This was our first cruise with Princess and we were quite pleased.  Previous cruises have been with Celebrity.  I had read these CC boards for months ahead of time, so I was well prepared for many things like asking for foam egg crates for the beds, and purchasing a coffee card!  This was my 50th birthday and we had 19 people in our group to help me celebrate.

Let me start with pre-cruise plans.  Not all of my family members understood the importance of going through the same travel agent, so we did not have enough people to get the typical perks of a "group."  By the time the last of my family made their reservations, the early traditional dining was totally booked and they could not join us.  So on the first day we met with the Maitre 'D and he arranged for all 19 of us to be at 2 side by side tables at the early seating...but we would be in the anytime dining room.  At first, some of our group were very disappointed, thinking we would not have the experience we have come to love with traditional dining, but that was not the case.  We had the same table and the same waiter and assistant waiter every night, and I can not speak highly enough of them.  The waiter was Hendrick, and he was amazing!  The assistant was Ayla, who was fairly new in the job, but performed it like someone who had been at it for years!  We really loved them both.  Also, on formal night we really enjoy dressing up, and my DH has his own tux.  We were pleasantly surprised to discover they had the same dress code in the any time dining room.  We love the experience of being all dressed up, in a room with everyone else all dressed up!

Food:  Our food was good...not outstanding.  (A few things were outstanding!  Like the goat cheese soufflE, the pesto, the chocolate ice cream -homemade! and a dessert soufflE that I don't remember the name of but it was amazing! )  We had breakfast in the Horizon court, and there were plenty of choices.  Our favorite spot for a snack was the International Cafe, where they had wonderful little pastries, sandwiches, salads and hot cookies every afternoon at 3:00 pm!  The chicken salad was my favorite! Read more