First Princess cruise
 

Just finished my first Princess cruise on the Dawn Princess.

I don't know whether the flaws I found are specific to the ship or if
they are fleet wide.

a) I have never been charged for room service before. Dawn Princess
had a $6.00 charge plus tip.

b) Using a scooter, I found getting back on the ship extremely
difficult. Many times I could get off the ship on a nice smooth ramp,
but when I came back to the ship the ramp either was steps or it had
one inch square wooden cross pieces about every foot. Both these
configurations required that I walk up the ramp and the scooter be
carried up.
There were a lot of tender ports on this cruise and the tenders
were easier with the scooter than the ports where we docked. Although
I will say that one of our table mates fell getting onto the first
tender and was basically out of action for the rest of the cruise
because she injured her leg so badly.

c) The Princess Patter sucked and it was not delivered until late in
the evening. On other ships, the next day's schedule was delivered
while we were at dinner.

d) There weren't enough elevators - I often had to wait 10 minutes for
an elevator at dinner. I realize that this is a small ship, but the
aft elevators only go to decks 8 and up, so they are basically
useless.

e) Many of the passengers either came on board with or got the flu.
There was no real effort to deal with this other than periodic
announcements about hand washing. Someone at our table had a bad cough
and two of us at the table also got a bad cough. I already have a
compromised respiratory system which is why I need the scooter. Last
year I was sick with pneumonia for three months. I was sick for the
whole last part of the cruise and missed snorkeling at the Great
Barrier Reef which was the main reason that I took this cruise. I
have had both a flu and pneumonia shot - they claimed that the flu in
Australia was different from the flu in the US.

f) The ship was late to Airlie Beach and there weren't enough tenders
to take people to shore - we didn't get to shore until about 4:30 and
we didn't get to see much of the town at all. About all we did was
take the shuttle bus in and back to the tender dock and we were on the
next to last tender back to the ship and got back too late for dinner.

There were good things. Our room steward and waiters, the port
consultant (and maps of the port), the excursions that I was able to
take, our table mates, and the computer room guy were all bright
spots.

The food was good in some spots and not so good in other spots. I
felt that the portions were too big. I usually but not always got
help in the Lido.

First Princess cruise
 

You just had the Australian experience. It is very different from the
Princess ships that sail from the states.

~~Doris~~

First Princess cruise
 

On 8/1/2012 11:45 AM, Cruise Crazy wrote:
You just had the Australian experience. It is very different from the
Princess ships that sail from the states.

~~Doris~~


Why? I sailed an Australia to New Zealand cruise with Royal Caribbean
in '07 and the service and food were excellent. Everything was up to
specs with the rest of the line.

I don't understand the excuse "Australian Experience"

--
Janet Wilder
Way-the-heck-south Texas
Spelling doesn't count. Cooking does.

First Princess cruise
 

On Wed, 01 Aug 2012 20:32:05 -0500, Janet Wilder
wrote:

On 8/1/2012 11:45 AM, Cruise Crazy wrote:
You just had the Australian experience. It is very different from the
Princess ships that sail from the states.

~~Doris~~


Why? I sailed an Australia to New Zealand cruise with Royal Caribbean
in '07 and the service and food were excellent. Everything was up to
specs with the rest of the line.

I don't understand the excuse "Australian Experience"

A lot of the reviews of the Dawn Princess do comment that it is
primarily an Australian ship and different from the other Princess
ships. I don't know - I've only done that one, and I only did it
because it was the only cruise available in the time frame I had.

First Princess cruise
 

wrote in message ...

On Wed, 01 Aug 2012 20:32:05 -0500, Janet Wilder
wrote:

On 8/1/2012 11:45 AM, Cruise Crazy wrote:
You just had the Australian experience. It is very different from the
Princess ships that sail from the states.

~~Doris~~


Why? I sailed an Australia to New Zealand cruise with Royal Caribbean
in '07 and the service and food were excellent. Everything was up to
specs with the rest of the line.

I don't understand the excuse "Australian Experience"

A lot of the reviews of the Dawn Princess do comment that it is
primarily an Australian ship and different from the other Princess
ships. I don't know - I've only done that one, and I only did it
because it was the only cruise available in the time frame I had.


The patter thing was the fault of your cabin steward. You should have said
something.

First Princess cruise
 

On 8/2/2012 6:25 PM, Jr. wrote:


The patter thing was the fault of your cabin steward. You should have
said something.

Absolutely right! On one of our cruises, we had a similar problem so on
the second day we sent down to the front desk to adjust our "tips".
They asked why and we told them. From that point on, we had the paper
on time, our cabin cleaned twice, LOTS of fresh fruit and ice in the
bucket. GREAT service when they know you are paying attention!
--

Ray
+++++++++++++++++++++++
www.CompressorStuff.com

First Princess cruise
 

On 8/2/2012 11:35 PM, peter wrote:

You should have talked directly to the cabin steward anout your "problem",
rather that threaten him indirectly. BTW: did you eventually increase your
"tips" to reflect the excellent service you got?


I would have LOVED to talk to him ... if he was ever around. We didn't
even meet him until day three!

And, of course we adjusted the tips accordingly.

--

Ray
+++++++++++++++++++++++
www.CompressorStuff.com

First Princess cruise
 

It is only the Princess ships that sail from Australia as the home port
that seem to be so different than the Princess ships that sal from other
ports. I wasn't comparing them to any other lines. I don't think
Celebrity has any ships based in Australia. And other Princess ships
that sail to Australia are not like the Dawn. I don't know why this is
so.

~~Doris~~

First Princess cruise
 

"Cruise Crazy" wrote in message
...

It is only the Princess ships that sail from Australia as the home port
that seem to be so different than the Princess ships that sal from other
ports. I wasn't comparing them to any other lines. I don't think
Celebrity has any ships based in Australia. And other Princess ships
that sail to Australia are not like the Dawn. I don't know why this is
so.

~~Doris~~

That seems strange since most of the personnel on the ship have an 8 to 12
month contract and are the same ones on the Caribbean cruises, etc.

Why would they suddenly stop good guest service just because they sail from
Australia unless the Aussies let them get away with it and we Americans
don't.

First Princess cruise
 

On portions...better too much than not enough.

On 7/31/2012 11:22 PM, wrote:
Just finished my first Princess cruise on the Dawn Princess.

I don't know whether the flaws I found are specific to the ship or if
they are fleet wide.

a) I have never been charged for room service before. Dawn Princess
had a $6.00 charge plus tip.

b) Using a scooter, I found getting back on the ship extremely
difficult. Many times I could get off the ship on a nice smooth ramp,
but when I came back to the ship the ramp either was steps or it had
one inch square wooden cross pieces about every foot. Both these
configurations required that I walk up the ramp and the scooter be
carried up.
There were a lot of tender ports on this cruise and the tenders
were easier with the scooter than the ports where we docked. Although
I will say that one of our table mates fell getting onto the first
tender and was basically out of action for the rest of the cruise
because she injured her leg so badly.

c) The Princess Patter sucked and it was not delivered until late in
the evening. On other ships, the next day's schedule was delivered
while we were at dinner.

d) There weren't enough elevators - I often had to wait 10 minutes for
an elevator at dinner. I realize that this is a small ship, but the
aft elevators only go to decks 8 and up, so they are basically
useless.

e) Many of the passengers either came on board with or got the flu.
There was no real effort to deal with this other than periodic
announcements about hand washing. Someone at our table had a bad cough
and two of us at the table also got a bad cough. I already have a
compromised respiratory system which is why I need the scooter. Last
year I was sick with pneumonia for three months. I was sick for the
whole last part of the cruise and missed snorkeling at the Great
Barrier Reef which was the main reason that I took this cruise. I
have had both a flu and pneumonia shot - they claimed that the flu in
Australia was different from the flu in the US.

f) The ship was late to Airlie Beach and there weren't enough tenders
to take people to shore - we didn't get to shore until about 4:30 and
we didn't get to see much of the town at all. About all we did was
take the shuttle bus in and back to the tender dock and we were on the
next to last tender back to the ship and got back too late for dinner.

There were good things. Our room steward and waiters, the port
consultant (and maps of the port), the excursions that I was able to
take, our table mates, and the computer room guy were all bright
spots.

The food was good in some spots and not so good in other spots. I
felt that the portions were too big. I usually but not always got
help in the Lido.