As is usually the case, we waited pretty much until the last moment to book this cruise, as my wife's work does not allow too much advance planning. As we had been on the Emerald less than a year before, we pretty much knew what to expect. We flew into Ft. Lauderdale the night before the cruise left and took refuge in the Springhill suites, which we've used before and highly recommend. Across the street is a large shopping center with a BJ's and a diner with pretty good fare. One caution is it does look like a pretty rough neighborhood, though we have never had a bit of trouble. Women should not go out alone after dark, however. There is a Catholic Church a 25 minute walk away, incidentally. The hotel provides transport to the pier, which is just minutes away. Boarding was quite easy but not as quick as we were used to. There was quite a bit of confusion at the check in counters, where we thought only Platinum/Black members would be. Once to the counter, all went quickly. Our cabin was forward, not a place I favor, but on short notice we couldn't complain. Princess asks for info on bed preferences, but then ignores the request. Not a big deal but I sensed our steward was a bit annoyed that she had to make the twins into a queen. Too bad. After that, she was just fine for the rest of the trip. The cabin was fine as was the balcony. I like the upper decks on the Emerald as there is cover which the mini-suites below lack. We had a mini-suite on the Grand earlier this year, a very nice cabin but with no privacy on the balcony. I took my first Princess cruise on the old Pacific Princess back in 1986 and I thought the food was excellent. Sorry to say the food now is perfectly adequate, but hardly excellent. My pet peeve is that food which by its very nature should be well seasoned usually isn't. I have learned never to order jerk chicken, for example, as it is very bland when it should be spicy. I don't mean burn your tongue hot, either, just tasty with good spice flavor. Same with Thai soup and several other items. If your stomach is delicate, have no fear and go ahead and order them. If you like spicy food, forget it. The waiters' only solution is to provide a bottle of Tabasco, which adds heat but not real flavor. Surprisingly, the pasta puttanesca which calls for spice was very spicy and very excellent. I guess it's a crap shoot. We had anytime dining and the meal the first night was disappointing, but after that every meal was quite good, though my wife had some difficulty with a piece of fillet Mignon one night. Overall the food on board was good to very good. The Horizon provides good variety 24 hours a day; the pizzeria is better than anything we can get at home, as we live in the South where good pizza really doesn't exist. Desserts have certainly improved; some of them not only look inviting, but really have some taste which wasn't the case years ago. The wait staff was universally excellent on this trip. And the wine list included enough reasonably priced bottles that we ordered it 3 times and made a bottle last for 2 sittings. The sushi/tapas bar was providing an order of either with each glass of wine. I don't know if this was a special on our cruise or if it's permanent. It got our business on 2 nights, though. This cruise was taken solely for relaxation so I can't help with on land tours. We mostly hung around and disembarked only to do a bit of half hearted shopping which became a big ticket item in one case. Princess pushes various jewelry shops, one diamond shop chain in particular. On previous cruises my wife had bought some fairly expensive items at a small shop in St. Kitts and we are very pleased with them. On this trip we wound up in this diamond shop in St. Maarten and wound up purchasing a big ticket diamond solitaire. I mean big ticket. Without belaboring the point, be very careful of what you buy, very careful. We were in a rush that day and did not exercise the best judgement for such a large purchase. The salesman was borderline sleazy and although the shopping queen on board gave assurances that all her shops were on the up and up, in fact this place, I discovered upon returning home, does not have the best reputation. I am surprised that any of the cruise lines support it; they must get a nice cut of the take. We wound up being very lucky as an appraisal back home showed our purchase was 23% under the replacement value of the ring. But, believe me, I had a few restless nights thinking of how stupid I was and how I probably was taken to the cleaners. Be very careful. Impulse shopping in a foreign country is not wise Disembarkation was very smooth. We handled our own bags and left the ship at about 7:15 AM, got a taxi very easily, and were at the airport in time to catch a 9AM flight. All in all, it was a very nice cruise and we'll do Princess again in the very near future-a 26 day cruise in December and a 10 day in March. After all, we're very close to being Elite travelers so spending many thousands to get our shoes polished and our clothes washed makes perfect sense, doesn't it? LoL