This cruise was chosen by friends and was my first experience with Princess. I suspect it will be my last. I was interested to cruise on Princess after bumping into a couple who had never cruised with any lines and loved the company. I can’t say I share their enthusiasm.

I found the veranda stateroom cramped. We have always booked verandas no matter which company we cruise with, so I can make a fair comparison. The generic soap and shower gel in the bathroom added to the feeling of being of being on a discount cruise. Cabin pros: there was plenty of storage space and hangers; the bed was comfortable. Cons:: cramped; no additional comforts such bathrobes. We were unfortunate to have a cabin steward who really gave the impression that he didn’t want to be there. This was the first time we had ever had a steward who was less than brilliant, on any ship we’ve sailed on. To compound matters none of the items we requested on the medallion app were ever delivered. Whether this was due to the medallion app or the steward I have no idea.

So many issues with restaurants and food outlets. I’ll start by saying that the food in the main restaurant was good - when the waiter managed to get our order right (which happened less often than it should have done) - certainly better than the food in the main restaurant on Celebrity Silhouette earlier this year - but that’s probably my only positive about food onboard. The drinks service in included restaurants was abysmal. Breakfast in the main restaurant was a one off for us, bring served a pot of tea made with luke warm water was the killer there. It took forever to get dinner/lunch drinks and in the Horizon Court most people had finished eating before drinks arrived. (Suggestion: put bars in the restaurants rather than sending out to the nearest bar) which brings me onto Horizon Court. It is hard to imagine a worse layout (this applies to the whole ship. So badly laid out that it was difficult to get around) because no matter where we sat we missed food options. On top of this, the plastic crockery was naff, really awful. (Remember I mentioned the “discount cruise” impression?). We tried the deck grill, which served decent burgers but no trimmings on straight hot dogs was weird. The International cafe was pretty good, great range of pastries etc. Read more