My husband and I were on the 4/25/2010 sailing of the Emerald Princess, attending the wedding of my niece (she got married on-board by the Captain). This was our first Princess cruise - we've sailed with Disney, RCL, and Carnival in the past. Our last cruise was with Carnival in October. Since the cruises were so close together, it was hard not to compare, and overall, Princess came up short.

The Good: Dining - we found both the food and the service was very good. I especially liked the way the Horizon cafe (Deck 15) was set up, and how they managed the seating (especially compared to the disorganization on our last Carnival cruise). There are three buffet areas - all serving the same food - so the lines aren't long. On the St. Thomas morning, we ate breakfast in Horizons, and they had waiters seating people, so you didn't need to wander around hoping to find a seat. And they were very quick to bring coffee/juice. We had anytime dining, and found that making a reservation was the best way to go. On the few nights we didn't reserve, we were given a buzzer, and I don't think we waited more than 15 minutes to be seated. My husband believes the food was better aboard RCL and Carnival, but I thought they were all comparable.

Balconies & Balcony Breakfast - The balconies on Princess were much larger than other cruise lines. Our second cabin was on the Caribe deck, and while it held 4 chairs and one table, it could have easily accommodated more. I believe the balconies on this deck were the largest, and what I liked was that half the balcony was covered so you could get shade if you wanted, and the other half exposed. One thing I wasn't thrilled about was having people look down on our balcony, and looking down from ours onto other balconies. We treated ourselves to a champagne balcony breakfast one morning. For $32, we received a half-sized bottle of champagne, and more food than we could have possibly eaten (quiche, bacon, danish, croissants, smoked salmon, juice, coffee, fruit), delivered to our balcony. It was a great experience! Read more