We felt that this cruise was the perfect blend of relaxation and travel. Unlike a transatlantic crossing, the ports were buffered on either side by sea days. The main dining room food was fantastic (love the Norman Love desserts!), and service across the ship was stellar.
Embarkation
5 out of 5
We flew into Burbank around 11 am and took a 45 minute Lyft ride to the ship. Embarkation took less than 20 minutes, and we appreciated that the main dining room was open for lunch until 1:30 pm. Our rooms were ready by the time we had finished lunch.
Ship experiences
Food and Dining
5 out of 5
We ate the majority of our meals in the main dining room. We were pleasantly surprised to never be disappointed by a main course. The meats were always tender, and the fish and shellfish were always perfectly cooked and not overdone. One reason we loved this itinerary was the afternoon tea on sea days. However, we were disappointed by the 5pm time for 1st seating supper. This made tea time (3:30 to 4:15 pm) seem more like hors d'oeuvres before supper.
Onboard Activities
3 out of 5
The fitness center was small, and the low ceilings made it feel even smaller. We did appreciate the complimentary sauna.
Entertainment
3 out of 5
We absolutely loved the live Amethyst Trio (classical instrumental music) performances in the piazza. However, we were disappointed by the lack of variety in the evening main theater entertainment (mostly comedians). But this gave us an excuse to go to bed early and get lots of extra sleep!
Children's Programs
My husband and I (30s) were traveling with my parents (70s).
Service and Staff
5 out of 5
We experienced some of the best service we've ever received from the main dining room waiters and the customer service department.
We were especially pleased with room service on this ship. 6:30 am was the earliest time slot for the complimentary continental breakfast option where you hang the order card outside your door the night before. We like to have a cup of coffee soon after waking at 5 am. Each morning, we called room service shortly after 5 am, and our coffee was delivered in less than 10 minutes!
Ship Quality
4 out of 5
We appreciate that Princess kept the wrap-around Promenade deck on Deck 7. However, portions of it were often closed for maintenance.
Cabin / Stateroom
4 out of 5
We were upgraded to this room (we booked an inside cabin). As an upgrade, it was fantastic, as we had a clear view of the ocean and sometimes glimpses of the sunset. We also appreciate the larger closet space Princess offers as compared to Royal Caribbean. However, we would not choose this cabin if we were paying for an outside room because the two fold-down bunks do not fold up into the ceiling. We had a few bumped heads in the night! My parents were also in an obstructed view cabin (E605), and the layout was much better (the window was not located at the head of the bed), and did not have fold-down bunks. The shower did not have much storage space for toiletries, but I brought some plastic suction hooks, which helped enormously. Magnetic hooks for the room were also helpful, as there were not many towel hooks in the room.
Ship tip
Bring lots of magnetic hooks for the stateroom, plastic suction hooks for the stateroom bathroom, and plenty of reading material for the evenings.
We took a private excursion through Big Island Aina Tours to see Volcanoes National Park. We had a fantastic experience! It was quite chilly at the park, and we were grateful the tour confirmation had recommended bringing jackets.
We were disappointed that this port was bypassed due to inclement weather. We were grateful to have reserved our rental car through Costco, so there was no cancellation fee.
We booked a rental car through Costco (the company was Budget), and were picked up by the rental car shuttle. Because this was a tender port, it was about an hour from the time our tender number was called to the time we were driving off in our rental car. We drove to the Maui Pineapple Tour (Maui Gold Plantation) in Makawao (an hour drive with breathtaking scenery). The tour was informative, fun, and much cheaper than booking through the cruise line. We also stopped at a Costco on our way back to the ship. This is a great place to buy macadamia nut gift boxes. We also saw the Maui Gold labeled pineapples for sale there.
We docked here, but our party opted to stay on the ship and catch up on calls and emails since Mexico is in our phone plan. We did enjoy seeing dozens of seals swimming in the harbor near the ship.
Extremely easy and streamlined. We flew through customs, even though we were bringing home pineapples from Maui (we were told they were fine to bring back to the mainland, but one never knows with customs!).
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