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Princess Cruises

In the 1970s, Princess Cruises became best known for its "Love Boat," that beautiful ship that sailed onto TV screens every Saturday evening, treating the audience to quirky love stories that always had a happy ending as well as the antics of the ship's sometimes wacky crew. For many years, Princess capitalized on their connection with the Love Boat. Nowadays, however, that image is long gone and Princess has assumed its place as one of the finest cruise companies in the world.

Princess Cruises promises to let passengers "escape completely" while on one of their sailings. That's certainly possible as the ships are very luxurious, the staff extremely attentive, and the destinations varied and even exotic.

A Princess ship can take passengers to literally hundreds of ports around the world and the company's large number of embarkation ports makes sailing aboard Princess convenient. In the continental U.S. alone, passengers can choose to depart from New York City, Fort Lauderdale, Galveston, New Orleans, Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Seattle.

Princess Cruises doesn't have a particular specialty when it comes to regions of the world but the choices are certainly numerous. Destinations include Alaska, featuring either the Gulf of Alaska or the Inside Passage; Asia, with visits to countries like China, Vietnam, and Thailand; Australia and New Zealand; Canada and New England; all regions of the Caribbean; Europe including the Greek Isles, Scandinavia, Russia, Northern Europe, and the British Isles; Hawaii and Tahiti; the Mexican Riviera; the Panama Canal; and South America, with possible stops at Rio de Janeiro, Santiago, Lima, The Falklands, Cape Horn, and the Antarctica Glacier.

While you're traveling to all those wonderful places, the ships of Princess Cruises and their staff offer fun activities to keep you busy. You can hone your golf skills on the simulator or 9-hole putting green, receive your diving certification from a PADI instructor, meet a celebrity guest or hear an informative lecture, enjoy a salsa dance class, or swim in one of the many pools located on each ship.

Kids and teens will enjoy their own special activities and "edutainment" and can even partake in some special kids-only meals. Group kid-sitting is available as are port day activities.

Princess Cruises' fleet of ships currently numbers 15. The newest is Crown Princess, with an atrium designed to resemble an Italian piazza, a scrumptious steakhouse, and an outdoor poolside movie theater. Their Grand Class ships - such as the Diamond and the Sapphire - have more than 700 balcony staterooms and some of the ships boast more than 90% of ocean view cabins. The fleet's smaller ships, like the Pacific Princess and Tahitian Princess, accommodate only 670 passengers but offer the amenities of the larger ships, in line with Princess' motto of "Big Ship Choice, Small Ship Feel."