pros, good weather, good company,clean cabin,frontline staff were friendly and helpful,breakfast & lunch in the dining room,night time party theames,pizzeria casual dining.morning lectures.
cons, poor hygiene in horizon court, needed more hand washing stations, to the left of entrance,(port side) as passengers who went straight to a dining table did not wash their hands,average 40 % approx, so much for hygiene?.
money is god, re high cost of shore excursions,photos,ice creams, ect no happy hour re bar drinks.
i ordered a pint of beer from the riviera pool bar, ( as i like beer on tap) the barman picked up a large plastic container which was hot and (not rinsed or chilled) he did not clear the beer lines ,but poured directly in to the hot plastic container, as expected the beer frothed up leaving a minimum 3 inches of foam, his solution was to pour the foam into another hot plastic container, pick up a metal seive then pour the residue of beer foam back into the original beer through the metal seive. then present it to me, as expected the beer was flat and not drinkable.i can only assume that the policy of princess cruises is to make every mll of beer count, stuff the passenger.their is nothing like value for money?.
the evening meals in the dining room were average at best, i expected better, everything is over cooked, my first meal on the cruise , the roast meat was like leather and the cobb of corn was turned into mush , plus the staple vegetable was zucchini, we paid big bucks but the meals were no better than the local r s l.no wonder passengers went else where for their evening meals. as we did.
my wife & i went down with the dreaded viril infection,( so much for cruise ship hygiene) i would not wish it on anybody, i was stuffed for three to four days, i actually left the ship at the end of the cruise 3 to 4 kls lighter than when i started the cruise.
the ship was over crowed.! Queus for the lunch time buffet.no where to sit. Queus for activities, and we were packed in like sardines for nightime shows in the princess theatre. If you like to cruise with passengers with an average age over seventy five and except mediocrity, this cruise is for you, over all i found the cruise expensive & disappointing.(senior staff cold surly & indifferent to my concerns).
