4m x 3m Omlet pen, cube, new auto door still boxed and coop light

[Jules.]

My parents both have a special birthday later this year & are thinking of going cruising to celebrate, for the first time.

Have you had any experience of this company?

They are looking to get a double cabin with a balcony- any suggestions on the best places on ships to be positioned for views/noise etc?

Thanks!

[Guest]

We had our first Princess cruise at half term. Probably our last although as we only booked with them because it was the only cruise that properly fitted the half term holiday I couldn't say definately not.

 

We sailed on the Grand Princess AKA Butlins at sea. I have to say we did enjoy our "Butlins" moments and joined in wholeheartedly and that these moments happen on board all ships - evening entertainment on Cunard can be very Butlinsy at times too. Good job there were no french people on board to witness us leaving Brest singing Rule Brittania and waving Union Jacks.

 

We liked - the buffet, as always good variety of choice although vegitarian was limited. The cabin - basic but everything we needed and with a bunk spacious enough for the 3 of us. The pools were lovely. Cabin steward excellent, bar staff excellent, waiters excellent. Choice of TV and film channels in your room

 

We didn't like the lack of a vegitarian menu, used to having a seperate menu for veggies not one choice each evening or order another plate of veggies. Being charged for courtesy busses at ports where no other cruise line does, even babies were charged. Staff lying to you (pursers telling you if you DIDN'T pay the charge for the courtesy bus you woulnd 't be able to get a taxi, good job we knew the taxi rank was right next to the bus stop.) Them not giving a monkeys that they were showing a PG12 film at 2pm on the outdoor screen by the pool which was full of small children. That the casino was a total no go area because it was so very smokey. That various areas of the ship were very smokey - according to the pursers (who liked to lie and make things up!) they could "do what we want as we are registered in Bermuda".

 

We didn't expect it to be as good (for us) as either QM2 or QE2 (although our last trip on QE2 wasn't great). But we did expect it to be as good as P&O.

 

There are some fabulous deals on cruises at the moment - we've paid less than ever before for our summer transatlantic crossing and been upgraded to the poshest restaurant - not that it really makes a difference as we love the main restaurant but it does meen our cabin is 400sq ft bigger! Next summer we have already booked and got an even better price. Shop around get the best for a special trip.

[Jules.]

Thanks Pengy, that's food for thought, especially about the smoking .

Since they aren't into bars, casinos, karioke etc then do you think they would avoid the major smoky areas anyway?

( I'm not for one minute suggesting you frequented those parts of the ship, but I presume they would be the most smoky anyway? )

[Guest]

You do a lot of bars on a ship like this because thats where the seating areas are. Also there was a smoking bit by the pool and they didnt' seem to stop people smoking anywhere around there. We found the ship didnt' have a lot of places you could sit quietly - which is one of the things I love about Queen Mary.

 

The entertainment staff were really lovely too! All of the staff who were not good came from the same country - I won't mention it but we did often whistle a spitting image song.