My husband and I just returned from our March 31st sailing on the Crown Princess. We are in our early to mid 30's and do not have children. I am a school nurse so I must travel during peak season. Unfortunately, that means putting up with kids on our vacations! We have been on 2 cruises prior (Norwegian and Carnival). We were booked on the Star Princess last spring but our voyage was cancelled due to the fire 2 weeks prior to our sailing. Princess gave us roughly $450 off this sailing and upgraded us from Balcony BG to Balcony BB due to our inconvenience last year (classy move). This was our first time with a balcony and it will not be the last. Balcony cabins are the only way to go!

Due to both of our schedules, we flew down to Puerto Rico the morning of the cruise. Trying to save $500 we booked a flight with a connection in Memphis, TN (never again). We figured we had plenty of time for error considering we had until 9pm to board the ship. Well, lucky for us we had that extra time... Our flight from NJ was on time. Our flight from Memphis was on time. Unfortunately, as we were 70 minutes away from Puerto Rico, the pilot turned the plane around and headed north. A passenger appeared to be having a heart attack and we had to make an emergency medical landing in Miami (the passenger appeared to improve prior to his departure from the plane). Due to this unfortunate delay we arrived at the ship (with our Princess transfer) and were onboard by 7:45pm.

We booked the Crown Princess for three major reasons: #1 for the itinerary, #2 for an upscale ship and attentive service, and #3 for quality of food. Two of the three criteria were met. I will break it down into a few categories that were important to us. Read more