Wow what a disappointment! I read the reviews before booking and dismissed the negative ones thinking they were exaggerating. They weren’t. This was the worst cruise of the five I’ve taken. Biggest disappointment was the customer service and appearance of the ship in general. I finally figured out why the staff doesn’t seem to care: there’s a mandatory daily gratuity charged per person so they have no incentive to treat you like “royalty”. $13.50 per person per day - I don’t remember being told about this. So staff is being tipped regardless of service and it shows. This cruise was severely understaffed. The wait at the bar for a simple Diet Coke was maddening. Not one time at the pool did a waiter come around asking for drink orders. Always always had to go get it myself at the bar. Didn’t even have soda in the buffet, had to leave to go to the bar to fill my cup. I bought the soda pass which meant I had to carry around that big cup all the time to have it refilled. I was “upgraded” without being asked to an oceanview. The view was of a lifeboat. It’s laughable. I would rather have kept my interior stateroom. Buffet was unremarkable at best - never once thought wow this is delicious. It was just food. Tables were always dirty - again understaffed and couldn’t keep up with all the people eating there. Tried the dining room once and again not impressed. I really expected this cruise to be like the ones in the past where I just felt pampered and everyone was nice and friendly and happy. Not this crew. I felt like I was imposing more often than not. Our safe in the room quit working after a few days. We just laughed and thought well of course it doesn’t work. They claim this ship was refurbished. What the hell did it look like BEFORE?? It’s so dated that I felt like I’d been had. Harry Potter trivia was an event we attended - it was like a twelve year old’s mom threw together some questions and had us all sit around guessing the answers on paper and boom it was over. Twenty questions and that’s it. Pencil and paper. I mean come ON Princess. It was just pitiful. I heard other people talking and the same thing was being said. Not as good as other cruise lines. I will never again sail with Princess and will go back to Royal Caribbean where they know how to treat their customers and keep the ship clean and the food amazing. Princess is substandard and even smelled of raw sewage towards the end of the cruise. I was glad when it was over actually which is a sad testimony given the money spent.