We flew in Ft Lauderdale and were at dockside by shortly after 1:00pm. There were literally no line-ups. And as we had filled out all forms, etc on-line, we were on board within 10 minutes; we had a nice surprise in that we received an upgrade to a mini-suite, the bathtub and extra space was much appreciated. The only downside was that our luggage had been taken to our previously booked state room as tagged, and though we informed our room steward of this (and he assured us that the staff would be aware of the change and bring it up, we had to finally go down fetch the luggage ourselves (it was left outside the old room #) - fortunately, a housekeeping staff saw us and helped us bring the luggage up, correcting the miscue.

In general, the overall quality of food and service has dipped a little each succeeding year, but one can't really complain in that the prices we paid had not increased by even the rate of inflation...one gets what one pays for, and it's still 'a good 'value for money' proposition. The variety of fruits and vegetables has decreased and using less expensive items, and the late night buffet now consists of mainly hotdogs, hamburgers and pizza; the 'MUTS' screen was downsized a couple of yrs ago and is no longer as impressive. Another thing I noticed was that the blackjack tables now use a continuous shuffle machine to wring an extra couple of $$ out of the players.

The shows and acts are still of similar quality, though the main presentations by the Princess line, 'Piano Man' and 'Caliente'? has not changed in 3 yrs. The lounge acts by juggler/comedian Thien Fu Carl Strong were great, though their last night finale segments in the Princess Theater were somewhat weaker. Read more