As we have always found with Princess, embarkation and disembarkation is done wonderfully. They have the process down to a science and lots of staff assisting to make sure you get where you need to go. the longest wait was for customs upon disembarkation. If you do back to back cruises from LA, be aware you must get off the ship with your passport and customs declaration; go through customs and security and then re-enter the ship. The process takes about an hour. You do not need to pack up your belonging though. We enjoyed the back to back cruises- not only for the time on the ship and seeing the ports twice, but because we had about 2 hours where the only passengers that were on the ship were those doing back to back cruises. Great time to take pictures!

We had a precruise stay at the LAX Marriott, booked with Princess, that ordinarily I'd highly recommend- but not this time. See the review of the hotel for further info.

We had a balcony cabin on the Caribe deck these two voyages- ordinarily we get one on the Aloha deck. For the few extra dollars the balcony on the Caribe deck is much bigger and well worth it in my opinion, if you enjoy being on the balcony. We had the same cabin for both voyages. Our wonderful cabin steward Renato was a very friendly and helpful fellow. He always made our cabin comfortable and it was immaculate. We appreciated his special attention to details such as regularly cleaning off our balcony furniture. On every Princess cruise we've been on their beds are awfully hard even with the egg crate on top. Read more