BACKGROUND: My wife and I are Platinum with Princess and took this cruise as a mid winter break. Our TA got us an upgrade to mini-suite on deck 8 (Emerald) just over the Club Fusion and extra $$ for OBC (kudos to Carol)! The itinerary included Grand Cayman and Cozumel. Since I am a former teacher (5 years was enough) I decided to give letter grades for each component I reviewed.

ARRIVAL + FORT LAUDERDALE: We arrived a day early and stayed at the Oakland Park Best Western. The shuttle was $5 p/p from airport to the hotel. The hotel might seem a bit dated but the rooms are clean, the location is excellent being close to Coral Ridge Mall, restaurants and a Publix grocery/wine/liquor store. The continental breakfast was very good with a variety of items. B+

SHUTTLE AND EMBARKATION: We took the hotel shuttle to the pier ($5 p/p) at 2:00 PM and arrived to no lines whatsoever so we didn’t need our Platinum priority status. As a result, it was all so painless and cabins were ready – WOW that was easy! Embarkation = A Read more