Cruise Reviews

A very digruntled woman !!!
Reviewed By: mcrae, manchester on 20th Jul 2008
Cruise Line: Princess Cruises Times cruised before: 10+
Cruise Ship: Emerald Princess Sailed: June, 2008
Destination: Mediterranean Age: 46-55
firstly let me tell you a story.When I was a young girl my parents took me on my first cruise and it was amazing ,so for the last 30 years my parents my self and latter my husband took many cruises.I remember my husband who is Australian saying to my father oh no I don't fancy it ,all old people,dressing up ,bla,bla,bla.my fathers reply was ,tell you what Shaun if you don't enjoy it I will pay for it !!!! so off we trotted on the dawn princess.'Fantastic( I love cruising )'was my hubbys response.Over the years our word of mouth recommendation has caused a lot of our friends to start cruising with ,as we always said 'the best' princess'.,,,as we had tried Costa,celebrity,ect.princess was always tops.
In Feb. this year my parents took the sea princess on a 15 night cruise for there 50th wedding anniversary,my dad phoned me from the ship crying with joy at (the best bloody cruise we ever had ) he was ecstatic.When they docked in Barbados he got very short of breath,when he got home his health detracted so much,he was taken to hospital ,on the 9th march and was sent for a scan.They found he was riddled with cancer at 69 yrs of age and was dead on the 13th march.As you can imagine the shock to my mother and I (I am a only child ) was indescribable .To cut a long story short,we found my mother was left with not a lot of money.

,So my husband and I decided that I would take her on a cruise, she insisted on paying for her self so I booked on the emerald for 29th June,and here the horror began.We were put on a 5.20 am flight to Venice,which we accepted as we new princess would look after us as they always had done HOW WRONG WE WERE. when we arrived,after being up all night we were penned in to a holding area ,with rude Italians herding us like cattle ,pointing at us like we were an irritation to them,there wasn't even Tea or coffee just paper cups with tap water.we sat there for nearly 3 hours,this was after me having to lug our suit cases at Venice airport (my mum has rheumatoid arthritis ) so she cant help.not one person offered to help me.After what felt like a eternity we boarded the ship.To say the staff were not only rude and indifferent would be a understatement,I have never in my life been party to such a 'cant be bothered' attitude in my years of traveling.Apart from a hand full of crew (the bar boys in adagios),our treatment was disgusting,so much so that my mother went to the purser to say we wanted to opt out of the tipping policy (which by the way is the root of a lot of your staff problems ) its like the child who gets the present before Xmass,but still expects more on Xmass day.Any way we were told we had to go on a certain day ,at a certain time to do this (absolutely ludicrous )so we take time out of our day ,to go and queue at one of the lounges,only to find quite a few passengers wanting to do the same thing,most of these people were like us frequent princess cruisers.After a 45min wait I got to speak to your representative,and I use this term lightly ,I asked him was he interested to know the reasons why I felt I didn't want to tip the staff and he just looked blankly at me,weather he didn't speak good English, i am still not sure,any way I started to tell him,then I stopped my self ,looked him in the eyes and said ;your not really interested are you; to which I got no reply,it was then that I told him I will wait now until I get home and write in to princess (so much for your please tell us advert on the cabin TV ) As a treat my mum booked me in to the salon for a cut and blow ,now this to my mother with limited funds was a big thing $79 is not a great amount but to a pensioner it was a big extravagance ,she just wanted to thank me for all the support I had given her since my poor dad passed,so off I go ,cant wait for a wonderful relaxing time.Oh dear lord how wrong can one be !!!!! to say it was one of the most uncomfortable experiences I have ever experienced would be a understatement,The American girl (might have been share, I think she mumbled at me) was in the middle of some sort of war with the rest of the staff she spoke once to ask in a robotic voice was I enjoying my cruise,so I explained about my dad ect,,, to which she replied oh Rome is pretty cool !!!!!!I I just couldn't wait to get out ,she was snipping at some other girl about towels,and just cutting my hair wily nilly,no interest at all ,absolutely disgusting,I must say though the cut was pretty good ,other wise I would have had big words,but I had just come to accept the rude behavior of most of your staff,and was sick of it ruining my holiday.Then we discovered sanctuary ,wonderful,the staff were great,even though it cost $20 per day it was well worth it,one day we asked for ear phones ,as advertised and was told they only had 5 sets,so the supervisor came ,and was wonderful,he apologized and gave us $10 off each. There are too many things to tell you but to be honest I cant be bothered to list it all,this is just a small example of the rude and indifferent treatment we received.To sum up I think the Emerald is a unhappy ship,full of people who don't want to be there,unfortunately you have lost some very good customers in my family and in my fellow ship mates,also a lot of word of mouth recommendation.which in my opinion is the best form of advertising.The worst for me is my poor mum who as a platinum member,with years of happy memories sailing with you ,has been left feeling so alone and depressed about the whole experience as she always new this would probably be her last cruise due to her limited funds since my father passing.Then to top it all ,as we were leaving the ship we met our cabin steward,my mum was trying to thank him and let him know we had left him some money in the cabin,he glared at us a just walked away,he obviously hadn't heard the bit about money being left !!!!! In conclusion I think you need to get a secret cruiser on this ship and see it all for your self. I do hope this helps you resolve a lot of these issues as you did have a wonderful product yours faithfully Christina this is a letter I have sent to princess.I DONT EXPECT ANY RESPONCE.
Quality of Food2
Entertainment1
Shore Excursions1
Staff1
francis and the boys in adagios also joy and the lovly lads in sancturey they smiled !!!!!
Children's Facilitiesn/a
Onboard Activities1
Cabins2
Overall Rating1
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Comment by Warren, Benfleet (24 Jul 08 16:28) about this REVIEW.
I am not convinced that this is a proper reflection on Princess Cruises. I have tried to read the review in a charitable way, bearing in the mind the sudden death and the grief that must have been experienced, but I have found it difficult. I think the writer might have have been expecting too much of Italian officialdom. I have travelled Italy extensively and found them to be lovely people. Perhaps a better aim would have been to go on the cruise, relax, not expect everything out of everyone and just enjoy a peaceful life.
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Opinion: Disagree Comment by pace, manchester (24 Jul 08 12:17) about this REVIEW.
myself, my wife and four children aged 18 16 15 and 10 cruised on this ship last august and it was great. the holding area prior to boarding was sparce but there was a bar and refreshment place just through an opening off the main hall. the ship and crew were brilliant and i did not mind the tipping policy, i was more than pleased to show my enjoyment of the cruise in this way, the staff are on low wages and given thier commitment to the passengers comfort i thought it the least i could do. i also sought the exceptional staff members out at the end of the cruise and showed them my appreciation in monatary terms, love them, love the ship, thanks for a tremendous holiday.
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Opinion: Disagree Comment by Jenkins, Swansea (20 Jul 08 20:28) about this REVIEW.
We went on the Emerald in January and we had a fabulous time, staff were very good , very helpful I have also been on a lot of cruises we have tried p&o, ncl, island cruises, celebrity , etc food was great, entertainment was OK but its always the same on American ships they have different tastes to us British. We also opted out of one of the tipping policy and they did it straight away for us .Rooms very specious, loads of room to hang clothes went with my mother , i lost my father when i was 19 to cancer and he was 55 , so my mother just has me now and we always enjoy our princess cruises.
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Comment by mcrae, manchester (22 Jul 08 22:35) about a COMMENT by Jenkins (20 Jul 08 20:28)
WEll all i can think is perhaps the crew you had in jan was new ,all bright eyed and bushy tailed !!! I do think 9 months is too long for the crew,they must get so fed up with it all.But this is not my problem as a paying passenger.If you read my review you will see that I to have spent meny happy years as a princess customer ,as for your comment about the U.S having different tastes to (us brits ) on the emerald the cruise director was a british femail !!!! while on the dawn ,ect the american entertainment was fantastic.any way perhaps I am geting grumpy in my old age ,with nothing better to do than winge.All I KNOW IS WHAT HAPPEND TO MY MUM AND I
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Comment by Jenkins, Swansea (23 Jul 08 15:55) about a COMMENT by mcrae (22 Jul 08 22:35)
yes and these are my comments don't want everyone to think the emerald is awful as its not. There was a British male cruise director on board when we were but as they are American ships you expect American entertainment most of the time.
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Comment by morris, st helens (26 Jul 08 02:04) about a COMMENT by Jenkins (23 Jul 08 15:55)
well done carnival you have great people policing this web site.do you think this lady has nothing better to do than go on a ship ,pay her money and then get on here for no reason but to make up story;s god if you lot are real passengers.get real,and accept that not every cruisers experances are the same,there are a lot of variables at work.So dont rubbish this ladys c omments.ME THINKS YOU PROTEST TOO MUCH
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Comment by jenkins, Swansea (27 Jul 08 12:53) about a COMMENT by morris (26 Jul 08 02:04)
I'm just saying what I thought of the ship like everybody else who has there opinion. so hows that rubbishing the lady's comments ?
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Comment by morris, st helens (28 Jul 08 00:37) about a COMMENT by jenkins (27 Jul 08 12:53)
OH GET A LIFE
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Comment by Jenkins, swansea (29 Jul 08 18:12) about a COMMENT by morris (28 Jul 08 00:37)
What a lovely person you are.
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Comment by mcrae, manchester (28 Jul 08 00:47) about a COMMENT by morris (28 Jul 08 00:37)
Dear me sorry, I wish I had never voised ny opinion now.I thought this was some where to have your say,,, not a war zone !!!! and I CANT SPELL, SO VERY SORRY BYEEEE
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