Princess Cruises
View company profile →
Having just come home from the worst…
Having just come home from the worst holiday of my life, I feel it is absolutely necessary to forewarn cruisers about the post COVID issues we have just encountered on Regal Princess. Celebrating a delayed special anniversary and looking forward so much to another wonderful cruise only to be let down so badly. Firstly, I was contacted directly by email from Princess themselves to tempt us with their all inclusive package. We fell for it hook line and sinker and booked a balcony cabin that had all tips paid plus a premium drinks package. It’s what they didn’t tell us that ruined everything.. 1. They told us that we didn’t need tests to go on holiday. The week before we travelled they told us that we did need a negative test before boarding. We had to pay £70 to ensure that we were negative before we left home. 2. We paid a lot of money extra for ship transfers from the airport. Poor service involving a lot of case lugging landing at Rome. 3. Guests wear medallions which are a ‘clever’ device to open your cabin, pay for items on board (monitor drinks consumption!!, the cheek of it..) check you in and out of the ship etc. Many teething problems with the system slowing down service throughout the ship. Great if it works but hopeless on 50% of occasions. 4. Please check Princess’s website and it will show you which food areas require extra payment. Far too many compared to the ‘free’ included restaurants, where the food quality is very basic to awful. Nothing like it used to be. 5. Waiting times in bars and restaurants was dreadful. So much so that it was really hard to plan anything as we nearly always missed the entertainment events because of slow service. 6. Staff did not have a clue of lots of basic things like - not offering different types of bread. It was so hard to get a brown seeded roll instead of white!. Toast that is hard as a rock. Eggs served stone cold. Eggs uncooked. No crackers with cheese. No choice of cheeses. Featured wines not available even though they were on the menu. Drinks served in inappropriate glasses. Hardly anything tasted fresh. Poorly prepared sauces. Presentation of food now no longer important to their celebrity chefs. Cheap as chips is the new thing by the looks of it. 7. Complaints procedure doesn’t exist on board ship. They tell you to wait until the end of your cruise to fill in their questionnaire. Clearly too late. Holiday already ruined by incompetent management. 8. Everything about the cruise just seems designed to squeeze more money out of guests. It’s been such a shame for the poor cruise company during COVID. I don’t think they ever thought about the poor Joe public who have had no holidays for 2.5 years. They just thought of themselves and stuffed us right up the jacksy. Never again. The worst catering experience ever on a cruise ship. But it’s the crafty way that they set this up to capture unsuspecting guests that really hurts, as well as my pocket. I probably made the mistake of taking my frustration out on the staff. The management should hang their heads in shame as well as the chefs.