I am half of an "older couple," but active. Usually we cruise Celebrity and have cruised Carnival 2 or 3 times for specific reasons (Country Music Cruise). We had heard good things about Princess; found a week-long cruise for a good price, and invited another couple to join us on the trip.

Our stops were Roatan, Belize, and Cozumel. That trip was supposed to have had a fourth port (the Maya Riviera), but there were too many ships stopping at the port. So, that port never actually showed on the itinerary. What we experienced was that because there were SO MANY ships stopping at the remaining ports, often those ports of call were somewhat overloaded with cruise tourists.

We booked too late to get a choice of evening dining times; so often had a bit of a wait to get the mediocre meal (I'm attempting to be generous with my judgment of the food). "In a nutshell," the food was overcooked and under-seasoned. For example, I asked for my steak to be VERY RARE ("cold on the inside, please"). It came back medium. The waiter got me another huge chunk of meat to replace it... medium. My friend loves Eggs Benedict: the yolks were completely dry... like a hard-boiled egg (only with some sort of packaged topping). One night I ordered a Thai dish... completely BLAND! (When we asked for some "chili sauce" and they brought us Tabasco!) Read more