The 15-night cruise on the Emerald Princess gave us an excellent look at the Canada and the US eastern seaboard. We hit 9 ports, missing one (Corner Brook, Newfoundland) because of weather and had an overnight in Quebec City. We thoroughly enjoyed the itinerary. We do not understand why Princess uses ships designed for tropical cruises (no covered pools or deck areas) for their northern itineraries. The weather was cold and we could not go outside; we had the same problem on the transatlantic cruise on the Emerald Princess.

However, Princess needs to step-up if they want to remain a 5-star cruise line. Food was predictable and the beef was chewy and flavorless. Only a couple of nights with good entertainment - too many repeats of the same show with one public room being used in the evenings for passenger-participation games. After over 50 cruises, this is the first cruise where I felt the staff was a bit surly, especially in the purser's and tour offices. And speaking of tours, they were some of the poorest for the cost and the tour staff was completely unorganized when on shore. We usually go on ship sponsored tours just in case there is a problem but this experience may cause us to rethink that policy.

Many people blame the Carnival takeover for the drop in quality, but the 19 Carnival cruises we've been on have been far superior in food and entertainment. After 9 cruises on Princess, we are now looking at other options. Read more