> Getting on and off the ship was a breeze! The crew was wonderful! > Much of the entertainment included 2 new production shows I had not seen before! They were Wonderful! > Shore excursions are a little pricey, but there is comfort in knowing you are with an approved excursion company. Carteghena was the exception. Awful 5 hour day with no BIO break or water until the last 30 minutes! Very little bus time. It was unbelievably hot and humid ... my fault to sail so late through the Canal, but our tour guide didn't seemed concerned for the mostly over 70 group he was leading. NOT wonderful and Never again. > We enjoyed a nice standard balcony cabin with a good steward it all went pretty smoothly, Except when we didn't have air-conditioning. That was not wonderful. It happened twice -- we were miserable, and they tried to fix it as fast as they could, but ..... I can't ask for much more but the ship is getting old. The toilet seat was so beat up it looked like someone took a wire brush to it. The towels were ratty and old; the sheet were always pretty nice. But the Island Princess was looking her age on this trip.

> Now you may be wondering why I keep using the word "wonderful" so often while I am writing this review. It is because I was WONDERING the entire trip WHAT is wrong with the dining room on the Island Princess ? It was a disaster. I have never seen such a confused and chaotic mess in my life, on any ship. Anytime Dining did not work. Tables were left vacant, while passengers were given electronic notifiers that you could finally go into the dining room. Many Traditional Diners were hosted in Bordeaux, but tables were not full and those folks often waited 20 - 30 minutes to get table companions and start dinner. The CLUB CLASS dining area in Bordeaux was usually less that 10% full, and no one was ever seated there except CLUB CLASS. Service was slow and spotty; rarely did we see a 2nd waiter; ordering a cocktail or bottle of wine could add a half hour to dinner time which was always more than 2 hours, which made it complicated to see a show in the Princess Theatre. Food was good, but spotty. Sometimes the meat would be hot the potatoes cold. Sometimes the Asparagus as hard as a rock, and the potatoes mushy. Getting a reservation, even if you called first thing in the morning it's nearly impossible. I was never able to do it but I did make a few people who did. It didn't seem to matter whether we came at 5:15 630 or 7 o'clock I was confused and chaotic mess. We thought about asking to go over to traditional dining, but were told it was impossible; the Plan was set. We met many passengers however, who did exactly that. Different rules for different people I guess. About half of the cruise we spent having dinner at Horizons. Not enough wait staff there either. Tables are left dirty for an hour, sometimes making it difficult to find a table. Often Horizons might be taken up with the Crab Shack specialty dining. Again fewer tables, less wait staff. Again great deal of mismanagement that I'm not a custom to on Princess. YES, we will cruise again with Princess, but won't be able to rave about they quite the way I used to.