We have just returned from our 10-day Southern Caribbean itinerary aboard Emerald Princess and had a wonderful cruise. We are in our early 50's, reasonably fit and active and it was our third Princess cruise (7 day Western Carib on Crown P in 2010 and 10 day Eastern Carib on Emerald P in 2011). We had a wonderful time and have nothing but praise for Princess and for the crew of the Emerald.
Booking
We booked with an agency that had good consumer feedback and provided very close to the best price/OBC quote for the cabin category (Inside Double) that we wanted. Unfortunately there was confusion in the telephone conversations between me and the Agent and the OBC amount was $100 less than I was expecting ($250 vs $350). Over several weeks I tried to work through the problem, first with the Agent and then with the President of the firm. In the end we agreed to disagree on who was right/wrong, but I commend the company for their willingness to interact with me (multiple email and phone calls including audio files of all our telephone calls!). A bit of a rocky start to the cruise but from then on everything went exceptionally well.
Very functional. Being at the very front we could feel some pitch and roll but it wasn't terrible. Also a bit of noise from the front of the ship but once again, not terrible.