Many of our trips are Ocean cruises.  Our favorite "go to" Line is Royal Caribbean (RCL), and their sister Line, Celebrity. We have taken one cruise each on Norwegian (NCL), Carnival, and Hurtigruten. This past February (2023) we  wanted to go back to South America to pick up the Falkland Islands and revisit Ushuaia and to see the Chilean Fiords and Glaciers.  Two lines were offering a "deal"  Holland America and Princess. BOTH are owned by Carnival.  The deal on Princess saved us $1,000. So ......Princess it was.   

We usually arrange our own air transportation, but there are advantages to allowing the cruise line to do so. The biggest is, "supposedly" if your flight does not get you to the ship terminal on time, the cruise line will pay to get you on board.  So, this time, we allowed Princess to book the airline.  We booked  this trip almost a year in advance and paid a hefty deposit. About 6 months before the departure date, we got our air confirmation and itinerary. It looked good. Little Rock to Dallas. Dallas to Buenos Aires and reverse from Santiago back home. BUT a few weeks before departure, we received a flight change notice from AA.  It was a computer algorithm change that no person made and it cut our time at DFW too close to make the flight to Buenos Aries. So I called Princess.   They had no clue. They wanted to charge us $1000 additional to change it back the way it was! Nope. Princess is responsible for all flight issues. Escalated to a "Manager". She told us the same thing.  Off to a bad start here. For those who may not know, when a "travel agent" arranges your flights, only THEY can make changes to it. However, being an old travel experienced guy, I called the airline and they fixed the problem.

Just as slow and disorganized as our very first cruise (On Carnival ) was 20 years ago was the check-in process to get on board the first day. .  We have taken at least one and often two cruises a year since. This year we will take three.  This was our first and last Princess Cruise as nothing has improved in 20 years!!   Taking up our Passports is totally uncalled for this day and time, and it puts all  passengers at risk. There  is no valid reason to do so.  Princess/Carnival blamed it on the Nations visited government's.. They  lost that argument when our passports were returned the day before we landed at Puerto Montt!!  Their check-in process is archaic at best. Terrible way to start the cruise.

One of the many reasons we love cruising is to meet and hopefully make new friends. The very best way to do so is over dinner on board in the main dinning room.  When we cruised with NCL, we discovered their "dine your way" was not conducive to having the same large populated table every night.  Many lines are offering flexible options but we ALWAYS reserve a 8 to 12 person table that will have the same passengers and same service staff every evening. We made such reservation for Princess. 

Well, that got TOTALLY MESSED UP and we were treated VERY RUDELY the second night on board!!!  We did NOT sign up for "dine my way". We signed up for a large  PERMANENT TABLE at the same time so we could meet new people and get to know the same group throughout the cruise and the same wait staff. The  Maitre d' did not listen to us the fist night. He placed us at a temporary "dine your way table" and  we did not realize he had done so, and then the next night he tried to move us without any consideration that we were already making friends with the 3 other couples!. Only when I demanded that a Senior Officer come to the table did they allow us to stay. Very embarrassing! Terrible treatment.  Half of the other guests would not come back. Almost ruined the whole trip.

Then, there were the "specialty restaurants" on board. There were two where you can pay extra for a more upscale dining. (The Main Dining rooms are already very upscale compared to what we are used too so we rarely deviate from them) . But on this "joint Birthday and Valentine " trip, we had tickets for both the Steak House and the Italian Restaurant.  

At the Steak House the filet was very tender but virtually no flavor. The Lobster tail was good. BUT, the staff was a real bust. First, the waiter did not understand plain English and or could not follow a simple instruction.  My wife has an extreme sensitivity to ALL HOT peppers INCLUDING BLACK pepper. This was very carefully, clearly and repeated to the waiter. The first thing he did when the appetizer was brought out was to attempt to grind black pepper onto her food!!  Then, he totally ignored that I might like some. But wait, it got worse. The self proclaimed "destination expert" (Princess Staff) showed up with her husband and was seated next to us and THEY got all the attention. It was embarrassing and totally inappropriate treatment of us and the other passengers that attended that night.  The head waiter/greeter never intervened nor checked on us. TERRIBLE SERVICE!!!  

Except in the main dining room, they expect you to scan a QR code for the bar menu and just about everything else.  All cruise lines should stop  assuming every one likes QR codes and using a "smart" cell phone. Get back to real menus. Bar tenders took way too long to mix drinks mainly because they are talking and joking with fellow staff and not focusing on the customer!  The drink quality was good.  Poor service delivery.

Another great reason to cruise is the on-board entertainment.  At the end of the cruise you are provided and e-mailed "review" questionnaire.  They really need to customize these questions  to the specific cruise and entertainers.  In the main theater we saw some of the best ever and one of the worst. The entertainment director is NOT customer focused. All cruise lines  have data in hand before the cruise as to the passenger  demographics.  A two week cruise in  winter months  when all the children’s schools are still in session are always going to be a much older group as was this cruise.  ALL the entertainment should be focused on the majority age group.  On this cruise, it was totally inappropriate and should be a serious disciplinary  issue as to who hired and then allowed the very talented solo violinist, Russian Irina Gustav to appear REGARDLESS of when she was contracted.  What a horrible slap to all of us  and an endorsement of Russia. Yes, she is very talented but she has also chosen to continue to live in Russia. In St. Petersburg no less.  Princess/Carnival  tacitly endorsed the invasion of Ukraine by  allowing her a stage.  MANY military men and women on board were greatly insulted and angered!  Shame on Princess Cruise Lines!!  One of the shows, the second night of the full Princess Dancers and Singers was patently vulgar – and I am far from a prude!

In all it was really a good trip until we got DROPPED at the Santiago airport and once again, Princess failed us. First of all, the majority of the passengers are flying home to distant lands on over night flights.  Arriving at the airport at 10 AM for a 10PM flight with no where to safely store luggage, sit and relax is  again horrible customer care on the part of Princess. A Princess Rep told the group that the Holiday Inn would store our luggage even IF we were NOT a guest. A total lie!  WOW. All of us old folks had to take that long walk over to learn we were lied to and be embarrassed. Another Princess failure. Since Princess most likely paid for half or more of the passenger seats on the Planes, surely the largest cruise line company on the Planet  can work with the airlines to allow check ins before 5 PM for those late flights.  Focus on  customers' Needs!!