We chose The Royal Princess, as good friends who are avid cruisers highly recommended it.

We arrived at the Ft. Lauderdale port at around noon and the traffic was a nightmare, as our transfer took 45 minutes to reach the offloading area. The line was smooth going and we boarded the boat. We found our room and we were impressed. However, after two days we started noticing a few things. Our TV didn't work - kept powering off. We noted the problem to our room attendant and they fixed it by switching it with our sitting room tv - so now our sitting room tv didn't work. The tiles on the outside of our tub were loose, our bedside lamp shades were stained and the carpet was dirty. We only had one robe, but later got a second one. Only two pieces of our luggage came on time and 5 hours the last piece arrived. We bought a spa pass to the enclave and noticed the jets in the pool didn't work properly. One of the steam bowls in the sauna did not work and the speakers were dirty and only worked part of the time. There were never enough water glasses in stock or enough water in the dispensers. The carpets in the stairwells were coming apart and not vacuumed well. The Horizon buffet area was a disappointment. We always had to ask for coffee and juice. The tables were missing silver wear and the staff was not that friendly. The buffet food was average and popular selections were slow in being replaced when a dish needed to be topped up. The coffee areas were always out of coffee cups and the water/lemonade machines were always under maintenance. We were told on two occasions that our handrails on our veranda were going to be sanded and stained, so we needed to give the workers access starting at 8am - this never happened.

I previously went on an Alaska cruise with Holland America in May of this year and I can tell you my experience with them was much better. I was really hoping for more from Princess and this cruise is exactly how I rated it - average at best. On the upside the port of calls and excursions were excellent. One final note - cruising is not made for the middle income wage earner. Drink pkg for one person - $553 tax & gratuity in price for ten days. We opted out and paid a drink bill of $130 for 10 days. The spa enclave pass for a couple is $339. The restaurants charged a set fee - it was worth it. Bingo charges you for the bingo cards to play. The complete portrait package for all your photo's was $199.00 - we did not get all our photos on our sub, but got somebody else's. I called Princess customer service and they could not help, as they told me when the boat lands all photos are deleted. Excursions ranged from $55 to $150 per person.. The spa treatments are not cheap. It's amazing how fast your bill grows - be prepared and check it often. The cruise dollars were not worth it. I had to spend over $30 to get just $5 off. I will be definitely checking different cruise ships for our next one to Hawaii and Alaska.