Save your money and stay home

I am not sure if there is enough space to tell about our awful experience on this cruise. We were told by a couple of people that this was a great ship and we would have fun. Obviously these people took this cruise before they changed their policy to be as unaccomodating as humanly possible.

The only great staff were the room stewards. I would say 90% of the crew were rude and so not interested in making this an enjoyable trip. The front desk people(or whatever they are called), were so bothered by all questions, it was amazing. Their answers were short and abrupt. Don't expect that they will go the extra step to give detail. The casino people were the most unfriendly we have encountered to date. They were snappy to the people at the table. There is a way to tell someone something without it coming out mean. And worst of all were the dining staff. At the buffet, nobody stopped to clear plates and forget about getting a drink. When we were fortunate enough to catch someones attention, they would roll their eyes, say it wasn't their job but they would get someone, or just mumble a reply. Half the time we would get the wrong drink. When we went to a dining room, the wait staff got frustrated with any questions. They wanted to take the order, serve the food and get you out as fast as possible. There was no enjoyment to be had. Forget it if you had special requests or needed refills of something. I couldn't get chicken fingers for my young son unless we were in the main dining room. Even if they didn't serve them in room service, get them to make us happy. We heard "no" way too many times. In customer service you do what you have to to make people happy, so I thought.

Room service was another treat. We called at night for dessert and after an hour of waiting I called to cancel. At which point they abruptly told me that it was on its way... It never came. When cruising, you leave a gratuity based on what the ship has figured is fair compensation for services rendered. We tipped less than was suggested and specifically wrote how we wanted it devided, with the majority going to the stewards. It was not done as we wrote. They still put it into a pool, to be divided as Princess saw fit.

I wrote a lengthy letter to the cruise line to tell them that I wanted our gratuities refunded (other than those of the stewards), as tipping is based on service provided. Since we got really bad service, why reward bad behavior. We got a letter back saying our request is denied, sorry you had a bad time and we look forward to your next cruise with Princess. At the very least they should have honored our wishes and given us back the gratuities for the really bad servers, not to mention an incentive to entice us back. We got nothing!

The shows were fair and Princess Cay was Awful-don't bother getting off the ship. The water was rocky, the beach was filthy with trash, and the chairs were lousy.
Needless to say, We do not recommend Princess and will spread the word as much as we can. We were not alone with our opinion of this cruise. Every day we heard the same comments from several people. This was not our first cruise, but it will be our last with Princess.

Positives- there were a couple. I got to spend a week with my family, some of the staff was nice. The other two islands were very nice. When you go to St Thomas, there are tour buses lined up. Look for the one that is painted like SpiderMan. The driver was great and we went to Saphire beach and it was beautiful. It was $25 each and our son was free.

Heed our warning, Princess does not care about your satisfaction. Just your money. By the way, everything is extra on this ship, even ice cream. The horrific service is what gives the ship the 1 rating. If you want more info feel free to contact me via email -tissner@yahoo.com