We chose this cruise as a wedding anniversary treat, looking for a romantic setting, lots going on but not a party atmosphere, and not overrun with kids. The ship delivered perfectly. There was always plenty to see and do, and places on the ship that catered to adults only. The ship was busy, but there were never long lineups anywhere, even for free pizza, burgers or ice cream on the top deck. The excursions were all wonderful and very well-organized as we were taken ashore and returned quickly and efficiently at all ports. On board, there were good entertainment choices and lots of opportunity to stay fit (Zumba class on the deck, etc.) Loved the adults-only pool areas. The restaurants were definitely a highlight of the cruise with wonderful food experiences at all but one. The suite was beyond expectations in terms of space and comfort. A few minor glitches: difficult to get through to restaurant reservations or room service on the phone. Communication was a challenge with some staff as their English was not great (but then, we don't speak any other languages so some of that is on us). Loved all the restaurants, except Steamers Seafood was a bad experience. Quality of the food and service at this restaurant did not warrant an upcharge. Drinks were a bit pricey. At the Anytime Dining breakfast, it would have been nice to have more yogurt, granola and fruit options. Too focused on American-style breakfast. Some of the entertainment was average, but still fun and enjoyable. And it would have been nice to have even more places on the ship to have a quiet conversation over a drink. Read Less

The destinations were fabulous! However, everything else on the cruise was horrific. The food was so bad that when we did discover edible food, we thought we had hit the jackpot! We went to bed hungry when the ship did not have a stop. When we got off the boat, we ate on shore and purchased lots of snacks. The menu was not pescatarian friendly and the cooks clearly struggled with seafood. As for our cabin, it was located directly under the aft deck. Every morning the crew dragged chairs over our heads to set- up the deck. We requested another room and offered to pay for an upgrade, but the guest services never got back to us. The excursion assistant manager is so disrespectful that he should be fired! The photographer never showed up for our appointment. We waited for 40 minutes. When we bumped into her, she claimed not to have us on her itinerary. Our luggage was misplaced for disembarkation. Overall, Princess Cruises are the worst. Read Less

Excursions too rushed and actually didn't see anything properly and definitely did not have the experience expected. Summary - 'Been there seen that' - Not 'Been there and done that'. Embarkation and disembarking were very well organised and efficient. Cleanliness was high and service from our steward was excellent. No issue service wise. Food was basically the same form day to day will minimal variations - food was ok of you love great if you love salt. Would have preferred to have more local foods from each destination we went to. Couldn't get into the restaurant we wanted even when booking a day on advance. Was my first cruise so wasn't sure what to expect - but definitely felt underwhelmed. My 2 teenage daughters did enjoy it but even their excitement was starting to dull toward the end. Everything seemed to have an additional charge when I expected most things to be included. Overall pretty poor value - rather do hotels and stay for a few days at each location that this overrated hop on hop off bus. Read Less

My agents recommendation. Travelling with my daughter who was a first time cruiser we had three days in Athens before boarding and then a magical two weeks of discovering the ship and the 9 ports and finishing in Rome. Everything ran so smoothly getting on the ship and getting off,no hiccups luggage was out there waiting . After tours on shore and before we entered the ship the staff were waiting for us with cool towels and cool drinks , we were all very grateful as the days were very hot. Once back onboard it was so hard to fit all the things in entertainment etc plus choices where to eat . There were so many choices of where to eat , lots of variety and food was top class wherever you went, service at all of them was impeccable, entertainment was entertaining great songs , costumes and staging.Loved seeing people compete, having the courage to get up and sing in the Voice of the Ocean. I could have kept cruising , I was the lucky winner of Stanley the Bear...Can hardly wait to cruise again with Princess. Read Less

Booked this Mediterranean Adriatic cruise to spend time with friends and to see Montenegro and Sicily. Big mistake to book with Princess even as an Elite level Princess customer the accommodations and service were terrible considering the price. The Emerald Princess ship is very outdated and I would never book another cruise on this ship. Our cabin was small, hot and noisy. The staff was friendly but their overall service was poor in terms of making improvements. I have cruised with Princess for years but this was my first cruise with them since 2016. Although I had heard unfavorable feedback from friends and family, I was shocked on how much their service, excursions and equipment had declined. This cruise was overpriced based on the experience and I felt Princess is doing a lot of cost savings at the expense of quality. There are additional charges for everything and there drink and internet charges are outrageous. We stayed in Barcelona for a couple of days in a Princess package Hotel. What a mistake, same issues, poor service and overpriced. Paid them $400/night for a hotel we found out you can book for $150/night. Room was not available until late evening and the luggage storage and check in was a cluster. We were disappointed in the ports of calls and excursions. Gave Princess every chance to acknowledge our survey complaints requesting someone to contact us for feedback versus sending this review. We have been a loyal customer to them over the years reaching Elite status in their program. If we experienced this cannot even imagine what new or mid customers experienced. Sharing this to help others. Read Less

Just came back from a fabulous 14-day med cruise from Athens to Gibraltar and back to Rome. - Ship: 4 STARS. The ship was just refurbished and was in tip top shape. It's a very pretty ship but is not one of the newest, 5,000 passenger "mega" ships with roller coasters and 18-hole golf courses. - Rooms: 4 STARS. Rooms are larger than other ships and well laid out though the interiors feel a few years dated. Brand new mattresses were very comfortable. The balconies were great. A must have! - Activities: 4 STARS. There is lots to do on the ship but no pressure to join in and there are always quiet corners you can escape to. The gym is well equipped with brand new machines, which have a great forward view of the sea. - Entertainment: 5 STARS. The entertainment, particularly the guest entertainers (singers, comedians, piano player), was very good. I loved the 45-minute length of the shows. That is appropriate for all of us with attention deficit disorders. - Service: 3.5 STARS. Crew was generally courteous and efficient but workmanlike and detached at times. Quite frankly they weren't particularly friendly. Part of that may have been our utilizing the anytime dining and so we always had different waiters. We may have had more of a connection with out wait staff if we did traditional dining. At times some of the bars and restaurants were understaffed. I think the lack of traditional tipping affects the quality of service and much of the crew seemed overworked and exhausted. They did a good job at accomplishing their assigned tasks but there wasn't a sense of warm hospitality on the ship. Princess needs to review and amend their staffing ratios so there is a better staff to passenger ratio in the various venues to allow for more of a relaxed and hospitable atmosphere and mroe responsive and expedient service. - Food: 3.5 STARS. Overall the dining was decent but a bit inconsistent. The menus in the main dining room are fairly limited and consist mainly of simple American favorites, which I liked. Sometimes execution in the main dining rooms was off as some dishes were better than others. There is good selection in the buffet areas and they seemed to have reorganized them during the recent refurb because there was no real lines. Sometimes tables were hard to come by at the buffet but usually it was not an issue. The pizza shop and burger grill are both excellent. The soft serve ice cream is meh. The bars serve good drinks that are reasonably priced but sometimes the waits are ridiculous (see staffing issues above). We didn't try room service or the specialty restaurants. - One Complaint: Charging $5-15 per person for shuttle buses from a distant berthing port to a city center is ridiculous and unfair. If a Princess cruise itinerary says they will take me to Barcelona, Marseille, Naples or Livorno, then they should take me to those places, not a berthing station that is 3-5 miles from the city center and not-traversable via walking. If I can't walk from where the ship docks then Princess has not lived up to its end of the bargain. Some locales had free shuttle buses and some did not (some ports did not need shuttle buses as the ship docked right in the city center). Charging for a shuttle bus is akin to charging for a tender (which were required in two ports we visited). Princess wouldn't do the latter and so shouldn't do the former. Do better Princess! Stop nickeling and diming people that paid $5-10,000 for a cabin. My one complaint aside, this was a great cruise and a great time. I would sail again on Princess, though I am not sure it's any better than Carnival or RC. Read Less

Emerald Princess Cruise Ship Review: Summary of pros:                                                      Summary of cons: Ship Atmosphere Our steward (name was Kemmanat) Room location on Lido Deck                                     Port of Salerno view Big room/closet                                                         Food was hit or miss Princess Beds                                                              Great Internet Gluten Free taken seriously Share Crooner’s Bar/AJ Clarke Skywalker’s bartenders Pools Love Boat Cast/Ashleigh Front Desk Pompeii/Salerno port Embarkation/Disembarkation                                                          Overall:  One of our favorite ships, and one of our favorite cruises!  Ship atmosphere: Relaxed ambiance.  This cruise was all about the destinations, and this ship was perfect for that.  No over-the-top gimmicks, no climbing walls and waterslides! This kind of energy was saved for the ports and excursions.  It was a mostly older crowd which looked to be ages 40+ (including us at 49 and 52). We saw very few young children on this cruise. It appeared and sounded as if most people were European or Australian.     Lido Deck Room 247/Balcony: First, we LOVED being on the Lido deck.  Walk right out to the pool, the food, etc.  We expected noise, being so close to all of this, but never heard anything! It was very convenient! But second, there was no one above our balcony that could look down onto our balcony, as we could to the ones below us.  Speaking of the balcony, you need this!  Watch the sunrise or sunset from the privacy of your balcony in a chair with a drink or snack. Wake up to amazing views and go outside to take pics in your PJs.  It’s just an entirely different experience with a balcony.  Room L247 was a good size, with a huge closet and a lot of drawers.  By far, this is our favorite cabin on any cruise we’ve sailed on, and we will always book on the Lido deck in the future.     Princess Beds: That bed….I miss that bed!  The bed and the bedding were so comfortable.  We’ve talked about the bed/bedding as much as we’ve talked about anything else!   Internet:  The Internet was incredible!  All texts and pictures were sent and received instantly as if we were on land.  We’d sit at the pools before dinner after long days on our feet exploring in the ports, perusing Facebook, posting pictures, using Google Maps, watching news stories, etc.  Not once was anything slow. One night we were nowhere near land in the middle of the ocean and I sat inside our cabin on our bed Facetiming our children. And this is before the upcoming Medallion system! Food:  We arrived to see a Gluten free acknowledgment on the desk, even though I’d already received an email verification from them.  When we gave our card for drinks at dinner, the server would then point out what was gluten free on the menu.  So it must have also been registered electronically.  So nice to know they take it seriously as I have Celiac’s disease. There were always gluten free options, no matter where we went to eat, with always at least one dessert option in the main cafeteria area. However, the food was hit or miss; sometimes great, sometimes disgusting really.  Overall I’d say the food was fair during the day, and above average at dinner.  Not as memorable as other cruises, but not bad, mostly.     Share: Amazing food!  But allow a lot of time!  There are six courses with considerable time in between.  For us, it was just too much time spent on dinner – about 3 hours.  But all of the people working there were very nice and went out of their way to make our anniversary dinner special.  They even sang to us! Crooner’s Bar/AJ Clarke: We ended up going there four out of seven nights. The bartenders were professional, friendly, and skilled.  It was them that introduced us to a Beverly Hills Iced Tea, based on questions about what we liked.  AJ Clarke was very talented and entertaining.  One night his mom was his guest. We very much enjoyed his performances.  We also liked the Crooner’s Bar isn’t enclosed, allowing people to come and go at ease and spend a little or a lot of time there, without worrying about interrupting his performance. Skywalker’s Bar:  The bartenders were great!  Funny, accommodating, and skilled! We sat at the bar the last night and wished we’d done that every night.  We went to Skywalker’s almost every evening. The DJ, servers, music, crowd – average. The bartenders there made Skywalker’s a lot of fun!     Pools: There were four pools, never crowded.  We loved them all, but especially the ones at the back of the ship.  It was amazing watching the sea go by behind us. The band, The Sound, frequently played at the Neptune pool.  They were incredible!  Great lead female singer, awesome song choices (top 40 from many eras; songs everyone knows). But it was entirely too loud!  However, moving up to the top deck took care of that. When they started playing, many people would move to the top deck, but also many would leave.  I felt bad for the band as I’m sure they noticed people leave when they started playing.  But it wasn’t them, they were amazing! It was just overwhelmingly loud if you were down in the pool area.      Love Boat Cast: We had every intention of attending the Love Boat fun, but missed it due to an emergency call from home we had to take care of.  However, upon leaving our room after that call, we encountered some of the cast at the elevators as they were just leaving the pool area where it took place, on the Lido deck close to our room. They carried the fun that we’d missed to us personally!  Took our hands and danced, even used our cameras to take selfies.  As quick as they appeared, they were off, laughing and having fun.  They probably ran into other cruisers and made their night also!  They could have ended their responsibility on deck and gone on their way.  Thank you Love Boat cast!  That made our night!  I was able to zoom in on one of their name tags from the selfies and one girl’s name was Ashleigh. Her tag says she is the Jr. Asst Cruise Director, from South Africa. Thank you!   Front Desk: Everyone at the front desk was incredible.  They helped us with a few different things, but mostly they were instrumental in getting our luggage to us, that had been missing for five days.  It was the fault of United Airlines, not theirs.  But when our luggage finally made it to Santorini, it was them that got it from the port, onto the ship, and to our room.  Thank you! Pompeii Ruins: Our very favorite excursion, ever! Our guide, Paulo, was incredible too! If you ever have a chance, cruise port or otherwise, this is simply a must!       Embarkation and disembarkation:  We arrived with no luggage, so it was very simple from the start.  But we walked right in, and right onto the ship.  From Uber to our room was about 15 minutes!  Disembarkation was also simple.  We were the last group off, walked right off, and right to our luggage.  Again, from room to transfer service was about 15 minutes.  Easiest process we’ve ever been through.  No lines at all, anywhere, on or off.  Salerno: One morning we opened our balcony curtains to the amazing view of the next port – and it wasn’t.  Apparently this port is also a container terminal.  The view was row after row of huge industrial containers. Not a huge deal, but a strike contrast from the other incredible views off our balcony that we enjoyed waking up to each morning. Our excursion guide explained that they’d actually built a port for cruises, then discovered it wasn’t deep enough and had to return to using the container terminal.       Steward: Sadly, this was our first cruise where our steward disappointed us.  According to him, our schedule should revolve around what made his job the most easy.  When it didn’t we were judged, put down, and criticized.  Most of the people in the rooms he serviced rose earlier, ate earlier, and went to bed sooner. Several times a day he would ask us why we weren’t in port, weren’t we going to eat dinner, when were we going to bed. Our replies were met with judgement, shaking his head, looking put out, or openly telling us we wouldn’t receive his services if we didn’t comply.  One night early on told us he was done at 5:30, and wouldn’t be back to turn down our bed if we didn’t leave for dinner by 5. We told him we wouldn’t be leaving for dinner by then but that was fine, we understood, no worries. But at that point we tried to temper his frustration by responding to his many criticisms about our schedule.  We explained that we were on an 8 hour time difference, slept/ate later, liked the activities offered at night, slept in, liked going to the pool in between the port excursion and dinner, etc.  He shook his head, put out. I walked away thinking we didn’t owe him an explanation, and that his response was incredibly rude. It got worse as the week went on as he tried to tell us what our schedule should be, and we went on with the schedule we’d planned, on OUR vacation. He became more and more insistent, and we anticipated his glaring judgment, harsh words, or condemnation each time we came and went from our cabin.  One day we returned from port to put our suits on. He asked where we were going and I told him we were going to the pool.  He then scolded us and asked why we weren’t getting ready for dinner. We told him we were going to dinner later. Again, we were met with his irritation.  There were too many incidents to go into each one, but most were similar to this, each worse than the next.  However, the worst incident was one night when we were in our room taking pictures of the sunset and getting ready for dinner, when he went from annoying to alarming.  We had just returned from port and there he was standing by our room, again asking why we weren’t at dinner.  We explained we wanted to watch the sun set from our balcony, and would also be getting ready for dinner, AND what time we’d be leaving, that it would be at least an hour or more.  He wasn’t happy about that. About 15 minutes later he opened the door without even knocking.  He knew we hadn’t left, obviously. He probably hadn’t left the place he was standing when we got to our room – lurking, as always, by our door.  But apparently he thought we needed a reminder that we were on his time and he was waiting, and that barging in would make us go faster. I was unclothed, nude from the waist up.  It was very embarrassing, and the trust to our privacy was now completely gone. That was a purposeful violation of our privacy that alarmed and actually frightened me. But even that aside, I don’t appreciate being told how to spend my time while on vacation, especially that I should be out of the room by 7 and back from the port and at dinner by 5:00, when the ship doesn’t ask that, provides many activities at all times, and doesn’t even require you to be back on the ship that early.  The dining room schedule was our focus, not his. If I want to sleep in I don’t owe an explanation and don’t deserve condemnation or judgment, from anyone.  I don’t need to be scolded by the steward because I went to the pool at HIS dinner time, or because I bring pastries back to our room instead of eating them there. Boy, his stare in the hallway between me and the napkin was intense! The pastries were gone when we returned a couple hours later, of course. Part of a cruise is enjoying the freedom to experience the many wonderful things scheduled, at all times, not on the steward’s schedule. But even if we wanted to sleep in all day or not eat dinner at all, that’s our choice, it’s our vacation. Usually the steward is rarely seen. Ours was always there, as soon as we opened the door to leave, and right there when we returned, asking why we weren’t where we should be, according to him.  We continued to be kind, in every interaction, even when he barged into the room as I was nude.  What do you do when someone has a key to your room and there’s nothing you can do about it? You respond with kindness, but include it in your review.  Hopefully others will also let Princess know, and this will be taken care of for future cruisers. Summary: We love Princess, and we loved the Emerald ship! We’ve sailed with Royal Caribbean, Carnival, and Norwegian previously but this was our first Princess cruise. We are now BIG fans of Princess. We had an almost perfect week! Read Less

May daughter (30) and I (50) took this cruise to celebrate our milestone birthdays. This was my 20th Princess and probably my 40th cruise overall. It was my daughters 2nd Princess, and perhaps 10th cruise overall. Embarkation/Disembarkation and transport was well done, easy and quick. Cabin/Ship - This ship, like all Princess ships has a similar design in decks and cabins. We had a mini suite. The furnishings were fine, some updates to the décor would be nice. The bed in the cabins had been changed to a new Princess brand. We found the beds to be spectacularly comfortable. Bars/Service - The serving staff was fantastic. We really enjoyed the wine bar, and found ourselves migrating there most nights pre and post dinner. Thank you to Ryan and Sydney. Ports - We could not get off the ship in Santorini or in Montenegro. We enjoyed Naples and Sicily and did our own thing on the end points of Athens and Barcelona. The itinerary was Athens to Barcelona, and a good way to see more by extending on ends. My daughter took a Princess tour in Sicily, and found it enjoyable, even if a bit pricey. Food and Dining - This experience was detrimental to our overall enjoyment of the cruise. The concerns and issues we had on dining were across all venues in the ship, with the exception of the Crown Grill. We spend 3 nights purchasing dinner there, due to the poor presentation, flavor and choices in the other venues. Here is more detail (which we provided in writing directly to the Chef de Cuisine, and in person to him when he visited the Crown Grill on the later evenings. The Chef asked me what specifically was the problem, and I provided him the following. He walked away mid conversation, my daughter and I had already detailed these items in a specific written complaint to him, to which he said he had not received. (The complaint was provided to the front desk folks addressed to the "Chef de Cuisine". 1. Bread/Rolls - Hard, not in a crusty good way, but as if they had been reheated several times or were older baked items from earlier in the day or prior days. 2. Butter - appeared to be mixed with oil or margarine (if they do this normally, this was to a degree to make it tasteless 3. Plating temperature was cold. Hot meals were lukewarm at best. 4. Soups tasted like salty water, and were not hot. (This is usually an area of good flavor on cruises) 5. Fish was advertised as one type of sea bass, however, when we received the meal it had a very dirty flavor to it. The fish appeared to be either a different type (like Tilapia perhaps), or was cleaned very poorly, or perhaps old. 6. Fried items were undercooked and not edible. 7. Salad items, any fresh items were wilted. The salads appeared like those that you purchase in bags and leave in the refrigerator too long. They were not only wilted but particularly slimy and not edible. (This was true throughout the venues including Crown Grill) 8. Beef (outside the Crown Grill) did not seem to be the cuts advertised nor the quality expected 9. Buffet (venue) was dark, very crowded, and it didn't seem like there were any themes to the offerings. Curry right next to Beef Stew, Asian next to Baked Potatoes. 10. Grill - those folks work hard, ordered the Ernesto burger on deck, confused people because you need to pay and wait for that, but it was good. Fries were nicely cooked on deck as well. What was equally disappointing was the reaction we received when we gave this feedback. The waiter after we expressed the food challenges at Sabattini's called over the head water, who chastised us for not complaining harder. There was no offer to comp, or come back tomorrow and we'll amaze you, or even an apology for the experience. Essentially he very clearly said had we complained louder they would have replaced, and proceeded to chastise the waiter in front of us. Additionally, when we had the opportunity to advise the Chef de Cuisine, to which I did similar to the items above, as well as in writing he walked away mid sentence. My gut says that there was something fishy about the sourcing of the food on this cruise. It was of such poor quality that I wondered whether someone was skimming the till on that item. OR, it was just such a hot summer in Europe that the food was impacted...I thought this until my next cruise a week later on Princess (another ship). I would like to say that the Head Waiter at the Crown Grill was very amazing, we'd expressed our concerns with him about the other venues, and he did his best to find us seats at the crown grill for our last 3 remaining nights. Now interestingly, when I parted with my daughter, I boarded the Sapphire princess shortly after this cruise. This was also a Mediterranean cruise. The food on the Sapphire was 100 percent better, even though it was the same ports at times. Sapphire was just as consistent as the other 20 Princess cruises I've been on, without any of the aforementioned problems. That said, I still like Princess, although I will choose another line such as Cunard, P & O or outside the Carnival Family for any large special occasions. I would strongly recommend Princess looks into the purchasing records for this particular itinerary and/or staff to see if there was something "fishy" with the food sourcing. Read Less

We went on our 1st cruise with Princess on our honeymoon and wanted to renew our vows on our 30 th Anniversary with Princess again. The service we experienced the 1st time was the deciding factor to use princess the second time around. Our best friends accompanied us. We arrived in Greece two days before we sailed and got to see the sites of Athens. When we arrived at the port we found it was very easy to check in and board the ship. Once on board we were able to go to room very quickly and get settled. We then got word that Francesca wanted to meet with us to go over the itinerary of our vow renewal. On the day we renewed We started off with a couples massage in the spa. It was pretty relaxing and set the mood for the entire day. The ceremony itself with nothing short of spectacular. The chapel was decorated accordingly and corsage and bouquet were supplied by the ship. It was part of the package I know it was but you still say i we started off with a couples massage in the spa. It was pretty relaxing and set the mood for the entire day. The ceremony itself with nothing short of spectacular. The chapel was decorated accordingly and corsage and bouquet were supplied by the ship. After the ceremony that was performed by Captain Lawes we had a photographer and a videographer follow us for our camera shoot. The captain even allowed us to go onto the bridge where we got some great shots and video. The ENTIRE experience is one I will never forget. Read Less

We chose this cruise as friends had booked and we wanted to join them. We had only done 1 cruise before, and it was 5 star, with 210 passengers. People told us not expect the same but we were pleasantly surprised, we loved it! From the time we checked in to embark it was efficiency plus.This is a well oiled machine. We were not cruising to sit on the deck on a lounger in the hot sun and didn't get into our swimsuits even once. We were there for the offshore visits and to return to a lovely cool air-conditioned ship. We were wined, dined, entertained, and in bed about 11pm! The dining was exceptionally good which again was unexpected. the cleanliness of the boat, the service, the staff, 99 percent were fantastic. The shows reminded us of trips to Las Vegas. We had organised and pre paid all our offshore excursions from home, which took several hours and isn't something you want to do on the boat when you would missing out on valuable entertainment time. Also some tours booked out. The tours were very efficiently run, the organisation on this boat was impressive and the room mail deliveries critical for communication of all activities and other ship notices. There might have been 3000 guests on this boat but we didn't ever see most of them! A lot are by the pool..... Read Less

I'll start by saying that we are a family of 4 adults who only chose Princess based on the ports of call in the Mediterranean. It was chosen for Santorini and Naples, in August where other lines did one but not the other. We have cruised before, one of which was a similar Mediterranean cruise but different ports. I'll start with the positives. The food and bar staff are exceptional, their willingness to serve and make sure you want for nothing cannot be matched. Similarly, pool staff, room stewards and entertainment crew, all were fun and friendly and give the impression they at least like their jobs. The food is as good as you can expect when prepared for such huge volumes, variety is fresh and varied. The 3 "speciality" restaurants are good for an extra fee it's worth doing at least one. What they don't tell you: this cruise is predominantly over 50's. The activities are therefore geared to that demographic, which of course is fine, but could be clearer when brochures get done up. The pool is deathly silent and reminiscent of a scene from Cocoon. Can't comment t on kids clubs or a riviries but middle pools are basically kids everywhere. Lifts are slow, cause it takes people ages to get in and out, and I found the "elite" passengers almost snobbish. Gratuity as is expected on most cruise is set but no one can explain how it's divided and to who? I have no issues tipping, as long as it's going to the right people. I'm suspect staff get any of it, best switch it off and tip your favourites at end of cruise. Don't forget laundry and back of house peeps though. The negatives: Apparently high winds prevented us, for safety reasons stopping at Santorini. This is a port that requires tender ( small boat) transfer. They replaced it with Corfu. To say we were dissappointed would be an understatement; But, safety is important and although Corfu was horrendous we made the best of a bad situation. ( don't do hop on hop off there everything you can see is walking distance from port) upon return to the ship we find out 2 other cruise ships made it in to port with no problems. ( Please explain) Front desk staff are just outright rude. They don't care if you lose something, report something broken or heaven forbid need an explanation of excessive pre authorisation holds on your credit card. You see as is expected they want to keep your account in credit, however, even if you settle your bill half way through, they retain the holds. Essentially double billing, they don't cancel holds till you get off, and can't really explain why they do this. Lastly it's basically a 21 day cruise broken up into 3 X 7 day cruise, should also be on brochures. So at Athens, Barcelona and Rome people get on and off. While your card and room stay the same they do treat it as a new cruise or end of cruise. Again, this is my experience for a family of 4, who have cruised before and had similar expectations. Do research to make sure this is for you. Read Less

We enjoyed the new beds/bedding added to the Crown Princess recently and benefitted from a spring refurbishment to the ship. The itinerary and port excursions were excellent (though the Mediterranean in July/August is incredibly warm). Our steward was wonderful. Spa services continue to be over-priced and there is no beverage package that actually makes sense but we enjoyed Princess once more on this second cruise and would continue to look at the company for future trips. In short: mini-suites continue to work for our family of three (one teen), the new beds are great, the teen club is a hit with our son, and we still love the International Cafe more than the other regular food options. This time we did endeavor to do laundry at sea - rather frustrating with people ignoring basic conventions of removing laundry from washing machines when done. Token machines for laundry were on our floor - handy, but not on every floor - a pain. We were in D603 - nice location for our needs. Read Less

First time cruiser chose Crown Princess for the itinerary - Athens to Barcelona July 7-14. First, the good: Our state room was fantastic. I spent a year reading reviews on cruise critic to lower my expectations, so I was just stunned by how beautiful and comfortable the state room was (Balcony, R-230), efficiently designed, with great lighting, visibility, and ventilation. It was love at first sight. I had been expecting sewage smells and bad grout and broken beds. Everything was fantastic. The service is amazing. A thousand crew members provide "Disney" levels of service. They compete with each other to be first to refill our drinks. They are knowledgeable and friendly. Crowds are minimized. I hate crowds and lines, so I was thrilled that Princess has engineered processes that minimize the impact of having so many people in such a small space. Any time a line might form, they hand out numbers and give you a comfortable place to sit in a lounge, with a drink, and when you are called, you just go -- no lines. We had any time dining, and we never waited for a table. There was never any kind of line at Horizon Buffet, and we could always get a window seat. Unless an event had just let out, we never had to wait for an elevator, and even then we could easily go to a different elevator bank or spend a few minutes on the promenade deck. The food was excellent. My traveling companions disagree -- they concur with the majority on Cruise Critic who describe the food as "nothing special" -- but I don't know what their gripe is. The Horizon Buffet is extensive, it is open non-stop from 6am-11pm, and the view from the dining area is to die for. My colleagues wanted eggs benedict every day, instead or rotating between eggs florentine, eggs benedict, and fried eggs. My colleagues wanted more cut fruit instead of whole fruit. The bagels should have been next to the lox. But there was eggs, and bacon, and blueberry blintzes. There was every kind of danish. It was a great spread. But if the Horizon Buffet was good, the Dining Halls were better. Impeccable service and a terrific menu. Half of the menu stayed the same, and half changed daily, so you could stick with shrimp cocktail and grilled salmon, or go exploring. All three dining halls are identical, except for the wall paintings. The quality of the food was uneven -- I prefer my pot roast with more gravy, and the ribeye wasn't the best cut. Relying on the server's recommendations is a good strategy if you are torn. If the Dining Halls are better, then Sabatini's and Crown Grill are best. The food is the best that can be summoned on a cruise ship, which is far beyond my requirements. What you are really paying for, though, is space and quiet. The Dining Hall is busy and noisy; the specialty dining venues are quiet, with far-apart tables. My colleagues didn't like it; they found the ambiance pretentious and fake. Additional Delights Don't bother with the Deck 16 running track; instead is is just 2.8 laps to a mile around the Promenade deck, and the views from the stern and the bow never get old. The Piazza is a great place to relax and get a drink. We really liked the International Cafe, with gelato, dessert cakes, sandwiches, and drinks. The X-Trio was first rate, and we always welcomed a chance to hear them play popular standards on a violin, guitar, and accordion. They made the Piazza magical. What a delight to be able to do laundry on board. There ought to be more than two washer/dryer combos per deck, and you ought to be able to buy laundry soap without visting guest services, but we made it work. Our cabin steward Larry was magnificent, our stateroom was constantly refreshed. The Princess Patter did a good job alerting us to what was going on on the ship. Part 1 Summary So: A gorgeous ship, a comfortable state room, a first-rate itinerary, delicious and abundant food, beautiful views, what's not to love? The Bad Because of all these wonderful things, I was broken-hearted to leave the Crown Princess, and I wish I were still aboard. However, there were some bad things, too, and they were bad enough that I will try a few other cruise lines before I return to Princess. The Endless Ripoffs You are literally pounded with ads for overpriced Jewelry, Watches, Perfumes, Photography, and Spa Services. For the Spa, they give you a $50-off coupon for services that are overpriced by more than $50. For the others, there are daily specials, raffles, super-sales, hard-sells, etc. It's tawdry. The Mother of All Ripoffs -- The Champagne Fine Art Auction The Casino and the Fine Art Gallery use up a LOT of space on the ship, so even if you ignore them, you are still ripped off by loss of space that could be used for something else. But we attended the Champagne Fine Art Auction to try to understand what it could possibly be, and we we aghast. It was the most despicable collection of psychological techniques for high-pressure sales that I have ever seen in my life. We found a nice Kinkade Disney "Beauty and the Beast" piece that we knew for a fact could be had at the Disney store for $500 ($450 online from Kinkade, it turns out, in the largest, highest quality, most select version), and The Fine Arts Gallery offered it to us for the "rock bottom" price of $7,020. I won't go into all the details about all the scams and psychological tricks, but suffice it to say that Princess should be protecting its passengers from this kind of scam, not perpetrating it. This is unforgivable, and it colored for us the entire rest of the trip, because we knew that Princess would be willing to prey upon its captive passengers in the worst conceivable way. Bloomberg did an expose on Park West's Art Auctions at Sea a couple years ago, titled, "Prepare to Be Seasick." Read it. Mediocre Excursions Princess sold dozens of excursion at each port, which means dozens of tour guides. One of those tour guides will be the worst of all, and you have a chance of getting assigned to that guide. This is a structural problem -- finding 24 great tour guides is really difficult. But if you book an independent tour, like Viator, they aren't running as many buses, so they can afford to be more picky and in fact they do better quality control. Every Viator I have ever taken has been better than every Princess excursion I took. Princess was paid to do better, but in fact did worse. I'll try much harder to book independent tours in the future. Ultimate Drink Disaster The one Princess Scam Machine that you cannot possibly avoid is the Beverage System. Costco included an Ultimate Beverage Package in our tour, so we thought we had avoided any friction around that, but we were so, so, so wrong. First, even if you have a package, you still have to show your card so they can manually write down your account information every single time you get any kind of drink. So that's annoying. And the rules around that are one drink at a time, so you won't be ordering a Diet Coke for your partner who is off at the restroom. Unless they are there to order their own drink and show their own card, they'll have to wait. The delay and friction around the dinner table as everybody gets carded for every drink at every meal distracts from whatever moment you are trying to have. Second, the Ultimate Lie is that you can have 15 glasses of wine per day, but you can't have even one Diet Sprite. Fountain soft drinks are included, but their fountain choices are limited, and canned soft drinks are not included. That means not only do they charge me $1.73 for each Diet Sprite, but I have to go through an apology ritual with the server who tries to sell me on a sugared spite and apologizes five times for having to charge me $2.30, but consoles me that I get 25% off the $2.30 (hence $1.73) for having bought the Ultimate Lie Package. I had to go through this every single day for every single Diet Sprite at every single meal. We all know that they get Diet Sprite for 25-cents a can, probably less than they pay for the wine and mixed drinks they are retailing for $9 each, so charging for canned soft drinks is a major ripoff and a major inconvenience. HORRIBLE Enrichment The port o'call lectures were boring beyond words -- you could bond with other passengers over this -- I literally fell asleep. The activities were insipid or insulting -- Paper Flower Making, Napkin Folding, Speed Painting. We tried some of these. No kids summer camp can compete with the stupid here. HORRIBLE Entertainment I loved the X-Trio, and the musical lounge acts were maybe so-so. The "I was Mufasa" guy in the Crown Theater was talented, and his show was tolerable. The ambient music in the ship was poor -- too much whiny Millennial Indy music for the mostly over-fifty crowd, and four times at least we had to hear "Sailing Away," so call it unimaginative. But the two Stage Shows were a disaster. Don't blame the singers, dancers, and musicians -- they were first rate talent, who signed up to do Disney-style musical reviews, but the producer and director of these shows -- and let the blame flow like a river all the way to the Entertainment Director and the Cruise Director -- ought to be fired so fast and so hard that they never experienced anything like it. The problem with the Soul Motown show was that they chose some of the worst tunes to fill the time. This happens when a director is bored of the standard tunes and wants to entertain themselves more than the entertain the audience. It was okay, but it would have been a better show if they had done platinum hits of any decade, or show tunes, or the Great American Songbook, or anything. The problem with Blame It On The Boogie, is, first, that Disco is not worth reviving. Second, the Disco Era was about more than just having sex, but this show simply staged a 40-minute on-stage orgy, which was so UN-family friendly that at one point the actors caricatured the sleaziest possible men and started sexually assaulting the women on stage. That nobody at Princess thought this was inappropriate -- or at least thought they could do better, that there were SOME standards for stage entertainment on Princess at all -- boggles the mind. It was a tough way to finish the cruise and left a bad taste in our mouths. Princess obviously slashes its entertainment budget compared to other cruise lines, but what I witnessed wasn't just low-budget. It was poor judgment and bad taste. SUMMARY So Princess has a great ship, a great crew, great service, great food, and you can have a great time. I will try to find a cruise line that isn't so aggressively, furiously intent on scamming its passengers at every turn. If there is no such line, I might return to Princess, and if I do, I will just do everything in my power to ignore the Shopping, Spa, Casino, Art, and Entertainment, and I am sure I will have a nice time. Read Less

Cruised with Princess a few years ago and it was brilliant, so was looking forward to a trip round the Med seeing some new sights. Embarkation went ok, cabin ok, food, drinks, service and trips all ok. The only snags i consider worth mentioning are the standard of entertainment, i have been on other cruises and with other cruise lines so i have room for comparison, but the entertainment on this cruise was shockingly poor. There was only one evening of 'Broadway' style production, with dancers performing an awful 70's medley which was high school production at best complete with sexist undertones, unnecessary in this day and age. Other nights were a particularly bad comedienne who was about as funny as a burning orphanage, a singer who had a bit part for 10 minutes in the lion king, admittedly he had a good voice but they had him sing two nights running as there was no alternative act. There was plenty of karaoke nights in other bars if that's your thing, along with knobbly knees and Mr and Mrs. The house band were OK but once you had heard one set the others on subsequent nights seemed the same. It was very very lazy entertainment. It wasn't all bad, there was a Frank Sinatra tribute act who i personally think should have been one of the theatre acts, not resigned to a side bar. Another snag, photographs, i have never understood why they print off hundreds of photos of guests, taken by the on board photographers, and charge a fortune for them ($25 per pic). As most never get sold. What a waste. Why not charge less, say half the price, you would sell twice as many = less waste, save the planet. A general question, why is the casino on board cruise ships so big? The one on Crown Princess is massive and on a good day there would only be a hand full of punters in there, what a strange waste of real estate that could be used for a better purpose. In all, an OK cruise with poor entertainment. My wife and i have decided not to cruise with Princess next time, we will try another line we haven't used before. Read Less

My wife and I are in our 50s and we’ve been on 17 cruises (7 Royal Caribbean, 4 Celebrity, 4 Princess, 1 Holland America, 1 Norwegian). This was our second Mediterranean cruise. This trip was an anniversary trip. Our trip started with a flight on Lufthansa out of Chicago O’Hare with a stop in Munich (We love this airport) and then on to Athens for a couple days pre-cruise. We flew roundtrip on Lufthansa but took a detour from Barcelona post cruise to Paris for three days on Joon Air which is a new “modern discount airline” from Air France. We enjoyed all flights. Hotels: In Athens we stayed at the Herodian Hotel. This was a pleasant surprise. It’s a boutique hotel literally 987 meters from the Acropolis. Our room faced the Acropolis and was large and modern. The room included breakfast which was a traditional Euro/American buffet style. I’ll post pictures with this review. The staff was welcoming and even left us a nice note welcoming us and congratulating us on our 25th wedding anniversary along with some Greek crackers. In Paris we stayed at the Hilton Paris Opera. This was another nice surprise. Its located near the Galleries Lafayette and Printemps Department store. The hotel is located only 15-20 minutes from all the major Paris historical spots. Close enough to get to and far enough from the center that you aren’t paying for location. The staff here were also fantastic. We are Hilton Honors members and chose to stay on the Executive Floor. For our anniversary, the Hilton upgraded us to a corner large spacious room that had a large bathroom with heated floors. I highly recommend staying at both hotels. The Ship: This was our second voyage of Crown. The first was in 2008. We enjoyed Crown back then but felt the public spaces were crowed and entertainment was terrible. Crown post drydock is so much better. The décor is just as we remembered and there is a much better use of space. Entertainment is now top notch and matches our experiences on Regal. We have never been fans of production shows, but I have to say that the new Encore show on Crown was spectacular. Embarkation: We took a cab from the Herodian Hotel (20 euros) to the port of Piraeus. At embarkation we arrived at the Piraeus Cruise Port at around 11:30am. The port was not too crowded, and we were able to check in quite fast…or so we thought. Here was the one negative experience. After the Princess Rep took our passports and all other pertinent information she went to get our room keys….and couldn’t find them. She asked us to wait and she would contact someone to get them. We thought this was odd as it has never happened before. Well, we waited 20 minutes, and no one came to give us our key cards. I finally spoke with an officer who checked and said that there was no request for our keys. After another 20 minutes we were finally given our keys and were headed on the ship. This was the one blip on a spectacular cruise. I mentioned the dry dock earlier. The dry dock included some very nice updates. Stateroom: Our Cabin on Caribe Deck 10 Midship (C419) has been updated. We love this location because all the cabins on this deck have nice deep balconies. All staterooms on Crown have been updated with the Princes Luxury Bed. Let me tell you….it’s luxurious!! We usually sleep well on cruises, but this bed was sooo comfortable. Also, our Room Steward Donna was very attentive and efficient. The pool area updated one bar (MIX) formerly Mermaids and split up the pizza and burger stations. Prego is now Slice and has Stromboli and deep-dish focaccia. Still the best pizza at sea IMHO. The Sundays Ice Cream Bar is now attached to slice and is called Coffee and Cones. The best pool area upgrade is a remake of the Trident Grill. It’s now The Salty Dog Grill (a Salty Dog Gastro Pub has been added inside the Wheelhouse Bar). This is absolutely the best deck food at sea. You can get a burger or chicken sandwich, fries, bacon cheese or chili cheese), all beef hotdogs, and chipotle lime chicken tacos (my personal new go-to deck food!). Other upgrades on Crown include Club Class mini-suites (We didn’t meet anyone who stayed in one) and the shops onboard have upgraded clothing and merchandise. Dining: We always enjoy the Princess main dining room food. The voyage was no different. As part of the anniversary package we purchased, we ate at Sabatini’s (located on deck 16) which is one of our favorite specialty restaurants. We were joined by our main dining table mates who were also celebrating their anniversary. Our server was fantastic!! He was personable and informative. When we told him it was our table mates anniversary, he stopped what he was doing and proceeded to bring out a cake for them! This topped off a wonderful filling meal of traditional Italian food. As an aside, the anniversary package also included champagne and chocolates in our stateroom, a chocolate cake served at the meal of our choice, a sign and balloons on our door and a picture of our choice with a nice frame. Well worth it! Our breakfasts were eaten mostly in the Horizon Court Buffet which seems to have gotten smaller bit the food is still decent. Breakfast as all you expect plus an omelet station (you order and they give you a ticket that you hand to a server who brings a freshly cooked omelet to you. I love that they hand you your napkin and silverware as you enter the food section and a server brings you drinks. Entertainment: Entertainment is throughout the ship and has been upgraded. Our Cruise Director Fernando got on the ship when we did and he never missed a beat. This cruise was during the group stage of the Word Cup and a schedule of all games with viewing locations were in each Princess Patter. Musical entertainment was very diverse and all over the ship. There was plenty to see and do each night. There was of course MUTS which showed movies, concerts and soccer games throughout the voyage. Ports and Shore Excursions: Athens: While this was the embarkation point, we had a day and half to visit the Acropolis, eat some great Greek food and walk around the Plaka. I’d spend one or two more days here next time. Santorini: This is a tender port. We took a ship excursion that included a stop at Santo Winery where we sampled Greek wine, cheese, olives and enjoyed the views of the ship and the island. Then we went to Oia which is the village with all the blue domed roofs. What a place! Spectacular views. After Oia we went to Fira which is the village where you get back to ship by walking down 588 steps to the tender area, riding on a donkey or our personal choice, taking the gondola down. We shopped and ate a traditional Greek lunch with a view of the Aegaeon Sea. The tour ended here, and we were on our own to get back to the ship. Kotor, Montenegro (Tender stop): Very old city which you arrive sailing through a fjord for 3 hours. I was up at 5:30am filming the entry…We were pleasantly surprised by this port and just took the tender and walked the old city on our own. Messina (Sicily): We used Joe Banana Tours for this port. The tour we chose was the Godfather Tour. We shared a van with others from CC and visited Castelmola, a hill town above Taormina with views of Mt. Etna and the sea (it was overcast so no views), Savoca which is a local town made famous by Godfather II, Forza d’Agro a medieval town and then Taormina. I highly recommend using Joe Banana tours while in Sicily. Naples: For this port we used Romeinlimo Tours. Once again, we shared a van with others from CC. Our driver, Alex met us at the port and took us on a ride through the Amalfi Coast to Positano where were enjoyed the views and walked the streets of the wonderful city on a hill. From Positano we went to Sorrento where we had a fantastic lunch, walked along the streets, shopped and sampled limoncello. After Sorrento, Alex took us to Herculaneum. Herculaneum was a resort town not far from Pompeii which is smaller and better preserved due to its closeness to Mt. Vesuvius. RomeinLimo is one of our favorite tour companies and also highly recommend them. We Disembarked in Barcelona. This was the most organized disembarkation we’ve had. We pre-purchased transfers to the airport and were on our way to Paris! This was a phenomenal cruise. We can’t wait to sail on Princess again and look forward to planning our next Med Cruise!! Read Less

After several embarkations with Princess, we decided to embark with them once again. Princess never failed to provide us with all of our needs and leave us wanting more after disembarking The service and the people who work there are very professional and kind. Our dining hosts, Vincent, Christian, and Peter were all so compassionate and motivated with their work. Our room was refreshed every day and we were consistently welcomed home by the room server. Not tomention the little chocolates that were provided everyday for us to munch on. Princess provided great service for the Sea Days as well Although there were a few moments when the boat was too shaky, it was entertaining majority of the time. There were consistent events provided for the passengers so they wouldn’t get bored on the ship. There was not a single moment that was uncomfortable during our stay and we would love to return again. Read Less

I chose this cruise for the itinerary. It was a 7 night Mediterranean cruise beginning in Athens Greece ending in Barcelona, Spain. We were a group of 4 adults. However, we were overwhelmed by the outstanding service on the ship. We booked our first mini suite club class cabin and received some extra perks. We were able to embark without delay but it seemed like the regular lines were moving quickly and smoothly. Upon arrival in our cabin, we were greeted with a glass of champagne from our cabin steward. The cabin also included a small bottle of white and red wine for our cabin. The best part of the cruise was the excellent service in the dining room. Our servers were kind, knowledgeable and very pleasant. Their recommendations were always on point. They even gave us advice on the areas we visited. We booked all of our tours privately so I have no knowledge of the excursions. Princess should be very proud of their staff. After the cruise we extended our stay in Barcelona for two nights. On the morning of our departure, a representative from Princess came to the hotel to make sure we got our transfer. (This was 2 1/2 days after our cruise ended) Also at the airport, we were met by two Princess representatives who escorted us to our check-in area. I've been on many cruises and this was a first. I would highly recommend this ship and look forward to another Princess cruise. Read Less

Was a nice cruise. Not spectacular.. but it was fine. Embarkation and disenbarkation were fine. Food was generally good. It probably ranged from ok to very good depending on what you had, with most of it being very good in the MDR. Tried the Pizza, Burgers and Fries twice - they were not so good. There was some good options in the International Cafe which is open 24 hours a day. Room was ok. Bed comfortable. Entertainment was tame.. but as you would expect on a ship with mostly retirees on board. Service from all staff is excellent as always.Itinerary was great. Booked all our own tours as Princess gauge their customers on tour-pricing. They're certainly always on the look-out to lift a few more dollars from you. An example was the US$32 they charged us for the short shuttle from the Ship to one port.. with the notice coming round the ship night before to book it.. making it look like the only option. Felt a bit ripped off when we passed the sign shortly down the road offering it for free. I guess at the end of the day, you've just got to remember they're a big corporate trying to hoover up our dollars and be aware of them. It was a good holiday, mostly great food and always great service.. so I should be greatful (which I am), but it did'nt leave us going "wow, we need to book another cruise". The full-on Itinerary meant we were away off ship for 9+ hours most days (only 4 sea days on a 14 day cruise) and being fair.. the cruise was more about the destinations and less about the cruise. Smoking in the Casino was a negative - hello America, it's 2018! Much of the rest of the world have figured out smokers don't actually mind smoking outside once it's compulsory.. and it then makes your bars, casinos etc a much better place for ALL. Ship is in good condition and has nice public areas. Particularly enjoyed the International Cafe which is open 24 hours and sells good coffee with the food complimentary. Read Less

The two week cruise commencing from Athens and terminating in Rome was a wonderful experience. The service, entertainment and food was excellent. The Princess excursions were well conducted for the most part except for Genoa which was rushed and the guide was not well versed with the history and had to read from her notes. The tour to Mt Etna was eventful as someone had their IPad stolen in a store that offers a taste of limoncello so be aware of your surroundings. The evening entertainment is first class but the afternoon lacks a liveliness. Could use a few more organised events for the youth on sea days. We had an interior cabin which was well appointed with a TV with select American channels. The maid service was excellent and our room was refreshed frequently. Dining room service was also excellent and the quality of food was good. All in all we had a great vacation and would recommend this cruise for those who want to get a flavor for ports in the eastern Mediterranean. Read Less

This was our 10th cruise with Princess and our third trip on the Crown. We boarded the ship in Athens Greece and we had 14 days of perfect weather, calm seas and the ports we visited were fantastic..Our cabin was clean and bright, but the ship is starting to show it's age. The water in our shower would suddenly turn cold then stop altogether and leave us covered in soap suds. After frantic tries to get the flow going again it would slowly come back (ice cold) then warm to normal. The first time it happened I figured it was an anomaly but when it later happened to my wife we started calling for help. A plumber showed up several hours later and said he 'fixed' it but the next day it did the same thing and after more trips from maintenance people they finally said they would have to move us to another cabin, which required that we pack everything up and move. Also, there was an entire bank of elevators that didn't work the whole cruise and with the ship being at full capacity it made for long waits. The food was better than we remembered and the waiters were pleasant but the service was very slow. If you ordered a drink before dinner it would sometimes takes 15 or 20 minutes to get there. Read Less

I chose this cruise to celebrate my 50th birthday. I loved the experience, but I wished there was MORE TO DO!!! On the ship, I mean. The best part for me was the excursions, and meeting some really nice people onboard. Outside of that, I wished there was more opportunities to have get-togethers. For those who have been on many cruises and have met all sorts of people, I think that would be easier, because you can plan cruises with these people. But for first-timers? Perhaps I can spend more time on cruise critic and maybe find some new friends to go on the next cruise with. I went with my aunt this time. OH......and the best thing that happened to me was the day before my birthday, I went to the First-time cruisers welcome in Princess Live!! and won the drawing for an Elite membership being given away!!!!! That was awesome!!! :) Read Less

We spent time in Athens, Delphi, and Meteora before the cruise. Taking a taxi to the port was much better than trying to save money using public transportation. We were thrilled with our little balcony, our first after 13 cruises. I think we are now converts! It was especially lovely in the evenings to sit and read. The food on the ship was very good. I especially liked the Afternoon Tea. We chose set dining, but four of the seats at our table for 7 were never filled, and the other two also didn't always come. We will opt for anytime dining in the future. Our waiter, Joseph was exceptional. The entertainment was top notch. The best were the magicians. The theater isn't big enough though. It's necessary to get there 20-25 minutes before the show to get a seat. Three separate shows would be better. I enjoyed that there was a "book club" but only two other passengers came to the meeting. We loved our first port, Katakolon, where we booked our excursion Olympia Site and Museum Experience with Niki (?). While labeled semi-private, it was a large tour bus. But we divided into a group of 14 with a good guide. We'd highly recommend it. Kotor, Montenegro was next. It is a medieval city that used to be part of Yugoslavia. We took a ship's shore excursion since we had shipboard credits. A small boat took us to a quaint chapel and a village. I would NOT pay for that excursion. Wander around inside the walled city on your own. We hope that soon the ship can return to Turkey or maybe go to Corfu or Malta instead of here three times if taking the 21 day cruise. Mykonos was too windy for us to dock. Read Less

WE have sailed with Princess for decades - always stellar experiences in every respect. This past cruise was a disaster, in that, we had a staff working area across the hall from our room on the Baja deck and were wakened several times each night with loud banging - like metal trolleys or pots and pans etc. This was the standard of sound proofing on an otherwise beautiful NEW ship. The staff who would come up to check each time we phoned in the middle of the night, refused to acknowledge there was anyone there and to call again if we were disturbed. After four nights of less than there hours a night of sleep, I fell ill. Two days into the second week, our room was finally changed, although no one had bothered to respond to the written complaint we had deposited at the customer relations desk. The dining experience seems to have been included in the cost cutting efforts as fresh fruits were blemished, meats so tough, we were leaving food on our plates. Our waiter Sim can vouch for that. The entertainment standard has slipped considerably as, presumably, costs to hire talent have gone up. Service on board Princess ships is wonderful - from our cabin steward to the dining room staff etc. The people who would come up to the room each night to check on the noise, were polite but ineffective. We are angry with the Supervisor at the Customer Relations who never saw the need to respond to our written request - ever! We have rated this cruise as below average first and foremost, for the nightly disturbance causing lack of sleep and my falling ill because of it, followed by falling standard of meals. Once home, we wrote again on September 19 and have yet to hear back - it is October 3 today. Read Less

We had an EXCELLENT Med cruise on Emerald Princess about 4 years ago. This was a different itinerary but we expected just as good an experience this time. It wasn't bad, it just wasn't great. Good points; * We used the sanctuary 3 times which was very good on sea days. (I did get a sliver of glass from the floor in my big toe. Quite a lot of blood but it happens; I got over it). * The cabin staff were very good and attentive. Perhaps not as friendly and engaging as previous staff but very efficient. * We went for set dining and had an excellent table. 6 from UK and 3 Aussies. I don't know if we were just lucky or Princess allocated us in some way. we were habitually the last table out of the restaurant in the evening. * The singers and dancers were first rate. They could easily fit into major onshore productions. The choreography was excellent and the timing of the dancers superb. Points for improvement. * Generally the staff were not as engaging and friendly as previously. It seemed just like a job, if they had served you what else did you expect? This applied to front desk, excursions staff, waiting staff, security staff and specialist staff. A big re-training exercise is needed on Royal Princess. * PLEASE do not bombard us with product selling on the first day on board. Drinks packages (although NOT the restaurant wine packages), wine tasting, Lotus Spa treatments, coffee cards etc. It seemed that Princess just wanted to extricate the maximum amount of additional spend they could do from us. It was too in your face. * Why oh why has Princess converted the Atrium into a raucous noisy venue? It used to be somewhere to go and have a quiet coffee or drink where you could chat to others with perhaps some subtle background music. Not now. It is filled for much of the day with loud music which is ultra intrusive. Come on Princess, the Atrium is not the place for these bands. * Noise levels generally have been amplified. The pool area 'games' sessions are unbearable. In Crooners the speakers are set at a volume which makes conversation virtually impossible. The singer was due to finish at 12.30am one night. He then did a 'final' two encores before going into a third. It really was unnecessary and should have been stopped by the cruise director or his staff. * We had the gold wine package and were satisfied with it although Barolo has been taken off the wine list. But others at our table had dreadful trouble in the first week getting the wine they wanted. It appeared that either Princess or their suppliers had run down the wine seller and even sauvignon blanc was out of stock. * Meal quality was disappointing. I expect ice cream sundae to come in a large glass not 3 blobs of ice cream in a stainless steel dish with some cream. Rib eye steak was very disappointing. Even the Cesear salad has deteriorated. The choice available has reduced, sometimes portion sizes were very small and cooking was not what one would expect and we have received previously. * Where has the independent travel adviser gone? On previous cruises we could go and talk to someone about independent excursions. This service has been withdrawn. Disappointing. We had a VERY NICE time on the Royal Princess but it has undoubtedly deteriorated in the last two years. We will give Princess another try but probably not on the Royal. We much preferred the Emerald and Ruby. Read Less

Initially I chose this cruise because it visited many of the Greek Islands I wanted to see. The ship in and of itself is beautiful, but other amenities missed the mark. While the Concerto dining room was great many of the food items were sub par, especially Sabitinis. The everyday menu was better than the selections that changed nightly. However, the breakfast buffet was great, there was a wide variety and truly had something for everyone. The entertainment on the ship was a bit disappointing, none of the events (line dancing, karaoke, magician, comedian, live show, etc) lasted longer than 45minutes to an hour. I thought that was very unusual, especially for a ship that size. I would like to see the events last longer, giving people more time to enjoy. Lastly, there were some very grouchy and unfriendly people on the ship. I understand they are probably overworked and under paid, but that's not my fault. I pay for a service and expect exceptional customer service. Finally, the ports the shipped stopped at were amazing and the stops were quite long (anywhere from 8 hours to 11 hours). Read Less