We were met at the L.A. airport by Princess and taken to the ship. They took our luggage and we didn't see it until we entered our beautiful mini suite after checking in. We were taken by bus to the port where everything was well organized for boarding. We dropped off some items in our cabin and went to have a bite in the Horizon Court. Overall the food was very good with the exception of some items that needed to be heated up. We are the kind of people who when we order hot soup, we want it hot. The staff on the ship were most accomodating also with the exception of a head waiter who seemed to make faces and grumble when we asked for a table for two each day. Sometimes you just need to be together without the general conversation of strangers. We certainly are not snobbish and did meet some wonderful people through Cruise Critic. We sat with them for the three formal nights and sat with one particular couple for many of the other nights. We did have dinner at Sabatini's one night and one night at the Bayou cafe. I would say after looking back on these extra charge restaurants, that the main dining room had the best food in comparison. We chose the anytime dining option and were most pleased with that arrangement. The ship is most accomodating with reservations and without reservations for dinner. We arranged for several private tours with some couples from Cruise Critic and they all turned out to be terrific. Rosie's in Acapulco is the best. (www.acapulcorosiestours.com) Rosie met us at the pier and we were two groups in two airconditioned vans. She provided us with cold drinks and water and ice cold towels (when needed) to keep cool. We took a tour of several interesting places with her and it also included the Cliff Divers. Her tour was very reasonable and we highly recommend her. We took a tour in Costa Rica with Odessey Tours (Alvaro) He was right there to meet us and highly knowledgeable about his wonderful country. Took a tour of Manuel Antonio Park. In Panama we hired Anne of the Embera Village. This tour is not to be missed although getting there was a bit difficult since we sat on a dug out canoe for one and half hours each way plus a van to get to the landing. It was worth it when we met the wonderful amazing people of this village who are so gentle, sweet and giving of themselves. We didn't take a tour in Cabo or Huatulco. Aruba was a walk-around but if you like snorkelling, it's the place to enjoy that. (I believe Huatulco and Cabo are also great places for that too.)

The sailing through the Panama Canal was an experience. We started early in the a.m.and it took an entire day to get through from the Pacific side to the Atlantic side. There were some comments from a man over the intercom at various points of the day.

We had a wonderful time and would definitely take the trip again. We arrived back in Fort Lauderdale at the end of our cruise and since we live in West Palm Beach, it was easy getting home from there. (Had a card service pick us up) Princess really outdid themselves with this one.!