I was really looking forward to this cruise, since we have travelled to all of our ports and could really relax. This was our 16th Princess cruise and 19th overall. The ship is beautiful and well maintained. The carpet looked new and the furniture was in great condition. The Sapphire will be dry docked in September to add Movie Under the Stars and the Piazza in the Atrium as well as the Sanctuary up front. The ship was great, the ports were great, so what made me give this cruise only 3 stars THE SERVICE. The room steward was great, we even over tipped him. The waiter and assistant waiter for table 54 early seating were probably the most average we have had on any cruise. They did as little as possible. No interaction what so ever. They never learned our names, asked how our day went or even remembered what we wanted to drink. The front desk was even worse. Ask them a question and they never seemed to have an answer and said they would need to get back to you. Only if they did, I found myself having to follow up instead. This was my first cruise as an Elite member, so I decided to let them do my cleaning. Wrong I had one pink sweater turn blue and a marking number stain a white blouse. From now on I will wash my own clothes. I also made an inquiry at the Shore Excursion Desk about what was allowed on the Boeing Factory Tour with an answer he would get back to me and never did. The Entertainment was somewhat boring. The singers and dancers were quite good, but I had seen these shows at least 3 times. It seems that Princess has the same entertainment on all of its cruise ships. Kudos to Royal Caribbean that has different entertainment on each ship.
We had a Mini suite D523 in the middle of the ship. The room is comfortable. We really enjoy the couch. There is plenty of storage space and the bathroom with bathtub is fine. It can get a bit tight if two people are in the room at the same time. The balcony was nice and large enough for us to have dinner on the balcony.