willyshaw

41 minutes ago, hllwdcruiser said:

We'll be getting off the Regal on the day you get on. We have the package - I'll report back as soon as I can.

 

We are doing our last minute packing before leaving for the port. Embarkation Day = Happy Dance!!

Thank You so much and have fun

So I’m going on the Regal March 3rd does anyone have any info on if they brought back the tumbles for the soda package? On my August cruise on the Carribean Princess I was told they were remodeling the tumbler and have 2 bottles of water instead.

anyone know what the deal is currently. Thanks

I apologize in advance for such a long posting, but I wantedto address a few of the concerns that fellow cruise critics have pointed out pertainingto the Caribbean Princess.

My wife and I as well as our grown daughter, her husband and10-year old daughter just returned from a back to back cruise departing Ft.Lauderdale, Florida on August 11th. This cruise covered the eastern and westernCaribbean on the Caribbean Princess (CB). My wife and I has a BE class B223balcony cabin located on the starboard side forward and our daughter’s familywere in A701 a balcony cabin on the starboard side aft. Coming from as far asMontana we always like to book longer cruises and the combined 14 nights workedwell for us.

The complaints that have been registered are wide and varied,including such things as: the ship looking dated, dirty and rusted, warn anddirty carpets, propulsion problem, unresponsive staff, poor quality food in thedining rooms, the buffet and specialty restaurants, too small of bathrooms,problems with the internet, debarking & embarking problems, the OceanMedallion not being present, poor quality shows and entertainment, poor airconditioning as well as many other areas of concern. I will attempt to provideour own prospective on those items in that same order.

Ship Looking Dated,Dirty & Rusted: I was in theU.S. Navy and know how the salt water and salty air can raise cane with metalmaking it necessary to continuously work on maintenance and upkeep. In myopinion the crew has done an excellent job maintaining this ship and in my opinionit was in excellent condition overall. While there were a few spots of rusthere and there they were so small you had to look hard to find them. And as faras the carpet condition goes we found it to be in great condition and alwayskept clean. We were just a bit disappointed that the hallway carpet was not colorcoded as it is on some Princess ships to distinguish between starboard and portside. By color coding the hallways it makes it much easier to move about on theship.

Propulsion Problem: So many people were concerned over thevibration issues and the speed of the ship. While there was a slightly mount ofvibration, particularly in the aft portion of the ship, if this issue hadn’tbeen discussed so thoroughly you likely wouldn’t even notice it. And while theskipper keeps the speed down to about 18 knots and under that didn’t pose aproblem either.

Unresponsive Staff: All in our party found the staff to be greatwith one exception. Our waiters Leandro and Jorge in the Coral Dining Room wereexcellent, very attentive to our concerns and quite funny. Our cabin stewardDino also very good. He was always around if we needed him, but neverinterrupted our daily routine. On a couple of occasions our toilet wouldn’tflush, but it was promptly repaired and without any disruption or problems. Theonly staff person we had an issue with was with the Future Cruise Consultant. BernadetteVaziri. Ironically, on our last cruise on the Coral Princess we had the sameperson and on both occasions we found her personality to not be conducive ofthis job. She was abrupt, outspoken and we though she didn’t treat thepassengers with the respect they desired. It always looked like she was moreconcerned about organizing her job and office area than dealing with the questionsthe passengers had. When talking to hershe always seemed to have her mind on something else. I would think Princess wouldwant to put someone in this important job that would be considerably morepleasant to work with.

Poor Quality Food inthe Dining Rooms, the Buffet and Specialty Restaurants: After reading all of the negative commentsabout the food on the CB we were pleasantly surprised. In all areas we found itto be very good to outright excellent. Of course there were some dishes weweren’t too fond of, but that is expected no matter where you are dining. Weonly ate once at one of the specialty restaurant, the Crown Grill. We found thefood to be excellent and above the quality typically found in the Coral DiningRoom, but we received this as a bonus to your booking and probably wouldn’t likelypay the $29/person for it. My wife, daughter and granddaughter thoroughlyenjoyed the afternoon tea and a great way of meeting new people.

Too Small ofBathrooms: The bathrooms were small,no question about it, but they were perfectly adequate and well designed. Iwould much prefer a small bathroom for a little larger living area and balconyand that is the way these rooms were designed. The showers were very small, butalso adequate. You must be careful that the bottom of the shower curtain staysinside the small lip at the base of the shower or you will get water all overthe floor. On one of our previous cruises the person next door to our cabinflooded our room as well as theirs because he didn’t do that. We found that bywetting down the bottom of the shower curtain it kept the curtain hangingstraight down and inside the shower stall.

Problems with the Internet: We are Platinum members and were suppose toreceive 120-minutes each of free internet access. The ship has done away withaccounting the internet usage in minutes and for that reason all Platinummembers were given full, unlimited access to the internet for the entirecruise. That was a tremendous bonus which we very much appreciated and tookfull advantage of. I asked if that would always be the case, but no one seemedto be able to confirm or deny that it would be. The internet was fast andreliable and a big improvement over the past service. In fact we found itquicker than our own home service.

Debarking & Embarking Problems: Both the debarking and embarking was smoothand quick. Sometimes on back to back cruises we were allowed to stay on theship in an assigned lounge while the ship was cleared by customs, but this timewe actually had to disembark prior to returning to our cabin. That wasn’t aproblem and it quite quick, but it is nicer when we can stay on the ship.

Ocean Medallion: It was earlier projected the ***** would befully implemented on the CB by this time, but it was not. As we embarked somepassengers were given a medallion at the check-in desk, but we did not receiveone. Later on we found that they were implementing this system deck by deck beginningfrom the top decks and working downward. About 5 nights before the secondcruise of the back to back ended our daughter’s family received theirs on theAloha deck. Apparently a lady knocked on their door gave them their OMs and discussedhow to use them. While my wife located one deck below on Baja did not get one. Butthe current advantage of the medallion isn’t much. It will unlock your cabindoor for you when you get close to it, but that is about all the advantage youcurrently get. I suppose however they are doing some tracking of the passenger’smovements for the ship’s own purposes though. There were monitor screensthroughout the ship, but while they would scan both the OMs and your cruisecards they weren’t really functional.

Poor Quality Showsand Entertainment: This is one areathat I would at least partially agree with some of the chronic complainers. Wedidn’t feel that the shows were as good as we have seen on previous cruises.Most of the entertainment consisted of dancers and/or singers. Of the 14-nightsthey had 2 comedians, which were entertaining, but there were no magicians,jugglers, or hypnotists. I personally enjoy the variety that those types ofshows provide and really missed them on this cruise.

Poor AirConditioning: We did not find thisto be the case. The weather and hot and very humid on our August cruise, butour cabin was always kept very comfortable when turned to the lowest setting. Ilike a cool bedroom and I found the temperature to be perfect.

Overall the cruise was excellent and I wouldn’t hesitate togo on it again. The beds were comfortable and outside of the few things Imentioned above we found it to be a great vacation with the family. Our balconyon Baja deck was covered as was all the decks above us on the starboard side.The decks below ours were not covered and probably became hot in mid day.

We usually cruise in November and December, but because ofour granddaughter being in school this was the only time she could go. That metconsiderably more children aboard, but they cause no problems at all. They allseemed well behaved and it just added to the fun.

I feel bad that so many complaints have been lodged againstthis ship and feel the vast majority of those issues are totally unjustified. Ifrequently commented to the people aboard that I felt you would have to reallywork hard to not enjoy the cruise or the ship.

 

Great review I was on her on August 11th through 18 and I’m on par with you on just about everything except the AC

Our room AC was great in C752 but the ships AC was more of an issue for me did you notice it? As you would walk the ship the tempatire would drop and become very warm and then in other areas nice and cool especially in the buffet areas but it was noticeable to us in other areas as well.

I would also agree with the future cruise deposit lady she was very rude the one day we were there we asked her a simple question as she was locking up when she would be back and she jsut snapped at us and said she had a meeting to be at she couldn’t talk. We just asked when you would be back nothing else

My other complaint would be the breakfast buffet wasn’t very good that’s all I can say but lunch and dinner was good. Our MDR waiter wasn’t very personable and a tad slow but that seemed to be other people’s complaints as well when we were on the ship.

My wife and I both said they need to train the wait staff in MDR how they train wait staff in Crown Grill we went there twice 3 night apart and they remembered us to a tee we didn’t get that in the main

I was on her August 11 through 18 my only complaint was the breakfast buffet food it was good but not great and the AC on the ship was spotty some areas of ship very hot and then it would

Get cool then go back to hot and then cool as you were walking

I’m on C752 on the carrieban awesome cabin completely covered

On the ship now last night and had it done this week. You pick a day normally your first sea day. You can choose to play your own song if you wish on your device.

The day of ceremony the photo studio calls you to do a video which will cost 1200 bucks if you wish to purchase but it’s very well done if you purchase all your pictures from the ceremony and video it’s about 1100 bucks total. We opted for just the photos at 279.99 the price points were 199, 279 and 399

As for the ceremony it was lovely my wife loved it I loved it it was jsut us and our 18 family members they stagger times so you aren’t in a group setting.

They also gave us a free dspeciality dining which was a surprise and a 50

Dollar gift card to the spa we found it on our bed the next night

We got the cheapest package and it was worth it we were married at the courthouse 3 months ago so this was basically jsut for family

Just got an email ***** will not be on my mid August 2018 cruise on the Caribbean looks like this is going to stretch a while

Just curious why is this a law anyway. What does it prevent

So booked this today and see it under my account but doesn't show the price with graditiuty included will we have to pay for the graditiuty that's normally added to the per day price of the aibp or is it included and I'm not seeing it