We took the 7 day Southern Caribbean cruise on the Grand Princess from Ft Lauderdale. This will be a little lengthy review because I want to cover everything and address frequent issues brought up by other reviewers. First off let me put this all in prospective. We are a couple with me being 40 and my partner 39 and this was our 4th cruise with Princess. This was a vacation so you should relax and enjoy. And for what my partner and I paid, it boiled down to $397 a day for us both. Where else can you get a 7 day vacation with lodging, entertainment, great sights and endless food for $397 a day?

Ft Lauderdale: We flew down on Friday prior to the cruise to enjoy 1 day in Ft Lauderdale before getting on our cruise. We stayed at the W Hotel Ft Lauderdale. Over all a nice hotel with great views and would probably stay there again. Sat morning we got up, got ready, and headed to the port using taxis. We debated on having a van come get the 6 of us, but 2 taxis worked just fine and were probably faster.

Embarkation: We arrived at the port at about 1135. The porters took our bags from the taxi trunk and immediately loaded them directly in the luggage crates. We didn't even have to touch our bags but don't forget to tip your porter. In the terminal, the line for security wasn't too long and moved pretty quickly. Probably 5-10 minutes. After security you were herded in a queue to wait until noon to go upstairs to the check-in lines. If you were priority you could go immediately upstairs. With only a dozen people in front of us, once the doors opened and we got upstairs the check-in lines were fast. We were on the ship by 1215 so this was a quick and efficient check-in process. Read more