This was our 9th Princess and 14th overall cruise. We choose this trip just because we needed to get away and relax. My wife and I had traveled this itinerary before on the Grand and Caribbean Princesses with the exception of Grand Turk.

Embarkation - What a nightmare. The Crown had just gotten back from her North European itinerary and was starting her Eastern Caribbean itinerary for the winter season. We had flown in the night before and stayed at a near by hotel on our own. We hoped a cab over to the pier. We dropped off our luggage to be loaded onto the ship and stood in the Platinum / Elite line waiting for security check in. Once the doors were opened at 12 noon, we moved quickly through security, but here is where the fun begins (or didn't). We go in the Platinum/ Elite line and waited and waited and waited. Only two people were manning the stations (normally four would) and the a/c was not working. It was hot, people were crabby, a little boy passed out, an elderly lady tried to butt in line several times (i told her off) it was just a mess. Once we got to the front it only took a few minutes for us to check in so not sure what the problems were. Then onto the ship!

We got on board only to find another long line. Seems none (or most) of the keycards worked so you had to have them activated at the Purser's Desk. We decided to eat and then went back down and stood in line for 45 minutes. The Purser's couldn't have been nicer, but it was not a good start. The Ship - Much improved Grand Class. We had sailed on every Grand Class ship with the exception of the Golden so the layout was not foreign to us. But it was much improved over the older versions of the ship. Read more