we travelled by car to southampton it took appx 90 mins to the docks and a further 60 mins to offload our luggage registration was surprisingly quick about 30 mins

the buffet lunch was adequate and our luggage arrived at our inside cabin within 1 hour and of course the tedious lifeboat drill before sailing. my overall impression of the ship was that it looks tired and in need of refurbishment. cruising to norway we do not expect hot weather so it was nice to know that a covered pool was available however the area is wide open with the deck above being the "conservatory" with doors to the open deck which were seldom if ever closed so the area surrounding the pool was always very cold. food: we opted for anytime dining.in the two main dining rooms the food was of excellent quality always hot and the staff very obliging.the speciality steakhouse a $15 supplement was disappointing as we found it no real difference to the main dining.the buffet breakfast and lunch were good ad the queues not too bad.The hamburgers from the deck grill were tasteless the pizza ok but only if you waited one of the 3 options on offer I asked for something different and was told that only what they were cooking was available. There is an ice cream bar but you have to pay a supplement for the privilege. cabin/room service: We opted for an inside cabin for this trip so had no problems with the 24hr daylight in norway. The cabin was fine reasonably appointed our cabin steward was always with a smile and served us well. I did request from room service a jug of water and ice only to be told that there were no jugs bottles at $3.50 were of course available

Entertainment: The entertainment was good a beatles tribute band were simply sensational but this was the exception all the other acts were good without leaving you wanting more the cruise director was as usual nowadays nowhere to be seen except to introduce and close the entertainment.how these guys justify there salaries is beyond my comprehension. Ports: The various ports of call were all interesting and the scenery unequalled anywhere in the world the tenders were when necessary always fine with no long waiting at all. A word to all if you think england is expensive norway is always DOUBLE if not treble the price for everything. My previous experience of princess was an alaskan cruise when it was still part of p&o. it was much better then than now.then I would have described it as 5 star now maybe 3+ the ship managed to run out of normal tea bags after 9 days. ran out of stilton cheese,hp sauce,you pay extra for shuttle busses from where you dock into the town centers,extra for ice cream etc.I ask myself will I choose princess again? probably not unless there is a silly offer you can not refuse. Prices have come down considerably from when I started cruising 10 years ago what these so called premium cruise lines now offer does not stand comparison with what was on offer a decade ago. I wonder which cruise line will bite the bullet charge more and get back to what was once a trip of a lifetime. steve jacobs