My family of six, ages 11-75, all loved the Regal Princess. Although she is the largest we have experienced, there are so many different things to do that it never felt crowded. We took the Eastern Caribbean cruise out of Ft. Lauderdale and enjoyed every minute. Yes, the balcony is smaller than what we experience with Holland and Carnival, but we spent very little time there so didn't matter. The Horizon Bistro Buffett area was the best we have ever experienced. Many choices, even for our Vegan daughter, and never had a problem finding a table. The staff was attentive and we never had to wait long for a drink. The food was very good in the Bistro and main dining. We had the best dinner staff of any of our cruises, and enjoyed the game shows, casino and outdoor movies. There was so much to see and do that we had a hard time choosing. Compared to our last cruise on the Holland Zuiderdam, I would say that overall the Regal is better. The food on Holland was slightly better, but the Regal had enough to offer and some excellent dishes so did not disappoint. The main pool area did get very crowded on sea days, but it was never too much of a wait to find a chair unattended (we simply moved items that had been left on a lounge chair for 30 minutes to the pool deck next to the chair and never got one complaint because the rule is you cannot save your chair - if you do not use it within a certain period of time you lose it). There were also plenty of chairs on the decks that sit up above the main pool, we just needed one by the water to keep a closer eye on our son and were able to find ones unattended by simply waiting a bit and watching for the ones that were not being used for anything other than holding a towel (sorry my fellow travelers, but if you want to spend time elsewhere other than your chair, then take your things or stash then on the pool deck next to the pool if you plan on spending 15 minutes or more in the water). We planned our own shore excursions and highly recommend taking the ferry from St. Thomas over to St John and visiting Trunk Bay. It got crowded when cruise tours came through, but we got to enjoy it in between the tours so definitely the way to do it. Lots of taxis to and from Trunk Bay, but try and get a taxi in St Thomas that is only going to the ferry. It took us almost an hour to get to the ferry due to several stops for other passengers going to other places on St Thomas. We did get to see a bit of St Thomas island this way, but we missed the 10am ferry because of it and had to wait for the 11am ferry. A private taxi is a must if you want to catch a certain ferry.