Okay - will give this a whirl. Not very good at trip reports.
We decided to try out Princess Cruiseline because we got a smokin' deal and were really interested in a couple of the ports. Pre-cruise, we really didn't receive much information from Princess. We were left with their online trip planning site and it really didn't give much information at all. We just figured we would wing it, which we did. We arrived in Houston on Thursday to spend time with Leslie's sister who had just moved to The Woodlands on Sunday from Pacific Palisades. The Woodlands is an awesome community, very reminiscent of WDW in its layout. Houston has really bad traffic problems! Right behind L.A. and Washington DC. Drove to Galveston on Saturday morning to board the ship. Embarkation went really smoothly and quick to our suprise, but it was really lacking in excitement. Did not have the same atmosphere as Disney, not even close. There weren't any greetings or anything. Once onboard, you are met kind of unceremoniously in a large atrium and left to wonder where to go. We ended up going to our stateroom, I mean our closet! It was tiny! We even booked a Junior Suite. The verandah was quite spacious though, probably twice the depth of a category 6 on Disney. The bathroom did not contain a bath tub, just a small, small shower. Our girls hate showers, so this was a disappointment for them. We left to have lunch at the buffet. Kripes!! Scary! No logistical pattern to the buffet line. They had stations in a small area that people were just pushing their way into - very rude! This was a huge area of anguish the whole cruise. Leslie almost tagged a guy with a right cross after he bulled his way in front of her and knocked her plate out of her hand. Oh, forgot about soda's. If you wanted a soda, $2 per glass! Or you could buy a soda card for $28 per person, plus a 15% gratuity on top. So, $128 later, we had soda for the cruise.
Onto the sailaway party. The "Princess Patter" stated that there would be airbrush tatoos available at the party. Oh, the girls were all over that. Wait a minute . . . . . . those will be $9.95 a piece, plus a 15% gratuity (they had this for free on Disney on the 11day SC cruise). Sailaway party was a DJ and two girls trying to get people to line dance. Most of the action was on the top open deck at the Bar. Drinks were heavily sold by many side stands and staff. The girls danced and did have fun, but nobody noticed that the ship had left port. No horn, no streamers, no announcement, nothing!
On to sign up the girls for the kids club. Or should we say the Nursery, it was small. The girls never ended up using the kids club. The majority of children on the ship were between 12-18 years old. Seriously, we might have come across 20 younger children.
Dinner - we had "anytime" dining (initially)! First night, arrived at one of two choices of dining halls at 6:00pm. Were told it would be a forty minute wait. After the wait, had horrible service! Children's menu had places for the kids to color and what not, but Princess doesn't provide crayons. Had to ask of course, and then were brought pencils! Always had to ask for everything, a refill on our drinks, condiments. . . . . . and the food was just okay. Second night after another 40 minute wait and again missing the early show, we asked to to moved to "traditional" dining. Well, that is in a different restuarant and they don't have space. Had to make reservations for the remainder of the cruise. However, once we did this, we had the same dining server each night and she was awesome!!! The dining rooms were very similar in decor and offered the same menu. They did have a Steakhouse and an Italian restuarant that was $20 extra per person. We did not try these.
Tried to have ice cream at the ice cream parlor, but that was $3.50 every time or you could buy an ice cream card for $17.50 per person, plus a 15% gratuity. The events on sea days were not child friendly. Ice scuplture, fruit carving, bar races. They did have scrapbooking for a nominal charge of $125. Or ceramics, which the girls did, but that ended up being $120. Not complaining about the costs, but it was just nickel and dime everywhere.
Entertainment was not for younger kids, but they did have a great magician, comedian, and hypnotist. Was okay!
Disembarkment went smoothly . . . . . if you took your own bags off the ship. This we actually liked. If you chose this process, you could leave first and you didn't have to put your luggage out and find later. They started at 7am and we were in our rental at 7:30am.
Won't do Princess ever again. Not even without the little girls. However, we did have a great time in the ports . . . . . . which we will tell you about later. This is long enough! Sorry for any typos, don't feel like doing a spell check!
Forgot about the Photographer's - easy enough to do - they were invicible! They took a quick photo at embarkation (weren't even allowed to drop our carry-ons). Took an individual photo at one dinner. Took one photo at one port as you left the ship. But on three nights they had probably five different stations with different backdrops set up. At these stations they really took alot of photo's - maybe ten to fifteen each time. Very formal, like a real session. You could buy their family photo package for $400, which included ALL of your photo's. This was kind of cool so we purchased this package and then milked it dry. We came home with over a hundred photo's! They were all 5x7 though. This package also included a 16x20 canvas photo of your choosing that they mail to you.
Sorry, just have to share a story. Just got Tyler to bed and as I was leaving I reminded him that he'll hear thunder tonight and not to be worried about it. Of course, he told me he doesn't like that, it scares him, etc. Told me he wants me to make sure he doesn't hear it. I told him I can't do that because I can't change the weather. He asked, "Well, who can? The weatherman?" Nope. He asked, "God can, right?" I told him, "Yes, but he's not going to tonight because spring is the time for lots of rain because trees and grass and everything need lots of water to turn green again. We don't want the trees to stay naked....they need to grow leaves!" He laughed about that. I told him when he hears thunder, just remember it can't hurt us because it's just a noise. I told him it's just those crazy clouds bumping into each other. They're running around like crazy, trying to sprinkle rain everywhere it needs to go, and just not watching where they're going, so they crash into each other all the time. And those long rolls of thunder are just the clouds grumbling at each other sort of like they're saying, "Hey, would you watch where you're going? Quit bumping into me!" He just kept laughing harder and harder as I went along and all fear seemed to be gone. As I left his room, he said, "Mom, I'll remember to laugh at those silly clouds when I hear thunder." Phew! Now lets hope it works!
I read your posts and they just make me smile. You have so much patience. I'm more like "It's fine..now go to sleep."
Oh, I don't believe that! 
But you know, I never liked kids, never wanted any. He was a complete oops, so I just feel I owe it to him to do the best I can. He's a good little boy, but I might want to chain him in the closet when he hits 13 or so! 
I broke my thumb a few years ago (fell) and didn't realize it was broken for several hours. It was the WORST pain and the darkest purple--my friends kept saying it probably wasn't broken (like they would know!!) but when I finally went to the ER (very late that night when I couldn't stand the pain) they took me right in after one look at it.
for your DD--plus I trust she'll get some good drugs 
,too!
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