We had a great time and will definitely sail Princess again. Princess is an excellent value, and really takes care of their loyal cruisers. But I have to say that the quality is slipping, particularly in the food department. Now, I understand that to be competitive on price you cannot serve lobster and steak every night. I get that, and I am happy to see fares stay reasonable than have fancy food every night. There are other lines for that.

But what has been disappointing me is the steady decline in the quality and variety of the food. It is just uninspired. The Curtis Stone menu is a disaster. Breakfast in Lido was repeated twice on a four night cruise. About the only thing that changed was the flavor of pancake. Can Princess really not vary the breakfast a little more? Or put out some new fresh fruit or oatmeal toppings? Lunch in Lido was similarly uninspired, with a lot of repetition. The buffet layout also is very poor, requiring people to queue up to get any food. RCL does a much better job of putting food stations out to break up the lines. Princess could learn a lot from RCL in that regard.

Dinner in the main dining room was better, but still nothing to write home about. The entertainment staff was excellent, led by the perky Frenchie. This made the passenger shows, like the marriage game, very entertaining. Unfortunately, the cruise director Neil was a real bore and clearly is just mailing it in with the same tired jokes year after year. The shows were typical cruise ship shows, meaning not very good. But the singers and dancers tried. There was a forgettable mentalist and the highlight was Troy Thirdgill, who is probably the best comedian at sea. Troy is clean but a bit edgy and had a lot of fresh material. The lounge acts were generally bland. Read more