We took the 5 day maiden Caribbean cruise of the Royal Princess followed by the first 7 day cruise for a total of 12 days at sea. This may be a little lengthy because I want to cover everything and address frequent issues brought up by other reviewers. And I will cover both cruises with this review. First off let me put this all in prospective. We are a couple with me being 42 and my partner 40 and this was our 7th cruise with Princess. Vacations are a time for us to relax and we are realistic and know going in not everything will go perfectly.

Ft Lauderdale: We arrived the Sat prior and spent 3 days in Ft Lauderdale relaxing and soaking up the sun. We rented a car from Thrifty that we picked up at the airport and dropped off at their port location. After drop off we took Thrifty’s shuttle to the port terminal. While in Ft Lauderdale we stayed at the Grand Resort and Spa. They have great accommodations/grounds with professional spa services and 2 blocks from the beach and restaurants. Had no problems with either and would recommend.

Embarkation: Through the cruise critic thread and from passengers on the 2 day TA cruise, we knew they were to be off the ship early and anticipated an early embarkation. So we arrived at the port at about 1015 after dropping the car. The porters were right there to take our bags and we proceeded inside. We managed to walk right up to security and go through with no line or trouble. After filling out the health questionnaire, which doesn’t make any sense because who is going to say they are sick, we proceeded to the check-in line. We had priority boarding but neither line had a wait. There were 3 empty check-in attendants competing to check us in. We were upstairs in the priority lounge by about 1030. Once in the lounge we immediately ran into a couple we meet online and passed the time discussing our plans for the cruise. By 1115 we got the call we could start boarding. And we were on board by 1130. Read more