This was a 30 day cruise (12 day combined with a 18 day) from Barcelona, Spain to Venice, Italy for the first half and Venice Italy to Fort Lauderdale for the second half. We visited ports along the coast of Spain, France, Italy, Greece, Turkey and the island of Madeira finally disembarking in Fort Lauderdale. This was the inaugural crossing for Princess Cruise Line's newest ship the Royal Princess.

Princess booked our flights to Barcelona using American Airlines. The only thing I can say about that is the fare was cheap, just like the quality of the airline. The connection times were too close for comfort and I think Princess should have allowed at least a 3 hour layover in all cases for connecting flights. By the way, AVOID American Airlines forever because they are NOT customer focused, are in bankruptcy and the plane's interiors are dirty, worn out and the toilets are filthy. They are like pirates, if you have an extra bag on an overseas flight charging $100.00.

The cruise itinerary was excellent. The new ship was a different story. The elevators worked fine, but there was not enough of them to support 3800 passengers. The "door close" button was the most abused item on the ship. A passenger could actually hold the button in and the elevator would bypass all floors until it was at the end of the line. So you could actually have two on the elevator getting on at deck 4 and they could bypass all decks until they get to 16 whereas passengers were waiting to get on at other decks. It is no wonder they were crowded for passengers who did not know the trick and also passengers waiting long times to get on. Read more