My husband and I have just returned from our voyage on Caribbean Princess - Eastern Caribbean. NEVER AGAIN ON PRINCESS!!! This was our 4th cruise, 2 on Royal Caribbean and 1 on Norwegian. Princess does not even come close to either one!
Our first mistake, purchasing 2 soda packages for $27.65 each. We felt the 4.00 per day charge was more than reasonable since we are both soda drinkers. Well, let me tell you, trying to get a soda on this ship was worse than anyone could imagine. No one, but no one would bother to take a drink order. You could die from dehydration before anyone would offer. They would look at you, look at your card with the soda sticker, and just kept on walking! I didn't believe what I was seeing. Even when we went to the bars ourselves to get a soda, they made you stand there and wait and wait. The 3 times that we did manage to get sodas from a waiter, they constantly brought diet even though we asked for regular. I began to think they did it on purpose; maybe they don't get a tip with the packages, I don't know. To say that service on this ship was beyond terrible, would be a serious understatement! Empty dishes on your table? You might as well just clear them yourself, because no one else did!
I have to tell you what I experienced one day near the pool where they serve pizza on one side and hot dogs/hamburgers on the other. An elderly couple, clearly in their 80s, came to have lunch. The husband could barely walk, even with his cane. The wife got him into the chair and settled, and proceeded to go get their lunch. She had to make 2 trips to carry the food, because they don't supply any trays. After her second trip, my husband came back with pizza. The elderly man asks his wife, "I'd like to have some pizza." So she makes a 3rd trip and returns with 2 small slices of pizza. The husband says, "Why didn't you get more?" She answers,"Well I did ask the chef if I could have some more and he said "No, 2 was enough." Can you believe that? I was mortified. Finally, after they finished what they had, she had to make yet a 4th trip!