This was our first Mediterranean cruise. I've sailed with Celebrity 1x and Princess 3x in the Caribbean. We opted to go with Princess even though we saw mediocre reviews for this ship, Royal Princess. The itinerary and dates worked well for us, so we thought, let's give it a try.

We used a car service to get from Rome to the ship, which wasn't cheap, but started the trip off stress-free and in comfort. The boarding process was a snap! We packed lightly and each of the three of us had one piece which we carried on, so when we got to our room, we had everything there and were able to immediately unpack and move into our cabin. Highly recommend doing this-there is a laundry room on the ship and since we were touring Italy and Switzerland for another week post-cruise, traveling light is the way to go.

The stateroom, a deluxe balcony E412 was sold as obstructed view, but there was no obstruction whatsoever. This room is right at mid-ship, and there are angled balconies where are slightly larger. There are at least 10 cabins mid ship on the Emerald deck that have zero obstruction. So glad we saved several hundred and booked this one. I've been in mini suites before and the smaller room was a bit tight for 3 of us, but honestly, it was fine for the amount of time we actually spent in there! My only criticism is that if you have a cabin for 3, they should provide 3 deck chairs for sitting on balcony. Read more