Do NOT use Princess Cruise line!

Star Princess Cruise Review to Alaska - Inside Passage

Cruises: 7+ cruises
Review: 1
Helpful Votes: 34

Overall rating:

1.4 out of 5
Star Princess

7 Night Alaska Inside Passage With Tracy Arm Fjord (Seattle Roundtrip)

Sail date: June 16, 2019

Ship: Star Princess

Cabin type: Oceanview

Traveled as: Family (older children)

Reviewed: 5 years ago

Review summary

We sailed on the 6/16/2019 - 6/23/2019 Alaskan cruise on the Star Princess and it was one of the most horrible cruising experiences we had encountered.  We wanted to celebrate our anniversary and my son’s honeymoon on your Princess Cruise and booked three cabins.  We booked an Alaskan cruise specifically to see the glaciers and to visit BC Canada.   First of all, we were up and on the deck at 5am (per the itinerary) so that we could see the glaciers while passing through Tracy Arm.  After about a half an hour to an hour later we were told that we would not be able to pass through Tracy Arm and that we were going to Endicott instead.  As for attempting to see glaciers at Endicott we were told that if we looked through binoculars we could see the tip of a glacier.  Needless to say we did not get to see any glaciers on this cruise. During the cruise, our toilets backed up twice.  The first time it occurred we waited until the morning and they were able to clear it by flushing the line.  According to some other cruise passengers they also had the same problem.  The next day the same problem occurred and a maintenance worker was sent to our cabin and again had to flush the main line.  My son’s and daughter’s cabins experienced the same toilet issues as did the other passengers along our corridor. Also, during the cruise there was a leak in the ceiling of my daughter’s cabin which occurred around 4:30 am which caused them to wake up to a wet bed and blankets.  Given the multiple situations we had with the toilets we were understandably concerned that it might have been associated with the sewer line issue but was assured that it was not a sewer line leak but was a ventilation leak.   Because my husband and I were celebrating our anniversary we received two gift cards in our mail slot outside our cabin door.  One was for $25 to spend in the princess shops and one was for $50 towards a spa treatment on port days.  While we were unable to use the spa gift card we did use the $25 gift card at your Vines Novelties gift shop.  The salesclerk said that he needed to keep the gift card so that our stateroom account could be credited and stapled the gift card to his copy of the receipt.  At the end of our cruise we noticed that the gift card was not credited to our stateroom so I called the customer service desk and told them the problem.  They told me that they did not have any record of any gift card but that they do show the charges made at the Vines Novelties shop.  They asked me if I had the gift card and I informed them that the salesclerk said that he needed to submit it so that our stateroom could be credited and that he had the gift card.  They told me that because they do not reflect anything in their system they are unable to credit it.  The gift cards actually had our names printed on it our cabin number and “Congratulations”. As if all of the above was not enough to make this a terrible cruise, as we approached BC Canada we were informed that we would not be porting in BC Canada and would just anchor in place! So during this Alaskan cruise with Princess we were not able to see any glaciers (Albeit if we looked through a pair of binoculars we may be able to see the tip of one); the toilets backed up twice; there was a ceiling leak in my daughter’s room; we were provided a gift certificate which was ultimately not honored; and we were not able to port in BC Canada!  Basically, the two main ports (attractions) associated with this cruise which were also the two main reasons for choosing this cruise were not provided for along with the other substantial frustrations mentioned above. I contacted Princess Cruise lines on 6/28/2019 regarding this horrible experience. They informed me that they will research the matter and a customer service representative would contact me soon. We finally heard back from a customer service representative from Princess Cruise line and she said that not docking at the ports is something covered in our contract. Leaking toilets I guess are also common for their ships as well. I guess this is indicative of the type of service you can expect from Princess Cruises! My family loves cruises but we will be choosing a different cruise line for our future cruises!

Embarkation

3 out of 5

Ship experiences

Food and Dining

1 out of 5
Food was bland.

Onboard Activities

1 out of 5
Very few activities on board

Entertainment

1 out of 5

Children's Programs

1 out of 5

Service and Staff

1 out of 5
Gift card provided by Princess for our anniversary was NOT honored! Do NOT trust Princess!

Ship Quality

1 out of 5
Toilets backed up and there was a ceiling leak!

Cabin / Stateroom

1 out of 5

Ship tip

Take a DIFFERENT cruise line!

Ports of call

Seattle, Washington

3 out of 5

Ketchikan, Alaska

2 out of 5

Cruise Tracy Arm Fjord, Alaska

1 out of 5
The ship did NOT port here!

Juneau, Alaska

2 out of 5

Skagway, Alaska

2 out of 5

Victoria, British Columbia

1 out of 5
The ship ALSO did NOT port here!

Disembarkation

3 out of 5
Was this review helpful? 34

12 Comments

GarynWanda    5 years ago

I have cruised Princess in Alaska and Carnival in the Caribbean. Princess hands down is the best in our opinion! We are going again in 2 weeks and are so excited to be going again!

Shaun72    5 years ago

Cat wrangler, don’t let a few bitter people ruin your cruise. The most recent reviews for July have been 5 star reviews & they had a great time. If you look at the 740 reviews overall, Most are 4-5 stars. Not everyone loves buffet but for regular dinning or the burger grill on Lido are Really great I read. I am sure you will have a great trip.

catwrangler    5 years ago

We're going Sept 15th. Our first time with Princess. Hopefully we will have a better time. Sorry it didn't go well for you. I'm alittle concerned after reading these reviews.

jb50mimi    5 years ago

We cruised July 4th week.We have cruised 26 other cruises.This was a 6,500 cruise and it was the worst experience. The food was terrible ,room service not any better.Room Stewart was just ok,never did much had to ask for ice everyday after giving him an extra 30 tip on first day and told him I would give more at end of cruise.We experienced the toilet issue as well in our suite.I thought Princess was a step up but think I stepped way down on this cruise line.Never again for us.

cruisingrhoda    5 years ago

Sorry for your bad time! We've cruised with princess 3x and had none of these problems! Toilet troubles would suck. Bad luck to miss two ports. That would be disappointing.

JeremyDJohnson    5 years ago

I’m sorry you had a rough time. What rooms were you in? ie, front or back of the ship, and what floor? I would think the lower floors would have more issues with plumbing than the upper ones, but I could be wrong.

dennis306    5 years ago

Sorry for your bad experience. We were on the June 2-9 cruise and had an amazing time, but we didn't have the maintenance issues you experienced.

willwork4cruz    5 years ago

Tracy Arm is often missed due to weather. (I'm pretty sure Princess isn't to blame for that) that is why Tracy Arm iteneraries are cheaper. Next Alaska trip, choose an itenerary with Glacier Bay to be pretty sure to see Glaciers.

nascarchimpmunk    5 years ago

We went on this same ship from 6-2 to 6-9, I totally agree, I will never sail princess again. Our toilets did the same thing, also when I was trying to get off the boat in Juneau I was told by security to go sit my ass down because other people were in front of me, this is the first cruise line that doesn't allow people with early am excursions off early. The spa place gave me a paper bag to put my clothes in after giving them 300 dollars for a couple massage because they couldn't figure out how to open the lockers. The food was so bland, no taste to it. The only good thing on the cruise line are the waiters and waitresses in the bars( that's because all they earned are from gratuities) we have another cruise booked but not with this cruiseline. Oh and btw I did complain all I got was im sorry, nothing was done

TheHeed    5 years ago

And what room number were you so I hopefully will be in a different area 😆

golfhacker1    5 years ago

Was there a reason for not going up Tracy Arm such as fog or bad weather? It is a narrow passage and safety comes first. There are ice bergs in the water as you get closer to the glacier. If you do another cruise to Alaska best to go to Glacier Bay. Beautiful area. Sorry your cruise did not work out for you.

TheHeed    5 years ago

I’ve been on 12 cruise with Princess and had toilet issues once. Once off the cruise customer service gave me $200 or $300 credit towards a future cruise. And in those cruises I’ve only missed one port. Grand cayman. I understand things happen so I try not to let it get me down. And the Victoria port stop is pretty point less. You arrive at night and are there for a few hours. Should’ve seen that coming. Your gift card situation sounds odd. Princess has been great with any concern I’ve had and it disappoints me that your vacation got ruined. I’ll be on the star at the end of next month. Fingers crossed my experience is better lol

Other reviews of this sailing