We have cruised for the 3rd time now. Once with Holland America on the Oosterdam, the second time with Carnival on the Valor and now with the Caribbean Princess. I must say that Holland America set the level very high. With Carnival we had lower expectations but where still positively surprised. Now with Princess we knew what to expect - something between Holland America and Carnival - but we think that both Carnival and Holland America were a tad better in most areas. The Valor had more for families to offer, i.e. mini golf. The Caribbean Princess had only a putting green. The Valor had a running track, the Caribbean Princess not. We experienced more lines than on the other ships. It seemed that the number of passengers didn't match the capacity of the ship. The Horizon Grill was very narrow. It was difficult to turn around without bumping into other passengers. We never experienced that on the two other ships. The gym was always packed in the mornings and difficult to get a machine to work out. The biggest indicator of the mismatch between number of passengers and the ship capacity is that they offer three shows every night. On the other two ships two shows gave every passenger an opportunity to see the show. The good thing here is that the shows are shorter. Around 45 minutes or so.

State Room -- Princess offered a better layout than on the two other ships. They pulled down a bunk bed from the ceiling for our son. This did not make the room smaller. Very smart concept. On the Oosterdam, they brought a portable bed into the state room every night, which made it impossible to put a foot down on the carpet.

The ship is in a good shape. Fully met our expectations. Some wear and tear but that's what we expected. But it is always clean and they are constantly cleaning it. They also did some paintwork here and there which my wife didn't like. The paint smell was unfortunately pretty strong sometimes. Read more