We booked the March 6, 2016 Eastern Caribbean cruise to accommodate a family member's vacation. We flew to Houston one day before and settled in a hotel near Clear Lake, 15 minutes away from the Houston Bayport Cruise Terminal. We took a taxi to the terminal and were onboard in 15 minutes after arriving at the terminal. There were lots of staff working and boarding was very efficient. The ship is a bit worn as some of the elevator panels had chipped paint.

Once onboard, we received a letter in our cabin from the Captain informing us that due to a diesel generator problem, the ship was not able to travel at full speed. Adding to the fact that we will lose one hour for Daylight Saving Time on the last day of the cruise, Princess decided to cancel the call to Princess Cays and go to Nassau instead. This was quite a disappointment since we really wanted to spend some time at Princess Cays to enjoy the water sports activities. After one sea day, we arrived at the port of Key West and everyone was ready to stretch our legs. Unfortunately the Captain came on the speaker to inform us that due to high winds (>30 knots), that between the harbour pilot and him, they decided that it was not safe for the ship to dock and the ship would skip Key West. So we spent another sea day doing nothing.

Then we got to Freeport, Grand Bahamas, and spent the time on shore shopping. it was sunny but the wind was too strong and the waves too rough to safely enjoy the beaches. Then after another night at sea, we arrived at Nassau, capital of Bahamas. Although it was sunny and hot, the wind was howling and it was not typical Caribbean beach weather. We received another letter from the Captain in the evening apologizing for the disappointment of the cruise due to various factors and offered each passenger $50 ship board credit and 25 % future cruise credit to be booked by March 31, 2017. It was a nice gesture to show that Princess cared about our disappointment. Read more