We have cruised on Costa (1), Holland America (1), and Royal Caribbean (3); this was our first cruise on Princess.

Our sailing was out of Ft Lauderdale, my wife and I were sailing with 2 other related family members. We had scheduled 8 hours of travel time but due to heavy fog in Baltimore our flight was delayed by 4 hours, we became nervous about 1:00 PM knowing we would need to be shipside by 3:30 PM to board. We finally arrived in Ft Lauderdale and deplaned at 3: 15. My wife and I depressingly sure we were going to "Miss the Boat". We had agreed as a contingency plan, to try to get to Aruba if Princess pulled anchor without us. Maybe there we could try to get onboard and resume the rest of the cruise. Our travel agent also helped to keep Princess Representatives informed of our travel delay and our expected time of arrival in Ft. Lauderdale.

We found the last Princess Representative patiently waiting for us at baggage claim. Our luggage, which seemed to take forever to reach the carousel, finally arrived. Asking if we were still going to make it to the boat on time she seemed desperately rushed but optimistic in her responses to our questions about the exact time of sailing. She was on a radio and giving a play by play to another Princess Representative (who we believe was shipside). After a short "bag drag" we found we were the only ones on the bus with a 10 to 15 minute time distance to shipside check in. Upon arriving to the Port, our luggage was grabbed up right from the bus. Clearance and check in was hurried and expedited, we reached the gang plank at 3:45 and were delightfully relieved to be "on the boat". We were escorted to our rooms during the life saving drill and given instructions to wait for the second drill in one of the designated areas; thank goodness it was the lounge. As we toasted to our amazed accomplishment and luck, we noticed the Island Princess underway. I noted that my watch read 4:15 PM. Read more