Royal Princess Review
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This was our 36th cruise and 9th on Princess. We have also sailed Carnival, Holland America, Royal Caribbean, Costa, and MSC. We went as a family of 7 for our Spring Break. We chose this 10 day cruise because of the ship and it’s itinerary of St.Thomas, Martinique, Grenada, Bonaire and Aruba. We have never been to Grenada or Bonaire and were excited to see something different. We were also scheduled to stop at Princess Cay but it was storming and the tender boats were having difficulties getting to the ship, so we just kept going.
We flew into Fort Myers on the Thursday Night and drove to Fort Lauderdale the following morning. We stayed at the CourtYard in Weston, which was clean and recently renovated. It was fairly close to the Sawgrass Mall. We rented a car from Alamo and they provided a shuttle to the cruise port the next morning.
Embarkation: It was quick and the port staff were pleasant. We got there around 10:30 AM and got to utilize the platinum embarkation lounge which was a nice start to the cruise. We were on the ship by 11:30 AM. We went straight to the International Cafe for lunch.
Cabin Review
Port Reviews
Fort Lauderdale (Port Everglades)
Stayed at the Courtyard in Westen. Clean and close to sawgrass mall. Rented a car from Alamo and they provide a shuttle to the port for free. Embarkation was quick and we were on the ship by 11:30 AM.
St. Thomas
St. Thomas: We tried something new and took the water taxi to St.John. St. Thomas is still a beautiful island but it is evident that they are still recovering from the hurricanes. It took us about 3 hours in transit to get to Trunk Bay in St. John. We took the 2 dollar bus from the cruise port to the ferry dock (Red-hook). The ferry cost 18 dollars roundtrip and from there we took a taxi to Trunk Bay
Martinique
We took the Water Taxi over to the Anse L’ane beach. The ship docked at the dock outside of the main city, so it is about a 15 minute walk to the other pier where the Water Taxi was. Water Taxi Fee was 5 dollars each way. We got off at the first stop, which was less crowded and less commercialized then the beach at the second stop. This beach had some great snorkelling.
Grenada
We took the Water Taxi that you take right from the cruise pier to Grand Anse Beach. Water Taxi was five dollars one way. Great way to spend the morning that we were docked there for.
Bonaire
We rented 2 golf carts from Bonaire Cruisers and toured around the island. It cost roughly 100 dollars for one cart. We stopped at Bachelor Beach for snorkeling and Soroban Beach to see the wind surfers. We also saw some donkeys and flamingo wildlife which was pretty amazing.
Aruba
Took the 5 dollar city bus and spent the day at Eagle Beach