By way of introduction, this was our (wife and I) 20th cruise, 6th on Princess. We selected this cruise because of the length (10 days), itinerary and publicity of ship.

The embarkation was certainly tainted due to the prior cruise incidents of norovirus. This resulted in delayed boarding although adequate notice was given. We boarded around 3pm per the ships schedule given to us via email. Ship was to depart at 4pm. The registration was awkward in that all passengers dropped off their luggage at one building adjacent to the ship, walked away from the ship to register in another building and then retrace your steps back to the original building to board. Must have been designed by Congress. And we are platinum members.

We were surprised to find our room was ready because all public areas were quite crowded. Our cabin steward, Milan (George Clooney) gave us a very cordial welcome. The room smelled heavily of disinfectant which we accepted since the crew had given the entire ship a thorough scrub down. As for room size, Princess seems to be following the path of the airline. Less and less personal room. Bathroom and storage were very adequate but room space appeared smaller as was the postage size deck. We were somewhat aft on the Baha deck which proved advantageous since we were near the rear stairs and elevators. It was a direct pathway to many key areas on the ship. Read more