Appreciating this is a huge ship (3,000 passengers) and a "value" experience, recent reviews have noted difficulties handling such large numbers of people - esp when bad weather occurs. Long lines and crowds aimlessly walking and congregating inside the few common areas made for an intimate experience for sure!Activities offered in the Patter each day either required additional payment or were, well, strange. Egg drops? Charades?I was surprised at the lack of upkeep on such a large, relatively new ship. The lack of maintainance and oversight is noticeable. One sees many instances of paint peeling, bannisters needing new varnish, balcony furniture and balcony flooring requiring replacement, carpets frayed, pillows and linens are beat.Coffee is dreadful. Buy a coffee card to avoid the aggravation. This was a source of so many complaints onboard and on Cruise Critic so you have to wonder why Princess would tolerate such an obvious issue to persist. Food served in the Horizon buffett and main dining room(s) was decidedly mediocre. Limited menu choices but tons of sweets and sugared cakes all day long. Lots of heavily salted, fried and rich entrees, piles of cheap starches at every meal on every plate but very little fresh, steamed veg. No wonder so many passsengers are so enormous in girth. There is a small salad bar at the buffet and several sliced fruits are offered (melon, pineapple). I found it difficult to choose healthy choices on board. We greatly enjoyed Sabatini's for the pleasant atmosphere and food - the heavy rush and pell mell of the main dining rooms was too much after awhile. Service was excellent and the branzino for two was terrific. The Crown Grill was not my cup of tea but others on board loved it. The ship is understaffed. This was apparent in our experience and was confirmed by several staff members. Staff hard to please passengers but there is an insufficient number to accomodate the needs of so many passengers. Trying to get a drink outside or a table cleared can be a chore. Waiting and waiting in the dining room at breakfast, lunch and dinner for a waiter to take your order to get a dish delivered got real old real fast. For example, one omelet would appear on the table, the other person's course was elsewhere, then a toasted muffin would come five minutes later but not the bacon.Personally, there was too much hard sell, in your face all the time every day, the nickel and diming was incessant and unappealing. What's: quarters to enter the toilet? Staffers selling life insurance while you stand in line waiting for a seat to see evening entertainment? Enough!The cabin was pleasant but I was truly shocked at the state of the bathroom. The shower was small with a weather beaten shower curtain right out of a college dorm. I often wondered how so many huge passengers could fit in such a tiny space to shower. Acrobatic skills needed! Bathroom fixtures and general appearance was not what I expected from Princess. There is very limited storage in the cabin. Our cabin steward was solicitious and did a great job keeping our cabin clean and accomodating requests.The adults only area at the rear of the ship is adjacent to the kids play area. Huh? This proximity generates considerable noise and squeals as background music when sitting reading in supposedly a "quiet" pool area. Sabitini's shares a wall with the Wheelhouse Bar so while you are enjoying a pleasant dining experience, a bar band is busy banging away Lady Gaga songs on the other side of the wall. Whoever decided on the specific locations for services onboard did a poor job assigning spots for their proper usage.One gripe I heard frequently from prior P.Caribbean cruisers is the signage onboard and the layout of the ship as confusing and frustrating. I agree with that assessment. I and others were repeatedly bewildered as to how to get to certain areas or where we were at any given time. Trying to get to cerain locations - say, deck five - one would run into obstacles or dead ends while attempting to proceed to midsection. You have to climb up to deck seven walk midship, then descend down to five. Bizarre. The ship "map" on each floor is off to the side in a brassy poster with microscopic print. What do elderly do when trying to decipher the heiroglyphics on the brass map? Bars have indistinct name markings so you are clueless if this is Explorers Lounge or Club Fusion. The Sky lounge was dead every time I went there except for parents who brought their kids up during the day to play and, again, it was difficult to navigate the ship to get to this location. The point is Princess can and should avoid this by rethinking how and where directional signage is placed and manufactured. Such an easy problem to solve but it persists.Yes, the equation between low cost and value is evident. But there are many shortcomings and it is clear, at least to this passenger, that Princess is trying to wring every penny it can from its customers while keeping its cost to operate as cut to the bone as possible.