I chose this cruise because Royal Caribbean didn't go to the Panama Canal this year. This was our first and last time on a Princess ship. The trip started out just fine and was until the day we reached the Panama Canal. The pass through the new Agua Clara locks was great!! Then the trouble started. We were on an excursion that involved a 1.5 hour bus ride to the Pacific side of Panama so we could go through the old locks leading to the Pacific on a small ferry boat. The bus ride ended up 4.5 hours with a traffic accident caused by our driver. The ferry boat hadn't even iced down the soft drinks and water, even though we were some 3 hours behind schedule. The narrator babbled on for nearly 4 hours, the food was terrible, and the heads were filthy. The other excursions were nearly as bad...the guide ran off from the group several times in Cartagena, and the "jungle cruise" on Eco tours was right next to a highway and under a large bridge under construction in Costa Rica. Princess had obviously not vetted these tour providers!!!

On board the ship we found most, not all, of the employees to be rude and surly most of the time; especially the people at the "Customer Service Desk". The employees are overworked and understaffed, which might lead to the attitudes. The only saving grace was the food was pretty good, however the kitchen for the dining rooms was extremely slow. Dinner regularly took about two hours.