I had a group of 19 cabins celebrating Valentine’s Day. Had better expectations for my clients. The lack of customer service, dining room experience both DaVinci and the Crown Grill, photo department also the Purser’s Office was not organized. The service in the dining room was way too slow there was no sync with tables some people in the group had to wait longer to get their food, I requested a birthday for someone and they failed to acknowledged, the assistant waiter did not speak enough English hard to understand had double charges in my account I was just surprised. In the Photo department the quality of the pictures horrible I normally spent money here this Time was upsetting to pay 25.00 dollars per photo when the glare was showing on some of the family wearing glasses. I am not the type of person who will give this type of review but this time I really had to. Read Less

We have not sailed on Princess for 4 years because of a very poor trip on Island Princess. Nevertheless, both of our kids could squeeze in 4 days off their jobs so off we went. It was either Carnival or Princess based on their time frame. First the pros Cabin stewards were great, and the cabins very nice. I think Ruby just went through a refurb, with happily non of the destruction done to the Island Princess. Beds comfy and the ship kept very clean. This time the Crown Grill performed well, and Share was a very pleasant surprise. Great food and service. Vines was a very popular spot , the servers here were great. The food in the buffet was actually better than I remember from the IP (although that's a low bar), The cons The MDR service was pretty awful. It took 25 minutes to get a glass of wine. On the second night I actually had to chase down one of the head waiters. We were seated at 7:30, entree still absent at 9:00. The waiters said the kitchen could just not keep up. We could not envision ever seeing a second glass. It would be faster to walk the length of the ship to Vines and return. The night we were at Share they actually went down to deck 5, picked up a leftover bottle and served it on Deck 16 in less than ten minutes. Princess has a real issue here. We were not alone. The curious I was fascinated to see Princess selling their specialty hamburger on the pool deck. On NCL's pool deck they set up a BBQ every day rotating between pork roast, roast beef, and chicken, another BBQ with specialty rice, and a third with roasted veggies. Every day. No charge. And here is Princess selling a hamburger? We did not go into the Salty Dog which is now co located with the Wheelhouse. The Wheelhouse used to be the premier pre dinner drink spot with live entertainment. Now featuring "pre recorded music", at least on this cruise. And now almost empty. I guess that saved a duo as a result. Those of us who remember the P&O Princess are less than thrilled with the Jan Swartz edition, Remember the nuts you used to get with a drink? Did not see any on this trip. We enjoyed the trip, especially with rarely seen family, and we would sail with Princess again, but would not be our first choice. Read Less

We chose this cruise because we had not been on the Crystal for a few years and as it was a round trip return from and to Los Angeles it seemed to be very convenient. For years we have been trying to convince our friends to try the Crystal and were finally able to get them to come with us only to find it was not as good as it used to be. The lunch buffet was so bad that we just gave up after a couple of days. We tried the dining room which turned out to be even worse The specialty restaurants were fabulous. The food, staff and atmosphere were exemplary. The ship did not appear to be as clean as it used to be. Our suite which had been refurbished seemed smaller due to the new configuration but the shower was incredibly worth the extra money.The toiletries were horrible, with artificial scent which I am highly allergic to. Entertainment was excellent. However, the casino rules were disgusting and no wonder it was always empty. Lastly - to have 6 ports on a 7 day cruise on the West Coast was a total loss. Aside from San Francisco and Cabo San Lucas (which was not on the itinerary) are the only 2 safe and exciting places to stop at. Most passengers complained they did not enjoy the quiet ocean experience when the ship is at sea. Crystal needs to recognize that plus the savings on Port Charges could benefit the pricing for passengers. Read Less

Second cruise (First was also Explorer). Cruised wih my 5yo and myself. Cabin: 9205 Window cabin with unobstructed view, and a queen bed. This room had more than enough space for our 2x suitcases and drawer space for all our clothes. The suitcases could fit under the bed, but there was plenty of space in the wardrobe for them to stand in so no need. Tv and fridge in room were used daily and both great. My 5yo packed a few toys and there was plenty of space for him to play with them on the ground in our room while watching tv in the evening. Ship: Becuase we done the Chrsitmas cruise, the ship was decorated beautifully with Christmas trees / decorations / gingerbread houses all over the place. We even had fake snow! Food – The Pantry: Food wasn’t too bad. Lots of options to choose from. Only ate at the Pantry during lunch time, so no comment for breakfast or dinner. It wasn’t easy trying to find seating, so that was annoying. Waterfront: Mainly ate here. Could not fault the food. Breakfast menu was the same every day, but enough options to choose something different every day if you liked. Lunch and dinner menus different every day. I enjoyed all of my meals at Waterfront. Dragon Lady: Went once, and never got around to going again. Not bad. Lukes: Yummy burgers and fries. Although you must pay, it is a nice area to sit and watch over the pool area or while a movie is on. Shell and Bones: Beautiful food (extra charge). This is just a sectioned off part of The Pantry, so it doesn’t feel very ‘restauranty’. Angelos: Did not use so no comment Entertainment: Attended four (free) shows in the Marquee, with every single one of them being amazing. The entertainers on board do a fantastic job! I was early to each show, so had no problem finding seats, but it does fill up fast. P&O Edge / Waterslides - did not use so no comment. Kids entertainment: Turtle cove – my son absolutely LOVED it. He would stay there all day every day if I let him. They had so much for the kids to do: face painting, games, songs, play stations, dancing, acting, everything. Service: AMAZING. Room stewards go above and beyond, always there if you need something or have a question. They make the kids feel welcome in an unfamiliar place. Bar staff everywhere I could not fault. Always greeting everyone with a big smile. Waiters in the Waterfront always lovey. Other passengers: A great mix of families / elderly / 20-30 year olds. Everyone seemed to be enjoying themselves. There is always a few disgruntled passengers, but it’s easy to ignore them! Money: Used Aussie dollars on all islands. I would recommend changing big notes ($50, $20) at reception on the ship to smaller notes before going on the islands. Islands – Noumea: Bought the hop on hop off bus ticket once we got off the ship. Spent the day at Lemon bay beach which was clean, beautiful with plenty of trees for shade. Lifou: Spent a few hours at the beach the tenders dropped us off at. Nothing spectacular, stayed a few hours and then went back to the ship for lunch. Port Vila: Booked an all day tour via Facebook. (Blue Lagoon Bus Tours). Our stops included Blue Lagoon, Rarru waterfalls, Mele beach bar for lunch and drinks, and then duty free before heading back to the ship. This tour was a 10/10. Would book again! Mystery Island: Spent all day at the beach. The most beautiful island we have been to. You don’t even need diving gear to see the fish swimming around the coral. Markets were amazing, and the locals were all beautiful people. Read Less

Chose the California departure for a Thanksgiving holiday. We have previously been on Celebrity, Norwegian and Carnival. We had an obstructed view cabin which was well-laid out. We did not find the food, entertainment or service to be anywhere close to what we have had on five Norwegian cruises. Key card wouldn't work upon embarkation so one person was stuck for 30 minutes waiting for security. Disembarking this morning was a fiasco - because of the 5 day cruise, persons were expected to carry their own luggage, leave the room by 8 and assemble at various locations at specific times based on deck and cabin number. Nothing seemed to work - waited in line for over an hour - the officer present at the theater could only explain the delay by stating immigration was looking at passports. Dining room food was OKAY but often slow - saw several other diners get up and leave one night. Buffet was just OKAY as well - tables were more available than on other ships - that is about the only positive that comes to mind about the entire Princess experience! Read Less

Bar service was terrible at different bars. Several of the servers could not figure out how to put in an order for a dirty martini or include ice in a jack and coke. The MUTS screen was badly pix-elated, had squares all over the screen. The food in the MDR was not as good as it usually is. The staff overall just seemed off, not on top of it. In the MDR they forgot to bring my sister's dinner completely. Another night we asked for certain items (butter, salt) several times and never got them. The TVs in our cabin had issues and the technicians couldn't figure out how to get them fixed kept asking for registration codes and even though they entered them the next time we turned on the TV it reverted back to asking for the code again. Overall not impressed. This was not our first cruise with Princess, we actually prefer them over others but after this cruise not sure we will book with them again. Read Less

My parents who are in their 80's and have been wanting to do a Pacific Coast cruise for several years. They decided to make it a "family cruise" and invited the immediate family to join them. My entire family are frequent cruisers, but this was everyone's first cruise on Princess. We were all disappointed there was no activities during the day when we were at sea on the Lido deck except movies/sports on the big screen. The shows in the evening were just ok...the comedian was good. My dad is disabled and had to take the elevators and there were times we had to wait over 30 minutes for him (the rest of us took the stairs) because most days only 1 or 2 elevators were working and at dinner time and days we we were in port they were so packed that he would have to get on and go all the way up to the top floor just to get a spot to come back down. The food was mediocre at best. Our waiter was good, but had no idea who we were when we saw him waiting on the Lido deck at breakfast and the assistant waiter never smiled. They appeared very overworked! We booked our air travel through Princess and had to spend 8+ hours at the airport coming home which seemed like poor planning, considering we booked 6+ months prior to sailing. Overall a not so great experience. My entire family has cruised numerous times on different cruise lines and all of us agreed we would not sail Princess again! Read Less

Cabin was not cleaned, lampshades broken; ripped and top taped together with scotch tape. Beds not made, bathroom not cleaned. Carpet not cleaned. Some our things were thrown away that had been unpacked, i think that they thought they were left by last passengers and got thrown away. Didnt realize til too late. After cabin was fixed, the cruise went fine except for the fact that the last 2 days ate caesar salad and later found out that there was a warning issued about eating romaine lettuce and got very very ill after leaving the cruise. Salad should not have been offered! we chose this cruise for the chance to travel down the california coast and see the sights in some of the california cities that we had never been to. The cruise itself was fine. Waiter superior. food was average. Entertainment was very good. Very concerned about getting ill and quality of room. Read Less

I always love the service on Princess and this was no exception. During our cruise there were upgrades going on that couldn't be done in dry dock, but we were surprised to get a video on demand just two days into the cruise. The crew was great and the service level was off the chart and the food was exceptional. Anyone who hasn't cruised with Princess should because it is definitely a five star line with a three star cost. Great value for the dollar. We especially found that the food staff both in the main dinning room and also in the Horizon Court (buffet area) was excellent. The food in the Crown Grill was excellent and for the extra cost which is $30 per guest you can't beat it anywhere, it is definitely something that should not be missed. Princess continues to invest in it's ships and staff and it shows. Read Less

The Ports of calls, is what really got my attention. The ship was made a little different some floors you could not go from forward to aft. The cabin was a decent size, but the shower was awfully small.The food in the buffet dining room was always cold and was not pleasing,pancakes was super hard, I ate a lot at the Salty Dog.. The entertainment in the theater was okay, I would give it a 7 out of 10. The movies was nothing recently made. Television in the room mainly showed live broadcasting such as CNN or news channels. At late night it would be nice to have a movie channel. Activities on the Ruby was good, it was always something going on.The service was excellent, no complaints at all the staff was super friendly and always there to help. the ports as I stated was awesome, excursions was great, there was enough time spent and the ports, so I did not feel rushed. Yes I would go again, Food could stand to be improved greatly. Read Less