This was a "trial" cruise. To see how cruising suited us (because there are some places we would like to go that cruises seem to be the best option). Either we were very lucky or very smart :-) but we picked Princess. For a 7 day trial cruise in the eastern Caribbean. NOT that we were interested in the eastern Caribbean (been there many times), but just to see how cruising agreed with us. Well, it was very agreeable. Princess upgraded our cabin 2 levels (marketing smarts) so we got a nice cabin with balcony on the "Emerald Princess". Beautiful ship. Great quality food, dining rooms, shopping, bars, pools. A few observations on ship: - staff were excellent - "speciality" restaurants were hard to make reservations, even though they looked half empty whenever we tried - nothing telling us details of where we were at sea for the most part (could have supplied maps or something) - food was top quality - dining room service was top quality (mostly eastern Europeans from Baltic crossing - steward (Robert) the best - could have included navigational info on TV or daily updates - cafe on lobby level charged for coffee (should be included) but not baked goods...go figure - charged for fruit juices on ship (should be included) - here's my advice Princess...only charge for booze...DO NOT charge for any other drinks anywhere, anytime...for example, DO NOT charge for juices or coffees of any type, anywhere...it just seems petty