. We are now booked to go on same ship for the Hawaii/Tahiti 35 night cruise in 38 days' time. Bring it on!!!

This was my first Princess cruise, I'd done two P & O Cruises and I didn't know much about Princess and reading the reviews where there was a few complaints, I was a bit worried. 

But overall I was very happy with everything. I'll start with the good things. 

- movies under the stars with popcorn

- free Princess tote bag in my room when I checked in 

- free room service

- staff were very friendly and helpful

- food was very good. Many times after dinner I had to lay down because I had eaten so much or the food was so rich. The food in the restaurants was fancy restaurant quality. I don't eat a lot in expensive fancy restaurants so I can't compare but I would give the food 5 stars. The food in the buffet was good, standard buffet fair, for breakfast, pancakes, waffles, cereal, fruit etc, for lunch and dinner salad, steaks, stir frys, pasta, mashed potato, all sorts of options, there was a lot of variety. 

- free pizza restaurant - I loved the calzone, it was the only one I ate. 

- I was happy with the room. There were other reviews where people complained about the rooms but I was happy. It was an inside twin. It wasn't the flashiest decor but it was spacious and comfortable and had a good size wardrobe. 

- I didn't seem to get as pestered as much as on P & O to buy drinks when sitting on the deck. When I was on P & O, I seemed to have someone asking me if I wanted to buy a drink every 10 minutes but on this trip, I barely got asked and sometimes I couldn't find a staff member when I wanted a drink!

- I went with my 13 year old son and he went to the kids club and seemed to like it. He could come and go as he pleased and he had no complaints

- Happy hour where you buy one drink and get another one for $1!

Bad things

- free iced tea in buffet was extremely watered down

- free lemonade in buffet was really strong, it is the old style lemonade made out of lemons so I needed to add ice to water down the strong lemon taste

- when in Port Villa, from the moment I got off the ship, there were about 30 - 40 local men all waving and gesturing me to come to them. I went to one and he offered to take me around the whole day for $120. I said no, he kept pestering me. I walked away and found a guy holding up a sign for the water taxi to town for $5, I went with him but when I got in the water taxi (basically a dingy) he sat next to me and started pestering me to take me around the whole day and was bargaining with me on the amount and I had to say no a few times. He got out, we crossed the water to town. When we got to the other side, there were about 10 local men who started hassling me about taking me around town. I said no several times again and they were following me as I was walking away, then another man started asking me if he could drive me around town. That really put a damper on things, plus it was very hot and humid so myself and my son decided to go back to the boat and we managed to find a taxi driver to take us back then he started harassing me to take us around. By the end of it, I was glad to get back to the boat and disappointed I had only spent about 30 mins in Port Villa. 

- I found that as we went along from island to island, they seemed to peter you more. I didn't get pestered at all on Mystery Island or in Champagne Bay but on Lifou, I constantly had people asking me if I wanted my hair braided or a massage. 

Ports:

It was supposed to go to Wala and Luganville. It didn't. I don't know why it didn't go to Wala, it was removed before I booked in August but it was replaced with Lifou. And Luganville was removed because apparently they were doing work where the boat docks so the boat couldn't dock or something. 

First stop was Champagne Bay which was beautiful, pristine beach, clear and vibrant water, locals were there selling goods. You could also hire a local to take you to some local spots. 

Second stop was Mystery Island. I had been here twice before and it had changed a lot since I was last there in 2013. There were long rows of huts with locals selling things, you could get your hair braided, have coffee, get a massage or a beer. I had a soft drink in a 'pub' which was just a grass hut and spoke to a very nice local man. Unfortunately it was raining on the day, but apart from that, it was a good day. 

Next stop was Port Villa, which I've explained my experiences above. But if you don't want to go into town, there is probably a kilometre of little huts and stands near where the boat docks with locals selling things and there is cars lined up along this stretch with taxi drivers willing to take you anywhere and you can haggle on price. I talked to some people that paid $30 per person to be taken around town for half a day and they take you wherever you want to go and wait for you while you shop. Because of the missed stop of Luganville, the ship was in Port Villa for 2 days. I didn't get off the ship the second day because of all my dramas. 

Next stop was Lifou. It was really windy, it was a nice island but not as nice as Mystery Island or Champagne Bay. As with the other islands, they had locals selling stuff. And you could see traditional huts they still use as their bedrooms and if they have the money, they build a western style house next to it. 

Last stop was Noumea. I took the $15 get on/get off bus. I think if you wait until later in the day, they open the kiosk for this because I don't remember seeing it when I first got to the tourist centre. They have people standing around selling tickets for the choo choo train, which was about $40 which is a lot cheaper than what the ship charges but because I had wasted so much time deciding what to do, I left it a bit late and didn't want to miss the boat so I decided on the bus which was a 25 minute round trip. I didn't get off because I didn't realise you could go to a really nice beach called Lemon Beach to swim so I didn't bring my bathers and I decided not to go to the museum or other stops because it was midday by this point and I wanted to leave plenty of time to get back to the boat by 4pm, in case there was any problems. Next time, I'll get the bus earlier and get off at some stops. 

As mentioned before, my room was interior, on the Plaza level, and it was quiet, I didn't have a problem with noise unless someone was really being loud outside my door. 

I got the coffee card, I love my cafe quality coffee. The free coffee was ok, but if you are a coffee snob or love your daily cafe coffee, I recommend the card, which it works out to be about $2.30 per coffee which is really good. 

So that was my trip. After comparing this with P & O, I'd have to say I prefer Princess better. And the good thing about Princess is they have a loyalty program so you get more perks the more you cruise. P & O doesn't offer that. And because they're owned by the same company, you can use your P & O trips to get loyalty points on Princess. 

First cruise around New Zealand from Brisbane return. This ship could do with a refit & 24 hr cafe same as he sister ship. All in all it was a good cruise with great weather apart from Milford sounds.

positives crew, facilities,itinerary

negatives, organization, hygiene, administration, food , drink quality, health, activities. tours.

summary, treated like cattle, come back new !!! not likely, low quality at high prices.

Next time we will fly to the US and go on a modern ship.

First cruise ever. Wasn’t thrilled about going cruising before I left but wanted to support my mother still travelling. Had done large amount of land based travel around the world and thought cruising sounded boring. The cruise with Princess totally changed my mind and have loved cruising ever since. Most relaxing holiday

This was a wonderful way to start cruising, on a ship where we felt at home right away. Will we cruise again? Absolutely! And looking forward to the next time, now that we have some cruising experience under the belt.

this was the most boring experience ive ever had in all my cruises ,it was aimed at the 80 to 90 age group with its activities ,the food was average in the dinning room ,service at dinner was great but had a few problems with breakfast in dinning room as new table each time and a few rude waiters ,no smiles ,everything a real hassle .

rude passengers .but also some very friendly ones .

The only interesting event was trivia as bingo was so costly.There were no other things that were classified as fun and involving passengers other than a few dance classes ,no crafts etc

overall a very big waste of money

A very relaxing way to the some of the South Pacific Islands.

The Sea Princess has a phenomenal staff who ensures that you escape from reality.

Great itinerary, average ship, not many onboard activities during days at sea.

The ship was beautiful and most of the staff members were attentive.