The DW and I drove to Ft Lauderdale early on the 27th, arriving in Ft Lauderdale at 1:30 pm and were in our room by 2pm. Great check-in, painless and fast even though we had to make a last minute change. It's been awhile since we have been on Princess and we were glad we did this time. The only thing to say is the Coral provides great food, great service, and has a great staff. We ate in the Dining room, the Bayou Cafe, Sabatini's, the buffet, and used room service, they all exceeded our expectations. The DW was hooked on those wonderful room service hamburgers, make sure to ask for a ROOM service burger, It is thick, juicy with a slightly smoky flavor. There are not enough words to describe the quality of the food we had at the Bayou Cafe, succulent Oysters Bienville, a 18 oz Porterhouse that melts in your mouth. The DW had the surf (lobster) and turf (thick filet mignon)special and was not disappointed although a bit overstuffed. Absolutely the best food we had in a long time on a cruise. We ended up taking the left-overs up to the room for a 2 am snack! I suppose I should talk about the room. We had a mini-suite that was more than adequate for 2, with a nice closet. Drawer space was good even though most of the drawers a shallow, there were enough to put away all our clothes. We had to use a eggcrate for the mattress because they were a bit lumpy and hard. Where the beds met, was a hump that was a tad bothersome but was fixed quite nicely by the eggcrate. The room steward (Rodolpho) was great and always cheery and polite. The room was always clean even if it took till 10:30 am to get my butt out of bed. We were never rushed to get out so he could clean up. Our toilet would not flush one day, passenger service said they would have someone check it out, we told Rodolpho about it and in 10 minutes, he was back with the maintenance guy and it was fixed. Going through the Canal Locks on the balcony was a definite plus. Being we like to donate at the Casino, we met the staff early and often and had a great time. The DW won $3000 at video poker and did well at the 3-card poker table. I did alright at the 3-card table and only made $500 at the video poker(1st time player). The last night I also hit $300 on the one of the slots trying to empty the DW's Ocean Player's Card account. They had a get a ticket for prize drawings night for winning poker hands and I won a $500(?) piece of art (number and signed print). The only way to describe the Canal is, you have to experience it to appreciate it! We were pleasantly surprised by Cartagena, Columbia. There were a lot of mixed feelings about on the CC boards so we were a bit leery going in but we really enjoyed Cartagena and would love to go back. Aruba, I'm not a big fan of the place, once outside the city it is nothing but rocks, sand, and cacti. I think they call that a desert anywhere else. There are some interesting sites to see but I wouldn't go out of my way travel there. If it hadn't been on the itinerary, I wouldn't bothered trying to go there. Costa Rica - It rained most of the morning so we stayed on ship and kicked back and relaxed all day. The only thing we heard from most folks was they were overwhelmed by the level of poverty there. Jamaica - Bad weather, big waves, no Jamaica, enough said! Couldn't get my Blue Mountain Coffee again, DRAT the bad luck! Overall it was fabulous trip and I would highly recommend it to anyone. I can;t say how much we appreciated the great crew, exceptional service, and fabulous food. We skipped the show for the Casino so nothing to say about the shows. our friend traveling with us, went to the shows couple of times and always said they were good.

Alan and DW