cruisersmom

Looking to find some Pickleball courts in San Juan to keep our husbands happy!  Cruising on ‘Grandeur of the Seas’ in January, and according to our TA,  pickleball not available on that ship. 
 

Thanks for suggestions!

I received the email and was not comfortable responding for the exact reasons stated by the original poster.

We will be on the Sky Princess in late August.  Have you noticed if pickleball is offered as an activity?  My husband has played on another Princess cruise and is HOPING he can play on this one!

Thanks for taking the time to post your observations and your pictures. This is greatly appreciated.  Hope your wife is feeling better. 

Ramada, thank you for taking the time to keep us updated! We will be boarding in Boston on Saturday and hope issues are 100% resolved by 4 pm! Enjoy the rest of your cruise.

Thanks, DaveOKC, Wendy the Wanderer and martincath! I’m sure we will take a cab

Thanks @debsea and @Fouremco!

Looking for the fastest way to get from HAL’s Veendam to VIARail station in Montreal on Saturday, Sept. 8th! Our train reservations are at 11 am!

Thanks for any suggestions!!

Looking for the fastest way to get from HAL’s Veendam to VIARail station in Montreal on Saturday, Sept. 8th! Our train reservations are at 11 am!

Thanks for any suggestions!!

IF you choose to use Verizon’s Travel Pass, what settings do you need to enable on your phone once you’re in port? I’ve recently returned from a Panama Canal Cruise. I had checked with my local Verizon store before leaving (as did a friend traveling with me) and we were both told that a text message would pop up on our screen once we disabled airplane mode, allowing us to choose the $10/24 hour plan. Neither of us could get our phones to work! I know there was something we were not doing! I want to be better prepared for my next trip!

Tsunamis don’t affect ships at sea. In deep water the surface rises a little. The danger of the tsunami is when it reaches the shallow water near the shore. This is where it builds up and can become a moving wall of water.

That is certainly good to know and a fact I will store away if I’m ever in that situation again:D To my landlocked family on shore, the news reports were very upsetting to them! As I said earlier, we were blissfully unaware!

Thanks for sharing!

We (my husband, myself and another couple) were also on this cruise and had a wonderful time! While we have all cruised with several other lines, it was our first with Princess. It won’t be our last!

The food was delicious, the cruise staff was amazing, and there were lots of activities to choose from. My husband played pickle ball 5 days—there was a group of 8-12 who played regularly.

We did eat at Steamers one night and we were all underwhelmed with the food. Been there, done that. Probably wouldn’t try it again,

There’s always a question of formal night attire. In my opinion, the Caribbean Princess was more formal than the other lines I’ve sailed with (HAL, NCL, and Carnival). There were a handful of men in tuxes; the majority wore dark suits OR khakis and sport coats. Not every man wore a tie. Many women wore long dresses (think mother of the bride type dresses); there were lots of dressy pants/sparkly tops and short cocktail dresses, too. I felt like the women dressed up more on the second formal night than they did on the first. There were also lots of what I would call Sunday dresses/pantsuits and smart casual outfits. In short, there was a little bit of everything. If you are the type who likes to ‘fit in’ (for lack of a better term), then I would wear a coat and tie for men and something dressy/sparkly for women. Again, this is just my opinion based on what I observed on one cruise!

We enjoyed the Caribbean Princess very much. We were sad to miss Princess Cay, but you can’t control the weather, and we would have liked to have been in Grand Cayman a little longer.

We arrived home to find that our family had all been worried about the earthquake/tsunami warnings that had been issued for the area we were in on Tuesday, January 9th! Thank goodness, we were blissfully ignorant of these events!

In short, it was a wonderful cruise. The Panama Canal is an engineering marvel. The Caribbean Princess is a beautiful ship. I would do the same itinerary on the same ship in a heartbeat!

Thank you so much for taking the time to do this review! We leave on Jan. 3–following along with this post has made it seem REAL! One question—was Jamaica on the original itinerary or did hurricane damage cause it to be substituted in place of Princess Cay?

Safe travels home and merry Christmas!

Thank you for taking the time for this! We are boarding on Jan. 3rd for the same itinerary and looking forward to your reports! Enjoy your trip!:cool:

Excellent reviews. Thank you for taking the time to share!

Thanks so much for your review! We are on the same cruise, starting on Jan. 3rd, and are looking forward to it!

Thanks for the suggestions--and for the correct abbreviation for the Caribbean Princess! :D The link to Princess excursions in Grand Cayman was especially helpful! Thanks, @fishywood!

We ( my husband and I and another couple) are on the January 3 partial transit through the Panama Canal. Because of the CP's continuing propulsion issues, the itinerary was changed about 10 days ago, substituting Grand Cayman for Ocho Rios. There are still no excursions listed for Grand Cayman. Can anyone who has had their itinerary changed give me an idea of how long we will have to wait to see what excursions are offered through the ship for Grand Cayman? We prefer ship excursions to private excursions for several reasons, but mainly because we aren't very adventurous on our own!

Thanks for you help!

I specifically registered to comment on this thread.... Water shoes are a MUST! It's been 2 years since we'd gone to Princess Cay and I am still bitter. I had no idea about the super sharp rocks in the water and on the beach. My feet got small cuts all over on hidden rocks, but what's worse is that my 4 year old kid's foot got sliced on a rock and it was pretty bad.

 

Princess Cay was the first day stop, and with the sliced food he refused to get into any water be it the ocean, pool or shower for the rest of the cruise.

 

Princess Cay was the only destination that I've seen so far that provided free bandaids to cruisers on the beach. I am, however, glad we brought our own super-heavy duty giant water proof bandages because we had to seal off my kid's wound. It wasn't sliced deeply, but rather a piece was sliced off of a foot, so stitches were not possible.

 

So, come November, our entire family will be wearing water shoes!

I'm sharing this with the other couple we're cruising with! We will definitely wear our water shoes. I know it was painful for your son--this is definitely one of those things you need to be aware of in advance!!

Note that you do not reserve a specific clamshell.

 

It is first come to shore, first pick of location. All pre-reserving does is ensure that you will have one. Once you get to shore you will then pick from the ones still available.[/quote

 

Thanks for the tip!

We went snorkeling in March 2016 and it was amazing!! I felt like we were in an aquarium!! :) Maybe it depends on what time of year you go because it was great for us. But I would suggest bringing your own snorkel equipment if possible. We rented the first time and we weren't too sure how sanitized the equipment was.

I always wonder how sanitary the snorkeling equipment is, too! Thanks for your suggestions.

Snorkeling is not great. We usually get a clamshell for both shade as well as convenience. If we decide to get off late one is reserved for us. How not done organized excursions but rented some of the beach toys when kids were younger. Usually just a nice day to chill out

Thanks for your suggestion of having the clamshell prereserved in case we don't want to get off on the first tenders!

It's not fabulous, but fun. We snorkel as often as possible where ports of call present the opportunity.

We are definitely beginners, having only snorkeled twice before, so any sea life we see is exciting to us! Thanks for your help!

The best snorkeling is at the far left of the beach (if you are in the water looking in at the beach--far right if you are on the beach looking out at the water) in the area near the octagonal pavilion over the water.

Thanks so much for the information! My husband was really wondering about the snorkeling!

It is a nice beach. Plan to have your entire group, if you have a group, at the tender ticket location early so you can be one of the first to stake out a nice beach location. There are plenty of lounge chairs for everyone, but there are limited spots in the shade. As you exit the tender to your left is the larger beach area with the better beach and ocean. There is also a beach to the right, entrance to the water there is not as nice as it is in the other direction. You can pre-reserve a clam shell if you like. If I remember correctly the clam shells are all on the right hand side of the dock. Entry into the sea is a little rough with coral rocks on the bottom, so wear bathing shoes. Once you pass the shoreline it is all sand. To the rear of the property is an exit to a local market. If you intend to go there bring photo ID and cash. You must show your cruise card and ID to return back to the Princess beach.There is a cafeteria style lunch served on both sides of the dock area. I have found the one by the clam shells to be less crowded. There are also free standing wagons around where they serve tacos and other street style food. We prefer these to the cafeteria.

I my opinion I don't think it is necessary to book a tour, but that is really up to you.

Thank you so much for your suggestions--especially for the water shoes and the food wagons!

We didn't do any excursions while there but we did reserve a "clamshell" which we enjoyed. The beach loungers are first come -- but we wanted some shelter and thought the clamshell was just right. We also rented snorkel gear but was disappointed with quality of snorkeling. The beach going into the water was full of rocks, in hindsight, I should have worn water shoes as it was quite uncomfortable in spots. We did see some fish while snorkeling but it was minimal. Probably a good place for children and/or beginners. On a positive note, it's a beautiful setting and we took a long walk down the beach and explored. There are several spots to have lunch and drinks, a perfect setting for the day. Enjoy yourselves.

Thank you so much for your quick reply! The clam shell is a great idea. I think I'll reserve it tonight.