Well, this was only our second cruise with Princess, but it will be our last. We had two further bookings in 2021 with negligible deposits and are cancelling both of them.

Our booking package included a hotel the night prior with transfers from the airport to the hotel, and of course to the ship. We arrived at Miami airport at 11am, searched eagerly for the Princess rep in the arrivals area, as instructed on our booking form, but none was to be found. We walked up and down each arrivals concourse repeatedly and were still searching at 3pm, so much so that even one of the a cleaners came up to ask who it was we were looking for. At 3:30pm I called Princess on an 1-800 number from a payphone, spoke to an agent who then placed me on hold for exactly 20 minutes, probably hoping I would hang up, but I didn’t, so eventually she returned to advise me that all the reps had left for the day and we would have to take a cab and pay for it ourselves. The hotel they booked was half way between Miami and Fort Lauderdale, so at least a 20 minute ride away. I asked if Princess would refund the cost and she advised me they would not, but I could try to talk to someone on board. So we paid $52 and eventually arrived at our hotel, the Shula’s Golf Resort, where we finally met someone from Princess, but who could also not confirm a refund. The good news is that this amount was eventually refunded after speaking with the Front Desk on board.

The hotel was actually very nice, located at Miami Lakes, a nice area with restaurants and up-market shops right outside. The room was contemporary with a smart clean bathroom and, had we arrived earlier, we could have certainly used the lovely pool outside while the sun shone. Read more