DW and I are in our 50's. This was our 8th cruise but our first on princess.

I booked the cruise and airfare via princess. I also paid extra for the business class upgrade. It was expensive, but well worth it for the 10 1/2 hour flight from Los Angeles to Frankfurt and then hour flight to Venice.

We opted for a two night stay in Venice prior to the cruise. This was laso booked via princess. We stayed at the Hotel Monaco & Grand Canal. Very nice hotel despite the room being a little small. We had one dinner at the hotel's restaurant which was a little expensive and nothing special. The princess rep at the hotel was extremely knowledgeable and very helpful answering any questions. Our hotel was right on the grand canal and a very short distance from St. Mark's Square. St. Mark's square was fantastic at night. We sat and ate some desert while we listened to some great live music. We also did a night gondola ride which was also very nice. One thing I found, via information from the local princess rep, was I could have saved a lot of money if I booked the gondola ride when I arrived instead of purchasing it online. On embarkation day, after a short water taxi ride, we arrived at the ship terminal. Embarkation, for the most part, went well. One thing that surprised me is this was the first time we had to find our own way to the cabin. We had a penthouse suite (R412) on rivera deck. Our cabin steward was average and our room was always clean. The Emerald princess was a beautiful ship. It was always clean and the crew always had smiles on their faces and did their best to ensure we had everything we needed. Read more