This was our first Princess cruise, and after reading many not so great reviews, we were not sure what to expect.  Overall, this cruise was a great cruise.  MH and I have been on a combined 9 cruises, so we're pretty experienced, and know what to expect from food, service, etc.  I/we have been on Celebrity, RC, Carnival and Norwegian, and now Princess.  RC is the best overall so far, but we had a lot more fun on Carnival cruises.  Princess ranks in the middle, with Norwegian.  Embarkation: We got to the port at 11:45am, and they opened the doors at 12.  We were on the ship by 12:30pm.  It was very painless.  I loved that they had people pointing you in the right direction, and showing to you to your cabin.  A great touch that I have not seen on other cruises.  Debarkation: We went to the casino at 8:40, sat there for about 5 minutes, and they called our color.  When all was said and done, we were off the ship by 9:20am.  The only thing I did not like was we did not hear anyone (from Princess) call our color when it was time to go; we followed the cruisers in the front of the casino and assumed we were called.  A Princess rep. said that the line was long, and that we would be better waiting on the ship.  We did not wait, and we got off the ship pretty fast.  We had no issues getting a cab outside; did not even have to wait in line.Comparing this cruise to other lines, I thought this ship was a very pretty ship.  The set-up is horrible!  We were in the Palm dining room, and we had to get off one floor, then walk down another to get to the dining room.  It was weird.  The casino is really small compared to other cruise ships.  What I did like about the casino is that they had 2 non-smoking nights.  The lunch/breakfast in the Horizon Cafe is HORRIBLE!!!!  There is no rhyme or reason to it, and like everyone else says, condiments are not where they are supposed to me.  I had the coffee a few times, and I thought it was fine.  What I missed from other ships is the drink service around the pools.  All other cruises had drink specials every day, and employees would walk around with those drinks asking if you wanted them.  Princess did not do that.  For the main pool, it was hard to get a seat, so we were always in the back adult only pool, which was always pretty empty and plenty of chairs.  What I think this cruise should have done was to cut a port out and have a sea day at the end of the cruise.The main dining room food was fine.  Not the best we had, but not horrible either.  We ate at Sabatini's one night and Sterling another night.  Sabatini's was good, but the service was soooo slow!  Also, there was too much food; it was good though.  Sterling was delish, and service was much faster there.  Our dining room staff was great.  We had a 2 top table, so we sat by ourselves, next to a few other 2 tops.  We had the 8:15pm seating.  The pizza was awesome, and the grille food was good too (hot dogs and hamburgers.)Entertainment: We missed a lot of it b/c Princess does not really have late showings...everything seemed to happen before our dinner, and during.  We did catch Burt (with an e) Stratton a few nights after dinner.  He is quirky and awesome!  Best entertainment of the cruise.  We caught one of the comedians, and the Princess staff show was awesome.  None of the other cruise lines we've been on have this, and thought it was great!!!!  Unfortunately, we did not get to see MUTS at night, but it looked awesome during the day.Overall, there were some things we missed that other cruise lines did, but this cruise def. exceeded our expectations, especially after reading a lot of bad reviews.  For the most part, service was good.  The ship is pretty clean.  I don't think we will go on Princess again, just b/c we like the little touches that RC does, so that will prob. be our next cruise.  The reason I chose this cruise is b/c we've never been to Tortola, and MH has never been to many of the ports (I have once before,) so it was a great fit.  I am glad we've experienced a Princess cruise.