May 9, 2015 we travelled on repositioning cruises from Vancouver to San Francisco (3 day) on the Golden Princess with return on the Star Princess (2 day). Both of these ships are laid out the same and have very little impressive interior or exterior design. The atrium is only 3 stories and very small compared to other cruise lines we have enjoyed. We used assigned dining and found the menus to be lacking in creativity and selection. Service was good on the Golden but somewhat lacking on the Star. We put this down to it only being a 2 day cruise. All the same, service in the dining room did not live up to our expectations. Service in the buffet on the Star was exceptional because there was a Norwok scare so passengers were being served. I would like this all the time. Food selection was very li ited and again, not very creative. There were signs of cutbacks everywhere. Cream cheese was whipped with something and not in a block, they served smoked white fish i stead of lox, coffee was terrible in the buffet but good i. the dining room. When we asjed why we were told by our waiter that the coffee was the same but equipment was not serviced well in the buffet. If you are travelling with children under 3 like we were there is nothing formthe. they advertised a toddler area but it had a small pool that children in swimmers cannot use, 2 broken play houses and a couple Mr Potato heads. seriously how hard would it be to i prove this area? No thought put into this area at all! Rooms are standard and we like our balcony but as with other ships that don't have proper shower doors I hate the curtaun. The showers were also the smallest I have experienced. Now for the poorest part of the trip...disembarkation in Vancouver. We were in the first group picking up luggage and were notified to leave the ship close tomthe time schedule so we thought all was going well. When we got down the gangway we caught up to the end of a ling line and stood there for a ling time. There were people also in this line that had their luggage so attempts were made to separate the two groups, those picking up luggage and those going through to customs as thet has all their luggage. This was very poorly executed and we were not told why those people were taken ahead of us, even though we were called off before them. Finally after 15-20 minutes we were told our luggage had not come off the ship but no one went down the line to explain. I don't know if the few people directing passengers work for the port of Vancouver or Princess but they didn't have a clue how to manage a large crowd. Finally after 30 minutes our large line moved i to the luggage holding area whwere there were no signs indicating where our group would be. In other ports there have been raise signs with the colours clearly identified and staff to direct you. Not in Vancouver. It was a mob scene followed by more confusion when it was time to funnel into the line for customs. there were 100 people with no direction, no marked lines all converging into one opening. You can imagine how that went. It would not take much more than signs and rooed lines to organize this area. Really put me off Princess and I have told them.
On the second leg we selected an interior. There were only 2 of us and unfortunately we were given a room with 2 pull down bunks that made it difficult to maneuver around the bed. The showers are smaller than any other cruise ship I've been on and have a nasty curtain. Doesn't make you feel very clean. No toilet paper or towels when we arrived. Floor was also dirty.
We enjoyed taking a city tour on the BBus and visiting Pier 39 and Fisherman's wharf. alcatraz was not as good as we expected because they have clean it up too much and covered over areas, like cell walls, with paint.