We have always booked exclusively for itinerary and not the ship, but now we are going to change that to both. The itinerary was Princess Cays, St. Thomas, Dominica, St Vincent and the Grenadines, Barbados, Guadeloupe, and Antigua.

Antigua was such a pleasant surprise and it really stole the show for us! Such a breathtakingly beautiful island with super friendly locals. We took an excursion through Princess and it did not disappoint. St. Thomas, Barbados, and Dominica were also amazing and we took Princess excursions there as well. In St. Vincent and the Grenadines we hired a taxi tour right outside the port and it was a GREAT decision! We saw almost the entire island and got to go to all the best spots at a fraction of the cost as an excursion. The cab was spotless clean and the driver was incredibly friendly and stopped anywhere we wanted to hop out to take photos. Only disappointment was Guadaloupe, we had planned on doing another taxi tour here, but the taxis we tried to get wouldn't take US currency, didn't speak English, or the river was so rude we just said no thanks. The vendors at and around the cruise port were also hit and miss. Some extremely rude, some very nice. Most vendors couldn't or wouldn't speak English, only French. So, we ended up not venturing far from the cruise port and after about an hour or 2 of rude locals, we went back to the ship. We spoke with several others that had the same experience we did. If you speak French and take Euros, you will probably enjoy this port. Our cabin neighbors were traveling with a friend who spoke French and they had a great time on Guadaloupe.

Before I get in to things that were not amazing, I want to say we are typically not complainers and typically just roll with any minor issues that might arise on a cruise. As far as the ship goes, we had some issues. The A/C in our cabin barely worked and the cabin was too hot for the entire cruise. Our awesome cabin steward brought us a fan that made a HUGE difference and made the temperature in the room tolerable for the most part and we just never actually slept under the covers on the bed. We also had issues with the toilet in the cabin. It would randomly continuously flush itself at times, then wouldn't flush at all other times. The furniture was beat up and in desperate need of replacement. This was also the first(out of 5) Princess ship we cruised on where the bed and pillows were uncomfortable. Even with all the cabin issues, the Service desk told us they had no other Balcony Cabins(or higher) available to move us to. So we were stuck with the one we had(My wife is claustrophobic so interior cabins are not an option for us). The service desk did offer us Future cruise credit for the inconvenience and it was actually very generous so we gladly accepted. The over all condition of the ship was hit and miss. The venues are still beautiful and are well maintained. There are some visible signs of wear like paint pulling up around the elevator doors or a little rust spots here and there. But, for the age of this ship, we found it quite nice. The only other complaint was the overwhelming amount of smoke in and around the casino. There is little to no ventilation in the casino. So even the "non smoking side" was filled with smoky air. It actually seems criminal of Princess to expose its employees to be put in such an environment for hours and hours on end with no escape from the choking amount of smoke in the casino. This is also a major issue we have had on other Princess ships. Read more