If you like sea days, take this cruise.

My wife and I are experienced cruisers, having taken over 15 cruises to various locations and I would rate this cruise in my top 4. What I liked about this cruise was the excellent service that we received at the line level (housekeeping, wait staff, bartenders). We have experienced good staff on cruises before, staff that made our beds and waited on our dining tables, but this staff seemed like they actually cared if you were happy on your cruise.  We met 2 Princess employees that previously worked for Carnival, and they both stated that they were happier and more relaxed working for Princess.

The only negative were the shows at night. For some reason Princess has only 3 production shows with the Princess Singers and Dancers on a 14 night cruise, with the rest of the nights having entertainment fillers with a magician, comedians and individual singers with some being picked up in Hawaii. We know now that if you want good entertainment, go with NCL.

My wife and I are both "cruise foodies" and are able to rate the food against 5 other cruise lines. I would say that only Celebrity and Oceania has better food in general. The Princess buffet has stations for better access and during dinner there is always a carving station, and the wait staff are serving drinks to each table day and night.  The MDR was good and had some gourmet dishes like escargot, pheasant, scallops, and baked Alaska with different vegetarian entrees nightly. One of the best lunches that we had was at Alfredo's Pizzeria, which might have the best pizza at sea. From 3:30 to 4:30 they have a afternoon tea with finger sandwiches, scones, cookies and desserts, which is just a strategy to meet people if you are that type. They usually place you in one large group, with the tables close together. 

Grand Princess has something unusual that we have not seen on other cruise lines; 2 for 1 drinks, that can be found at rotating bars on deck 5 and 7 from 3:00 to 5:00 on sea days. Every sea day we would meet with our friends at the Wheelhouse Bar at 3:00 and take advantage of this special with mixed drinks at $8.00 and beers at $6.00, it's a good deal getting 2 for the price of one.

Overall, this was a very relaxing and laid back cruise, getting away from morning meetings, iPads, computers and micro managing, with an excellent Princess crew to support you and supply all of your needs.