GENERAL: My husband and I, both in our early 50’s booked a full aft suite (D736) to the Western Caribbean Nov. 16-23, 2013 (Honduras, Belize, Cozumel). Due to fog there was a considerable delay at the Bayport Cruise Terminal and we couldn’t board until after 3:30 p.m. There is absolutely nothing to do at the port and I don’t know how those people waited in those plastic chairs for hours. Thankfully due to having a full suite we could wait in the lounge with free coffee and pastries. This was only our second cruise on Princess and you have to realize this is a cruise line for older people. If you are younger this cruise line may not be for you. Lots of old people (no offense as I am older too but I am talking 60-80 years old; maybe 10% 40 yrs or under.)

FOOD/SERVICE: They claim to have an extended room service menu for full suites but when I asked they firmly told me no. The complimentary one time bar/fridge in the suite was appreciated. Contrary to what others have said, the coffee was absolutely fine. My husband is a coffee aholic and we both found the coffee good everywhere we went. We had an early seating in the main dining room and the food was okay. Not the same quality I remember on our previous voyage. At times it was lukewarm and just not as tasty as I was expecting. I got sick one night after eating the mushroom soup. The quiche cold, crab dip cold and the fettuccine bland even though the chef was Italian. The fish was dry but my husband enjoyed the escargot and the filet mignon was good, lobster just okay and sort of chewy. Our waiter, Ben was nice but way overworked. I think Princess has cut back on the wait staff and it was a bit disconcerting seeing him run from table to table taking orders and dropping plates off with hardly time to ask how the meal was. I don’t blame him. I just think Princess is cutting corners and this "rush” took away from the elegant atmosphere they are trying to present. My husband loved the burgers from room service and said they were fantastic. We ate a few times in the Horizon and I thought it was pretty good maybe even better than the main dining room. The battered shrimp was very good and the selection is wonderful. The waiters there seemed more relaxed and it was definitely more comfortable than the main dining room.

ROOM: This is a great room at the very back of the ship with no foot traffic. The suite was beautiful but there was considerable vibration at times and an annoying rattling in the headboard and/or lamp (the Captain was full speed ahead to try to make up lost time). The bed felt like it had its own heartbeat. Our steward, Salvador, was very nice and worked very hard. He was out morning noon and night cleaning rooms. He took care of our needs but we didn’t really ask for much. Several days we told him not to worry about cleaning our room as we kept it pretty clean ourselves and he was so busy sometimes we just asked for clean towels or to pick up trays. He cleans the rooms twice a day and once was always enough for us. We had breakfast on our balcony a few mornings and this was wonderful until the sun rose through the horizon and then you would bake. This suite doesn’t get sun all day but you do get it off and on depending on the time of day and position of the ship. It was perfect for us. We had two padded lounge chairs and a table with four chairs with plenty of room. The beam obstruction didn’t bother us at all. It is a large balcony with plenty of room. Read more