I took my aunt and friend on this cruise to see if they would like cruising. The food was consistently really good; we ate buffet brunch; dinners in dining room. They ended up loving cruising.

The only thing was there was such an obvious need for refurbishing in some areas. The pool carpet was disgusting and smelled awfully musty and moldy. It was also closed a couple times when we wanted to use it. I took my friend to the spa area, thinking she would be so impressed, as I usually am. It was a joke. The women's sauna/steam area were broken, with no signs to alert anyone. We ended up using the men's side. Luckily, as they were not separated in area, nobody complained when we asked if they minded. This is not the Princess I have grown to love. It was an embarrassment. The pool had some bugs in it and the longer I stayed in the area the more I noticed how disgusting and dirty looking it was, so we left. This is the spa? Is this the reflection of Princess they are looking for? I would not have expected Princess to allow themselves to be seen this way, all shabby! That is how my last Carnival cruise ship was, when I was trying to convince a different friend that she would like cruising. She thought that ship was shabby. I guess since Carnival owns it, we should expect that is how it will go down.

Other than that, the service was what I would expect from Princess, awesome dining room staff and everyone friendly and smiling and greeting you. Good room steward.