We drove to the port the morning of the cruise. After reaching a certain point in the long line on Port Rd. we made it up to a policeman or Port Authority personnel and were told that the ship was fogged out of the port and we couldn’t advance any further. They gave us a Princess phone # to call to get further information & instructions. We called all afternoon, getting the exact same message till about 5:00. Then the recording told us the ship would not be coming in at all on Sunday, and to check back at 8:00 Monday morning for an up-date. We were fortunate that we could drive back to Houston and spend the night with our son.

At 8:00 Monday morning I called and the recorded message said the ship was in and gave instructions & boarding times by deck. We arrived at the port and found HUGE long lines to get into the terminal building. The line was snaked around the sidewalk, about 5 lines deep. When we got inside the terminal to get thru security, the line snaked around inside the building; probably 300 or so people in line. The lines all really did move pretty fast, considering the number of people that had to be checked in & board the ship. The whole boarding process took about 2.5 hours. Once we boarded, the vacation began! It was an unfortunate situation, no one’s fault, yet everyone tried to make the best of the dilemma we found ourselves in.

We boarded in time to eat a light lunch then take a quick nap before the safety drill. They didn’t make us go out on an outside deck and stand; people mustered inside in the theater, lounges, etc. So much more comfortable and people came with a better attitude. The food in the MDR was very good that night; sometimes that first night seems to be almost haphazard but this was wonderful. Read more