Caribbean Princess Review
Carnival Cruiser First Time with Princess
Rating by category
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I was originally looking at 10 day cruises but due to lack of vacation time I had to reduce it to 7 days. I looked at Princess, Royal Caribbean and Norwegian Cruise lines. I chose Princess because they were a brand that I wanted to try, I was not familiar with the Royal Caribbean ship (Vision of the Seas) that I was considering for the 10 day, it was a smaller ship and I'm not a fan of the NCL Sun although a good cruise can be had on that ship. When I booked the cruise with Princess, they had a sale on and in addition, I was given a discount because I had sailed on Carnival Cruise Line (Carnival and Princess are owned by Carnival Corporation).
On my first cruise I was so tired by the end of the first day on the ship that I missed activities. I now fly in the day before embarkation and relax. This time I flew into Fort Lauderdale and booked the Best Western Plus Oakland Park. The hotel is the type where the rooms are outside. The hotel received bad reviews on Cruise Critic and other sources. I was amazed when I opened the door to my room. It looked better than some other brands upscale rooms for almost twice the price. The free shuttle from the airport to the hotel and from the hotel to the port was great. The hotel had a swimming pool inside a high security fence and a bar at the end of the pool. There was also a coin laundry in the building opposite the office. The office staff was very helpful and professional. There was a hot breakfast (free) the next morning with scrambled eggs, sausage and breads (cereal was available as well as coffee and juice).
The major plus for me is that I like a hotel that is within walking distance of restaurants and stores so that I can pick up last minute items for the cruise. There was a shopping mall at the next corner (within sight of the hotel) and good food near it. The Coral Mall has a Publix Supermarket, Target and several other stores inside the mall. There was a Wendy's half a block down one street from the mall and the best sub/pizza shop across from Target; Time Square Pizza. They had the best Italian sub (great bread, filled with meat and cheese) with a drink for $8. I wish that I could have gone by there on the way to the airport but it was too far.