Welcome to page one of our Golden Princess review to the Southern Caribbean. We are breaking our review up into a few different articles so that we can better address the various components of our cruise. We will offer this Golden Princess Southern Caribbean Cruise review and compare it to our last two cruise vacations. These two cruises have been enjoyed within the last three years making the comparisons more pertinent.

For those who have read our previous articles about the planning of our Family Cruise Vacation, you will remember that we traveled with our family of eleven having ages from 26 to 85. We chose the Southern Caribbean cruise because of the itinerary, and we chose the Princess Cruise Lines ship the Golden Princess because of the "any time dining" option, the activities and amenities.

As a general comment, this cruise was over-all a very enjoyable and interesting experience. The itinerary was quite taxing - being in a new port each day with no 'ship days' until the final day. We found that the ship, amenities and services to better in some ways and not as good in other ways than the other two cruises with Carnival and Holland America.

We will start our review with the trip to the cruise port and the embarkation process. Living in Southwestern Ontario we chose to fly to San Juan, Puerto Rico out of the Detroit, Michigan airport. With a very early flight, we chose to over-night at the Howard Johnson in Romulus a short jaunt from the airport. Once there, we new just how short that jaunt was as the planes seemed to be coming down in the parking lot out back.

The motel has a park and fly program with a fenced-in parking area for travelers. The amenities here were very basic but comfortable - nothing fancy. They have shuttles traveling back and forth to the airport every half hour as required. We were too early in leaving to take advantage of the continental breakfast which was put out about an hour after we left.

The landing aircraft were quite noisy as they passed directly overhead and continued until after 11:00 p.m. At peak times, an aircraft was passing over every 50 to 60 seconds. We didn't have a problem with the noise in the morning as we were one of the first flights out.

The first leg of our flight was on a small aircraft to Cleveland, Ohio for a brief lay-over. This flight was very smooth and comfortable for all. We transferred to a Boeing 737 for the remainder of the flight to San Juan. This flight was comfortable and reasonably smooth as well. The total time from leaving the motel until our arrival by bus to the cruise terminal was about eight hours. Surprisingly, this was not nearly as grueling as it may sound. Tiring yes, but not agonizing.

Upon arrival in San Juan, we were able to collect all of our baggage fairly quickly and proceeded to the bus for the short shuttle to the cruise port. It was a somewhat dreary and drizzly day but that did not dampen our spirits as everyone was excited and in anticipation of our boarding the ship, Golden Princess.

After the bus ride to the cruise terminal, we had to line up outside under a walkway roof to enter into the secure area of the terminal itself. There were three levels of security within the cruise terminal. Inside was a duty-free shop where passengers were allowed to make last minute purchases.

There were of course, the usual line-ups in the terminal to receive the cruise card for your on-board adventures. This wait always seems to be the most antagonizing as the anticipation for your cruise vacation builds. It was apparent that a lot of fellow passengers did not fill out their information on-line to expedite the boarding process. However, to make your wait a little less painful, one of the local staff was passing out samples of spiced rum.

All-in-all, this part of our cruise vacation adventure went smoothly. There is always a blip here and there but at last we were on board and in time to enjoy a late lunch at the buffet. Then it was time to do a little exploring.

For more reviews on other components of our Golden Princess cruise to the Southern Caribbean including the food and dining options, staterooms (with balconies), activities, amenities and ports-of-call, check our Caribbean Cruises Article map (www.a1-discount-cruises.com) often.

Brian A Schmidt is the author and web publisher of a1-discount-cruises.com your #1 source for cruise information, discounts and great deals! Visit http://www.a1-discount-cruises.com to book your fabulous cruise vacation! For more interesting articles visit our Caribbean Cruises Articles Map. If you have any questions or comments please contact us at info@a1-discount-cruises.com using the subject line