I can't imagine the circumstance where we will sail Princess again

[floridalover5623]

We board the Coral for our first Princess cruise in 2 weeks. My wife and I prefer to see the show before dinner. That means early show and late (we're anytime) dinner. I was saddened to read your post advising against this timing. Then I read Hlitner's post two below yours and he advised just the opposite. So I guess we'll have to play it by ear. For what it's worth.... on my last two Celebrity cruises (2017) they had a bar set up just inside the entry to the theater. My wife and I would wonder in 5-10 mins before show time, get a drink and have no problem finding a seat. Perhaps Celebrity's shows are less attended because, in all honestly, they aren't very good - although the theater is huge. I'm hoping Princess has better shows, but if you have to show up 1/2 hour early to get a seat, I doubt we'll bother.

If you don't show up at leat 30 minutes prior you'll probable not have a seat together (al least for the more popular shows).

At best the remaining seats will be in the first row or way off to the sides.

Good luck.

[MCC retired]

Almost 80 cruises on all mass market cruise lines ,under our belts , these things can happen on all cruise lines and ships.

 

 

Long cruise = Older guests

Wanting Anytime Dining at popular time = Gotta be flexiable to change habits

Early show gotta get there too early = There is a late show

Injury = Most always someone else's fault.

Island Princess poor reviews since adding cabins = For sure

[CI66774]

OP - I'm sorry you didn't have a good cruise. Perhaps another cruise line will suit you better. However, you come across as elitist and somewhat snooty - and anti-American. Perhaps you should stick to those cruises with similarly-situated elitists. I find it hard to believe your husband was "trampled." I've been on dozens of cruises on many different cruise lines and never experienced a "trampling." Perhaps your husband had a pre-existing condition or perhaps he did something to injure himself. Those medical expenses are your responsibility. I caught a respiratory infection on a cruise and didn't whine about having to pay for a doctor when I arrived home. You'd be wise not to insult Americans (or anyone else - i.e. you appear bigoted) if you want people to read your review with objectivity.

[huskerdan25]

I totally agree with the original poster, we are elite and sailed over 26 cruises and are going on the Ruby Jan. 31 for three back to backs, I will totally agree to all of the posters comments been there and done that, and am getting tired of everyone who seems to be happy with sailing on Princess, and yes we have the same concerns about the original poster. My opinion is that so many people posting on here are full of it

 

Have you taken a look in the mirror lately?!

 

You're tired of everyone who seems happy to sail with Princess?! Why are you sailing with Princess if you are not happy with them? People shouldn't be happy sailing on Princess?! What a weird post. And then just because people are happy sailing with Princess they are full of it?!

Edited January 4, 2018 by huskerdan25

[mnocket]

Wow! Interesting perspective regarding your experience sailing on Princess and Celebrity.

But, I don’t understand what were you two wondering about for 5-10 minutes before show time. Were you two wondering about the performance, or getting two seats together in the theater?

Thank you. And enjoy your cruise. :)

lol You got me!

[Birdieman1]

It doesn’t matter if you get there an hour before show time as they are mostly repeats, for the new passengers who haven’t sailed the shows are ok, but Princess just like the other lines are getting stale

[RDC1]

You said the demographic was much older and very slow. Then how did your husband get trampled if these people could barely move? Why did you not opt for the second show so as not to disrupt your dinner plans?

 

The OP said that the late show conflicted with the game type entertainment options. Bottom line is they wanted to be able to do everything how they wanted it, when they wanted it, with out having to plan or wait in line, or sit in the theater early. While you can work around the theater limitations, it does not planning and some getting to places early.

[floridalover5623]

It doesn’t matter if you get there an hour before show time as they are mostly repeats, for the new passengers who haven’t sailed the shows are ok, but Princess just like the other lines are getting stale

Real stale.

Even the guest entertainer routines are stale.

Thank god for the newer movies. :D

[elliair]

huskerdan25

Cool Cruiser

 

 

#84

Colorado

739 Posts

Joined Feb 2006

 

 

Posted Today, 06:43 AM

Last edited by huskerdan25; Today at 06:55 AM

 

Originally posted by Birdieman1 I totally agree with the original poster, we are elite and sailed over 26 cruises and are going on the Ruby Jan. 31 for three back to backs, I will totally agree to all of the posters comments been there and done that, and am getting tired of everyone who seems to be happy with sailing on Princess, and yes we have the same concerns about the original poster. My opinion is that so many people posting on here are full of it

Have you taken a look in the mirror lately?!

 

You're tired of everyone who seems happy to sail with Princess?! Why are you sailing with Princess if you are not happy with them? People shouldn't be happy sailing on Princess?! What a weird post. And then just because people are happy sailing with Princess they are full of it?!

 

I think Birdieman1 is full of it. :D

[ggprincess2004]

We are very loyal to Princess and are quite pleased with their product. That being said, I refuse to book on the Island. Island and Coral used to be our favorite ships, but since they added those additional cabins and took away and entertainment venue on the Island, there is no way I would sail her. So, to those who say this is not the typical Princess experience, it is not. I would still sail the Coral in heartbeat, but not the Island, and I suspect that the reason for the majority of your complaints had to do with the additional passenger count and loss of entertainment space.

[Thrak]

Thanks for your post! After reading it, we will be adjusting our anytime dining times and going to the later shows.

Had read too many negative reviews about the Island. Given the choice, this reconfirms that we made a good decision regarding the Coral.

 

Island vs Coral. NO contest. Coral is one of our favorite ships. Island is our dead last least favorite Princess ship. Add a ton of cabins and take away public space. What a "brilliant" idea. We sailed Coral and the next cruise sailed Island. No comparison at all even though they used to be almost the same. (Island didn't even get an IC with the huge makeover.)

[jagsfan]

Island vs Coral. NO contest. Coral is one of our favorite ships. Island is our dead last least favorite Princess ship. Add a ton of cabins and take away public space. What a "brilliant" idea. We sailed Coral and the next cruise sailed Island. No comparison at all even though they used to be almost the same. (Island didn't even get an IC with the huge makeover.)

 

 

 

We did a partial transit last spring on Coral and I have to say the food was the best we've had on the last 25 or so cruises. Even the lobster tail was excellent!!!

I am so glad they didn't butcher Coral like they did Island. I wish OP would try again, and sail on Coral!

We also did the small boat excursion from Gatun Lake to the Pacific Ocean.

Not my first partial transit, and the excursion made it my best. Wow!

To go through the rest of the canal in a boat instead of on a ship was remarkable! You see everything from a totally different perspective. We were in the Canal instead of on it.

We shared locks with a catamaran from French Polynesia crewed by a group of French college students.

OP, I challenge you to try this itinerary on this ship, you'll come back New!

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

[zahav1]

The OP posted the same scenario/complaint on the Celebrity and Royal Caribbean boards, basically warning everyone not to take Princess. I think she knew as well as her DH that they could have worked things differently in the evening, as trying to get a permanent reservation or even trying to get into TD early seating, and then they could have seen all the shows, etc.

 

I was on the Island last year for 15 days and had late TD, had time for the shows, no lines, of course we're late people. Never experienced long lines or people pushing. The food was outstanding.

[Redwing55]

I respect the OP's opinion, but IMO it should not be extended to the entire Princess Line. It seems like many of the OP's point are ship specific (except for ATD.) I don't understand how one extends an experience, good or bad, beyond the more or less immediate range. This goes for so many things.

I'm good with reading opinions since it can provide a heads up on issues to prepare for, but not so sure they should extend to an entire, brand, city, country, etc.

 

As for ATD, I think Princess can indeed make some improvements, but barring that, one needs some flexibility or has to understand how to work the ATD process. (i.e, don't expect a seat in 15 minutes in that post 6:00 zone)

 

Happy cruising.

[susancruzs]

I don't understand rants, of course, everyone is entitled to their opinion, but to carry over to other sections is over the top IMO. I've been cruising a long time, and when I see complaints about lines, dining times, seats in the theater, I think big picture. I'm not alone, I'm going to be cruising with 1,000 - 3,000+ people and I need to arrange my time, what I expect and want to do accordingly. Life isn't only about me and on vacation one needs to think about, why we do it in the first place - to R - E - L - A - X!

[JEH]

Byr

[BJS]

We were on the same cruise as the OP and had a great experience. The Captain- Michele Tuvo added so much to the entire cruise with his ever presence all around the ship and his participation in activities.

 

On this cruise we saw many less scooters and wheelchairs and more passengers under 70 than most Princess cruises of this duration. It was the first cruise where we saw the theater empty out from the top to the bottom with those in the front rows having a much longer wait but this also was due to only having doors at the top. There could have been better scheduling of game shows and other activities because the afternoons had mostly seminars for the spa or other venues encouraging people to spend money on the ship. There were no movies in the Princess Theater, lots of MUTS movies out in the heat or cold, to fill time in the afternoon. This seemed strange to us since the Princess Theater was rarely used during the day when performers were not rehearsing. If you are a Trivia player they did have that 2-3 times a day

 

We knew of the changes and that people were very unhappy with the ship. We felt this and being close to Christmas resulted in a great last minute price reduction so didn't hesitate to book. Having now sailed on the Island with the changes it would not be our first choice but if the ship were the only one sailing to where we wanted to go, at the time we wanted to go, and especially for a great discounted price we would not hesitate to book once again. Having said that we would only book a mini-suite and not book another balcony cabin on this ship. In dry dock they put in the larger flat screen TVs in the same location as the older small ones were, they are not mounted on the wall, and we found we could no longer sit in the barrel or desk chair and watch it because we were much to close to it.

 

We were able to walk on the Promenade deck making a full circle by crossing thru the ship and even though we could not make this circle entirely on the open deck it worked very well for us and seemed to for many others.

 

We had sailed on the Island Princess twice before when she had the Universe Theater and really missed it. We found that the scheduling of activities in the Explorer's Lounge because of not having the Universe to use made viewing much more difficult because of the layout.

 

Maybe our experiences on our 32 Princess cruises have been different from others but early show times have always meant arriving at least 30 minutes early for a good seat and early dining in the anytime dining room, especially on sea days, has meant arriving early or having to wait for a table. We tried it for several cruises and the only way it worked for us was to get a standing reservation for a table for 2. We found some ships would not give us a standing reservation so now choose early traditional dining when ever possible.

 

I am sorry the OP had a much different experience but do agree that maybe Princess is not the cruise line for them because not all of their negative experiences can be attributed to just the Island Princess.

Edited January 4, 2018 by BJS

[huskerdan25]

I don't understand rants, of course, everyone is entitled to their opinion, but to carry over to other sections is over the top IMO. I've been cruising a long time, and when I see complaints about lines, dining times, seats in the theater, I think big picture. I'm not alone, I'm going to be cruising with 1,000 - 3,000+ people and I need to arrange my time, what I expect and want to do accordingly. Life isn't only about me and on vacation one needs to think about, why we do it in the first place - to R - E - L - A - X!

 

Most of the rant was over minor things that you just make adjustments to deal with but what made me really question the OPs drivel was expecting Princess to reimburse them for the medical cost when it wasn't Princess' fault for the injury. At that point, I realized that this was the type of person that would do exactly what they did, go try to warn the world to not cruise with Princess. Not surprised at all by the OP's actions.

 

Though the minor complaints can happen on any ship or line, thankfully we do have choices. The OP can go cruise with someone else and Princess has one less whiner.

[Seas the Day]

I apologize for the passenger comment - I did not mean to say that the ship was filed with bad people. We met many nice people, many like ourselves. What I meant was that there was less diversity than other cruises, and I like to meet people from other countries, people who help me learn more about the world. Is it elitist to think that my own point of view is limited, and I like to learn more? That is a hypothetical question. I was sad all last night because of some of the reactions to my initial post which was -admittedly- angry. I was upset with Princess, and the review was written accordingly.

 

Today is a new day, and a new year. I am not feeling keen about cruising as much at the moment, and thinking about more land-based travel. I wish I'd had a better experience, and perhaps didn't do as much research as I should. You probably won't believe this, but most of the time my husband and I "go with the flow." It likely was a tsunami of issues, but particularly compounded by my husband being stepped on, and then being offered a couple dinners - well, it struck a dozen nerves.

 

I wrote something negative, and in response I've received much negativity. It's really all just a shame, and I'm planning to move on and try to forget all the bad stuff, and focus on the good stuff. However, I still doubt I'll sail Princess again.

[Seas the Day]

We were on the same cruise as the OP and had a great experience. The Captain- Michele Tuvo added so much to the entire cruise with his ever presence all around the ship and his participation in activities.

 

On this cruise we saw many less scooters and wheelchairs and more passengers under 70 than most Princess cruises of this duration. It was the first cruise where we saw the theater empty out from the top to the bottom with those in the front rows having a much longer wait but this also was due to only having doors at the top. There could have been better scheduling of game shows and other activities because the afternoons had mostly seminars for the spa or other venues encouraging people to spend money on the ship. There were no movies in the Princess Theater, lots of MUTS movies out in the heat or cold, to fill time in the afternoon. This seemed strange to us since the Princess Theater was rarely used during the day when performers were not rehearsing. If you are a Trivia player they did have that 2-3 times a day

 

We knew of the changes and that people were very unhappy with the ship. We felt this and being close to Christmas resulted in a great last minute price reduction so didn't hesitate to book. Having now sailed on the Island with the changes it would not be our first choice but if the ship were the only one sailing to where we wanted to go, at the time we wanted to go, and especially for a great discounted price we would not hesitate to book once again. Having said that we would only book a mini-suite and not book another balcony cabin on this ship. In dry dock they put in the larger flat screen TVs in the same location as the older small ones were, they are not mounted on the wall, and we found we could no longer sit in the barrel or desk chair and watch it because we were much to close to it.

 

We were able to walk on the Promenade deck making a full circle by crossing thru the ship and even though we could not make this circle entirely on the open deck it worked very well for us and seemed to for many others.

 

We had sailed on the Island Princess twice before when she had the Universe Theater and really missed it. We found that the scheduling of activities in the Explorer's Lounge because of not having the Universe to use made viewing much more difficult because of the layout.

 

Maybe our experiences on our 32 Princess cruises have been different from others but early show times have always meant arriving at least 30 minutes early for a good seat and early dining in the anytime dining room, especially on sea days, has meant arriving early or having to wait for a table. We tried it for several cruises and the only way it worked for us was to get a standing reservation for a table for 2. We found some ships would not give us a standing reservation so now choose early traditional dining when ever possible.

 

I am sorry the OP had a much different experience but do agree that maybe Princess is not the cruise line for them because not all of their negative experiences can be attributed to just the Island Princess.

 

Thank you! I agree my post was not written gently. I wasn't whining, as some have said, but I was overwrought. As to whether it was worth having so much angst? Probably not! Have not all of us sometimes gotten so fed up that they didn't approach things as well as they should? I confess, I was pissed, and it definitely showed in what I wrote.

 

But, it isn't the end of the world, and I feel better today, and for Princess aficionados - just be careful about the Island Princess - I have no experience with the other ships, and probably won't in future (which I know you are all happy about!)

[mellon1]

Try to look at the positive...you and your husband are able to cruise because you are healthy and able to financially. So many just dream of taking a cruise or vacation. Sometimes not everything can be perfect, especially with trying to please so many people. I think imo you may be missing out in the future with Princess because of your stubbornness. I think we all have had something go wrong here or there on a cruise but it is important to put things into perspective. You may want to do RCCL...the shows are always half empty...no wait at all.

[Alimariecruisin]

Wow, am truly sad that this person's opinions regarding her experience on this cruise is being attacked so heavily. Isn't this forum here for all of us to share the good, the bad, and the ugly of our cruising experience?? I generally love Princess cruises but I've experienced one really awful cruise that was very difficult for me to get past. It happens, great cruises and not so fun ones...I desire to learn about other's experiences and appreciate what she had to share. I hope her next Princess cruise will be a better experience for her and her husband. Many are really wonderful cruises overall.

[Host CJSKIDS]

To the OP, sorry you had such a terrible time on your cruise. I haven't sailed the smaller ships and the reviews I have read about your ship is more than enough to keep me off.

 

Hopefully there were some things that you were able to enjoy and can look back and smile at.

 

Don't let this experience make you back away off of Princess. Give another ship a try. I went on the NCL's small old ships and if I would have totally judged them by that, I wouldn't have tried the Getaway which I enjoyed and would go back on again.

[stargazers]

I'm sorry that this cruise was a disappointment in so many ways. I hope your next cruise is much better. Thanks for sharing with us.

 

Kristy

[vmom]

Thank you! I agree my post was not written gently. I wasn't whining, as some have said, but I was overwrought. As to whether it was worth having so much angst? Probably not! Have not all of us sometimes gotten so fed up that they didn't approach things as well as they should? I confess, I was pissed, and it definitely showed in what I wrote.

 

But, it isn't the end of the world, and I feel better today, and for Princess aficionados - just be careful about the Island Princess - I have no experience with the other ships, and probably won't in future (which I know you are all happy about!)

 

I'm sorry your only experience was on the Island, which as others have said, has issues.

 

You might consider trying Princess again but on one of their newer ships, maybe the Royal or Regal.

 

It's hard to judge an entire cruise line by one of the older small ships. You said you cruised other major lines. You wouldn't judge RCCL by a smaller older ship like the Majesty or Celebrity by an older smaller Celebrity ship like the Summit. Most major lines have their new ships and their older smaller ships.