This was the first of two 10-day back to back Caribbean cruises which my husband and I took on the Emerald Princess. This was billed as the Eastern Caribbean portion. All-in-all, we had a wonderful time. We were blessed with wonderful weather at almost all the ports.

We flew in the night before to Ft Lauderdale and stayed at the Riverside Hotel right on Las Olas Blvd. Very nice hotel, great room, and great location. The next morning we took a cab to the ship (around $9). We are platinum, so we were able to wait in the Platinum lounge and embarkation was swift and easy. Princess has this down to a science. We were in our room by about 12:30 and our luggage arrived before 2. We were all unpacked and settled into our Caribe balcony room before the muster drill.

Ports: the cruise started with two sea days, which I used to visit the spa, play some trivia, meet our fellow cc'ers at the meet and greet, and meet up with our friends on board. Read more