My husband and I have just returned from a 12 day Western Med cruise on Pacific Princess. We are a couple in our early 60's (still working) and have cruised approximately 20 times, 10 on Princess. We love the intimacy of the smaller ships which are able to go to smaller ports. Embarkation and disembarkation were very easy. About half the passengers were from the USA, Briton or Canada. The others were a large group of Jordanians, Russians, Lebanese, Italians and other Europeans. We chose this cruise for the ports which included Morocco, Tunisia, Malta, Malaga, Sardinia, Sorrento, and Messina.

We booked our own air and booked our own precruise hotel. We stayed at the Sheraton Roma, which we loved but was not in the center of the city. However, they provided free shuttle bus service into the heart of historic Rome. The rooms were great, the beds comfy and the food was good and no more expensive than any other Sheraton. There was a wonderful singer; music and dancing outside near the pool on Friday and Saturday night.

The Pacific Princess in a 670 person ship that had originally been part of the Renaissance fleets we sailed on similar ships including the Tahitian Princess, the Renaissance 4 and Azamara Journey. The ship does not appear to have had a major refurbishment since it was a Renaissance ship. The interior public areas were fine but the cabin was "tired" looking. The beds were the usual rock hard Princess beds and the furniture bed spreads and sofas had seen better days. Around the pool, on the balconies and by the outdoor dining and bar areas Princess has purchased very cheap looking and somewhat uncomfortable white plastic furniture. Read more