CB XMAS review - the good and bad

This was our third cruise on princess (1 being on the Golden). 2 on Carnival's mega ships and 1 on Explorer of the SEa (RC). My dad brought all 14 on for an XMAS gift. 4 different families - some 1st time cruisers. Here are our thoughts. Sorry guys some good some bad!!!

Embarking - smooth in our room by 12:00!!

Xmas celebration - They did a nice job. The ship was decorated beautifully and the christmas carols on Christmas eve were sweet. We did not go to the Xmas fair the next day because our kids were older but I heard it was nice.

Entertainment - Great!! Bert STratton is not only a nice guy (talked to him in the elevator) but is a great entertainer! Love the comedian and juggler!

Pools - great condition - many to choose from. The first two sea days came out at 9:30 - no chairs. If I wanted to sit in the shade there were many but I wanted to sit in the sun. Would sit in one chair then keep looking for a better one... tons of saved chairs - no one going to them. I'm not a chair stealer and would never spend my time staring at chairs for 30 minutes to see if someone does not come back and remove thier things - no for me - I think it is rude. But I will tell you on Thursday sea day. I went out at 7:30 saved 2 chairs in a nice prime area - went to breakfast for about 25 minutes came back and there was another couple sitting in my chair and my things were on the ground. I told them that I was gone for less then 30 minutes and they said tough it was thiers now. 3 people from around the area stood up and said "We told you she had just been there you need to get up". They sat. My husband appeared and said "please get up". We all gathered around the chairs and the finally got up. RUDE RUDE RUDE. We watched them go over a few rows and take someones things off and sit right down. If you want a seat get up early and get one don't rely on taking from others. If you get up late be patient a good one will finally open up.

PORTS - Great weather lots of great excursions. We did our own boat in St. Thomas. Lots of fun. On St. MArtin did the Pinnel Island excursion. Lots of fun I highly recommend.

STAFF - Some very nice, some not. Heard there was a lot of seasonal help. all and all pretty good. Warning. When you embark they will try and sell you a wine tasting on Monday and tell you if you don't go you will not be charged! Not true!!! They will charge you and you will have to deal with the pursers office to get if off for the rest of the cruise. Also be careful and look at your charge slips. My father signed a slip for 22 bloody Marys (he is low vision) - only had 2. Spent the rest of the cruise getting those off his bill also.

FOOD - Some good some average. Better then CArnival or RC. Drinks watered down...

DINING STAFF -LOTS of Problems - The matri-di's (sp?) in the palm dining room stink!!!!!! The greyed haired one was rude and stern (but in the wine tasting on Thursday he was a hoot..go figure). When we embarked we went to the dining room reservation area near Sabatinis. We asked for a standing reservation for 7:00 in the palm for 14 (could be seperate tables). They said "6:00" we said no that is too early. "6:00 or you go at your own risk" We decided to try 'our own risk' that night. We went in around 7:15 and was told "you don't have a reservation....then we may not be able to seat you..." We explained that we did not all have to be together . Still they acted like we had just asked them for thier first born. Finally after 20 minutes they put the 6 kids at a table for 4 and 8 of us at a table for 6. Very cramped not a great experience. Not great service. We finally conceded and said ok give us a reservation for 6:00 for 14 (does still not have to be at the same table) and they said "you should have gotten your reservation earlier today...don't know if we can do it..." My father was very mad and said "We will be down here at 6:00 tomorrow and by 6:30 my family should be sitting in 2 tables at the most that fit that amount of people.. will that be a problem..." They said "We will see what we can do". The next day we got a table for 6 and table for 8. We looked around all week and there was always large tables opend with no one at them.... The waiters were ok...nothing great. Ran into our old head server from the Golden and he told me the best staff was in Tradiational in the Island and that is where the best staff is put. He said there are always a lot of complaints about the Palm.... MY recommendation for you PC'ers go to the Coral.

ROOM STEWARD - THE WORST!!!!!! - We were in a mini in D228. My kids are in an inside D230 - we had Lousito. We rarly got our beach towels until the am when we had to find him to get them for the pool (other family memebers with other stewards got them in the PM). One day only recieved 1 bath towel luckly my husband saw that before I got in the shower - paged him...no call - called concierge and recieved it 20 minutes later (late for dinner that night) On Thursday did not recieve any.... was in thie shower when I noticed. Had to dry off with hand towels. Paged the room steward....no calls back called concierge...my husband told them to bring us two extra when they brought the two that were missing they said we would have to talk to our room steward about that...My husband said "please bring me 4 NOW!!!! 20 minutes later those came. Late for dinner again!!! Saw Lousito many times after never an apoligy. That was not the worst. He never cleaned our bathroom floor luckly I brought clorex wipes and did it myself. My brother had the same steward a few doors down and had a worst experience. His little girl got sick on Tuesday night and got some drops of vomit on the bath mat towel. So they balled it up and put it under the vanity. The next day after thier room was cleaned they found the same bath mat neatly folded and put back on thier tub side. We had the same type of expericiences in my kids room. I will be talking to Princess about him!!!

For the first time ever I removed the tips from my account and gave the dining staff thier normal amount in envelopes but gave the room steward Less then then normal amount for both rooms.

All and all a great cruise. Did I notice the extra people on the CB vs. the Golden YES! Since our kids do not use the kids clubs anymore I think we will go back to a smaller ship next time.

Will answer any quesitons....

Sorry I missed the Cruise Critic party on Xmas day. That day was so hectic that I did not remember about it until 6:00 that night. Sorry!!

Hi Beach People! Thanks for the review! I will keep my eye out for that Lousito fellow when I sail her in April. I'm in D422, so hopefully he will not be the one assigned as my steward!

We are schedules for Traditional dining late seating, so hopefully we won't run into the issues with maitre d's and waiters.

Again, thanks for taking the time to write a review!

Thanks for the review!!!! Do you remember what movies were played at MUTS daytime or nighttime? How about in-room movies? We leave in less than two weeks and are very excited!!

I think the daytime were - Wizard of Oz, Nemo, Incredibles... at night Mr. and Mrs. Smith don't really know the rest. Never got to it... too much to do :)

Hi Beach People,

Thanks for the review. Just a quick question. You mentioned a Maitre'd at the Palm Dining Room....is this the man you were talking about?

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Just curious.

Thanks for the review!!!! Do you remember what movies were played at MUTS daytime or nighttime? How about in-room movies? We leave in less than two weeks and are very excited!!

On MUTS there was War of the Worlds, Shrek, Calendar Girls, Dukes of Hazzard, Splash, Big, some Baseball movie called somthing like "Bad Bears" (Bad Movie more like), Her shoes, shall we dance?, Mr and Mrs Smith.... can't remember any more I'm afraid!

Hannah

P.S. Have a vague recollection of Ocean's 12 and some American Football movie with Adam Sandler or Burt Reynolds in cabin, but I could be wrong, I wasn't paying attention.

Thank you for posting movies!!! My son is 10 and after all the fun in the sun--he may want to spend a night watching movies instead of heading to dinner with his mom and grandparents!! Sounds like there should be appropriate movies for him; although, we will take his portable DVD player too!

Hi Beach People,

Thanks for the review. Just a quick question. You mentioned a Maitre'd at the Palm Dining Room....is this the man you were talking about?

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Just curious.

No that was certainly not the grayed haired one. Although it is hard to tell, I don't even think it was the other gentleman that was not much help either.

That Matrie-d' in the picture looked like he was interacting with guests. I did not see much interaction with the guests by these two gentleman. Every time we arrived/left or went to the restroom they were just standing behind thier podiums. On our last Princess PC dining experience ours would walk through and ask how dinner was. He also always greeted us by name on the way in and on the way out.

Thanks Beach People.

Guess we'll try the Coral Dining Room next time.

Now I'm a bit worried about the room steward. I'm in D232, so I'm guessing I'll have the same misfortune. Or...on the other hand, don't you think it might be possible that some of the poor service occurred because the crew was depressed about having to work over Christmas and they were missing their families?

We were in D231, same cruise as Beachpeople, and had a fantastic steward named Oliver. Room was immaculate, all requests handled as expected. In addition, I asked him to pull the sofa bed out each night just in case my 12 year old wanted to stay in our room and not with his older brother who often returned at daybreak ;) . I must admit I did tip him extra, up front for this, but it seemed he was just somebody who cared about his job.

Maybe he'll move over to the even number cabins for your cruise??

Now I'm a bit worried about the room steward. I'm in D232, so I'm guessing I'll have the same misfortune. Or...on the other hand, don't you think it might be possible that some of the poor service occurred because the crew was depressed about having to work over Christmas and they were missing their families?

Don't know how far his room span is. I know that my brother had him in D216. If I were you and you have him I would maybe slip him a $10 advance on his tip and see if you get better service. Then if he still does not respond better then he did with us have your auto tips taken off and reduce his amount. I never thought it was necessary to tip ahead because we always gave more then the required at the end but it sure is a bummer having bad service throughout the trip.

As far as being depressed about the holidays... its his job whatever day it is. I'm sure he was even more depressed when 3 of his rooms gave him less then he expected. I thought I deserved some of his money since I cleaned the floors... :)

We were in D231, same cruise as Beachpeople, and had a fantastic steward named Oliver. Room was immaculate, all requests handled as expected. In addition, I asked him to pull the sofa bed out each night just in case my 12 year old wanted to stay in our room and not with his older brother who often returned at daybreak ;) . I must admit I did tip him extra, up front for this, but it seemed he was just somebody who cared about his job.

 

Maybe he'll move over to the even number cabins for your cruise??

My parents were in D225 and had a great steward also... they too payed him extra but not till the end. Maybe it was oliver. I'm glad thier turned out great since they paid for the cruise for everyone!

Talked to my parents and they did have Oliver!! Loved him!