My DH and I are both in our early 40's. We did this cruise as a special anniversary vacation. This is my 5th cruise and his 2nd. The last cruise was all inclusive on a Regent Seven Seas Cruise ship around the Tahiti. We knew that this was a more reasonably priced cruise and were willing to make some concessions.

EMBARKATION: We were told by Princess that the terminal and the parking lot were closed until 1pm and not to attempt to park before then. Originally, we had planned to arrive at 11:30am and be one of the first to board. Instead, we arrived at 12:40pm and found ourselves behind a huge crowd of people who hadn't received that erroneous information. Parking was easily and the porters took our bags quickly. We got our cruise cards after a fifteen minute wait and we eagerly anticipating a rapid boarding and lunch. We were actually in group 21 to go through customs. Group 6 was in line when we arrived. We waited a full hour and then another thirty minutes to get through the horrendous customs procedure. TSA does a much more efficient job. We boarded and made our way to our room.

ROOM: The size and configuration were pretty much as expected. Lots of hanger room, few drawers, RV sized bathroom, and very nice sized balcony. The bed was rock hard (as we had read) and we requested an eggcrate. Our attendant, Rosalie, brought us robes and the eggcrate without a problem. Sadly, the room felt and sounded like a cheap motel room. Every noise from the hall and door closing was quite audible. The bed was miserably uncomfortable, even with the eggcrate.The A/C did not seem to be able to cool the room. We had notices two days in a row that the ventilation person was there to fix it. We never asked, but clearly other people had complained. The heavy swedish type duvet was far too warm for this type of trip. Overall, sleep was a nightly ordeal. We tried to sleep with the balcony open, but the constant influx of cigarette smoke made it impossible. Read more