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11th cruise.2nd w/ Princess on same ship/itinerary as 2008.Arrived Ft.Lauderdale 1 day early.Heavy rains that night and steady drizzle day of embarkation.Arrived port 11 am and took about 1 hr to board w/ no problems.Ship recently refurbished in Dec so carpets etc looked great.
Cabin: tiniest shower ever but great amt of storage.Requested eggcrate already on bed.Deck 10 forward and cabin was quiet and comfortable.
Dining: food good in general.Chose anytime dining.Slow service most nights as we ate early (5:30) nightly.We were unable to obtain a window seat as EVERY 2 person table w/ window was RESERVED?? by back to back cruisers in the ANYTIME dining room.We did not eat in any surcharge restaurants but did eat in Horizon court and Caribe for breakfast/lunch (very disorganized) but good variety and generally good quality.Princess offers sushi/tappas but only if alcoholic beverage is purchased?Great pizza and grill items.
Entertainment: only 2 comics in 10 days, both were great.Theater shows were O.K.,MUTS movies were pretty good.In general not our style.
Public area's:ship is beautiful w/ many nice area's and features.Enjoyed pool deck's and had little trouble getting chairs though there was a lot of saving going on w/ NO enforcement.Pretty easy to navigate the decks.
Service:cabin steward Dusit was exceptional.Nice not to be continually asked for drink service.Slow dining room service.Front desk staff were great.Cruise director did a good job.My wife and I were embarrassed by Michelangelo's entrance staff woman on 1st formal night as I do not were suits nor wish to have to dress up on vacation, but did wear appropriate dress pants/shirt but not long sleeved.We left and went to Horizon court that night but warned her we would insist on eating in main dining room on 2nd formal night and did not have problem then.
Ports:no food service and very limited bar service at Princess Cay d/t weather? even tough there was no problem tendering in people t/o the day.St.Thomas: went to Water island for the day on ferry.Nice beach w/ so-so snorkeling.Dominica:joined group of Canadians on bus to Mero beach (black sand) and then Champagne reef for some incredible snorkeling, $25 pp so a great deal.
Grenada: took cab to Great Anse beach for the day and water taxi back to port.So-so snorkeling but nice beach.Bonaire: all day at Klein Bonaire for incredible snorkeling and then back to port for drinks and shopping.Aruba: took local bus w/ nice Canadian couple to beach up past resorts and had some so-so snorkeling and then down to ship wreck off the beach for more snorkeling.Then back to port for drinks and shopping.Great weather and warm waters.
Summary:nice ship,great itinerary,good food.Will not cruise Princess again r/t: too formal, too old a crowd, not our style entertainment, staff were unwilling to allow us window seating in the dining room even though we arrived early in the ANYTIME dining room.Will stick w/ NCL/Carnival as they are more our style as we are not "young" 51/54, but are young at heart and like a bit more excitement and informality.To each his/her own I guess.Met some really nice people and saw a few rude overbearing people as well.
Disembarkation: did the walk off and caught a cab to our hotel for 2 days to unwind prior to flying home.
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