This was our 9th cruise on Princess - we have never taken another cruise line so can't really make any comparisons.
Flew in the night before the cruise - arrived at the port around 12:30pm and were in our cabin by 1pm. Met up with our friends (we actually met them on our very first cruise and now we meet up with them for all our cruise vacations) and had lunch in the dining room for the first time on embarkation day - no one really knows that it's open for sailaway day so it was a quiet and relaxing way to start off the cruise. Plus, they had Nutella ice cream for dessert which was so amazing the desserts the rest of the week paled in comparison.
PORTS: Princess Cays is just okay - food is passable but the water is too cold and beach too rocky for us to enjoy. We did the Rhino Rider boat trip (2-person boats you get to drive yourself) in St. Martin and it was so much fun. My husband talked me into the BOSS excursion in St. Thomas - basically an underwater helmet dive where you are sitting on a scooter that you drive through the water. I hated it because I felt claustrophobic in the helmet (which was why I didn't want to do it in the first place) and my husband ended up NOT even doing it - he stuck his head in, and got right out again! But I heard others on the boat say that it was their favorite excursion of all time - different strokes. Grand Turk was the best snorkeling we ever did - lots of beautiful fish and a spectacular reef - we would love to go back there.