Defecting to Princess

[david63]

You may have been wondering (then again you may not) why I have not been updating this for the last week. Well once we left Norway things started to go "pear shaped" (not personally but cruise-wise).

Our original itinerary was:

May 20 - Akureyri
May 21 - Isafjordur
May 22 - Grundarfjordur
May 23 - Reykavik

Due to bad weather the itinerary became:

May 20 - Seydisfjordur
May 21 - Akureyri
May 22 - Isafjordur

May 20 (Seydisfjordur) - this was an unscheduled port due to the rearrangements and was a community of around 600. As there were no excursions here and it was a tender port we did not fancy going ashore along with 3,000 others to then have to queue for don't know how long to get back on the tender and as the weather had improved somewhat we spent much of the day on the balcony absorbing some vitamin D. Due to the rearranged itinerary our one and only excursion in Akureyri was rearranged from 08:00 to 16:00 and as we had the option to cancel we did so and hurriedly managed to find a private tour at a sensible time via Viator so booked it (also it was cheaper than Princess!)

On the morning of May 21 (Akureyri) the wind was so strong that the pilot said that it was too dangerous to enter port and if we did then he did not know when we would be able to get out again so Akureyri was cancelled but an hour later we turned round to return to the port for a medical evacuation. Fortunately my private Viator tour was refunded.

May 22 (Isafjordur) - this was another tender port so as we needed to at least set foot in Iceland we went ashore. Now here is my piece of cruise advice - if you are visiting Isafjordur then go on an excursion or stay on board. This has to be one of the most depressing ports that I have ever had the misfortune to visit, and it was cold (yes I know there is a clue in the name of the country)

We then had four (instead of three) sea days back to Southampton with the main excitement being on May 24 at around 16:30 the Captain announcing that there was to be a medical evacuation by helicopter and all aft cabins (where we were) had to be vacated during this operation which eventually took around an hour and a half! We later learned that there were three passengers evacuated one of which was critically ill.

Disembarkation was far better organised that with P&O. Passengers are given coloured tags for their cases and are then disembarked by luggage tag (which has to be shown at the gangway when leaving so there is no queue jumping - although it does not stop passengers loitering around the gangway! Once in the baggage hall the cases are arranged by tag so there is no going up and down the baggage hall looking for your cases they are easy to find.

Our luggage tag was called at about 07:45 (just finished breakfast) so by the time we had gone back and got out coats etc. were were off the ship, complete with luggage, by 08:15 and on the road by 08:30. Unfortunately the M6 was a nightmare and a 240 mile journey that would normally take about four and a half hours took six and a half (too many Noddy cars/drivers out for the Bank Holiday weekend!!!!)

Anyway it was not all bad news as with any Princess cruise if a port is missed then there is an automatic refund of port taxes which on this cruise was about £50 each but not only that Princess has given all passengers a 20% FCC because of the missed ports. Then there is the icing on the cake of missed ports insurance (claim already submitted) which if paid in full will be £150 per port per person.

[david63]

So overall what are my impressions of Princess?

• We really liked the technology of the Medallion and encountered no problems whatsoever.
• We liked the way that the all inclusive package worked - especially from the drinks point of view where you could order as many as you wanted at a time (obviously subject to the 15 daily limit)
• We also liked the way that dining worked. Admittedly we had Reserve dining (aka Club) and we never waited above two or three minutes to be seated. If not having Reserve then being able to book a time slot for each night is far superior to the P&O system.
• We felt that the quality and choice of food was good.

What we were less impressed with were:

• The poor bar service and lack of seating in the bars. This is the problem with American ships sailing out of Europe (Americans spend in the casino, Europeans spend in the bars)
• The lack by some to even acknowledge that there is an evening dress code - and, apparently, dress codes are better in cruises ex UK than ex USA
• We did not like the price of the excursions - most on this cruise were around £100 per person, but I appreciate that Norway/Iceland are not the cheapest of countries.

Overall we found that there was little difference between Princess and P&O - it is a case of swings and roundabouts and would certainly go back if the itinerary and price were right.

[barney]

Cheers David.
A good review

[Stephen]

Sorry David you’ve not sold it to me.
Mrs S and I were thinking about possibly a Princess round UK cruise later in the year since we’ve had to cancel our July one, but on reflection I agree with Foxy…..better the devil you know.

[Manoverboard]

We enjoyed Princess very much and thought they edged P&O in matters that were important to us.

Thanks for the review, pity about the weather but it's been really grand here

[Whynd1]

Thank you for the report David.

Very interesting.

Lindsey

[Ranchi]

We are scheduled to join Sky Princess later this summer sailing from Southampton. I was wondering if anyone could help regarding protocols for boarding. We are not using CPS for parking but rather an hotel that provides a taxi to the port. We have priority boarding but as yet I don’t seem to see a boarding time. We have filled in the info regarding the medallion, do we just pick that up check in (rather like picking up your key card with P&O?)
I must admit getting our photos onto the Princess site was much easier than trying to get you photo (suitably sized) into the blue box on the P&O site .

[david63]

All you need at Southampton is your passport. Show that at check-in and you will be given your Medallion. Currently (and this could change at any time) Princess do no bother about boarding time but if you want to you can select your own arrival time in the app.

Boarding for Princess start at around 11:00

[Ranchi]

Many thanks, David.

[david63]

Well LV have paid my missed ports claim without any problem - 10 days from submitting the claim.

That's a good few hundred £££ in the bank

[Stephen]

We are also well impressed with LV when getting refunds for two holiday bookings, one land base and one cruise. Very quick and efficient.