Sea Princess Impressions- Norway Cruise

[melindalee]

First I want to say that my husband and I have been on 4 previous cruises with Holland, Celebrity, and Crystal. This was our first Princess cruise- 14 day June 18 from Southampton to Southampton with all ports stops in Norway, including all the way north to Spitsbergen and Honnigsvag. The itinerary and schedule fit our needs so we decided to give Princess a try.

The plusses:

1. The ports, including Svalbard or Spitsbergen, were fantastic. And the weather could not have been better. The seas were mostly calm, with enough chop to be interesting. A little fog and rain in other areas, but for the most part the weather was perfect. Obviously this may not always be true, but we were prepared for mostly rain and wind and that was not the case.

2. Our big surprise was how much we enjoyed the Personal Choice dining. We have always had a table for 2 just in case other tablemates were not enjoyable for every day of a long cruise. It’s not that we aren’t social, but we all know the horror stories. Personal Choice gave us the chance to talk to so many wonderful people from all over the world- some happy and some not- and it made the cruise so much more interesting. Especially with this very unusual itinerary, there was always something to talk about. And to be able to choose what time to eat was also a plus. The pizza restaurant was also very nice for a change- with a very interesting manager who loves to take time to talk when he’s not too busy.

3. We have also never had such consistently positive staff on a cruise. Our cabin attendant Noy was always perfect, and everyone said hello in the hallways and public areas.

The negatives:

I only offer these because we have learned so much over the years from other Cruise Critic members that I feel compelled to help others make the best decisions for their travel dollars (or pounds or whatever). Please do not take these comments as complaints- they are meant to inform other cruisers.

1. The Cruise Director could have done so much more to make this a spectacular cruise. We crossed the Arctic Circle with no fanfare- maybe at least an announcement? At the end of the cruise we received a certificate commemorating our crossing the “Artic Circle”- maybe a spell check would have been helpful for this document that we expect was printed after passenger requests for something special.

2. Elizabeth the port lecturer gave us some information on Norway, but her outdated slides that were always backwards and seemed to confuse her could have been so much better. How about using a computer to really spiff up the presentation? She did give us a little information over the loudspeaker while we cruised Magdelena Fjord, but her promised descriptions while we cruised towards Geiranger never happened. And since all port stops were in Norway, we would have enjoyed lots more info about the country. After all, that’s what most of us were there for!

3. The Horizon Court buffet seems to be an afterthought in design. It is the only large space on board where there is any view, so many people sat there to read, talk, or just look out the windows. Unfortunately, this was also the only place to eat other than the formal dining room so finding a table was sometimes very difficult. Other cruise ships we have sailed on have had a large bar area for viewing, and the buffet has been in the back of the ship.

4. The entertainment was not up to the standards we have seen on other cruises. The guest star singing couple was good, but the dancers (who did not sing, but did lip sink to recorded music) were not. Commedians were ok. The only times we were bothered by Movies Under the Stars were on port days when the volume was turned on during the day. Other days, you were given wireless earphones to use. Volume at night didn't bother us because it was too cold to be outside for too long.

 

Would we do this cruise again? Absolutely! To be above the Arctic Circle- all the way north to Spitsbergen- was a once in a lifetime experience. And will we sail again on Princess? Probably not, but if they have the only itinerary that fits our needs, we may consider them.

 

One last thought about any cruise to Norway. It is a wonderful country that we have been planning for five years to visit- but it is very expensive! We had heard stories about the $10 beer, and that is true but so much more. Food at a simple walk-up type cafe is typically about twice the cost of the US, or even London. In our experience, a simple lunch would be about $20 each without drinks or waitress service. Helly Hansen (outerwear made in Norway) was about double the price of the same merchandise purchased at a Helly Hansen store in the US. Dale of Norway sweaters ran about $250 on average. This is not to say that you should not go- just be prepared.

 

Again, we are not writing this to complain about things that happened on our cruise. Maybe it was typical, or maybe not. But we do want to let other travelers know about our experience- just as we will continue to read others comments to inform ourselves about future cruises. Happy cruising!

[aclay]

Hi Melindale

 

we were also on this cruise last week. If it's any consolation to encourage you to try Princess again -this was the worst Princess cruise we have done in a total of six. We have not tried any other big name cruise line but if we have many more like this we will definitely stray away. We agree with most of your comments and observations, however our biggest gripe would be the poor organization of the excursions- the Geiranger Mt Dalsnibba trip was cancelled after we waited 90 minutes in the Princess theater, no other Princess excursions were available and local transportaion (buses/ taxis) by this time were fully booked.

We will sail with Princess again but we are not fussed about going to Norway again, the best experience was the 24 hour daylight, dancing in the Razzmatazz disco with curtains open and sun in our eyes at 2am, leaving there and going to eat Steak in the Bistro at 3am, again in full daylight- wonderful stuff.

[Coral]

Thanks for the 2 comments - it appears the comments coming back from the the first sailings of the Sea Princess have not been too positive. That is too bad because the Sea Princess was my first Princess sailing and I loved it so much.

 

I agree - they should have done more when you were crossing the Artic Circle. Hopefully Princess will get their act together with this ship!

[CruisinChris]

I am sorry about your experience and would say that it is not representative of "destination" cruises on Princess. THey typically excel in this area. I would say in their defense that they have been stretched short on experienced crew for a while and it sounds from your report as well as other coming from Sea Princess that she has not been fully been brought back into the fold. No consolation to you, of course, but something to consider for a while for those with upcoming trips (including the millions who booked the 14 day Caribbean this winter).

[aclay]

For those interested here is a link to my review of the same cruise:

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showpost.php?p=4120438&postcount=440

It's a shame you didn't join our rollcall melindalee- we had a nice group of 9- we met every sea day for lunch in La Traviata- we always got there biggest table (for 8) and squeezed 9 around it. The Head Waiter smiled when we first said we were the cruise critic group- he reckons he is often on the boards and making postings without giving up his identity- so we'll all have to watch what we say ;-))