First let me say I have taken 3 Carnival cruises and wanted to try out the Caribbean Princess when I saw it from a Carnival ship 2 years ago. Got to the ship in Ft. Lauderdale around 11:15am, went through security and were placed in a holding area where for some reason no phones or cameras can be used. Ship started boarding around 12:10, called you by group # (given upon your arrival). Moved pretty quickly. We were in our stateroom by 12:45. However, my dad arrived around noon and the lines were very long by then. Smokers had just left our cabin and it REEKED of stale cigarette smoke. I could not stay in that stench for 7 nights. Emanuel our steward was helpful and changed all the bedding and even wiped down the walls! The second day our a/c quit and it took six hours till someone came to fix it. Toilet then clogged and once fixed, ran loudly the rest of the cruise. Kept the bathroom door closed to solve that problem.

The ship. Has many sundecks many pools, some of which are adults only. I liked the adult aft pool best. Lots of deck chairs and a great policy of no chairs being reserved--after 30 minutes your items are put in a claims area and your chair is released to others. There is no "top optional" sundeck like Carnival has (though I'm not going to bare my top!) Ship was clean and well maintained. The only negative I noticed was some of the couches in Skywalkers lounge needed replacement as they were looking worn. We were on the Riviera Deck (14) with a balcony cabin and it was great (once the smoke smell was gone). Cabin small as expected but was fine. Needed more drinking glasses--plastic would be good for the bathroom. Decks 9 and 10 have fully exposed balconies. Which stinks considering you paid more for the mini-suite cabin. My dad had a Dolphin deck cabin (Deck 9) and it had a sitting area inside before the balcony. And bottled shampoo, etc, as opposed to the awful cardboard containers on the other decks. And a down comforter which was nice. But anyone with a balcony above you can look down on you if you're on 9 or 10. No thanks. Skywalkers - the top aft lounge/nightclub way way up there. Very nice, great view off the back of the ship. Music was ok; dj played requests. You have to go there at least once; must be 18 to enter. Didn't play cybergolf. Had mini-basketball courts at front of ship, nice jogging track, ping-pong table.

Food. Dining room food is very good. Carnival was heavy on the meat and light on the veggies but Princess was more balanced. Every meal I had was very good - tenderloin one night, then king crab legs another and the lobster tails were delicious too. The pizza was best I've had on a ship. Too bad you had to pay extra for ice cream at Scoops. Would've been nice if it was included. I liked the themed buffets: Mexican, Oriental, Bavarian, etc. Breakfast buffets had nice selection of fresh fruits, muffins, other hot dishes. Desserts didn't excite me--dining room desserts were better. Nice assortment of teas. Soda card: Roaming waiters weren't too pleased when you showed it and some never even brought the soda. Use it at the bar only for best service. My son was in the Teen Club and he liked it a lot. The jogging track on the top deck is nice but a bit windy. Deck 7 has a walk-around on the outside and you even go upstairs at the bow and have a great overlook there. They mark the # of times around and how many miles it is for walkers. Movies under the stars was nice. Didn't go to any shows in the theater-from the brochures it appears I liked Carnival shows better. Games in various lounges were fun - Family Feud, Newlywed, etc. Ports of call: Note that Princess does not use the dock that is downtown Charlotte Amalie in St. Thomas. So if you plan your own sailing excursion as I did, make sure the driver knows you need to be picked up at the PRINCESS dock which is farther away from everything. Wish I had known this. Read more