This was our 5th cruise on Princess. 4 times on the CB and our 1st on the Emerald. What a difference. We drove to Ft Lauderdale and parked at the port garage. $15 per day. No having to wait on a shuttle. Arrived at the port at 1:30 and walked through with no delays! In our rooms by 2:00. Had all our bags by 4:00. We had two rooms, inside cabin for 4 girls across from a Caribe deck balcony. We Love the extended balcony! Had the balcony champagne breakfast. Plenty of food and drink! We have always liked Princess cruises and the CB, but you could tell the Emerald was newer. Even the service was better. From the breakfast buffet to the dinning room to the deck, everyone was great and wanted to make you happy. 1st stop Princess Cays. Always a blast. The girls and I loved the Banana boat ride. Don't miss the buffet! Great BBQ. 2nd stop St Martin. We have been there several times and love to just walk around downtown checking out the shoppes after getting a Guavaberry colada. 3rd stop St Thomas. Did the downtown/Magens Bay excursion. Got downtown before any of the shops were open. Even the open air market was just setting up. Had to leave downtown at 10:45 to go back to the ship and then to the beach. Loved Magens Bay. Truly a beautiful beach. 4th stop Grand Turk. Beautiful island with a beach with plenty of chairs right off the pier. No more than two ships could port there. Not much shopping but a great beach day!Beautiful clear water. Not a great selection of movies on MUTS. Too many concerts and they had a baseball game on the 2nd night? The 12 and 14 year olds loved the kids centers. Plenty of games and other activities. !2 year old missed most of dinners to go play with her friends in the play center. The girls also loved the room service. We missed the main shows but did see two comedians: Steve Moris and James Michael. We had seen them both before and they were still entertaining. Cruise Director Tim did a great job! He was everywhere and always had a quick joke. Food in the dinning room was great. Service was top notch. The decor of the ship was very nice. A definite upgrade from CB. Nice artwork in the dining rooms. Always some nice entertainment in the piazza. Overall a great cruise. Can't wait to sail her again.