We are just back from a Princess Cruise around Britain aboard the Regal Princess.
We found the Regal Princess in reasonable condition for its age.
The ship was clean and the public areas well maintained, a credit to all the hard working staff.
Our cabin, although a little dated was similarly well looked after.
We thoroughly enjoyed our cruise and the ports visited.
The majority of our previous cruises have been with Princess and Princess has always been our preferred cruise line but now I’m not so sure.
Dress code
Princess highlight formal nights and a smart casual dress code in the main dining room (mdr).
This is referenced in the daily Princess Patter and in advertising preccruise.
Necessary we packed our dinner suits, smart footwear and cocktail/evening dresses for formal nights and smart casual for the rest.
Unfortunately the dress code isn’t enforced by the restaurant managers.
On the first formal night I saw no more than six passengers in dinner/dark suits at our 7.30 dining session.
Passengers arrive in shorts, t shirts, trackies and anoraks.
Formal was certainly the exception rather than the rule, so why bother.
If Princess no longer require this then why say otherwise, let’s simply not pack the formal and smart casual clothes, cut down on our luggage and just go to dinner in jeans because that’s what is now happening.
It didn’t used to be so! Those that make the effort are now in the minority.
The main dining room
Fixed time dining clearly is not fixed time and whist Princess say passengers must arrive with 20 minutes of the booking, that isn’t enforced.
We saw diners arriving up to 1 hour late and still admitted, even inappropriately dressed (as above).
Whilst the timing of other cruisers dinner arrangements don’t materially affect us, it’s the staff who suffer with a much later finish.
The menus were varied and the food invariably of a high standard but there was little control over portion size.
On at least three occasions our waiter returned to the kitchen to collect another plate because he felt that the portion size was inappropriately small.
My wife who prefers a fish to meat observed that on all occasions the fish was over cooked.
The Horizon Bistro
The quality of food was good but the cafeteria seating areas were invariably cold.
The lifts
In the aft of the ship at least one of the passenger lifts was invariably out of service daily.
Tenders and shuttles organised by Princess verses shuttles laid on by third parties.
Shuttles organised by third parties were clean, modern and operated in a timely fashion with limited waiting, whereas those organised by Princess were old, dirty and chaotic with long waits even at times that were not supposed to be peak.
One one occasion an American passenger had to explain to the bus driver how to engage forward gear.
We had waited 1 hour 15 minutes for the bus and another half hour on it before the driver was able to pull away.
Tenders were cramped with passengers squashed in like sardines.
The system could be improved by using more of the available tenders.
Signage for disembarkation.
This was woefully inadequate with arrows pointing away from appropriate routes.
Account charges
Princess no longer deliver a final hard copy account to the cabin on the final night, instead relying on the app.
Although we checked our folio charges on the final evening when they were correct, by the following morning a bar charge item had been added for 2 x $ 15.34 (an overcharge to our registered card of $30.68) which we hadn’t purchased and we didn’t spot until your e mail arrive with our account charges after leaving the ship.
We have taken this up on line and await a reply.
The final gala dinner
This was billed as a formal night and our meal sitting was 19.30 but the final time for leaving suitcases outside the cabin for onward transfer on disembarkation is 20.00.
Not wanting to travel in a dinner suit and with no other cases available to pack, we couldn’t wear our formal night outfits.
Generally.
Whilst not particularly interested in the various singers and musicians on board, those were heard we didn’t rate.
A view echoed by others too.
We also felt that there was an enforced hype surrounding activities and an unnecessary and artificial bigging up of everything Princess, it is unnecessary.
Whilst we enjoyed the cruise we felt there were areas where Princess could do better and whilst I have referenced dining attire, my point is simply; don’t make out Princess is something it isn’t and if times have changed, which clearly the have, then publicise it and we won’t bring what we don’t need.
Earlier this year we cruised Cunard for the first time.
By comparison Cunard exceeded our expectations and we thought it was generally better than Princess.
Finally a mention of the hard working staff.
Always polite, helpful, well turned out and the consummate hosts.
Always working hard to make our holiday really enjoyable for the best reasons.
For the traveller that isn’t interested in the premier and premier plus packages, Princess has lost its edge.
