First of all, about the ship. The ship's overall material condition was good. Plenty of fresh paint everywhere. Being a Navy guy, I know how difficult it is to keep a ship in good shape being at sea all the time, but I thought Princess was doing a good job. Some of the carpet inside the ship was ready for replacement, but things were by no means shabby. For any cruise newbies, I always bring some sort of solid air freshener for the bathroom. It keeps things smelling nice.

After seven previous cruises (3 with Princess), this was the first time we went alone. In the past, it was lots of family and friends. Our son is in college and we needed some alone time. What a great decision! We met a bunch of great folks on the trip and had a wonderful time at dinner. We did anytime dining, so we got to sit with different people. One weird small-world story -- we sat at a table where one of the ladies there grew up ten miles away from our home town.

Princess makes a ton of money off their art sales, and we have done the last two cruises on the Emerald with Jay, who is fantastic. The Ruby art guy is nice enough, but can't hold a candle to Jay. The dude is 60 and needs to get an adult haircut. His perm was so over the top it made him look silly. Also, I didn't like getting screwed with $100 shipping charge on a small/med size picture. I think art sales were way down from past trips, partly because of this guy. He just didn't connect with the people. There was also little new art available; most was the same stuff we have seen on past cruises. Read more