zSea Princess

We Have traveled on the Sea Princess Twice (Nov 05 & Feb 08) and we have enjoyed both times.

The service is great ( although we did feel as if the service was slightly better on the 05 cruise, but this could be that it was our 1st trip and everything was new to us).

Although you may not be interested in some of the activities, there is always something to do even if it is just relaxing.

The shows are excellent and some names appear like Dougie brown, Dianne canon (great yorkshire comediane), Carl strong (very funny American guy) and Sid Little (my wife met him in the lift when he first boarded got chatting as you do and asked "you look familiar, who are you?")

One good thing we found was that Princess operate a watch system on the sunbeds, so if a sunbed is seen to be empty for a long time but with a towel or other items on it. they will remove the items which can be collected later, freeing up the sunbed. This stops people getting up early and saving sunbeds with a towel for later in the day. Once or twice there was no-one to do this service but they were quite busy, as this service was mainly used on days at sea. there were plenty sunbeds for everyone it was the prime spots that were reserved by passengers.

The room steward kept our room spotless and was very friendly (especially Lou on our first trip) and even left a chocolate on each pillow in the evening.

Shops and casino are closed when in port but If you fancy trying your luck in the casino but are not sure how to play, then go in during a quiet time (usually during the day, when at sea) and have a word with one of the dealers and they will teach you the game. I tried this once on our 05 cruise and turned $15 into $220. but be very careful winning is addictive. I tried it on the 08 cruise but only came out even.(again be careful. You might lose).

There are 11 Bars (Including a night club) on the ship and I have had a drink in all of them except the smokers bar (I am not a smoker) but the staff in each of them were great.

If you have kids with you , its worth getting the unlimited soft drinks option, for ?? dollars, this can be bought from the bar or waiter/ress but you get a drinking bottle and you can top it up for free (you dont have to use the bottle, you can get your drink in a glass if you prefer) But make sure you show the sticker on your charge card or they may give you a can or bottle of pop instead which is chargable (only draught soft drinks are free with the sticker)

If you decide to relax on deck and have a drink then most of the areas you will find the waiters/waitresses are around and will take your order for you.

Like lots of cruise ships, no cash is used on board but a card is used to pay for drinks and shop bought stuff and this is added to your final bill (but if you want to, you can pay your bill up to date at any time by going to the pursers desk).

The bar prices were not as expensive as i expected. about the same as a posh wine bar in the uk.

One tip - If you are going to prebook any trips using princess or you may book when on board. Then take a printout of the price list and any confirmation before you leave home as you cannot access your online princess account once the holiday has started. We had a dispute over the price but we managed to get it sorted because we had a printout of the prices advertised.

The Sea Princess has Formal nights. But if you dont feel like dressing up, thats ok but it does meen that on those night you are a bit restricted as to where you can go. But its great fun and you can hire a tuxedo/evening dress to be delivered to your state room on board and collected at the end of the cruise, so it doesn't add to you flight weight allowance. The staff also join in the dancing on some formal nights and its great fun.

A couple of nights will see the steak house open. whereas the food is included in your cruise, the steak house does have a cover charge, but it is worth it as the times we had steaks they were cooked exactly as we wanted.

We tried anytime dining in 05 and fixed dining in 08. Anytime dining is great for those who just want to eat whenever they want but we found that fixed dining was much nicer and if you wanted to do something different on one night (like steak bar or buffet), just let the restaraunt know that you won't be there and its ok.

The promenade deck has a path running all the way around, this path is one third of a mile per lap, so its ideal for early morning joggers of which there were quite a few.

The open air Movies are something you must try. Lying (or sitting) on the open deck on a warm Carribean evening sipping a cool drink watching a film on a huge screen is wonderful feeling, I only wish some of the cinemas back home had this atmosphere.

The ship has self service laundry rooms (auto washers and ironing) on most cabin decks. but these are quite busy at times. we used them first thing in the morning while in port as most people were getting ready to go ashore. you can get washing powder from the pursers deck but its not that great, it would probably be better to take some of your own and conditioner.

Ther are photographers (especially on formal nights) and you only buy the photo's if you like them. they are displayed next to the photo desk the next day and for the rest of the cruise. so we waited until near then end of the cruise and then picked the picture we wanted.

There is Internet access (not free). just swipe your card and you can check your emails etc. they even have webcams so you can see family back home.

If you do go on the sea princess (or any other princess ship) then ask about future cruises - this is a system where you give your details and you receive a confirmation that you will get a low deposit and some onboard credit if you book your next cruise with princess within the next 4 years. it costs nothing so its worth doing.

All in all the ship is well worth a visit.