Our objective was to tour Great Britain for our 20th anniversary, but how to do it? By bus? With a tour group? How about a cruise, stopping at various cities and taking our hotel - the cruise ship - with us? We had never sailed on Princess, but they were the only ones offering a British Isles cruise. Go for it!

On a scale of 1 to 10, I give Caribbean Princess 9.6. For the first time we discovered laundromats - one on each deck. We did laundry twice. Very important since we were spending five days in London after the cruise. Also important: in spite of shaky weather and lots of tenders, Captain West did not miss any ports. Too often Captains blithely sail right past ports because the water is "a bit too choppy" and they fear for the passengers' safety in transferring from the ship to the tender. The night before we sailed for Belfast we encountered extraordinarily high winds and Captain West rightly stayed in port. We didn't leave for Belfast until early the next morning, and we got there late, but in time to tender off the ship and visit the city.

The Cruise Director and his staff were another plus. Generally Cruise Directors are the "star of the show" and staff members dutifully carry out their responsibilities. On the Princess, everyone got into the act. It was fun going to the games and activities just to see them in action. Read more