spethstation

I am doing the exact same itinerary as you on the Viva in September. I also chose this excursion for Motril. Thank you for the feedback! It makes me even more excited to see the caves. You never know what you're going to get with these excursions. It's the only one I've booked so far.

Wow, love your blog! I will be referencing it for my upcoming Med cruise!

@laurieal I am appreciating your live review so much. The pictures of your food & beverages have me drooling! 🤤 I keep finding myself hopping on NCL ships lately but you've convinced me to try Oasis. I had such a great time on Harmony and I need a repeat! Hope you've got some smooth sailing ahead over the Atlantic!

Definitely Barrachina's for a pina colada! You can take one to go if you wish. I also went to Cafe Manolin for mofongo, it was incredible!!!! Their espresso was also 👌

Just the cruise fare - no onboard purchases, excursions, or drink packages. And not on NCFs anymore. Sometimes there will be commission on cruise line insurance or air purchased through the cruise lines.

On my first cruise I took 8 pairs 😂 Generally I can average 5 now...I like variety. And one pair is usually water shoes!

This is correct. TAs get very little commission on airfare, sometimes none at all depending on the airline, so it's not unheard of to have a ticketing/service fee for flights. They are doing the work for you. Can't get your seats assigned with the airline? The TA can...another thing they don't get commission on. You got a price drop on a cruise? Great, now the TA/agency makes less commission on the product, so in effect is now making less on doing more work. It's not unheard of to have a small fee for making a change or doing a price drop. You cancel your trip? Ok, now the TA has to call every supplier and put the work into getting your your money back and invoicing the refunds...also not making any commission anymore because your trip is cancelled now. I understand this $100 cancellation fee. So much work TAs do is not paid for, including travel research, being on hold for sometimes hours to fix or rectify one small thing, dealing with flight schedule changes or cancellations...the list goes on. If I had to pay a $150 deposit to have a complex itinerary worked on, I would, because I don't want to do that myself, and otherwise it is free labour. And like @CDNPolar said, the cost of the cruise is the same to the client, so why not give that $ to someone who is working for it on your behalf, rather than the cruise line itself? TAs provide a service and like any other industry, they deserve to be paid for their time and work that goes mostly unseen by the general public.

I would recommend NCL or Royal for either itinerary! They offer so much on board for teens, especially on their Breakway/Breakaway+ class or Oasis/Quantum class ships. Hard to know what ships will be where that far in advance, however. In terms of Hawaii, NCL has the only ship that does Hawaii from a Hawaii port - the Pride of America (does not leave from the mainland US or Vancouver.)

Grease was just fine on Harmony, but what really shone for me was their aqua show, The Fine Line! Breathtaking! Having a boardwalk view balcony at the aft was also a great spot for watching rehearsals!

It was closer to 1.5 days for me in December!

This is such a refreshing and great way to look at it! I have so far never taken any drink or bundled package for any cruise, but I did for my upcoming one. So I imagine I will finally feel a little bit more freedom not worrying about what I should or shouldn't order! That's a true vacation for my brain. 😎

What are you paying for then?! 😂

Personally I love the newer, bigger ships. There's just more to do, more venues to explore, more options for restaurants, and usually the latest/greatest innovations. A lot of experienced staff go with the new ships, too, so I find the service level is really fantastic. The rooms and architecture also don't usually look as tired. Love more of a modern look, too. That being said, I usually give it a little time before I sail a new vessel just so some growing pains can be worked out.

Guess I'm booking cruise with a stop to GSC for 2026 now... 😁

You may start to see a little but they really come full force in mid-October!

I enjoyed your Princess live, @TxTeach79. Following along, thanks for sharing your adventures!

My Amex Cobalt had this too, but a slightly different offer. It was a $250 statement credit for $1000 spend, up until May 31st.

I sailed on this ship in December. I echo everyone else who has said great things about the staff and cleanliness. I also enjoyed the food - and the bed! I found the entertainment and events a tad boring, and the smoking in the casino was a drag. Personally I would not sail this ship again but I like newer/bigger ships with a few more events targeted to my demographic (millennial).

Loved reading your experience! Thank you for sharing your thoughts. I love NCL but I also I can't wait to try Virgin - I'm dying to go to Bimini and experience their private island! Did you ever press the champagne button?? 🍾

Yes, Celebrity is definitely on my list! Would love to sail on the Edge series.

Final Thoughts I wanted to offer a short summary on topics just to sum up my overall opinion of this ship and my experience with Princess: Food/Alcohol: Food was generally very good, and there was only a few dishes that fell flat for me. There was a lot of variety, but I would have liked to have seen more desserts, like cake (that are outside of the 'premium desserts'). The buffet was a treat with a lot of authentic, delicious food, and we only had one instance in the MDR where service was slow. I definitely recommend the Crown Grill. Drinks were mostly reasonably priced without the package. Quality was hit and miss but once I figured out where to get the best tasting drinks it was easy to find something good. I found the Wheelhouse Bar to be the best. Entertainment/Activities: They did not make good use of some of the entertainment on board. Many shows were in the piazza, which is not a great communal space. I would have liked to have seen more live events in the Wheelhouse or Explorer's Lounge - instead these were mostly reserved for things like trivia. There was not enough happening in Skywalkers, which seemed like a shame because the space was so cool! They only had a late night DJ there after 10pm. Activities were all pretty repetitive and not Princess specific, like jewellery sales, art auctions, etc. Nothing stood out as being unique except maybe the talk on sharks or the star gazing event (which was cancelled.) I know I am not this cruise line's demographic audience but I would have liked to have seen more events for people in their 30s-40s. A silent disco would have been really fun. The talent in the shows is mostly evident but the production value was a little lacklustre on some things. Cannot compare to RC here. Casino: I loved that they had a $6 min table for blackjack! I can't comment on the other games but there was a wide variety. There is no reason for there to be smoking allowed IMO, or at least there should be a closed off smoking section (like Carnival or NCL has on some of their ships.) I would say there are less smokers compared to people who don't smoke, so why are they catering to the minority? I think as the demographic of cruise clientele changes we will see a major change here. Casino staff were awesome and friendly, although we did get a few staff members on their very first shift. Would have liked to have seen more servers walking around taking drink orders, but the bar wasn't far. Service: Everyone I encountered personally was so happy, open, and just plain nice. I really liked the service I received all week. My room steward was so pleasant! Ship: This ship is certainly older, but it is well maintained. I saw maintenance people on top of minor issues all week. I enjoyed the amount of hot tubs and pools onboard. I would have liked to have seen more activities available, but I knew going in there were no waterslides, dart boards, etc. and that it was not an Oasis class or Breakaway+ class ship. The mini golf area was laughable - this could easily be updated. It's a good size and I never felt claustrophobic, but it was challenging to navigate around decks 5-7. Easy to lose your bearings. The elevator doors close too fast. I don't know how people with mobility issues ever got one in time! The gym was decent and felt very modern. Would like to see more strength based equipment and a much colder water fountain. The astroturf on the outer decks was funny smelling and just generally unappealing. It is downright ugly. I wonder if they would ever update that? 🤔 Despite the fact that you could walk around all of deck 7, there was nothing appealing about the trek, and walking through a smoking section was not that great. They didn't even have any chairs from what I could tell. Lots of bars to choose from, no huge line ups at any of them. Would have liked to have seen Good Spirits offer their specialty menu earlier than 5pm, I feel I would have tried more of them if that were the case. I did not use the spa itself, but the area was very pleasant. I do like that access to the saunas was free, and the pool/hot tubs outside of the spa were adults only. Pricing for services was expensive but this is not unique to Princess, nor is it as expensive of some of the newer ships (looking at you, Viva.) I did enjoy the staff's knowledge of their products/services and their presentation I attended. App: (This is the old app I am talking about.) The app was clunky, and too hard to navigate. The user experience designers should have been fired. Nothing was categorized in sections that made sense. But I did love the feature that allowed you to find your shipmates, and switching users for the wifi plan was really seamless. My partner has Android and he was having more problems with it than I was being an iPhone user. Can't comment on the new app but hopefully they fixed some issues. I did not utilize the Ocean Now delivery feature so I can't comment on that specifically. Ports: What I did see, I loved. Definitely got unlucky missing 2 out of 4 ports, and I had chosen this ship for the itinerary specifically, so I was bummed. Next time I would probably make sure I have an interest in both the ship and itinerary rather than one or the other. Overall: I would sail Princess again, just not this ship nor this class. Nothing 'wowed' me, but to be honest, I didn't expect anything to. I would be more keen to sail on the Sun or Star - there is just more onboard that interests me, and I tend to lean towards a newer/bigger ship. But it's more likely I would sail on more NCL or RC ships before booking those. Sometimes it just comes down to the ports and the price, like in this case. But I did have a good time and don't regret it! Thanks for following along on my (long-winded) review. Can't believe it's been two months already since I sailed. Looking forward to my next one this September! 🚢

Thanks for following along! That's funny you say that about Loverboy - I was thinking the same thing! Missed opportunity! We did do the math and it didn't make sense for us re: Princess Plus. I actually got a discount on the wifi so it made it even cheaper. Also, the USD conversion isn't so great against my country's dollar 😅 But I do like the convenience of it and may do it in the future!

Thank you so much, @charliedalrymple!

Thanks, @Ivanmorrin! I had just searched a lot of the Princess boards for drink recommendations and complied a list of what looked good!

Day 9: Last Day Work has been busy, but I need to finish my trip review, I’ve only got one day left to report! This morning I got up a little earlier to experience breakfast in the MDR by myself. I went to the Palm and enjoyed a small solo table. I was seated next to a lovely couple from the UK and we made some small chat. They had been on a B2B and had also missed a few ports on their first leg. The coffee was really good today, and I decided to pair it with something I kept seeing mentioned on CC, the James Beard French toast, with a side of bacon. It is French toast coated in something similar to corn flakes (heck, I think it is corn flakes.) It actually wasn’t good at all, I was pretty disappointed. Plus, they forgot to give me my bacon, which was unforgiveable. 😂 So I didn’t really feel like I was missing out on the MDR breakfast experience all of those other days. There was a retail sale happening, so I went to check it out but it wasn’t selling anything unique to Princess – same old scarves, wallets, port t-shirts, etc. you see at all those other cruise sidewalk sales. But I remembered there was a culinary demonstration in Princess Theatre that sounded interesting, so I headed there. The demonstration involved the head chef preparing a few of favourite recipes. A head guy from the dining staff was there was well providing some comic relief. I wanted to see the galley tour at the end, but I couldn’t get through the cringey scripted jokes, so I only stayed about 15 minutes. I also couldn’t picture doing the tour with 200 other people, it didn’t seem viable somehow. Afterward, I met up with my partner so we could check out the sushi at the buffet. I remember that it wasn’t too bad, but it reminded me more of grocery store sushi. We then had to hit the casino one last time, but the gambling gods were not too kind this time around and we left empty handed. We felt like we had experienced enough gluttony for a day so we went to the gym. It was very empty, which is always my favourite time to be in the gym. We were there for a while just to waste some time. It was raining a lot this day and unfortunately we were stuck to what was offered inside the ship. I hadn’t experienced afternoon tea yet, so I went to the Palm solo to try it out. A server comes around with tea, and they give you milk and sugar at your request. Other servers walks around with trays of small sized sweets and finger sandwiches. I really liked this! It was a different experience than a main dinner or the buffet, or even the International Café. I really enjoyed the food offered here and the tea was delicious. I wish I had thought to do it earlier in the cruise. For those who don’t know, Princess offers this every afternoon on their ships. It was classy. I, myself, was not classy as I rolled up in my gym clothes. 🤷‍♀️ My partner met me at the Palm and I took a quick shower before we went to Vines to play Trivial Pursuit again and partake in a couple of G&Ts. We were wasting time until the Brazilian food started at the buffet. (The theme of this cruise was the buffet 🤣). They did have some really delicious food choices. We even took some more down to the room to snack on while we packed our luggage for disembarkation. This moment is always so bittersweet! We spent the rest of the evening in the room watching Oppenheimer, although I did duck out to get one last 24K Gold Margarita – thought it would be a good bookend drink to the cruise! Day 10: Disembarkation We weren’t in a hurry to disembark as we weren’t catching the Amtrak train until after noon – we were continuing our trip to meet my partner’s parents in Tampa for a few days. We were assigned as part of the gold group and had to meet up in the Explorer’s Lounge. We both woke up feeling quite ill with different ailments. My partner clearly had the flu, so I plied him with some meds I had with me, but I decided I needed to go see a doctor due to the symptoms that were presenting themselves. And I didn’t want to wait to get to Tampa, as it was quite a ways away and I didn’t think much would be open on the weekend, not to mention, I didn’t want to navigate having to find a clinic, etc. Not great timing, but the medical office was still open despite the chaos of everyone leaving the ship. I left my partner in the Explorer’s Lounge to go find it. I was quickly seen, even without an appointment. Everyone was so efficient and helpful, and they really did an exemplary job. I got meds and was in and out in about 15 minutes! What took the longest was settling my medical bill. Because they had closed my onboard account at this point, I had to go pay for it at guest services, and the line was super long. I was worried I was going to miss my disembarkation window with my group, but as soon as I got back to the Explorer’s Lounge they called our group. Perfect timing! They had facial recognition scanners at customs so it was a breeze going through once we claimed our luggage. We took a taxi to the Amtrak station and had to wait there a few hours before continuing our trip. Our cruise was over! 😢 Next post I will follow with a few summarized thoughts about Princess and the cruise overall.