Seeing the Panama Canal was on my bucket list. I was looking for a round trip cruise to/from Ft. Lauderdale and Princess was recommended by a friends niece. (I usually cruise Celebrity). Right from the start I would say the one word to describe this is 'disorganized'. I booked a full suite and asked for the best they had repeatedly saying I wanted to be pampered. The rep at Princess didn't know the suite sizes...they provide a range of sizes but nothing specific. After a bunch of I dont knows, I booked D423 on the Dolphin Deck. Included in the suite was 1 meal at a specialty restaurant that had to be taken the first night on board or lost, fresh flowers that I never saw, four chairs and two lounges on the veranda (there were two chairs and two lounges), some small complimentary bottles of booze (I drink only tequila of which they had none), and a special restaurant to eat at. I was assigned a 5:45 dinner time which turned out to be 5:15. This took two days to change and only when I asked about a special restaurant for suite guests was I told where it was and which line to get in. Then I was told I could come whenever I wanted. But I digress....back to getting on board. There wasn't really any special line for suite people that I remember nor was there any special open boarding time. I was given a time based on the deck the room was on and was in line with special needs folks. The check in was painless and the people very nice. My room was ready when I got on board and was comfortable. The steward was attentive and brought my bag to my room. All during the cruise, he took good care of making sure I had ice and water (that he could only bring in the evening). I was on the all you can drink plan so I found this interesting. As mentioned earlier, I drink tequila but none was available for the room. Room pics are included below. A friend said it looked like motel furniture from a 2-3 star motel. You can make up your own mind. I will say the veranda chairs and lounges were about the width of small coach class airline seats and were peeling.

Other than a line at Customer Service and the area in the restaurant designated for club class, I saw no difference in how suite people were treated...This could be a good thing or not especially when paying the higher rate and expecting a little more.

I will also say if you are on the all you can drink plan, you will never see anyone offering you a drink. This was especially true in the casino. Sat there for 5 hours one night and never saw a drink person or anyone else from the casino walking around. Mentioned this to the casino manager who said I should have asked someone....ask who, I replied....duh. It didn't get better. Some of the bartenders in Explorers Lounge great on remembering what I drank as were the waiters in the restaurant. The casino was small, there was smoking allowed. A suggestion would be if someone has been gambling and has a certain amount of points, they shouldn't be charged $20 to get into a slot tournament. Personally, I thought this was tacky. . Read more