This was my 50th cruise on Princess. My travel companion has over 70 with Princess. We had been on a few weeks earlier and my opinion is that there was good, there was bad, and fortunately no ugly.

The good news is that we thoroughly enjoyed the Matre D' Neville Saldanha. I would rate him right up there in the category of Generroso Mazzone. You always hear about James Brown and Jay Leno being the hardest working men in show business. Clearly Neville is the hardest working MDH I have ever met. He was very prominent at fixed seating...standing right there at the entrance with the Head Waiter, Carlos. He is ubiquitous in the rest of the dining venues as well, going from table to table to chat with the passengers. He gave the best Grapevine talk ever. He is a real student of his business, and not just intelligent in the ways of Princess, but in the full realm of the food and hospitality business.

The bad new is that over the last few years, Princess has started eliminating a lot of amenities... from the individual shampoos and conditioners to the communal shower gel and shampoo/conditioner combination in the showers. Gone are the little frosted glasses that one could take away from wine tasting.... these are just a few of the cost savings they have inflicted on the passengers. Read more