Princess Cruises, Aegean II, Mediterranean

After three previous fly/cruises, we decided to try a cruise out of Southampton as we live nearby. We were spoilt for choice with RCI, Cunard and P&O also available, but taking the cost, itinerary and the reviews into consideration we opted for Princess, and we were not disappointed. We left home at 1pm and were in our cabin before 2pm. Excellent check-in, and the same for disembarkation at the end. We had a balcony cabin on Aloha deck 12, which was kept very clean. The balcony was showing signs of age, with some corrosion etc. but internally the ship is sparkling throughout. The ship was filled to capacity with 2600 onboard, around half of which were seventy-somethings, but with a good proportion of all age groups. The children onboard all seemed to be having a great time. We opted for the traditional dining and ate in the Botticelli restaurant every evening with four others, who made very pleasant companions, for the holiday. Our waiters, Mariana and Enrique were excellent, as was the food. The only problem we had was the unscheduled tender service at our fist port of call, Gibraltar. This was only revealed to us the night before. The queues were the worst we have seen afloat!, mainly caused by the single tender berth shoreside. It took us two hours to get ashore and then two hours waiting in the sun to get back. Quite a few people we spoke with said they didnt get ashore at all. My main gripe here is that we were given neither explanation nor apology for the change to the programme. When we asked at the pursers desk a very defensive assistant told us "it was down to the ships agents ashore, nothing to do with the ship". The other tender services in Cannes and Alghero went without a hitch. That said, we had a great time. All of the crew were excellent throughout (I dont know how they keep so cheerful). With such a large ship there was always plenty to do on the sea days. The entertainment was reasonable, and we enjoyed the music from the Caribbean band Opus in the Explorers lounge every night. It was all over much too quickly and we have already pre-booked for next year.