I want to start by stating that I am not what I would call a frequent cruiser, I have sailed on Princess once before this trip, have sailed with NCL in the past, and have a little over 50 total days at sea with Holland America. But having sailed with Princess to the Panama Canal a few years ago, my family of for was looking forward to a wonderful holiday in the southern Caribbean. We booked a 14 day cruise departing out of Fort Lauderdale on December 21, 2009. Everything seemed quite normal until we got to the Lido deck and wondered where the rest of it was. This was a ship that was at full capacity (2600 passengers) and the Lido deck was smaller than any that I have seen previously. The salad bar was more like a salad table with few options and was placed in the middle of the rest of the food. This forced you to "compete" with everyone else just to get a salad to go. The size of the Lido was a continual source of frustration that built throughout the cruise as people became more and more aggressive since it was impossible to not bump into people if you wanted anything to eat. We hoped the anytime dining would be better only to find that anytime does not mean anytime. The first night we went, we were handed a beeper and told the wait was 40 minutes. After a few nights we figured out the system and were able to manage the dining experience more efficiently. The only problem was that the food quality was embarrassing. There were some nights that the food had no flavor, others when I couldn't get a knife through my meat, and still others where we wondered if this was all some sort of cost cutting maneuver since we could come up with no other explanation for why the food tasted so bad. By day 5, the bar staff had accused my 21-year old son of buying a drink for a minor(which they later recanted), threatened him with disembarkation, and then lied to me when I asked them why they were harassing my son. This was only surpassed by the asking of my 17-year old son who took a glass of water into the teen club if he was "drinking vodka in his glass". I fully support the need to not have underage drinking on the cruise ship and applaud any cruise line for doing what they can to curtail the activity. But there has to be some sort of common sense and respect in how they go about it. They were flat out rude, disrespectful, and when confronted, they back tracked and lied about what they did. Passenger services was not strong on the service part. The last thing that we noticed about the ship was the morale and attitude of the employees. Many of them seemed angry. I am used to the friendly manner of the service personnel and the whatever I can do for mentality. While we did encounter some of those people, many appeared unhappy and not real thrilled to accommodate you. It got to the point by day 6, that we just served ourselves when we could. On the lighter side, the Movie Under the Stars is wonderful and provided our family some opportunities to spend time together. The cabin was well maintained (although we could never get ice). The port stops were typical. I would recommend avoiding any itinerary that includes La Romana. The ship's design was frustrating but I am willing to admit that maybe that is just me since others seemed to be fine with it. All in all, our Holiday cruise was not what we had hoped for, and the sad thing about it was that the issues that mad it less than desirable like treating people nicely, are free. I can honestly say that those 14 days that we spent with Princess will be our last.