New ship, not to the usual Princess standard, ports visited mainly berthed in container ports very expensive to shuttle from the ship ie Livorno 16 dollars each to get out of a closed port will never sail there again! with Princess anyway.
Enjoyed the ports visited and the weather was excellent sometimes a little too hot.
The ship it’s self we found most uncomfortable.
The seating was over sized.
I’m 5 ft and could not sit in the over size seats comfortably, if I sat back I would either be lying down or my legs straight out in front of me.
I don’t know who designed the entertainment rooms but maybe Princess should look elsewhere, it looked very designer but lack of seating in all venues and views in some venues were obscured by fancy railings.
The cabin however was very nice, but the balcony extremely small only a very small table and no room to sit with your legs out to sunbathe if wanted.
The food was a little hit & miss.
After the frustration of obtaining the time booked before sailing, only to find everything had been cancelled and we had the frustration of a long queue of angry passengers experiencing the same problem.
When the queue grew and things got more heated we were taken to the “overflow ” restaurant which was very nice and given the same time every night after a few days we were sat at the same table and the waiters were excellent.
This also happened on Sky Princess and again on Emerald Princess, can only think Princess have got their policy wrong.
It causes so much annoyance especially when it takes so long at home filling all the paperwork in only to find it deleted on the ship.
The loyalty program has changed, P&O points that were carried over to Princess and gave people Elite status have been deleted when it comes to most traveled guests and Elite no longer get free wi fi.
You can purchase it for 50% discount now.
The 10% discount that used to be given in the shops no longer applies as all shop items including spirits & cigarettes have a 15% discount, shore excursions still have the 10% discount for Elite but we never use as they always seem so expensive and mostly included shopping which we don’t like we can shop at home! We now book the Princess plus package, we don’t drink a lot but it’s better because you can get special coffees from the piazza if you can find a seat! People tend to sit here reading or playing cards, so people who want a coffee or something to eat have nowhere to sit.
The wines in the package are mostly Italian, we drink red with our meal and there was only a choice of 3 very disappointing.
We did complain and we then had a New Zealand Pinot noir if we chose the right bar, but unless you specify they just bring you one of the cheap Italian ones.
I think they have been told most people don’t know what there drinking but how wronge they are when the wine is so bad at 10 dollars plus 18% service charge if your not on the package.
If your a tea drinker like me their selection is very poor.
They have no idea of the flavours in the piazza if you ask for a green tea you end up with anything with a green label.
The entertainment is quite none existent during the day, it’s just full of seminars to try and sell you things.
At night it’s a lot better.
The game shows are a laugh, better than most of the comedians that’s if you can find a seat with a view.
We had one meal in the crown grill but the seating in there is just as bad.
The seats so low the table is under your chin so most uncomfortable to eat.
All in all not a bad cruise given covid and the amount of revenue they must have lost, but definitely not up to their usual standard.
Maybe if the medallion worked and wasn’t so hit and miss it could be better but they seem to have a lot of problems with it which again causes frustration.
One couple we met were still waiting for a drink to be delivered when they were getting off the ship they had ordered it at the beginning of the cruise! Hopefully things will get better.
