Pacific Princess British Isles Review - Room 8035

[travelrevealed]

Spent a few days in Paris, Eurostar to London, spent a few days there and then used 12 Transfers to get us to and from Dover. Before our flight was delayed, we were to fly home at 12:55 and Princess transfers require 1:00 or later, but booking our own was simple and saved us 75% of the cost anyhow. Used private guides in both Paris/Versaille and London/Stonehenge/Windsor. Can give more details or my Tripadvisor account if anyone wants Paris/London details on that portion of our trip. Booked Club Class Mini-Suite which was impossible to find current photos of, so will attempt to post a few. First time on a ship this small. I quite liked the ability to walk anywhere on the ship within 1.5 minutes.

However, the smaller scale does significantly limit the entertainment options--which is to be expected. The stuff the do on board was bingo, knitting, wine tasting or soduko for example...; Evening entertainment had a mediocre skill level vs the bigger ships. There were no kid activities offered. The staff remember you and you quickly remember the other passengers which improves service levels.

Club class mini suite, room 8035 was quite spacious, and offered a queen bed and queen (I think) sofa bed. I wish there was an upper bunk... The deck was good size too, easily fitting a couple loungers or a table and a couple chairs twice... It was convenient only being 1 floor below the buffet and a few floors above the dining room, so we never used room service. I liked that they were willing to exchange our cc wine bottles for a few cans of Coke as we are not into wine.

Dining was fairly standard Princess food--a notch above NCL, RCC in my opinion. A couple of the days the menus did not offer much to get excited about, but all other days did. For cc instead of getting in the normal queue, you move to the left, skirting by the bar outside the dining room, and then simply walk straight in the cc dining section, no waiting in line. Each night had 2 menu items not on the menu, one prepared table side and one from the chef. Kind of a nice touch. Wish they offered those awesome chocolate desserts more than a couple nights. Also wish they added cherries jubilee back on the menu. We did thoroughly enjoy the cold fruit soups and frequent souffles. I know its occasionally debated, but I am a huge fan of cc and never plan to cruise Princess without it. 

We missed Wales on the itinerary due to weather, but I did not mind missing a port given how intense the daily porting schedule was. We did a full day excursion everywhere else other than in Edinburgh. We did the military tattoo in Edinburgh and wished they offered a day tour connected to that excursion given the price was 5X the tattoo ticket value or more. Regarding the tattoo, it was pretty cool if you like bagpipes and drummers and there isn't a bad seat in the house.I think the seats near the front add value only to get you out in a timely fashion, when you are in the nose bleed section you have to wait for everyone in front of you to exit first which takes forever. Also be prepared for long line for the restrooms, but note there are bathrooms at all side entrances, not just at the main entrance where the line is the longest.

The shopping on board sucked, literally nothing local to buy. Never experienced this before. In fact they had more Australia/New Zealand goods than anything. Most of our excursions consumed the entire time at port, so we had little time to shop for souvenirs, which made me wish for on board shopping (for the first time ever).

The phone app was great and we liked being able to text each other for free, but wished the app notified you when you got a new message so you didn't have to check it all the time. We didn't need to pay for wifi given we were at or near land almost everyday, simply used the Verizon TravelPass and got cell reception on board off and on most days.

I plan to look for other small ships when planning port intensive cruises. They would not be good for many sea days unless you simply like to nap and are not taking kids like we tend to do.

Overall, this was a great cruise, seeing many areas of the world not typically traveled. Plenty of other pics of food or places if interested, simply advise. Also, advise of questions wile still mentally fresh 🙂

Edited September 7, 2019 by travelrevealed

[travelrevealed]

Just a few of my favorites

[travelrevealed]

View of Dover from the ship the morning of disembarkation

[alaskagirl2010]

Thank you for posting the cabin photos. They are exactly what I was looking for. I was on the fence about the type of Pacific cabin to book and your post helped me decide.

[Lovetotraveltami]

We were on this cruise and 1st Time with Princess.  I loved the ship and crew.  Can’t wait for our next adventure.

[travelrevealed]

I agree. Wish there were more small ships. Crew were great. I think with much fewer passengers they get to know you and preferred service much quicker and more thoroughly.