EMBARKATION DAY:- We booked car parking with CPS and although we have used them many times, we were a little apprehensive as our mobility car wasn’t safe to drive down 3 days prior! The only option was to use hubby’s work van a Citroen Berlingo, it’s not good for me as I need support so good old Amazon provided a harness to keep me in place although not comfortable, but just like every other time it was smooth and easy. We pulled up where they directed us, we got our luggage out and me into my electric wheelchair and the CPS worker walked round the van and took pictures and then we handed over our keys and headed towards luggage drop off. The Island Princess was docked at Mayflower terminal dock gate 10, We got in the terminal by 11:00 and it was manic, as Princess has scrapped arrival times, so it was a little stressful. As we got into the terminal I had our passports checked and then got given our medallions. After this and me getting it into my medallion clip we headed to and through security. We were on board by 11:30am So took us about 20 Minutes, however we did by pass the huge queue for security due to being in an electric wheelchair.

MEDALLION WARNING – the medallion uses RF and magnetic technology which can interfere with a pacemaker or ICD’s, so cannot be worn on a lanyard as has to be a certain distance away. I have a pacemaker so I wore mine on my right wrist (opposite to pacemaker) Be prepared for the check-in staff to know nothing about this. I popped it into my sport band nice and easily. You can purchase the medallion accessories on the app when you order your medallion, or you can buy on the ship. I got mine from US Amazon as it worked out cheaper but I will add, a lot of people are using certain Fitbit bands or the apple airtag wrist bands as these are not magnetic and are a lot cheaper. The reason I chose the official magnetic one was because I was afraid I would lose the medallion.

We then made our way to our stateroom which was an Accessible Balcony C627. The stateroom was what we were expecting, a little dated and in need of some updating, like USB by the bed and or more electrical sockets. We had a euro socket just behind the bed, a US socket hubby’s side of bed, then 2 US sockets over on the dresser. The tv had been upgraded from like a 15” to it seemed like a 42”, it was good as you could watch with subtitles, but it looked out of place completely. I believe she is due in dry dock in 2024, not sure what she is having done but she really does need a new wet room and updating. However it was comfortable and we had enough space for everything. As I’m immunosuppressed we always deep clean our cabin and for the first time we were really shocked how dirty the cabin was, our hospital clinnell wipes had black dirt and other things on them! Not the Princess standards we are used to!

This cruise for us, has been a long time coming, firstly it’s hubby’s bucket list cruise, so that was important and it was originally booked for October 2019. Unfortunately with my dad passing August 2018 we couldn’t afford to go as we had to pay for his funeral so we moved it to 2020, then the pandemic hit, so moved to 2021, again still in the pandemic, so moved to 2022. My medical team wasn’t sure if it was a good idea to go due to Covid still being so unknown so we moved it again to October 2023. Then with my declining health we decided as it was our 5 year wedding anniversary this year we would renew our wedding vows as I’m not going to make 10 years or more, This then made it even more special and I spent a lot of time sorting it out with Princess via emails and telephone calls. In the meantime they changed their packages so much we couldn’t keep up and found out that what was included at final payment was no longer included unless we paid an extra £600 which was extremely upsetting, frustrating and morally wrong in my opinion. I was in tears and actually wanted to cancel as to me Princess had become more about penny pinching and not about loyalty, we felt penalised, and after a social media post, the UK PR team called me and we came to an agreement, however this should never had happened in the first place especially for booked guests. Lastly we wanted to see the northern lights but that’s out of all our hands but boy were we lucky!!

There were 2190 guests on board, mainly American, then Australian, then UK and then Canadian. The rest was made up from another 28 nationalities, so a total mix, and there were also many wearing face masks like myself and hubby which we haven’t seen others doing for a while. We love the size of the Island Princess, we prefer not go on bigger ships but that’s becoming more difficult with cost and the fact I can’t fly anymore. We knew we were not going to be getting off the ship much due to a few tender ports and the weather, so we were prepared for that.

Unfortunately due to bad weather we had to miss the port of Stavanger, but it was replaced the next day with Trondheim, but when we went to get off the gangway which was the ports, it was not accessible, unfortunately we didn’t get a picture due to all the crowds, but the middle part which is raised to stop able bodied people slipping was welded so high up like a small step it grinded the bottom on my electric wheelchair stopping me right away, so unfortunately we had to stay on board. It was frustrating but on a positive note, it was pouring with rain!

We entered the Arctic Circle at 05:30am on the 8th October and left sometime on the 16th October 2023

The night of the 8th October we were at sea heading to Tromsø and it was our first time seeing the northern lights, they were not very strong but they at least showed which was promising.

Our next stop was at Tromsø where we had booked a private accessible tour with Tromsø Accessible Tours, https://www.tromsoaccessibletours.com Our guide was Martin, Hey Martin !! He put together a tour that collected us from the cruise port and went into the city with sightseeing and finished at a gift shop, Martin was extremely flexible and the price was fantastic, I really recommend him! The only note I must add is if your in a electric/powerchair and are tall you will have to duck your head as it was a little snug, so your be better to tell them this so they can use their 15 seater sprinter minibus, with a capacity of up to 3 wheelchairs instead. They offer lots of different tours, above is the website so drop them an email or they are also on Facebook and Instagram, if you don’t fancy a tour they offer, still message them and tell them what you want as Martin will do his best to sort something out, I honestly can’t recommend them enough! The accessible minibus can hold a wheelchair and 5 other passengers. The weather was COLD -7c but this is their autumn and was told it can get to -50c in winter!! We also experienced snow fall. The scenery is beautiful I must say though and really worth visiting!

Our next stop was Alta for two days 10th & 11th October, but this was a tender port so we had arranged for our vow renewal to be done on the 10th at the most northern point on this cruise. We got engaged on the Coral Princess in the Caribbean, married on the Star Princess in Hawaii on the beach in the South Pacific Ocean and our vow renewal in the Arctic! Who can say that! It was meant to be done by the Captain however the Captain, Paul Slight to be polite was not the best Captain we have experienced on cruises, in fact he was the worst! Very military like and not a cruise line type of Captain. He never walked round to meet guests, crew didn’t speak too well of him and all he did from day one was moan about us renewing our vows and that he was too busy, like he was doing us a favour, which he wasn’t as it’s a paid service. By now we already felt let down by Princess, as over the past few years we have seen the decline in their food, drinks, menus etc. our food was never hot and I always had flat champagne, when getting a frozen cocktail they would forget a straw, just little things but they build, we didn’t get all that we paid for in our vow renewal package and the excuse was “we don’t do that anymore” we understand things change but when a customer pays for a package you either substitute it with something similar or refund a part but we got nothing, it really was like they didn’t care, just wanted more and more money off you for less. So we ended up with the Cruise Director Andi doing our vow renewal, not what we paid for but at least he wanted to do it and be there and to be honest it was really lovely and we didn’t want the Captain after his attitude. Our special day really was special, so thank you to the Staff that helped make that happen! Click pictures to make big…..

That evening we had the ultimate balcony dinner but it was far too cold to sit and eat on balcony so we did it in our cabin instead, I don’t like to sound negative but the standard we are used to with Princess and having done many of these meals the food was cold and we couldn’t finish, the excuse was the dining room is on deck 6 and we are on deck 10 and there is a hole in the lid! We did it on the sky last year which is a lot bigger with no issues! We don’t like to be told bull crap!

The next day we chilled out and just went about the ship for a few hours while it was quiet. We tried the new ice cream that comes with package but we couldn’t finish it and not something we would really want again to be honest. Obviously I could not take part in the fitness classes being in an electric wheelchair. we looked in the theatre which is only accessible from one level so not many disabled seats and it’s quite small.

Our next stop was Friday 13th at Lofoten Islands, which again was tender so we stayed on ship, I wasn’t feeling good this day and spent most of it resting in bed, I think with all the emotion and stress on the lead up took it out of me. However that night something super duper special happened…….

As the above states we got to see some real rare red northern lights! They lasted a good few hours and all I have is an iPhone but still got great pictures and this made our cruise complete! They danced all around us from the front of the ship to over the top and behind us! Changing shapes and colours was so magical, some of our pictures look like there are faces in them!

We left Lofoten island late that night and had a sea day before getting to Alesund which we didn’t get off again due to heavy rain then it was 3 sea days and then back home.

We had all new luggage for this trip from Samsonite and we can’t be happier, their particular designs were so suited to our needs and fitted all that we needed to take. It also made getting off a lot easier for my hubby with all the luggage!

This cruise certainly isn’t accessible which we already knew by doing research, so if you don’t like staying on the ship this isn’t the cruise for you. As I’m more unwell it suited us to be honest, even then it took it out of me, we loved the itinerary of the cruise and what we did and saw. We also decided this would be our last Princess Cruise for now, certainly for the next few years. In fact we actually cancelled our 2025 Princess Cruise while on board and lost our deposit due to how disappointed we are with Princess. Talking to the crew there are a lot of newbies who don’t know what they were previously like but a few which were on contract 5, 11 and more could see the changes and even said it’s not the same Princess they started to work for and this was their last contract with them, this just backed us up in our feelings. I want to say it’s not the staff on the ships it’s a lot higher, corporate are the problem and where Princess Cruises stood out from the crowd unfortunately now they don’t. We felt they have lost their way and don’t really know what or where to go and it’s noticeable. We rather spend our money with a liner that is worth the money. Princess are not cheap but they are not worth what they are charging, well here in the UK is how we feel. We have cruises with Celebrity, Virgin, Cunard and P&O Cruises coming up which were great value and cheaper than Princess. So our love journey started and ended on Princess Cruises. We never say never unless it’s MSC but it’s not a liner we will sail with in the next few years for sure. We still have the great memories of what Princess was and we don’t want that to change so goodbye for now is the best thing we can do for us both.

With quotes from Princess, we did “come back new” and we came to “feel the love” but we didn’t love it……