We chose this cruise as it began the day I retired, and it was a 30 day South America cruise on the Emerald Princess.It included the opportunity to take an excursion to Machu Picchu (two nights off the ship).

We embarked in Buenos Aires after a redeye flight. It was a painful 5 hours from airport to ship, but largely not Princess's fault. Immigration was a long slow wait, followed by a slightly confusing customs inspection. The airport was pretty chaotic and it was hard to find the Princess representatives (we used their transfer service). On past cruises, we found this quite easy, but here they were hard to find, poor communication, and long wait for the buses. Then a long drive to the ship (cannot blame them for BA traffic). At the port, things improved--however we had to undergo Argentina customs a second time for some strange reason (again, no fault of Princess).

We found our cabin fairly quickly and our steward was nearby to introduce himself. The bags came within the hour. We had a mini-suite, which gives a nice seating area and balcony. We were in D206. The bed is fantastic! The Princess improved beds deserve lots of praise. The furniture was fine but has seen better days with a fair number of scratches etc. Although the balcony is not covered, we never felt exposed or looked down on. There are high walls between them. It did not bother us but there is a bit of rust outside. The bathroom is fine. There was a full tub/shower combination and plenty of counter and storage space. There is one electrical outlet in the bathroom. Read more