As a means of background I have been on over 40 cruises on lines including Princess, Carnival, Holland America, Celebrity, Royal, Premier, NCL, Chandris, and Sitmar. In addition to a beautiful ship I highly value excellent service and wonderful food.

Two years ago I cruised on the Diamond Princess and found the food and service to be horrible. I was certain I would never cruise on Princess again after this experience. However, this cruise made sense as I live in Los Angeles and wanted to take my family on a Thanksgiving cruise without flying anywhere.

The embarkation process was extremely easy as this was the first cruise that Princess has implemented the "E-Ticket" program whereby passengers go online in advance, register, and print boarding passes. It is only necessary to bring the boarding pass and passport to the check-in counter. Within 10 minutes of arriving at the port we boarded the ship. Read more