This was my 7th. cruise and my second on Princess. This is how cruising should be and was better than my cruise in 2010. Mind you, anything was better than last years (see my review Celebrity Infinity October 2010 Panama Canal). The ship had a refit in May of this year but the internal decor and general layout of the ship is much the same as the Golden Princess (and the rest of the "Grand" class of Princess ships). We sailed from Miami to go around the eastern Caribbean visiting Princess Cays (a private island owned by Princess), US Virgin Islands, Dominica, Grenada, Bonaire and Aruba. The weather did not get off to a good start as we caught the end of a tropical storm out of Miami which lasted a couple of days. But the temperature was in the high 20's/low 30's so I can't complain!
Embarkation. An absolute doddle! Despite the fact that I didn't have a boarding pass-I refused to input my credit card details to allow me to print it off at home. I was asked for my boarding pass and when they found out that I didn't have one, I was redirected to a secondary queue in which I was given a small form to fill out and told to go onto the main embarkation lines. The whole process was extremely well organised and took less that 20 minutes. I was given my room keycard and boarded the ship.
PLEASE NOTE: Princess, like every other cruise line, makes a charge on your onboard account of between $10 and $15 per person, per day-this includes children!. On Princess, this is called a "Hotel Charge". This charge is put on EVERY passengers account-and is distributed amongst the staff as "gratuities". For a family of four, based on a charge of $10 per person/day for a 10 day cruise, this will cost $400 (around £300) on top of your onboard spending. If you don't know about this, it could come as quite a shock. The first thing you must do is go to the Guest Relations desk and ask to be removed from this charge. Princess cannot refuse to do this if a guest asks to be removed. You will then be free to tip as you see fit and not as Princess wants you to.
My cabin was an oceanview with a (partially obscured) window. This felt very light, spacious and airy. The general fixtures and fittings were very good with loads of cupboard, drawer and shelving space. A small safe is also provided in every cabin. The bathroom consisted of a toilet, wash basin and a shower. Perfectly adequate for a holiday room.