I booked this cruise with my family for Christmas and New Years thinking that this was going to be a cruise of a lifetime. I have previously sailed with Royal Caribbean and thought that this cruise would be equivalent. I was sadly mistaken. I was met at the airport and got to the cruise ship easily. The ground transportation staff transporting you to the ship was easily identified and waiting near baggage claim at the Ft. Lauderdale Airport. After waiting for a bus to appear, we climbed on-board and went to the ship terminal without a hitch. Got to the port and the embarkation process was a hot mess. Because my flight got in late in the afternoon, I was in one of the last groups to get on the ship. The embarkation staff is rude and they don't have a handle on managing the crowd or flow of people that are checking in, and they have this little mean man that yells at you to hold on to the handrail on the escalator. There are several choke-points that will keep you waiting to get on board the ship. Their security staff seems to be unable to screen your carry-on bags because they are too busy checking their text messages. The ship while small, is beautiful and was beautifully decorated for the holidays. My cabin was okay, and the balcony seemed a bit tight. The sofa in my suite seemed a bit run-down. One negative was that there wasn’t an outlet by the bed, as there is only one outlet on the opposite side of the room on the desk. One other negative is that the outlet in the bathroom didn’t accept polarized plugs, thus forcing me to shave in the desk area. During the vast majority of my cruise, the live TVs in my cabin didn’t work. We called guest services, who insisted that the TVs worked. After escalation to the director of guest services, they sent a tech up to our room who said, “Yeah, your TV doesn’t work, and we know it. We’re trying to fix it, it’s a programming issue.” For my trouble, Princess generously gave me a $25 credit. (Please note the sarcasm. A better solution would have been to give me free WiFi.) One final thing that was really bothersome about my cruise was that I ordered water packages in advance, and I called Princess prior to my cruise to make sure that I would have my water upon boarding the ship, and they didn't give me the water that I paid for until day 5 of the trip.

Our cabin attendant was good and very attentive. However, the rest of the staff seemed as if they could care less. Their attitudes seemed to vacillate between indifference to outright rude. The food at Sabatini’s was good. The food at the Crown Grill and main restaurant were uninspired and pedestrian. I had to send dishes back on several occasions. It seems like the chefs and cooks learned their culinary skills at Chipotle. Their overall cooking philosophy seems to be: “add more salt.” Most days, it seemed that the food in the Horizon Court was much better than the food in the Main Dining Room, and I found myself going to the Horizon Court after being disappointed in the Main Dining Room. Toward the end of the cruise, I just gave up on the Main Dining Room. Alfredo’s Pizza was decent. One thing that is really odd about the ship is the Crab Shack “Specialty Restaurant” which is simply a roped off area in the Horizon Court that you need reservations for. It is just weird. Also, it should be noted that if you have a drink package on the ship, you can't use it on Princess Cays, which is really obnoxious.

The hot tubs seem to be small and always crowded. The fitness center was crowded in the mornings and you may have to wait for some of the equipment. The entertainment was uninspired and at times was awful. The spa was very nice. Overall, there are better cruise options out there.