I just had a similar experience on the Ruby (the trip with the dock crash). It was my 40th cruise (36th on Princess) but the 1st for my daughter and her kids (10 and 8). I was so excited for them to be
impressed. Embarkation in SF went smoothly. DISAPPOINTMENTS: 1. The 1st night, we ordered room service for both our
cabins (side-by-side balconies on the oh-so-handy Lido deck). The order for my cabin came in a
timely fashion. Dau told me to go ahead and eat while they waited for their order. After waiting for
30-45 min after I had eaten, we called Room Service and were told the rest of the order was "on its
way." We waited another 30 min but it NEVER did come. The kids started to cry, so we just went to
the buffet. 2. The hair dryer kept shutting itself off. Cabin steward was able to get a new one. 3. The safe didn't always "recognize" that I had pressed a key, even though it would beep during the press. Its handle was a piece of folded up duct tape. 4. Total chaos at the Salty Dog grill poolside. Slow lines of
15 people. At front of the line we were given pagers, then had to wait another 10 to 30 min. Some of them did not even work.. People were getting very angry. 5. The production show Stardust needs to be retired ASAP. IMHO it is lame and dated. Even my daughter (a dance studio owner/dance teacher) rolled her eyes at it. 6. One of our Princess tours was for 9:20 AM. Instead of having us gather in the theater or other indoor location, the tkt said to meet ashore. The problem was that thousands (it seemed) of passengers were already lined up to disembark at 9:00. The line snaked around and around and was slow and frustrating. No sep line for those with tours. 7. Cabin steward said service would be 2 x per day, but often the "first" service did not happen until after 6:00 PM. I told my dau that if this had been my 1st Princess cruise, it would have been my last. ON THE POSITIVE SIDE, the food was really good, especially in the buffet. The kids loved the pools and were not bothered like I was by the broken tiles we saw in 4 or 5 areas. The production show Colors of the World was fun.
We did not feel or hear the dock crash. We did not even know about it until after we got home.