Princess Cruises, Sun Princess, Caribbean

My wife, two year old son and myself travelled on the a Southern Caribbean cruise on the Sun Princess in April 2004. We flew with British Airways from Manchester with a conecting flight to Miami from London Heathrow. This all went very smoothly and BA really looked after us giving us a full bottle of Champagne when they found out it was our wedding aniversary. We arrived at Miami to be greeted by a Princess representative. **TOP TIP** Travel with a small child to the US if you can - the normal very stern customs and immagration fast tracked us through with no bother and this was replicated by security. Our bags were taken for us by Princess and we were transported to our hotel. I had booked an upgrade in the hotel to a junior suite, so you imagine my and more importantly my wifes delight when were given the Presidential Suite in the Intercontintal Hotel in Miami - what a start to the holiday! The following day we transfered to the ship. There were no queues at check in and we were on the ship within 10 minutes being shown to our balcony cabin. What a disappointment. The cabin was minute with pull down bunks and a cot for our son. With the beds down and the cot up there was no room to even get changed. Our cabin steward was ok but again I expected better because I have had much better with Princess in the past. We ate mainly in the main restaurant on a table for 8. We were a little concerned when our fellow guests turned out to be two couples in their sixtys. However we should not have worried as they turned out to be the nicest people we could have met and they all fell in love with our little boy. The food was truely superb and plentiful. If you did not like it the waiting staff would simply exchange your food - fantastic. We also ate in the Pizza restaurant which although simple fare, was good and quick. The food court was a bit overwhelmed at breakfast and lunch so we took to either having breakfast on the balcony or in the main restaurant, which was always quite. We have been cruising before and are aware of the inflated costs of the excursions. To this end we tended to get taxis to take us around the islands that we stopped at. The best thing we did was to go to Nelsons dockyard on Antigua. It is realy intresting and also has the most fantastic french restaurant in the old officers quarters. Sitting with a cool glass of Chablis I imagined Nelson looking down the inlet to the ocean as I was - what a day! The entertainment was great but alas a two year old and all day activity mean't we turned in early. However there is nothing like having your first cup of coffee watching the sun come up over the Caribbean. Apart from the cabin a great cruise. Princess are the best we have found yet.