Sea Princess Review
Rating by category
Additional details
This was our second cruise with Princess - we previously sailed to Hawaii with Regal Princess in 2007, which was a rather mixed experience. We chose this cruise because of the itinerary - 11 Caribbean ports in 14 days - while the idea of direct charters (bypassing the US and a lot of luggage carrying) was also rather appealing. The flight out from Manchester was fine, but we arrived with another five Thomson charters (2 more from Manchester, 2 from Gatwick and 1 from East Midlands) and thus had to queue a while, albeit mostly reasonably comfortably (in the aircraft and on buses) before getting aboard just in time for our first sitting dinner.
We had an inside cabin - a first for us. We booked an outside guarantee, but were contacted a few days before departure to be offered a downgrade (outside cabins oversold apparently - its getting just like airlines!!) to an inside cabin at a vastly reduced cost. This was an offer too good to resist, and we decided it was a good opportunity to see what we thought of inside cabins for future reference. (Conclusion: fine on this cruise or probably any with relatively few sea days, or when the weather was likely to be less than brilliant, but we still feel an outside or balcony cabin is best under other circumstances). Anyway, the cabin was fine, if relatively small (although no smaller than other cabins on Sea Princess I understand), and was in a quiet location tucked around the corner at the stern of the ship on Deck 10. It was well looked after by our steward Randi, who was very friendly and obliging and kept everything in good order.
As I mentioned we were on first sitting, and had been allocated, as requested, to a table of 8 in a very nice location, rather than the thoroughfare you sometimes get! We had very good company, with a couple from Leicester and 2 couples from Cheshire, thought that the food was generally very good in the evenings (we only went in for breakfast a few times and lunch only once), and that our waiter and assistant Orlando and Enrico, were very helpful and efficient.
Cabin Review
Very quiet location on deck 10 at the back, around a corner next to a crew door (which didn't seem to be used) and opposite a couple of suites. Fairly small, but no smaller than other categories on this ship. So cut off that they missed picking up our case on the last night and it was still there in the morning!! A fair walk to get anywhere, of course, but we don't mind that. Four floors up to buffet, 3 floors down to deck 7, along the deck and down another set of stairs (central) to main dining room on Deck 6.