14-Day Cruise Around New Zealand and Tasmania on the ROYAL PRINCESS

ONE CRUISE WAS ALL IT TOOK: MY FIRST AND LAST EXPERIENCE WITH PRINCESS CRUISES

An 11-Day South Asia Cruise That Has Become the Worst Cruising Experience of My Life

I am an avid international traveler and an experienced cruiser who has sailed on more than 20 cruises across several different cruise lines. I understand how cruising works. I understand that unforeseen circumstances arise, schedules change, and no vacation is guaranteed to be flawless. I have experienced my share of travel inconveniences over the years, and i am generally understanding when companies make a genuine effort to resolve problems.

However, i can say without hesitation that our first experience with princess cruises has been, by far, the worst cruise experience we have ever had. And based on what we have experienced so far, it will absolutely be our last.

We booked an 11-day south asia cruise departing from singapore, a trip that required three separate flights and more than 24 hours of travel for members of our group just to reach our embarkation destination.

But this was not just another vacation.

This was supposed to be a special mother-daughter experience. Four women traveling together, creating memories, exploring new destinations, and sharing an adventure we had looked forward to with tremendous excitement.

Two of the four women in our group are elderly and living with diabetes. They endured more than 24 hours of international travel to be part of what we genuinely believed would be an extraordinary experience.

We invested considerable time, money, energy, and planning into making this trip happen. We expected quality accommodations, professional service, thoughtful organization, and a comfortable environment where everyone in our group could relax and enjoy themselves.

Instead, we have encountered an ongoing series of operational failures, unacceptable living conditions, disorganization, and frustration.

What makes this experience particularly concerning is that princess cruises is not simply inconveniencing vacationers. The excessive heat, inadequate air conditioning, and repeated sleepless nights are especially troubling when our traveling party includes two elderly women with diabetes.

Guests should not have to choose between enjoying their vacation and worrying about whether their accommodations provide a comfortable environment in which to rest and recover.

We did not travel halfway around the world, endure multiple flights, and invest in an 11-day cruise to spend our time dealing with problems that should never have persisted this long.

We came to create beautiful mother-daughter memories. Instead, we are creating memories of exhaustion, discomfort, frustration, and disappointment.

And the most heartbreaking part? We are only on day 7 of an 11-day cruise, and i am already counting down the days until we can get off this ship.

1. EMBARKATION: TWO HOURS OF CHAOS BEFORE WE EVEN STEPPED ONBOARD

Our first impression of princess cruises was nothing short of disastrous.

We arrived on time for our scheduled 12:30 p.m. Check-in appointment, only to discover a chaotic and poorly managed embarkation process.

Upon arrival, more than 100 passengers, many of whom had earlier scheduled check-in appointments, were still waiting outside in the singapore heat.

Initially, we assumed the backup was related to security screening or some temporary delay. Unfortunately, that was not the case. The bottleneck was the actual check-in process.

Despite arriving at our assigned time, we spent approximately 30 minutes waiting outside in the heat, followed by another 90 minutes waiting inside before finally boarding the ship around 2:30 p.m.

Two hours. Just to check in.

What is the purpose of assigning passengers scheduled check-in times if the cruise line cannot effectively manage those appointments?

And considering that our traveling party included two elderly women with diabetes who had already endured more than 24 hours of travel, the lack of an organized, efficient embarkation process was particularly disappointing.

The entire process felt disorganized and poorly coordinated, and the initial welcome was far from pleasant. Instead of beginning our vacation feeling excited and appreciated, we started it feeling exhausted, frustrated, and disappointed.

To add to our surprise, once onboard, the ship’s staff collected our passports and informed us that they would not be returned until the end of the cruise.

Having sailed more than 20 times, this was a new experience for me. While i recognize that passport collection may be required for immigration procedures on certain international itineraries, the process and expectations should have been clearly communicated to passengers in advance.

A cruise line should not leave guests confused about the handling of their most important international travel document.

Unfortunately, the embarkation experience was only the beginning.

2. UNACCEPTABLE STATEROOM CONDITIONS: SEVEN DAYS WITHOUT ADEQUATE AIR CONDITIONING, FOLLOWED BY PLUMBING FAILURES

This is where my disappointment turned into genuine outrage.

From the moment we boarded, the ship felt unusually warm. Initially, we gave princess cruises the benefit of the doubt. We assumed the temperature might be elevated because embarkation was underway and doors were frequently being opened.

However, once we entered our stateroom, it became immediately apparent that something was seriously wrong.

Our room was extremely hot.

We reported the air-conditioning issue on the very first day.

We also became aware that the temperature problems were not limited to our stateroom, as other areas of the ship were experiencing air-conditioning issues as well.

Now, here we are on day 7, and our stateroom is still unbearably hot.

Seven days of inadequate air conditioning.

Seven days of uncomfortable temperatures.

Seven days of disrupted sleep.

We have repeatedly awakened sweating, experienced headaches, and endured sleepless nights because of the excessive heat in our room.

And i cannot emphasize enough how concerning this is when two members of our traveling party are elderly women with diabetes.

After traveling more than 24 hours to enjoy this vacation, they deserve a comfortable environment where they can rest and recover. Instead, we are dealing with excessive heat and inadequate sleep in accommodations we paid good money for.

And to make matters worse, our shower does not provide cold water.

Imagine spending your day exploring ports in the tropical heat, returning to what is supposed to be your comfortable stateroom, and discovering that you cannot even take a cool shower to get relief.

There is no escaping the heat.

Our room is hot. The shower water is hot. Restful sleep has become a challenge.

DAY 5: WHEN EVEN TAKING A SHOWER BECAME ANOTHER PROBLEM

Just when we thought the stateroom situation could not possibly get any worse, day 5 brought yet another maintenance issue: our shower plumbing backed up.

We discovered the problem early that morning and reported it before leaving the ship for our scheduled shore excursion.

We assumed that by the time we returned, the issue would have been addressed. After all, we had notified the appropriate staff early enough for maintenance to respond while we were away.

Unfortunately, we were wrong.

After spending an entire day exploring in the tropical heat, we returned to the same unbearably hot stateroom, exhausted and desperately wanting to take a shower.

Except now, we couldn’t even shower because the plumbing was backed up.

Let that sink in.

We had already been dealing with inadequate air conditioning for five days. Our shower did not provide cold water. And now the shower itself was unusable because of a plumbing issue that had been reported hours earlier.

We reported the problem again after returning to the ship.

And still, no plumber ever came.

How is this acceptable?

How does a cruise line fail to address a reported plumbing problem when guests have been away from their room for the entire day?

How many times should a passenger have to report a basic maintenance issue before someone actually responds?

A SPECIAL THANK YOU TO ARY — THE PERSON WHO ACTUALLY STEPPED UP

Amid all this frustration, there is one person who deserves genuine recognition: our stateroom steward, ary.

Thank goodness for ary!

When the maintenance response failed to materialize, ary stepped in and personally managed to unclog our shower and get it working again.

Ary saved the day!

And i want to make something very clear: i am incredibly grateful for his willingness to help, his initiative, and his commitment to making sure we could finally take a shower.

Ary demonstrated the type of care, attentiveness, and genuine hospitality that i expected from princess cruises in the first place.

However, a stateroom steward should not have to compensate for a breakdown in the ship’s maintenance response.

Ary deserves recognition for going above and beyond. But his willingness to help does not excuse the fact that we reported a plumbing issue twice and never received the assistance of a plumber.

This incident perfectly illustrates one of my biggest frustrations with this cruise.

Individual crew members like ary can provide exceptional service, but they should not be left to make up for operational failures that are beyond their responsibility.

Princess cruises should recognize employees like ary, because he is one of the few bright spots in what has otherwise been an extremely disappointing experience.

BASIC COMFORT SHOULD NEVER BE THIS DIFFICULT

A stateroom is not merely a place to store luggage. It is the space passengers pay for to rest, recover, and recharge throughout their vacation.

A functioning air-conditioning system, working plumbing, and access to a comfortable shower are not luxury amenities. They are basic expectations.

We did not pay for an 11-day international cruise to spend our nights sweating, waking up with headaches, being deprived of adequate rest, and wondering whether we would even be able to take a shower after a full day of sightseeing.

What makes this situation even more unacceptable is that princess cruises was notified of the air-conditioning issue on day 1, yet by day 7 the issue remains unresolved.

And on day 5, a separate plumbing issue went unattended by maintenance despite being reported twice.

Where is the urgency? Where is the accountability? Where is the commitment to guest comfort?

At what point does princess cruises acknowledge that passengers are not receiving the accommodations they paid for?

3. SHORE EXCURSIONS: COMPLETE DISORGANIZATION AND REPEATED DELAYS

We also booked a shore excursion through princess cruises for each port day, believing that booking directly through the cruise line would provide a more seamless, reliable, and professionally coordinated experience.

Unfortunately, that assumption has proven to be wrong.

Our excursion experiences have been another example of the same operational disorganization we encountered during embarkation.

Passengers are instructed to report to designated meeting locations onboard at specific times.

Sounds simple enough, right?

Except when you arrive, you are met with extremely long lines, overcrowded meeting areas, and passengers from multiple excursion groups and departure times all attempting to enter the same location.

There appears to be little effective crowd management or clear direction to distinguish which passengers should be gathering and boarding at which times.

Passengers assigned to later groups are attempting to enter alongside passengers whose departure times have already arrived.

The result is confusion, congestion, frustration, and unnecessary chaos.

This has occurred on three of the four excursions we booked.

Three out of four.

At that point, it is no longer an isolated incident. It is a recurring operational problem.

To make matters worse, we have also experienced repeated delays in disembarking because the ship had not received clearance at the expected time.

I understand that port clearance involves local authorities and may not always be entirely within the cruise line’s control. However, effective communication, passenger coordination, and contingency planning absolutely fall within the cruise line’s responsibility.

Passengers should not be left standing in crowded areas, confused about where to go, when to move, or why they are waiting.

This is especially important when excursions include older passengers who may find prolonged standing, crowded waiting areas, and excessive heat particularly difficult.

When guests pay additional money to book excursions directly through the cruise line, they are paying in part for convenience, organization, and peace of mind.

So far, princess cruises has delivered the opposite.

4. THE BIGGER PROBLEM: A PATTERN OF OPERATIONAL FAILURES

What makes this experience so disappointing is not any single inconvenience.

It is the repeated pattern of failures across multiple aspects of the cruise.

Embarkation was chaotic.

Check-in appointments were not effectively managed.

Communication regarding passport collection was inadequate.

Our stateroom has remained excessively hot despite reporting the problem on the first day.

We have been unable to consistently get a restful night’s sleep.

We cannot even take a cold shower to escape the heat.

Our shower plumbing backed up on day 5, and despite reporting it twice, no plumber came to resolve the issue.

Our stateroom steward, ary, ultimately stepped in and fixed the shower himself.

Shore excursion organization has repeatedly been chaotic.

Port clearance delays have further disrupted the excursion process.

And throughout all of this, our group includes two elderly women with diabetes who traveled more than 24 hours to be part of this special family experience.

These are not minor inconveniences. These are fundamental components of the cruise experience that princess cruises should be capable of delivering competently and consistently.

With more than 20 cruises behind me, i have a reasonable basis for comparison. I have experienced different ships, different itineraries, different crews, and different cruise line operating procedures.

I do not expect perfection.

I do, however, expect basic comfort, competent organization, proactive communication, and timely resolution of legitimate guest concerns.

Those expectations are not unreasonable.

They are the minimum standards passengers should be able to count on when investing their hard-earned money in an international vacation.

5. AN EXPENSIVE VACATION WE CANNOT GET BACK

Perhaps the most frustrating part of this entire experience is that vacation time is irreplaceable.

We invested money in the cruise, airfare, excursions, and the many other expenses associated with international travel.

We took three flights to reach singapore.

We planned for this trip.

More importantly, we planned for the memories we hoped to make together as mothers and daughters.

For us, this vacation was about more than visiting destinations. It was about spending meaningful time together, sharing new experiences, and creating memories we would cherish for years to come.

With two elderly women in our group, that time together is especially precious.

Instead, we have spent a significant portion of our vacation dealing with uncomfortable temperatures, inadequate sleep, plumbing problems, organizational confusion, and unnecessary frustration.

You can refund money. You cannot refund lost vacation days, missed rest, or the precious family moments that become overshadowed by preventable problems.

By day 7, we should be enjoying ourselves, looking forward to the next port, and appreciating the experience onboard.

Instead, i am writing this review because the conditions have become too frustrating to ignore.

6. PRINCESS CRUISES NEEDS TO TAKE ACCOUNTABILITY

I sincerely hope princess cruises leadership takes complaints like these seriously rather than treating them as routine passenger dissatisfaction.

There is a significant difference between a guest who simply does not enjoy a particular meal or entertainment option and a guest who cannot comfortably sleep in the stateroom they paid for.

There is a difference between an occasional excursion delay and repeated, poorly managed crowd-control situations.

And there is a difference between an unforeseen maintenance issue and allowing that issue to remain unresolved for seven days while guests continue to suffer through uncomfortable conditions.

The day 5 plumbing incident only reinforced our concerns about the ship’s responsiveness to maintenance issues.

When a guest reports a backed-up shower early in the morning, reports it again after returning from an excursion, and ultimately relies on a stateroom steward to resolve the issue because a plumber never arrives, there is a serious breakdown in the service experience.

What concerns me most is the apparent lack of urgency in addressing conditions that affect passengers’ basic comfort, particularly when elderly guests with medical considerations are among those impacted.

Princess cruises should be doing everything reasonably possible to ensure that all passengers, especially older travelers, have safe and comfortable accommodations.

I expect princess cruises to take immediate action to resolve the stateroom temperature problem and provide a meaningful response regarding the disruption to our vacation.

I also believe that appropriate compensation should be considered for the days we have spent without adequate climate control and the resulting loss of comfort and enjoyment.

And while i am extremely disappointed with the overall experience, i sincerely hope princess cruises recognizes ary for his exceptional service and willingness to step in when we needed help.

A cruise line’s reputation is not built solely on beautiful ships, attractive itineraries, or marketing promises.

It is built on how passengers are treated, how problems are handled, and whether the company delivers the experience it sells.

FINAL VERDICT: MY FIRST AND LAST PRINCESS CRUISE

After more than 20 cruises with multiple cruise lines, i never imagined i would be writing a review this negative while still onboard a ship.

But here we are.

Princess cruises has managed to turn what should have been an exciting 11-day south asia mother-daughter vacation into the worst cruising experience i have ever had.

The repeated disorganization, unresolved air-conditioning problems, plumbing issues, lack of adequate rest, and frustrating excursion procedures have overshadowed what should have been a memorable international journey.

What makes this even more disappointing is knowing how much this trip meant to our family.

Four women. Two mothers. Two daughters. Three flights. More than 24 hours of travel for members of our group. Eleven days that were supposed to be filled with unforgettable memories.

Instead, we have spent much of this journey wondering why something as basic as a comfortable room and a working shower has been so difficult to obtain.

I am sharing this experience not simply to express frustration, but to help other travelers make informed decisions before investing their money and valuable vacation time.

I strongly encourage anyone considering princess cruises to look beyond the advertised itinerary and ask serious questions about ship maintenance, guest comfort, embarkation procedures, and excursion management.

I can only speak to what we have personally experienced, but that experience has been overwhelmingly disappointing.

I have sailed more than 20 times. I know what a quality cruise experience looks like. Unfortunately, this has not been one.

For me, this will be my first and last cruise with princess cruises.

And with four days still remaining on this voyage, that is an incredibly disappointing statement to have to make.

Princess cruises, your passengers deserve better. Much better.

And to ary, our stateroom steward: thank you for demonstrating what genuine hospitality and guest service should look like. Your efforts did not go unnoticed.

We have cruised Alaska 8 times. Almost all out of Anchorage and exceptional experiences. Flying from Tampa to Seattle on Alaskan Airlines booked through Princess. Cabin attendants miss their ride to the Airport. We have been at the airport for hours already and they waltz in late like they had a great time last night...no apologies. Seattle baggage drop. Again booked by Princess not worth a dime. Had to walk to one end of the Airport to drop off luggage at a rental truck then , with carry ons the entire length back of the airport to get to the gate. Escalator down at cruise terminal and had been for weeks. one elevator. Cruise stops cancelled except Skagway. WE came to SEE Alaska! They extended our mandatory 2 hour stop in Victoria to six hours. There is nothing to see or do in Victoria! Debarkation a nightmare! The buses were there but they had one guy in a daze directing the boarding one at a time. Bus ride back to Airport and baggage handling not worth a dime. Had to drag suitcases the entire length of the airport, again, booked through Princess. Seattle as a launching point? What a waste of Space. Princess is battling their way down to compete with Carnival . The food and dining room staff were excellent. Our room service attendant was awesome and invisible. The bar staff was for the most part friendly and efficient. The shows, other than the first one which was excellent, just makeshift because we weren't stopping in ports where they could switch entertainers. In summary, we spent an awful lot of money for a dream trip to Alaska and got a screaming nightmare with one stop for lunch in Skagway. Princess is promising to return half of our cruise fare. Excuse me, we could have had great meals in our home town! We came to see Alaska!

There are Too many activities that are geared around selling products. The Musical entertainment was not to our liking.Karaoke was fun, we enjoyed the casino and playing blackjack but wish they offered a blackjack tournament., the main theatre temperature was very cold. the comedian spent too much time bragging about his career and not enough jokes, we enjoyed the international cafe and swirls ice cream was good. Unfortunately, the Piazza lacks enough seating for the amount of passengers on the ship. The breakfast buffet was very average, many of the pastries were stale and many of the main dishes were not heated. Alfredo’s pizza restaurant was good, Crown Grill was fine, Sabatinis was below average. Missing two main ports due to engine issues. Many of the venues, such as Princess Live and the Vista Theatre were difficult to find seating and poor service. We have been loyal Princess passengers. However we will select a different cruise line next summer!!