my first cruise! come back new! I was happy to just come back!

In keeping with the baby boomer penchant for cruising! and my wife's gentle persuasion(she had done a cruise to Europe);I decided to go on a cruise on the Sapphire Princess in April of 2016!

quite a few setbacks e.g. embarkation,visa problems,lack of communication, shore excursions.

Embarkation: endless wait,form filling;chaotic! a young staff member suffered a seizure! mass confusion! no medical staff(God forbid if a passenger was to suffer a medical episode)!!

visa: 24 passengers(including one in a wheel chair and some with infant children) were told to disembark at Nagasaki and rejoin the cruise at Hong Kong,as they did not have multiple entry visas to Shanghai! they hadn't committed a criminal act!! surely they could have been allowed to stay on board? a very stressful experience!!!

this was ironic for 2 reasons: a 2 night stop at HK was altered to accommodate a stopover at Shanghai, this was cancelled due to fog(we sailed on to HK)!!

as well, those passengers who had to disembark at Nagasaki would have had 'insult added to injury'.

A 75 year old friend travelling with us,had to disembark at Bangkok! her visa for Singapore

was incorrectly dated!! this ruined the rest of the trip for us!!

money exchange: stood in a queue for an hour at quayside Nagasaki, to be told they only dealt in/with US dollars(no Australian or UK exchange)!!

Cabin was clean and adequate( however,took 4 days to have a bed inadequacy fixed)!

food was good(some dining areas had questionable service)

first formal night was to meet with the Captain! after 2 hours,a no-show(had to stay at the helm due to heavy fog); second in command?

* Letter of complaint to Sydney office! received an apology! recompense? never heard from (Senior Solutions; Sydney)again

My first and possibly,last cruise with Princess