Excellent Princess Cruise As Always... One Of The Best!

Just wanted to start of by saying that this is the first time after 12 princess cruises I have posted a review. Usually have every intention but never get around to doing it. What's made me post a review this time is by simply reading a couple of the previous negative reviews which considering we were on the same ship and in some cases the same dates, I am amazed we were on the same cruise as these people!

The ship having just got out of dry dock in Mar/April is looking excellent. Probably the most new looking Princess ship we have sailed on. New carpets throughout the ship, new upholstery everywhere and a good general paint throughout the open decks including new pool tiling and artificial grass (now green and no longer the blue colour) carpets on the sun bathing areas of top deck.

Service was the best yet. (Never had a bad experience on princess cruises) however have been on a couple of P&O and RCI which left a lot to be desired and Princess win hands down in this area. Their staff are an absolute credit to the ship and every single one was fantastic!

Food was excellent and a great quality and selection. MDR was still a little slow on some nights and took a while getting a table. It's also worth noting that the appetiser and starter courses (previously 2) have now been combined into 1. This means starter, main, desert is now the 3 courses available. We did however on multiple nights ask for an appetiser and a starter and it was never an issue! Makes sense really and should make the dining experience a quicker one. Never a fan of spending sometimes 2 hours in the MDR.

Entertainment was varied and overall was still good however it's difficult not to compare and realised that entertainment is the one biggest area that has taken a budget cut over recent years. Still wherelse would you get to see shows and acts each night on holiday? Princess is still a very good product but no longer 1 show in the theatre and another in club fusion. Just a main show in the theatre each night now and some in house entertainment in explorers. We never once went into club fusion as never anything on? Mainly karaoke each night.

Excursions booked through princess were well organised and good quality. Med was having a heatwave and very hot, so some of the tours with walking were a little uncomfortable but that's the heat of a hot destination!

Now to give my opinion on some of the negative points raised in some of the other reviews posted.

Children and Pools.

-There were over 250 kids on this cruise. How lucky are they! It was a school holidays cruise so of course there are going to be plenty of children! There are 5 pools on the ship and 2 are for the kids. If adults are moaning about kids jumping and splashing about then they are in the wrong pool. There are 2 pools at the back and. 1 large pool (lotus) at the front. Using these pools you would have thought it was an adult only ship. Very good and not once did any kids come in the adult pools we used. No problems here. Just some common sense needed. Don't go in the main kids pool and complain there are kids splashing about having a great time!

Entertainment.

For adults as per my previous points about, still very good product Princess provide. For children, it's not a RCI or Disney product but how can you complain there is nothing for the kids to do if you don't take them to the kids club! No wonder they are bored it walking around with parents for 2 weeks expecting show after show and activity after activity. Get them enrolled in the kids club that's exactly what it's for. They will make loads of friends and won't need activities to entertain them! That's what the kids/youth club is there for!

Staff

Incredibly friendly. One of the reviews mentions drinks are pushed in your face which is not true. It's very much American service. If you have no drink or a little left the bartenders are trained to ask if you would like a drink. That's all part of you "Coming Back New" and not having to get up for drinks! If you don't want one.... Guess what? Say "No Thanks".

Toilets

Considering we were on the same dates as the review in question, we did not see any out of service toilets and all were incredibly clean. Only thing that was missing was the bin outside of the toilet door to put paper towel in after washing hands and using the door handle.

In summary, a brilliant two week cruise and up to usual high princess standards. If you like P&O cruises, you will love Princess more. Same ships just a far more polished product in terms of the fantastic staff and excellent quality food.

Excellent. Best bed on any cruise or hotel ever! The nee princess luxury beds are amazing. New interactive 40" TV on wall is great and has loads of latest films.