Pre Cruise - We flew on Delta to FLL and were picked up by friends at the airport who were taking the cruise with us. We stayed at the Embassy Suites the night before our cruise. This proved to be a great choice for comfort, services, and location. We had a short drive to Port Everglades the next morning to unload and park. We were the first to arrive at the terminal, and went straight to processing and boarding the ship. This was the fastest and easiest embarkation ever! We were in our room shortly after 11:00 A.M.

Cabin - We had a midship mini-suite on the Dolphin deck. We have had this each time we have cruised with Princess and find it most comfortable. Our steward kept our room clean and well stocked throughout our cruise. Our friends had the room next door, and we were both delighted with the comfortable beds. We had experienced the new mattresses on the Star in June, and were expecting cement again. We were pleasantly surprised! We now know that all the beds are NOT the same. This could account for all the differences in opinions on the new mattresses. The only disappointment was discovering we did not have a connecting door to our friends' balcony next door. We usually cruise together and have found this quite convenient for getting together. All the balconies on the Island do not have connecting doors. Some do. We had never experienced this before on the larger ships.

Dining - We ate breakfast and lunch each day in the buffet, Horizon Court. We enjoyed our meals here and never had a problem finding a table. My husband even managed to find grits each morning. He did have to ask for them, but they always had them. We had Anytime Dining each evening. We only had to wait a couple of minutes one evening to be seated. We had excellent service and enjoyed most of the selections. After having cruised with Princess numerous times, we are familiar with the choices, and know what we prefer. We did get lunch at the grill one day and enjoyed the hamburgers and hot dogs. Read more