Our Perspective CB New England/Canada 8/22-8/29 General Information: We are 'active seniors' in our early 60's. We exercise daily, enjoy each other's company, meeting people, and cruising. When given lemons we always make lemonade! Embark/ Disembark: This is our 7th cruise with Princess; we are Platinum so it was an easy 5min, no wait process to embark . (We boarded at 1:20pm). Disembarkation was also easy. Off the ship via Platinum Lounge and used Princess transfer to JFK. Reasonable $ and they handle the luggage. Dining: We had Anytime Dining. We have had anytime for 5 other cruises and traditional one time when we were traveling with a group of 8. We prefer the flexibility that this style dining affords us. Everything you have read from other posters was true for the CB. We had sailed on CB during her first season. We were well aware that this sailing was full -3500 passengers (500 children). Long waits for seating, difficulties getting a reservation, phone not answered after an hour of trying and once seated less then efficient table service. (food arrived cold twice and DH sent it back also spoke to Maitre'd without much response . The worst was the Deck 6 dining room- Deck 5 was a much better experience short wait times and we tried all different times, Not just Prime Time -5:45-about 8pm) There seems to be a basic problem with the amount of people, and flow through the dining room as well as slow serving for the larger tables 6-8 or more. We commented on our experiences on the evaluation and via e-mail. We have never had these issues on the other Princess ships with less passengers. We are not buffet fans. I did check out the sail away buffet to see if there was the seafood buffet.... There were seafood entrees but no seafood buffet. Probably a victim of corporate cutbacks? We loved the International Cafe offerings and the Tapas and Sushi at Vines (no charge for these) We had the Champagne Balcony breakfast... Our waiter made us mimosas and served a Fabulous Fruit selection, great Blue Berry Pancakes, Eggs Benedict, Assorted Pastries coffee and herb tea Afternoon tea - it was good but sequence out of order...we had to ask for scones.... Crown Grill - fabulous!!!! Worth the additional charge. Over all the food was good - we enjoyed and there is Always the "always available" standard items that are consistently good. Pastas were wonderful! Ports: Newport was cancelled by Hurricane Bill. We enjoyed the sea day... Boston: Arrived at 8am instead of 10am. We had reservations for HOHO Old Town Trolley. Saw all the highlights of the city. Toured Fenway. Walked the entire Freedom Trail. Had fabulous lunch in No Name Eatery. Went to Mike's Parterres for treats and espresso in the North End. On way back to ship Thunderstorm hit. . We had a great day. Bar Harbor: We did the ship's excursion- Biking Arcadia NP. It was a good work out and the park was serene and very beautiful. Had a great lobster lunch at Testa's on Main Street. When to Bill's for Ice Cream after visiting some shops and DH had the lobster ice cream, I had the blueberry... (THE BEST) St John's NB. Lots of Fog!!! Took trolley tour then walked to City Market. Sampled yummy seafood chowder and some local beers. Saw the Bay and Reversing rapids. We opted not to go kayaking, as the weather was damp and overcast... Halifax: We had wonderful weather . We went to the Maritime Museum, took a carriage ride around the city, toured the Citadel, and loved the Public Gardens. We walked the entire boardwalk, stopped into the Casino. DH won $50 on the slots better than he did in the ship's casino. Had great Fish and Chips at Murphy's on the water. On return to ship: We saw the RCMP Bagpipe and Drum Corp perform in the Princess Theater. They played traditional Scotch tunes and also had a Scotch folk dance. Very nice!

Entertainment: We went to all 3 Production shows: Do You Want to Dance?, Caribbean Caliente and Piano Man. High energy dancers lots of glitz and costume changes. Wheelhouse.Bar Ashley Clarke Quartet & Elements-great for dancing Crooner Lounge Bert Stratton, Piano entertainer. He has 'groupies' and we did not care for him. Explorer's Lounge Comedian Jay Moore (1st part of the week) &James Michael - majic act and comedy. Skywalkers's had a DJ nightly . We enjoyed the 50's and 60's dance party. (Our music) MUTS was fun showing recent releases such as Star Trek, Ironman and BrideWars. Monsters vs Aliens, Marley and Me and Bedtimes Stories for kids and families. Concerts included Beyonce, U2 and Christine Aquilera The Crew Talent show was great, especially the skit by Dan Styne (CD) and Co - halarious Other comments: Our cabin - balcony on Lido deck forward near the door to the deck above the bridge. The cabin was kept immaculate by Resty our steward who attended to our every need. He was personable and made us feel pampered. There were crew cleaning and maintaining the ship everyday. (They were out polishing the brass and varnishing the handrails. We did not use the Sanctuary (weather and short itinerary.) but for a warm weather cruise it looks very nice. Overall we had a very enjoyable cruise but have decided that this ship is too big for us and we will definitely consider size when making our next cruise choice.... Bigger isn't always better. We are booked on the Golden to Hawaii next and have sailed on her before with 1970 passengers we never felt crowded nor did we encounter the Anytime dining issues. Thanks you for reading this review - our perspective! Dot and Paul