Princess Cruises, Crown Princess, Caribbean

Flew from Heathrow to Miami on Virgin Atlantic following an overnight at the Renaissance Hotel. Good room - good price including 15 nights parking. A very good flight with Virgin and the food was Ok for an airline meal. An easier time at US immigration than last year - must have hit it at a good time! Overnight again at Intercontinental West Miami, the usual stopover that Princess uses - have stayed here many times now and it is quite a good base, food ok to good and the beds comfortable. Embarked Crown Princess on 25 January. We went straight to our room after a swift embarkation procedure. This time we stayed in a Vista Suite D737 which was very comfortable with a separate living room and a biggish balcony with a lovely view of the wake. Crown Princess is one of the bigger in the Princess fleet and carries around 3000 passengers. it doesn't feel crowded and there was plenty of space for sunbathing and lots of loungers. The Sanctuary was a peaceful place to catch the sun with large padded sunloungers and on-tap iced water and other privileges. Cost $10 per half day and worth it if that's what you want. The food was decent and you could always get something to eat that was acceptable, although the quality of food is not as high as it was a few years ago. But we don't cruise for the food, just for relaxation and the itinerary. Just 4 ports on this 7 nighter eastern Caribbean. Princess Cays, St Maarten, St Thomas and Grand Turk. We visited the beach at all 4, the best in our opinion being Grand Turk. We didn't do the crowded side with the sunbeds and Margueritaville but chose the "deserted" side and spent a few hours swimming and lounging around in the shallows and on the soft, sugary white sand. Bliss. Entertainment was the usual Princess offering - MUTS, a few shows and trivia quizzes, dance classes etc. We spent a few hours in the casino each evening. They had a "no smoking" night which is never popular for some reason, and some days, between ports you could gamble 24 hours (not that we did)!! All in all a relaxing break - could have stayed another week at least! Back to Heathrow, Virgin again - good flight etc - and the snow and reality!! Bring on the next one.