This was my fifth cruise and my first with Princess. Embarkation was a breeze. We arrived at the pier about 11:30 and were in our room by 12:00. Our bags arrived in our cabin around 12:15 and I must say I was most impressed. We had a mini-suite with a balcony on the Dolphin deck and it was worth every penny. The cabin was very spacious, had two televisions and plenty of seating on the balcony. The water pressure in the shower was better than the pressure in the spa.
For the most part, the food was very good. However, the buffet could've been laid out a bit better and I was disappointed there wasn't a 24 hour pizzeria. Although the buffet was open 24 hours, the food choices were somewhat limited after the dinner rush was over. If you sail on this ship then you should definitely go to tea. It was wonderful! We traveled in a large group and had "women only" for tea. The service was excellent and we all felt as if we were royalty. The evening meals in the dining room were very good as was the service.
I had several spa treatments that I enjoyed. The only negative was the fact the rooms aren't soundproof and you could hear every little thing going on outside. The obligatory sales pitch was not as bad as those of several other cruise lines I've been on. The pools and hot tubs were very nice and always clean.