Back to Princess after nineteen years

[smtcan]

We are just back from the Star Princess Buenos Aires to Valparaiso. It was our second Princess cruise, the first was our first ever cruise, nineteen years ago. Since then we have cruised with RCL, HAL and NCL, but since we discovered Celebrity that has been our line of choice. We joined a group of friends on this cruise and generally enjoyed it. Here are a few of my observations.

 

Service was excellent. The weakest point was our cabin steward. He kept the cabin immaculate, but didn't respond well to the only two requests we made. We asked for wine glasses and robes. He said the robes were not available and wine glasses had to be ordered from room service. When we returned to the cabin after dinner we had wine glasses. The following evening we enjoyed a glass of wine while getting ready for dinner and left the remainder of the bottle with the glasses on the tray. After dinner the glasses had gone, but robes had arrived. We asked him where the glasses were and he said they were dirty so he removed them. We told him we wanted to keep them in the cabin and he told us to request them from room service. We obtained two more glasses and made sure to wash them after use.

 

The food in the buffet was as good as any other ship we have been on, but in the MDR we experienced more disappointing meals than on any other cruise. A few meals were excellent but the prime rib on the first night was inedible and two fish dishes were overcooked and dry. Desserts were repetitious and unappealing, but appetizers were usually good.

 

We loved the coffee card and the International Cafe.

 

Our cabin was functional and had a good amount of storage space.

 

The self serve laundry is a useful feature.

 

The port information leaflets provided actual information, not just a shopping guide - well done Princess.

 

Our main complaint was the lack of daytime activities on a cruise with several sea days. Joe May the Port Lecturer was informative, but there was a lack of other stimulating speakers. Scholarship@Sea is not an appropriate term for napkin folding or vegetable carving. A considerable part of the cruise was in cold regions which did not make sitting outside an option, so the lounges were crowded and the only available activities seemed to be trivia or bridge neither of which appeals to us. One exception to this was the Pop Choir, a fun way to spend an hour before lunch. The evening shows were very short and many times we ended up at karaoke - a first for us on a cruise.

 

Overall, we enjoyed the cruise because of the interesting ports and the people we met as well as those we travelled with, but it will take a very special itinerary to attract us the Princess again.

 

Sheila

[gcvt]

As subjective as food is, I'm surprised to hear about the MDR food. We sailed on Star and RCI's Freedom last year and found the food on Star to be superior to that of Freedom, and people seem to like RCI's food quite a bit. With that said, every line we've sailed on seemed to overcook their fish.

 

Glad you had a good time overall though :)

[mikjr]

So, what is it about Celebrity that keeps bringing you back to that cruise line? We have also cruise HAL and Celebrity... but it's been a few years.

 

I'm just curious about your thoughts

[smtcan]

So, what is it about Celebrity that keeps bringing you back to that cruise line? We have also cruise HAL and Celebrity... but it's been a few years.

 

I'm just curious about your thoughts

 

I think that after a few cruises with one line you know what to expect. Food is subjective, but we prefer the Celebrity offerings although they are not always perfect. We enjoy learning something on board - interesting speakers about the history of the area, or general interest topics. DH enjoys computer classes, although this is not appealing to me.

 

We were not impressed with the noise at the main pool from MUTS in the daytime on the few days when it was warm enough to be outside. The area around the quiet pool was packed, so our opinion was probably shared. We enjoy the solarium on S class Celebrity ships and when outdoors prefer live music to recorded concerts. MUTS would probably be fun on a warm evening though.

 

We often see senior officers walking around on Celebrity ships. While I am not an officer groupie and am not looking for new best friends, being asked if we are enjoying the cruise and actually listening to the reply is good PR. We did not see any evidence of this occurring on Star Princess.

 

These are minor issues. There are more similarities than differences between Princess, HAL and Celebrity and we would sail on any of them again, but if the itineraries were similar our first choice would be Celebrity.

 

Sheila

[Astro Flyer]

Thanks for your review & glad that overall you had an enjoyable cruise. Like you with Celebrity, for me it's Princess who provides the best cruise experience within our budget.

 

My experience with robes is they're not available until the 2nd day as they're laundered after the previous cruise. That's still better than our just completed RCI cruise which was a perk for higher levels of repeat passengers & not for those on their 3rd RCI cruise.

 

Because the cabin steward has to request wine glasses from room service I call them directly & get them quickly. However the steward can request them for you & certainly not remove them when dirty but to clean them for you.

 

Food is subjective but to me the taste and choices on our recent RCI cruise were not nearly as good as on Princess. Overall if was an enjoyable cruise & it's good there are options for each of us to discover the best cruise experience. :)

[Luvmyrotti]

Thanks for sharing your perspective. I hope you find another appealing itinerary to bring you back to Princess in the future.