Princess Cruises is a leading cruise line that offers a variety of travel experiences across multiple destinations, including Alaska, the Caribbean, and Europe. The company provides passengers with an array of cruise packages that feature luxury accommodations, onboard dining, and entertainment options tailored to enhance the travel experience. Customers can choose from various promotions, including instant savings on cruise fares and special offers for families traveling with children.
Targeting vacationers seeking unique maritime adventures, Princess Cruises aims to cater to a diverse clientele, from couples looking for a romantic getaway to families seeking fun-filled holidays at sea. The company also promotes value-added packages, such as Princess Plus® and Princess Premier®, which include benefits like dining, drinks, and Wi-Fi, to enhance the overall cruise experience. Through its user-friendly website, www.princess.com, customers can easily explore available itineraries and current deals, making it convenient for them to plan their next voyage.
Princess Cruises receives a significant amount of negative feedback, with many reviewers expressing disappointment in their experiences. While some customers appreciate the beauty of the ships and the quality of the food, they often criticize the service and reliability.
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Common complaints include canceled excursions without proper explanations, poor customer service, and issues with the Medallion class system, which has led to frustration among guests. Safety concerns have also been raised, with reports of inadequate security and incidents occurring in front of staff. Despite a few loyal customers who have enjoyed multiple cruises, the overall sentiment leans heavily towards dissatisfaction, highlighting that Princess Cruises struggles to meet expectations.
Each source counts by its number of reviews. Only reviews written by people are scored.
Rating, volume, share of the score, six-month trend and fake-review risk for each source
Source
Rating
Reviews
Weight
6-mo
Fake risk
★
Trustpilot
Imported Trustpilot reviews
1.7
647
100%
+0.6
● Low
1.7 / 5 overall
=
647 reviews across 1 scored source
How fake risk works ⓘ
Reputation trend
Monthly average rating from reviews written by people · latest review Jul 2025.
Last 3 months
2.1▲ 0.6
12-month avg
1.9
All-time
1.7
Category avg
4.0
Monthly averageCategory average
Monthly average rating and review count
Month
Average
Reviews
Aug 24
2.1
21
Sep 24
2.0
9
Oct 24
1.1
9
Nov 24
1.8
11
Dec 24
1.8
14
Jan 25
2.5
8
Feb 25
1.6
7
Mar 25
1.3
6
Apr 25
1.6
7
May 25
1.0
4
Jun 25
2.3
13
Jul 25
2.4
7
What people praise & complain about
Share of positive (4–5★) and negative (1–2★) reviews mentioning each topic · based on the 500 most recent reviews.
Top praiseof 67 positive reviews
Customer service45%
30 mentions
Friendly staff22%
15 mentions
Helpful support16%
11 mentions
Website & app13%
9 mentions
“I just wanted to express my appreciation for the excellent customer service provided by Luyanda Chiya who assisted me...”
On “Customer service” · Jan 16, 2025
Top complaintsof 394 negative reviews
Customer service53%
207 mentions
Shipping38%
148 mentions
Payment issues30%
120 mentions
Cancellation21%
83 mentions
“I'm so surprised to a company like princess has so many issues with customer safety, with insecure rooms, witnessed c...”
On “Customer service” · Jul 4, 2025
How it compares
Same method for every company: overall rating, legitimacy checks, the average rating of reviews mentioning each area and the 6-month trend · Cruise Lines.
Overall rating and review count for this company and similar companies
Went on Caribbean Princess in March 2022. My room had to be changed multiple times. First was because it was right at the bottom of the ship and with the engine noise and shaking, it was unbearable. Second room had issues with my toilet (would not flush). 4 days of calling front desk for help got me nowhere. After my bout of covid they moved me once more due to requiring that room for a mobility patient instead of keeping that room free.
Whilst in isolation it took over three hours for lunch delivery. On the subject of food, our maitre d was rude and completely unhelpful. As vegetarians we were told we would “get whatever was on the menu” and would not let us converse with the the chef.
I missed a pre paid excursion during my covid time. Despite saying they would refund that, 9 weeks later I still don’t. I have also been charged fees which are not explained.
The ship was so old with mechanical problems that the cruise was terminated early in San Fran instead of Vancouver. And when trying to phone them it is virtually impossible to get through to them. You can’t even make a complaint.
STAY AWAY FROM THIS COMPANY!
Cruising post covid a viable risk option ? Sadly NO .!!he risk v benefit
I have just returned yesterday from a Princess UK cruise.... My wife and I have always been keen cruisers.... some 20 in all, and many on our favourite cruise line Princess.... This post is a personal and objective cruise experience report, prompted by our desire to 'test the cruise water' post covid, to see if it would be a viable future option , which in the last 14 years or so has given us many magical memories and experiences. The cruise experience has changed, as we felt had the enthusiasm and engagement of our fellow passengers... General observations - crew and staff, dining experiences and accomodation - as we remembered and loved... The company has cut costs by reducing passenger experiences - lower standard and variety of on board activities and lower standard guest performers - altho the stage shows with ship cast were excellent.... Passengers get less benefits for their cruise levels and restaurant drinks were much more expensive... Now my main reason for the review..... post covid, are the health issues a concern... well, sadly ..yes. I'll explain.. and the reason we would not risk any future cruises . Cruise ships have always been 'contagion containers'... with 2-3-4,000 passengers in close proximity, catching various viruses has always been a lottery, and the ship takes no responsibility and any suffering passenger stands a bad chance of having to quarantine and lose part of the holiday... it's all weighted against the passenger.... Now bearing that in mind, now cruising means that all passengers need proof of a negative covid test, and a vaccination pass, before boarding, and all staff and crew are tested regularly, so no reasons with what we know of how covid spreads, that this should be an issue on board.... again, sadly not so. Many passengers suffered bad 'cold' like symptoms, my wife suffered a severe chill.... again typical of a cruise 'contagion container'.... Both of us are in our 70's, very fit, never had covid, and very informed (I was a career research analyst and have spent much time researching covid) so we know how it is caught and how it is not caught... The point.... For the last 5 days of the cruise, I developed severe typical cold like symptoms and fought hard to complete our intensive excursion package - our priority.... About a couple of days before disembarkation, I was aware of a loss of taste and smell .. but still thought I had extreme cold symptoms. Arriving home yesterday, I on a whim did a covid test... and yes.... tested positive. So angry as this could only have happened on board the ship... So despite all precautions, you can still catch covid on board, with all the potential implications... A word to the wise.. hope readers thinking of cruising may want to weight up the risk v benefits.. We have and intend to just focus on trips that will not put us at risk of covid from such mass indoor gathering situations... You may think the same.... but at least you have a 'horse's mouth' experience to draw on .. Good luck..!!
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After four cruises in six months, they get 3 stars
Ship: absolutely beautiful but the balconies are too narrow. Finishes are elegant and upscale with recessed doorways.
Food: Noticeable improvement in past six months. Portion sizes have improved. Issue with culinary skills onboard - they can’t make a decent Eggs Benedict to save their lives (hint: Sauce is supposed to be a liquid, not a solid.)
Entertainment: needs a lot of improvement. “Activities” are mostly vendor sales pitches. No dancers on the last cruise. Sail away parties cancelled. Only 1 production show a week lately. Movies are old reruns. Musicians and the DJ were excellent!
Ship Management: A LOT of room for improvement here. Lack of transparency regarding issues on board. (Like a significant covid outbreak with rumored ~20% of the ship down with it.) The three monkeys were manning the bridge. Never saw the Captain, (excuse me “The Commodore” 🤦♀️) or officers walking the ship on my last cruise.
My husband and I have sailed on the Majestic Princess Cruise-line 3 times since October 2021.
The ship is pristine, food great, our cabin was awesome. The entertainment was beyond wonderful. Most of all, the staff tries so hard. They are polite and so helpful.
I didn’t even know what this was. But someone posted on a Fb group I’m in How terrible the reviews for Princess Cruises were. Many people said unhappy post reviews and happy customers don’t. I agree. I’ve been on 6 sailings since the restart. Yes things are different but I loved every cruise I’ve been on. Medallion app works better on some phones ( works fine in my iPhone) room service can be super quick or super slow especially right before dinner when everyone wants a glass of wine. But I’m thrilled to be cruising again and I’ll always be thankful for the good and just like on land nothing is perfect. Patience and understanding goes a long way.
Sailed on Caribbean Princess March 2022 13 days East/West Caribbean. Balcony Cabin on Aloha Deck towards Aft. Food was excellent for entire period. Medallion worked excellent after arriving on ship and logging in using Cabin Number. Staff were extremely attentive. We missed Princess Cays due to weather but that couldn't be helped. (Needs a Jetty building) Would sail again with Princess in an instant (Our first cruise with them)
I had a great time on my recent Regal Princess cruise. The itinerary was Belize City, Costa Maya, Cozumel, and Roatan. The Princess snorkeling excursion in Belize was wonderful. We had a small group with a guide. He was so helpful at pointing out the various fish and other things. The snorkeling excursion in Cozumel was not as good. They mixed us with passengers from a Carnival ship. I had taken a smaller boat there in December and had a great time. I will know from now on to pay a little bit more to have fewer people.
The Regal was in good shape. The cruise director and his staff were warm and friendly. I enjoyed many of the activities they did throughout each day.
My cabin was an aft facing deluxe balcony. It was spacious and comfortable. My cabin steward serviced it twice each day. Officially, the nightly service is optional, but he did it without my having to ask. I think it's because he was also servicing the suites near my cabin.
Food on the ship was very good. I did not have to send anything back like I did on my December cruise. Only once at dinner was it a little too slow. I ended up excusing myself to go to an event before ordering dessert.
Alfredo's was my favorite place for lunch. A main dining room is open for lunch on sea days, but when the ship is in port, it's not. Alfredo's has a great selection of Italian dishes. My favorite is the vegetarian antipasto. The veal agnolotti is also great, and the personal pizzas delicious.
Due to the reduced number of passengers, they only had one performance in the theater each night. I went to all of the shows and enjoyed them. They did have a reduced cast. I don't know if this was due to Covid or if they just decided to do with fewer dancers.
This was the first time I had Princess Plus--the package that includes the daily gratuity, internet, and up to 15 alcoholic drinks per day. I never made it past 7. It was nice not to worry about the cost of drinks. The package also includes specialty coffees and teas, bottled water, mocktails, and fountain softdrinks. I enjoyed getting bottles of sparkling water frequently.
The precruise experience needs improvement. It did take me several hours to book the cruise with the Princess Plus. I was transferred several times until finally getting a representative who was competent.
We have sailed with 6 different cruise lines and Princess Cruises has THE ABSOLUTE WORST CUSTOMER SERVICE! The customer service to which I'm referring is by phone. Once we finally got on the cruise ship, the customer service was great! Every Princess Cruise employee on the ship was friendly and wonderful! But prior to the cruise, their phone customer service is by far the worst of any cruise line. Their phone customer service reps are uniformly cranky, rude, curt and unprofessional. Between 2 cancelled cruises (due to covid), I talked to at least 6 different phone customer service reps, and all but one was terrible. There was one who was very, very kind. We liked her. But even their Cruise Vacation Planners are horrible. We were assigned one by the name of Azra Ghouse and she was also terrible! She was curt, impatient and unfriendly every time I called to ask her questions about booking a cruise. And after we booked our cruise, I called with one more question about covid testing and she was still curt, impatient and unfriendly. In addition to their Cruise Vacation Planners, any time I called Princess Cruises with questions about payments, scheduling, documentation, etc. the phone reps were always cranky, rude, curt and unprofessional. Again, it wasn't only one or two reps. Due to covid cancellations, I talked to at least 6 different phone customer service reps and all were terrible! I will not be recommending Princess Cruises to anyone.
Stay Away From Princess Cruises…
The website says Customer Services are open until 10.00pm. RUBBISH.
Tried calling at 18.00 to request information regarding a cruise I have booked.
At 18.42 the call was terminated.
Redialled and again the call was terminated some 40 minutes after.
I am going to use the money I have paid on one of their Cruise Tasters and book a med cruise with a more professional Cruise Operator.
Don’t touch Princess Cruises. I was warned by friends about the total lack of professionalism on and off board.
Expensive lesson I have learned.
Steve Carter
s.pcarter@ live.co.uk
👎👎👎👎👎👎👎👎
We are currently on the Island Princess. We have experienced the same things as are mentioned in the reviews from the past months on this website. I'm in the middle of it and its true. I won't repeat what everybody said just take a minute or two to read before throwing away a large amount of your hard earned money. Hats off to the few who had a good one, very lucky. We have a lot of experience. At the beginning of cruises they sent out invitations to the 40 people onboard who have sailed the most days on their line. It's to have a fancy lunch with the captain and senior officers. We've done it before and its been enjoyable. On this cruise the captain didn't even show up for the lunch without any explanation whatsoever and the officers quickly left the room after being introduced. Maybe they knew something we didn't? We are now quarantined in our room with COVID. We of course were negative before boarding and very careful with washing hands & wearing a mask. Only 10-20% of passengers a wear mask in elevators or close quarters.
Don't waste your money, time or endanger your health on a Princess Cruise.
Having just come home from the worst holiday of my life, I feel it is absolutely necessary to forewarn cruisers about the post COVID issues we have just encountered on Regal Princess.
Celebrating a delayed special anniversary and looking forward so much to another wonderful cruise only to be let down so badly.
Firstly, I was contacted directly by email from Princess themselves to tempt us with their all inclusive package. We fell for it hook line and sinker and booked a balcony cabin that had all tips paid plus a premium drinks package. It’s what they didn’t tell us that ruined everything..
1. They told us that we didn’t need tests to go on holiday. The week before we travelled they told us that we did need a negative test before boarding. We had to pay £70 to ensure that we were negative before we left home.
2. We paid a lot of money extra for ship transfers from the airport. Poor service involving a lot of case lugging landing at Rome.
3. Guests wear medallions which are a ‘clever’ device to open your cabin, pay for items on board (monitor drinks consumption!!, the cheek of it..) check you in and out of the ship etc. Many teething problems with the system slowing down service throughout the ship. Great if it works but hopeless on 50% of occasions.
4. Please check Princess’s website and it will show you which food areas require extra payment. Far too many compared to the ‘free’ included restaurants, where the food quality is very basic to awful. Nothing like it used to be.
5. Waiting times in bars and restaurants was dreadful. So much so that it was really hard to plan anything as we nearly always missed the entertainment events because of slow service.
6. Staff did not have a clue of lots of basic things like - not offering different types of bread. It was so hard to get a brown seeded roll instead of white!. Toast that is hard as a rock. Eggs served stone cold. Eggs uncooked. No crackers with cheese. No choice of cheeses. Featured wines not available even though they were on the menu. Drinks served in inappropriate glasses. Hardly anything tasted fresh. Poorly prepared sauces. Presentation of food now no longer important to their celebrity chefs. Cheap as chips is the new thing by the looks of it.
7. Complaints procedure doesn’t exist on board ship. They tell you to wait until the end of your cruise to fill in their questionnaire. Clearly too late. Holiday already ruined by incompetent management.
8. Everything about the cruise just seems designed to squeeze more money out of guests. It’s been such a shame for the poor cruise company during COVID. I don’t think they ever thought about the poor Joe public who have had no holidays for 2.5 years. They just thought of themselves and stuffed us right up the jacksy.
Never again. The worst catering experience ever on a cruise ship. But it’s the crafty way that they set this up to capture unsuspecting guests that really hurts, as well as my pocket. I probably made the mistake of taking my frustration out on the staff. The management should hang their heads in shame as well as the chefs.
we are going on what was the Baltic cruise in September which has been cancelled previously. The destinations have changed several times and we told we could not cancel and get a refund although I have since found out that some people are getting their money back. As my final payment is due in a week I wanted to ask some questions before paying. I have since rang several times and been on hold over an hour and not answered, sent emails and no one gets back, their app is useless and keeps going down. After seeing the posts on this site i am wondering what we are letting ourselves in for! If someone from Princess is reading this could they contact me as a matter of urgency.
I just hope their ships are better than their customer service.
Just returned today (21 May) from a round British Isles cruise. I am a seasoned traveller and I can say without a doubt that this is the BEST CRUISE I have had in a long time.
By 'cruise' I mean the actual cruise itself.
Here are some warnings:
1. Pre-booking: total chaos. Expect to be on hold for hours. I was sometimes transferred to USA from UK and when they picked it up the other end no-one knew why I had been transferred.
2. We were send to the wrong dock to embark
3. We were told to have a lateral flow test pre-departure, take a photo and bring it with us. No-one was interested so more money wasted.
Now to the cruise itself.
I'm a simple person. I go for the gym, the buffet and the ports.
1. Buffet.
Fantastic food and very wide choice. BUT you have to be cunning. If you don't see what you want then ASK FOR IT. I asked for freshly made toast - and got it. I asked for a plate of salad and not a bowl. And got it. (You get more) I always asked for more beef - and got it. ALL THE MEAT EXCEPT PORK IS HALAL - which is fine for me but may not be to everyone's wishes... this is not advertised.
THE GYM
Plenty of equipment. At least two machines were missing safety parts and were dangerous. Yes there are warnings signs saying no gym attendant, own risk etc - but that's no good. I am a PT for the elderly and I saw elderly people struggling with a weights machine which did not have the necessary adjustments. Dangerous. I reported this but nothing was done. THERE SHOULD ALWAYS BE A GYM ATTENDANT THERE.
There was a weighing machine/bodyfat analyser etc etc available. $99 a go!!!!!! Total rip off. The first day though it was free (good) but no paper for print out. We were told we could have the first session free anyway and the gym guy would ring. He never did. We complained and then got a full report done. We asked the PT to explain the report and his answer was 'I am afraid I am not fully trained to answer all your questions' and thus parts of the report went unexplained. He promised to get back to us...and never did.
Very poor - gym fine for me but I have some experience....
The ports
Again I read the itinerary carefully and saw the con being played out. In BIG LETTERS are places to visit but these are NOT the ports. You have to get a train/bus/taxi to visit for example London, Edinburgh, Inverness - or go on a ship's tour which considerably bumps up the price. Look at the advert. The ship goes to Southampton but in big letters LONDON. Sure - if you catch a train. It goes to Le Havre and in big letters PARIS. Sure if you want a 3 hour journey...
ACCOMMODATION
The safe broke.
The shower broke. The non-English speaking steward didn't show us how to use the app. and also said the (too hot) shower was TOO COLD.
The bed and room otherwise were fine.
EXTRAS
We found out by accident that were being charged £14.50 EACH for 'staff gratuities' PER DAY. Luckily we discovered this and stopped all payments.
So, yes, if you go with this company be aware, be very aware; ask for a lot of things; be careful about shore excursions. The pre-booking is an absolute nightmare and the Medallion app hardly worked.
Would we go again?
YES because we'd ask for soft toast, red apples, grapes (all hidden in the buffet); we'd ask why the door kept unlocking to our room; we'd ask why the leaving times from the shore did not match the timetable; we'd ask why deck 18 was hardly advertised.
And we'd have a great time!
Sail away, sail away ....stay away, stay away ! Absolute shambles! They are not ready to start cruising again. Technical problems with app, Technical problems with web account, staff not experienced to deal with customer enquiries. Can be on hold for hrs... I meen hrs! 3hrs on hold. Shocking! Frustrating! Shouldn't be taking bookings at all !
My wife and I have never been on a Princess cruise but have spent the last 2 weeks negotiating the online booking process. This has been a nightmare and thankfully it seems to be near completion. The process is very confusing and their system seems to be geared up to make things more difficult since when you complete one field you can find that this invalidates something else, We found the whole process very wearisome. Their whole "Medallion" system is difficult to get to grips with. All this trouble and we haven't been anywhere near Southampton yet !!
I have just been on hold to Princess for 1hr 24 minutes with no response. I had to hang up in the end.
I am trying to talk to someone about a cruise my parents have booked for Sep that takes them to Russia. Since they haven't been contacted, I am trying to find out what is going on or possibly cancel. What do people have to do to get a response from this company?
Sky Princess, 9th-23rd April, Western Europe. This was our 41st cruise but the first with Princess; also our last with them! We booked a mini suite through ROL, who did not mention that it was directly above the theatre, so from about 3.00 pm until 11.00 pm every day/night we were subjected to the noise of heavy drumming in our cabin. Also, there was no mention that we were one deck above the crew smoking area which was acceptable until the fine weather when the crew were outside and our cabin filled with smoke most days and the balcony became untenable. We complained, a crew officer came to investigate and told us it was coming from above. The lady from reception then told us it wasn't and that the crew smoking area would be moved. The improvement lasted one day! Avoid deck E forward! The food was variable from OK through peculiar to terrible. The best meal we had during the cruise was at the fish and chip bar in Casemate Square, Gibraltar. We like to have a glass of wine with our meals, but bar service was so slow that the drinks often arrived after we had finished eating. As for the shows, it is difficult to comment as we only looked in on a couple and thought 'no thanks!' Lots of screaming singers and we had already heard the drumming in our cabin. The Medallion system was too clever by half and only half worked. It needs further development. On the plus side the cabin was spacious, well laid out and clean. The staff were excellent in all respects, being friendly, cheerful, hard working and helpful but clearly short handed in some areas.
One major problem on the first day was car parking. We had booked through CPS for dockside parking. It took us 40 minutes to drive from home to the dock gate then nearly two hours to get to the baggage drop off area. There were not sufficient CPS staff on duty and some were not very well trained. A lady near us in the queue told us that CPS had blamed passengers for arriving at the wrong time. When we disembarked at a different berth there was the same problem with incoming passengers, so lessons had not been learnt.
Will never cruise Princess again even though a Platinum Member. Firstly, trying to get a seat was impossible as the boat was full and no one wanted to go outside (Fjords trip on 23rd April). If you were able to find a seat the next issue was getting a drink. The atrium was full, but only 3 staff members trying to serve the whole area. Customer service was appalling. It took over an hour to get drinks, in the end we went separately to the bar and ordered double the amount. Next issue, having spoken to the bar supervisor, we were told to use the Medallion App, (absolute joke). If you managed to get the app working, not all the drinks were on the app and in our case, when we did try to order a round, it never turned up....! As this was a daily occurance, I complained to customer service, I asked for senior management to come down and see for themselves, but this was ignored, they stayed locked in their offices..... having spoken to customer services supervisor, he admitted to me there were over 2000 complaints and the boat had 1500 more passengers than they had staff to cater for.
Where was Captains night, where were senior staff members. I can only assume they did not want to face their customers, and left it to the supervisors. The personal touch was missing, the serving staff were rushed off their feet and did a magnificent job in the circumstances, Princess has gone downhill and are not the company of 2 or 3 years ago.
Went on a P&O cruise in February and was fantastic, the service was great so Covid is not an excuse.
Just returned off the sky princess from Norway.First time with princess cruises never again.No staff on board for the amount of people.Took over 2.3 hours in restaurants the app was a waste of time.Ship had lots of covid people on board.We went as a group of 6,4 off us have tested positive since returning home.
Just come back from the sky princess at the fjords.
It was our first and last cruise.
All we did was queue. From the moment we arrived at Southampton to the moment we left. From the restaurants, bars, concierge, cafe, duty free, photo shop, trying to get a table, getting on or off the ship. That's all we did was wait around. If you want cancer this is the ship for you because all you can smell is smoke from the casino. The buffet was a free for all and the main restaurants food was average.
We couldn't get a table at the specialist restaurants as they were fully booked from day 1.
The medallion app was a great idea but didnt work, if you ordered a drink it was 50/50 if it turned up.
Don't be taken in by the art gallery, Google the artwork first when the Internet works. 1 piece they tried to sell for $32000 which was only worth $4000 max.
The crew worked really hard and were polite and helpful and the ship was spotless.
Princess Cruises is a leading cruise line that offers a variety of travel experiences across multiple destinations, including Alaska, the Caribbean, and Europe. The company provides passengers with an array of cruise packages that feature luxury accommodations, onboard dining, and entertainment options tailored to enhance the travel experience. Customers can choose from various promotions, including instant savings on cruise fares and special offers for families traveling with children.
Targeting vacationers seeking unique maritime adventures, Princess Cruises aims to cater to a diverse clientele, from couples looking for a romantic getaway to families seeking fun-filled holidays at sea. The company also promotes value-added packages, such as Princess Plus® and Princess Premier®, which include benefits like dining, drinks, and Wi-Fi, to enhance the overall cruise experience. Through its user-friendly website, www.princess.com, customers can easily explore available itineraries and current deals, making it convenient for them to plan their next voyage.
