EMBARKATION & DISEMBARKATION Princess deserve a gold star for the smooth embarkation and disembarkation -- we received an email when we were in Beijing before the cruise advising that embarkation had been delayed until 6pm rather than the 12 noon as planned. We were able to alter our travel arrangements (bullet train) and arrived at the port at approximately 5.45pm -- it was so easy to check in, we were offered food and drinks while waiting and when we reached our cabin 45 minutes later our luggage was already there !! On disembarkation day we had booked a Princess transfer to the airport and it ran very smoothly (except for the people who had to be first on the bus and wouldn't stay in line) and we were at the airport by 9.30am where our luggage was waiting for us.

STATEROOM: Our stateroom (obstructed view) was excellent -- the obstruction was very minor - the room was clean and plenty of space for hanging/storing clothes -- our steward kept the room to a good standard however we could never work out when he would be cleaning -- minor detail but a bit annoying at times.

DINING: We chose 'Anytime Dining' -- for us this worked really well -- we tried several of the dining rooms but felt that the Savoy was by far the best re service etc. Food was great, fairly varied and enough of it -- it was a little odd to see asparagus every night. We were fortunate to dine with a wide range of people and it was most enjoyable to meet many other passengers. We dined in the Sterling Steakhouse one evening and it was superb -- definitely worth the cover charge. Breakfast we went to the International Dining Room rather than the buffet -- excellent choice. Lunch we either went to the buffet or had pizza etc on the deck -- all good food. Read more