Pacific Princess Review
Great itinerary and cabin suite but only average service and food
Rating by category
Additional details
The Pacific Princess is the smallest ship in the Princess fleet with only around 650 passengers. This was our first time to sail on a small ship and maybe our last. With a few notable exceptions, it seemed like we were sailing with a second or third rate crew. Princess must have their first teamers on the larger ships and use their smallest ship as a training ground. Service, entertainment and the quality of food was nowhere close to what we experienced on the Regal Princess last year. The Spa Director Radu was plain rude and obnoxious and his staff mostly inexperienced. Service and food in the Main Dining Room were well below par. However, the food in the specialty restaurants and grill was above average and service there was great. Breakfast in Sabatini's each morning was especially rewarding. All of the waiters in the lounge areas were pleasant and tried to remember your name. Lindsay, the future sales consultant/Concierge was spectacular and helped us with our disembarkation plans. Also, our cabin steward did a great job.
The entertainment was sparse and below par and very few passengers showed up. The best things about the trip were the large suite, the itinerary and no kids! Split, Santorini, Rhodes, Athens, Mykonos and especially Dubrovnik were all spectacular ports. Stopping in Lesvos was a major blunder because the seas were too rough to launch the tenders to shore. Also, Rijecka was a big waste of time. At least Princess had the good sense to stay in Santorini until 8 pm, which gave us plenty of time to enjoy the beautiful sunset from the cliffs of the caldera.
Overall, it was an average cruise. I will stick to the midsize Princess ships from now on for better food, service and entertainment.
Cabin Review
Penthouse with Balcony
The positives. Suite was large with a separate living room/dining room and bedroom. Also had 2 bathrooms, one full bath and one half bath. Suite is on the front and starboard side of the ship with a huge double balcony facing forward and a large porthole facing starboard. There is a cabinet in the living room that houses a large flat screen television and a minibar/minifridge fully stocked. There is also a round dining table and 4 chairs. The couch facing the TV has a chaise lounger on one side and folds out into a queen side bed if you wish. Outside on the balcony is a round teak table and 4 padded chairs along with 2 padded chaise loungers. The bedroom can be closed off from the living room by a curtain and consists of an oversized queen bed, 2 small nightstands, a desk and sitting chair and an almost full wall of closets and drawers for clothes.
The negatives. This room is right above the starboard anchor and the room gets very loud and it vibrates when it drops. One morning it knocked a fixture from the ceiling it vibrated so much. Also, the room is directly above the Cabaret Lounge and you can hear the music and feel the vibrations from the bass. We gave up trying to sleep until the music stopped around 11 pm. Finally, you feel a lot more motion of the ship from this forward suite, although neither of us found it unpleasant.
Overall, the spaciousness of the room and balcony and having 2 bathrooms won out over the noise problems.
Port Reviews
Venice
Stayed 3 days precruise but would love to spend at least a week here. Great food, shopping and enotecas.