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This was our first cruise on Princess. The last two summers we cruised on Disney and did not think there was any way Princess could compare. Well, we were wrong. Princess was fantastic and totally won us over. We still love Disney, but we would not hesitate to cruise Princess again, (especially since the price is so much less!)
We live in New Jersey and chose this cruise mostly because it left from New York and we did not have the expense of air fare. Leaving from Brooklyn was a breeze. We arrived at the terminal at 11 and we were on the ship having lunch by 12:30.
The Ship was beautiful and very clean. We had an inside cabin, and while it is not the best, we found it fine for our family of four, my husband and myself and our daughters, 15 and 18. We were on Deck 5, which is where the atrium is located and the International Cafe. This was so convenient, and we spent a lot of time relaxing with a coffee in the Piazza. We literally never heard any noise ever the whole week.
The Cruise Director's staff was very friendly and funny. We love trivia and nightly game shows, the staff on the ship were so engaging, they made all of these things extra fun. They also had a great comedian at the beginning of the cruise. However, the comedian the second half of the cruise was one of the worst I have ever seen, it was embarrassing for him. Also, the large theater productions were lacking, this is one place that Disney is way ahead, and the comedy team Alfred and Seymour, who we had enjoyed on our Disney cruises, were on the Ship on the first night, but had to leave the Ship for some unknown reason, this was a disappointment to us.
The food in the dining room was mostly very good to excellent, with a few items I did not care for. Our server was fantastic and really did a great job to make the meals perfect for us. We had one lunch in the dining room which was excellent, with a wide selection. The buffet was very good for breakfast and good for lunch. It was often hard to find a table in the buffet area at breakfast, and we pretty much gave up on finding a table where our group of 9 people could sit together. It is nice the way they set the tables and bring your drinks to your table in the buffet. The pizza by the pool was surprisingly good. The International Cafe on Deck 5 was excellent for both breakfast and snacks the rest of the day. This is a really great feature on the Ship.
We enjoyed all the ports. We had to tender in Bar Harbor and Newport. In Bar Harbor we left the ship at 8:30 and had no wait to tender. In Newport we left closer to 11 and had about a 20 minute wait. Overall not bad, but in the future I would try to leave the Ship earlier to avoid any wait.
My family had a fantastic time on this trip!
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