Just back from the most boring cruise DP

[blindrid]

OK so the ship was too sedate or your liking; that's too bad. You're also not likely to like HAL or Celebrity either from an 'action' standpoint...

 

My first Carnival cruise was a dog, but I gave'em a second chance and enjoyed it much more the next go round. A lot of it has to do with expectations, if you go into a new cruise line with expectations pumped up, you set up or disappointment in my experience. The big lines are all far more similar than dissimilar.

 

That said, I can only grin when Dawn is characterized as a 'small' ship. Jeez - when Dawn's sister ship - the Sun - was launched in 1995, it was the largest cruise ship afloat... Now small?

 

And your point is????

[coiran]

I was extremely disappointed that Princess would partake in the exploitation of animals with the picture taking with the burro in Puerto Vallarta. I would expect that of the locals and excursion people (swim with the dolphins, etc) but not with the cruise line. They claimed the money was going for wildlife fund, but I don't believe it. They will be hearing from me on this.

 

 

How do you interpret taking a picture of a burro as animal exploitation??

 

Ron

[blindrid]

I was extremely disappointed that Princess would partake in the exploitation of animals with the picture taking with the burro in Puerto Vallarta. I would expect that of the locals and excursion people (swim with the dolphins, etc) but not with the cruise line. They claimed the money was going for wildlife fund, but I don't believe it. They will be hearing from me on this.

 

 

How do you interpret taking a picture of a burro as animal exploitation??

 

Ron

 

Thanks, Ron. You beat me to it. It probably a pretty good day if you were a burro.

[chasetf]

Just got back from the Dawn princess, our first Princess cruise. Was just amazed at the the lack of deck activities, and shows on board. We did nick name the cruise the geriatrics cruise. Being a repeat cruiser on all RCCL, NCL, and carnival, we were just amazed. If we did not want to get to PV so bad, since our first Mexacan riveria cruise missed that port, we would have gotton our selves off at Cabo. We never saw the cruise Director, he was running the bingo and stuff, so maybe why, lol. We did post a review, but will not take a princess cruise agian. Its not like we are party animals, just active mid-aged adults. The ships design was terrible, people said it was because it was old. Never had any issues with design and movement flow on any other ship of that era (10 years). Food was nothing to write home about, except a bunch of use getting sick the last day, and no, not due to nora, or sea sick(been in hurricanes), just bad luck, and poor cooking.

 

There was a real lacking of any good entertainment also. Maybee princess does not do, broadway style shows, but it was poor.

 

We were told by other passangers that they also were very disappointed at the lack of activities. some had told us that it is not the same on the newer or bigger ships of the fleet. Maybee just bad luck on our part, but back to RCCL for future cruising. I was also warned by others not to even post a negative, be ready to be bashed by people loyal to princess, so for them, just a note, that this is our impression, and maybee would be different if we had taken princess as our first cruise.

Jeez.... you guys must be hard to please. Not one kind word. Nothing was good. ??????

 

But then.... someone looking forward to PV ... just another dirty Mexican city. ............?????

 

Well...... only one thing to say...................................BYE :rolleyes:

[woodofpine]

Blindrid

 

And... YOUR point is? I get it, annoyance for its own sake... suits you well!

[mbardsley]

I do appreciate the quality of remarks that people have given, and I was a bit worried about being bashed, just wanted to let people know how we felt. We dont go for the party animal cruises anymore, or would go after some more carnivals, thought the glory was our last carnival trip. In comparing apples to apples, we have never been on a "MEGA" ship on RCCL, our favorite is the Granduer of the seas, same size as the Dawn. Maybee it was alot of the combinations of music, activities, layout, so on. We did the carnival Elation on our first attempt of the MR cruise, but it broke, so we never made it to PV. Its hard to make any cruise bad per say, but going back to princess would have to be a combination of alot of things, especially being Platinum level on RCCL. Dont think we are ready for HAL, or Celebrity yet, lol, but do enjoy the older crowd also(like we are younger, lol).

[woodofpine]

You know better what you like having tried something else. You might like the Carnival Spirit class; the ships are lively and newer in design features, around 85,000 tons neither huge nor small.

[skandls]

I did a MR cruise on the Diamond when it was a couple of months old. I don't know why but there did not seem to be many onboard activities even though there were 3 sea days. The service was good.

 

We had asked for late seating traditional dining but we were given anytime dining. We like getting together with our table mates at the end of the day so that was a disappointment.

 

The 'flow' of the ship made it seem crowded at times - I remember having to walk past the internet area quite a lot.

 

There was nothing on the cruise that made us want to book another Princess cruise. That was quite a few years ago. We are booked on the Island for an Alaska cruise this summer. We sail mostly with Royal Caribbean but Princess has a reputation for doing Alaska land tours better than the other cruise lines.

[pamwinn]

We are sailing to Alaska on the Dawn next month and have done a lot of research so I don't think we will be surprised by anything we encounter. I hope not anyway. We are elite and have always sailed on the big new ships. The oldest ship we sailed on was the Grand and I think it was 5 at the time. We are very friendly and polite so have never experienced anything negative as regards service or passengers.

 

There was the teen in the elevator who pushed all the buttons but we paid him back....hahhhhhahaaa...we wouldn't let him off the elevator and everytime the door would close again we would dance like old farts (we even made up the music).....thought he was going to freak. We had a grouchy steward once but he was hilarious and I loved his grouchy humor and his service has yet to be matched. There was a large family group once who took several whole pizzas at a time from the pizzaria but we had some great laughs at their expense so that was okay too. Then their were the guys..they weren't from around here...who would wrap a towel around themselves after swimming, strip naked, and dress under it on deck. We found that extra funny and entertaining.

 

We cruise to enjoy the sea for the most part so shows and activities have always been irrelevant though I know these things are very important to some.

 

We do enjoy being pampered and have not been on a cruise yet that we didn't feel almost guilty from the pampering. I will report back soon.

 

PS Ignore any misspellings. I am lying on the couch with a minpin on my head. It's her fault.

[dforeigner]

Bummer!

[voyeurism26]

We also just got off the DP doing the Mexican Riveria. I can't say that we had a horrible time...but since we have cruised often on other ships, this ship and the service and the food were just standard. Nothing stood out, nothing amazing...it was just a simple cruise.

 

It would have been great to have more pool activities. The entertainment was awful, the worse I have ever seen and heard and the disco was very bad. With that being said, it was just a standard cruise nothing to write home about.

 

As for the ports...the only port was Cobo San Lucas...the rest of the ports did not impress me.

 

Since this was our first Princess Cruise I would try another Princess Cruise on a new Princess ship and give it on more time. If that cruise is the same as the Dawn, then I will just stay with HAL and/or Celebrity.

[want2cruiseagain]

Blindrid

 

And... YOUR point is? I get it, annoyance for its own sake... suits you well!

I hope you back me up on this. Anytime you take an animal and use it to make money, that is exploitation. Same with zoos, circuses, and rodeos.

 

JMHO.

[Coral]

I love the Dawn Princess - my sailings on her have been some of my favorite!

 

I actually think the layout makes much more sense than the Grand class layout.

 

Pam - congrats on your booking! I know you will love your trip!

[gck1249]

I guess it is all a matter of individual tastes. Was also on the Dawn last week and LOVED it, had a great time. Everyone we spoke with was having fun. After 30 some cruises on all different lines the crew was about the best Ive seen. Our cabin steward Ely was awsome could not do enough for us, same for free style dinner. Not sure how that would work without the same wait staff but each and every one of them went out of their way to make it enjoyable. The food was a little different then I was usually eat but never had a meal without finding something I liked. The shows were great, thought the singers and dancers were very talented and also enjoyed the comedy. It was hard to do anything on deck the last two days with the bad winds. I agree there was no scavenger hunt or belly flop contest but it made the pool quieter and a great place to read

and just relax. Last year on Carnival I did not notice much difference in age than I saw on the Dawn last week. There were some older folks but saw alot of younger people even some very young honeymooners. Going on Carnival in November and will have a good time, I just can't help it when I am on a Cruise Ship........

[Go-Bucks!]

"I was also warned by others not to even post a negative, be ready to be bashed by people loyal to princess, so for them, just a note, that this is our impression."

That's kind of a "duh" statement, isn't it? I mean, if you posted a bad review of a RCCL ship on that board, don't you think their loyal followers would do the same thing? Or on the Carnival, Celebrity, or any other cruiseline board?? I'm not a "loyal" cruiser to any line, but I think that there will always be some people who want to defend their favorite line/ship. I doubt if that's an exclusive trait of Princess cruisers. ;)

[mexico5]

Want2cruiseagain,

 

I TOTALLY agree with you about the poor animals being mistreated. I think it was in Cabo that we saw the "take your picture with the little tiger or lion" and some of the money would be given to animal charities.... ya right...

 

Sorry I am off topic, but I totally understand your point of you on this. I live in rodeo country (at least once a year with the Stampede) and it is awful!

[want2cruiseagain]

Want2cruiseagain,

 

I TOTALLY agree with you about the poor animals being mistreated. I think it was in Cabo that we saw the "take your picture with the little tiger or lion" and some of the money would be given to animal charities.... ya right...

 

Sorry I am off topic, but I totally understand your point of you on this. I live in rodeo country (at least once a year with the Stampede) and it is awful!

 

Thank you!!! We saw this in Cabo - claimed it was for animal welfare - how do we know??? Come on... think about it.

[tvaud]

LOL!

My first cruise was on Carnival's Holiday and I still get the heebie jeebies

everytime I think of our experience on that ship. It soured us on

Carnival forever after.

...

Too bad it didn't work out. All I can say is give another ship in the

Princess fleet a chance, but that would be rather hypocritical of me

since I never gave another ship in the Carnival fleet another chance

since it left such a bad taste in my mouth.

 

You are not alone. I also sailed on the Holiday way back when and hated it! I vowed to never sail on Carnival again until a TA persuaded me to go on another with her. Once again, I hated it. It was slightly better than the first, but it was still awful. Never ever again... I'm glad there are several cruise lines to choose from. Let's hope they all don't start blending together...as some would wish.

[Shelly97060]

Sorry your vacation was not what you had hoped.

 

I hope your future voyages, no matter which line you choose are wonderful.

[NSWP]

Yes, the Dawn Princess is an older ship and from some comments on here, too old for the American cruise market, so it is coming to Australia soon to join up with the other 'old Princess ships, Sun Princess and Regal Princess - now P&O Pacific Dawn.

 

That seems to be the pattern with Carnival..send those old ships to Australia, the Aussies won't complain, but they are.!! Sun Princess, built for 1950 pax is now jamming 2200 or 2300 on board. Same will happen with Dawn Princess. With Regal Princess - Pacific Dawn the capacity increased from 1590 to 2060. No anytime dining either, 2 traditional sittings.

 

Ah well, I will see for myself come June when I board ye olde Sun Princess for the first time.

 

Cheers..Les:cool:

[custompcsys]

While I haven't been on this board as long as some of the more experienced cruisers whose input is fantastic, I have been here regularly for a decent amount of time. I think what gets some of the folks here really cranked up (admittedly, including me) is when they see a thread with a title like "Stay Away from Princess!" followed by a total bash of a review that complains about things like the water being wet, never being told that the ship was actually going to move, how Princess had the nerve to actually charge them for a drink, etc. Then after reading the review, you look up at the header and see its the OPs 2nd post. Something like that will immediately cause the wagons to circle for sure!

 

All of us have our own opinions and tastes. I for one have no problem with someone posting negative comments as long as they are reasonable and not done with an obvious intent to just bash or stir things up. Most of the people on this board, I think, will agree with that. Your comments certainly weren't positive, but they weren't off-the-wall either. Everyone is entitled to their opinion, and you gave yours. We may not agree with you in all cases and I'm certainly sorry the cruise was less than you expected, but I don't think the vast majority of people here will bash you for expressing an honest opinion.

 

I hope your next cruise experience is better! :)

[pris993]

We are elite on Princess, cruised on the Dawn twice in 2005/2006, to Mexico from San Francisco round trip, within 6 month timeframe. First cruise we enjoyed pretty much, had a balcony cabin, balconies are smaller and many folks were complaining. We had cruised on the Ocean Princess - similar ship some years earlier when it was new and had a fantastic time in the Carribean. The Dawn did not seem nearly as appling to us even on the first cruise but the ease of no air we talked our selves into a second Dawn cruise and booked a mini suite. Well the mini suite was the best thing about the second cruise. The diningroom service was the worst we had ever experienced on Princess the second cruise. We should have changed tables, the head waiter had an attitude.

 

We tend to book new ships in general. Do feel Princess and most cruise lines do a better job on new ships. Don't know why.

 

We are booked on the Star Princess this October for Mexico again - in a mini suite, hope we enjoy it. We will speak up if we are dissatisfied with service in the diningroom this trip.

 

We are also booked on the new Ruby for a TA in 2009 and the Celebrity Equinox for a back to back in October/November in 2009. We enjoy Princess but also like HAL and Celebrity.

 

I guess after 30+ cruises, we expect not every cruise with be first rate.

There does appear to be a difference between European and Mexican Reivera cruises -- better service in Europe. The price is more too. :)

[MaryKBB]

We were on the same cruise as you on 4/27/08 on the DP. I have to agree a bit on the lack of organized activities.... but I guess I did factor that in when I booked this cruise. This was just relax and get pampered cruise for us... and for the most part this was the one of the most attentive crew we have had in our limited experience cruising. Anyway still loved this Princess cruise as the 1st one we had on the CB.

[5fathom]

I agree on one posters statement " Don't judge a cruiseline on one cruise" . Our first experience with Celebrity was a few years ago on the Zenith. It was and still is the worst cruise experience we have ever had in our 30 cruises. However with a little nudge from our TA we again tried Celebrity with excellent results. We have since sailed Century, Millie and Connie, all spectacular cruises. Princess is an excellent cruiseline and I hope you will give them another try. Happy sailing !

[mbardsley]

Jeez.... you guys must be hard to please. Not one kind word. Nothing was good. ??????

 

But then.... someone looking forward to PV ... just another dirty Mexican city. ............?????

 

Well...... only one thing to say...................................BYE :rolleyes:

 

WOW, you seem to be in a bad mode, not nice. PV is a nice city, why did you go to mexico.

 

Not hard to please, giving OUR opinion on what OUR take is on the ship, and services. That is the reason for theese boards. Some people are Carnival people, some are NCL, some are princess, some are RCCL, so on. Some do it all, maybe we just found our nitch in the mix after trying a bunch.

 

Hopefully posts will be better in the future from some people, rather than attacking as some have.