I have only cruised on NCL prior to this Princess sailing. I found the two very similar for our needs. We have found that traveling with our DD creates a much different vacation then when my DH & I go alone. We were delivered to the port in Brooklyn in a limo-van in the mid afternoon. It was the busiest time at the terminal. Long lines that kept moving. Had to wait maybe 30 minutes to board. We skip almost all photo opportunities with the ship photographers in an effort to get where we are going.

I stopped at the Service Desk immediately to try my luck at getting a spot in the Ultimate Ship Tour. The attendant said it was already full. I was fine with that since it was so late, but was upset later when they advertised in the Patter that people should sign up before 4pm the next day in order to have a chance to go. Apparently they weren't doing the lottery system on this sailing. We then went to our cabin (dolphin deck 301) I was happy with the mini-suite. We booked this trip relatively late. The only other balcony at the time was near the nightclub and I didn't want the noise when my DD needs to be sleeping. Booking the mini was a wonderful choice. I loved the open balcony with space to relax. We enjoyed room service breakfast out on the balcony almost every day. I also like having my DD in a separate area. We brought a dark sheet, non-marking hooks and binder clips to create a separator between her sleeping area and ours. That worked great! Also brought magnet clips based on a suggestion on the CC boards... great way to keep the important papers where I could find them (on the walls). Since I've side tracked myself into the best things I brought, here are a few more: - travel mugs for morning coffee or tea that is bigger than a tiny cup. - light up alarm clock. - Dramamine - window cling for our balcony glass wall (allowed us to identify our balcony from shore) - reusable water bottle - extension cord/plug extender. This helped with all of the various chargers we used each night, plus the laptop.

Food - I found the buffet food to be similar to NCL. Nothing exciting, but I can always find something I like. My 9 year old DD lived on hot dogs from the grill by the pool. I also enjoyed the burgers & pizza from these pool area eateries. The themed buffets were inconsistent. The oriental buffet was lacking, it didn't even have rice! The Mexican one was good. We had anytime dining but since we were trying to eat as a group we tended to be at either the Coral or Island dining room at 6 each night. Our group of 12-18 were seated at 2 tables each night. We really liked Rey in the Island dining room. He was very good. The food in the dining room was fine. After having the beef on the 1st formal night that tasted like liver, I stayed away from most beef main courses. I'm not a foodie and don't like seafood, so I felt limited in my dinner options in the dining room. But I did eat 3-4 courses a night and usually finished what I ordered. As I mentioned above, we had room service for breakfast most of the trip. They were always early and everything was correct on our order. I followed someone's advise to order 2 cups of tea for one person and they delivered a carafe of hot water with multiple bags. The International Cafe was all that everyone says it is. Great free treats! My DH and others in my group raved about the milkshakes from Scoops. When I tried to get one the blender was broken, which happened multiple times on the trip. Read more