This was our 10th cruise and we took this one on Princess from mom's recommendation. She is a veteran of 39 cruises and this was her 10th on Princess. The ship was in good condition and clean. The pool had rusted edges hidden on the underside of the top rail. Mattresses are not very good, and carpet is old. I can say that the ship is going into drydock in April for a refit and I assume some of these problems will be corrected. Princess made one INEXCUSABLE decision on this cruise. For some reason, they have decided to no longer sail past Kiluea Volcano when departing Hilo. This is one of the main reasons we decided to cruise for our first visit to Hawaii - to see the volcano in the evening and Princess decided to save a few miles and delete that MAJOR feature from the cruise. Not only is it advertised in the fall brochure that on day 6 there will be "Kiluea Volcano scenic cruising", it is in their spring brochure too, and the NO LONGER CRUISE BY THE VOLCANO. Their brochure is DECEPTIVE. We even booked rooms on the starboard side of the ship just for this purpose. Their route plan on the stateroom TV indicated when we left Los Angeles that we would not sail by the volcano. We don NOT appreciate deceptive advertising. Donatello dining room (fixed seating) food and service was good (not great food - just good) and Canaletto dining room for breakfast and lunch was worse service (reaching across one guest to serve another, having to ask for iced tea and water refills, etc.) and had a fairly limited menu for breakfast. Horizon Court Buffet was the WORST buffet food we have encountered on a cruise. Pancakes so dry you can use them for drums, eggs benedict that had been in storage WAY too long and poor selection for lunch. Most ships have gone to specialty stations with food cooked to order, very fresh. On a positive note the pizza by the pool was the BEST pizza we have encountered on a cruise!! There were no announcements of major events happening on board during the day. Embarkation was VERY slow with one waiting room just leading to another. Took almost 2 hours arriving at 12:30. Balcony room was smaller than most with a tiny shower. We asked for a foam rubber pad for the bed, as it was quite hard. They did bring us a 1" foam pad which helped. Twice i was promised return calls (one from purser's desk and one from cruise staff) and never received the calls or messages. Champagne tower on the last night was quite nice and interesting. Theaters are too small and you often had to arrive 30 min prior to showtime to get a seat. First show isn't until 8:30 - a long delay between dinner and the show. Entertainment was Superb!