I'm confused a bit here. Who was rude to your Mom? The staff or the passengers?
If it was one incident of one person being rude, then I wouldn't worry about that. You can't judge an entire cruise line based on one person's behavior, be it passenger or staff.
If it was general rudeness on the part of the staff, I'd have to be very surprised. Most staff on all ships bend over backwards being nice to the passengers. And my experience on Princess has alway been that the staff was even nicer than average.
If it was general rudeness on the part of the other passengers, then there is no way to predict when and where you will run into a group of rude people. The chances of that happening again are slim.
Although I do have to add that when cruiselines are described in stereotype around here, the impression given is that the Princess passengers are more likely to be well behaved than Carnival.
One bit of advice, If I were you I would call the cruise line directly and ask what their smoking policies are. I don't smoke so haven't made a mental note of any smoking policies. But if is important to you to be able to smoke in certain areas, you should find that out officially before booking.
