Princess review Dec 3-10 from a mostly NCL cruiser, with kids...

[Missybud]

Also read your review of the AmeriSuites over on the East Coast departure board. Enjoy your "new" home this holiday season!

[cbreit]

We were also on this cruise and agree about the amount of "older" people. They outnumbered us 40-somethings like 5 to 1! This was our third Princess cruise and definitely our least favorite. All of the Horizon Courts are totally unorganized. As I am a very fussy eater, one day I practically had nothing to eat, unless I wanted to go and get a burger, which was very good by the way. How about when those elevators were totally packed and when you had to stop at a floor, people tried to get in anyway.. before even letting people off.

 

We've only been on one other line, Carnival. I like the Princess ships better but it is defintely more fun on Carnival, but that's just my opinion...

[Clutterlady]

Aren't the 2 restaurants you mentioned pay restaurants?

 

Only reason I ask is that I have read many NCL reviews that mention the free food is average to below average and the pay restaurants offer the kind of food you used to get for free.

 

Just wondering what your take is on this.

 

Bill

 

Bill, yes they are extra charge restaurants. You need to make reservations for all restaurants as soon as you board. There are also some free restaurants that also need reservations. So the "freestyle" dining they advertise isn't always "freestyle" due to the reservations. ;)

[flvol77]

Aren't the 2 restaurants you mentioned pay restaurants?

 

Only reason I ask is that I have read many NCL reviews that mention the free food is average to below average and the pay restaurants offer the kind of food you used to get for free.

 

Just wondering what your take is on this.

 

Bill

 

That was our experience - some of the pay restaurants were good/main dining room was ok at best - we were disappointed with Le Bristro - Teppanyaki and Chin Chin were some of the best meals I haver ever had on a cruise ship.

[the4ofusandallourfriends]

I'm astounded to hear that you had 4 people in an inside cabin !

 

We are always 4 in a cabin. That's the only way we can afford to cruise.

 

On this cruise my sister had her husband and 3 teens in one cabin.

 

My last cruise to Alaska we were 5 girls in one room. Cosy...we had lots of fun.

[sultan_sfo]

There IS a METHOD in the apparent madness in the Horizon Court. Princess has used a very efficient way to organize a buffet. Next time, please observe others and learn how to use the Horizon Court. /Sultan

 

 

...

All of the Horizon Courts are totally unorganized....

[T&J]

A little bit about me, I am 34. This is my 8th cruise and the 6th we’ve taken the kids on. Mom and dad treated all of us kids and grandkids on this cruise. Thanks again mom, if you read this!!!

 

I have cruised on NCL 3 times, and once each on Celebrity, Holland America, and a couple no-name/defunct lines. We are not loyal to any particular cruise line. Newer ships and price is what dictates our cruise choice.

 

As usual, I travelled in an inside room with my husband and two kids 12 and 8. On this cruise we travelled with a “family and friends” group of 26, ages 3 to grandparents.

 

My whole cruising life, I always heard how great Princess cruise line was. In fact I’d always wanted to go but it was never affordable for us as a family in a quad, so I became very excited when we found a really good deal on this cruise (and of course more excited when mom treated). We booked early in March and most of my group had inside rooms beside each other on Caribe deck…with 2 sets of grandparents in balcony cabins with the big balconies, in front of us.

 

Because of the Princess hype my expectations were quite high to begin with.

 

Our pre-cruise Princess customer service was horrible. Once we were booked they pretty much didn’t care about anything. Some of the issues were so silly and avoidable. But this is typical of the industry and I kept an open mind about the cruise since the two usually are not reflective of each other.

 

The main point of this cruise for us was to be with the family and relax (as opposed to adventure). My husband and I had just 90% finished a huge renovation on our house… and we were beat and just wanted to enjoy a dust free environment.

 

We were familiar with both St. Thomas and St.Martin and had no excursions pre-planned.

 

Check in was quite easy. We got to the port at 11:30 and I think we checked in by 12:30….and were on the boat very quickly.

One thing to note, if you don’t, can’t, or unexpectedly have problems using a credit card (our card had a huge hold on it from our hotel the previous week) for setting up your shipboard account, Princess requires tons of money down for your account…$300 for each person, including children, and this must be on top of any expenses you incur each day. This sucked for us since besides gratuities we spent $40 in all. By day 3 they wanted $1500 cash. Thankfully my sister bailed me out with her credit card as security.

NCL has a much fairer system…you set your cash limit which is noted on your account. If you want to go over you just go add more money to your account.

 

Sonia, our room stewardess was really good. She greeted us with lots of information, so much so we were trying to politely get away, and she was just great the whole trip. No complaints there at all. My sister and hubby had 3 teens in their quad. One set of grandparents had a granddaughter in their double balcony cabin. Both extra teens were “officially” booked in with a quad with a couple in our group but Sonia set up an extra cot in both rooms no problem.

 

The rooms were nice…but not as big as our Norwegian Sun rooms. The closet arrangement is really nice though. The bunk situation was no good if we wanted to watch tv.

 

We headed up to the buffet for lunch and this is where things got fun. Chaos and confusion is the theme here. Picture a pinball machine and you’ve got Horizon’s court. I, being 34, having a sense of humor and being able bodied found it amusing but I cannot imagine being elderly or disabled. I don’t know…I can’t even describe the chaos, but none of the set up made sense.

 

This is also where I noticed that this Princess ship carried the rudest group of passengers I’ve ever encountered on a ship. One lady was so confused she threw her trate (tray/plate) back to the seemingly understaffed workers and stormed off. Picture people in walkers trying to balance their trates and cutlery, realizing they had filled their plates up with desserts before the main course foods because everything was in strange order. Anyways, I managed to fill my plate up with lots of good food. I’m not too picky. It turns out that was a good thing because with the exception of a couple of dishes they served the same exact food EVERY DAY. Sometimes, as a surprise, they served something different in the back buffet. Dessert selection was surprisingly boring and small compared to the other ships we’ve been on. The pizza at the pizzeria was really good.

 

At 4:30 they had the life boat drill. This is a joke….I don’t know how they expect 800 people in a muster station to calmly gather and exit the ship in a real disaster…

 

We spent a lot of our time at the pool. My kids refused to go to the KidsZone….so I can’t comment on that. I don’t know why they never want to go to these kids clubs…but when I suggest it they look at me like I’m about to send them to some sort of death camp…..they like to stick to us like glue….and I guess I should appreciate it while it lasts. My son did go one day for an hour because he was dying to be with his friend…but never wanted to go back after that. His friend loved it.

 

The pools are very nice. The kids loved that it was freshwater. Chairhoggers abounded. Basically we had to find one chair for the 4 of us and I would watchfully upgrade positions and amounts of chairs throughout the day. One morning the 4 of us shared one chair taking turns swimming and such as two people occupied 4 chairs…two in the sun and two in the shade….ridiculous. Anyways, I really enjoyed just spending time laying out in the sun or the shade.

There are tons of chairs available around the ship though if you don’t require to be near a pool. I don’t think chair saving was as bad as other ships we’d been on. I think this is due to not having piles of towels easily accessible. You have to bring the ones in your room or ask for some from the attendant.

On the first sea day the pool was really wavy. I’m surprised it wasn’t closed. Needless to say everyone in the pool had a blast. I was impressed with Youth Patrol who watched closely to make sure the youngest ones were being supervised. We did watch one elderly woman arguing with the deck attendant that the pool was way to wavy..she kept yelling at him that it was ridiculous. She wanted him to turn it off.

 

The age group on this ship really surprised me. The crowd was much older and had eh….how can I put this delicately, much more mobility issues than the Holland America cruise and the Alaska cruise I’ve been on combined…..and I didn’t think that was possible. More power to them. I think it’s great! However, walking in the hallways was so sloooow. At one point this one rude man yelled MOVE!!!...like he wanted us to trample the people in front of us. I guess he’d had enough. I just had to keep thinking…okay…I’m on vacation…there’s no rush.

On the other hand I was also surprised at the amount of kids on board. We always travel off season with our kids and usually there’s not too many kids on board but there were lots on this cruise.

 

Elevators were horrible and took forever and there were so many flights of stairs ...I'm tired thinking about this. A lot of times we had to let an elevator go by because it was so full already.

 

Dinner Foods on the ship were of good quality but the the variety compared to our other cruises sucked…way too much fish entrees and weird things. I like some fish…but give me a break. And the appetizers were not to appetizing either. Salads were boring…and the dressings apparently were horrible. The ceasar salad was good though. Cold soups are one of my and my sister’s favourite cruise things. They had the same cold soup twice the first two nights…The difference: one had croutons, one didn’t…it was good though…but all it was, was a virgin Pina colada. Good thing I like those. On the last night, we spent 10 minutes convincing our friend (a cruise virgin) to try a cold soup, …finally she ordered the pumpkin soup… Poor girl, got hers first and ate it all silently. We got ours and literally wanted to spit it out. It ended up being the most horrible baby foodish thing we’d ever had on any cruise.

The fettucine alfredo that is available any night was the best I’d ever had. Lobster was really good. The desserts were so so…The Crème Brulee was good and there’s something on the menu described as simple but fantastic (can’t remember the name)and although we made fun it….because really with the exception of butter was is simple yet fantastic?.....it was just that. I have to say I didn’t overeat on this cruise. I can’t believe there’s no chocolate buffet on this cruise. That’s unheard of and I still to this day feel a void in my life.

Most of our group got assigned traditional dining but since not all were able to get on, we gave it up a month before the cruise for anytime dining. We were told that we could make a reservation on those nights we wanted to. Once, on the cruise, we phoned and we were told it was all booked up for the week…and we were willing to be very flexible with our time and willingness to divide amongst several tables. We’d never had this problem on NCL.

On most nights we showed up in a group of 10-16 and the Maitre D looked at us like we were a huge inconvenience….I don’t know why we got attitude…as we would be seated at several tables together in a few minutes…but he would roll his eyes at us.

 

Given the ongoing heated debate about dress in the diningrooms I was surprised to see how formal and casual people were dressed. I noticed MANY people wearing jeans. No one looked like a bum…but many people were not dressed up….and a lot of people were dressed up…it was really mixed. Everyone seemed happy...no one seemed to care.

 

Princess just seemed really stingy…for example on NCL you get free hot chocolate all day and free cappuccinos, lattes..etc…with dinner…Princess charged for all these.

 

Drink harassment on this ship was really bad.

 

Entertainment….the cruise director/entertainment staffed….ugh….the most boring of any of my cruises…just looked like boring aerobics instructors….BUT….I must say that this ship gave out great prizes for the winners of the different things they did do.

 

Muts was a great idea and I think I would have really enjoyed this more if I had been more organized and kept a strict schedule.

 

Shows….I don’t know…I’m just bored with cruise shows now…and frankly the rocking of the ship puts me in a constant total womb cocoon state of sleepful bliss all the time and I don’t know how anyone past 40 yrs old stays up late on a ship.

I made it to 3 out 7 shows. 1. The Piano Man show…I fell asleep. What I did manage to stay awake for, the performances were better than NCL performance…which, believe me, is not a hard thing to do. 2. Kamika….at first I turned into a 15 year old girl and the word …icky….went through my head, but then they grew on me. I did fall asleep briefly and woke as they lit up the audience partway through the show. 3. The good bye show….the first comedian was quite funny…Adam Ace…just recycled cruise jokes…and Kamika…grew on me a little more…they are cute.

I went to the cooking show telling all my family that cruise critic said it was funny…It was boring…maybe it’s just me…I was excited to finally make it to a galley tour but really it was just a book tour.

 

Princess Cays was an okay beach. What’s not to enjoy about a day at the beach, but if we’re comparing, it’s nothing like Holland America’s Half Moon Cay….It was ridiculously crowded.

 

St. Thomas. We hired an open air cab for 14 of us for the day. I walked outside the compound where “Daisie” charged me $20 per person for the day as opposed to $35/30 inside the compound. We went to Coki beach this time, where the beach is a dump but the water was filled with fish that would literally swarm you. Beautiful! We then spent a couple hours at the end shopping downtown. The downtown area is just so dirty and dumpy now. The harassment of the taxi cabs was ridiculous. They were just plain rude. I just wanted to leave.

 

St. Martin on the other hand looks great and has made huge improvements in the past 6 years. We hired a bus at the port, for our group of 20 …At first the regulated mafia taxi association wanted $25 bucks but somehow after looking around some more, we got a nice private tour bus for $20 bucks each for the day…wherever we wanted to go. Our driver was “Leon the Lover”…he was a great tour guide. We went to Marigot, shopped a bit and had croissants, and spent the afternoon at Orient Beach.

 

Overall, the cruise was really nice. What's not to like on a cruise.

If we are going to compare though, I and most in our group would definitely rate NCL as being better than Princess. This really surprised me. Celebrity I think had the best product of all.

 

In MHO ...me thinks you should stay with NCL, as your account of Princess is EXACTLY what I encountered on NCL the first and last time I cruised with them on the Dream in 2002 (AKA the Nigtmare).....better luck next time is all I can say.

 

Tony

:cool: :eek: :cool:

[Murphey]

5 in a cabin with a cot :eek: !!!!!!!!!!!!! We love Princess, but they are not known for their generous room sizes. Would have love to have seen where that cot went!!!

[Lynda90]

5 in a cabin with a cot !!!!!!!!!!!!! We love Princess, but they are not known for their generous room sizes. Would have love to have seen where that cot went!!!

Probably in the huge shower area that Princess provides. :D :D :D Then the soap opera was written titled "I was attacked by a Princess shower curtain." :eek: Sorry, the devil made me do it. :p

[Clutterlady]

There IS a METHOD in the apparent madness in the Horizon Court. Princess has used a very efficient way to organize a buffet. Next time, please observe others and learn how to use the Horizon Court. /Sultan

 

Can't believe people can't see that they are stations in the Horizon Court. You go from "station to station". You can pass one up if your not interested in that station. Now, it would be nice if there was a little bit more room to manuver..........but simple. I believe the new NCL Pearl and all the new NCL ships coming out will have stations also!:p

[woodofpine]

How markedly distinguishable this review was from that Western Caribe aweful, Aweful, AWEFUL... review...

 

It even gives me reason to think I'll try NCL some time!

 

My first 'modern day' cruise was on Princess - pre-Carnival - in '01; so I'll always have a soft spot for Mulder's Princess cruise.

 

But, the more I cruise, and the more fleets industry-wide become 80-120+KGT behemoths with 2,000-4,000 pax, the more the experience becomes standardized; it's dicated by necessity. These big ships are awesome but there's something personal in the mix that's lost (particularly when the lines keep the fares so low that cheap and rude starts to rule). My inclination for the next cruise is to hit smaller ships (Pacific P. others) even at the expese of fresh water pools.

 

I can appreciate many of OP's gripes (not all) and with credit where credit's due compliments interspersed her criticisms gained cred with me.

 

Thanks for the lengthy post.

[Colo Cruiser]

Great review. Thanks :)

 

I like the "could you turn off the pool" remark that was classic. :D

 

Also croutons in the cold soup!! Yuk. :eek:

[marinearchit]

I was on the Caribbean Princess over Thanksgiving. Though, I didn't encounter many of the same problems you had. I never used the elevators, they WERE to crowded. I prefer the stairs. I'm 14 though, I thought it was fun. I always would guess which deck I was on by the artwork on the staircases. I did think there was to much seafood on the menu (I'm a very picky eater.) But I tried alot of new things....that were good. Off Limits teen center was AWESOME! Had lots of fun. And the ship was at full capacity. (crew told us around 3500 passengers give or take.) Though I never encountered the confusion you had to endore. Horizon Court was never mass confusion...just hard to find a seat. There were always free deck chairs too. Our waiters George and Jun. And our head waiter David were all very nice. They were very friendly and helpful. So was our room steward. It was cool how when you exited your stateroom, a crew member in the hallway would always say..."Have a nice day on shore" or "Have a nice dinner."

 

Anyway, yes I liked it. I would like to try NCL though. Also, what ship were you on?

[S.S.Oceanlover]

5 in a cabin with a cot :eek: !!!!!!!!!!!!! We love Princess, but they are not known for their generous room sizes. Would have love to have seen where that cot went!!!

 

When I cruise in the summer Princess makes it a no brainer to get 2 cabins.

For instance the cheapest inside on the Caribbean Princess July 8 2007 is $909 for pax 1 and 2. Prices for the 3rd and 4th in the same cabin are $837pp.

 

For another $144 you get another cabin with another bathroom.

 

Bill

[sultan_sfo]

You made my day! If there is a High School in your area that is art oriented, I hope you are able to attend that. San Francisco has an academic public high school called School of the Arts (SOTA) and my son went there. He was in the vocal section. I so much enjoyed the art from the students who were in the fine arts. I hope you went to the art auction on the ship (though not to buy)!

/Sultan

 

...

I prefer the stairs. I'm 14 though, I thought it was fun. I always would guess which deck I was on by the artwork on the staircases.

...

[the4ofusandallourfriends]

5 in a cabin with a cot :eek: !!!!!!!!!!!!! We love Princess, but they are not known for their generous room sizes. Would have love to have seen where that cot went!!!

 

Maybe my sister will chime in at some point and expound...I imagine it was wall to wall bed. But kudos to her for supervising her kids and not sticking 3 teens in their own cabin by themselves! She knew where her kids were at 2AM.

[the4ofusandallourfriends]

When I cruise in the summer Princess makes it a no brainer to get 2 cabins.

For instance the cheapest inside on the Caribbean Princess July 8 2007 is $909 for pax 1 and 2. Prices for the 3rd and 4th in the same cabin are $837pp.

 

For another $144 you get another cabin with another bathroom.

 

Bill

 

On this sailing all our 3rd and 4th were $50. Which probably explains why there were so many kids....

[S.S.Oceanlover]

On this sailing all our 3rd and 4th were $50. Which probably explains why there were so many kids....

 

Too bad you can't get those rates in the summer. I'd feel like I hit the lottery!!:p

 

Bill

[the4ofusandallourfriends]

Also read your review of the AmeriSuites over on the East Coast departure board. Enjoy your "new" home this holiday season!

 

Thankyou, my house is finally livable. While on our cruise all our faucets and lights got hooked up. Oh, I must mention that Princess does use the top brand in faucets. Grohe. They certainly didn't skimp there.

Regarding the Amerisuites. Yes, my abs got a good workout...lol. Hey, this gives me an idea for a new exercise machine.

[mortysmama]

the4ofus....I was amused by your review since my last 2 crusies which were 11 days on NCL Dawn and the Jewel. I'm surprised that you were confused in the buffet since the Jewel also has "stations". I've mentioned this a few times in previous posts that I felt the Chef was obsessed with Thai and Mexican food especially on the lunch buffet and there were many nites we couldn't find anything good on the dinner menu including the "always available" selections which were ghastly! The only good meals we had were in the pay restaurants. The chocolate buffet was done in the afternoon if I'm not mistaken. They actually closed the dining rooms for lunch due to that buffet, and it was not very good anyway.

I'm not sure many of the ships do "midnite buffets" anymore except for the occasional special nite like Caribbean nite. Celebrity had 2-3 of them when they were docked in Bermuda, but that was a few years ago. I think that all changed when the 24 hour eating options came about.

Coming up will be our 14th cruise, 4th with Princess. We'll be on the CB with family in March. We are thrilled about the extra seafood on the menu. It certainly is an added plus for us. We've been on a wide variety of cruise lines and always come back to Princess. We find the staff the friendliest and most polite that we've ever encountered and most efficient for the most part. I've never been disappointed. That's why we keep coming back. Oh, btw..they may not have a bbq at poolside like NCL, which at times was annoying due to the smoke from the grills, but Princess has the best hamburgers/fries and pizza poolside than any other line. We are so looking forward to that.

I enjoyed your review. I really did find it interesting. I'm glad that basically you and your family enjoyed some of your cruise. Maybe Princess is just not for you.

Happy cruising!

[the4ofusandallourfriends]

There IS a METHOD in the apparent madness in the Horizon Court. Princess has used a very efficient way to organize a buffet. Next time, please observe others and learn how to use the Horizon Court. /Sultan

 

Unfortunetly there is no one to observe. It's like the blind leading the blind.

 

The biggest complaint I heard from the older ones..rude and polite...is that there was nowhere to set your trate...Also, and this doesn't affect me at all, but some complained that there was no staff helping older ones bring their trates to the table.

It was definately not what they were used to.

 

In theory the "station" idea sounds good and makes loads of sense to avoid slowpokes, but when you cater to an older/mobility challenged crowd, which Princess rightly does, the glide the tray along a solid cafeteria style counter works better...for them....which is the majority.

[the4ofusandallourfriends]

the4ofus....I was amused by your review since my last 2 crusies which were 11 days on NCL Dawn and the Jewel. I'm surprised that you were confused in the buffet since the Jewel also has "stations". I've mentioned this a few times in previous posts that I felt the Chef was obsessed with Thai and Mexican food especially on the lunch buffet and there were many nites we couldn't find anything good on the dinner menu including the "always available" selections which were ghastly! The only good meals we had were in the pay restaurants. The chocolate buffet was done in the afternoon if I'm not mistaken. They actually closed the dining rooms for lunch due to that buffet, and it was not very good anyway.

I'm not sure many of the ships do "midnite buffets" anymore except for the occasional special nite like Caribbean nite. Celebrity had 2-3 of them when they were docked in Bermuda, but that was a few years ago. I think that all changed when the 24 hour eating options came about.

Coming up will be our 14th cruise, 4th with Princess. We'll be on the CB with family in March. We are thrilled about the extra seafood on the menu. It certainly is an added plus for us. We've been on a wide variety of cruise lines and always come back to Princess. We find the staff the friendliest and most polite that we've ever encountered and most efficient for the most part. I've never been disappointed. That's why we keep coming back. Oh, btw..they may not have a bbq at poolside like NCL, which at times was annoying due to the smoke from the grills, but Princess has the best hamburgers/fries and pizza poolside than any other line. We are so looking forward to that.

I enjoyed your review. I really did find it interesting. I'm glad that basically you and your family enjoyed some of your cruise. Maybe Princess is just not for you.

Happy cruising!

 

Just a tip. You said you are travelling with a family group....I'm not sure how big your group is but if you are banking on doing a standing reservation in the anytime diningrooms make sure you do it as soon as you can. We waited till the second day and they claimed they were all booked up for the whole cruise.

 

We had lots of fun on this ship. Cruising a great family trip that satisfies all ages.

[mariakitty]

Thanks for the review :)

 

We have sailed both NCL (Spirit to Alaska) and Princess (Caribbean and Sea) and I have an almost completely opposite viewpoint on the items you mentioned in your review. For example, we have never experienced "drink harrassment" (I love this phrase, BTW) on Princess, but on NCL and especially Carnival we found ourselves ducking away from the bar waitstaff at poolside for fear of dirty looks if we didn't feel like drinking at 11am.

 

As for the buffet, I generally don't like them and I don't think Princess or NCL is better than the other. I think the food is a bit better in the Princess buffet and I like the fact that it is open 24-hours. On NCL we kept coming up with new nicknames for the Raffles buffet, such as scruffles, barffles and the list goes on. Princess totally wins on the pizza front, though even they don't make a pizza as good as mine. ;)

 

We enjoyed our Alaskan cruise on NCL, but now that we have gone on Princess we probably won't go back to NCL without some major incentives. We have have only cruised as a couple and we leave the kids at home, so this could change our experience dramatically. Perhaps one day you can try a mini-suite on Princess - the prices are affordable and you even get a full bathtub!

 

Maria

[Giorgi-one]

Quote from OP

 

"What I did manage to stay awake for, the performances were better than NCL performance…which, believe me, is not a hard thing to do. "

 

I find this very surprising. We have been on 5 NCL cruises (none in last 5 years) and NCL Production shows made those on most other cruise lines look like High School plays. They must have really gone downhill in the last few years. We are booked on NCL Gem for January 2008 so I guess I will get a chance to see for myself.

[sultan_sfo]

First of all, you should feel flattered because your review brought interesting reactions -- whether one agreed or disagreed with you -- you wrote what you experienced.

 

Princess does offer both breakfast and lunch in the dining room during peak times. And during off-peak meal-times, as a saying in another language goes, there are only a few crows flying around the Horizon Court! And I know that when I go from just being elderly to also being mobility challenged, I would sail confidently with Princess having observed that Princess treats them with so much respect and consideration. BTW, I belong to the anti-cheerleader Princess group -- so far just one member!

 

...

In theory the "station" idea sounds good and makes loads of sense to avoid slowpokes, but when you cater to an older/mobility challenged crowd, which Princess rightly does, the glide the tray along a solid cafeteria style counter works better...for them....which is the majority.