We did a Christmas cruise on the Princess Crown 4 years ago and had a wonderful time. We followed that up with an Alaskan Cruise on the Pacific. This was our third princess cruise and overall we thought the standards for service declined. The staff in the horizon cafe, bars and deck areas consistently just did not care about the customer and were generally unfriendly compared to past Princess experiences. Within 30 minutes of boarding we went to one of the poolside bars to celebrate with a cocktail. I asked the waiter for the St. Thomas frozen drink. His response was (not joking) you can't expect us to know all drinks. When I explained to him what it was he said he could make it but would need to charge me for three drinks. No friendliness, conversation or suggestions for something else. We never went back to the bars.
In the horizon cafe (buffet area) there are servers that provide silverware and drinks. In busy times, they would completely ignore us. We rarely got drinks provided within 15 minutes of sitting down. When we asked for drinks, the server kept cleaning her station and ignored us.
We paid for the Lotus spa enclave. The attitude was very similiar. They had citrus infused water jugs and water pitchers in the steam room. They were empty every time we went. When we brought it to the attention of the spa manager he said it wasn't his job but the food staff. We bought the service from the spa, not the food staff. Poor customer service and not worth the $400 you pay for two people.
We selected this cabin category a year in advance at the advice of our travel agent. We wanted the cheapest category. She recommended not selecting guarantee (which was also not showing as an option) because we would most likely be upgraded.
What princess does not state clearly is that this not a partially obstructed view, its actually completely obstructed with a large orange boat and the crane to lift the boat. As I'm short, I could not see anything over the boat when we used the balcony. The room is very small. We were very disappointed as this should not have been sold as a balcony room. You can't really use the balcony.
We took the outback adventure cultural tour and really enjoyed the experience. The staff were enthusiastic and provided a good time.
We booked through another agency as the cruise line offered the southern tour and we wanted to see the northern side of the island. The tour included many stops and a good overview. My husband enjoyed the rum distillery