This was only our second cruise, the first was on Royal Caribbean. In all fairness to Princess, it appears we simply prefer RCCL's way of conducting business better.

Embarkation: Once the process opened and was running, we were processed right onto the ship very quickly. The longest wait was self-imposed; we arrived VERY early. Otherwise, we waited about 5 minutes to get our identification pictures taken. The process seemed disorganized at first, but actually ran quite smoothly.

Buffet Dining: Twice the buffets served king crab legs and lobster claws. They had several popular seafood dishes. I thoroughly enjoyed the food served at the buffets, but overall they served a limited variety. My wife is a choosy eater and was forced several days to eat a burger from the grill rather than anything the buffets offered. Almost everything had mushrooms or seafood in it. They were also laid out poorly. Related foods like breads and butter, salad and dressing were not located near each other. Condiments were spread over several different areas and took quite a bit of time to find. Lines formed randomly and long-wait items like toast or omelets were placed mid-line causing traffic jams. Read more