We have been on the Sun Princess back in '97 (I think). We had a great time and we were probably one of the youngest couples. It was a paid trip with my husbands company and we had never cruised before. 7 nights/western caribbean. there were 500 other people from his company on the ship with us and we had a blast. I have heard now that it is a younger crowd (average around 40 I think) especially for this itinerary and that now they are targeting more family traveling. THis would explain a younger crowd. But, if the service is anything like it was back then, we are all in for a treat. Go to lifeiscruising.com and read John's (?) review. He took the Golden for a week with his 16 year old daughter last month. He had a great time.
I probably read some of the same reviews you read about Princess and on the same forum. I think they are small crowd of people who don't like Princess for whatever reason. As a matter of fact, their reasons for not liking it included that the ship didn't have enough color. COLOR?! What the heck does that have to do with how great a time you have on a cruise?
I think we'll have a great time. As a matter of fact, I am going to have a great time. It's all in the attitude.
Oh! and we (3 couples) are coming from Mobile, AL.. We range in age from 32 to 42. We are meeting up in the Skywalkers Lounge the first night to meet up. (we have different plane schedules). Come join us!