Sea Princess Review

4.5 / 5.0
0 reviews

Ship is a retirement village at sea

Review for Australia & New Zealand Cruise on Sea Princess
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Amoebe
2-5 Cruises • Age 60s

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Additional details

Sail Date: Jan 2019
Cabin: Oceanview
Traveled with children

We chose this cruise simply for the itinerary. We didn't make it to the fiordlands due to weather, which we understand. The ship seemed understaffed and I've definitely been on happier ships. Late embarking led to harried crew ordering us to our muster station, where we were told to move when we tried to put our heavy carry on luggage and stroller down. So sitting on a step which was the only available seating, we waited 40mins for the muster briefing to begin. Time enough I would have thought to drop our hand luggage and stroller in the cabin. When we did get to our cabin, it was to find a dirty plate with cold food under the bed along with a dirty sock and paper. I won't mention what was near the drinks tray, suffice to say the room felt vey dirty. Again I blame understaffing.

The attitude of the crew improved toward the end of the first week however, the emphasis on 'cruise status' and the colour of your ships card was obvious all through the cruise. Very disappointing. The upper bunks in our cabin were incredibly uncomfortable, with mattresses like cement. We initiated a roster system so the adults could take turns having a comfortable nights sleep in the lower bunk. Princess it seems have iniated a Third Class system, keeping tradition with the Titanic.

While there were some fun moments, those aimed at a younger demographic for a change, they were far and few between. Our grandson loved kids club, and was cared for beautifully by them. Sadly there were no really child friendly outdoor areas, and instead of an adults sanctuary, which was in fact the whole ship, we could have done with a family sanctuary, one to keep out the grumpy older passengers. We are a fit 63 years old, yet on this ship I felt 30 years old still the overly loud music played near the pool was a poor effort to acknowledge younger minded passengers.

Cabin Review

Oceanview

Cabin OC

Upper bunks terrible, mattreses like cement. Smallest quad cabin I've stayed in. Handy to everything however noisy on port days very early on, balloon party night a nightmare.

Port Reviews

Brisbane

Great for waiting to embark, excellent shops and cafes near the cruise terminal.

Wellington

We walked to the Cable car and visited the Botanical Gardens where our grandson could gain some exercise in the fantastic playground.

Napier

We loved beautiful Napier. We visted their beautiful, clean well organised children's playgrounds, shopped, and then walked to the old Gaol. Following our visit there we visted the heated salt pools for wonderful swim.

Auckland

We caught a cab to Kelly Tarltons Seaworld where we had pre-purchased tickets for the behind the scenes tour. A fantastic day for all of us from seeing the wonderful sea creatures to spending the day in a very comfortable environment. Our grandson loved it, especially the free shark bus shuttle back to the ship.

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