We chose this cruise with Princess because it stopped at the ports that we were interested in and fit the dates that our granddaughter (14) could travel. Our past cruising experience has been one short trip on Royal Caribbean out of Ft. Lauderdale and two trips on the Viking Ocean line (Viking Star.)

We didn't expect Princess to live up to our experiences on Viking. The cost on Princess was much less. However we anticipated much better quality of food in all dining locations. The pizza was great near the pool and much better than anything in Horizon Court. We found the service in Horizon Court to be very spotty. Tables were not cleaned quickly when there were people waiting for tables. Service in the Amalfi Dining Room was excellent. However, our servers had too many tables to serve and were constantly rushed. I felt sorry for them. We arrived at 5:30 but felt rushed out to get the next seating ready.

We spent a lot of time sitting in the Wheelhouse Bar playing cards with our granddaughter. Service there was excellent and prompt. We enjoyed the music as background to game playing both before and after dinner. Read more