I want to start this review by saying that I will be more critical than usual I guess it is because: 1) I have completed my 10th cruise, so I have way more information and opportunity to compare (ships, itineraries, cruise lines). Things that may have been seen as minor in previous trips have more meaning now, and 2) I am getting older, and things that did not bother me before are more noticeable and create uncomfortable situations.

Let’s get the less positive aspects out of the way:

The service in the Island Princess was not what I expected. I sailed last year in another Princess ship and none of the problems I will outline here I found there. I have to assume that it is not a cruise line issue but a vessel issue. One of the first surprises was that I wasn’t allowed to convert the twin beds in my cabin into a double bed because we also had a third person in the room and we were using the bunk bed. This is the first time I have encountered this problem. Questioned, our steward mentioned that it was now a “new policy” because apparently the cruise line had been sued by someone who fell on top of others. We went to the service desk to know what it can be done and the purser was as surprised as we were. She could not give us an answer. After three days, the supervisor of our Steward confirmed it was impossible to allow us to join the two beds. No one was able to provide us with a copy of such “policy”. During this ordeal we felt like we were treated as a nuisance and not as concerned or disgruntled customers. Read more