Background: We are a professional couple...late 30's, early 40's. This was our 6th cruise together, 4th on Princess. We've previously sailed on the Sun Princess, Dawn Princess, and Grand Princess. We consider ourselves somewhat well-traveled with usually at least one trip out of the country each year. Pre-cruise travel: Normally, we would try to arrive at the embarkation city at least one day early but since we only had to fly from Detroit to New York, we were able to get a direct non-stop flight into LaGuardia early on the day of embarkation. There were no issues with the fight or the pre-arranged car service and we were at the Brooklyn Cruise Terminal by 9:00 am.

Embarkation: Many people were still disembarking from the previous cruise so we waited until check-in was opened at 10:30. The whole check-in process including security took approximately 10 minutes. We waited in the holding area until our number was called around 12:00 pm. We quickly boarded the ship and were exploring out stateroom by 12:15 pm. There were two things we didn't like about embarkation. First, they did not use a PA system to call the group numbers. Instead, they stood by the doors and tried to shout over the noise in the room. Of course, this caused everyone to come rushing to the front to see if it was their number that had been called. This caused a lot of confusion and made it difficult to get through the crowd. Second, the embarkation photo was taken at the top of the escalator as you made your way to the ship. There was no background for the photo so all of the people behind ended up in the photo with you. I don't imagine they sell too many of those onboard.

Sailaway: After a quick look around our room, we headed to Cafe Caribe for lunch. The food was decent and we didn't have any trouble finding a table as has been complained about here on CC but this may be due to our early embarkation. It may have gotten busier later. We decided that since this was such a large ship, we would take the guided tour and hopefully learn some "insider" tips. This was not the case. In fact, I think we found things easier on our own. Don't waste your time, just explore on your own. After the muster drill we met up with the crew from our CC roll call for drinks at the Outrigger bar and then went up to the Princess Links mini-golf course for some pretty amazing views during sailaway. The passing under the Verazanno Narrows bridge was spectacular from this high deck vantage point. Read more