My family, a friend and I (ages 7 to 70) traveled on the Caribbean Princess over Thanksgiving week. It was my third cruise (after Carnival Victory and Celebrity Zenith). All of my family members had been on mediocre or worse NCL cruises. This cruise went above and beyond all of our expectations.

PRE-CRUISE and EMBARKATION: We arrived in Fort Lauderdale the night before the cruise and stayed at the AmeriSuites 17th Street by the cruise port. I do not recommend this hotel. It was spacious but was very run down and had no hot water. We had to take showers in freezing cold water. The free breakfast was well done though and it was convenient to the port. They have a free shuttle to the port, but when we asked about it the night before, we were told that they were all full until 2:30. So, if you choose to take a shuttle from a hotel near the port, I would recommend signing up at least a full day in advance. I underestimated how many cruise passengers would be staying there. We took a cab to the port at around 10:30; it was about a ten-minute drive and he charged $12 for two of us. We tipped the baggage handlers a couple bucks to ensure they took good care of our bags (even though there are signs saying they do not require tipping), we met up with the family, and got in line. I read on some other CC reviews that people waited out in the sun on embarkation day. That was not true at all for us. We waited in the shade and there were several benches along the line so older (and younger) folks could sit. We waited until around 11:15 or so for the coast guard to clear the ship, and once the line started moving we were on within about fifteen minutes. My first impression of the ship was "beautiful, understated, classy" especially when compared with the garish, tacky dEcor on Carnival. Right from the beginning the service was wonderful. I think Princess has about at 3:1 ratio of passenger to crew and I could tell the difference from Celebrity's 2:1. There were no people to escort you to the stateroom, carry your tray from the buffets, etc. but the positive, friendly attitude of the crew more than made up for it.

STATEROOM: We had a balcony stateroom on the Aloha deck. I was very pleasantly surprised. It looked very well kept, carpet and comforters nice, etc. Also, I thought it was quite roomy. The bathroom was incredibly tiny, of course, but the room itself had ample room. Also, plenty of storage for clothes and for all four suitcases and pop-up laundry hamper (a must!). We requested egg crates as soon as we boarded because of reading so many horror stories on CC. I found the beds to be fine. Of course, I never slept on it without the egg crate, but it was fine. I did notice that the requests that we filled in online in the cruise personalizer (bath robes, etc.) weren't heeded, but it was no big deal. I just asked when I got on board (for bath robe, etc.) and it was all taken care of. It was such a treat to have a balcony. We all mentioned that now that we have spoiled ourselves with one we can't imagine going back. We definitely took full advantage of it: eating breakfast, putting on make-up, reading before going to sleep, all on the balcony. Our stateroom attendant, Chai, was wonderful. My sister mentioned that next time she will bring a roll of scotch tape on the cruise. This ship seemed particularly "paper happy" and it was a bit hard to keep up with all the appointment cards, shore excursion tickets, etc. It would be nice to just tape them up around the mirror or keep them in a folder or something. Read more