THE CRUISE: I've sailed before with RCCL and NCL and I chose Princess this time because it is marketed as being a step above, as well as more mature/adult oriented. In reality, I think RCCL and NCL cater to families with children and adults aged 21 - 50. I think Princess caters to families with children and adults aged 50+. All three of them have entertainment for children, special areas for children, and the major pools and hot tubs are dominated by children. I did not feel like Princess was any better than the other two lines, in fact I thought NCL has had the nicest ships and RCCL has had the best service and itineraries. The only thing Princess does well is food, albeit inconsistently. I may be spoiled having seen the Blue Man Group and Cirque Du Soleil on the NCL EPIC, but the entertainment on this ship was pitiful. I felt like I was watching a high school musical.

Being in our early 30's, my husband and I didn't feel like we fit in at all on this cruise, at least on the other ships, we felt like we had a place. The music played in the clubs and on deck were oldies that my 70 year old dad would have enjoyed, but nothing for anyone younger.

This cruise had three ports of call (Princess Cays, Curacao, Aruba). Due to windy conditions, we missed Princess Cays. I wasn't too upset about it, because the captain got us to Curacao early to make up for the missed port. However, this left us with 4 days at sea. The ship was crowded, everywhere you went you had to wait in a line. Out of the four days at sea, we were only able to get a deck chair on one. If you aren't willing to break the rules and be aggressive and possibly confrontational, you will not get a deck chair on this cruise. Likewise, a lot of the shows, in spite of the fact they were terrible, filled up early and if you didn't arrive to an event at least 30 minutes in advance you were often left standing or turned away. Read more