Overall a very nice cruise--I never get tired of seeing Norway. Since it frequently rains when seeing Norway, next time I will probably choose a ship that has more indoor space--like an area with a covered swimming pool and areas to sit where you can enjoy the view from a higher deck.
Embarkation
3 out of 5
The computers "went out". The crowd that came in on several busses from Victoria Station ended up standing in a queue for about 30 minutes waiting for the computers to get back on line. There were about 25 Princess employees just standing around talking, drinking coffee, and apologizing waiting for the computers to get "on line". Apparently there is no back up system.
Ship experiences
Food and Dining
4 out of 5
Definitely above average Princess food--we were especially impressed with the buffet--although the service was inconsistent.
International Café
5 out of 5
Ate breakfast almost daily at International Cafe. They have healthy alternatives (fruit and yogurt/granola) as well as their fabulous croissants and Danish. The coffee and tea are always made as asked for and hot. Love to sit there and people watch. I always look forward to this venue on each ship. Food is part of the package and I believe coffee is part of the beverage package if you have one.
World Fresh Marketplace
5 out of 5
I think one of the best "buffets" on a Princess ship. First of all it was huge and there more more stations open than on other ships. Every evening there was a different specialty station open and food was cooked to your liking. The seafood night was impressive--huge bowls of shrimp for shrimp cocktail and large pieces of lobster in the seafood stew that was cooked to order. Another night there was Mongolian rice cooked to order and another night Wings cooked to order. There was never a repeat on our 14 night cruise. Although I give them an A for effort and creativity--sometimes the end result was not good. For example at the pasta station I was given so much pasta and so little sauce that I ended up not eating it. Sometimes the seafood was undercooked. The service was also inconsistent--sometimes the waiters were hovering nearby and eager to get coffee, drinks or cocktails and sometimes you never saw a waiter for 30 minutes--and there was no pattern to the inconsistency.
Bistro Sur La Mer
3 out of 5
Most seafood restaurants have non-seafood entrees but theirs were very limited. The seafood lover in my group didn't care for the seafood either. Service was not as good as at Crown Grill or Sabatinis. Didn't seem to have the same elegant ambience.
Crown Grill & Bar
5 out of 5
Excellent as always--also have Bearnise sauces (among others) available if you ask (they aren't on the menu). Steaks were cooked perfectly and service was impeccable.
Alfredo's Pizzeria
3 out of 5
My least favorite Alfredo's on all Princess ships I have been on. Service was very slow, even when not crowded and the food just wasn't as good as on other ships. Hardly any sauce in/on the Calzones and the pizza was only fair.
Sabatini's Italian Trattoria
5 out of 5
Loved it--great service and great food. Very elegant.
Onboard Activities
4 out of 5
Fitness center is clean and generally not crowded. Pools were really only used by children who didn't mind the cooler ambient temperatures. One would wish for a solarium pool that is covered for trips to cooler weather destinations.
Retreat Pool & whirlpools
3 out of 5
So disappointed that all you see are cabin doors instead of the ocean when at the Retreat pool. Also--it was not adult only as on other Princess ships. Really no reason to go there as opposed to the other pools where you can at least see the ocean while relaxing in a chair or swimming. Very empty most of the cruise.
Princess Casino
5 out of 5
One of the most welcoming casinos we have been on on any ship. We were always greeted by name when we walked in and any table was opened where we chose to sit. The Ultimate Texas Holdem table and 3 Card Poker table were very crowded. Blackjack was not so crowded--those automatic shufflers seem to turn lots of people off and nobody seemed to win the entire cruise at Blackjack. Don't play slots but heard plenty of annoucements about folks winning jackpots.
Entertainment
4 out of 5
Shows were OK--not spectacular, but about half seemed interesting and well attended.
Service and Staff
4 out of 5
Room stewards as always were wonderful. Waiters in all venues were inconsistent. For 1 buffet meal the waiters were very attentive and easy to find--for the next meal they would be either impossible to find or super busy. Some specialty waiters were wonderful--the steak house and italian, but others like the french restaurant and Alfredos took forever and were difficult to find when needed.
Ship Quality
4 out of 5
Everything was well maintained and clean. This is a typical Princess ship--with the typical Atrium. The one thing that I didn't care for was that there is essentially no outside promenade. I like to walk around the ship on the promenade and this is absolutely not possible. The other thing I didn't like is that the Retreat Pool is surrounded by cabins. This used to be my favorite place to hang out on Regal Princess because you could lounge by the pool and watch the scenery--no more. It seems like you are swimming in a closed in area and could miss interesting scenery or whales. The area was virtually empty the entire cruise. The last thing I didn't like about the general design of the ship is that there is nowhere inside to sit during the day that is inside where you can just gaze at the ocean except for the lido. There is no bar area or lounge on one of the higher decks as is commonly found on other ships.
Cabin / Stateroom
4 out of 5
Most princess regular balcony cabins are smaller than cabins on other lines--there is no couch to sit on--only a chair at the desk for one person. However the location of this cabin is fantastic. 1 deck up to the lido and despite being just under the lido--no significant noise. I think I heard chairs being moved once and it wasn't terribly loud. The elevator was steps away from the cabin door and again--no excessive noise from being so close to the elevator. We were in a room that had an adjoining door and never heard our neighbors. The balcony was not huge--but was big enough for 2 chairs and a small table and had a nice overhang which protected us from the weather.
Ship tip
Research your ports of call because there is no significant guidance given by the port talk specialist. If you want to do ship shore excursions in Norway--book them RIGHT AWAY--because most were sold quickly.
Just drove thru Southampton--but really enjoyed our night in London. Princess has a bus (extra cost) that will pick you up from Victoria Coach Station and deliver you to the port. Very easy and highly recommend if you are staying in London. If you book a hotel close to the Coach Station--you can just easily pull your suitcase to the station from the hotel.
This ship docks at a decent sized city. There is a tourist information building pretty much right off the gangway and this is where you can book non-ship tours or meet your non-ship tour guides. Most of the ship tours were sold out--so there were literally buses of people from the ship booked with non-ship tours. We booked a non ship tour to Langfoss waterfall (be sure to add on the optional boat tour that gets closer to the waterfall). Enjoyed the scenery we saw there and back--we also stopped at a viewpoint to take pictures and a monument. Many people from the ship walked into town--it says it's about a 1/2 mile walk--looked longer to me--you have to walk over a very long bridge.
Skolden, Norway is an idyllic village on a fjord. The ship docks next to farms and we were able to watch and hear the sheep just outside the balcony. We were able to book on the ship tour "Skoldgen Mountain Tour". Even my husband (who hates tours) admitted that the scenery was breathtakingly beautiful. Lots of hairpin turns and steep drop offs. Very enjoyable port--many people just walked off the ship and walked to local waterfalls (several miles away) or just walked around the small village.
The ship here is docked at a beautiful small town on a fjord. There are hop on hop off buses and a trolley within a 3 minute walk from the gangway. There were many vendors selling all kinds of tours in the same area. I took the hop on hop off bus which travelled thru the small town to a glacier and a beautiful lake. There were several stops for photos. Highly recommend the tour if you want to do something simple and relaxing. There were several shops selling the usual Norway souvenirs that were very crowded with cruise ship passengers. A very nice village. Highly recommend walking around the village. Make sure you watch the "send-off" in Olden. A bar restaurant blasts "goodbye" music for about 20 minutes and several Norwegians wave flags in the parking lot--it was very cool.
Trondheim is a large city. We didn't have an excursion planned so I got off the ship and walked about a half mile to a shopping area where there were a few shops. You have to walk further to get into the actual city.
Many people complained that there isn't much to do at this port, but I liked the remoteness and the stark landscape. The ships tours to the North Cape sold out quickly and were VERY expensive. Non-ship tours you can find online were 1/3 the price and added in stops at a picturesque fishing village and at a Sami "village"--an area across the street from a Sami house where they have a typical "tee-pee" set up, a reindeer you can take pictures of, a man in traditional Sami dress, and a store where you can buy souvenirs (bring cash only). The problem with any tour to the North Cape is that it's frequently socked in with fog--didn't think much of the actual "North Cape" building--there is a movie you can see and some exhibits--they were not rated highly by most visitors I talked to. (Except for the World War II exhibit with pictures of ships and accompanying stories which was fascinating.) The gift shop is very large and is where lots of people spent most of their time. As far as the actual port goes: vendors were selling several tours in the parking lot right off the ship (the one with lots of buses where you had to walk to after getting off the ship). There is also a large gift shop at the dock which everyone on the ship took advantage of.
Alesund is a beautiful city with incredible art nouveau style architecture. The city center is very close to the dock and the city is very walkable. There are also hop on hop off buses and a trolley. I took the bus to the aquarium which was very nice--took about an hour to tour.
Beautiful city--have been there before. However our ship did not dock close to the city--we docked at an industrial area and there was a significant cost for the shuttle. It was raining, so I didn't bother getting off. Our ship was schedled to leave like around 1PM, so that was another factor in not getting off to explore the city.
Thanks for sharing. We were also on this cruise, in fact we are still on Sky and disembark in a few days.
We agree with everything that you’ve said, we were very unhappy with Tromsø and the £19.95 shuttle bus.
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