My husband and I took the Princess dinner and dance cruise tonight (8/7/21) and I immediately had to come back to our hotel and write a Yelp review.
There are some important things I think people should know before they book:
1) We booked this cruise several months ago. The reservation included 3 free drinks on board. Once we got on board, they said it was now only 2 drinks because they just changed their policy. That's fine, but we paid for a dinner cruise with 3 free drinks. They should honor what people paid for or refund them a bit of the money. That's the right thing to do.
2) If you're a party of 2, they sit you with another couple. This worked out well for us because we happened to sit near an awesome couple who was really fun to chat with the whole night. However, they should tell people this up front, ESPECIALLY since COVID is still going on.
3) ALL the drinks are watered down. That's not an exaggeration. It seriously tastes like you're drinking water. I wasn't sure if it was just my drink, but my husband's drink and the couple at our table all had the same issue. They really rip you off on the alcohol front.
4) All four of us at our table ordered prime rib that was dry. Before the food came out, they told us they cook all the prime rib medium-medium rare. We were all fine with this, but all four of ours came out totally dry. It was definitely well-done. Also, they brought out cheesecake at the end that was still frozen. It wasn't bad, but wasn't fresh.
5) It's advertised as a "dinner and dance cruise," but that's not the case. There is literally NO room to dance whatsoever. All the tables are pushed close together and there's barely room for two people to stand in the aisle. Again, not a problem because I'm not a huge dancer, but they shouldn't have advertised it like this if they weren't going to provide a dance floor.
6) The bathroom didn't smell clean. My husband and the woman at our table went in there and couldn't stop talking about how bad it smelled. They said it smelled like old vomit.
7) Gratuity is not included. The wait staff comes to your table at the end of the night and hands you a folder that looks like a bill, but it's actually a piece of paper with how much they'd like each couple to tip. Tipping is optional of course, but my husband and I believe in tipping wait staff well, so we always tip 20%. If you're a party of 2, a 20% tip is $52. The wait staff was very kind so we of course tipped them the appropriate amount, but no one around us was aware there would be an extra charge on the boat.
8) They didn't come around once to fill our water glasses. If you want water, you have to go to the bar and ask for it, and there's always a line at the bar.
9) The ambiance was beautiful, but toward the end of the night, they kept flicking the lights on and off for about 20 minutes. The four of us at our table could handle it, but if someone on the boat had epilepsy or was prone to seizures, this would not have been good.
Now I'm not saying it was a bad night. Like I said, the couple at our table was great, the wait staff was friendly, the music was good, and the views are unbeatable. However, I think people need to take all these facts into consideration before booking because we all felt it was pretty shady and that they don't give people what they pay for. Including tip, it was $300+. Up to you if you think it's worth it after knowing all of this. Honestly, I feel like I want at least a partial refund considering we weren't given what was advertised.