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Suskies

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  • Location
    New Castle, DE, USA
  • Favorite Cruise Line(s)
    Princess
  • Favorite Cruise Destination Or Port of Call
    Europe

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  1. What pre-cruise land trip did you do?
  2. Thank you for your kind words! The ship itself was in beautiful condition...except for that irksome lack of outlets in staterooms. The big issue was with service, because of understaffing (all the staff were REALLY hustling...I almost wanted to get up and lend them a hand). Hopefully that will get better by this fall!
  3. Thank you! We also don't think we'll go on another Caribbean cruise--now that we did this cruise successfully, we'll go back to choosing by destination and view the ship as a floating hotel.
  4. Thanks for the tip! For us, it was hard because it's a feature we just don't use often. DH has a new iPhone, but I suspect he may not have had it set for automatic time zone updates. My Android 13 can update time depending on GPS location and/or on local wifi time...but you can check more than one option, making it hard for me to figure out which box(es) to check. To complicate matters more, the ship time changed in Cartagena at 6 AM, not 2 AM as announced. But, all things considered, I'd rather travel this way than in the old days when everything on the ship was communicated by paper, and the only way to communicate with the rest of the world was super-expensive ship-to-shore phone.
  5. Final Thoughts It was so nice to be back on a cruise! And this cruise had everything we love about cruising: a beautiful ship, very good food and service, entertainment, and interesting ports. It’s a great way to travel—you can see a lot without packing and unpacking, and there’s no stress about, say, figuring out where you’re getting dinner tonight. Where else can you get your room straightened up and towels changed twice a day, especially these days? The Princess medallions and app, while not perfect, definitely had features that added to our enjoyment of this cruise. Food and service quality weren’t quite what they were three years ago, but in this age when everyone is short-staffed, we understood, and it didn’t affect our overall enjoyment of the cruise. We’re already talking about where we’re going to cruise next!
  6. Day 10: At sea and Day 11: Disembarkation This was a nice relaxing day. After breakfast in the Coral Dining Room, DH and I spent the morning relaxing and reading. DH and DSIL had burgers by the pool while DD and I had lunch in the Coral Dining Room. In the afternoon we played cards (Tip: very nice card table at the very back of Steamers!), then started packing. At 6:30 we all played a final music trivia game—American Anthems—which we won! Then we had our final dinner in the Island Dining Room. One of the entrees was prime rib. Day 11: Disembarkation Because our flight home didn’t leave til about 3 PM, we booked the Everglades disembarkation excursion. Disembarkation was very smooth. We had time for one last breakfast in the Island Dining Room before going to the Explorers Lounge to wait our call to disembark. We quickly disembarked, found our luggage, and walked through customs. Staff members directed us to our bus. Our stop was at Everglades Holiday Park, where we saw a 20-minute educational show about alligators, then took a 30-minute airboat ride through the Everglades, where we saw 3 more alligators. The place was very crowded (we counted at least 5 ships in port including ours), but it was fun—much better quality than a similar excursion we took about 20 years ago. Afterwards our bus dropped us off at the airport, making stops at each terminal. We were on our way home.
  7. Day 9: Georgetown, Grand Cayman DH and I fell in love with Grand Cayman on our second cruise over 40 years ago. Back then island zoning specified that nothing could be built higher than the treetops. So Grand Cayman was not only prosperous from its banking industries but also quiet and peaceful. Over the years we’ve returned several times on short vacations as well as cruise stops. So we know the island pretty well—including that it’s far more developed and busy—and we debated quite a bit on what to do during this stop. Our first thought was to go to Seven Mile Beach—truly one of the world’s great beaches. The water in the Caymans is extraordinarily clear—you can literally stand in water up to your neck and see your toes. But Seven Mile Beach is not what it once was. The beach itself was seriously eroded by Hurricane Ivan in 2004. And while the beach itself is public, if you want to use services like beach chairs or restrooms, they’re mostly privately owned by hotels along the beach and only available to hotel guests. During past cruise stops, some of the hotels along the beach offered day passes to cruise ship passengers, but we couldn’t find any doing that now. DH learned that Public Beach—yes, that’s its name—has restrooms and offers chair rentals and some shady spots. So our plan was to go there by taxi. But as the cruise progressed, DH and I realized that we weren’t looking forward to the prospect of toting a lot of stuff to the beach. So we decided to enjoy the beautiful Cayman water by eating lunch at one of Georgetown’s waterfront restaurants. Grand Cayman now provides its own water shuttles from ships to its pier. They’re much bigger than ship tenders, so the wait to get ashore (if you’re not on a shore excursion) isn’t as long. While DH and I spent the morning relaxing in Crooners, passengers wanting to go ashore were given numbers, and periodically the number of the water shuttle being boarded was announced. Around 10:30 the ship gave up handing out numbers and passengers simply headed straight to Deck 4. We walked around Georgetown for about an hour. There were four large cruise ships in port (see photo below), so the town was busy (see 2nd photo below)! Most of the shops now seem to be jewelry shops. We then had a great lunch at Cayman Cabana right on the water. When we got back to Princess’s pier, the line to board the water shuttle looked enormous, but it moved really quickly. DD and DSIL took a shore excursion of the island’s East End. This was DSIL’s first visit to Grand Cayman and they enjoyed their tour. The evening’s menu in the Coral Dining Room featured beef wellington and lamb chops, and then we all went to Party Music Trivia. Kelly, the host, made it a lot of fun with things like bonus points for dancing.
  8. Day 8: At sea After 3 consecutive days of getting up early, it was great to sleep in today and have nothing on the schedule. This was an R&R day for all of us, mostly sleeping, reading, and watching videos we downloaded before the trip. DH and I ate breakfast and lunch in the Coral Dining Room. This evening was the cruise’s second formal night, curiously labeled “white and gold” in the activities sheet. If they wanted us to dress in white and gold, we didn’t get that memo when we were packing, and I’m not sure what DH and DSIL would have packed anyway! Once again passengers wore everything from shorts and T-shirts to dress-up clothes, although tonight I didn’t see any tuxes. Tonight DD and DSIL treated us to dinner at the Crown Steak House, one of the specialty restaurants. It was a great wonderful four-course meal--appetizer, soup or salad, main, and dessert—with excellent service. DH said his steak was one of the best he’s ever had—and we’ve been to many fine steakhouses. DH and I hadn’t eaten in a cruise specialty restaurant for years because we enjoy the main dining rooms. But on this cruise we saw a bigger difference in food quality and service than we had in the past. After dinner we all walked to the Atrium just in time to see a party getting started. Cruise Control, a really good house band, played some classic party music. With the help of some of the ship’s dancers, staff, and confetti, the dance floor was soon packed. We didn’t join in, but it was fun to watch from the balcony—a great end to a really nice evening.
  9. Day 7: Limon, Costa Rica This was a great day, but DH and I started off on the wrong foot. Our shore excursion met at 7:30 AM, and the night before we decided to set our alarm for 6:30. We’d gotten a notice that ship clocks would be set back one hour overnight. I always get confused about time changes. To make things even more difficult, our phones are on airplane mode, so our phone clocks wouldn’t update automatically overnight to Costa Rica time. To make a long story short, our phone alarm ended up going off at 4:30 Panama time rather than 6:30, losing us two hours sleep. Fortunately our shore excursion was only half a day, so we were able to get caught up with naps in the afternoon. And it was a great excursion! DH and I took the “Rainforest Walk, Canal Cruise & Countryside” tour. The tour description said to bring sunscreen, insect repellent, and rain gear. We applied long-lasting sunscreen and insect repellent before leaving the ship, so we didn’t pack those. With only a 20% chance of rain, we brought an umbrella instead of rain gear…and of course bottles of water. Edgar, our guide, was terrific. Our bus first went to a privately owned area, where our guide took us down a gravel path to the canal boats, pointing out various plants along the way, including a cocoa pod. The canal boat frequently paused and turned around so we could see animals along the way. We saw monkeys, sloths, an iguana, a basilisk (green iguana), and a caiman (like a small alligator). The monkeys and sloths were high up in the trees, so they were hard to see, but most of us saw them. After the canal cruise, we were given boxes of pineapple and watermelon chunks as a snack. Then the bus took us to another park, where we walked a gravel road. Here our guide pointed out huge grasshoppers, a big spider, and a poison dart frog (see photo below). He took us up a hill to views of the shoreline, which changed dramatically in an major earthquake about 30 years ago. (Coral reefs were brought to the surface, and there are no more sand beaches.) We drove through Limon on our way back to the ship. We saw and learned a lot on this shore excursion and had a great morning. We got back to the ship around lunchtime, had a really good lunch in the World Marketplace, then took those naps. We watched the magic show in the Explorers Lounge, then joined DD and DSIL for a late dinner in the Palm Dining Room before turning in.
  10. Day 6: Panama Canal The ship’s transit through the Panama Canal locks was a lot earlier and faster than we thought it would be. Our paper schedule of the day’s activities said things would begin when a pilot boarded at 5:45 AM. I woke up at 6 AM, threw on some clothes, and headed up to the Lido deck, where I grabbed a window table in the rear of the World Marketplace. The narration had already begun, and the ship was approaching the point where the old canal branches off from the new one. I first sat on the port (left) side, but the narrator mentioned more to see on the starboard side, so I moved over there and DH joined me. It was already hot and humid outside so, even though the windows were a bit steamed up, we stayed where we were while the ship entered the first lock. There are three, and they come right after each other. When the ship reached the third lock, it was getting warm and humid in the World Marketplace. So DH and I went down to our cabin, watched a bit from our balcony (see photo below), then left for breakfast in the Coral Dining Room. The ship was anchored in Gatun Lake at 9 AM, much earlier than the published time of 10:30. That meant the shore excursions left earlier than scheduled—announcements were broadcast throughout the ship when it was time for each group to gather. After breakfast DH and I went up to Skywalker’s, our favorite quiet getaway spot on ship. It’s chillier up there than elsewhere through the ship, but I brought a sweater. The windows were a bit foggy here too, but we could still see the ships passing by on their way through the canal. I used the app to order a cappuchino delivered to me—a treat, because it’s a long walk from Skywalker’s to any morning beverages! Eventually we moved to Crooner’s, where we snagged a table with a nice view of the lake. Around 12:45, the ship began to move back to the locks. We went up to the Lido deck and got a table near Movies Under the Stars, which showed the ship’s camera view of the locks. Our table was next to the windows, so we had a nice view. In the afternoon, DH and I continued relaxing and watching the ship return through the locks. The ship docked in Colon around 4:30 to pick up passengers on shore excursions. We could go ashore and walk around a bit, but it was still really hot and humid, so we decided to stay on the ship. DH and DDIL took a shore excursion that took them through the old locks all the way to the Pacific Ocean. They were glad they took it—on a smaller boat it’s easier to see and feel the water rising or lowering in the locks. But there was a lot of waiting to enter the locks, and they didn’t get back until 8:30 PM. So DH and I went by ourselves to Original or Cover music trivia (came in 2nd!), had dinner in the Island Dining Room, and turned in early.
  11. Day 5: Cartagena, Colombia Our Cartagena shore excursion met in the Princess Theatre at 6:50 AM, so for the first time we had to set an alarm. The earliest room service breakfast delivery time was 6:30-7, and the dining room didn’t open until 7, so we got breakfast in the World Marketplace. DH and I took the Sea Rumba & Old City tour, and it was great. We took a boat from the pier to the old city, where we were taken on a walking tour lasting about an hour. Cartegena is completely different from what we expected—part like Old San Juan, Puerto Rico, and part modern highrise apartments like Miami Beach (see photo below of view from our cabin as the ship approached Cartagena). The Old City is pretty—brightly painted buildings and lovely old churches (see photo below). Walking was easier than we thought it would be—on bricks, not cobblestones. We knew there would be a lot of in-our-face street vendors, but they weren’t as bad as we’ve seen elsewhere. We just said no, and they moved on. (DD and DSIL went on a different Old City walking tour, and one person in their group was pickpocketed. Her handbag was unzipped. Keep your bags zipped and in front of you!) After the walking tour, we had about 45 minutes on our own. Unfortunately, it was 9 AM on a Sunday morning, so the cafes and many of the shops were closed. To get out of the heat, we ended up sitting in San Pedro Claver Church watching a christening. DD and DSIL’s tour was later, and their free time was much more successful—they were able to get a cup of good Colombian coffee at a café and shop for souvenirs. The last part of our tour was a boat ride around the harbor that lasted about an hour. There were two Columbian dancers, a three-piece combo playing Colombian music, and complementary drinks. Eventually the music changed to recorded American party music. It was a fun way to see Cartagena, and we were glad we chose this shore excursion. When DH and I got back to the ship we used the app to order lunch delivered to our room. Then I had a spa appointment for a massage, which was very nice. In the evening, we had an early dinner so we could play Rock Anthems music trivia at 7:30. Then we went to Club Fusion, where a combo called Cruise Control was playing dance songs. They’re good, and it was fun watching passengers who enjoy ballroom dancing.
  12. Day 4: At Sea I’m an early riser. My habit on cruises has been to lay out my clothes the night before, slip into them quietly in the morning so I don’t wake DH, then head to the Lido deck for coffee. I bring my laptop, take a seat near a window, catch up on email, and watch the ship and the world come to life. Today, because lattes were included in our package, I went to the International Café instead, grabbing a window seat at the Good Spirits bar next door. The bar runs a continual loop of mixology videos, which I found a bit annoying at that early hour. This morning DH and I were booked at the Sanctuary, and once again it didn’t work out. While the weather was sunny and not as windy as our first day at sea, the wind still created a hum through the overhead awnings that sounded like we were next to a train. The bigger problem for us is that we very much want to stay in the shade. The awnings in the Sanctuary filter the sun, but plenty still gets through. So once again we left early. We decided the Sanctuary isn’t a good fit for us, and we cancelled our remaining reservations. The rest of DH’s and my day was spent enjoying the quieter spots around the ship, which change as onboard activities start and end. For example, we sat in Crooners until an activity started in the Piazza. We had a really nice lunch in the Coral Dining room. We all really enjoy music trivia, and tonight there were two, so we were busy! Music Divas trivia, then dinner in the Palm Dining Room, then Music Legends trivia, which we won! I won’t give any answers away, but Princess’s definition of who are music legends is, um, interesting.
  13. Day 3: Falmouth, Jamaica Today clocks moved ahead one hour and, with our phones on airplane mode, we had to adjust them manually. Tip: the Medallion app shows the correct ship time in the upper left corner…but the time changes at 6 AM, not 2 AM. After a very nice breakfast with great service in the Coral Dining Room, DH and I relaxed in chairs just outside the World Marketplace, overlooking the Terrace Pool and the Jamaican coastline. It was very quiet and peaceful. The port has been developed into a very nice-looking complex of shops to serve cruise ship passengers (photo below). At 10:30 DH and I left for our Jamaica shore excursion: Bamboo Beach Club. Tip: Give yourself a good 20 minutes to disembark and walk to the area where shore excursion buses load—it’s a pretty long walk. The bus ride was about 20 minutes each way, and our guide shared a lot of factoids on Jamaica. Bamboo Beach Club has cushioned chairs, in both sun and shade, overlooking a small quiet cove (no waves). The chairs are wood and not adjustable. The vinyl cushions have seen better days and were not super-clean. There are roped-off “VIP” sections for people who pay a surcharge for lounge chairs and different food. The club played recorded reggae music, which was very loud for some chairs and not as loud for others. We were served a very sweet alcoholic punch, plus water or lemonade if we wanted it, and four tapas-sized dishes of Jamaican food, which made a filling lunch. The jerk chicken and jerk sausage were great. A bar served other drinks for an extra charge. The weather was perfect and it was a very relaxing afternoon. Overall I’d give the excursion a grade of B-/C+. If the place had live reggae music, clean cushions, and a bigger beach I’d have given it an A. Photo of the view from our chairs is below. In the evening we all played 80s music trivia (came in 2nd!), then had a late dinner in the Island Dining Room.
  14. Day 2: At sea After a very nice breakfast in the Coral Dining Room, DH and I headed to our morning in the Sanctuary. Unfortunately, it was a cool, cloudy, and windy morning with occasional showers. So we gave it up after a while and —along with all the other passengers—headed for somewhere indoors, warmer and drier. The CB is spacious enough that even on a rainy at-sea day, it’s possible to find a quiet spot. We first walked through the Lido deck—we hadn’t gotten to exploring it on embarkation day—then settled in to read in Skywalker’s, which is almost always quiet during the day and has super-comfy chairs and great views. Today there was some kind of dance rehearsal going on and the room was quite cold. We wish Princess would formally designate Skywalker’s a quiet reading space during the day—I think it would be quite popular. DH and I then had a wonderful lunch in the Coral Dining Room, then found our next (surprisingly) quiet spot—Crooner’s above the Atrium. Then it was time for a nap (we were coming off three super-busy days packing, getting here, and boarding!). Tonight was formal night. Passengers dressed in everything from tuxes to shorts and t-shirts. I should note that this cruise was not sold out—there were about 2800 passengers on a ship with a lower-berth capacity of 3140, so it was about 90% full. My guess is that a number of passengers got last-minute bargain fares and otherwise wouldn’t cruise on a Princess ship. We all felt very comfortable in what I’d call nice casual clothes. DD and DSIL treated us to dinner at Sabatini’s, one of the specialty restaurants. It was a truly wonderful four-course meal--appetizer, pasta, main, and dessert—with terrific service. Pictured below: my fish entree and the dessert sampler. The whole meal took 2 ½ hours. Afterwards DH and I wandered around the ship then headed off to bed.
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