We too sailed on the Dec. 17th Caribbean Princess. And This was our 4th cruise on Princess, so we are fans of the line. This was also our first cruise with our 3 children (ages 12,10 and 6). The embarkation process was fairly easy. WE waited until 3 pm to board and there were no lines to speak of. We had 2 mini-suites. The mini-suites on the Caribbean were very long and narrow. Space was utilized well but the layout was not nearly as well throughout as on the smaller class ships (Dawn, Sun..). The bathrooms were very tight and the floor tile pieces kept coming up during the trip.
The kids program on the ship leaves a lot to be desired. It is not very organized or inviting. I think that the RCCL programs really have it over Princess in this area. One other quirk concerning the kids. The game arcade that the kids spent a lot of time in is actually inside the front part of the Casino. That makes absolutely no sense at all. The arcade was always smokey and only had about 10 games that worked most of the time.
The movies under the stars was a great feature. Everyone enjoyed that feature although it would have made more sense if Princess would have had "family friendly" movies at 7 pm and then the more action packed movies after 10 pm. All in all, this is a great feature.