My husband and I sailed on the Emerald Princess from Ft. Lauderdale on April 19-29.  We did the Southern Caribbean itinerary that went to Aruba, Bonaire, Grenada, Dominica, St. Thomas and Princess Cays.  We are both in our mid 30's, we have no children, and this was our fourth cruise.  Our first cruise was on Carnival, our other cruises on Royal Caribbean.  I chose this cruise because I wanted to visit different islands; we have already done one Eastern, Western, and Southern Caribbean on our previous cruises.  This was our first Princess cruise, and first time to do a 10 day vs. a 7 day cruise.

We stayed at the Embassy Suites in Ft. Lauderdale for one night before the cruise.  I liked the hotel and it was a good value because they offered free full buffet breakfast in the morning and alcoholic drinks and treats during happy hour. 

Embarkation:  Chaotic.  I've never experienced such disorganization from a cruise line in boarding the ship.  We got to the terminal around 11 am and you could not tell what line you were supposed to be in or what doors would be opening to start the boarding process.  When you finally thought you had it figured out, they reversed the line and sent all the people who had been waiting the longest to a different entrance.  It was frustrating.  Once we finally got into the building, it seemed to streamline a little better. Read more