We recently returned from our cruise on Golden Princess (Classic Southern Caribbean-Roundtrip San Juan from 2/6/05 - 2/12/05) and we were extremely disappointed with the substandard service and overall experience. This was our 4th cruise on Princess and the level of service provided was unsatisfactory and fell far below the service that we received on Dawn Princess in 2/04. In fact, the service standards and cruising experience provided by Princess on our first 2 cruises (1993 & 1999) was much superior to the services being offered today. I suppose some of this is due to the changing times in the cruising industry. Listed below are some examples of the unsatisfactory service we received on the Golden Princess.

Room Service · Room service failed to deliver my breakfast 2 mornings in a row. On the first occasion, I called room service to inquire about my order. They apologized and delivered my breakfast 25 minutes late. I signed the original order ticket that I had hung on my door the night before indicating that the order was 25 minutes late. The next morning, I waited 45 minutes and, once again, my breakfast failed to arrive. This time I contacted the Pursers Desk to advise them of the situation. They had room service contact me and I received my breakfast 1 hour late. Once again, they presented my original order ticket and I noted that breakfast was delivered 1 hour late. That afternoon, we received a call from the Maitre d' apologizing for the poor service. He asked us to contact him when we arrived in the dining room that evening so that he could apologize in person. When I spoke with him at dinner, he suggested that I might not have properly perforated the order form and hung it on my door correctly. I was insulted by his implication that I didn't know how to hang a room service order on my door. If I hadn't properly hung the order on my door, then room service wouldn't have been able to present my original order ticket for me to sign on each occasion. I felt as though the Maitre d' didn't want to accept responsibility and wanted to push the problem back on the customer.

Wheelhouse Bar ·We entered the Wheelhouse Bar on the first evening of our cruise and sat in the smoking area. When a waiter didn't appear after many minutes, I went up to the bar and asked if they had waiter service and was told that someone would be right over. I pointed out where my boyfriend was sitting and told her that I was going to the restroom and that he would place our order. Upon my return, he still hadn't been approached by a waiter. Once again, I went up to the bar and asked for someone to take our drink order. A waitress finally came over a minute or two later and took our order. I was shocked to see that my Diet Coke was served in a plastic tumbler. Serving beverages in plastic is fine in the pool area, but I don't appreciate receiving my drinks in plastic tumblers in the lounges and other areas of the ship. On top of that, the soda was flat. Read more