The Caribbean Princess cruise was wonderful. We are young at heart 52 and 58 year olds from SC. This is our fifth cruise, first on Princess. The first few days we continually compared Princess to Royal Caribbean and leaned toward RC. Then we came around by the middle of the cruise and said we would definitely do Princess again. Princess ships do not have some of the glitz like RC, but so be it. Every ship is unique. We did not have to wait too long for elevator service as some mentioned in other reviews. And we did not have to wait longer than five minutes for open dining. I took a chance...their hair dryer was adequate. Take lots of sunscreen. There were lots of RED people hurting that week. It's especially sad to see sunburned children. Adults should know better. Don't ruin your vacation.

Embarkation: Our flight was delayed from Charlotte; therefore, we got to the pier around 2:15 p.m. One benefit is that we did not have to wait in any lines at the pier. This is where you get your credit card type identifier that can be used for any purchase on board. Get it hole punched in the corner at the Passenger Services desk on board so you can put it on a lanyard! We were in our room by 2:30 p.m. Delays are scary; the next time we will leave for the departure city the day before our cruise. The cruise line airport transfers ($20 RT per person) were convenient but time consuming depending on the number of people. We had a long wait. I read where you could get a mini-bus type taxi for about $6 pp instead. I'm sure this would be quicker and you would have a bit more control of your luggage. After we got off of the bus we did not see our luggage in our cabin for a few hours. Two of my luggage straps disappeared between the bus and our room, so I'm sure the luggage gets a real workout in those luggage bins in the terminal.

Dining -- BREAKFAST: We had a balcony cabin, so we had room service every morning and ate out on the balcony. Just put on the robe and lounge. We had our usual cereal, fruit, yogurt, danish, juice and coffee. The food is gratis, but there is a tip expected for delivery, of course. No hot meals were listed on the breakfast hangtag request. LUNCH: We did beach coverups and picked up lunch in the Horizon dining buffet, or picked up pizza, burgers, dogs and fries by the pool. We decided to get the Coke stickers (about $63 for two for unlimited Coke products for the week) for our cards. This included the automatic 15% tip added immediately to the card when purchased. All we had to do all week was show the card everywhere (except at Princess Cay) and the waitstaff would bring you the soda. DINNER: Since were were listed for late dining and wait listed for early dining, we ended up taking a chance on open dining in the Palm Dining Room. We never had to wait more than five minutes for a table. Maybe it was lucky timing. The staff was very efficient and cordial. One night we ended up at a table for two and other nights we shared a table with six to eight people. It was nice to share our cruise experiences with so many people night after night. One night we just decided not to dress up and headed to Cafe Caribe. I believe this self serve dining room has some of the same food served in the Palm dining room, but it's buffet style. It was fine. We helped ourselves to whatever we wanted. All food the entire week was great...Desserts were divine!!!! We did not try any of the specialty dining rooms as the steak in The Palm Dining Room was excellent! Oooo, the lobster on the second formal night was great. I asked for it as a side dish to my entrEe and he brought the entire entree! You really get whatever you want and more. The coffee was always very good. I missed my hazelnut creamer. :) Read more