We took this cruise on the Sea Princess mainly because the itinerary included a visit to Easter Island. We had read a lot of reviews of the ship and its many problems such as bad smells, poor condition, rust,etc. We almost cancelled the trip because of our worries about the ship being well past its "best before" date. We were booked to take the final 40 days of a world cruise that began in Sydney, Australia. Just before we left home we received email notes and a phone call asking us to accept a bump from this cruise with very generous incentives. In spite of our worries about the ship and the tempting offers, we opted to go take the cruise as planned.

The Sea Princess is, as so many others have pointed out, in very poor condition. By far, it is the worst cruise ship we have ever been on and we have been cruising twice a year for the last ten years. Even though we had read a lot of negative reviews prior to boarding the Sea Princess and we were prepared for an old ship, it was surprising to see just how bad it was. I was surprised that Princess had let it get so bad. Perhaps the scheduled servicing of the Sea Princess will be able to get rid of the rust and make cosmetic improvements, however, in my opinion, it is time to retire this ship. It's just not up to the standards we expect from Princess.

In spite of the ship, we had a very enjoyable 40 days and 40 nights and we were able to go ashore and take a tour of Easter Island. We had heard that weather conditions often prevent the use of tenders at Easter Island but we were very fortunate to get ashore to see the moai. It was a wonderful day and it exceeded our expectations. It was a very interesting tour, arranged through Princess. It was a once-in-a-lifetime port of call for us and it was our primary reason for selecting this particular cruise. Read more