We are a couple 48 and 56 from North Carolina. This was our second Princess cruise, my 9th overall and hubby's 5th. We drove to the port from NC, spent the night Sat in Woodbridge, NJ at a Fairfield Inn, very nice. This left us a 40 min drive to terminal Sun am. We arrived about 11, dropped bags, parked car and checked in. Check in was quite fast but we had to sit over an hour in the somewhat dank, uncomfortable boarding area with hundreds of our closest friends. Once on board about 1220 we went straight to cabin and then on to Coral dining room for a sit down lunch. This was nice and not many there, still a kept secret. No one on ship or patter had this option listed. I had read it here on a board. We watched NFL on the MUTS and found this very nice. This is the largest ship we have sailed on. We never felt crowded, had no time negotiating the boat with our trusty map card and found the staff friendly and helpful. We went to the top of the bridge (far fwd lido deck) for sail away and this was an awesome view of Statue of Liberty and Verazanno bridge.. CABIN- We had a balcony cabin on deck 14. We found it adequate, the bed comfortable, plenty of drawers and storage. Our steward, Malcolm, did a great job and met all our requests. The balcony was small but a nice addition and we used it all but one windy day. DINING-We had traditional late dining in Island. We found our head waitress, Zelda, a little over zealous and pushy and our assistant, Lawrence just adequate. Food was ok except for last night when we had to send prime rib back due to toughness. We ate one night in Sabatini's and found this to be well worth the money, great food and service. We did German night in Cafe Caribe and that was good. We ate various bfasts and lunch in horizon and it was good. The pizza was fantastic at the poolside pizzeria. We did tea one aft, it was fine. We also had sit down bfast and lunch in Coral and service and food were good. Room service had its ups and downs with wait time esp on phone trying to place order but everything arrived as requested. PORTS- Newport, we tendered in and did the cliff walk and breakers tour, very good guide and informative tour. After we went to Intl tennis hall of fame on our own and enjoyed it as well as a nice stroll to tender port. Boston- stayed on ship until our 230 tour to Lexington, Concord and Harvard. Once again we had a good, knowledgeable guide and except for the rain at north bridge a good tour. Bar Harbor- due to rough seas this port was cancelled. We had looked forward to Acadia but things happen. ST John- we had a 5 hr tour booked but cancelled and did our own thing. We walked to historic area, city market etc..then rode a city bus to reversing rapids. From there we walked back to ship and hit a pub on the way. Info center provided a good map and bus schedule. Halifax- We started on a hot bus for a tour of Citadel, gardens etc.. guide was not interesting, did not have enough time at citadel and for some reason he had us board bus 5 min before the noon cannon firing. He whisked us thru gardens where we left tour and went off on our own. We had no problem finding spots we wanted to see, a great pub(Triangle Irish) and making our way back to ship after a stop at the crystal place. (They hand blow glass and have many lovely pieces.) Entertainment- We only saw one show in Princess theater, not crowded. We saw a number of shows in Explorers lounge and enjoyed them all incl comedian-Tony Daro, Steve Sabbintino and an illusionist. Also heard music here and a couple of games. We played a number of trivia games and enjoyed that very much. We went to most of the bars incl Skywalker but found few others there for dancing etc...after about 10. Our ship was struck with the noro virus and by Wed night we were in full alert. No serving yourself at buffets, no handling salt/pepper, bread etc at dinner, doors open on restrooms, continuos spraying of hand sanitizer, closing of library, game room, exercise area and canceling of some activities. It did not spoil our time. We had planned to go to a production show Fri but it was cancelled due to illness of crew. We were going to try mini golf but it was closed from Wed on. We did enjoy the heated adults pool on the rear of deck 14, MUTS and other fun things. Overall this was a good cruise to a new region for us. We like Princess and would sail again on this line. We found the average passenger age to be 50-70, only 30 under 18 on board. The staff was friendly, attentive and did a great job esp when faced with a cancelled port and a ship wide illness.