I have cruised with Princess three times now, six times with other lines. I always considered Princess the 'creme de la creme' of lines. I have read the negative reviews regarding this ship in particular and of Princess in general that were posted lately. I dismissed those reviews as ranting of people who expected five-star service at two-star pricing, or of those type of people who would not be happy or content with any level of service, food, entertainment, etc. I am not a gourmet or a wine connoisseur. I am usually quite content with standard fare offered by cruise lines. I am more concerned with being able to kick back, relax, enjoy the ship and the ports, and in general have a nice quite vacation.
That being said, I now fully agree with prior reviewers that the quality of food on this ship has declined significantly from prior cruises. Whether in the dining rooms or the buffet, the decline was obvious and disappointing. My wife and I are 'anytime diners' and we called for reservations early each morning for dinner that night. On two of those nights we had to wait in line with reservations for over 45 minutes! Two more nights we waited in line with reservations for over 30 minutes! This is unacceptable and I blame poor communication and planning by reservation staff for the restaurants. They know what their capacity is, they told us which times we could have for reservations daily, yet we had to wait along with many other disappointed guests due to their lack of planning!
One thing that has not changed in my opinion is the level of service in the dining rooms, buffets, and at all bars on ship. The ship's staff continually falls all over themselves to make sure you are happy with their service. I was very happy and very grateful to see that this area had not declined!
E506 is supposed to be obstructed. Our only obstruction was directly down to the side of the ship. We could see out very well. This was a great decision for us!