We sailed from Fort Lauderdale on January 7th and returned on January 14th. To start, I would definitely agree with previous comments regarding the embarkation and disembarkation process - we have cruised in the past, and Princess definitely has this process down to a fine art - quick, efficient and friendly.

On check-in, we were very excited to discover that we had been upgraded from a partially obstructed oceanview to a balcony cabin on Aloha deck - above the others, so no one could view us unless we hung over the balcony - an amazing cabin experience, including our fabulous steward - absolutely nothing but praise for this great start to our voyage!

We were two full days at sea before arriving in San Juan, so had an opportunity to familiarize ouselves with the ship and decide what activities we'd like to participate in. One of the things we've thoroughly enjoyed on previous cruises was the food and the staff - always really engaged and seemed to enjoy their jobs. Sadly, with the exception of our cabin steward, this did not seem to be the case on Princess (our first cruise with them). We encountered what should have been a minor problem (I pre-ordered the soft drink package and we did not receive the mug)- this took hours and several visits and redirections to resolve - ridiculous! While the dining room staff were unfailingly polite, they did not seem to be interested in having fun or even enjoying their jobs. Food was disappointing overall. To be fair, we could order almost anything we wanted despite what was on the menu, but quality was just okay, not what we have to come to expect from cruise dining. Read more