Princess Cruises Reviews

We went on a 12 night cruise on the Sky Princess to the Canaries, departing Southampton on October 29th 2023. Overall we had an enjoyable time. We found the ship clean and attractive and all of the crew friendly and helpful. The balcony cabin was clean and the food good. Now the bad points; Our cabin C201 on deck 10 was very noisy when the ship was underway. This was not noise from adjacent cabins or from the inevitable sea noise which can be experienced on almost any cruise ship. It was coming from within the cabin structure - much loud banging and knocking which could actually be FELT through the cabin walls. We mentioned this to Customer Relations who told us nothing could be done about it as it was a fundamental problem in the build. Speaking to other passengers we were not alone with this problem and it didn't appear to be confined to deck 10. I don't think its unreasonable to ask for a sound nights' sleep when on a cruise. Overall nice cruise - shame about the noise !

I booked a cruise for my wife and I, it was our first vacation in three years and I was looking forward to relaxing. We’ve been hit with a myriad of issues in just a few days so far. First - it’s impossible to get a seat at a restaurant. Customer service told my wife that our app had an error which made it so that we couldn’t book reservations so now we are stuck going to the buffet for every single meal. Next, the air conditioning going out across the entire front of the ship - we tried to call down to ask what the deal was, but our phone hasn’t worked since our first night aboard. So we walked down after midnight to guest services where we were stonewalled by a totally unhelpful staff member who frequently interrupted us and told us they knew and that the technicians were working on it and that we needed to “just be patient”. After not having AC for five hours and not being able to sleep, I don’t appreciate being told I need to “be patient”. I would never sail with Princess again. I’ll overlook the tacky decor, lack of dining options, and confusing medallion benefits. But customer service telling you that you “just need to be patient” when you and other passengers are sitting outside of your rooms because they can’t sleep due to their air conditioning not working? Stay away

Princess I believe has lost their way and may be out of business in a decade unless they change their target audience approach. We took a Princess cruise back in 2016 and nothing much has changed (except for the excellent new Medallion Class system), especially that the target age group is increasingly more elderly. The median age on board this cruise must have been 75 with many people well into their 80's and 90's, which is fine if one is in that category, but not so great for younger couples or families. The evening entertainment targets this age group with acts repeating the same material, including Honeymooners, Archie Bunker, Jimmy Durante, Lawrence Welk, James Cagney, ...well you get the picture. Three separate acts during our cruise all did Johnny Carson impressions, which were very good and at least somewhat relevant to me as a 60 year old. However, anyone 5 years younger may not be so enthused. They will need to change their entertainment approach ASAP to attract even a 55 to 65 year old crowd. The entertainment during the day-time was appallingly poor with just trivia games and sales pitches targeting your $. Too much trivia focused on UK & British items. Unlike Princess, everyone is not so enamored with the British Royal Family. Movie under the Stars is a disaster IMO. What was a decent experience in 2016 is now downright poor. Aside from a couple decent football games shown during our 2 week cruise, most of the movies/material was pretty far out of date, way past box office expiration. Also, the movies shown during the day-time interfere with relaxation and activity around the main pool deck. The Air Conditioning on the ship is spotty and was terrible in our stateroom. We had the air conditioning pegged on the lowest level, and even then, when the sun was on our side of the ship it became pretty uncomfortable. Apparently, based on other reviews this is a known problem for the Sapphire Princess, with cabins on Decks 9 and 11 receiving the most complaints (we were on Deck 9). When we contacted Princess maintenance/guest services, they said nothing was amiss with our A/C, and did not acknowledge they've had numerous complaints. A couple on our floor had to be moved about midway through the cruise. Specialty dining is almost non-existent on a ship this size. The main dining room food and service was good, although the individual dining rooms were dated and lacked a grand scale feel. The Horizon buffet on the Lido deck had average food quality and quantity of selections. The main problem is that the buffet has very tight quarters and is difficult to maneuver around. I must say that the desserts everywhere on the ship are outstanding. Best cruise line in this class/category for desserts.

We booked a balcony room through a very reputable and well known 3rd party. We were told that Princess would assign the actual balcony room. We ended up with a balcony room with an obstructed view, metal all the way to the balcony rail. We had no view whatsoever while sitting down. We did not use the balcony a single time and ended up trying to find suitable places to sit and read around the ship. This was very disappointing. After speaking with customer service and management twice we only received a small future cruise credit as compensation. We have been on several Princess cruises but do not plan to take another one.

I cruised to Hawaii with them on a 16 day. It was my first with Princess. I liked the way we were treated by almost all crew members. I loved their food in dining rooms but not in the buffet. There were very few choices especially in vegetables. Crew was attentive in buffet always offering beverages. My bed was like a cloud, so nice. I didn't like that the average age of patrons was around 70. Therefore entertainment was toned down but there was plenty to do. There's no problems onboard. All runs smoothly. I loved their embarkation and disembarkation. So easy Overall I had a wonderful time.

I’m disappointed, currently onboard in a mini suite with 3 adults having paid over £5.5k for a 12 day trip down to the canaries to include the top Princess Premier package. We’ve now been told we have an old version (booking in SEP 22) and don’t have the all singing all dancing inclusive package and we now needed to pay a further €80pp to upgrade to what was the highest available package when we booked! I’m afraid saying it’s version 2.0 doesn’t cut it… one of the unique selling points was the Medallion App, order what you want when you want anywhere in the ship. Unfortunately this was an additional £14.99 per head, but we paid having a disabled guest with us whom struggles to wait in line. Yesterday we waited over 2hrs for 2 drinks and when we went to guest services to complain the only resolution was 2 emails sent. One to the app ‘is there an issue?’ and another to the bar personnel ‘is this a staffing problem?’. But the drinks I ordered were still charged meaning we were over our allocation yesterday! I’m beyond disappointed and don’t get me started on searching for a seat in the evening….

You ever say hey I wanna go on a cruise? If you do make sure not to choose #princesscruises. They will lie on all the recorded calls and pass you around like your worthless and smile while doing it. Time spent well is not choosing princess cruises. If you like lies and no refunds on their mistakeS go right ahead. Also they talk down to you and are beyond passive aggressive. ***Barbara Mai Bailey*** is awful at her job and doesn't know what side of the bed to sleep on cause they both are horrible. She is a passive aggressive person with lack of experience and has a horrible tone that has little cares for your trip unless she can pocket your money and never have to talk to you. Barbara should be working somewhere where paint fumes are free! Passenger 1 and 2 or 3 or more will never be part of there trashy lieing system. GO ON DIFFERENT CRUISES DONT CHOOSE PRINCESS YOULL FEEL LIKE TRASH FOR DOING IT.

Why employ such awful customer service representatives. I haven't even cruised yet and feel I will not be booking again. They are so I'll informed. Training must be terrible.

Lovely ship. Plus & Premium package mis sold changes made after we had paid in full. Rude guest services staff. Lack of information about flight itinerary booked via Princess prior to departure. Excursions expensive and not enough time at main attractions. Too much up selling. Medallion App only works if bar staff record drinks properly. Had to constantly go to guest services to have charges removed.

First time on Sky Princess and we were a little worried due to the poor reviews. Food were excellent and we couldn’t fault the staff. Our only gripe was that it was hard to get a seat in the bars/ venues in the evening and also people hugging sun loungers with towels for hours without using them. We are sailing again with Sky Princess in the new year, and very much looking forward as she is a beautiful ship!

Just got back from a cruise on Sky Princess. We were told in May we had to pay the balance which we did. On joining the cruise we found that other people on the same drinks package as us had better benefits even if it was there first time with princess, whilst Princess cruisers with multiple cruises under their belt had less benefits. To top this at the start of the cruise bars were closing early 11:15pm. This meant that when you left the theatre any cruise passengers who wanted a drink at the bars were forced into two bar areas (one of which was the vista lounge where you could not hear each other for the music as it was a nightclub at that time) and the other bar was full so there was no seating available and you ended up finding random seating around the ship, To top this Princess had removed the ability to order drinks for delivery on the app (unless you paid them an extra $15 each) which meant you could not get the attention of a steward to get a drink. This was eventually sorted to a degree when several days into the cruise and lots of complaints from cruisers around us both first time cruisers and elite passengers and also (told this by customer services team member) other seating was sourced from various areas. The bars kept running out of various drinks, Fosters lager, Peroni larger, Grolsch lager (all at the same time), Baileys and various red and white wines. The Baileys was replenished when in port for a Baileys copy which was a poor substitute, This made it impossible for the bartenders to make certain cocktails like squashed frog etc. Eventually genuine Bailies was sourced enabling the bartenders to do their job correctly and to the satisfaction of the customers. We were told that the average age on the cruise was 75 and they underestimated how much drink they would need. We did not see many heavy drinkers so I fail to see how they kept running out of alcohol if they had ordered enough. Princess also refused to refund the port taxes which we had already paid for a missed port Princess used to be our cruise line of preference, No longer. We spoke to an officer at the customer services desk he said the loyalty scheme which princess has is “No more than bragging rites now” We also spoke to the future cruise manager and explained the problems. All he did was agree with what we said (obviously heard it all before multiple times), when we told him we are going to cancel two future cruises we had already booked with Princess and we were looking at MSC he started to put MSC down telling us how bad they are. Not a professional way to act and then said the cruises we had booked were all full. So we told him he will shortly have a free cabin to sell when we cancel. I also doubt our future booked cruises are fully booked.

Our ship left port two hours late with only three engines operable. Since the ship could not travel at normal speed our stay in Puerto Rico was cut short and the Dominican Republic was eliminated completely. Most of our 7 days was spent with the ship "limping" around the Caribbean. Contacted Princess and their answer was "we apologize", nothing else. Refused to take responsibility for anything even though they had a responsibility to notify everyone before departing. They were fully aware of the effects of running with the fourth engine inoperable, but put the profits above the passengers.

I went on one Princess cruise a few months ago. The cruise was lovely (although the food is terrible). The ship was fantastic, and the staff deserve a million stars. We liked it so much, we wanted to go on another one. I've never had to deal with such an inept company in my life. Their website is like trying to book something on 1995 America Online. Nothing works. So, call the reservation number. The people there know nothing about Princess. Ask a question? You'll get a 100% different answer from each representative. They continuously lie to you, and will try to get you off the phone with 'someone will call you back in 10 minutes', which never happens. Even the information on their website (when it works) is contradictory. Do you really think I'm going to give money to a company, so far in advance of a trip, which such abysmal customer service? Funny thing is, they are owned by Carnival. While I'm not big on the 'party atmosphere' of Carnival, their customer service, website, etc. are great.

Our recent Princess Cruise to Alaska was by far the worst travel experience of my life...and I've traveled to 46 states, 42 countries and 6 continents and have taken over dozen cruises on several different cruise lines! It's hard to know where to begin...I was lied to on numerous occasions, was hung up on/disconnected 20+ times on their 800 number, was promised return phone calls that never came numerous times and was flat our ghosted on email. Their customer service operations is the absolute worst I've ever seen in any field! They have no integrity and their word means absolutely nothing. Their technology (website, app, internet access, etc.) promises state of the art, but can't deliver even basic functionality. The majority of their staff are poorly trained, incompetent and lack the requisite knowledge and commitment to do their jobs. The quality of food and drinks are unacceptable. You couldn't pay me to go another Princess cruise and I will make damn sure that my friends and family don't get subjected to the blatant disrespect, dishonesty and disdain that I have been subjected to dealing with these clowns for the last three months. The following is just a partial list of the issues that we have had to deal with: o Incredibly buggy app and website o Had to use a backdoor login to get into the app at all o Was lied to about the medallion being shipped to our home o Was lied to about having our choice of medallion accessory with the Premium package o Was put on hold for at least 30 minutes every each of the dozens of times I had to call Princess customer service o On several occasions I was promised call backs that never came o I was disconnected/hung up on 20+ times on phone customer service line (intentionally on multiple occasions after I asked asked for the customer service agent's name or to speak to a supervisor) o Lied to about not needing dinner reservations with the Premium Package o The room preferences we specified prior to the cruise were ignored o Took 5 minutes or more every time for restaurant menus to load on the video systems in our room o Clueless customer service o Extremely difficult to find basic info (checkin location, time, procedure) prior to embarkation o Had much more success finding basic information regarding our cruise from third party websites than from Princess o Extremely difficult to receive internet service on multiple devices even though that was supposed to be provided with our Premium package o Poor quality “premium” wines o Extremely slow and spotty internet service o Was incredibly difficult to make dinner reservations (via the App, in person, in room video system or the phone system) o IPad Wi_Fi instructions missing o Fridge in our room was room temperature and was never fixed after we brought it to our room steward's attention o Both my wife and I suffered from back spasms from a way too hard mattress and way too soft pillows o Cheap wine glasses at dinner that are way too small to swirl the $18 glasses of wine o Every bar tender made even basic drinks totally differently often being unrecognizeable from the photos on the Princess app o The "$150 Platinum Photography package" turned out to be obscenely expensive ($150 for one unretouched 8x10 print , $300 for a single unretouched digital file and $3500 for 20 prints without digital files) for a 20 minute photo session. o Substituted a cheap Prosecco for Champagne on numerous occasions without telling us o Carpet stains in state room o Refused to refund remaining onboard credit balance even though we were promised several times in writing that they would o Then made us fill out forms to request the refund we were entitled to with a several week processing period o After we they made us jump through hoops to fill out the forms they sent us a bogus request for additional unspecified documentation to try to get us to give up on the request for the refund we were entitled to o And then ghosted us ignoring several attempts to follow up via email o And...when I called the 800 number again...flat out told me they weren't going to refund the credit balance as promised o When I insisted on speaking with their manager, customer service agent "Zel" assured me that their manager "Ferdy" would call me in 5-10 minutes and I never heard from them again. I can't stress enough...do not give these people your money or your dream vacation will turn into one of the most frustrating, infuriating experiences of your life!!!

The Northern Lights Pricess Island Cruise was fine BUT this review is for the "See the Norther Lights" excusion i think in £'s about 150ish pp...Complete shambles dont go, save your money and book a cab to find them. We arrived by coach with a chatty driver at about 7pm all dark and exciting only to walk about 100 metres to what i can only discribe as a 100 metre square plot behind a storage facillity. A few smokey firepits a large Tpee with benches, a round hut with a fire pit inside, a huge brightly lit marquee with a bright vid screen showing a pic of the Northern Lights and loud music playing, packed with bored people looking at their phones. Outside was a dangerous dark environment with the odd wall light glare making safe walking very difficult waiting for someone to trip over a hidden lump in the ground an icey path which should have had a danger of broken hip warning. I understand the cloud cover cannot be controlled and thats unfortunate so " No Nothern Lights " anyway. We just stumbled around for 3 and a half hours completly unaided watching kids ( staff ) trying to stay warm. One Male one Female toilet ( dont ask ).. we got an early coach with speechless driver back. Dont like rip off or money maker...but there you go...

I had a booking on princess, they offered a lower rate with a cabin credit. I changed my reservation and asked about it before I made my final payment and they said the agent made a mistake. Sucks to be you.

We sailed on the Sky to Norway last year and unfortunately and stupidly we bought artwork we believed and told that the art was sort after and would be easy to sell at a good price.So so wrong, we were dupped, our own fault I know, what's done is done. Why I have tried in vain to contact guest relations, even emailed the C.E.O was a query of a large amount of money taken on 3 consecutive days for the exact same amount down to the last penny.All I would like is someone to look into this for me and actually reply to one of my my 8 emails, first one sent on 25/09/23. We will never sail with Princess again, our first cruise with them was 26 years ago and are elite, not that elite means a thing now. Princess have gone down to a 3 star cruise line in my eyes, not interested in customers just money. Such a shame we have had some lovely cruises with them in the past.

Lovely ship and 2nd time being on it. Unfortunately the food was cold and the entertainment wasn't as good as last year. The worst part is that for the 2nd time they have taken the on board money I spent twice. The payment went out on the Monday after I got home and then they applied to take it again on the Tuesday leaving me overdrawn. This will now be pending for 10 days until my bank release it back into my account and nothing can be done about it. I don't understand how something like this can happen. So make sure you have enough money in your bank to cover it incase the same happens to you. Thank you Sky cruises for spoiling the end of my holiday

Pathetic Company!!!! They promised us a future cruise credit and when we tried to book with them they denied it. We tried on MULTIPLE occasions to do so. Now we are out of $3500 because of their lack of customer service or any care to help. Disgusting to treat a new customer (or any) that way! We would have loved to gone on one of their cruises but never again!

Terrible excursion organization. One bus driver (Ireland) even got lost (which used up some of our excursion time) and did not know how to turn on or manage the air conditioning- he stated that it was a new bus & he hadn't learned that yet. Most often late getting away because of guides/crew late for work, bus late getting to terminal, or disrespectful late passengers. So much of our excursions were cut short for these reasons - and we payed for all their disrespect. Suggestion - become more stringent with staff & passenger expectations or give us refunds! I.E. Leave on time! Late passengers should also have been previously well warned & perhaps they'll get up a little earlier! Inept Princess staff caused us to not get a front seat in the bus for picture taking. We had been the first people in line (6:30a.m.)- even before the theatre staff were there! Then when going through security, the employee held up our line because he did not have his passport ready. This was followed by being pushed aside by 4 rude passengers while trying to get on the bus. NEVER AGAIN. Ruined the trip to Paris - so angry & disgusted. Many waiters & staff in Horizon buffet area had very wrinkled baggy uniforms with their pants hanging down half off their hips - not a clean professional look! Scrambled eggs always half-cooked/raw. Food in Horizon only luke warm - no microwave to heat anything. Fruit juices in a.m. not chilled.