Our adult, single daughter fought for her life a year ago. After 10 weeks in the hospital and many days recovering at our home, her health has improved significantly. We all needed a way to leave the dark days, stress and a year of sacrificing behind with a memorable vacation. She loves tropical weather; my retired husband and I enjoy visiting new destinations. We may never go to Central or South America again, so we chose a Panama Canal cruise for three of us in a mini-suite.

The cabin was OK, the balcony very nice. At night, the sofa became our daughter's bed. The mattress was the usual 2" thick and it was disgusting to see urine stains on it and it's cover. With the sofa opened, the cabin was crowded. Our wonderful room steward brought a 2nd mattress to make it more tolerable. We chose anytime dining, but found it deceptive. We either stood in line for 30" or made reservations with limited choices of 5:15 or 8:30. We like to sit by ourselves and the maître 'de asked 'why'. Dining staff seemed stretched, were not sociable and didn't appear to like their job. We saw too many lower ranked dining staff in the dining room and buffet area criticized in front of diners. The white coat staff acted like bullies to workers as well passengers not properly attired .

We would have liked a comedian nightly, not the usual musical entertainment. Shore excursions took most of the time at a destination. The itinerary was 2 days at sea, 4 days at ports, 1 day at sea, a port and the last day at sea = boring days at sea, too little port time. This was our 4th Princess cruise and least enjoyed.