My wife and I just returned from a 15 day Hawaii cruise San Francisco to San Francisco. We made stops in Honolulu, Maui, Kauai, and the Big Island. Our last stop was Ensenada, which was a waste of time, but was required by the Jones Act.

We are long time cruisers with Princess going back to the early days of the Love Boat. Time does bring changes, of that I am aware, but this cruise was one of the worst if not the worst of all the cruises we have experienced, and let me explain. It was not one thing but a combination of many changes that left one feeling that they were on a floating hotel instead of a cruise. All the niceties that validate you as a passenger and make things special are and have been taken away.

To name a few:  In the cabin bathroom, no longer the 'clam shell' dish with all sorts of nice soaps and shampoo, now just bolted to the wall of the shower a refillable bottle of soap and shampoo. The pillows have seen better days. We had to change the pillows three times, and finally gave up - no nice cushion for your head, just a hard rock. The entertainment, namely the lectures are only in the morning, the afternoon lectures have been replaced with movies. In fact, it seems when in doubt as to entertainment, just show a movie. The Theater productions have always been of High School quality, but now, it has reached a new low. If you can't provide quality, then ramp up the volume and that should do the trick. The name entertainers were the same old, same old. In this case, mostly singers and a few comics that had routines that fell flat. It says something when no one is laughing.The show times have been cut to 30 minutes, way too short, should be at least 45 to 50 minutes in length, now that I said that, being that the entertainment is poor 30 minutes could be too long. The food, now that is a whole different animal. The buffet has been cut back, and we found that the selections were not as bountiful as before. Read more