Sea review 9/29-10/09 rt S.F.

[ramrax4]

Hi,

Let me start by saying that we are new to cruising having only sailed on 2 Carnival ships prior to the Sea princess. We just returned from the Mexican Riviera sailing R.T. from San Francisco. Our ports included: Catalina, PV, Mazatlan, Cabo and San Diego. Please feel free to ask questions and I will do my best to answer them.

 

Day 1 Embarkation

We decided to take Amtrak departing at 8:30 and arriving in Emeryville at 11:00 am. From there we were transferred via amtrak bus to Pier 39 which took about 20 min. This would also be our pick up point for the return ride to Emeryville Amtrak station, more on this later. We gathered our luggage, 3 suitcases, and decided to walk to pier 27 where the Princess was docked. It is a pretty good walk but definetly do able. We arrived at check-in around 12:00 and were on the ship by 12:30, very smooth.

[ramrax4]

Day 1 continued

 

The ship is very pretty with a nautical look, lots of wood detail and marble, and very clean. With our cards in hand we easily located our room, we had opted for a balcony. The rooms are nice enough but very small, barely big enough for a desk chair. The bathroom is a bit tight also. First thing I did was call the dine line to book the chefs table but no answer so we stowed the luggage which fit nicely under the bed and went exploring. We decided to eat lunch in the MDR, Rigoletto was serving till 1:30. After lunch we went back to our room and I called the dine line again this time someone answered so I made our reservation for the Chef's Table, we were put on a wait list and told that we would be notified in a few days if we had been selected.

The view of San Francisco and the bay were beautiful and the weather was perfect. We decided to go up on deck for sail away and to meet up with our group from cc but I soon realized that my camcorder was not charged enough so we returned to our cabin so I could record from our balcony. This was great until we realized that the fog was rolling in and that the Golden gate was completely shrouded from view:(...........more to come in the next few days.

[ramrax4]

Day 1 continued

 

So with the fog horn sounding we set sail for the Mex Riviera. Having never sailed Princess my excitement was very high. I had read all the reviews....some not so good but I am the type to reserve judgement for myself. I have to say that sadly, the not so good reviews were on target. I know that food and entertaiment are highly subjective but there were other issues that are in need of remedy, I know that princess loyalists will no doubt flame me shamelessly but I will endeavor to give an honest review of my cruise experience both the negative and the positive.

 

We choose anytime dining because we prefer a table for two, we are not anti-social by any means but my husband finds it difficult to enjoy his meals with strangers and is somewhat self conscience around others so for us this is the right choice. We arrived at the Rigoletto dining room around 7 pm and were given a pager, it was very unorganized and chaotic, we had to wait approx. 45 min for a table, this was ok as it gave us time to explore the shops and surrounding areas while we waited. There was a nice pianist playing in the lobby which we enjoyed while waiting. We were finally seated and proceeded to order. My husband does not drink alcohol, I enjoy an occasional drink, so we usually order ice tea with our meal and coffee for dessert........15 min later and a second request for ice tea was finally successful....... the beverage is very small, I'm talking maybe 8 oz and refills are next to impossible, even after repeated requests. We enjoyed our meal and especially the dessert but service is seriously lacking in this area....very disappointing.

[Whoo]

Thank you for your review - I am looking forward to reading more. We had considered going on this cruise, but chose another one.

[Cruisin Sal]

I am interested in your experience at the Chef's Table.

[Woobstr112G]

Thanks for taking the time to post your review. Looking forward to reading more.....:):):)

 

Bob

[ramrax4]

After dinner we decided to attend the late show: "Welcome Aboard Showtime" featuring Kenton Fridley, Kimberly Sava and the Princess Dancers. There was also a "Comedy Magician" Lorenzo Clark.

 

The show was just okay, the dancers need improvement and the show seemed strained and the timing was off. The singers were enjoyable as well as the comedian. All in all we did enjoy the show.

 

We returned to our rooms for some much needed sleep and filled out the card for fresh fruit which hangs on the outside of your cabin along with the order for continental breakfast, I only ordered coffee and juice as we had decided to eat in the buffet the next day for breakfast. Ordering coffee at a set time makes for a great alarm the next morning in case you happen to oversleep:eek:

For those interested here are some of the other activities offered that night:

Mutts was playing Clash of the Titans

Razzmatazz offered a welcome aboard party with a DJ

Vista Lounge featured the movie "The Invention of Lying"

Wheelhouse Bar had Allan And Ladonna for your listening and dancing pleasure with the Band Derringer performing afterwards.

[Woobstr112G]

After dinner we decided to attend the late show: "Welcome Aboard Showtime" featuring Kenton Fridley, Kimberly Sava and the Princess Dancers. There was also a "Comedy Magician" Lorenzo Clark.

 

The show was just okay, the dancers need improvement and the show seemed strained and the timing was off. The singers were enjoyable as well as the comedian. All in all we did enjoy the show.

 

We returned to our rooms for some much needed sleep and filled out the card for fresh fruit which hangs on the outside of your cabin along with the order for continental breakfast, I only ordered coffee and juice as we had decided to eat in the buffet the next day for breakfast. Ordering coffee at a set time makes for a great alarm the next morning in case you happen to oversleep:eek:

For those interested here are some of the other activities offered that night:

Mutts was playing Clash of the Titans

Razzmatazz offered a welcome aboard party with a DJ

Vista Lounge featured the movie "The Invention of Lying"

Wheelhouse Bar had Allan And Ladonna for your listening and dancing pleasure with the Band Derringer performing afterwards.

 

What were your thoughts on your dining experience.....

 

Bob

[ramrax4]

2nd Day and Catalina Island

 

8:00 am Coffee was delivered right on time, I have to say room service was excellent through out the cruise. Our orders were always correct and arrived promptly and we always tipped a few $. My only complaint was that they toasted my bread on a roast beef sandwich I ordered but no big deal it was still yummy and the chocolate cake is delicious, very moist, with a thick rich layer of chocolate frosting.

With our Princess Patter in hand we proceeded to the buffet for breakfast.

This is where things really bacame frustrating and annoying. The first day the elevators were terrible, very slow, some even out of order but we chalked this up to the boarding frenzy that always ensues on the first day....boy were we wrong. First of all the majority of the cruisers were elderly, I would say at least 75% were over the age of 70. Now There is nothing wrong with that as we are not spring chickens ourselves, in our 50's, but when you try to board an elevator and fit numerous walkers, wheelchairs, canes and scooters along with the passengers the wait time for an elevator was terrible. This continued through out most of the cruise so if you were heading ashore be prepared to walk several flights or to wait for an elevator. I'm not sure how Princess can remedy this problem but something does need to be done. Eventually the other elevators were repaired but the wait times did not improve, I would say they were the worst we have ever encountered both on land and at sea.

 

BUFFET: much improvement is needed here. The seating is inadequite and I found the breakfast choices odd. For instance, grilled fish.......for lunch yes...... but breakfast, strange. Princess idea of hashbrowns are these starchy, dry, round potato pancake things.... I don't know how to explain it. Sometimes they would offer potato wedges and once they had Potatoes O'brien. On disembarkation morn they finally had corned beef hash:)by the way this was the best breakfast buffet they had offered in the 10 days we were aboard. The food was cold, pancakes were dry and rubbery as if they had been pre-cooked, frozen, thawed to room temp. and served, the butter wouldn't even melt. Juice is served in very tiny glasses and warm so they would add ice to chill it. The ice machines never worked properly they were either very slow or out of ice, finally they sent a repairman to work on them but they never did work right, thus creating more lines. No trays are offered to carry your items to the table so one of us would scout for a table while the other one would wade through the food line. Most of the time the tables were dirty and I would have to find someone to clean it off so we could sit down, then we would have to return to fill our juice and coffee cups, eventually servers would make their way around for refills.

The good: fresh fruit, muffins and assorted pastries, the eggs are cooked and laid out on a warming pan, over easy or sunnyside up so no waiting.

Princess would be better served offering an omelet station instead of waffles made in advance and set in a warming pan that doesn't warm. A waste of space in my opinion.

[ramrax4]

What were your thoughts on your dining experience.....

 

Bob

Hi Bob,

are you referring to our overall dining experience or the chef's table, please elaborate:)

[ramrax4]

After breakfast we decided to explore the ship some more and then opted to enjoy the pool and jusy relax for awhile. We had no problem finding a lounge chair right by the pool so....... with book in hand and an ice tea we did just that. Some of the other offerings on board were:

 

Brainteasers/ Bingo

Crochet and Natter/ Adult Goofy Golf

Adult ping pong tourney/ morning trivia

Veterans get-together/ Masonic Gathering

Bridge Lecture/ Music Melodies

Beginner Line dance/ Complimentary detox seminar

Ceramics at sea /Afternoon Tea

Basketball shoot-out /Adult water volleyball

Singles and Solo Travelers get-together/ Adult Wii bowling

MUTTS "When In Rome"/ Acupuncture seminar

[ramrax4]

We were due to arrive in Catalina around 1 pm so we headed to our room to change and watch the approach from our balcony......I called room service and ordered a pitcher of ice tea and we kicked back on the balcony enjoying fantastic weather and views of Catalina Island.

Again choosing to return to the buffet for lunch. Sandwiches were offered as a selection but they were pre-wrapped with plastic wrap, I thought this was odd and feel that Princess would be better served offering an assortment of rolls/bread, cheeses, condiments and carved meats to build your own. Lunch was just ok, opted for something light: fruit, green salad and soup.

Catalina: very pretty and quant. We just enjoyed the scenery and walked around checking out the shops and sights. I would love to return and spend a few days enjoying the island. The weather was perfect:)

 

Tendering: What a nightmare, it took 1 1/2 hr to get off the ship which put us on the island around 2:30. The last tender was scheduled to return at 6 so to avoid long lines we decided to return around 4. The line at this time was already extremely long and very slow moving, apparantly they were not expecting so many people returning so soon as a result they were only using one tender and the line soon became way too long. This was poor planning on princess part and should not have happened....................... 1 1/2 hours later we were on board again. So to sum things up: we were in port for 5 hrs and of those 5 hrs 3 hrs were spent tendering.:eek:

There was a slight delay departing it seems 5 passengers had not returned by 6 and so the ship waited for about 30 mins. finally all passengers had been located and we were under way.

[2little time]

Ramrax4 Thank you for your honesty. I am a Princess devotee but can appreciate the things you are saying as common threads heard from other fellow cruisers. Obviously there are improvements that need to be made in the area of food. If your complaints were about bland food I would say that mass production of food is to blame but I have repeatedly heard about ill prepared potatoes. How easy is this to fix ???? Hello Princess????? Can you give the cook a refresher in how to cook french fries and other simple types of potatoes? Nothing spoils a meal quicker for me than to not get my beverage....another simple thing. Unfortunately this is a service person problem that winds up causing the whole ship to be blamed. I wish there were a way to bring attention to an individual during the cruise rather than waiting until afterwards. Thanks again for your reviews.

[ramrax4]

Here is an example of the daily Lotus Spa offerings:

Riviera deck 12 Aft

 

A.M.

7:00 Morning stretch

7:30 Abs session

8:00 Core Conditioning Pilates($12.00 fee)

9:00 Balanced Yoga($12.00 fee)

10:00 Strength-Tour de Spin($12.00 fee)

P.M.

12Noon Boot Camp($30.00 fee)

5:00 Circuit Training

5:30 Late Stretch

 

Since we did not utilize the Spa services except the gym I don't have any other advice or opinions just thought someone might be curious about what is offered.

 

Upon returning and watching sail away it was time for dinner. Since we have always enjoyed the MDR on previous cruises this was our preferred choice for dinner again. So around 7pm we proceeded to the Rigoletto where we again recieved a pager, the wait was only about 30 min. and we were at a table for 2 as requested. This time we had a server named Christian, he was very nice and service was great. The food was good but again that annoying wait for ice tea. I really don't understand the problem but it does need to be dealt with. We should not have to wait till our dinner service is almost over to get our beverages served. I can only draw the conclusion that Princess is only concerned with the passengers who pay money for drinks from the bar because those seemed to be flowing freely and without delay.:(

My observations of Anytime Dining Service:

There is definately room for improvement. I Enjoy the option of dining when we want and with whom we want but this is not exactly the case. On most nights there was a wait for a table for 2, the shortest wait was 20min:) the longest being over an hr:( The best time to go is before 6 or after 8:30 otherwise the wait can get long. We could have tried to change but decided to stick with it to see if the waiting and service would improve over time, unfortunately it did not. Service was not the greatest, the servers, with exception of Christian and James, was below par. The wait staff rarely smiled or conversed with the diners and were hesitant to fill requests. They seemed extremely unhappy and unmotivated to do better. At one point our ice tea glass was removed in the middle of dinner service and before we had finished the tea, a fresh glass was not offered and was never replaced during the course of the evening. Dinner felt rushed from the time we sat at the table until dessert was served.

Another word on the servers: James was our assistant server but should be promoted, he anticipated our needs and filled them promptly he was curteous and friendly and always had a smile on his face, what a joy.

We did attempt to make a reservation for a set time at one point but was told by the hostess that that was impossible for a table for 2 that we just had to take our chances and show up in order to be seated.

 

Evening entertainment offered was:

"Piano man" in the Princess Theater featuring the Princess Dancers

Vista Lounge had Comedy Showtime with "Dan Bennet"

MUTS was showing "Sherlock Holmes"

 

We opted for the the late movie in Princess theater "Crazy Heart" but we ended up leaving early due to exhaustion. The good thing is if you miss a movie it is always offered on the tv the next day. I thought this was really great as it allowed us to do other things but still catch the movies being offered on MUTS or at the Princess Theater on the tv the next day.

[ramrax4]

Ramrax4 Thank you for your honesty. I am a Princess devotee but can appreciate the things you are saying as common threads heard from other fellow cruisers. Obviously there are improvements that need to be made in the area of food. If your complaints were about bland food I would say that mass production of food is to blame but I have repeatedly heard about ill prepared potatoes. How easy is this to fix ???? Hello Princess????? Can you give the cook a refresher in how to cook french fries and other simple types of potatoes? Nothing spoils a meal quicker for me than to not get my beverage....another simple thing. Unfortunately this is a service person problem that winds up causing the whole ship to be blamed. I wish there were a way to bring attention to an individual during the cruise rather than waiting until afterwards. Thanks again for your reviews.

Thanks,

I agree wholeheartedly. Potatoes are an easy thing to fix, just the smallest effort yealds great results, even with frozen hashbrowns. The menu does have room for improvement, small things like the potatoes are a simple fix but a better example of room for improvement would be the night I had a new york strip in the MDR. It was served with dried out lukewarm shoestring fries:confused: All that trouble to offer a nice NY strip and then serve it with some tired old french fries. How about a big moist baked Potato with all the trimmings, Potatoes Anna, Au gratin or even mashed would have been better options. Of course this is only my suggestion so maybe I'm way off base with this but I don't think so.:D

[pris993]

We were on the same cruise. We are elite with Princess, i.e., this was our 19th cruise, mention this only to say, we have learned from experience how to avoid some of the problems described here. We are also elite on several other lines and practice what we have learned on all the major lines.

 

Our experience on the Sea Princess was better than expected. We have cruised the Dawn and Sapphire to Mexico previously round trip out of San Francisco. Based on earlier experiences I was beginning to question whether one could get "good or better" service in the MDR on ships going to Mexico out of SF. We had a table for 2 in the MDR, second seating, had excellent service and overall the quality of food was good but we special order because my husband is very difficult when it comes to food. We often had sea bass with was excellent and tried steak, veal, halibut and lamb over the course of the cruise. We did notice the "baked" potatoes in the MDR were very dry - since potatoes were mentioned in the OP's review. We had decided before we left, if we were not pleased with the service in the MDR we would request a different table and waiter/head waiter and/or eat in the Lido or Steakhouse. This time around we were quiet pleased with the service and food in the MDR. So sometimes it is hit and miss. We have never tried Anytime Dining and have no interest in doing so.

 

We have breakfast in our cabin -- generally cereal, fruit, crossiants and coffee. We are big coffee drinkers and at times had to remind the stewards we had ordered requesting 2 pots of coffee when they deliver one. Having breakfast in the cabin avoids the mad house in the Lido in the am.

 

For lunch, we typically had lunch late around 2pm, once again that seemed to avoid the mad house and seating problems in the Lido. This time we had an OV cabin because we knew the balconies are very small on the Sea Princess. When we have a balcony we often take our lunch back to our room and enjoy it on the balcony. That is another way to avoid the mad house in the Lido.

 

We were not impressed with the entertainment on board. They seemed to have more movies and MUTS activities, neither of which we liked -- seems like cheap entertainment to us. Movie selections seemed poor. News on the TV in our cabin was very poor in content/value -- CNN international vs usual CNN available on land. No FOX news available. Made comments about this in our email review to Princess. We enjoy the Mexican folks music and dance entertainment brought on board in one port but felt that the ship's band was not up to speed when we made special requests for some latin tunes, old standbys, that they could not play. Some times the ships Patter was not accurate about what was being offered and times.

 

We felt the video photographer did a great job putting together a video on the trip - beautilful scenery and he added some real quality music to accompany the video.

 

All in all our experience was better than expected but partly because we probably knew what to expect and had some ideas to get around problem areas. Another example, we returned to the ship a bit earlier in Catalina, so the line was not nearly as long and we were back to the ship probably in a half hour.

 

We did find the quality of mercandise on the ship shops poor and over priced, so we did not buy much of anything.

[morriscats]

Was on this cruise as well. We have only sailed on the Grand Class Princess ships and read all about Sea Princess before we sailed. I was very much afraid of the buffet as it was reported that seats were hard to come by. We would get to breakfast around 8 to 8:30 and although crowded, we were always able to find a seat. We tried the main dining room for breakfast and were disappointed with the food and the service so we ate at the buffet the rest of the time. Could always find something we liked. Usually skipped lunch but the hamburgers and hots dogs were great and the french fries were hot and delicious. We ate in the dining room a few times, both times with friends and family and had no wait before 6PM. All the meals there were good and the wait staff were prompt and friendly.

I know in Catalina there was a problem with the tenders and the sea conditions. They had to change the side for boarding when coming back and it resulted in long waits. But this was not really anyone's fault.

While Sea Princess is not my favorite of the Princess line, we had a great cruise and would sail on her again.

[bdjam]

Princess would be better served offering an omelet station instead of waffles made in advance and set in a warming pan that doesn't warm. A waste of space in my opinion.

There was a fresh omelet station in the buffet where the fried eggs and prepared omelets were located - one of the cooks in the back made a fresh omelet for me each morning to my order. I agree that the orange juice was sub-par compared to what I've had on other Princess ships, but I didn't have any issues with the ice/water machines or with finding seating (albeit later in the morning). Grilled fish is great in the morning - some of the non-US citizens on board tend to like things we think are offputting.

We felt the video photographer did a great job putting together a video on the trip - beautilful scenery and he added some real quality music to accompany the video.

While I thought the overall quality of the DVD excellent - especially the San Francisco sailaway - I was a little disappointed in the content. There was a lot of the ship board activity that was missing, instead a good deal of the running time was devoted to a folkloric show.

[sultan_sfo]

Hi bdjam (Brian?)!

Hope you will be encouraged to post often once again. There has been a good turnover in the mods.

 

We did the SF / Alaska RT on Sea P. Aug 30 this year. The food in the MDR late traditional was excellent and also the pizza/pasta in Corniche.

 

/Sultan

 

There was a fresh omelet station

...

[bdjam]

Hi bdjam (Brian?)!

Hope you will be encouraged to post often once again. There has been a good turnover in the mods.

 

We did the SF / Alaska RT on Sea P. Aug 30 this year. The food in the MDR late traditional was excellent and also the pizza/pasta in Corniche.

 

/Sultan

Thank you...we were in late traditional as well and found the meals to be very good to excellent. There were no complaints from our table of eight (four of whom sailed other cruise lines as well) and we were accomodated when we asked the Head Waiter for special dessert and entree orders.

[dfields1814]

We just got off the Sea princess at the end of Sept. Hot tip: Since you are any time dining, ask to be put at the table being attended to by Teresa. When we were on the Sea Princess she was an assistant to Roland. You will love Teresa! She is really nice, funny and a very good server.

[Whoo]

 

My observations of Anytime Dining Service:

There is definately room for improvement. I Enjoy the option of dining when we want and with whom we want but this is not exactly the case. On most nights there was a wait for a table for 2, the shortest wait was 20min:) the longest being over an hr:( The best time to go is before 6 or after 8:30 otherwise the wait can get long. We could have tried to change but decided to stick with it to see if the waiting and service would improve over time, unfortunately it did not. Service was not the greatest, the servers, with exception of Christian and James, was below par. The wait staff rarely smiled or conversed with the diners and were hesitant to fill requests. They seemed extremely unhappy and unmotivated to do better. At one point our ice tea glass was removed in the middle of dinner service and before we had finished the tea, a fresh glass was not offered and was never replaced during the course of the evening. Dinner felt rushed from the time we sat at the table until dessert was served.

Another word on the servers: James was our assistant server but should be promoted, he anticipated our needs and filled them promptly he was curteous and friendly and always had a smile on his face, what a joy.

We did attempt to make a reservation for a set time at one point but was told by the hostess that that was impossible for a table for 2 that we just had to take our chances and show up in order to be seated.

 

We were on the Sea Princess in June, and the Anytime Dining experience was horrible. Unless you stood in line starting at 5:30 to get in, or waited until after 8:00 pm , there were horrendous lines and waits of an hour or more. Service was bad too - waiters never came back to ask how the food was, and getting water/coffee refills was a trial.

 

We have not given up on Princess; we feel our experiences on the Sea Princess were glitches peculiar to that particular ship. The cruise overall was a nice cruise, but the dining portion was disappointing.

[juggles]

We were on the Sea Princess in June, and the Anytime Dining experience was horrible. Unless you stood in line starting at 5:30 to get in, or waited until after 8:00 pm , there were horrendous lines and waits of an hour or more. Service was bad too - waiters never came back to ask how the food was, and getting water/coffee refills was a trial.

 

We have not given up on Princess; we feel our experiences on the Sea Princess were glitches peculiar to that particular ship. The cruise overall was a nice cruise, but the dining portion was disappointing.

 

That is quite sad, I am sure Princess would be horrified. It all boils down to management and it seems the restaurants on the Sea Princess have lapsed and the head of the restaurants are just not bothered. They need shaking up/firing

[ramrax4]

Morriscats,

I had wondered about the ship changing position while in port, but that was only part of the problem (seas being rough and all) I only mention the wait because I happen to overhear other passengers talking who had observed only one tender being used at first and the fact that lining up 2 hrs in advance should not have been cause for a 1 1/2 hr tendering experience.

I really appreciate all the input from everyone and just so everyone understands this experience has not discouraged me from trying Princess again. There were many good things we enjoyed also but as I stated before this review is how our experience turned out and what we observed and is not meant to be totally negative......so please be patient with me as this is the first time I have attempted a review. It is not my intention to offend anyone only relay our experience of this paticular cruise.

[ramrax4]

There was a fresh omelet station in the buffet where the fried eggs and prepared omelets were located - one of the cooks in the back made a fresh omelet for me each morning to my order. I agree that the orange juice was sub-par compared to what I've had on other Princess ships, but I didn't have any issues with the ice/water machines or with finding seating (albeit later in the morning). Grilled fish is great in the morning - some of the non-US citizens on board tend to like things we think are offputting.

While I thought the overall quality of the DVD excellent - especially the San Francisco sailaway - I was a little disappointed in the content. There was a lot of the ship board activity that was missing, instead a good deal of the running time was devoted to a folkloric show.

I'm sorry I have to disagree about the omelete station. Yes there were omeletes provided ready made and limited as to choice of what kind and you are correct that it was located next to the eggs. Requesting an omelete be made to order and the chef dissapears into the kitchen and returns 10 min later is not what I would consider an omelete station. The omelete chef would be stationed on site with an array of meat and veggie options to choose from and then your omelete would be cooked to order after handing over the ingredients to the chef. Now this is just my interpretation but it may differ from someone elses.:)