This was our 9th cruise but our first Princess cruise. Frankly, although we had a good time and a relaxing vacation, we were NOT impressed with Princess. To us, they do not hold a candle to Royal Caribbean. This was especially evident with the crew, the cruise staff, etc. Most of the crew speak only when spoken to, and we missed the outgoing friendliness of RCCL crews. The Cruise Director, Graham, was extremely poor! He is so full of himself; HE thinks he is wonderful, we did not. Announcements were lacking in detail or just plain lacking period. Princess does not seem to offer verbal invitations to events, so unless you read the Princess Patter faithfully and every hour, you won't know what is going on.
Probably what we liked least about this whole cruise was just the shear size of it. We have never been on a ship quite this big, and I doubt we will ever again. Just plain too many people, too many bodies lined up on the sun/pool deck. Too many lines for everything. Cattle herd mentality. The ship itself is BIG, beautiful enough, but too chopped up.
We did thoroughly enjoy our cabin! We had a mini suite cabin on the port side and this was very impressive. Plenty of room in the cabin for all our needs. Nice sitting area. Two TVs. Big enough bathroom with tub/shower combo. Just having the balcony was wonderful. And our being on the port side of the ship offered us nice views in every port, so much that we felt badly for the poor souls on the starboard side. Our room steward James was wonderful, even calling us by name in the hallway BEFORE we ever first entered our cabin.