My wife and I planned this trip to celebrate her birthday in early January. This was our 6th cruise with Princess, but the first time on one of their larger ships. We picked up quite a few tips from the cc bulletin boards, so we thought we would share our experiences.

Our flights, hotel, and shuttles were scheduled far in advance, however we did not count on a huge storm in the SF Bay area on Jan 4. Somehow, we managed to drive to the Oakland airport in the storm and later learned that they closed the freeway and Bay bridge right after we got through. We flew JetBlue from Oakland to Long Beach. This was our 1st experience with JetBlue and we were very impressed. We pre-reserved Prime Time shuttle from the airport to Hotel, and a return from the ship to airport on 1/12. This is a great shuttle service at a very reasonable price. We booked the Crowne Plaza in San Pedro through Priceline. What a great deal, as it was a quality hotel at a very reasonable price. The hotel also provided a free shuttle to the ship.

EMBARKATION - We arrived at the ship a little after noon. Princess does a good job with the overall process as we boarded within 15 minutes. We proceeded to our stateroom on the Caribe deck (522). We were impressed with the organization of the cabin. Plenty of closet space and places to store suitcases, etc. Our balcony was quite a bit larger than the ones we had on the Dawn, and was partially covered. Princess also replaced the old white plastic deck chairs we were used to with 4 comfortable chairs and a table. After meeting our room steward, we proceeded to the buffet for a little lunch. Obviously everyone had the same idea so it was a bit crowded and hectic. The food was pretty good. We were a bit dismayed about the aggressive push for us to buy soda and/or coffee cards. Prior experiences were that this was a more passive effort. I wonder if this is the Carnival connection. Read more