The Princess Hotel and Casino is not as bad as many of the reviews on this website, and for the price we were happy enough.

The views of the sea are great. The hotel is well equipped with restaurants, a bar, gym, and swimming pool. It also has the casino and even a cinema!

The rooms are basic but nice, the bathrooms were surprisingly nice (I think they have recently added some new fittings). Breakfast is good. The service from all the staff we met was excellent.

There was a Power Cut from 9:30am - 11:30am the one morning, which also meant there was no water during this time. This wasn't very well handled, and is why I gave the hotel 3 and not 4. If this was a chain hotel, the manager would have written a quick letter apologizing and perhaps offering a complementary drink and posted it under the doors ... instead there was no reaction as if this is normal.

The location is slightly on it's own, although it's only a 10-15 minute walk to downtown (which is probably not an area you would want to stay) or a similar time to the tourist village where the Radisson is located (which is deserted on a Wednesday when there are no Cruise ships or hell on earth when there are). It's very close to the municipal airstrip which was handy for us as we flew from there to San Pedro (we only paid $23 each for the flight, yet the boat was almost as much at $20).

We never felt safe,you need guards to leave the property in the evening! Smoke in the loby just takes your breath away! Most of the staff not helpfull.Every thing is extra,the first water bottle is free after that you have to buy! You can not drink the water! Very expensive,you don't mind paying if your getting your bucks worth! This is a place I would stay away from and do not take kids! The bowling alley ,movie attracks all the very lowest of the low to hang around! The guards in the casino make you feel like there is going to be a gun battle at any time! You can sense that your an intrusion and just a buck! We feel fleaced by them and the taxi drivers that over take you at the hotel door! We were told a price of 25.00 american money to go to Old Belize and when we got there he told us he made a mistake and tried to charge us 50.00 When we refused he told us about an American toursit that they never found his body from the hotel. In all fairness the food for breakfast was good! This is a terrible distination and if you have to stay for a night its not bad. There are no Russian dancers, and not a tour desk to be had! They did try ot direct us to most expensive directions. We payed a lot for this vacation and most disapointed in the hotel and the saftey of the area! I am an average traveler and this was my biggest disapointment yet! Belize City is not a good destination,go to the outer islands right off the bat!

I have stayed in some dives including accidentally ending up in one hour motels before and I have to say that this is the worst place I have ever stayed. We stayed in Room 619 which was on the top floor. The shower had holes in the ceiling through which you could see sunlight (and I don't mean skylights!) The bathroom was moldy. The lights barely worked, which probably hid even more mold and stains than we saw. The sheets were dirty. The AC barely functioned. There was no hot water. I was by myself for a few hours in the room and I was simply terrified to be in the room. Simply put, I did not feel safe in this hotel. There is no safe. There was barely even a lock on the door. The breakfast was attrocious. We had prepaid for three nights in this hotel and we abandoned it and our money after less than 12 hours! The only thing that this place would be good for is for filming a horror flick.

After reading several bad reviews, we almost switched hotels. I'm glad we didn't. One of our tour guides said the Princess has responded to the negativity and made some real upgrades. The showers were hot, the ac was cold, and the service was fine for a third-world county. The breakfasts were decent, and the hotel has a lot to do. The neighborhood is not at all bad. We walked it every night. On one walk a woman asked us if we were looking for something. Turns out we were: the Chon Saan Chinese restaurant. Believe it or not, she works there--she was our waitress for the evening. Just typical of the friendliness we encountered all over the place. Can't say I want to go back to Belize--I'm a city boy--but our stay at the Princess was good.