Background I am 42 and have cruised previously on P&O Aurora, Oriana and Ocean Village. My partner 37 has not cruised before. We chose the Emerald Princess for the Caribbean itinerary (although for a first cruise I was worried that the ship may be a little too big) We decided to book a suite for pure indulgence and chose our cabin Suite E732 VS category (AFT) which was the only suite available when we booked at the end of March 2007. I am going to try and write this thread from my experience and also that of a first timer. So apologies now if this starts to get confusing.

Pre Cruise We arranged our own flights through Virgin Atlantic (this cruise offered a small reduction for a 'cruise only' holiday) and flew from Gatwick to Orlando. We had pre booked our hire car (full tank of petrol included) and 1 nights accommodation in the Quality Inn on International Drive (basic hotel room but a good location).

The flight left Gatwick in the afternoon 2 hours late. After arriving at Orlando International Airport, picking up the rental car and driving to hotel we got into our room at about 8.30pm. Had a snack in a bar and went to sleep. Woke up early 5am (a mixture of excitement and time differences) and grabbed breakfast and headed off to Fort Lauderdale. Read more