After reading a few mediocre reviews about Princess Cruises (food, entertainment, room size), I was very pleasantly surprised at how excellent the entire cruise experiences was. The Crown Princess was clean, beautiful and very stable. It was the small touches that made it beautiful: the marble and tile in the lobby, the fabrics, etc. Sure, it had some wear and tear. But when you consider that 3,000 people trapse on and off every week, you realize how well kept the ship actually is. The crew went out of their way to be nice and friendly. The dining room food was excellent. The shows were fun and elaborate. The cruise made me realize that some of the negative reviews must be coming from negative people who would find fault with the Normandie.

Embarkation was a breeze. We arrived at Pt. Everglades around 10:30, had to wait in a hot boarding area until about 11:45 AM. The upside is we were one of the very first people on board. The ship was empty. Nice. We were the very first couple to sign up for the Ultimate Ship's tour. Then went up to the Spa to get one of the few couples' passes to the Thermal Suite. We finally made it into the dining room for lunch. Again, only about a dozen people eating in the dining room. The lunch was excellent.

Our standard size BA cabin high up on Lido Deck was much roomier than I expected. Not too many cabins up on Lido, which was nice. The bigger verandas down below us were exposed to the sun, but had no privacy. We booked a 'guarantee' balcony cabin, which is the lowest fare. And to our pleasant surprise we were upgraded 7 categories for the same price! (we booked directly through the Princess web site.) Our cabin steward was very friendly and always out and about. We tipped extra. Read more