First of all I would like to start off by saying that we have cruised with Princess many times and hold platinum status. We have cruised other lines but have always found Princess to be above the others is service, friendliness of staff. This cruise was a complete disappointment.

The good thing about it was the itinerary, the food and our cabin steward. We don't normally complain about things but this time there was just too much. From the outset we encountered a very rude customer service person at the entrance of the platinum priority boarding lounge. Disembarkation in Los Angeles (Port of San Pedro) was a disaster. We received a letter advising us to be at the Vista lounge between 7:00 to 7:30 a.m. We arrived just before 7:00 a.m. and already found hundreds of people in line, total confusion, only a few staff to manage the crowd. It was obvious that many passengers did not follow direction and arrived earlier than directed BUT there was no staff person checking letters and disembarkation times to advise those persons to return at their posted times. We had a Princess tour scheduled for 9:15 a.m. Once it became closer to 9:00 we approached an officer who directed us to a new line that was being assembled. Only through asking were we aware of this line specific to tours. There were many passengers who were in the same line as us who didn't know the existence of this new line, as the staff did not make any announcements accordingly. Its the first time I have ever witnessed passengers getting into verbal disputes with each other. Finally after three hours we disembarked the ship, our tour was held.

As we were traveling with our granddaughter we selected early sitting for dining (5:30 pm). With the first production show starting in the Princess theater at 7:45 pm we thought we would have ample time to finish dinner and queue for seating. Prior cruise experience a half hour in advance is sufficient to secure seating. The first night dinner wasn't finished until 7:45 pm (missed the show) and the second night 7:30 pm after skipping dessert and missed another show. Future evenings service improved but we found that you had to show up at the theater 45 minutes in advance to secure a seat for four. Read more