My husband and I were extremely disappointed with the service, food, amenities and entertainment on the October 23rd sailing of the Island Princess to Hawaii. This was my 20th cruise, but my first with Princess and I have to say it will be out last. We love Celebrity and I guess we've become spoiled by their incredible service, amazing food and unparalleled entertainment.
We tried our best not to compare the two lines and just enjoy the Island Princess and destination, but it was the staff's attitude that really got us down. Since we chose anytime dining, we did not have an assigned dining time or table in the main dining room. This sounded perfect for us initially, however since we had a different waiter each time and they knew there was no guaranteed tip at the end of the cruise, their service was barely adequate. Sacrificing the charm of an enthusiastic and charismatic team of bus boy/waiter for the flexibility of dining whenever we wished wasn't worth it in our opinion. We were really made to feel like an unwelcomed burden. I do have to give kudo's to the only staff worth mentioning; the terrific spa staff, buffet manager, casino staff and staff of both speciality restaurants - Sabatini's and the Bayou.
Our cabin steward was another sore spot for us. Princess only provided flat feather pillows to sleep on which were really uncomfortable if you're used to some support under your head. I had grown accustomed to using the extra pillow in the closet what was a bit more firm. 6 day's in, the pillow disappeared and I must have paged our steward, Albert, a half dozen times with absolutely no response. Finally about 10 day's in, I found him in our hallway and asked him about it. I couldn't believe my ears when he told me there were no more pillows! In addition to this, we had to ask several time for the waffle weave bathrobes that were supposed to come with our mini-suite and when he finally left them for us, one of them had dried blood on the left collar, cuff, belt and bottom hem. When we called to complain, this time calling passenger services as we were fed up paging Albert, they told us that all robes were brand new and none were re-used. Not true! Makes you wonder if they really wash the sheets!