Going in with no expectations

[tcs1366]

When I found this web site back in 2008, just before my first cruise... I read "go in with no expectations and you will not be disappointed'

 

That is just what I did. We LOVED our first cruise... we had fabulous weather, we were with good friends, and had a great time. That was Carnival Glory.

 

our second cruise... again, i went in with no expectations... we had horrible weather [50+ knot winds ever day] cold, rain.. it was horrid. DH and I got food poisoning in one of the ports... but we were with 23 other friends.. .and all in all, we had a good cruise. that was Carnival Legend. aside from the ship rocken ever single day, and the sickeness... we had a good cruise.

 

We are booked on the Ruby in early Feb 2012 ... and even though i've read a few things about Princess... like rock hard bed and nasty 'syrup' coffee, and some complaining about this and that... I am planning on going in with no expectations. [we've never been on Princess, so it will be a new experience, and do not know about changes, and what has been eliminated.... so we don't know what we may be missing.]

 

I may order an egg crate for my bed... and I will try the coffee before purchasing a 'coffee card' -- just in case it really isn't that bad.

 

The beds may not be that bad, and the coffee may be decent... we shall see.

 

But -- I'm going in with no expectations... so i should not be disappointed, and have a Fabulous Cruise!!

[highheel girl]

We have sailed Princess many many times, we enjoy the syrup coffee and the hard beds etc. Take what you read with a grain of salt and enjoy yourselves. :D

[Liz54]

Be sure to come back and tell us how it went! I think you will love it. Our cruise on the Ruby was THE BEST!

[RMLincoln]

My motto is, "It's hard to have a bad day on a cruise ship!"

 

The coffee works fine for me.. gives me a good excuse to put a bit of cream in it! I do have to ask for an egg crate mattress pad on Princess and it's not enough but it helps. I prefer the beds on Carnival and HAL but the Princess beds can never ruin the joys of a cruise.

 

I had only been on Carnival Spirit, twice, when we cruised on Carnival Liberty. OH MY what a difference, and not all good for me, but we had a fine cruise with my son and his wife (who picked the cruise according to their budget and timing) and I'd gladly do it again... but I think I'd carry earplugs for the noise level :).

 

It sounds like you'll have a great cruise. And good for you to post your good attitude, beats making mountains out of molehills. Enjoy!

[cherylandtk]

.I may order an egg crate for my bed... and I will try the coffee before purchasing a 'coffee card' -- just in case it really isn't that bad.

 

The beds may not be that bad, and the coffee may be decent... we shall see.

 

But -- I'm going in with no expectations... so i should not be disappointed, and have a Fabulous Cruise!!

Yes, I agree you will, especially with your wonderful attitude. And you are probably going to love Princess.

[Aus Traveller]

Before our first Princess cruise I had read the negatives about coffee, beds ...

 

We don't find the coffee too bad. OK, it's not great, but not too bad. I usually put one-third hot water in the cup to two-thirds coffee and it is better. Either way, it is not going to spoil my cruise.:)

 

We feel that the beds are OK. I wouldn't go home raving that they were the best beds we had ever slept on, but they are OK.:)

 

Any cruise is a good cruise. :)

[Armchair Cruiser]

"Go in with no expectations" and "any cruise is a good cruise" are the best attitudes to approach a forthcoming cruise with.

 

Slept on the hard beds and had the best sleep of all our travelling days both on land and sea. The coffee can be tweeked to suit your taste and there is always the alternative of a coffee card.

 

Everyone is not going to be happy all the time. That's human nature. Have a wonderful Princess experience. We did.

 

Cheers Rose

[jrzebird]

GREAT attitude, which will make your cruise great! IMHO, if you go in looking for negatives, you're sure to find them. I just did my first solo and the crew on Princess made it the best cruise ever. My first Princess cruise I was a bit hesitant to go on anything other than HAL, but I am now in love with the Princess product.

 

Maureen

[robgvic]

I love your attitude. It is so refreshing especially with all the normal negative comments. I know your will enjoy the cruise and everyone you come in contact with will enjoy theirs.

[Ron the Rev]

Nice to see that your glass is half full.:)

[tigercat]

We have done 6 cruises and except for the Disney cruise they have all been great. One thing does not make a lousy cruise. On my 1st cruise I ran into a nasty chair hog. I am not a forceful person and to have someone screaming at me in the middle of the theatre when it was full. I was so embarassed. As well I had a migraine and fainted on the gangplank going back to the ship after an excursion. It could have been a horrible cruise but it was great. We couldn't wait to go on another cruise. We are booked on a B2B in Jan and I can't wait. The Disney ship...well the food was horrible, the stateroom was not cleaned and the staff was horrible. It was only for 4 nights thank goodness. I figure if I don't have to cook and clean, get to lay around and do what I want, see things I haven't seen before it is all good.

tigercat

[cnd crsr]

Great attitude! I'm sure you will have a fantastic cruise!

[svwkirby]

Great attitude and it's the same one dh and I are going with on the Emerald in 11 days. We've happily cruised Royal Caribbean 3 times, and Disney once, but this is our first Princess experience. This cruise was completely unexpected and not even booked until a few days ago so it has to be better than our original plans of working, cooking, and cleaning for those 10 days.

[Doug R.]

Good Attitude! Just keep an open mind and you will refrain from majoring in the minors.

 

As far as the dreaded "syrup coffee" is concerned remember it is the usual suspects complaining over and over, the self-styled coffee gourmets who roast their own vastly overpriced beans, grind them and then brew the coffee using a labor-intensive brewing process. While I am sure they brew a fabulous cup at home, I have neither the time or inclination to do so. I find the coffee served on board to be acceptable but not extraordinary.

 

I find the beds to be OK as I favor firm, but then again I could probably get a good night sleep in a broom closet standing up since I learned the art of sleeping in any circumstance from many years of long commutes on trains and buses.

 

Have a great cruise!

[Stu K]

A bad day on a Cruise Ship has to be better than a great day on land!

 

Stu K

[PescadoAmarillo]

No expectations is the key. That's why our first cruises are often so amazing, and subsequent cruises, while great, don't quite capture that same magic.

 

We went on HAL last fall for the first time. Old ship with plumbing and cooling issues. No one else under 65. Small ship with limited entertainment. Less than "no expectations", we actually expected the worst. We booked a GTY and told ourselves we couldn't do worse than cabin XXX. Guess what? That's the cabin we got. We had a wonderful time, and still talk about it weekly with great fondness.

 

That's also part of the reason I get a bit irked by posters who need to ascertain every bit of detail, menu timing, specific wait staff to ask for (also cabin stewards), who to ask to get the most, what to ask for above and beyond the normal, etc. These people's expectations have to be sky high, and then there's almost no where to go but down.

[sunsetbeachgal]

We enjoy each and every cruise, and don't let minor annoyances affect our overall experience. Princess is a great product and a wonderful value.

 

Have a great time!

[cruisenuts4life]

Went on Ruby last year and heard the same stories but like others say ,you have to take what others say with a grain of salt.I loved the Ruby it was the best cruise ever and the ship is beautiful.Coffee was ok but we did get the coffee card,beds were fine had no problem.You will love Ruby as we did,we are going again in April.:D

[Shogun]

Hi There

 

 

 

When you board, just walk down the hall way and look at the cabin doors,

 

you will see all these little name tags,

 

they will be gold, platinum and black, all of this mean those folks have sailed with Princess before

 

so with like 80% of the ship filled with returning passengers, if Princess

 

was so bad why would they come back.

 

You will have a great cruise, when you get back

 

you can read about the poor service , bad food etc on your cruise

 

and wonder was I really on the same cruise.

 

yours Shogun

[tcs1366]

when you get back you can read about the poor service , bad food etc on your cruise and wonder was I really on the same cruise.

 

yours Shogun

 

I hear ya on that.... that happened on our last cruise, from folks that were in our group.

I had to wonder what cruise they were on.

 

I guess ya just can't please everyone -- they all may be the ones with high expectations.

 

DH and I are gonna enjoy every minute of it.

 

Thank you all for your replies....

[funkygirl2]

What a great attitude. (and I couldn't agree with you more!!!)

[geoherb]

People have complained about coffee syrup on Cruise Critic at least eight years. I read many complaints before we took our cruise on the Grand Princess in 2003. The funny thing was that one of our tablemates made a comment about how good the coffee was. That really stuck in my mind after reading all the complaints.

[Dachsie5]

When I found this web site back in 2008, just before my first cruise... I read "go in with no expectations and you will not be disappointed'

 

That is just what I did. We LOVED our first cruise... we had fabulous weather, we were with good friends, and had a great time. That was Carnival Glory.

 

our second cruise... again, i went in with no expectations... we had horrible weather [50+ knot winds ever day] cold, rain.. it was horrid. DH and I got food poisoning in one of the ports... but we were with 23 other friends.. .and all in all, we had a good cruise. that was Carnival Legend. aside from the ship rocken ever single day, and the sickeness... we had a good cruise.

 

We are booked on the Ruby in early Feb 2012 ... and even though i've read a few things about Princess... like rock hard bed and nasty 'syrup' coffee, and some complaining about this and that... I am planning on going in with no expectations. [we've never been on Princess, so it will be a new experience, and do not know about changes, and what has been eliminated.... so we don't know what we may be missing.]

 

I may order an egg crate for my bed... and I will try the coffee before purchasing a 'coffee card' -- just in case it really isn't that bad.

 

The beds may not be that bad, and the coffee may be decent... we shall see.

 

But -- I'm going in with no expectations... so i should not be disappointed, and have a Fabulous Cruise!!

There are dozens of wondeful cruising hints and tips on these boards. But, I totally get what you are saying in your post. When I was reading the posts two years ago there were posters complaining about the CB. I was shocked at what I was reading, wondering if we had booked the wrong itinerary, wrong ship etc. Well, I decided that I should just go on my cruise with an open mind. We had a great time and are sailing for the 3rd time on the CB in just a little over a week.

Take the good info, and run with it! All other info, just file away somewhere and go with the flo. You will be sure to have a great cruise!

[Fairport]

Couldn't agree with you more. Our first cruise was on Carnival Spirit, had a great time. We have been on five Princess cruises and have never had any bad experiences. Has every thing been perfect, no, but not to the extent that it would ruin the cruise or the day or even the hour.

 

Enjoy your cruise.

[tcs1366]

.... complaining about the CB. We had a great time and are sailing for the 3rd time on the CB in just a little over a week.

 

I'm usually pretty good with acronyms .... but for the life of me, I can't figure out what "CB" is... I've seen it many times since venturing into Princess forums.. and i've even looked at the names of the ships....

 

What is CB ?

 

Thanks....

 

** Edited to add

 

OH -- is it Caribbean Princess ??