Embarkation went very smoothly. For the first time, we were assigned a time to come by floor. Our time was 2:30 pm. Rather late, but it worked for us and made embarkation very quick. Princess provides a nice experience with a few exceptions. This was our first time on the class of ship that includes the Royal. Larger and newer than the Crown or Emerald. We expected more from entertainment with the larger ship. We like the big song and dance production shows. Only saw one. The other one, The Secret Silk, was very depressing and avant garde. Come on folks--we want light, fun entertainment on a Caribbean cruise. We are readers so we arrived on the ship at 2:30 pm, muster was at 3:15 pm, and the library was right next to our station so I stopped there to see it. There were about 5 fiction books, a few old dog-earred travel guides and a whole lot of games (50% of the shelves). I will post pictures. I don't think all the books were checked out by then but if they were then the ship has a different problem since we were instructed not to board until 2:30 pm. The pillows in our stateroom flattened down to pancakes. Awful. No Coke Zero. About 30% of the auto soap dispensers in the public bathrooms did not work. That's a problem when hygiene is so important. The bathrobes provided in the stateroom would not even meet over my misses size frame. My husband couldn't even get an arm in them. Our dining room food was excellent. Buffet breakfast and salad choices were great. Buffet entrees were so-so. The good news--the weather was excellent, we always enjoy the service on board. We used the medical facilities for the first time (my husband needed an antibiotic) and found they were excellent. Don't bother with certain shore excursions. Easy Puerto Plata (in Dominican Republic) and the tour of the "rain forest" in San Juan were really a waste of time. Really nothing to see in either place. We had been to San Juan before and I think the city tour is worthwhile, but the rain forest was a huge disappointment. One pretty outlook point, a few plants pointed out from the bus, a very small waterfall and a small rocky river area. Totally underwhelming. As for Puerto Plata, there just isn't much to see there--should have stuck to the beach or pool. Would I recommend it? Yes, because it's a nice winter escape and being on the ship is overall a very pleasant experience. Well, as an end note, for some reason I am unable to add my photos of the bare library shelves and the picture from the ship site showing a library teeming with books of all sorts on all shelves (not half a library full of unused games). I'll send them directly to Princess.