This is the first cruise my wife and I have gone on together. We have both cruised once before. She cruised with Norwegian; myself with Carnival. For the first time with Princess, I have to say we were both very pleased with the experience.

Living in Arizona, we drove in the night before staying with a friend. So, we did not need a shuttle or hotel for this part of our vacation. We arrived at port just before noon. We were in group 7 and instantly thought this is going to be awhile. We waited for about 30 minutes before they called our number and within 10 minutes we were onboard. Surprisingly, our room was ready so we went to see our living quarters for the next week. We stayed in E100, an ocean view room on the Emerald deck. The room was small but very clean. For the limited space, it is organized as well as can be expected. I did move the small glass table into the closet to gain space. I had read on a review to bring a power strip but did not need it. There is a two plug outlet at the desk which covered all of our needs. The wall in front of the desk is mirrored so my wife used this area to put on her makeup and do her hair. It worked just fine. She never complained and we never got on either's nerves. As almost all of the reviews, the storage space was more than adequate. Our luggage arrived mid afternoon just as we expected.

The ship is big and gorgeous. It is very clean and shows minimal wear. We were in the very front of the ship and I swear that was the longest hallway to walk. You definitely get your exercise. I had read the ship was difficult to find your way around so I expected issues. For this reason, I used the hallway to travel back and forth. Meaning if I was heading to the horizon court, I would walk to the aft, or back, of the ship then go up to deck 14. It made it so much easier. There are plenty of diagrams throughout showing where everything is. Read more