Overall this was a wonderful cruise, the ship was beautiful (just the right size), the staff was great, and there were enough activities to keep you busy and entertained without being overloaded. If you like sea days and are looking to relax this itinerary is great. Five days to relax on the ship, then five days to run around the islands, then 5 more days to relax before returning to reality. The only negative for this particular cruise was that the weather was a bit iffy (it did cause us to miss our port call in Nawiliwili), it never got really bad, it just was overcast most days, and quite cool on the return voyage. Another note, I would not recommend this cruise for children as I believe they would be rather bored (at least during the school year) as there were so few children on board, perhaps a dozen or so under 18.

I must comment on how well Princess showed its colors in response to help one of our tablemates in a time of need. Upon returning from Maui, they received notice that their daughter unexpectedly died. Princess waived all phone charges so they could maintain contact with their family, they made travel arrangements for them so they could return home directly from Hawaii, and when we were unable to make the next port due to weather (where they were planning to disembark so they could fly home) the Captain headed back toward Honolulu (at considerable expense) to meet with a tender so they could disembark and catch a plane home before heading the ship to Ensenada. The Captain, crew and Princess did a wonderful job in helping them in their time of personal crisis.

Our Cruise Director, Richard Joseph and his staff did a tremendous job supporting our Cruise Critic group. He planned a social get together on the way out to Hawaii for us all to meet. Then on the way back home, he planned an evening social, complete with champagne and canapEs. He and several members of the staff socialized with us for the better part of an hour. Read more