Pre -cruise travel After arrival at LAX, caught a pre-booked Super Shuttle to the Doubletree in San Pedro. The Doubletree was nice, however there was a wedding booked in the lobby/dining room area so dinner was noisy, crowded, and with mediocre food. The hotel is not within walking distance to shops, so we used the hotel shuttle service. We have stayed at the Crown Plaza previously, and after comparing the two, would stay at the Crown Plaza next time. Both hotels are equal in standards and service, but the Crown is in a better location if you need to pick up wine or cruise necessities, find a restaurant, or kill time. Embarkation We arrived at the terminal at 11:45 and were on board and in our cabin by 12:15. Pretty slick operation which Princess does very well. We had one suitcase waiting for us at the door, and the other arrived shortly after. Service Service on the ship was very good, and the staff was friendly and attentive and made a point of saying "Good Morning" or "Have an excellent day". I don't think we encountered one crew member who was unhelpful or rude. Our cabin steward Ricky was great, and our dining room staff, Tomas and Garnett, were fabulous. Fellow Passengers This cruise does tend to attract an older crowd - median age is probably 70-75. There were only a few kids, but we heard that Princess had excellent activities. Night-time activities wound down around 10:00 pm, so it's definitely not a party cruise. There was some of the usual "saving" of deck chairs, but the worst was during the Canal transit, when several groups pulled chairs from "The Grill" right up against the only open railing on the Sun Deck, and no-one else could get near the railing to view the transit. Of course, they left personal items on the chairs to "reserve" them for the entire 8 hour transit. Unbelievably rude. Food We tried early traditional dining for the first time. On the Princess website, it indicates that early sitting is at 6:00, but it was actually 5:30 which was a little too early for us. We might have reconsidered had we known. However, we had great table companions and service from Tomas and Garnett was exceptional. Overall, the food on the ship was good. The quality in the dining room was inconsistent at times (particularly the beef dishes - tough and tasteless one day, flavourful and tender the next). We had breakfast once and lunch twice in the dining room, but otherwise ate at the buffet. We tend to eat very simply at these two meals, so the buffet gave us the variety we were looking for. Activities and Entertainment As usual, there always seems to be too much to do, too little time. Not being gamblers, we didn't go to the casino. We enjoyed the scholarship at sea lectures, cooking demonstrations, golf competitions (we won 2nd prize at the putting competition). The evening entertainment was good, but not outstanding, and the highlight was the crew talent show. We enjoyed MUTS several nights. Overall, the entertainment seemed to be targeting an older audience. Tours We did 2 ship's tours: Corobici River rafting in Costa Rica which was very good and worth the money, and the Colonial City Explorer in Cartagena which we enjoyed, but would have preferred more time to wander on our own. In Panama, we joined Anne Gordon's tour to an Embera Village which was undoubtedly the highlight of our cruise. I would highly recommend it. Disembarkation We didn't experience any of the issues that other reviewers have reported. We were at our assigned location at the designated time, and were off the ship, through customs and had collected our bags in about half an hour. We had pre-booked the transfer to the airport, but since the airport in Fort Lauderdale is so close, a taxi would probably have been cheaper.