Beautilful impeccably maintained ship. Gracious, welcoming service.

This is our sixth cruise: one Princess, three Celebrity, two HAL. We are in our 50s and retired. Our primary reason for cruising is the cruise experience itself, particularly the cuisine. From our experience, ports of call tend to be overly commercialized and westernized throughout the Caribbean and Mexico. With few exceptions you will not experience a different culture, only vendors and predictable over-priced excursions. But the food and service on the ships varies tremendously. Celebrity remains tops in our book, Holland follows a close second, and Princess falls somewhere below.

PROS: Overall a great value and wonderful experience. Some corners have been cut in the food and food service areas (there is no creme brulee served, fewer excellent fish or seafood dishes, the chocolate buffet is gone, and server to passenger ratio is down) but still, everything from the quality and selection of the food to the service is among the best you can find in most American higher quality city restaurants. The Lido buffet provided outstanding variety and overall high quality. I can't understand how they can, day after day, provide such a wonderful array of fresh foods. What is more amazing is that passengers will stand in long lines to have a ham and cheese sandwich made for them or get a hamburger and french fries, while there are no lines to the Asian fresh made dishes (curries, sushi, stir frys)or freshly made pasta dishes. That is America for you. Read more