We chose this cruise as a way to celebrate the holidays with our daughter and adult grandchildren. We had a wonderful experience. The ship was beautifully decorated with trees, garland, and ginger bread houses. Each mailbox at the entrance to the cabins had a small ornament placed on it. We loved the covered pool area. We had never been on a ship with a conservatory before. The promenade deck was also lovely although we didn't get to spend much time there as the seas were rough and it was frequently closed.

We left our home in North Carolina early on the day of the cruise. I don't recommend this as I think it increases the chance you could miss the cruise. However, we had to do this as our grandchildren had their college final exams the prior day. Our plane was on time. We took the cruise line shuttle from LAX to the pier. This worked well. We did not have to wait long until we were on our way. Check-in was quick and easy. We were soon on our way to our cabins. My husband and I were on Emerald deck in an accessible IA cabin. I had polio as a child and use a wheelchair. This was the BEST cabin I have ever stay in. Especially important, the bath had sufficient turn around space. The room area itself was surprising. We had two TV's, a chair, a sofa and a sleeping area as well as a wet bar and refrigerator. There was a tight turn to enter the room from the hallway. There was a marble foyer which led directly to the closets and desk. There was also a desk chair which we never used. Our cabin was well located for access being near the aft elevators. This is important to me as it makes getting around the ship easier. Our steward typically placed his carts so that I didn't have to pass them to reach the elevators. Our cabin had good temperature controls and we were able to keep the room comfortable. This ship has the "new" Princess beds which we find comfortable. However, the big fluffy pillows are not our cup of tea. We are both side sleepers and the pillows do not support our heads well. The pillows allow one's head to bend down toward the mattress and then the pillows fall inward toward one's head. Princess should provide a firm pillow on request. Also, the duvet is too heavy. Amazingly that was our only disappointment on the entire cruise. I did learn one important lesson about choosing a cabin. One should never accept a room under the pool. Although this did not affect us directly, we had a very rough crossing and one of the pools developed a crack allowing the water to flood the cabins beneath it. The ship's welder(s) were able to fix this.

We chose "Anytime" dining and were quite pleased. We are most breakfast and lunches at the Horizon Court. For dinner, we arrived at the Capri dining room between 5:30 and 6 PM most evenings. We requested a table for five with no steps which was granted each evening. One chair was removed from the table so I was able to use my wheelchair easily. Occasionally, the path to our table was obstructed by another wheelchair or scooter but one of the waiters quickly moved it to make my access easy. We found the food tasty with lots of different choices. Most of the time we had the same waiter, named Petro from the Ukraine. He was personable and gave us good recommendations on what to choose. We especially loved the chocolate journey desserts. Read more