We are early 60's, recently retired, quite active, and love to be on the water. This was our 18th cruise, fifth on Princess, and first on Emerald. We plan our own shore excursions and look for warm weather and a variety of experiences.PRE-CRUISE: We flew in 1 day early and stayed at Extended Stay America on 17th Street. Free shuttle from airport and many restaurants and stores within a 10 minute walk. We had dinner at Kelly's Landing. Next morning we had breakfast, bought wine for the cruise, and took the shuttle to the ship.EMBARKATION: We arrived at noon and the line was VERY long. We were aboard by 12:45. Took our carry-ons to the cabin. Luggage arrived by 3:00.THE SHIP: We have been on Caribbean Princess 3 times and Emerald is almost the same. We found less shade on Emerald, because Skywalkers sits "up in the air" on CB and provides shade to the terrace pool deck. Not so on Emerald. Also, less lounge chair room on back decks because deck 16 has been turned into a nice patio outside of Sabatini. We never had trouble finding lounge chairs, but shade is scarce.FOOD: We ate one night each in Sabatini and Crown Grill. Nice dining experience and worth the cost to us. All other meals were in Horizon Court. We find dinner there to be much more leisurely and relaxing than in the dining room, but that is just us. We felt that all of the food on this cruise was some of the best cruise food we have had. No complaints.SERVICE: Outstanding, especially in the Horizon Court. I found 2 of the supervisors and congratulated them on their staffs. The supervisors also work just as hard as the servers. Great job. Service by cabin attendant and all others was excellent.ENTERTAINMENT: Beatle Maniac show was great fun. Comedians were using same material they used when I heard them 13 months ago on CB. They should have to audition new material to get a new contract. Singers and dancers were just average. All musical groups were very good. We watched the NCAA finals on MUTS. Nice experience.PORTS: We have been to all of these before except St Kitts. ST KITTS: we found a cooking class called Caribbean Cooks on-line. Made a reservation with them and took a taxi ($6 pp). Lot of fun. Three hours of island history, cooking techniques, and a great lunch. We recommend it.BARBADOS; we sailed with Calabazza, for the second time. They are a first-class operation with great food, drink, and service. A fun day.ANTIGUA: We joined with 2 other couples and took a taxi to Valley Church Beach ($8 pp each way). Chair rentals were $5. Got there by 9:30 and there was much shade available under the trees.ST LUCIA: Walked about 15 minutes to town. Very hot and humid. Walked back and while cutting through the fishing wharf, found a SMALL shack with cold beers. Sat a while and talked to some locals. Great fun.ST THOMAS: Six ships in port so we had to anchor and tender. We are not shoppers and had been here 4 other times, so we had a quiet day on the ship. Enjoyed the pools and watched a movie in Explorers Lounge in afternoon. Nice day. PRINCESS KEY: have also been here before, Very nice place, but we just stayed aboard the ship and enjoyed some quiet pool time.DISEMBARKATION: We were called at 10:00. Found our luggage, got a taxi to FLL, and were through security by 11:00OVERALL: Our expectations were met, except for some of the entertainment. It was a nice cruise with a variety of experiences for us. Princess is a good product. We will be sailing with them again in July to Canada/New England. We met some very nice CC members on this cruise who live in Halifax. They have offered to be our "tour guides" for the day. Should be a great experience.