I totally agree with "Overcrowding" situation described by another reviewer. They put over 5000 people on the ship (passengers and crew) but the elevators were the same size and number as on the 2000 passenger ships we've been on. But my REAL disappointment was with the Medallion thingie. It was announced two years ago and has been in "sea trials" for almost a year. I think we were on an inauguration cruise (or at least it felt that way). From my reading I expected (anticipated) the following: 1) Boarding would be LOTS faster than on Pre-Medallion cruises) 2) Getting drinks on the Lido Deck would be LOTS faster also 3) Finding our friends on the ship wouldn't require a pre-arranged meeting place and time 4) Seeing my bill would be simple Medallions are supposed to do other things but I didn't care about any other features. Here is what I found: 1) Boarding took the same amount of time - even though we had received our medallions in the mail prior to arriving at the port. For those people who didn't have medallions already, the line to get them was LONG - VERY long. 2) Getting a drink on the Lido deck STILL took longer than it took me to eat. I'd finished eating and was leaving as I watched the waiter go by with my drink. 3) We were quite intrigued by the idea of being able to locate our friends on the ship. Unfortunately setting up the medallion to do that proved impossible for us. We ultimately had to resort to having a crew member do it for us. It took him over 15 minutes to make it work. And we were not alone. The line to get help  was more than 30 people long all during the (rather limited) hours posted. We finally got someone to help on day 3 of the 7 day cruise. 4) The bill was supposed to be available via medallion. But when I accessed it, I was informed by the computer that my account didn't exist. So I had to get a copy from the Guest Services Desk. On the PLUS side, the medallion was a GREAT room key. But that was about the only thing it could do without problems. Other things: We wanted to play cards. But there is no card room. So we asked at Guest Services where we could go. They suggested: 1) Crown Grill - We coiuldn't because they were serving Pub Lunch there 2) Library - Nope was full (2 tables fill up quickly) 3) Sabatinis - No. A private function was going on. They had no other suggestions. So we left. Later we wandered toward the dining room to see what was for dinner. We had to do that because medallion doesn't include menus. We found the staff had set up both cards and games there. So why didn't Guest Services know about that? Food was good to VERY good except for breakfast which was boring. We ate at Sabatinis one night and had to apologize to our table mates for recommending it because the meal was quite ordinary - certainly not worth paying $29 each for it. The highlight of the cruise was the "word-of-mouth" Winemaker dinner. It wasn't advertised. We found out about it purely by accident. That meal raised my overall rating of the cruise from a "D" to a "C-". But overall, I have to say that Medallion-Class is a dud. Read Less

Service was good most of the time, but kicked sure can use a lot improvements and at Holizon Buffet is ok but they need a lot improvement on how to display those foods and hate to say and write but that sushi was not eatable & miso soup was terrible. Dinner was almost same menu every nights dissapointed. Same salad & soup most time.too. Took Alaskan cruise back in May and was better than this cruise, may try another cruise line to see what they can offer or compare that’s what we need to do may be. It was too many people this time compare from last trip and over all my husband & I were disappointed. Entertainments were just ok not that fantastic. Sometimes restroom was dirty. Over all restaurant food was disappointed too. Another disappointment was was the gift shop selection. People told us ship was only one year old, but hard for us to believe bcuz most places were not that clean either. Read Less

Many bad experiences on this cruise. Absolutely do not book a room over the theater. Loud banging noise until 11pm. The service was horrible- I had to get my own everything..... too much bad to write about. The food was really bad for the most part. Unhealthy and tasteless OR way too salty. Steward was no where to be found. Room service didn’t answer once. Front desk was rude several times during the week. Shops were very pushy to buy, as was the art auction. Super loud party constantly on deck. Fitness center track is built right over the smoking area (yuck) Bartenders were always grumpy. Adult pool was way too hot. Excursions were canceled (two ports!) the elevators were impossible to get on, Ina regular basis The good: the nightly shows and the cruise director’s personality. The sushi. There are many cruise lines out there. Might want to shop around. I have this cruise line booked for May and will Probably cancel it was so bad Read Less

I booked this cruise with my son ( less than a year old), my wife and my in-laws as a getaway. From the moment we arrived at the dock in LA, things just got worse for us. Upon arrival, my wife did not get the correct medallion to gain her Elite status that she had earned. Instead, she got the basic blue one as I had got (since this was my first time sailing with Princess). When it came time to board the ship instead of being asked if we wanted to take the elevator or even mentioning where the elevators were. They expected that we were going to take my son's stroller (which had a full case of water as they WILL NOT PROVIDE WATER FOR FORMULA) up the escalator and carry it the rest of the way. By the time we had moved over to the elevators and had reached the gangway. All other groups had been called and had begun their boarding of the ship, negating any elite status embarkation privilege we were supposed to have. Once we got onboard we headed over to guest services to get the lay of the land and find out the locations of the change tables to make things easier for us, as my son had already needed to be changed from waiting at the dock. The rep at the counter instructed us that "all ADA washrooms had change tables", so off I went to change him. Sadly none of them had change tables onboard the ship (only one is in the kid's club on deck 17). So irritated we went back the next day to enquire about it and were told that "they do not provide them because people may try to flush the diapers, and that it is more sanitary to change them in your room". This came as a complete shock and off as a huge sign of disrespect towards us, not because of the comment but the realization that the company clearly markets themselves as a "multi-generational welcoming company". So while I would not expect go-karts or waterslides to be on board, basic medical necessities like change tables surely should have been available (even if it were just one per level). Then comes the real kicker, during my week onboard everyone from guests to crew members felt it within their right to come up and touch my child. While he does not have any medical issues I do not permit strangers to come up and touch him as I see this as disrespectful and the number of guests that do not wash their hands frequently is appalling (norovirus does spread like wildfire on ships for a reason people). Towards the end of the cruise, I brought forward the issue of crew members touching my child without consent to the person at guest services and they just laughed at this and the idea that I had to either run back to the room to change my child fighting my way past hallways that were always cluttered with carts from the cleaning staff. Or change him on the floor of the bathroom in the ADA washrooms. The doorways into the rooms are so narrow that a basic single collapsible stroller cannot pass through adding to the daily aggravation for the family. So in closing, if there is supposed to be truth in advertising then Princess really has missed the mark on this and I will be sure to never recommend them as a cruise line to anyone with children. The only reason I am giving two out of 5 above is that the Maitre d was excellent and addressed all our concerns with our dining promplty and professionally. Along with our room stweardess Paula, her friendly bubbly attitude helped make our stay a lot better than it was. Read Less

We chose this cruise as seeing the Canal was on our bucket list and we liked leaving and returning to the pacific Coast as we hate long flights. Getting into the terminal was a long process as another ship was also boarding-there should be 2 distinct lines for each ship and terminal, but after we were dropped off our luggage was quickly taken and we proceeded very seamless through the boarding process. This is our 5th cruise so we are familiar with it. Our room was fine, but the 3 things we asked for, months ahead of time, and promised they would be done by the time we boarded, were not done - We asked for a hand held shower be installed as we find the showers very small and this helps , second we asked for house coats, none were provided and for additional pillows, none provided. We had to go to Customer Service and ask and about after 3 hours it was done - what is the use of asking many months in advance and promising it would be taken care of, and not followed up on! I was not impressed by the quality of the food in the Horizon court - very bland and a lot of stews..I realized that this cruise had a GREAT many seniors on it-just look at all the walkers and scooters everywhere, but I am sure they enjoy food with flavor and texture . The sales and pushiness of the EFFY product was very irritating Constant flow of "there's a sale" not really I am Canadian and by the time you do the exchange the prices are very high and I can get the same product at home for less cost - The sales they had in the Dining room and such were very bad - they were trying to sell off all their Alaskan Cruise souvenirs at what they said were discounted, but I could walk down any street in LA and get the same T Shirts at a quarter of the price 10.00 for a kids T Shirt, not a good deal for a so called sale. We pay on average 10,000.00 to take this cruise and am bothered at the constant sales and the lack of affordable shopping on board - I mean 6.00 for a tub of Pringles, really...! There was only 1 person on boar that was under the age of 20 - he was a 10 year old boy and he had the Kids zone and personnel all to himself - he must have been very bored For what the excursions were, the time on a bus and the time allotted at the sites, were not worth the costs - We had booked and excursion at every port, but cancelled after the first 3 I didn't pay top dollar to spend 3 hours on a bus and 20 minutes at our destination. I realize that this is the first time in a long while that Princess has been back to some of these ports but they do need to rethink some of these areas excursions. The walk from some of these ports were too long in the heat-It would have been to Princesses benefit if they arranged with some locals or the port persons to have some kind of quick pick up and drop of going between both, as there were more people in their 80"s than under. On 2 of the 3 excursions we went on we arrived at a church where there was a funeral going on, so we could not enter properly-some people went in and took pictures near the back as not to disturbed the mass, but really-the guide should be checking into these things before we arrive or something-the 2nd church , just minutes after we arrived, a mass started so we all sat I was disappointed in the entertainment it was OK but they defiantly got their entertainers from the "C" class list-never heard of any of them. As far as the entertainment during the day-there was none-except for doing posters? Are we in kindergarden? The staff in the Horizon with a few exceptions were not very good-many times after we sat down we had to try and flag down someone to get a drink and on many occasions would just go get one ourselves. For a ship that just came our of refurbishment, they seemed to be shutting down one side or the other of the Horizon for some kind of repair not to say that most of the public restrooms had the same issue. Our cabin Stewart also was not very attentive-our balcony had some old wet folded up papers that were used to stop the rattling of the doors between our cabins on the floor as well as some popcorn and such that was never cleaned up-any dishes or glasses that were dirty were never cleared away unless I put them in the bathroom sink and after a few days-our bathrobes were taken away and not returned no explanation. The wait staff for the most part were OK. Our waiter and his assistant, Freddi and Adi were very good, and attentive . We made it a point when we would go to the Dining room for breakfast to ask to be seated in Freddie's area which on more than 1 occasion prompted the waiters waiting in line to chant Freddie, Freddie... which was amusing - The menu's for dinner were very much lacking - Do Not Order steak they are paper thin and not well done - the choices are very non imaginative and some were down right awful-The cold cucumber and mint soup . Many times I went with the Alfredo instead of the other options as nothing appealed to us.Overall this is our 2nd trip with Princess and we have traveled 3 times with RCI - and there is a big difference. We have travel ed with Princess as the places their ships leave from and where they have destinations happens to be where we would like go go, but they have a ways to go the catch up with RCI Not saying they are bad, just lacking When we arrived back disembarking was relatively painless with the exception that one of the wheels on our luggage was broken and a Princess rep took a report and said it would be anywhere from 2-4 weeks but we must have a claim submitted within 14 days of the end date of our cruise. We have a problem with this, as if we damaged anything in our stateroom-we would have it billed to our credit card immediately - when we arrived home we were told by the repair shop that it would take over a month to repair as the part would have to be ordered - this was a brand new suitcase. We called Princess when we got home to file our claim and it took over 3 hours to submit our claim after holding for almost 1 hour - NEED TO IMPROVE THE AFTER CRUSE SERVICE !!!!!!!! Overall we did enjoy the canal, but were very disappointed with the overall experience on the Coral Read Less

First time on Princess and absolutely the last. First thing was the water in our shower was almost unbearably hot and it took 7 days to get a plumber who turned it down a little but it was still not comfortable. Could never get him back to adjust it more. Final straw was we had purchased a DVD of the cruise including the canal transit. When we got home to watch it there was nothing on it about the Panama Canal. We were so disappointed. Our travel agent contacted Princess to try to get another one but was told they can’t sell merchandise from cruises that are over. Although the ship was selling T-shirts from Alaska cruises so I guess over is not necessarily over. We only ate in the MDR 3 times as the food was mostly tasteless but that was ok because the buffet and the specialty restaurants more than made up for it. All the staff were friendly, helpful and efficient and we enjoyed meeting them. We took a behind the scenes tour of the ship which we thoroughly enjoyed. Overall there were many enjoyable times but the problem with the DVD has ruined Princess for us. Read Less

Staff were fantastic but this cruise was 95% retirees over the age of 70. The activities were designed to entertain the same age bracket. We are late 40s and found the activities boring and the demographics were way too old. Other than great pools, there was nothing to entertain our age bracket. The internet was terrible, too slow and lots of drop outs. The room service was great, although no towel animals. The beds were extremely comfortable and balcony was worth the amount. The food was ok. Loved the pizzas and ice cream. The Lotus Spa services were good but way overpriced. The fitness centre was well equipped. Was disappointed with the day in Papeete, when no shops were open. The overnight stay should have been in Honolulu where there was more to do. There were no theme nights and the night club was designed again for old people. No area suited young people. Read Less

The cleanliness and quality of furnishings needs serious help. I have cruised with Princess 6 previous times and have never had a ship or staff like this. It was as if no one cared from the company to the staff. I have generalized staff in that statement but there was some good people of course but more rude, abrupt and uncaring staff than good. This includes some higher ranking staff like store managers. I would not recommend this ship to anyone. The itinerary was great although not all the excursions lived up to their write ups. Our cabin must have a service area behind it because the noise thru the walls was awful day and night. The casino is tiny and has outdated machines with a very small smoking area. The area on deck 15 for smokers has no cover from sun or rain and wind. The only other place was the cigar lounge of 12 seats with 0 air conditioning and a portable air exchange that was plugged in. Not a single fan. Most times it was standing room only. The furniture is horribly worn, the walls need washing as well as the windows inside and out. No one does anything but empty the ashtrays a few times a day. I meant to take a picture of the total lack of cleaning on this ship as it was everywhere. To get a drink you had to go to the bar and order it as there was no staff around to order from. Read Less

We truly enjoyed our cruise. That being said, Island Princess is OLD and tired. We do enjoy the smaller ships, but in the future because how Princess manages these smaller ships and offers lesser quality food, music, activities and we feel lower quality staff, we will not be returning to the Island. My primary observations: No electrical by bed. Had to request extension cord and run across cabin. Trip hazard. Daily activity flyer, print too small. Cruise director & staff superficially friendly. If asked for a more in depth answer, they get surly. Beds are very nice. Towels are the quality of a cheap hotel. Toilet paper and facial tissues are bargain basement quality. Why did the balcony rail and deck need to be stained and sealed during my passage? Received notice after several days into cruise that our balcony would not be accessible during the canal crossing. Why did we pay the premium for a balcony or when booking New Princess Net is pretty good. But, expect to have spotty service during rain and/or fog. In cabin TV. The presentation of the channels and guide is very hard to figure out and know what is on and how to select. Bridge cam is out of focus and has been since we've been monitoring in preparation for our cruise. 3 months. Horizon buffet. Restaurant management not engaging with customers. At every meal on the horizon, 50% of tables had no salt shakers. Weird. Maritime crew not friendly. Large wall posters advertising light snacks at the Patisserie and coffee bar. Yet, no food available at the patisserie coffee bar. Apparently, a coffee bar has been added to the casino where the food has been moved to with no mention to the passengers. Just sweet buns. Front desk/passenger customer service – these ladies are life savers answering questions and solving problems that better management would have prevented from ever happening. Eve & Belen helped me many times and had a delightful attitude. Cruise director & staff – bubbly, but if asked for some help, or to resolve an issue, not so interested. When met outside of an activity, quite distant and unfriendly. Morning coffee and afternoon wine at La Patisserie – Fabian and Ana will always be remembered. Ship's climate control - The ship appears to be 5 separate compartments, connected into 1 master vessel. The temperature and humidity can vary quite noticeably between these sections of the ship. There are no clocks in the rooms. Things Princess does not mention, but passengers should know. The shops, casino, spa, etc. are not Princess operated. They are leased operations. Besides being considerably more expensive than similar State-side businesses, if you have any issues with products needing warranty service, you must go to the vendor, not Princess. $5 for a tube of Pringles? Insulting. Gambling. There is no gaming commission overseeing operations as you find on land casinos. Payouts for slot machines and table games are at the discretion of the casino and yes, not as favorable as popular casinos such as Las Vegas. Some have noticed that the slot payouts are favorable on day 1 or 2 on the cruise to excite the passengers and then lowered for the remainder of the cruise. ADA - The doors to many places on the Island Princess ship, unlike the newer Princess ships I've been on are not only not auto-open, and are very hard to open, even for non-wheelchair use passengers. One of the greatest benefits of Princess vs. other Lines are the self-service laundries. Unfortunately, there is a 3" transition into them so this service is totally inaccessible to a wheelchair. Food - I do not know if it is the age of the ship, the itinerary, the Chef or what, but as compared to the Regal & Emerald, the menu is far less exciting, the meat quality is lesser and the wait time for food delivery diminishes the dining experience. Wine – we expect to pay 2x retail as in most restaurants. 4 times retail is insulting. Princess tries to convince us that they are concerned about the environment by suggesting we should use our bath towels for many days, yet the amount of single use beverage containers and paper products at buffet wash stations is far more wasteful. Does Princess ever mention the $40 million dollar fine for Illegal Ocean dumping and 9 probation violations? Future Cruise Dept. - I do not understand the benefit to the passenger for this onboard department. I was interested in an Alaska cruise for 2021. Princess had not published the itineraries yet or which ships will be in use. The staff person could not or would not put me an email list to let me know when they were known. Her suggestion was to check with a travel agent. Pretty sad. We have found that the daily activities on the Island are sparse during the day as compared to our other Princess cruises. Activities such as trivia and marriage match game are not scheduled until later in the day. The live music in the various lounges and Plaza are noticeably poorer quality than previous cruises on other Princess ships. Shows - The band is pretty good. Princess advertises 'Las Vegas" style shows. Makes me think that they have never seen Vegas or NYC shows. They are nice, but more like high school talent show quality. There is nothing wrong with them, but be more honest as to the offerings. The musicians in different lounges and plaza were not the quality I’ve come to expect from Princess. Our other Princess ships had a dedicated pizza restaurant. Very nicely prepared. Santorini's offers pizza a few times per cruise. No better than the pizza on the pool deck and no servers with a 'tude' to deal with. The Ocean App. Why can't the lunch and dinner menus be post there? Read Less

Wanted to cruise the Mexican Riviera with our best friends. Thought Princess was supposed to be a good line. Nothing special about it. The food was not very good , even the food in the pay extra restaurants. The room was very small and lacked any color or attractivenes and it was classified as a Deluxe Balcony Stateroom. We wont be sailing with Princess again. There are too many better choices... Royal Caribbian, NCL, Disney, Oceana, Holland America. The best thing about this cruise was how great our room steward was. As far as the itinerary, Puerto Vallarta was the best, lots to see and do. Though Cabo is a nice place to spend a few days (have done that in the past) I dont think it was worth the hastle of going ashore. The other thing that was a surprise is that the "Stuff" they served as ice cream was NOT... it was watery and tasteless. And lastly, finding seating at the buffets was always a challenge. Needlless to say we have no plans to sail with Princess again. Read Less

We choose this ship because we love it’s sister ship, the Coral. This is NOT the same ship as the Coral. The huge two story Universal Lounge was removed, lots of cabins were added instead. The fitness room was moved from its larger upper deck view of the sea location to a smaller inside the ship lower down deck. It was a joke and people actually paid to use fitness studios in port to workout. The Piazza does not have a La Patisserie that serves coffees AND snacks, even though the large electronic kiosks at the elevators say this. The atrium is small and narrow. The bar at the casino has no snack area unlike the Coral. Less public spaces + more passengers = no empty chairs anywhere on the ship! This itinerary up the West Coast is very popular and that is why we booked it. But they did not have enough spaces for a decent Zumba Class (was taught in the Wheelhouse Lounge) or Dance Lessons, both of which HAD been taught in the Universal Lounge. Because there was only a few good public spaces at night (Theatre, Explorers, Wheelhouse), these areas were always very packed. The Captains Circle evening area is not private like it use to be. The Captains Party was not even held on a formal night. There were NO DAILY HIGH TEAS! The internet was down the last 24 hrs on the ship. These are all deal breakers for me. The bands this time for the most part were not that great. Drinks were too fruity/not good booze. The food was for the most part good although very salty which covers bad cooking. Curtis Stone had a few menu items added here and there but for the most part were missing daily like we are use to. Service in the dining rooms were extremely slow. Coffee tasted watered down and was undrinkable several days. The Pub Lunch food was sad and cold and small except for dessert. Specialty restaurants were good so we ate there 3 nights at $29pp. The buffet was good and seemed highly attended since the dining rooms were slow and empty. Photos were $25 each. There was not enough activities on board nor were there any guest educational speakers on the ports from what we could tell. Pastries were good. Servers and staff were extremely friendly. Cabin attendant very good. The captain and cruise staff very nice. If it were not for the amazing ports we visited, this cruise would have been a bust. We are almost the top tier of the Captains Circle (black card), but from what we can tell, the perks are not that great at this level, except for laundry service. So we may never cruise on Princess again if this ship is any indication of where Princess is going in the future with amenities and costs. That’s too bad. We have done over a dozen cruises with them in the last 10 years. Read Less

We had a wonderful cruise because Alaska is gorgeous, however the Ruby was the worst ship I've sailed on. Not only does the ship appear old and tired, so does much of the crew. Our steward didn't address us by name, so if that's your thing, good luck. Personally, it doesn't matter to me. I'm more concerned about having service, like ice in the cabin, without having to beg a few times. It took 3 days for pre-purchased alcohol to get delivered to our cabin. The flowers finally made it on day 4. Air conditioning seems pretty basic and certainly expected in a premium aft-facing balcony. No, it's wasn't. Four phones calls, three techs, and finally we were told that would just be the temperature of the room. Never thought we would literally sweat all night on an Alaskan cruise. So, if air conditioning is high on your list, look elsewhere because sleeping on the balcony for cold air is miserable. The food...well, it's there and usually lukewarm. You pay extra for the good food. We did have the $100.00 balcony dinner and that was awesome. I can't comment on the MDR because we never went. On all other cruises, the stewards are like ninjas. You walk out your cabin for an hour and POOF, your cabin is refreshed and the bed made. Our bed was made 5 times on a 12 day cruise. I told y'all the crew seemed tired. I can say that the big suite next to us seemed to always have their door open with the steward in there. Lucky dog. Anyway, I know that I forgot a lot because this looks much too pleasant. Oh, it's a 2ft square shower with a non adjustable shower head. Take a good bath before you leave and when you get home. Not sure how a large person fits in there. Definitely can't shave legs. No, I'm never going back on Princess. Never, ever. I've sailed Holland America, Norwegian, Carnival and Princess is absolutely last place. Read Less

As you will read from many other reviewers; this was "the worse" Princess cruise I have been on -- and I have been on many, many Princess cruises. Something was terribly wrong with 50% of the interactions on this cruise. To be fair, I would like to give you a balanced overview. THE GOOD: Our room steward "Randy" was THE BEST we have ever had. He should be training for Princess on how to take care of Guests. The International Cafe people were very friendly and helpful - but they need more staff for the service - everyone goes there. Two casino people really stood out (Hans and Mario) - they were very professional and helpful to guests (more on the casino later) I liked the new market place for eating and for the layout, colors and seating - the food -- that will be later too. The Crown Grill - excellent Chilean Sea Bass and steak for others. Best food and service. The fitness center - the dry dock brought mostly new equipment. I'm always at the gym on shore and the cruises - they did an excellent job here. And, there were 45+ people in the gym at all time -- just goes to show - if you build it, they will come ;) Traditional dining - good fish, nice salmon, excellent asparagus. THE BAD Customer service desk - clueless people, no help or service. It seemed that half the crew must have been new to the cruise industry and all the guest were the guinea pigs. And they were just plain rude at times. You would be talking with them about a problem - the phone would ring and they would cut you off and spend 5-10 minutes on the phone before coming back to you. Casino manager ( I won't mention names - I do have them, but it's not worth mentioning) shut the casino craps table down around 11 or `11:30 and forced everyone to leave - over and over - who does that? (more on the craps table under horrible) Drinks - every night the same thing at the craps table - hour to an hour and a half before they would come to ask if you wanted a drink. If you wanted one before that, you had to stop gambling and go to the bar to buy one. Why would they do that? The food in the new market place - average - and that is being generous. I did like their sandwiches for lunch. Food over all here was far below what you would normally expect from Princess Cruises. I will say their salads were fresh ! Traditional dining - this is the sad part - 50% of the time the meal was good, the other 50% of the time - I couldn't eat the food. The beef stroganoff - couldn't cut the meat with a steak knife - much less chew it. Braised beef - let's just call it braised fat. Their steaks - I wanted medium rare - it took them four times - each one was rarer than the previous one. People at my table were "mooing" because it was such a joke. The 4th steak was perfect. Their lamb - one bite was all I could do - so bad. The excursion for snorkeling at our 2nd port was nice - but the boat was way too small for the number of people who went on the excursion. THE HORRIBLE: Two main things stand out that really ruined this cruise. As others have said, the excursions were ruined for people and Costa Rica was the worse. Hundreds of people missed their buses because Princess wouldn't let you off the ship - seriously - they kept people in the Princess Theatre with no stickers or organization - when they finally let people out - row by row, dozens of buses had already left. So yes, hundreds of people missed their excursions in Costa Rica !! They reimbursed everyone - but it was the one big excursion I wanted to go on. People were standing in the heat of the day on the dock while they waited. Most excursions were cut in half for their time. Someone mentioned that this happened near the beginning of the cruise and people talked about it for the next week and a half - that is an understatement - people were furious - including me. I will give credit to Gary McNeil - he owned up immediately for all the problems and took full responsibility. Princess should be happy to have people like him. Craps table in the casino - okey, something is up with this and Princess needs to look into the issue. The table was "re-done" in the dry dock and new dice were added. 14 days of playing and every player lost every night. The dice would land and bounce at 90 degree angles. The dice would stop rolling and then "suddenly" flip over one more time. Many players there were commenting on what was up with the dice and table. We've played craps for years in Vegas and on cruise ships. NEVER have I seen the dice act so weird AND have 100% of the people loose at the table for 14 days straight. I'm not accusing them of anything - BUT - they need to look into this. We will not be playing craps on our next cruise with Princess. This is serious folks. FINAL WRAP UP: We did not come back "RENEWED" you will find from other reviewers, this cruise really hurt Princess's reputation in so many ways. Which is sad for me, I really liked them a lot until this cruise :( Read Less

First time on a cruise. Expectations were high. Those glitzy commercials... First, the positives. Overall it was a relaxing and friendly environment. I cannot say enough positive about the wait staff in the dining areas and every other staff member we crossed was cheery and enthusiastic and very willing to help and engage. The state room was filthy on arrival. Feces smeared on the sides of the toilet bowl, dirty hand prints in the shower, and clearly not vacuumed. Patio doors to deck were filthy too. Sofa in room was grimy looking. You board a ship with trepidation about getting norovirus and this is what greets you. We were given a complimentary meal in the steak house after complaining. Never did see the complimentary robes we signed up for before the cruise. The internet service you purchase is locked to one device. This is not mentioned prior to purchase. The ship's television service went out three times for hours, once for a solid 24 hours. - so much for relaxing in your room at the end of an evening with a show before bedtime. I was glad to not be traveling with children. The buffet featured food that was bland the majority of the time. Maybe I can appreciate this more when I am a geriatric. Food had from the other dining areas was much better. AMATEUR live entertainment. For example there was a Mariachi band with some members pretending to play instruments along to canned recordings. It made relaxing in common areas during live performances difficult. It really was that cringe worthy. I am not musical at all and I was picking up on it. For my husband who is a classically trained musician it was excruciating. The Medallion GPS tracker/room key/electronic payment device was convenient. I felt like part of a wildlife tag and release program but it did aid the room stewards in knowing we were not in the room and we found it cleaned at all differing hours of the day which was convenient. For those signing up for shore excursion packages please do NOT assume that if lunch is provided as part of the excursion that a beverage of ANY sort is included as well (billed separately for water - surprise!). Mazatlan is a hard pass. Anyone who has visited a Mexican city bordering the US has already seen what they have to offer of squalor, but now add in many Mexican federal policemen with machine guns for that extra war zone feel. Read Less

I chose this cruise because of the value and mostly because it leaves locally from a port in my home town. The bed was uncomfortable and the ship does not provide ANY alternatives. The response to maintenance took days. I had brought protein drinks that had to be kept cool and the fridge wasn't cooling. For some reason the ship decides to schedule maintenance on our balcony during the early morning while we were at sea and told us to keep our doors locked and curtains closed. When I opened the doors later I found notes to not touch the railings and the smell was awful. The entertainment was Vegas Lounge level. Other than the helpful, awesome crew, I was very disappointed in just about everything else. The food was pretty good too. My only complaint about that was that out of all 20 or so choices of dessert there was nothing chocolate (except cookies) on many nights in the buffet. Try Royal Caribbean instead! Read Less

The largest balcony rooms (not suites) were too small and too much furniture. Food was not good. It seems the chef likes to make the food look good, but it honestly had no taste. They served a lot of pork meals - probably because pork is so cheap. Not impressed. The medallion method is awesome. We never had to sign anything and were able to use the apps to see what was going on around the ship without carrying the agenda around with us all day. The entertainment was second rate at best. Typical comedian - a constant barrage of not funny cruise jokes. There was a juggler that didn't really juggle very well. The 2 female singers had talent. Not sure how the 2 male singers ended up in this production. The best entertainment we saw was the cruise director (he was funny and friendly) and the games they played. The internet access was amazing - the best we've had on a cruise ship. This will most likely be the last Princess cruise for us. The cons definitely outweighed the pros. Read Less

My overall rating is being kind .This was a very dissapointing cruise. The food in the main dining rooms was just okay. It wasn't up to our expectations. Having sailed Princess in the past many times, I found the Royal Princess to be a disappointment. Much better liked the design of the Diamond, Sapphire and Ruby Princess - not to mention the Crown Princess. The bathrooms on the balcony staterooms are so small. Very disappointing. The carpet in our stateroom was in horrible condition as well as our other party that we were with - balcony cabin. The entertainment was disappointing or nowhere to be found. The gym workout area was so ridiculously small. The servers and the attitude of the staff was not like we have experienced in past Princess cruises where everyone went over and above to make sure the experience was fantastic. The staff seemed not happy to be there. The time at the Ports of Call was so rushed that you barely had any time at each port. A note to Princess: I see a couple of your future ships are going to be designed like this ship - which to me is just like a Carnival ship. As previously mentioned, the Diamond Princess and the Sapphire Princess were a much better designed ship and made a much better experience. When crossing the only hallway by the Princess Live Theatre, it was so crowded, you barely had 7 foot of space to walk through to pass without bumping into other passengers. You couldn't walk around the ship. All traffic was kept on one side of the ship. I was very dissappointed! Read Less

I guess their remodel lat year didn’t go well. Tv has frozen and gone out every 2 or 3 days. Toilets take 20 to 40 minutes to flush,if at all.they always apologize but that is not what we paid for.we are 3 elite captains circle members and have done this 15 day Hawaii cruiseover 10 times and never had these problems. I’ll never book the ruby again. Food was mediocre nothing to brag about.princess workers were great as usual only saving grace about this cruise...we were comped to a dinner at the new Curtis Stone restaurant ,I’m glad we didn’t have to pay the 90 dollars for 3 people because the crown grill is better!we expect better from princess maybe wait to book on the ruby untlll they get their act together?we are princess people but this was a very disappointing cruise ! Their new on demand system is like Netflix it’s great when it works? Things have to get better Read Less

We have been on Star Princess before, and to Tahiti before, and combining the two as we did to celebrate our 55th wedding anniversary seemed ideal. Sadly it was not. The food on Princess has deteriorated so much I can't even explain it. We ate in the main dining room only three times. On the first occasion one person returned their main course.... on the second three people returned their main course, and on the last occasion two people returned their main course. I have never been on a cruise where even one main course has been returned before. The menu has been reduced to such a level, starters including five bits of melon in a syrup, and one entrée I noticed was fajitas!!!! - in a dining room on a top cruise line. The buffet had quite a bit of choice, not all of it needed or necessary. Some staff were surly. A lady buffet steward was standing behind a counter full of bread rolls and I asked for two of the long ones. She said... the buffet over there is open now. I only want two rolls I said, nothing doing to them.. sorry madam... the buffet over there is open. So I went "over there" found a person in charge, brought him back to the counter and in two seconds had my bread rolls and walked away... WHY. Room service was something else. Most times we had a cabin breakfast (which was usually one of the port days when we had an excursion) the breakfast was fine, but not always. On three nights the main dining menu, and the food in the Horizon court (on one evening centred around German sausage) provided nothing for us so we went back to the cabin and ordered peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. You would think this was impossible to mess up. No sireeee… ask for strawberry jam, you got raspberry, ask for brown bread and you got white, ask for 2 jugs of hot water and you got one, ask for four teabags and you got three. I kept an evening stole that creased easily over the dressing table chair, and one day when the bedding was changed it vanished. I thought the steward had swept it up with his laundry, but a search did not find it, then a couple of days later the steward asked me more about it. He said "in one of the waste bins in one of these cabins, he had seen something with like "dot dot dots" all over it... this I presumed was the dull metallic sequins on the stole. He had seen it in a bin, but not thought any more about it and thrown it away. At least Princess credited me the modest cost of this item. Two cocktails were around $23. I have discovered even I have a limit for not buying something I enjoy. We treated ourselves occasionally, and the first two margaritas we had were wonderful. On the first occasion the margarita was the cocktail of the day, so reduced, and this is what I asked for.... got a lovely cocktail, enjoyed it so much, asked for another the next day. This one came the same, and when I checked the bill had been charged the same, so on the first occasion my request for cocktail of the day had been ignored, but I let this pass. On the third occasion I bought these cocktails the guy just merrily tipped in the sour mix and syrup things (two different items), and halfway through the cocktails we realised they were wrongly made and quite sickly, but didn't bother to take them back at that point, although I did write to the front desk saying with cocktails so expensive they need to ensure strict quality control. Never even got an answer to that. Checked our bill each week and the second week somebody had had a quarter bottle of wine in Skywalkers bar, and it was on our bill. We never drank in that bar, but when I pointed it out to front desk they asked me "are you sure you never had it".....as if I would lie about $11. I did wonder how this had happened as now Princess do not give you receipts, as your card is digitally scanned. Later in the cruise I realised that serving staff look at the number on your card and remember it, inputting it manually, rather than scanning the card itself. Of course it just takes a seconds distraction for them to get two numbers mixed up, etc. and I wonder how many people checked their bill for this type of thing. Those I called the Crispy Critters, who thought a deeper shade of mahogany was a desirable tan colour, hogged sun-beds with the use of those plastic towel pets, which went on before 9am and stayed on all day. Crew never moved them even if the beds were empty for a couple of hours. Both my husband and I came back very poorly, seeking doctors advice the first day home. I understand from ship's gossip, that the chesty/throaty infection we got was doing the rounds of the ship from when it left Hawaii. My husband went to the Doctor which cost $250 (when it is a shipboard infection why should you have to pay?) The medicine he gave him did no good. One thing he gave him was a bottle of cough medicine, the same one of which was available in the ship's general shop for $7 less than he was charged. I didn't bother going as he was not impressed with the help he got. At some point in the voyage it was announced the ship had cases of Noro Virus. Not surprising, I saw buffet staff sweeping crumbs off tables with used napkins, and they wiped the tables with a wet j-cloth, leaving them soaking wet but probably not much cleaner. One show, The British Invasion, has been doing the rounds on Carnival Company ships for YEARS. We don't cruise every year and this was the third time we would have seen it had we gone. Entertainment was fair to middling, with some good acts and some mediocre. They had a duo who played violin and piano very well, and they performed in the piazza area every day, maybe three times a day. The first week was original, and they were good, but one got bored with the little joke of the pianist playing "chicken dance" and the violinist's little tricks of stopping, or speeding up, etc. Not only that, but if you wanted a cup of coffee in the piazza when they were on, forget it... people claimed seats up to 30 minutes before the show, which lasted maybe 30 or 45 minutes. Other original things they used the piazza for was racing wooden horses by the throw of a dice, beanbag tossing... and oh yes, just behind the piazza in the lift area they played "elevator roulette" when those really bored could bet on which elevator door opened first. The best show they had was the traditional dancing show they brought on board in Papeete. The pizza shop was mediocre unless you were lucky and got a freshly cooked slice. Princess achieved what I would have thought impossible and managed to combine the two most inedible things you can have on a pizza, burned cheese, and cold cheese. Burger bar was good, food was hot. Ice cream Sundae counter was fine, but frequently ran out of some of the sugar free versions of the ice cream. Ports of call, were fine, sometimes the ship was a way out, sometimes not. In Honolulu a taxi back from the centre of town cost us $24. Because we thought the two Samoan ports, Pago Pago and Apia, would not be that used to tourism, we took Princess excursions. These were over-priced for the content and disappointing. At the Tahitian Ports we did our own thing every time, and had a great time. We took a disembarkation tour of Los Angeles, visiting Santa Monica. This was good value and very interesting and the content was good. The only problem was they had the starting time as 0750. I know they want you off the boat early, but surely they could have given you a bit longer. Once on the tour the courier checked everybody's flight times, and it transpired that, even given the tour's normal time, one couple had been booked on who really should not have, as our arrival back at the airport was very tight for their check in time. Maybe this was why the other 50 of us had to have such an early start. Possibly the tour would have been a tad less rushed as well without this pressure. The captain was a wonderful people person. Put himself about the ship several times a day just on a walk through, but you got the impression he really cared about how Princess passengers enjoyed their cruise. My husband and I are vegetarian, which I add to be fair. Some days in Horizon Court there was nothing at all we could eat for lunch, unless you just wanted vegetables, which is why the pizza and burger place (veggie burgers)got used a bit more than they should have. Princess have had in the past the best itineraries and durations out of all the cruise lines, and whilst we enjoyed this cruise I have to stay we did it in spite of Princess, not because of them. We certainly did not come back "new" far from it, because we were fit and healthy when we joined the ship, and $250 richer for the doctor's fee. Sorry Princess, enjoyed the itinerary, hated the ship. Read Less

We really wanted to love Princess. They charge and position their experience on par with other premium cruise lines. Let's not forget that Princess is owned by Carnival. We scored the Royal Princess two stars as a premium cruise ship - if they were a mainline cruise ship we would have scored them with 3 stars. First, items we appreciated: the spa was a good value and was overall a great experience, the adult pool wasnt always warm on cold sea days however we appreciated the relaxing option away from kids. Items that disappointed: Food was much better on Celebrity cruises in the main dining rooms, buffet and the specialty restaurants. We had rubbery veal one night, over cooked fish another night and a veggie burger that was essentially a mash potato patty. There were no egg white breakfast options, no turkey sausage or turkey bacon. No omelette station. We only have desserts on vacation so for us desserts are a highly coveted thing: the ice creams were consistently of the cheap variety that melted quickly and chocolate cake wasn't always available even in the buffet. The Afternoon Tea was a joke - all the items were readily available in the buffet. The ratio of server to table was terrible. We sat starving (we had skipped lunch for Tea.. we waited forever for food to come by our table and after 10 minutes of disappointment we went to the buffet. In all fairness we tried specialty dining for 3 nights and one of them was exceptionally good at Sabatini's. One of the main dinning meals on lobster night was pretty good. The phone app with their ship map didn't work except on the last day of the cruise. The tendering process was messy and took three hours to get everyone off at Cabo San Lucas. They used the life safety boats to get us off the ship and they were really slow. Consequently, we ended up missing half of our excursion. When we were tendered back to the ship they used a third party service which was much faster. So missing our excursion was entirely avoidable if they had planned ahead for the third party tendering service. The only logical explanation was a cost savings by using their own life safety boats. Comparing Princess with Celebrity, Royal Caribbean and Norwegian, we ranked Princess in last place for the overall culinary experience. Most days I like I was on a diet because menu options were generally unappealing. At the end of the day, we felt that being owned by Carnival was evident based on the many small details that when added up equalled a below average 7 day experience. Read Less

We are both Elite level and have traveled on Princess, Carnival and NCL. We expect excellent service. Unfortunately this is not the case on this ship. There where NO robes in cabin and NO laundry bags had to asked for them from cabin steward on both items. When I looked thru the coupon book that was in cabin found items that had expired in 2018 The food in MDR and Buffet was not good at all, it was rubbery and over cooked. The only good place to eat was in Alfredo's Pizzeria the food was good and it was hot we did use the Crown Grill for two nights and it is always very good and we had great service there. I tried the Trident Grill on two different days and both times there was only one man there to cook and serve. Long lines and long wait. The IC was and other place where we had troubles on the first day at sea I went to get Specialty coffee when I made my order I was told that there was NOT ANY LARGE CUPS and had to have regular cup. This was for the whole trip and ever one had bought coffee cards for the trip, but could only get regular cups of coffee. This with not being able to carry the coffee cards to next trip made it a bad deal. With all of this an other troubles, we did not get future cruise sales. We are going to try other lines that may have better service Read Less

This was one of the worst Princess cruises I have ever been on. The music in the lounges was old and tired and lacked any type of variety, the onboard activities were sad, to say the least. Princess really needs to get past the love boat theme, there is a reason that show is no longer on the air. The cabin was as expected. The production shows and comedians were good. I would like to see princess do what Carvinal has adopted with their comedians and have an early G-rated show and then a show later that is more R-rated. No sports type bar on this ship and no attempt to cover the NCAA championships anywhere other than on TV in the cabins. As far as service goes, it was up to par, but the waits of up to 60 min to get seated using anytime dining was anything but acceptable. Best food on the ship, in my opinion, was at the Grill. Read Less

Entertainment was terrible. Movies were for teenagers. Activities were for 3 year olds. Cabins are clean. Couldn’t get off in Nicaragua because of wind. Smoking area on 15 is uncovered, and I got hit 3 times with chairs sliding in the wind..and it’s also a walking deck. People were complaining we were smoking up there. The indoor lounge was packed with smokers, and the ventilation was poor. No sports bar. You had to be in your room to watch sports on T.V. Food was good in the buffet and had great staff. Anytime dinning you were given a beeper to be called when a table was ready. It took about an hour, so we ended up eating in the buffet everyday. The Coral Princess is one of the Princess fleet that I will never go on again. Felt like I was steerage. Bought cigarettes on ship 3times and each time, they were a different price. Check your receipts Read Less

They have cut back so much. Service was very poor. Dining choices limited. If you wanted steak it was an up charge of $19.00 -$24.00. I am not talking the specialty restaurants - this was the regular dining room. Selections were often the same. Buffet was limited. Golden Corral is much better regarding fresh fruit and veggies and variety. Sad the food and selection used to be so great on Princess. We traveled with a group for pre-arranged Mah ongg tournament play. We were promised a separate room, game sets and water service. Were put in a corner of a dining room. Really noisy when they had a 'sale' going on and people coming in and out. Refused to bring us water (pitcher and glasses not individual services). Game sets were suppose to be delivered by 8:00AM - they were never were delivered. Luckily enough of us brought our own that we could still hold the tournaments. When trying to get water or game sets were told "not my job" Several days, the beds were not made up when we returned to the room to change clothes for dinner. The entertainment was not good. They even stopped one production half way As a platinum member I have cruised Princess numerous times and AlWAYS found the food and service really good. Interestingly a number of people told me this was typical of the Ruby Princess. Read Less

I am a veteran when it comes to cruising. I have done over 20. Carnival, Royal Caribbean and Holland. This was my first and last on Princess. This ship was supposed to be refurbished but our bathroom smelled moldy. I have to steam and use fabreeze to try and fix the smell. I had heard that the service was ok in the beginning and tapers off towards the end of the cruise. That was exactly what happened. By day 4 the waiters in the Buffet areas were down right rude. I always pre-paid gratuities but this was the first time I had to fight myself not to have them taken off. This cruise closes down at midnight, no bars open, disco was dead and only played music from 60-80s. Bingo was over priced and the host talked non stop. It took over an hour to play 4 games. Only one live show in 5 days. The shore excursion desk took us to tender then told us to walk to dolphin encounters. They cut it so close , we never had time to shop. I was offered free play on my next cruise but I tore the paper up. I won’t ever go on princess again. Can’t give me a free cruise. Royal Caribbean or Carnival for me. Read Less