4/25/04

By Jaxson

• February 18, 2007

Having been on only one cruise, you could say we were easily impressed.We arrived the morning of the cruise on a red-eye flight from NY.By the time we got to Ft. Lauderdale , it was already 11:00.There was a Princess rep. right there at the baggage claim area and she proceeded to explain what to do and where to go to meet the transfer to the ship.All went very smooth!As we got close to the pier,we could see the back of the ship and instantly we were in awe! We unloaded from the bus and got right in line to embarkation.It moved rather quickly and we were checked in in about 20 minutes.

As soon as we boarded, we went straight to our cabin with our carry-0n bags that contained our bathing suits and a change of clothes.It was very warm and we thought we would go for a swim and explore the ship and grab some lunch.Our cabin was on Lido deck so we didn't have to go far to the grill for a burger and fries.It was pretty good!I must say that the pizza served on the same deck by the grill was very tasty too and we had this for lunch the rest of the week!We had excursions planned and didn't want to have to worry about running back and changing to go to dining room for lunch.We would save that for dinner later.Went to the Promenade Bar at the back of the ship and got a bar-hopping card(never filled the thing) and played a few games of ping-pong.

About 4:00 went back to cabin to find our luggage had arrived safely.Put things away and went back out for the sail-away at 5:00.What a great send-off!Very impressive to see all the cruise ships leaving one after another!Decided to eat at Horizon court,then check out the casino.The food at Horizon Court was very good and plenty of things to choose from!We ate here every night except both formal nights which we ate in the DaVinci dining room.After a long day of traveling,called it a night early( mid-night)Day 2: Arrived at Princess Cay at 7:00 am.What a beautiful place! Went to explorers lounge where we got our tender tickets and only waited about 10 minutes for our nombers to be called.Tendering went very smooth and we were on the Island in about 1/2 hour.

Found a couple of lounge chairs under a nice palm tree and just relaxed for awhile.We also rented a clear-hulled kayak for 1/2 hour and had a blast looking at all the fish underneath.About 11:30 they started serving the bar-b-que lunch which was very good.We just relaxed all day on the beach and had a few beers until it was time to board the ship again.Went back and lounged by the pool until about 6:00 and then went to our cabin to clean up for dinner.After dinner we took in a show in the theater,which was very cute and entertaining!Went to the casino for awhile,then a walk around the deck and back for a drink on our balcony before bed.It was so relaxing to sit on that balcony at night and just listen to the waves.Day 3:first sea day so we had breakfast delivered to our cabin and took our time going out to the pool.We had breakfast brought to our room every morning and ate it right in bed or on the balcony.We thought we might have trouble getting a couple of chairs but there were plenty to choose from.

They had pool games and they were great fun to watch.Spent the day having drink-of-the-day specials and relaxing.First formal night was tonight and we had our picture done and got seated right away in the dining room with 4 other couples.It was nice to meet people and found that one of the couples only lived about 20 minutes away back home!What a small world.Took in another show,a comedian, then off to the casino.

Day 4:Arrived at Grand Cayman at 7:00 am and got right up and out ready to tender as we had an excursion planned with a private co. called Nativeway,run by a local Caymanian by the name of Eldon Banks and his wife Sharon.They were right there at the dock waiting and got us all together quickly and headed out to the marina.They had small groups on their boats,about 10-15 people on each one so it was more 1-on-1.We noticed the ship tour boats had about 50 people crammed on theirs.Looked like a bunch of cattle herded together and didn't look like much fun.I am glad I researched all this before we left.After the sting-ray city swim and snorkle they took us out to the North Barrier Reef to snorkle and the guide coaxed a moray eel out of a cave and played with the thing!Very impressive! Got back to the marina and headed back to town for some lunch and shopping.What a beautiful place! Went back to the ship about 4:30 and lounged by the pool before getting ready for dinner.

We had chosen PC dining so it didn't matter when or where we went or at what time. It made it that much more relaxing.Another show after dinner and a nice walk before a nite-cap on our balcony.Day:5 Docked at Costa Maya at 10:00.We watched it dock from our balcony and saw dolphins playing in the side ballasts that they used to dock the ship.We were a little intimidated seeing federales driving around the ship with machine guns but this must be all routine for everyone and good for safety I guess.Iguess we were not impressed that much with this port,really not alot to do at this port so we shopped a little and swam in the pool in the center of town.Went back to the ship a little early and enjoyed having the pool to ourselves for awhile.

Day 6: Arrived in Cozumel at 7:00 am and got right out to the dock as we had booked the royal dolphin swim in Chaankanaab Park.This was so great and will do it again in the future!Was well worth the money,did all kinds of neat tricks with the dolphins and had 1/2 hour of free swim afterwards with them.The beach at the park is beautiful and we enjoyed authentic nachos and margarhitas at a little place on the beach while a mariachi band strolled around serenading all of us!Then took a taxi back to the Pier and had another magarhita at Panchos Backyard,What a great Place, great drinks!Then went to Fat Tuesdays for a few more margarhitas and Dh had to help guide me back to the ship.What a good tome!Tonight is second formal night so rested up and got dressed and met a few other couples we had met for dinner,again in the DaVinci room.

They had great food and I was very impressed with the friendly service!Day 7: Sea day again, needed it to rest up from the last three days!Island fun night is tonight.We reserved a table for 2 tonight and had a most romantic dinner and then headed out to the back of the ship where it was transformed into a big party deck.They gave us streamers to throw and it was just alot of fun!To-night seemed to be our lucky night in the casino and we won back all the money we had spent all week in there!Then just strolled around on the decks and enjoyed our last night on board before going back to cabin to get luggage ready for tomorrow.

After showering and going to Horizon Court for breakfast,they called our color fairly quickly and we were off the ship in about 15 minutes with everything going very smooth.Found our luggage right away( I had put very colorful zipperpull toys from the kids happy meals from McDonalds so it was easy to pick out those furbys hanging on the handles!)Got right on our transfer to Miami and flew out by noon.

Everything was just as expected as I had all the great advice from the message boards beforehand! What a great trip and we can't wait until the next one! Thank You Princess!!!