DH and I are seasoned cruisers with nearly 30 of them either completed or scheduled. The majority of them have been with Norwegian Cruise Line but we have cruised with Princess and Carnival, too. Our last Princess cruise was nearly 6 years ago and when we saw they were offering a Pacific Coastal cruise we decided to book one. We wanted to "come back new".

We originally booked an interior stateroom but as the cruise date came closer, it was apparent there were many, many balcony cabins still available. I placed a call to Princess and was able to upgrade to a balcony on the Caribe deck, scoring one of the partially covered, large balcony cabins. The price for this cruise was substantially less what we had paid for previous 7 day cruises. As the time came closer, it appeared Princess was cutting corners. Our embarkation time was moved back to beween 2PM-4PM. In other words, lunch would not be served.

We took a flight which arrived at LAX by 1:30. Luggage pick up was quick and we went to the Super Shuttle pick up zone. Apparently their computer system was down as the dispatchers had no idea when the next shuttle to San Pedro would arrive. Finally, after waiting more than an hour, our van arrived. I wish I could say he whisked us to the ship but as this was a shared van, he attempted to circle the airport for more passengers. DH was livid at this point and demanded the driver take us directly to the port as it was nearing 4PM. Long story short, we arrived at the port in plenty of time (and won't take Super Shuttle again). Read more