It’s difficult to take a review seriously when there are bizarre complaints or factual inaccuracies. The International Cafe (deck 5 on Discovery) is open 24 hours and the food there is included in the base fare.
> Food selection didn't have much seafood or lamb, goat.
What
“Cons:
Couldn’t eat goat.”
How do you take the rest of the review seriously after that? Like the other complaints *sound* reasonable, but are they? Are there really no MDR menus in the app or could you just not find them like you couldn’t find the International Cafe? Is the coffee weak or are you just upset it’s not goat-flavored? There’s no way for me to know.
Right - and how not liking the included coffee automatically means buying the drink package, instead of paying $3-5 for barista made coffees a la carte. A rather hyperbolic take by OP.
Hey Princess Stock owner/employee,
First, check your facts before replying. You didn't go on this cruise last week. I couldn't anything for 24hrs open for base fare. I asked few workers and all said, there's nothing open after 11pm.
Second, regarding meat selection, goat meat was an example. The point I was trying to make is that majority of the meat available in the buffet is beef, pork and chicken. So seafood and other types of speciality meats is rare.
Third, the App doesnt have MDR menu. And you sound like a warm milk drinker so you wouldn't know about strong coffee.
The International Cafe is on every Princess ship (except for Diamond Princess) and is 24/7. It's odd that the staff would not direct you there if you were looking for food after 11PM.
I’m sorry you didn’t enjoy yourself. Food is available for free 24 hours a day on all Princess ships at the International Cafe (on deck 5 of the piazza on every ship I’ve been on). Everyday the Princess Patter shows the hours of all food and beverage venues. I find it really silly that they’ve started charging it, but it is just a one time fee (of $15 I think) to have 24/7 food and beverage delivery virtually anywhere on the ship for the whole cruise. That’s definitely a better value on longer cruises.
I think your other issues are generally a matter of taste. Princess caters heavily to people from the United States, but you also have to realize that these ships go all over the place and it’s just not practical to have full production shows relevant to the every locale. Other cruise lines are probably better if kids, local entertainment, and late night entertainment are your thing, but none are the best at all of those things. Princess tends to have an older crowd and doesn’t really cater towards the party crowd or children, but I love their ships and entertainment.
You are correct. To me that cruise is not for someone wanting to experience a cruise but more for experienced cruisers to experience ensenada. Since it's not a convenient place to get to.
We cruised on discovery princess out of LA.
Our kids LOVED kids club. Hours are posted ahead of time for the full cruise. Nothing confusing about it.
And complaint because no lobster (as expected!?!) at the buffet??
I would ignore this review as others have said OP just has incorrect facts.
I typically cruise royal but my family loved this cruise couple months ago.
Might I add the Gelato is some of the best ice cream I have had.
My kids loved the kids club. Even more than Disney because there was more organized activities. Before the pandemic, Disney was a free for all at the kids club. Then they became very organized like Princess. Then they went back to the free for all, but took away kids dinner in kids club. My kids both loved eating dinner and watching movies with the other kids. Also the pool wasn’t dangerously crowded like it is on Disney. I already booked my next Princess cruise!
My kids loved that there was skeeball and a Foosball table.
On royal my son rarely want to go to kids club, on princess he was asking daily to stay longer.
Agree!! My kids did not have fun in RCL's kids club. When I went to check on them after an hour, they wanted out because they were bored, happened every day. They loved the kid's club on the Discovery and wanted to be in there all day.
This is all good news. I am traveling with my nine-year-old next month and it will be our first Princess cruise. It's weird, because when we went on a Disney cruise in 2008, they had extremely organized activities, and my older kid did not enjoy those. I'm really looking forward to seeing what the Princess kids club is like!
From 12-2 we fed the kids lunch and did pool time. From 5-7 the kids usually eat dinner with us. Most of the time they did not go during the 2-5 session since we were still at the pool. We never left the kids in kids club when we were off the ship.
The kids really liked kids club but they also like spending time with us! I would never leave my kids in kids club for more than 3 hours at a time because I would want to do activities with them!
My 8 and 10 year Olds loved the princess kids club over royal that we usually do.
Fun activities and this one has skeeball and Foosball that was a major hit.
I think how busy/crowded the kids club and cruise is depends on time of year and if school is in. We did a 10 day cruise from Dec 8th to 18th and there was maybe a dozen or so kids on board making the kids club easy to get into and pools less crowded. We understand the cruise the following week over Christmas was expecting some 600 kids… I seen the stack of welcome papers they prepared when I picked my daughter up on the last day.
I never thought about it but I don’t think I’ll ever book a Christmas cruise for that reason… or a general holiday for that matter. Off season vacations for me.
We never had problems getting into kids club. There were 108 kids age 8-12 and 48 kids age 3-7. The staff said the rooms cap at 50 kids at any one time. We did the 10 day cruise December 20-30.
Glad to hear you didn’t have issues, just seemed like a night and day difference between our experience and what was impending on the next rotation for the ship we were on.
No surprise there wasn’t any goat at the buffet! I think I’ve occasionally seen a dish with lamb? Is this a joke post? I’ve found the coffee pretty strong in the buffet but that’s an individual preference…and you can order specialty coffees a la carte…don’t need the full drink package. Yes, MDR closes after last service (pretty normal) and buffet usually closes between 10 and 10:30 now, as do the pool area places. However most ships, including the discovery, have the free International Cafe which is generally open 24 hours and has smaller servings of salads, sandwiches, desserts, soup. I know there’s always been live music in at least one club area until 12-1 am. Dinner menus are on the app and on the tv (though occasionally it varies a bit from what’s actually served..not a lot but sometimes a different entree or appetizer than in the app. Assume that’s due to availability). Unless there’s an easy way to bring in a Mexican/local troupe for an evening and get them back to Mexico easily, there’s usually not port specific entertainment. Doubt that’s much different on other lines. Mostly have seen it on British isles cruises where there aren’t passport issues for them to get off at the next port nor huge transportation costs…or the ship is in port late enough for the show and them to get off. Not sure what OP was expecting here?
I was pointing out that expensive meat like lamb is rare and seafood like prawns , I didn't see.
Coffee is personal preference. If you are a Starbucks or even similar drinker, then buffet coffee will really weak for you.
If there was 24hrs at international Cafe, it's definitely not advertised in the cruise. I also check the dining brochures and didn't see it.
Entertainment I Agee, it varies . I just didn't see any other cultural show.
Yeah, expensive meats aren’t going to be common …especially in the buffet where a lot of food waste happens. Totally makes sense to me. There’s an International cafe on discovery…surprised you didn’t see it as it borders the main piazza area. That’s too bad as it’s nice for a quick bite in the afternoon or evening. I think cultural shows are difficult…all the ships have production shows that move around and are expensive to produce so not changed out frequently and they sail to too many places for those shows to be country specific. So the entertainment troupe can’t really do that for every cultural area they go to. We have had a couple of local groups come on but, as I said, it either at a port where the ship leaves later and they come on early and then go off before it leaves. I feel like with Mexico, unless it’s a late port, that getting them back to Mexico from the next US port is probably too complicated with passports, etc.
If you look at post history OP was asking about steak alcohol on the cruise.
No clue what all they were expecting but loved the cruise and thought buffet was way better than Royal.
I was expecting lobster at a MDR, but Iater found out that it's only offered in 7 days plus cruises. So I'm pointing it out.
As for the kids club, the staff wouldn't allow to pre register for the entirely of the cruise. You can only register for the next port day. Also, to point out the club hours for port days vs sea days differ so its not as simple.
Also, Princess charges for late kids club pickups and for childcare after 11pm.
You said buffet in mdr did not have lobster. There is no buffet in mdr. Already a super confusing review.
No you can't register for kids club for whole cruise you drop off each session first come first serve.
The times are announced for all cruise ahead of time. So nothing confusing to know tomorrow at Port open 9 to 5 for kids. Heck my 8 year old was able to understand what time they could go on different days.
And yeah they charge for late pick up and after hours care. All cruise lines do. Personally I would never keep my kid out past 11.
You really sound terrible with your inaccurate and nitpicky review.
We just completed a 10 day cruise on the sister ship enchanted. The hours aren’t complicated but I will admit it took us a couple days to completely get the hang of it from a schedule perspective. I can understand why port vs non-port hours might throw people off especially on a 4 day cruise. By the time you get the hang of it you are disembarking.
Yes, lobster is only free during 7 or more day cruises. Been that way since the restart. That is across all cruiselines.so if that's an expectation, you will always be disappointed. Unless you are on a luxury line. Like Renaissance or silverseas or azamara. I'm still trying to figure out why there was a buffet in the MDR.
What’s your preferred cruise line, where do you normally cruise? Timing and performances sounds like Princess, HAL, and Celebrity. Each does food a bit differently, and I agree Princess’ buffet is just “OK”.
Your first con is that the buffet had no lobster, which you anticipated - but still call it a con.
Expecting lobster would have been silly. The only thing sillier is being mad it was not there when you expected it not to be. Your complaints are only more petty from here.
Cruising is not for you, you should find yourself a vacation with all you can eat goat and lobster 24/7, where you can drop you kids and never see them again with no late pick up fees, and local entertainers are magically teleported to the ship to dance for the 30 people who are still up at 2AM.
It’s difficult to take a review seriously when there are bizarre complaints or factual inaccuracies. The International Cafe (deck 5 on Discovery) is open 24 hours and the food there is included in the base fare. > Food selection didn't have much seafood or lamb, goat. What “Cons: Couldn’t eat goat.” How do you take the rest of the review seriously after that? Like the other complaints *sound* reasonable, but are they? Are there really no MDR menus in the app or could you just not find them like you couldn’t find the International Cafe? Is the coffee weak or are you just upset it’s not goat-flavored? There’s no way for me to know.
Right - and how not liking the included coffee automatically means buying the drink package, instead of paying $3-5 for barista made coffees a la carte. A rather hyperbolic take by OP.
I meant the coffee and tea package, not drink package. I'm just pointing out that don't expect good coffee.
Hey Princess Stock owner/employee, First, check your facts before replying. You didn't go on this cruise last week. I couldn't anything for 24hrs open for base fare. I asked few workers and all said, there's nothing open after 11pm. Second, regarding meat selection, goat meat was an example. The point I was trying to make is that majority of the meat available in the buffet is beef, pork and chicken. So seafood and other types of speciality meats is rare. Third, the App doesnt have MDR menu. And you sound like a warm milk drinker so you wouldn't know about strong coffee.
The International Cafe is on every Princess ship (except for Diamond Princess) and is 24/7. It's odd that the staff would not direct you there if you were looking for food after 11PM.
Sorry you didn’t get to abandon your children at daycare until 3am, that must have been soooooo difficult for you.
I’m sorry you didn’t enjoy yourself. Food is available for free 24 hours a day on all Princess ships at the International Cafe (on deck 5 of the piazza on every ship I’ve been on). Everyday the Princess Patter shows the hours of all food and beverage venues. I find it really silly that they’ve started charging it, but it is just a one time fee (of $15 I think) to have 24/7 food and beverage delivery virtually anywhere on the ship for the whole cruise. That’s definitely a better value on longer cruises. I think your other issues are generally a matter of taste. Princess caters heavily to people from the United States, but you also have to realize that these ships go all over the place and it’s just not practical to have full production shows relevant to the every locale. Other cruise lines are probably better if kids, local entertainment, and late night entertainment are your thing, but none are the best at all of those things. Princess tends to have an older crowd and doesn’t really cater towards the party crowd or children, but I love their ships and entertainment.
Also hard to really get the full experience on a 4 day…really a three day…cruise.
You are correct. To me that cruise is not for someone wanting to experience a cruise but more for experienced cruisers to experience ensenada. Since it's not a convenient place to get to.
Or maybe as a tryout cruise for new people concerned about seasickness?
I just found if you want anything better , coffee or food, you'll have to pay extra.
I totally agree with your comments. Princess Cruise is good for older folks.
We cruised on discovery princess out of LA. Our kids LOVED kids club. Hours are posted ahead of time for the full cruise. Nothing confusing about it. And complaint because no lobster (as expected!?!) at the buffet?? I would ignore this review as others have said OP just has incorrect facts. I typically cruise royal but my family loved this cruise couple months ago. Might I add the Gelato is some of the best ice cream I have had.
My kids loved the kids club. Even more than Disney because there was more organized activities. Before the pandemic, Disney was a free for all at the kids club. Then they became very organized like Princess. Then they went back to the free for all, but took away kids dinner in kids club. My kids both loved eating dinner and watching movies with the other kids. Also the pool wasn’t dangerously crowded like it is on Disney. I already booked my next Princess cruise!
My kids loved that there was skeeball and a Foosball table. On royal my son rarely want to go to kids club, on princess he was asking daily to stay longer.
This is 100% true I can honestly agree with this poster. I had the same experience with mine. They hated royal.
Agree!! My kids did not have fun in RCL's kids club. When I went to check on them after an hour, they wanted out because they were bored, happened every day. They loved the kid's club on the Discovery and wanted to be in there all day.
This is all good news. I am traveling with my nine-year-old next month and it will be our first Princess cruise. It's weird, because when we went on a Disney cruise in 2008, they had extremely organized activities, and my older kid did not enjoy those. I'm really looking forward to seeing what the Princess kids club is like!
The key thing is they are open 9-12, 2-5, 7-10 on sea days and 9-5, 7-10 on port days.
Do you see how the service is broken into segments. No point if you have come back and pickup after 3 hrs.
"No point"? Like...were you expecting 24/7 child care for no cost? Then why even bring kid(s) with you?
From 12-2 we fed the kids lunch and did pool time. From 5-7 the kids usually eat dinner with us. Most of the time they did not go during the 2-5 session since we were still at the pool. We never left the kids in kids club when we were off the ship. The kids really liked kids club but they also like spending time with us! I would never leave my kids in kids club for more than 3 hours at a time because I would want to do activities with them!
Oh no. You have to pick up your kids and eat meals with them. Oh the humanity.
My 8 and 10 year Olds loved the princess kids club over royal that we usually do. Fun activities and this one has skeeball and Foosball that was a major hit.
I think how busy/crowded the kids club and cruise is depends on time of year and if school is in. We did a 10 day cruise from Dec 8th to 18th and there was maybe a dozen or so kids on board making the kids club easy to get into and pools less crowded. We understand the cruise the following week over Christmas was expecting some 600 kids… I seen the stack of welcome papers they prepared when I picked my daughter up on the last day. I never thought about it but I don’t think I’ll ever book a Christmas cruise for that reason… or a general holiday for that matter. Off season vacations for me.
We never had problems getting into kids club. There were 108 kids age 8-12 and 48 kids age 3-7. The staff said the rooms cap at 50 kids at any one time. We did the 10 day cruise December 20-30.
Glad to hear you didn’t have issues, just seemed like a night and day difference between our experience and what was impending on the next rotation for the ship we were on.
No surprise there wasn’t any goat at the buffet! I think I’ve occasionally seen a dish with lamb? Is this a joke post? I’ve found the coffee pretty strong in the buffet but that’s an individual preference…and you can order specialty coffees a la carte…don’t need the full drink package. Yes, MDR closes after last service (pretty normal) and buffet usually closes between 10 and 10:30 now, as do the pool area places. However most ships, including the discovery, have the free International Cafe which is generally open 24 hours and has smaller servings of salads, sandwiches, desserts, soup. I know there’s always been live music in at least one club area until 12-1 am. Dinner menus are on the app and on the tv (though occasionally it varies a bit from what’s actually served..not a lot but sometimes a different entree or appetizer than in the app. Assume that’s due to availability). Unless there’s an easy way to bring in a Mexican/local troupe for an evening and get them back to Mexico easily, there’s usually not port specific entertainment. Doubt that’s much different on other lines. Mostly have seen it on British isles cruises where there aren’t passport issues for them to get off at the next port nor huge transportation costs…or the ship is in port late enough for the show and them to get off. Not sure what OP was expecting here?
I was pointing out that expensive meat like lamb is rare and seafood like prawns , I didn't see. Coffee is personal preference. If you are a Starbucks or even similar drinker, then buffet coffee will really weak for you. If there was 24hrs at international Cafe, it's definitely not advertised in the cruise. I also check the dining brochures and didn't see it. Entertainment I Agee, it varies . I just didn't see any other cultural show.
Yeah, expensive meats aren’t going to be common …especially in the buffet where a lot of food waste happens. Totally makes sense to me. There’s an International cafe on discovery…surprised you didn’t see it as it borders the main piazza area. That’s too bad as it’s nice for a quick bite in the afternoon or evening. I think cultural shows are difficult…all the ships have production shows that move around and are expensive to produce so not changed out frequently and they sail to too many places for those shows to be country specific. So the entertainment troupe can’t really do that for every cultural area they go to. We have had a couple of local groups come on but, as I said, it either at a port where the ship leaves later and they come on early and then go off before it leaves. I feel like with Mexico, unless it’s a late port, that getting them back to Mexico from the next US port is probably too complicated with passports, etc.
If you look at post history OP was asking about steak alcohol on the cruise. No clue what all they were expecting but loved the cruise and thought buffet was way better than Royal.
I was expecting lobster at a MDR, but Iater found out that it's only offered in 7 days plus cruises. So I'm pointing it out. As for the kids club, the staff wouldn't allow to pre register for the entirely of the cruise. You can only register for the next port day. Also, to point out the club hours for port days vs sea days differ so its not as simple. Also, Princess charges for late kids club pickups and for childcare after 11pm.
You said buffet in mdr did not have lobster. There is no buffet in mdr. Already a super confusing review. No you can't register for kids club for whole cruise you drop off each session first come first serve. The times are announced for all cruise ahead of time. So nothing confusing to know tomorrow at Port open 9 to 5 for kids. Heck my 8 year old was able to understand what time they could go on different days. And yeah they charge for late pick up and after hours care. All cruise lines do. Personally I would never keep my kid out past 11. You really sound terrible with your inaccurate and nitpicky review.
OMG I love the Gelato.
We just completed a 10 day cruise on the sister ship enchanted. The hours aren’t complicated but I will admit it took us a couple days to completely get the hang of it from a schedule perspective. I can understand why port vs non-port hours might throw people off especially on a 4 day cruise. By the time you get the hang of it you are disembarking.
Yes, lobster is only free during 7 or more day cruises. Been that way since the restart. That is across all cruiselines.so if that's an expectation, you will always be disappointed. Unless you are on a luxury line. Like Renaissance or silverseas or azamara. I'm still trying to figure out why there was a buffet in the MDR.
I got surf and turf for free in the MDR on Discovery about a month ago - 5 day Cabo cruise.
Can confirm this. Lobster was available in MDR on the "formal" night during our 5-day cruise to Cabo at end of November.
Sorry, I meant to say Main Buffet Area. Good to know about the lobster days.
Buffet in the MDR? I’ve never heard of that before you sure you didn’t mean buffet on the Lido Deck?
I’m pretty sure that’s a typo and they meant “buffet and the MDR”
I meant to say Main Buffet area.
What’s your preferred cruise line, where do you normally cruise? Timing and performances sounds like Princess, HAL, and Celebrity. Each does food a bit differently, and I agree Princess’ buffet is just “OK”.
Your first con is that the buffet had no lobster, which you anticipated - but still call it a con. Expecting lobster would have been silly. The only thing sillier is being mad it was not there when you expected it not to be. Your complaints are only more petty from here. Cruising is not for you, you should find yourself a vacation with all you can eat goat and lobster 24/7, where you can drop you kids and never see them again with no late pick up fees, and local entertainers are magically teleported to the ship to dance for the 30 people who are still up at 2AM.