We are just off the September 10-17 sailing of the Caribbean Princess. Although my wife has cruised more times than I have, this was my fourth cruise and the third in as many years. Prior to this vacation, we had sailed the Explorer of the Seas in '03 and her sister ship Mariner last year. In addition to cruising we have both traveled the Caribbean many times and have always stayed in upscale properties.

We arrived at the dock around 11:00 AM, embarkation went smoothly and we were in our stateroom by about 12:15. A nice touch was white gloved crew members awaiting our arrival and guiding us to our cabin. We were booked into cabin C743 which is the last balcony stateroom on the starboard side of the ship. The balcony is slightly larger than others on the Caribe deck and felt very expansive. The room was nicely proportioned and decorated with a subdued tropical ambiance. We were soon greeted by Elena, our cabin attendant, who turned out to be one of the highlights of our Princess experience. She was friendly, attentive and despite our constant efforts to the contrary, kept our room spotless.

As we began to explore the ship, we both found the layout to be somewhat frustrating and confusing due to difficulty in getting from one part of the ship to another. This was due to unexpected dead ends, having to go up or down a level and then return to the original level because of some designed in detour and/or corridors being jammed at peak times with all traffic being funneled into a small space. While we had looked forward to exploring the ship and seeing the different design elements, there was never anything about it that really took our breath away or made us stop and stare in appreciation. Read more