We just finished a wonderful 10 day Southern Caribbean cruise on the Emerald. We started off with clouds and rain during our 2 days at sea but ended up with 8 wonderful sunny, warm days in the Caribbean. If you've ever been on the Crown, you will automatically know your way around on the Emerald. As far as I could tell, they were exactly alike in deck plans. One of the wonderful things about Princess Cruises is the people you meet while sailing. They are some of the nicest people "on the seas". This cruise had some interesting ports, lots of warmth and sunshine. The Princess-sponsored shores excursions were interesting and very reasonably priced on this cruise. The ship also had some wonderful music venues. "Phoenix Rising" played in the Wheelhouse and you couldn't find a better band than Phoenix Rising. Joey, Jerry, and Randy are GREAT! They can and will play any kind of music you ask for - talented and user friendly. They are, by far, the most talented band we've encountered while cruising and they are also really nice guys. [If you're reading this, Hi Joey, Jerry, and Randy. We enjoyed your music so much!] We were also blessed by having Gordon Hough and the Emerald Princess Orchestra play for us a couple a nights (we would have loved more!) What a wonderful group!! Such great jazz and ballroom! There was also a nice "pool" band (who also played nightly in the Explorers' Lounge). We started off the cruise with "Fusion" and changed bands and ended the cruise with "Icon". The production shows were okay. The best was "Motor City".The Emerald was in good condition and such a "user-friendly" ship - especially for a ship that holds 3,000 passengers. The space is planned well and you don't really feel like you're crowded, even with that many passengers. We did anytime dining in the Michelangelo Dining Room) and found the most wonderful waiter from Thailand (table 299). We had a terrific cabin steward, John, from the Philippines. Our cabin was great. It was one of those outside cabins with the bed on the wall and the space in front of the window left open. It feels so much more spacious than the "bed under the window" arrangement. The food was excellent - we are always impressed with the wonderful job Princess does with the food but this was even above what we usually experience. Hats off to the Michelangelo Dining Room manager. Lots and lots of praise for this cruise. My number one complaint was in the scheduling. Many times, events were scheduled all at the same time with lots of dead space between. Some times there was NOTHING scheduled. There was a wonderful pair of dance instructors on board for this cruise - very talented and knowledgeable but also very user friendly in their instruction approach. They were on board and available for all 10 days of the cruise but only scheduled for 3 instructional times and one "review" the last night of the cruise (when everyone was packing!). They were great and everyone who attended one of their sessions loved them and wished for more. Another problem with the scheduling was the bands at both music venues - The Wheelhouse Bar and The Explorer's Lounge were scheduled at EXACTLY the same times and both had break at EXACTLY the same times. You could dance or hear music from 7:30-8:15 pm (but you had to choose which band) and then BOTH bands stopped until 9:15 pm, when they BOTH started playing again - all or nothing. Aside from the scheduling, it was a wonderful cruise and I can't wait to get back on Princess!!