My wife, myself and my in-laws were aboard the January 2, 2005, sailing of the Star Princess to the Western Caribbean, departing from Fort Lauderdale, Florida. This was our sixth cruise overall and our first on Princess. It was great to escape our New York weather for a week, trading the 30- and 40-degree temperatures for the low 80's of the sunny Caribbean. The ports of call on this seven night cruise were: Costa Maya, Mexico (substituting for the previously scheduled Princess Cay, a private beach for Princess guests that is still recuperating from last summer's hurricane season); Cozumel, Mexico; Grand Cayman; and Ocho Rios, Jamaica.
Let's begin with EMBARKATION. We took an early (6:35 a.m.) flight from New York, arriving in Florida at approximately 9:30 a.m. We quickly found the Princess representative in the Fort Lauderdale Airport who informed us that transfers to the ship would begin between 11:00-11:30 a.m. We were pleased, as we were hoping to beat the crowds and get on the ship as early as possible. Unfortunately, there was a delay and transfers from the airport did not start until approximately an hour later than that. So we had to kill 2 1/2 hours in Fort Lauderdale airport, with little to do. At about 12:10, we were transferred to a bus and were at the ship terminal around 12:30. We then realized our worst fear: a long line of people snaked out of the terminal. It would take forever to get on the ship, we thought.
Actually, this wasn't the case. Once inside the terminal, we found a separate set of check-in representatives for each deck of the ship. We went directly to the representatives for the deck where our cabins were located (Baja, deck 11) and were checked in quickly. MAJOR kudos to Princess for doing it this way. Other cruise lines should take note. Separate the passengers out by the decks on which their cabins are located instead of having everyone pile onto the same lines.