Embarkation went very smooth on the Hurricane Frances cruise. Unfortunately this was one of the better parts of this particular trip. We travelled as a family of 4, however with 3 other families totaling 14 (8 Adults and 6 kids) the kids ranged in age from 4-12. I will first mention that we have sailed on approximately 7 cruises in the past. We chose Princess this time as we had heard alot about there improvement on the kids program. I don't know what the program was like prior to improvement however it is seriously lacking now. It seemed as though the counselors in this program wanted absolutely nothing to do with the kids. The activities were extremely limited to 1 or 2 board games and an occasional movie. There was absolutely no attention given to the children. They were not allowed to have any food, or drinks while at camp. Except for warm water provided by the staff. We actually had to meet them outside camp just to feed them. After 3 days of seeing no improvement we decided to keep them with us.
The breakfast served in the dining rooms was embarrassing as was the service by most of the dining crew. Out of 14 meals they managed to get 2-3 correct. After waiting for 1 1/2 hours for breakfast we decided to go to the buffet. The AM dining staff just did not seem to understand any english at all. When we found Ronald at the Palm dining Room in the evening we made reservations to sit at his table for the remainder of the trip as he was excellent. Unfortunately he was not available for breakfast service. The best food was actually at the outside grill for pizza and burgers.
We had a veranda mini suite which was adequate, however it really should have some sort of curtain or wall dividing it as there is no privacy from your children. Unfortunately where as our cabin was comfortable, good friends of ours had a mini suite with no A/C the entire cruise.