Our Family's Cruise on the Emerald Princess

Ok, so for people that have never been on a cruise before or are curious about Princess Cruise Lines of Love Boat fame and their ship, the Emerald Princess, this post is for you!

Yep, that's her right there!  This is the point where I have to put in all the obligatory information: launched in 2007, the Emerald Princess at 113,000 gross tons and 951 feet in length remains one of the top 30 largest oceangoing vessels in the world.  With a crew of 1,200, the Emerald Princess can accommodate nearly 3,100 guests.

Which is all well and good, but what's the food like that they serve onboard?  I don't know yet either myself, which is why I am looking forward to boarding her October 9th for a 10 day cruise down to the Bahamas and the Virgin Islands to find out.  I do know, however, that my expectations will be pretty high since a cruise on Princess (often considered a Premium or even Luxury line) nearly always costs more than on Contemporary lines such as Royal Caribbean, Carnival or Norwegian Cruise Lines.  Still, I am pretty easy to please and don't really consider myself a gourmand, so they will pretty much have to serve the food in my lap (I mean maliciously, not accidentally) before you see me writing some kind of scathing review here.

I am more concerned about things to do while on the ship and where we are going to be visiting.  While at sea they have the pool areas which look fantastic, but I have a hard time sitting still.  I like the action to be found in the casino from time to time--though I am glad all of their entertainment is free since I run hot and cold when it comes to games of chance and if I crap out the first night, chances are I won't be back and will need something else to do at night.

Instead, what I am really looking for is to do some adventuring on the myriad of islands we will be visiting on the trip itself, which you can see on this map:

Specifically, I can't wait to see what the scuba diving is like in St. Thomas.  I have never dove there myself, but from what I have heard its supposed to be very good.  So far, I would have to say Cozumel is the best diving I have ever experienced and I tend to use that as the top of my scale.  Anything will be better than the Pacific side of Costa Rica though, so I'm sure it'll be just fine.  More importantly, I haven't been diving with my dad since he got his open water certification from PADI and going with him wherever it might be is what I really look forward to.

Also, I am looking forward to checking out Princess Cays, which is the island Princess owns in the Bahamas.  Having never been there, I can't wait to see if the beach is as nice as it looks.

In any event, we've already started to prepare for this trip and later on I'll post sort of a Cruising 101 sort of thing on important things to remember when you are looking to go on a cruise as well as posting updates on experiences we have on the ship and in the islands themselves.  In the meantime, let me know what you think of this post and be sure to ask me any questions you might have!