Port of Departure was Southampton(very congested due to 3 ships sailing this date. This was our 13th Princess cruise and its been a year since we've cruised with them. Boy, have things changed(not in a good way). The crew seemed so tired and did there job with no or very few smiles. Most employees did the least amount of work possible. The attitude was"take it or leave it" that's the was it is on this ship. Customer service....not on this voyage. In fact many of the crew were near the end of there contract and it sure did show. Embarkation -(for many) was very slow but we were able to skip the lines being Platinum. They hid the line at the end of the room and you couldn't see is for all the lines blocking the desk. I would soon learn that details and planning aboard this ship leave much to be desired. Many of the officers in guest relations were young and not knowledgeable or just didn't care. Our cabin was clean ant the balcony fine but the toilet in the bath was faced at an angle and very awkward and cramped.(tiny bathroom) When I questioned our steward were the water pitcher was he stated this ship didn't have them and we would have to purchase bottle water.

Itinerary- This crossing took the Northern route with Iceland and Greenland and the Shetland Islands being enjoyable. I will not go into port details as other reviews include them as we have other issues to record. We did however miss getting off the ships in Greenland due to such a disorganized tender and line for tender tickets that we would have had to return 30 minutes after getting ashore before the last tender returned.It was over 3 hours before our tender tickets were called. Food Issues-The menu selection was heavy on fish which is fine except several times the fish was way fishy (bad) and it returned by all who ordered it(at our table). Beef dishes were often of poor quality and tough.  Only the deserts,soups and bread were consistently good, everything else was hit and miss. The horizon cafe is a joke, poor selection, and hot items most often cold. No supervision of the hot items was clear. I can think of many times on other cruises seeing management checking food to make sure its being kept warm/hot. No one on this voyage. Is there anything were than cold scrambled eggs and cold toast.Staff in most all food area's seemed to be performing duties with a minimum of effort and no smiles. Staffing really is an issue on the ship. Unhappy workers don't make for good customer service. Cabin service- Our steward did good job, but again no smiles and nothing extra being done. I have heard Princess gives each steward 20 cabins and no assistant to help get the job done.(overworked and tired employees) short staffing to save a $$.

Overall we still enjoyed our cruise, but a less tired crew would deliver a much better product and go a long way to provide real customer service. Read more