This was our 4th cruise and our 2nd Princess cruise. We arrived in Ft Lauderdale 2 days before the cruise and stayed at the Best western Air/Cruise. Okay hotel for the amenities. We got a taxi to Sawgrass Mills Mall for 40$ our driver was Kendt from All Stars. He was FANTASTIC. We called him when we were ready to go back to the hotel and he was there in 15 min. He drove us to supper at the Rendezvous and picked us up. He drove us to Port Everglades for 20$ If your ever in Fort Lauderdale call All Stars at 954-226-7828. Couldn't have asked for better service. Embarkation was a little long as they were waiting for wheelchairs to arrive from the ship but very organized. My driver was Alex, a wonderful young man from Brazil. He also was an assistant waiter in the DaVinci dining room and he would come over no matter where we were sitting and say hi. Our cabin was a wheelchair accessible as I am disabled and needed a wheelchair on board. It was spacious, clean with lots of closet space. Our steward was Judy. He was very efficient but we didn't see him much. This was our first balcony and we will never choose a cabin without one again.

Dining started out as a nightmare. We had booked the cruise in Mar 2007 with another couple and had asked for traditional early dining with them and a large table. We were waitlisted and ended up with anytime dining. From what I heard there was a group of 4-6 hundred on board that took up major space in the dining room. I can't understand how with a ship with 3000 plus passengers why only one traditional dining room. Anyway we waited in line the first 2 nights to dine and the 2nd night we had to get a beeper but only had to wait another 15 minutes. So I called the dining reservations to get a table for every night at the same time. I waited on hold for 45 minutes and when the girl came on the line she informed that because of the demand they were not taking anymore reservations for the rest of the cruise. Needless to say I was a bit perturbed. After that episode we went down to dinner at 5:30 everyday and got into the dining room right away. We found a table on the 5th night with Carlos as the waiter and Katarina as the assistant. We sat there every evening and enjoyed the service we had always expected. Thank you Carlos and Katarina. Food as always was spectacular. One thing I must say is that the Crew and all the Staff on the Emerald were the friendliest and most helpful I have every experienced on our 4 cruises.

We book all of our shore excursions online and from what I heard was a great idea. We heard a lot of grumbling about the excursions being sold out. Every excursion was great but for one. The River tubing in Grenada was Fantastic........... the best ever. The Aruba tour with the Ostrich Farm was really good also. The Two stop snorkeling on the SEACOW was the worst and I will never recommend anyone to take it.........As I stated I am disabled, I can walk but not distances. I am a very strong swimmer as water is my element. We snorkel on every cruise and have always done so. As I approached the boat the lady running the excursion looked at me and said NO. I said Pardon Me and she informed me that she wasn't taking me as she said the excursion states very clearly no wheelchairs and no walking sticks. And actually it does not. I tried to explain that I am very capable of walking on board and swimming and that I would probably out swim some of the people on that boat. She stated that this was a MASTER Snorkeling tour. And as we all know Snorkeling is for everyone and what does MASTER mean. I was very angry and upset went back on board. The lady at the tour desk was very apologetic and refunded my money. She said that they would investigate. I got a call again apologizing and was told they had spoken to the owner of the tour. Disembarkation was a breeze and very well done. After a rocky start Princess redeemed herself. Thank you Princess we will be seeing you again soon. Overall a great cruise.