This was our first...and, I am afraid to say, last cruise with Princess. We have been cruising for many years with Princess's sister company, P&O, based here in UK. This year we decided it was time for a change. Our flight from UK to San Juan was without delays, no problems and were well looked after on the flight. A rather disappointing delay through San Juan airport immigration followed - and this was to be one of many queues for immigration processes throughout our cruise. It is one of the reasons in the future that we will not choose an US port of embarkation or have an American port on the itinerary. It is just too time wasting for the Brits to spend ones holiday. In future we shall continue to fly to Barbados for blissful, stressfree ..straight onto the coach and to the ship arrivals and departures - you really can't beat that, and it was something that maybe we had taken for granted previously. Anyway! On with the review! Our first impression of the ship? Looks enormous! Is enormous! BUT doesn't feel too big once you get inside. There are plenty of areas to go where one doesn't feel overwhelmed by the sheer size and numbers onboard. The only time you are reminded just how big it is, is when you take a look at this ship when on land!! We didn't experience any ports via tender as now Granada has a new port there were no more tendered docks. Our cabin was as we expected for an inside cabin - enough space for us and our things - as long as we were tidy (not easy...but one tries eh?!). Bathroom etc all fine. Brilliant cabin steward who introduced himself and the company very well. Very obliging and helpful and kept our cabin spotless. Now! this is a message for any BRITISH LADIES who may be travelling with their faithful GHD (or similar!) hair straighteners!! - THEY WILL NOT WORK - OK!!! - this was discovered to my HORROR on the first day, when plugging them into our trusty little adapter, they sort of flickered and went out.... not a good start for any evening, frizzy hair, moody wife and fed up hubby... Went to reception whereupon they kindly gave me another adapter, but realized that as some of our electrical items are no compatible....the second day in port was spent tracking down a pair of hair straighteners with an american plug. Sorry guys, if this bores you, but I know just how important something like this can be to us girls - am I right?! Food! - One of our delights on a cruise is to enjoy our food. This we didn't on the Crown. There was plenty of it...and after all we did manage to put on half a stone! - it wasn't of the luxury type and not what we have come to expect. Again from a Brit point of view...we like our veggies here in UK..and they were VERY sparse on the Crown, and I mean VERY. Salads etc fine at lunchtimes, but evening meals left a lot to be desired. Very much missed the tractional puddings/currys etc always to be found on P&O... Lots of incidents within the restaurant we weren't happy with. From having to eat our morning cereal with soup spoons (every day..) to teaspoons unceremoniously stuck up in tea cups..and waiters with a very bad command of basic English. This caused probs throughout for many and resulted in some peculiar incidents. including the morning when hubby tried to book a table for the evening (we were on anytime dining - again, a word...don't do it! - Everyone ends up usually wanting to eat at a similar time, they can't cope with it and it ends up like a glorified canteen arrangement to see who can get their table finished first...that's if you get to eat before 10.pm) the guy could not understand that we wished to book a table and thought we wanted to purchase a book! hmmmmm... Talking of food/drink etc - If Princess are supposed to welcome Brits they need to make sure they have staples in like....PIMMS! Pernod! and MARMITE!! none of these items could be found - or in some cases understood. We are also used to having our coffee as a separate course I do not like it swilled down with my dessert (if indeed I had chosen one of their revolting looking desserts in the first place). The have visited all the ports on the itinerary before, but chose some new independent tours. Would not wish to visit St Thomas or St Marten again due to the pathetic immigration process set aside for us Brits. Although for us here in UK, this cruise wasn't considered a "back-to-back" as we purchased the two week cruise with airfares all thrown in, but for a majority of pax they were either on the ship for just the first week or second week only. We should have been able to have jumped from P&O's loyalty scheme (The Portunus Club) where we are on their top Gold Level - but because in UK this cruise was considered just one cruise we have to wait until our next cruise with Princess before being an Elite pax.

The worst day spent on this cruise was the day in the middle when the ship returned to San Juan. We had previously arranged an independent tour on this day. Only to discover that we were not allowed off the ship (unless on a Princess tour...funny that..) unless we have completed the formalities..as they so cutely said. This involved us Brits having to wait until 11.30am, we were herded into a dining room, then marched off the ship all through immigration again...frisking, the works...only to then have our new cruise cards issued to us, then had to join the queue of new pax coming onboard!! incredible, quite incredible. By the time we had followed this queue, gone through the whole process of being "welcomed onboard" ..again... it was 3pm what a complete waste of a day. Also to add no bars or facilities were open for us "in Transit" pax. Disgusting, and this is one of the reasons why we not be including any American port or cruising with Princess again. There were of course good points...somewhere... Oh! yes, Adaggio's the bar was nice. But no Pimms or Pernod of course.

I apologize if this revue is slightly on the negative side, but this is just a personal view. You will, like us no doubt want to make your minds up yourself. What we would say is... If you are very much a British type of passenger, think VERY carefully before cruising with Princess, as we found it very alien to what we are used to. We met with many lovely people from all parts of the world and this was obviously a good point to the cruise. I couldn't describe the ship as being what is referred to in the brochures as a "friendly ship" in general people kept themselves to themselves. The new idea of beaming in the Cruise Director from one office somewhere in the world is a good one, it must save thousands in salaries. I don't think you can beat the old fashioned cruise directors you get to say good morning/afternoon too around the ship.