Cruises, Cruise Deals & Cruise Holidays

Do hope you went and defended the pool steward at the Purser's office . Glad you managed to stop 'fag ash Lil', we have had many holidays spoiled by not being able to use the balcony because of other peoples' smoking. Its' just awful if you get badly behaved children around you. You can't take it up with the parents because you know that these children are the result of their bad upbringing, consequently, you know the parents will probably be inadequates.

Agree with the smoking on balconys it seems to happen a lot. We were on RCL Brillance of the seas recenley and we had smokers on balconies below us and even smoking cigars and we got the smell of smoke up on our cabin balconies. But the worst was on the sun decks where a lot of smokers were smoking on their loungers and taking the ash buckets over to their seats. We had a large number of GermanS and Spanish on the ship, as it started in Barcelona and they seemed to be the worst did not care were they smoked. Even when in Athens when the ship was being bunkered and messages given over the tannoy not to smoke, i pesonally said to one german lady with a fag in her mouth to stop, which see did but others just ignored the messages. It is even becoming GERMAN ON THE BEACH AGAIN get all the loungers round the bed cover with towels and disappear for a couple of hours, it got so bad on our last day at sea that passengers did report to the deck crew that they could not get sun beds that the crew did come round and remove the towels.

Myself and 5 others went on this same cruise and that old adage that two different views of the same thing apply here. We did not notice any unruly children and everyday went the Sanctuary pool by the gym as it was for adults only and had a current machine installed that was great. Surely the reviewer above should have done that if she wanted to avoid children running around and we always found a sunbed or seat by this pool. The trips are expensive but good and the Lisbon tram trip was especially good and the port and local cusine served on-board. The Virgo trip ashore wine-tasting would have been better if the guide had been better and the tapas served was limited and aimed at the British market but hey the wine was great! We mainly ate in the venues downstairs for all meals and as there was 6 of us we always booked earlier in the day to ensure the time we wanted and having a table for the 6 of us only.. Breakfast, including the "English type" breakfasts were always prefectly served and nothing was too much trouble at any meal including the evening ones in either of the anytime dinning evenues. Yes we tried both the paying venues where the supplement was very worthwhile but Sabatina was the better by far and the menu was not alot of fish and there was fish soup but I opted for something else as I am not a fish person either. The steak house was okay and the steak lovely but not a patch on the service on Sabatinas and we didnt have the puddings and the potato did not arrive with the meal and the man supposedly in charge ignored us and turned away unbooked diners even thought the place was not full. In Sabatinas we got there at 2030 and it was almost midnight before we left and everything was swell. Yes I would go on the Grand Princess again and yes the entertainment was varied and the magician bad but the Welsh lady telling jokes and singing was so funny................. The stateroom on deck 12 at the aft with 2 little portholes was lovely and was kept perfectly by our cabin steward and the only problem was the toilet didnt flush and this happened alot and they couldnt seem to fix it............... Yes we are off on the 3 day cruise on the new P&O ship in September and hopefully another Princess cruise next year and I cant wait .............

I am sorry you had a few bad experiances on board...the main 1 for us would be the smoking.....what will it take for these Co's to ban it TOTALY..........I know........some people who smoke will say that is not right.......maybe Cruise Co's should just designate half their ships to smokers and half to non smokers......... I know which 1 we would be on!!!!Then they would have to make sure all the staff smoked,so nobody can then complain that their health is going to be affected with all the smoke that will be around ALL the time......can you imagine the state and smell of everything onboard........ At Atlanta airport there is what I call a goldfish bowl....the smokers go in that......it is that thick sometimes you can't even see inside.......now then smokers.....if that doesn't show you what goes into your lungs each time you have a cig nothing will........Yes each to their own....but nobody can say smoking does not affect non smokers....it does........ We have got balcony cabins and we really hope we do not have any body smoking near us......the end result will eventually be.....non smokers will choose not to cruise.........

Glad to hear you sorted out 'fag ash Lil'

Do you not realise it is the duty of all passengers to look after other peoples children whilst they are probably propping up the bar? After all they are on holiday and it is not their problem if they ruin your holiday. This sort of behaviour should be treated the same as passengers who get abusive to staff of get involved in fights. If parents don’t control their children they should be put off at the next port!