We embarked in Sydney with 5 family members travelling together....at this point we were excited and looking forward to our holiday This was our first cruise with Princess as other family had sailed numerous times with them and spoke very highly of them..As the days progressed we quickly realised that there was very limited entertainment on board ( especially for our age group) and it was quite difficult to get a seat anywhere. The itinerary tended to have the same thing repeated to make it look as if there was a good variety on offer, but there wasn't. We ended up most days when the weather wasn't great in the Wheelhouse Bar and played cards or read ( something I can do at home for free) and in the background heard informative lectures about: Arthritis and Back Pain and followed by How to remove your wrinkles", rivetting stuff for 33 days...

One of our family members was gluten intolerant and there was very little on offer in Horizon Court Buffet, all I can say is most of the time they offered really weird food.. At 3pm each day for afternoon tea ( which I will say had delicious cakes) they had lovely breads and cold meat and salad on offer, but never at lunch time. For a ship that is based in Australian waters their catering leaves a lot to be desired as to selection. It took us 3 weeks to realise the offerings at Afternoon Tea so by then we skipped lunch and ate at 3pm instead. As we didn't want a hot meal at lunch and just a roll or sandwhich.

We don't understand why the ship didn't stop at Brisbane or on the west coast Broome and ALbany, There were too many sea days and not enough ports. First Port was Port Douglas (beautiful but very disorganised as to Tenders and tides we waited 3hours to return to the ship as did many others, as they didnt account for the low tides that the tenders couldn't navigate . No apologies just cold drinks and towels offered ( which were appreciated) we loved most of the Ports but unfortunately one of my sons was getting sicker and disembarked and flew home from Perth. The staff were very unhelpful when he enquired about leaving early also. another staff blunder he was wandering around in the staff area of the ship and the engine room looking for the way to get off as they told him the incorrect deck to disembark from and when he got there they had told customs to leave as they thought he was already off the ship. (at no time did anyone query or ask him what he was doing below deck wandering around with a suitcase). On a positive note our cabin steward was awesome and the staff in the Horizon Court Buffet were exemplary and we told them so. There just wasn't enough to do on board and even though we missed a tender port due to bad weather ( which cannot be helped) no alternative is offered. We found the food strange at times, some of the staff totally disinterested and when you went to enquire about something at Passengers services a problem in communication because of the language barrier ( in saying this I am sure they felt frustrated too and had difficulty understanding us at times) this only increased my frustrations with everything when you are trying to convey a problem. I know it may sound as if I complained frequently to staff, I didn't only on 3 occasions re: ( , the lack of things available for my sons to do om board and how many young people were on ( 20 only they told me) my son wanting to disembark early and what he needed to do , due to illness and our time of disembarkation which was wrong. the lack of entertainment the price of shore excursions was lousy. I wasted 5 weeks of my annual leave on this cruise and it left a bad taste in my mouth ( even a staple in my egg at breakfast literally in my mouth). My other son and I spent the last 2 and a half weeks mostly in our cabin ( when we did't have a Port) watching movies and ordering room service. ( very strange choices as well)thankfully New Zealand was amazing and I got to share with some of my family. Princess Cruises response to my emails were poor and rather insulting.. there are so many other things I could add but I already sound as if all I did was complain, and to be honest the last 2 weeks I just wanted off couldn't wait to disembark at Sydney WORST CRUISE ever.... never again..