The ship was about half full with a full compliment of crew; they were also in the middle of a transition from their old Point of Sale system to the new 'Medallion' system. Service was excellent everywhere, with very few, small exceptions.

Dining was just average, as has been my experience with Princess before, so on par. We had a very nice experience at the deck 16 buffet, both service and selection were above my expectation. The main dining room (Capri for us) selections were just average, nothing out of the ordinary. Specialty dining (for a fee) was definitely better. We had a great experience at Sur La Mer (seafood) and the crown grille (steak). Sabatini (Italian) had the best dessert on the cruise. The Salty Dog was very good too, but avoid the sushi bar if you actually love sushi (I should have know better). In our opinion, the prices for speciality restaurants are too high for the value, but on par with other cruise lines.

We had a package which contained gratuities, internet and drinks. Part of that bundled fee was reimbursed because the internet was expected to be intermittent during the Atlantic crossing. But for the first 4 days when it was fully available, it greatly exceeded any such service in any cruise line to date; the new 'bar' has been set! The drinks package included all drinks up to a $12 value, up to a maximum of 15 (including coffees, etc), which we never came close to! Every piece of information we got on the cruise from staff and passengers indicate that if interested, it's way cheaper to select before leaving as opposed to on the ship. Read more