my husband and i took our first princess cruise on feb 2, 2008. we flew from hartford, ct and flew non-stop to san juan the day before in case of bad weather. we stayed at marriott resort and it was beautiful. room was great and so was service. food and meals were absolutely horrible. asked for some compensation and we were obliged. We went to dinner in old san juan to aqua viva restaurant. it was by far one of the best meals we have ever had. the lobster mashed potatoes are to die for. it was expensive but so is everything in san juan and it was worth every penny. the next morning we took a taxi to the cruise port. it was about ten minutes away and the taxi fare was double what we had paid the day before. we arrived at cruise port by 11:30am. there was a line. from what it seems they let a certain amount of people thru at a time. we got in pretty quickly considering. you have to show your passport two times to get in to terminal. they have lines set up depending on what deck you're on. we were one of the first set of people they let in so we only waited about twenty minutes and then had to go thru security. i don't have any complaints. i think they should have more station set up-we've done royal Caribbean before and they get you in really quick and have a ton of stations but i have no complaints. the ship is beautiful. granted, it is much diff. than royal Caribbean. the only thing i miss is in the explorer the shopping area and promenade was awesome to see and it had more shopping. disappointed in shopping. only a few stores and they were not all on one level-made it kind of annoying. shops were also expensive. i didn't get to see the whole ship because we had such a busy itinerary. what i did see i really did like. we had a inside room which i was apprehensive about getting. it was great. the room was a good size and it had more closet space than the other cruise lines i have been on. the bed was very comfortable and they had down feather bed which was very nice. it was the same size cabin as i had on royal carr. and i had a balcony on that. great value for money. i noticed people complained about not having little towel creatures on bed. our lady made us three creatures and they were great. my brother and his wife were traveling with us and they did not get towel creatures. finally on last night he asked his guy for one and he made him two. seeing that we were at five different ports, there were not many activities. the day we were at sea they don't do much which i was kind of disappointed in. they had one round of water volley ball and that was about it. they had some activities you had to pay for and we didn't feel like doing that. wish there was more on that regard. my husband and i are in our twenties and we found that there were mostly retired and middle age people on ship. did see a few young people. hardly any kids which was very nice. don't think its designed for kids. the pool deck had four pools and the movies under the stars was very nice-screen wasn't 100% clear though. the hamburger grill and pizza place were great and they were free. when we were on r.c. they charged us for hamburger grill so it was a nice surprise. the drink prices were very fair and the drinks were very good. we opted for anytime dining and we loved it. we ate at davinci's and fell in love with our waiter. we then requested to have him every night and we really got to know him better. his name was evan and he was by far the best waiter i have ever had. more than obliging. one night there was a little mix up and we wanted to sit at one of his tables-to apologize for making us wait a few minutes they offered us a bottle of wine. as for excursions- we did most of them on our own and one thru cruise-we will never book thru cruise again. very overpriced and not worth money. in st. thomas we hired a private sail boat that took us

to the natural park of st. johns. it was sail high pockets-a husband a wife team who give unlimited liquor and a very nice lunch. we snorkeled in a beautiful cove and and lunch and had a beautiful sail back. it was about 115 a person and it was well worth it-it was about 6 hours and the cruise was charging the same for something not as nice and with this it was just the four of us and no one was in st. johns where we were. i highly recommend them. st. thomas is nice but i don't think i would fly their and stay for a week. it was fair-shopping was okay but most shops were closed because it was sunday. next stop was st. kitts and i have to say st. kitts was one of our favorites. it is such a warm, loving island. again, we booked a private tour thru royston tours and he was busy so he sent us out with one of his friends, ashton. it was the best tour we had that week. ashton informed us that st. kitts doesn't allow the taxi services to charge more than $20pp for a taxi tour-keep that in mind if they try to charge more. he gave us a whole island and peninsula tour. he took us to see old sugar mill and it was very interesting. i noticed so many taxi vans just driving thru and people taking pictures. he let us get out and really took us to some hidden gems. he took us into rainforest and we held monkeys and we went to caribelle batik factory which was very nice. he also showed which were the best places to shop.

it was a great day. st. kitts has so much natural beauty. grenada is very nice. we booked a private taxi tour and were disappointed. it was a & e tours. we got the owner and we waited an hour before he took us out. the waterfall isn't much to brag about. there were 3 cruise ships and it was so crowed and the people really pressured you to buy stuff. we wanted to see a black sand beach and because there so little time in grenada we missed out on that and shopping. its true-there is not enough time-they should take some time out of bonaire and give it to st. kitts and grenada. we did a snorkel trip thru princess in bonaire. mushi swim and snorkel. it wasn't worth 140. we were unimpressed. they didn't give alcoholic drinks and only took us to one spot to snorkel. i found it online and they normally charge 35pp. a big diff in price. bonaire was okay. the water was beautiful but it was one of least favorite spots. not much to do and the stores were very expensive for not much stuff. aruba was our second favorite spot. lots of great shopping-its more upscale. we were able to use the westin's facilities for free for day and we loved it. palm beach is absolutely beautiful. would def. go back. overall, we loved the cruise and would definitely cruise with princess again. a few complaints- the boat is very rocky. i cruised thru bermuda and it wasn't as bad as this boat. they said it was a new design and that might be why. the other complaint is they had no fabulous midnight buffets. they had a regular buffet every night but no wows. on first formal night they gave out free drinks. breakfast and lunch's food was okay but dinner was excellent. on first night they had an awesome seafood buffet. very accommodating. if you have a special request they do it within reason. on formal night, some people get really dressed up, but most are in nice dresses and suits. you don't have to go crazy. disembarkation was very quick and easy. they have luggage lined up by color. we were last to get off of boat because of late flight and it was a breeze compared to r.c. overall, i loved the ports and the cruise. that is why my husband and i picked princess is because they offer very nice ports of call. its more upscale and they treat you great. my brother likes royal Caribbean better and i like princess. i would definitely recommend. did not try specialty restaurants because regular dinners were so good. entertainment was good-not fabulous. the theater is small and set up is not good. overall-good shows.