I have sailed many many times on Princess and would recommend them HIGHLY ...until now! WOW! I will say, the ship is brand new, in great shape and my bed was upgraded from the usual hard mattress-- but that is where the nice comments end. The ship layout, staff and attitude is catering ONLY to an Asian guest-- and I am not even sure they were thrilled. Good for you if you are Asian and choose this ship, but if not, prepare to be underwhelmed if you loved Princess cruising. You would think that with a new ship they would have their A team as the staff -- um, NO...everyone from the Cruise staff to the room stewards were less than enthusiastic and made no effort to make you feel like a welcomed guest. The bars and restaurants all close early and the usually wonderful bar staff is no where to be found in common areas. My love of that staff ( and the tips to prove it) are usually a HUGE part of my bill, NOT the case this time. If you could find someone, again, there was little interest in service. If you like the cheesy, but fun Skywalkers lounge -- well, you will instead be treated to a DJ under lots of light in the VERY chlorinated smelly indoor pool area - such a lousy replacement. There is lots of space used for private Kareoke rooms, that cost $12 extra per hour /per person and were not used at all on this cruise. They do offer you one free drink, which is nice a useless if you have the drink package. It also had no staff around ( because of the lack of guests I am sure) so it was hard to even find out those details. The food was another MAJOR let down on this trip. We host dinners in the Crown Grill and it was horrible. Normally the steaks, presentation and service are beyond worth the extra money - um, NOT THIS TIME. It was laughable how bad it all was and so embarrassing for those of us who raved about it to first time cruisers. again -- I used to love this and now, just still so frustrated by the lack of effort by anyone on this ship. I also had a dinner at the new Harmony / Cantonese restaurant and that couldn't have been more bland and again -- so not worth the extra money. the food at the cafes were okay, but took a lot longer than usual and again -- the staff just seemed ho hum. The meals in the dining rooms were also -just okay, not really worth getting dressed for if you were expecting nice people or service. If you like to exercise, the gym is nice, but if you want to walk, good luck, there is not a level where you can walk around the ship. it is all reconfigured and the "walking path" is about 25 feet long....so you can get lots of laps in if you are super lazy.

We had several first time cruisers with us and it just wasn't a great experience. As I said before, I always looked forward to my Princess Cruises, but I will be looking at other lines. Which is sad.