This was our 16th Princess Cruise, our 4th Transatlantic Cruise, one previous with Princess and I have 6 cruises with HAL and 10 cruises with Celebrity. I have elite status with Princess and booked a BE guarantee last December with an upgrade to BA. Right after I paid my money they were selling mini suites for hundreds less than I paid. I wrote Princess on this and they upped my onboard credit by $50. Cabins were selling for $699 at 30 days out. This is just a caution to those who might book this cruise early. I booked my air through Princess and flew on the day of the cruise with one two hour stop in Atlanta to change planes. Picked up bags in Fort Lauderdale, found a Princess representative and I was on a hot bus to the dock within an hour after arrival.
Embarkation: I showed them my Platinum embark, was at the desk in 15 minutes and on the ship in another 10 minutes. The Platinum Captain's Circle check-in does save time.
Cabins: The cabin C610 (cat. BA) was attractively decorated and good sized for the price. The balcony, while large, offers little privacy if your cabin is on Caribe deck. The shower is smaller than Celebrity and you get a bath/shower on HAL in this category. It also has a fixed shower head, instead of a hose and wand arrangement like Celebrity offers. Cabin service was efficient and unobtrusive. I got a free mini bar set up and opted for 12 Miller lights as I figure I might as well get what I drink. Took advantage for the free laundry and dry cleaning for elite members on several occasions. I also enjoyed the better bath robes and canapEs on several times. The 10% boutique was also used more than once.