This review is of our cruise on the Golden Princess, sailing from New Orleans to Montego Bay, Grand Cayman and Cozumel on Dec. 23, 2006.

Embarkation was a mess. We made the mistake of arriving at the pier at 1:30, and it was truly a zoo. I know many others have recommended waiting till later and I would totally agree with that. The facilities at the Poland Street Pier in New Orleans appear to be temporary, and Princess was not well-organized. The lines to check in intermingled with the lines to go through security (!), and it was literally wall to wall people. What a mess. 3 p.m. would have been a much better check-in time -- from our balcony, we could see that NO ONE was in line then.

We were in cabin D308. I am always more interested in my own room than the public rooms, and the cruise line sites rarely focus much on that component of the cruise so I've tried to provide a fairly complete description of the cabin. I have a few comments about other aspects of the cruise, as well. Read more