Welcome to Your Favorites, where you have the opportunity to share your travel experiences with fellow Internet Travelers around the world.

Princess Cruise Line

MS Sea Princess

Your Rating:
Reviewed by: Andrew Chrysler
Date of Trip: December 21, 2004
# previous cruises: 6
Itinerary: Caribbean - Eastern

I only award this cruise two stars in order to allow Island Escape to score lower........

We took this cruise at Christmas, in order that our teenage daughter would not miss school (we normally cruise as a couple). So we paid more than double what we normally pay for a similar cruise, and got far, far less than ever before, both in quality and service.

Bits we liked:

Patisserie Bar, Plaza Deck (5). We called it "Jamie's Bar". Jamie was the friendly, helpful, bar steward. Shame he closed at 11pm. Shame about the bar stools, they made you go numb almost immediately; if you don't fall off them first, that is.

Deck 14, Aft. Bar. "Hubert's Bar" (same reason: but Hubert was an "acquired taste": once you understood his sense of humour (Seinfeld/Canadian/Polish!!!) he was a great entertainer.) Great views over the stern, great jacuzzi, great cold beer. Shame about the bar stools, they made you go numb after a while.

This is where we spent much of the cruise; at least the time we did not spend in the dining room waiting........ and waiting........ and waiting.......

Second sitting is 8.15 pm. Don't bother rushing in: the starters never arrive at your table before 9.15 pm. We found, after a few days, that if we went to the dining room at 9pm we still got our starters at 9.15 pm. Seems that between 8 and 9pm the kitchen is giving priority to diners on "Personal Choice" (Deck 5 restaurant) to "get 'em in, get 'em fed and get 'em out" in order to seat more diners.

Tepid soup is a speciality, as is undercooked lobster. Don't worry about sending it back; they will happily replace it with another one equally tepid/undercooked.

The air conditioning was also excellent; provided you like a freezing blast down your neck on two of the chairs at our table.

The Caesar Salad was excellent (but that is quite hard to get wrong)

Don't know what the desserts were like; we had to leave to get to the show............

Tiny cabin: you could swing a cat (as long as it didn't mind a few nasty knocks about the head), tiny bathroom (you need to sit on the toilet "sidesaddle") cleanliness was incredibly poor: wall surfaces sticky, brass tarnished, fluff and crayons under beds. Usually you need to stay at a chain hotel in the UK to get standards quite this low.

The cleanliness of the cabin was not attended to in any way throughout the entire cruise, despite reporting it to the cabin attendant and at the Pursers desk.

The toilet didn't flush properly for 2 days; three visits by plumbers later it worked ok, but no apology.......... no customer service......... no chance that I will cruise with Princess again.

Good shows, some brilliant comedians in the cabaret lounge (aft, deck 7) Just a shame that the shows started at 10.15, so dessert had to be missed if you wanted a seat..........

Nice pools and sun decks; never too noisy, great view over the stern of the ship from the bar on deck 14.

Our teenage daughter reported that the kids activities were very poor in comparison to her previous cruise (Ocean Village).

We don't, not any more. The "Platinum Captains Circle" card that Princess give to frequent cruisers is just corporate B.S.

I would have been happy had the staff at the Purser's desk addressed my complaints, apologised, and maybe sent the odd bottle of wine. Instead, they simply threw away what could have been a customer for life.

Shame really: we have cruised on Golden Princess twice and found that ship to be better; but found things better in 2001, ok in 2003 and downright rotten this time in 2004. Is it the new owners? There's other cruise lines out there......... some are not even owned by Carnival.

Guess who's booked 2 cruises with Royal Caribbean for 2005? (that's #4000 that Princess could have had.........)