My fiancé and I are avid cruisers. We have sailed on many ships and various cruise lines and always came back to Princess. This was my 5th and his 13th cruise on Princess. But, they really dropped the ball on this one. While there are a couple "shining stars" on the boat (Ilarion in the Sanctuary and Benji at the front desk) who provided us with excellent customer service but, this was BY FAR the worst cruise I have ever taken.

Check-in: as soon as we entered the port terminal in our taxi we encountered a traffic back-up. It took 1 hour to get from the port entrance to the drop-off area. We had preferred check-in, but still waited in a VERY disorganized line for another hour waiting to get through security. Past security there was no dedicated Preferred check-in, only chaos and a frazzled Princess employee that instructed us to "just try to find the shortest line." We were just so excited to get on the boat and start our vacation that I was willing to excuse the ineffective check-in process. But after walking up the broken escalators I was quite grumpy again.

Cabins: our mini-suite was standard Princess. Quite comfortable (we opted for the full shower which is definitely worth it) and the new larger flat screen tvs are nice. However, the balconies are un-realistically small. In fact, tiny. They squeeze two reclining (not sure how) lounge chairs, foot rests and a table on the balconies which leaves no room for actually maneuvering around outside. I really enjoy sitting on the balcony looking for dolphins and enjoying the sunsets. But, not this trip. We also sent our clothes for dry cleaning, which was not returned by 6pm the next day as promised. In fact, we did not have formal clothes as a result and were not allowed in the dining room. Read more