We wish we had read the reviews PRIOR to sailing with Princess and not AFTER.
1) Medallian Class was impossible to register with and extremely confusing and we had to make numerous calls to them to get things sorted out.
2) only one person in each stateroom was allowed internet access at a time which was bloody irritating. If I logged on, it logged my partner off. And very very slow.
3) on board, the Medallian does NOT locate your shipmates, regardless what is advertised.
4) food was mediocre at best and rubber at worst and, considering this was a "culinary cruise", we would have expected a whole lot better. NOT what you would expect from a cruise ship.
5) entertainment was awful and virtually non existent, unless you like playing charades or trying to put as many coffee beans into a glass using chopsticks. There were "shows" on board once a day but they only lasted 30-45 minutes and it actually took longer than that to get to the bloody theatre.
6) the milk on board was all UHT and as such, the coffee and tea tasted dreadful! With a ship that size, there should have been absolutely no problems having proper milk available for guests.
7) although we were "fully inclusive of all meals, drinks above 12 dollars, tips and having food and drinks delivered to anywhere on the ship", we were charged for food but there were no signs anywhere to say that they were not included in our package.
8) when ordering food & drinks on the Medallian, we were only aloud to order a very limited amount of it. We could only order pastries, cakes and breakfast baps that were rubber at best and it took at least an hour and a half for food to arrive, by which time it was all cold.
9) although the ship was only half full, it was still almost impossible to find somewhere to sit at meal times.
10) at every meal, half of the restaurant was empty of food and we really couldn't understand why. We were told "we're setting up for the next meal" ..... at 7.30 in the morning?????
11) if you have young children, don't be expecting high chairs, because there weren't any!
12) on a ship that size that carries 5000 passengers, there were only 4 small swimming pools, and I mean small!
13) there are signs everywhere saying "anyone found to be holding a sun bed with a towel that does not return within 30 minutes, the towels will be removed".
This was not the case - Princess couldn't care less.
14) whilst trying to relax in the Adults Only section, they were repairing the floor which meant a lot of banging and crashing. Now, I appreciate that obviously, they need to maintain the ship, but this was on Day 3 of our weeks cruise so surely, this should have been done in dock prior to departure, without disrupting the passengers' relaxation time.
15) nowhere near enough staff on duty for the number of passengers so there were extremely long queues for food and drinks.
16) I picked up a roll to have with my supper and was scowled at with the kitchen hand saying "use the tongs and not your hands for infection control purposes". I explained that, as they were not cleaning the tongs after everyone had touched them, I was far more likely to catch something by using the tongs. He then made a point of taking the whole basket of rolls away in principle.
17) watch out for the disabled quad bike riders - there is no room for them to pass in the corridors and they will aim straight for you!
18) rude bar & restaurant staff. Some bars weren't manned at all due to staff shortages.
Unfortunately, this has all ruined our first cruise and has put us off cruising completely.
The very few goods:
1) the ship was immaculate which was down to the cleaning staff!
2) most of the staff were hard working & polite but not all of them (although everyone was saying that they didn't actually see any of the bridge crew until the day of disembarkation, when the Captain was repeating "Thank you for choosing Princess, we hope you will join us again" to every single passenger) - talk about personalising yourself for the people who are paying your wages!!!
3) our stateroom attendant (Orlando) was AMAZING!
4) we had a balcony, thank God!
5) and thank God we had a TV in our room because that was the best entertainment on the ship!
6) boarding & disembarkation were fairly seamless.
We look forward to seeing what the next lot of Princess Victims (sorry, passengers) have to say!