We are a family of four, including two teenage daughter (19 & 17). This was our 13th cruise, 4th with Princess (on second on the Sea Princess) so we knew what to expect and were no strangers of the consummate host policy as well as the standard of other ships and lines. Our cruise visited Fiji, Vanautu and New Caledonia over 14 night on the Sea Princess and was a New Years Eve cruise. Due to Cyclone Freda we had to rearrange our itinerary and divert the bad weather, which meant we arrived late to Noumea by a couple of hours and had our Vila port delayed to one of our sea days.

Some things which weren't to our liking or contained some issue:

The tender service wasn't up to scratch. Accidents occurred at one of our ports (Savusavu, Fiji) which included a heavy collision causing glass damage and the tender not being tied properly to sure. The service was often slow and uncomfortable, taking up to 45 minutes once to proceed ashore. There was a strong smell of diesel and no open windows. On one occasion a window was left often at the front of the tender and the boat was speeding at a significant pace over large enough waves; when a large wave was hit, the water enter through the tender, hitting and soaking the two front rows completely a couple of times. Read more