Embarkation easy and without incident. Our cabin was midship on Starboard (Right)side and as we were on a back to back trip this is were we wanted to be for 25 days. Sadly the balcony cabin had a terrible smell of decaying flesh, fish, gas and sewage that rapidly got worse. The fumes were noxious, we had to be moved in a hurry. This move was done with NO ARGUMENT from Princess. We moved to a Balcony cabin in bow (front) of the ship on Port (Left) side. It was fine for us seasoned sailors but not to be recommended for anyone who suffers from sea sickness. The seas were fairly rough for most of this voyage and the ship did pitch and roll slightly.

We were initially impressed by the improvement in the Main Dining Room (MDR) but that quickly soured with a head waiter who just was not listening to the fact that I do have a food allergy. He was more interested in a large tables of Chinese guests, fawning over them & their drinks. Service was unacceptably slow and food served cold. Never went back to MDR as this young head waiter just refused to move us as we endured a a very uncomfortable noisy location. Afternoon tea in MDR was also poor. The scones tasted dreadful and served with something that was cream (it was fake watery froth and disgusting).

Meals in the buffet were improved and we really enjoyed the multitude of Indian dishes and also Asian noodle soups. Desserts were mostly not good and did not taste of what they were purported to be. We would like to see a better selection of blue and European cheese available. We did try the International Café, a misleading name as it is hardly International and more an extension of the upper deck buffet. Some of the food served here was stale. Read more