Fantastic itinerary on a new ship.
Ship: a new ship with some initial glitches. the Sun is so beautiful, that it was easy to look past the not ready elements. I was disappointed by the amount of space given over to up-charge elements; including specialty dining and sanctuary.
Itinerary: very busy with long/full port days. not much time to enjoy the ship.
The ports are great, but the "steps" added up over the course of the 20 long days (plus a day in Rome to start) -- even with a mix of guided excursions. You might plan on benching yourself a couple days to enjoy the ship.
Embarkation
5 out of 5
Ship experiences
Food and Dining
5 out of 5
MDR (Horizon) food quality and service were great. Even without reservations, you could get in with minimal wait, except maybe on lobster night ;-)
Buffet (The Eatery) was good. A lot of variety across zones, but each tended to serve almost the same thing everyday. As you might expect with buffet, the food was not always hot (or even warm)
International Cafe very good.
Americana (deck 8 aft) was a pleasant surprise. Tasty offerings without the hubbub of the buffet crowd.
Grill and Pizza same delicious menu as other Princess. Hint: the free soft serve is on Deck 9, next to pizza.
Onboard Activities
4 out of 5
Not all activities were available. But the itinerary was so busy with ports, we had no time for activities anyway.
Entertainment
4 out of 5
Only 1 stage show during our 20 days. They were just coming online.
Could not attend the cirque show; it only happened once and tickets were a fiasco.
Service and Staff
5 out of 5
The team on board was fantastic in all phases. Being a new ship, I did miss seeing the maintenance team on perpetual painting duty.
Ship Quality
5 out of 5
Great, but a little different. you expect the buffet to be on a "Lido" deck, same as pool. But the buffet is on deck 9, while the pool is on deck 17.
Cabin / Stateroom
5 out of 5
We got an upgrade from Cove Balcony to a Deluxe Balcony on deck 16. It was wonderful and the location was great. Also, there was no real noise from pool deck above.
The cabin is well appointed, including a sofa, along with plenty of outlets and even USB.
The cabin is roomy, but also a little tight in hall spaces. Getting around may be a bit more of a challenge for a large person.
order tickets online in advance -- but you need to estimate a time slot -- or a "skip the line" tour. we were nervous about the return traffic from Athens to Piraeus, but it turned out to be a non-issue
Sounds wonderful. We are booked in January, and have decided the cruise will be about the ship, not the ports, so we can just check things out and enjoy.
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