Cruising with TWO

Part 1

One of my favorite things to do is cruising! We took a Cruise to Mexico on The Princess Sapphire. Kylie (4), Peyton (who turned 3 a week before) and I shared a cabin with the view of a life boat and part of the beautiful ocean. My parents were down the hall and all the way on the other side of the ship. They had a really nice view with NO lifeboat. All I every heard was how Princess Cruises were the best in the business. I was going to find out soon enough.

The first night the kids were extremely hyper. And I was the only parent there to settle them down. Of course my parents were there to help, but the kids were in their own world doing their own thing. Princess cruises has on board activities for all kids under 18. My kids were going to be in the Princess Pelican program for kids ages 3-7. But, the first night all we could do was visit the Fun Zone and sign them up. It seems like all Cruise lines do this the first night. Its a time for the Cruise Staff to get organized. So, our first night was walking the ship and spending time in our cabin. This can really be trying on anyone with 2 pre-schoolers.

We did have dinner that night with our assigned waiters and at our assigned table. This probably the WORST experience I have ever had Cruising. Our waiters seemed unhappy, maybe it was the task of have 2 kids at our table. Princess usually caters to adults. I really don't know what it was, but, I do know that I was more than frustrated with the approach they had towards my family. Our head waiter wanted to have the kids served first...I went with it. But, I soon realized that doing this was a BAD idea. Once the kids were finished with their meal, then they wanted to run around/underneath the table. We were lucky that we had a window next to our table and the kids wanted to look out the window a lot. Our table was close to the next table of cruisers and my waiter was helping push my chair in so he could walk by and he spilled water all over my arm. This was really not a big deal, but he went on severing the other table and didn't stop to help or apologize for this mistake. I gave myself one more night with these waiters, if it didn't improve then I was not going back. Luckily, the attitudes of our waiters improved, but they really didn't go out of their way to make things a wonderful dining experience. I judge this mostly of the way they treated their other tables and my other cruising experiences. My other cruising experiences the waiters were happy, friendly and went out of their way for the kids and my family.