|
Although I wouldn't consider St. Maarten "nowhere," that was the only port we got to see on this cruise. We stayed there 2 days and limped back to San Juan. The pluses were many: The food was really fine. Not super gourmet, but very good. No complaints there at all. The cabin was great; liked the balcony (see room review for more details). The steward and all the help were superb. I can't pronounce our cabin steward's name, but he was great; Don, the bar tender in the Churchill bar (smoker's bar), and Mirasol, the waitress there, were both exceptional. I love Princess and would definitely book them again. This was our 3rd cruise. Like all lines, they are not perfect.
Here's the cons: If you use wifi in the internet cafe, you are (more or less), properly charged. You will find wifi VERY SLOW and you pay for extra time you spend just waiting. AOL has the worse problems. They will make adjustments if you complain, but only to 50% once the charge is on the bill, so make them as you go. IF YOU USE WIFI IN YOUR CABIN, you have to read the "red print." I have used it twice before so I didn't notice the "red print." It says something about TYPING IN 'LOGOUT.COM' in the browser to actually stop the charges AFTER YOU CUT OFF THE INTERNET CONNECTION. There is nothing to warn you of this that most sites would use. They should make you agree to this term before you sign on. Also, the internet connects BEFORE YOU CHOSE YOUR TYPE OF PACKAGE. If you take "pay as you go," this happens EACH TIME YOU LOG ON. You are paying before you can actually use it. JUST NOT RIGHT. I knew I wasn't going to use the internet much so I took "pay as you go " for $.75 per minute. I calculated I used it about 35-40 minutes (about $25-30). My bill was $188. I got it cut back 50% but that's still almost 3 times what it should have been. Buyer beware. Princess does things like this with tours, etc. You get no warning when you need to book 2 packages to get one tour, as in Beijing's transfer tours. They put the onus on your EVEN IF THEIR OWN AGENTS at 1800 PRINCESS tell you you only need one tour.
The other con is that they use EVERY OPPORTUNITY to sell you on anything from soda packages, coffee packages, shopping tours/discounts (for which they get a kickback), their high-priced tours, etc...always selling. Sometimes you feel like you are on the beach in Mexico or the Caribbean. I know they must make about 35% of the $$$ onboard, but it wears you out.
I was pleasantly surprised to find you didn't have to pay extra for pizza, fries, hot dogs, hamburgs, ice cream, etc. on the open deck or inside at the deluxe desserts at their gourmet coffee bar.
Also, some of their onboard shopping prices are really good. You should have some idea of the worth, but their sale items are generally very well priced and decent to excellent quality. They have gold, watches, jewelry, sunglasses, bags, shirts, blouses, skirts, dressy clothes (some surprisingly well priced), etc. Their outdoor movies are great. You can even see them during the sunny daytime.
The best thing Princess has going for them is their cruise itineraries. They save some $$$ by not having the best locations in port. Sometimes it's because of the size of the ship, but other times, it's simply to save $$$. Setting that aside, I often pick Princess because they truly do have interesting, diverse itineraries.
|
