The Good, the Bad and the Ugly

• Let’s start with Superb:
• The breads, pastries and desserts; the best I’ve ever had. I have never had a great sweet-tooth but I am eating so many of the desserts I might actually gain some weight. (In my case that is a good thing).
• The best desserts are actually in the buffet at lunch time (on sea days). They have a whole table of beautifully presented desserts to choose from.
• John Maxtone Graham’s lectures. He is truly the best speaker I think I’ve ever heard. We have really enjoyed getting to know them better.
• The library. I have been getting a new book almost every other day - there are 4000 to choose from and it is a beautiful room with comfortable furniture too.
• Brunch. It is beautifully presented and has a great choice of breakfast and lunch foods and, of course, the desserts.

Good: Most everything.

• The ship is very clean and our steward keeps our room in good shape.
• Morning room service arrives in 5 to 10 minutes each day.
• Food is good with a couple meals even better.
• Entertainment. We haven’t seen many of the evening shows, but the reports from others are that they are quite good. The daytime activities are good and we have attended a number of them ranging from trivia to lectures.
• Ship staff. Since this is such a small ship, the crew and staff have to perform many extra duties; the dancers also act for the cruise director hosting things like trivia and meetings.
• Passengers - almost all are very friendly and well-traveled. Many of them have done long cruises like this before. People are willing to share ideas and experiences. This is not a ‘beautiful people’ cruise and other than formal evenings dress is extremely casual (perhaps too casual as in the very large ladies in the tiny bikinis at the pool each day - oh, perhaps that should be below in the section below).

The Bad:

• The bed. Even though Princess is supposed to have replaced all the bedding on all the ships the mattress is bad. We have a 2 inch foam topper and it now feels like foam on concrete. The linens are nice.
• $60 for a haircut. I went up to the salon for a haircut expecting $30 which was what I paid for my last onboard haircut (different cruise line). I about fell over when she said it was $60. Since I have really short hair right now I thought that it was ridiculous but since I had already been cut I was stuck (lesson: ask first). I’ll just get shaggy from now to the end, or trim with nail scissors.
• Our room steward’s attitude. He keeps the room nice and clean, but he is the surliest person we have ever met on any ship. He acts as if he hates his job.
• The chairs in the Cabaret Lounge. They are really back-killers and because of their barrel shape you can’t curl up at all to get comfortable. It isn’t just my complaint - everyone agrees.
• The laundry. It’s hard to complain when we have free laundry service (elite benefit) but they are ruining much of what we have sent. T-shirts come back stretched several sizes larger and the elastic is completely stretched out on all my undies.