I too had been reading these reviews and was a little leery going on the cruise. This is our 6th cruise with Princess and we have loved all the previous ones.
No worries...the ship is gorgeous and everyone on board is great and the food is wonderful.
We stayed at the Embassy Suites the night before and what a great place to stay. We had a transfer at 1pm with the hotel but took a cab ride earlier at 11:30 as we were anxious to get on the ship. There was some confusion at the Platinum entrance but eventually we got in. Mostly confusion was concerning having to refill out the Bahamas form so do complete this before you go and have a pen handy to fill out the health questionnaire.