For perspective this was our 4th cruise and 3rd consecutive cruise with Princess. Thought we'd try a short 8 night cruise to NZ on the Golden Princess which is re positioning with the view of booking the full opposite direction re position should all be ok. We are not biased towards Princess but have found their product to be excellent each time we've cruised so why change unless things are as bad as some are making out?

Embarkation at Sydney was Princess efficient and first impressions of the ship was that she appeared in pretty good order with evidence of fresh paint and rail varnishing up to speed etc. Nothing particularly worn or shoddy. Carpet mismatches in passageways and staterooms bore evidence of recent replacement etc. Whether it was due to wear which is a good thing or water damage, which is a bad thing, we are unable to say. The ship is lovely and has a quirky non flowing design but once used to the lay out it never seemed crowded apart from the usual suspects of the cafe on Piazza deck due to rather inconsiderate guests who continue to eat up what little space there is by setting up camp with a book for the day. One of our pet hates but not isolated to this ship. Wonder if they get away with that at a cafe where they live?. The Princess theater as always was crowded quite early for the first show but generally better later show. Quality of the entertainment was good and the Cruise Director seemed to be pretty active and engaged in his work. There are plenty of quiet places to be should you wish.

The food on this cruise was excellent. Good variety in all the venues we ate at including Sabitinis and service was always very good. The crew seemed in good morale in all areas from bars, restaurants to cabins. Our cabin steward was the usual efficient and very pleasant. The mid ship balcony cabin on Baja deck was clean and all fittings were in very good condition for the age of the ship. One peculiarity we did note however, as did friends in other cabins travelling with us, was the excessive creaking and groaning of panels in even moderate seas. Something we certainly didn't encounter on other ships even such as Sun Princess (which is older) and did detract from sleep quality on a couple of nights. Otherwise the ship looked pretty good. Only one small leak was seen, best described as an intermittent small drip probably, around an AC outlet in Bernini dining room but certainly nothing major requiring a bucket in any area that we saw and we made a point of wandering around extensively to familiarize ourselves. We could see where a couple of carpet patches were done in public areas but this ship is definitely not leaking like a sieve as some would have us believe and there were no sewerage odors in any public areas. The lifts were all working on this cruise. Read more