Princess Cruises
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Seasoned Cruiser
Seasoned Cruiser, but first time with Princess. Just disembarked from Sky Princess, a 7 day trip from S'hampton to Norway. Have previously used Celebrity, Royal Caribbean, Cunard, MSC to name most but not all. Good points, Ship was commissioned in 2019, then Covid hit, so this ship, the Sky Princess is still almost brand new. I found the staff to be very helpful and friendly, with only one exception which I personally witnessed, which was understandable given the general failure of the Princess Medalion system. (More about that later). One evening the Captain made several worrying announcements about a fire in the incinerator, the last of which was a rambling explanation that the fire had been contained! In truth, I would have preferred either no such public announcement or just one stating there had been an issue that had been resolved. I fail to see why the guests needed to become involved as the problem was resolved without any guests intervention. THE PRINCESS MEDALION SYSTEM. Basically, it worked sporadically, not at all when the ship had no internet, which was practically daily in the Norwegian Fjords, When it did work, several guests informed me they either waited thirty minutes plus for the delivery of a drink/meal, or despite notification of a delivery, no drink ever arrived. The system is designed to allow guests to order food or drink from anywhere on the ship among other features to avoid queueing at bars. In fact what was happening was, the bars were overwhelmed by remote orders when the system was working, and couldn't also deal with the queues at the bars in front of them, resulting in fewer, rather than more guests receiving quick service. I spoke to many guests, none of whom I knew previously, and the broad consensus was, it's a good idea that simply didn't work on this cruise! Maybe in other parts of the world where the ship gets a consistent internet signal, it may be fine, for me the system was down for the majority of my trip. My fellow travelers had mixed experiences, which seems to indicate the type of phone you use may have an impact? If not for the failure of the Medalion system I would probably have awarded 4 stars. But again, as the system was down, meaning the crew took orders based on room numbers, several guests had issues with their bills as drinks appeared on their bills that they hadn't ordered. Simple mistakes by bar staff or something else? Idk! So would I cruise with Princess again? Yes with the proviso that their prices reflect they fall short of some of their closest rivals. If I had the choice of Princess as opposed to Celebrity for example, if the prices were similar, I would not choose Princess. Don't get me wrong, I enjoyed the cruise, and the crew was great, but the Medallion system failed for me, why reinvent the wheel? We cruise 2 or 3 times per annum, I would cruise with Princess again, but current 2023 indications are they consider themselves worth as much as some of their better competitors imo.