Embarkation went very smoothly. The San Francisco cruise terminal is very modern and the staff were very efficient. We arrived at 12:30 pm and were on the ship by 12:50pm. We had spent a week in the USA travelling before the cruise, so we spent the afternoon catching up on washing, unpacking for the 28 day cruise and we then settled down for our first drink. It was good to be on board a ship and not having to worry about packing and unpacking every few days.

We stayed in a mini-suite. There were a few little chips off furniture here and there, but overall it was very clean and tidy and to the standard we expect of princess. Our room steward was Mary Anne and she did a great job. She was always happy to have a chat and kept our stateroom very clean and tidy.

We spent the first 5 days at sea and readily filled our time with trivia, lectures and various other ship board activities. The Gym was very well equipped and unlike our experience on other cruses, all of the equipment in the Gym worked. Day one in the Gym was very busy. By day three there were not a lot of people. Read more