I went on this cruise with my husband of 35 years. This was our 26th cruise. Fifth with Princess. We usually cruise Celebrity or RCCL, but tried Princess a few years back and for the money we think Princess is a good value for the money. We flew into LA on Virgin America from Seattle, which we booked through Expedia. Very nice airline. We will fly them again in the future. Nice plane with modern features. Not happy that airlines are now charging for the first bag. We bought transfers from Princess to the port. It all went very smoothly. The gal from Princess was right there by the baggage claim and we just walked over to her and she had us put our luggage on the pile to go on the bus. The shuttle came in less than 15 minutes and they drove us to the Sheraton to hang out for a bit. We got into LAX at 9:30 am so it was too early to go to the ship. We had sweet rolls and coffee and they had us get all checked in , so when we got to the port we just had to go through security with our luggage, they gave us our ship cards. It was very fast. I was surprised that the cabin was all ready for us. It was around noon.

THE STAFF...Cabin steward, the waiters, cruise staff were all excellent. We didn't have one problem with anyone we encountered. Everyone did their jobs efficiently with a smile. I felt very taken care of.

THE FOOD...The food was very hit and miss. Some things were very good, while others were bad. I was tempted to call this review the "Asparagus Cruise". It was way over used at dinner. They must have gotten a good deal on a bunch of it or the person coming up with the menus likes it a lot. And it was very bad asparagus. Bitter. My absolute favorite dinner was one of the first nights. It was called "Grilled Mignons of Beef Tenderloin with Madeira Truffle Demi-Glace". It was the most tender beef I had on the cruise. I ordered beef most nights at dinner. The Prime Rib was good, The New York was pretty tough. I can't remember what it was called but I had something like pot roast that came dried up with thick tasteless gravy on it. The worst dinner was the fried chicken dinner. A few hard as a rock little dried up peaces of chicken and a little bit of fries that were cold. Served in a bowl. Not what I pictured a Fried chicken dinner would be in the dining room for dinner. The rolls were good. The desserts were fine. The Mango soufflE with Banana ice cream on the side was my favorite. The best thing was the "Volcano" . Basically a banana split. Yum. I had it one night. My husband ordered fish every night. Along with one other entree. Surf and Turf. Some of the fish was good while others were not. I wish I could remember which? Sorry. I know the worst fish was the first night. He had an appetizer that had duck one of the first nights that we said was the best duck he ever ate. Then later in the week he ordered "Duck Ala Orange" and he said it was very dry, and not good. We sat at a table with three other couples, late seating, traditional dining and I have to say we had very good company every night. The buffet food was pretty good. We had the Pub lunch both days it was offered and enjoyed both lunches. The second lunch was served in Club Fusion which was very weird. Breakfast was good. Good Eggs Benedict when it was offered. Not every day. They made delicious donuts. My hubby would bring me a cup of coffee every morning with a donut and fruit. Hubby said the pizza was good. They make the dough fresh and toss it right there. I enjoyed a few swirl cones during the week. Read more