We chose this cruise because Princess has always provided us with an excellect cruise package in the past, and we expected no less from tghis cruise. Unfortunately we were disappointed.

The dining experience left a lot to be desired. First, apparently Princess added more cabin to the ship than the dining facilities were designed to handle by adding cabins where they reduced the size of the casino and added more cabins on deck 14. This meant that the dining facilities had to accommodate what most of us estimated to be 200 to 250 more passengers. At the "Anytime Dining" Room during the prime eating hours of between 7;30 to 8:00 PM they were so backed up in seating passengers that they resorted to handing out buzzers (similar to the ones that you would get in your local diner), and the passengers had to wait in line for 30 to 40 minutes just to get the buzzer, then wait again until a table was vacated. Most passengers waited well over an hour just to be seated in that dining room. To add to the problem, they ran out of buzzers and told passengers to come back aqt a later time.

The quality of the food, while never gourmet, was not at the level that we remembered. The steak in the regular restaurants was not good at all, and when when we went to the "Upgrade" steak restaurant, the steak. at a cost of $60 per couple additional, was of the same mediocre quality. While certainly the food was plentiful, and the staff would replace any dish that you did not like, the quality was not there. Read more