Concerns about Caribbean Princess

[Kasupe]

I am about to book a 7 day New England/Canada cruise on the Caribbean Princess. I have been reading reviews and I am concerned about long waiting times on the Anytime Dining and crowding on the ship. Could someone who has been on the CB let me know about their experiences. I read many not so great reviews and not sure if I should book the trip for August.

[synet165]

Hi,

We made our first trip on the CB last August and are going again in May.

The ship is great, it never felt crowded , we had anytime dining never any problems.

Enjoy

synet165:)

[Cruisen_Joe]

I am about to book a 7 day New England/Canada cruise on the Caribbean Princess. I have been reading reviews and I am concerned about long waiting times on the Anytime Dining and crowding on the ship. Could someone who has been on the CB let me know about their experiences. I read many not so great reviews and not sure if I should book the trip for August.

Here is what appeared on our board:

"We're experienced cruisers and have to say that the S Caribbean itinerary aboard Caribbean Princess was generally one of the best ever! The CREW was out of this world no matter where, no matter when. And, for the few issues we encountered, the purser was responsive and so professional we still can't get over it. A VERY welcome change and it's obvious that they take passenger's satisfaction very seriously.

HOWEVER, there are a few things I think you should be aware of: We had minisuite E730---which we thought would be fabulous, due to the extra long, wraparound aft balcony! That part was terrific, but we quickly learned that that amenity came with a hidden problem: it is DIRECTLY above the Club Fusion stage and the walls of our cabin literally shook with vibration from the bass most nights until 1a. Not good, but when we complained about the noise, Princess more than adequately compensated us, so we have no prob there. Like other businesses, they ARE also cutting costs, many times in ways that only repeat passengers might be aware, but nevertheless you should know that the drinks are about 1/2 size of what they were. A margarita is now served in a Tom Collins glass, brimming with ice. The wine glass is only served 1/2 full, no matter which bar or dining room---not the standard 3/4 or 2/3. A positive: Be aware that on the 1st night, the sort of unheralded seafood extravaganza in the buffet is UNREAL---way better than the dining room. There were endless pre-cracked crab legs available, that individually were the size of the entire PLATE---I've never b4 seen anything like it! Word quickly spread about the quality of food @ the buffet, and passengers were actually leaving the dining rooms to be able to get some of the truly incredible food in Horizon Court! I understand that by 9p, the place was totally jammed and the other restaurants were completely empty. That being said, however, the dinner buffet was CLOSED for the remainder of the cruise! Instead, the Club Caribe was offered as an option, which is adjacent to the Horizon Court. The prob w/ Club Caribe is that, although it is also set up as a buffet, there is ONLY 1 place (at the start of the line) to get a plate, and so the system discourages refills b/c you literally have to stand in a single line for up to 15 minutes to collect another plate and there is NO ROOM for you to move past others to get to any other food station. It's a TERRIBLE system and made lots of passengers frustrated."

I'll give you my observation when I return.

 

[Colo Cruiser]

We sailed the CB in Nov on the repo from NY-San Juan.

It is fantastic with the dry dock improvements.

We do Trad dining because we don't want the hassle of any wait.

Never experienced any crowding.

[sunneesmile]

We sailed the CB in Sept 2007 before the dry dock improvements and it was awesome then. Never felt crowed. Then we did the New England Run last Sept 2009 and the new and improved CB is awesome. The International Cafe is great and the Anytime Dining was great. i never felt crowded, or like I did not have my own space anywhere on this ship. I highly recommend the Caribbean Princess and I highly recommend the New England trip. While in Bar Harbor, please book the Olly's Trolley trip., It is safe to book outside the ship and it is so worth the time and money!

[DonnaK]

My review might be one of the ones you are referring to. The problem with the Canada/NE route is that there are a lot of seniors on the ship, and they tend to prefer eating early. So, there were issues with long lines in the anytime dining room between 6p and 730pm, with waiting times of up to 45 minutes. On our sailing, the maitre-d was extremely inflexible. There were only a limited number of reservation accepted for each night, and the could only be made for one night at a time, beginning at 11pm the night before. You couldn't reserve a particular table or a particular waiter.

 

We did find the ship to be extemely crowded; actually the space to passenger ratio isn't as large as on other ships we've sailed, so the ship really isn't large enough for the number of passengers it holds. The pools were hardly used, which means more people walking around the ship. A heavy preference for early dining times means that the demand for the early shows was very high, and you definitely had to get to the theatre 20-30 minutes early to get a seat. As well, the buffets were very crowded, and this is where we experienced a lot of chair hogs...people would remain in the dining area long after they finished eating, so others at the buffet couldn't find a seat.

 

Now, this sounds like a lot of complaints, but it really isn't meant in that spirit at all. If you are aware of what to expect, you can be prepared and plan accordingly.

 

We loved the Canada/NE cruise on the CB, and recommended it to our friends (who agreed with our observations, but also loved their cruise none-the-less). We are booked on the CB again this summer, although on a different itinerary.

 

Despite my comments, I would say don't hesitate to book this cruise. It was still wonderful. And, on port-intensive itineraries like this one, you spend almost as much time off the ship as you do on it.

[Kasupe]

Thanks everyone for the responses. I am now more comfortable with sailing on the Caribbean Princess.

[Elizabeth K.]

We returned from the CB 2 weeks ago. This was my 5th cruise on Princess and 2nd time on the CB. We had a great time and encountered lots of friendly people, both passengers and staff. There are certain areas and times where it is crowded but this is off and on depending on the activity and the time. Just go with the flow and you'll be fine. We enjoyed wine most nights at Vines and it's never crowded there:) The food was extremely good for the most part. And I don't even agree with previous posters about the coktails being smaller. It's the same as its been for the past 10 yrs from what I've experienced. Just go and relax and you will have a wonderful time.

 

If I have one criticism it is that in the Palm dining room, several nights there was a vibration that you could hear and feel throughout dinner. Seemed to be coming from beneath us. It made for some discomfort at times, although we tried to ignore it the best we could. Wait staff was great and altho they try to be as attentive as they can, they are really running their butts off and it takes a little away from the experience because it feels a little hectic. maybe that was just our waiters. Having said that, we loved our week on the CB:D

[janetz]

Sailed CB twice. Both sailings full. Did not notice any crowding and never waited for dining. Loved the ship! :D

[cruisemom42]

I've sailed on CB twice (FL to Western Caribbean, NY to Eastern Caribbean); I never experienced any wait time for Anytime Dining, but I am always willing to share a table.

 

In areas other than the MDR, it did feel like the ship was more crowded than some others I've been on -- notably in the Princess Theater (where a fight broke out due to low seat availability for one show) and the Horizon Court (not my favorite dining spot on any ship and particularly not on CB.....)

[Colo Cruiser]

The drinks sizes have been scaled down in the last year or 2. :cool:

[Cruisen_Joe]

The drinks sizes have been scaled down in the last year or 2. :cool:

Your not the first one to say that on these threads:eek:. Time to smuggle a bunch on board:o.

[Colo Cruiser]

Your not the first one to say that on these threads:eek:. Time to smuggle a bunch on board:o.

 

 

Yes Stewie. :D

[janina]

I also notice the scaled down drinks on my November cruise. We have anytime dinning on our May 2 CB cruise. Hope it works out.:confused:

[framer]

We've done the NE cruise 4X and 3X on the CB. We like to eat early and only once got TD on the CB. Last year we got ATD so here my take. We show up as the doors opened and always got seated right away. We never had a wait. The 1st night we clicked with this waiter and every night we requested the same waiter as we walked in. There was never a problem. In fact every one at our table requested this waiter so most nights we were seated together. By the 3rd night they were giving us a window table. Which the 1st one of our group in the door would request and the rest of us followed. The maître-d would not give us any reservations for this waiter or table but did accommodate us because we were always there as the door opened and there was plenty of space.

 

Best time to take this cruise is after the kids are back in school. After 10 you own the ship as 80% of the folks are in bed.

 

If you eat early and party hard you can eat again at 11PM:D.

 

framer

[framer]

Also request what you want, they will try if possible to accommodate. If you don't request they don't know what you require to make you a happy cruiser.

 

 

I also make a point to request not demand of all crew members and accept what they can or cannot do.

 

framer

[mytime53]

We were just on the CB for 2 weeks. I don't know about our 2nd week, but the first week was sold out. We were worried about crowding, due to things we had read here. Our take:

Finding an empty lounge chair was never difficult...although we don't like the noise of the main pool areas and so sit elsewhere, it seemed there were usually empty chairs in those pool areas when we walked through. We had an inside room that first week, so quickly found (and used!) quiet areas on deck.

Horizon Court and Cafe Caribe were indeed crowded at peak times, but I think that goes for any ship. We just got up a little earlier to avoid the breakfast rush (and that also helped immensely with the line for IC in the a.m., too!), or had breakfast in the dining room.

On nights we had dinner in the anytime dining rooms, you never had to wait if you were willing to sit with others. The first 2 nights we had eaten in HC/CC (the seafood buffet on embarkation day was great!), so we were looking forward to the dining room for night 3. Sharing a table was a disastrous experience that night, so for the rest of the trip, we opted to wait for a table for 2. Our waits ranged from 5 minutes to 30 minutes. Hint: We found out that the 2 ADRs were not equally busy. The night our wait was 0, we had been told 15 minutes and given a timer. We went down to the other one, and got right in. Didn't appear that most people were willing (or thought of) to walk that one flight of stairs (or even take the elevator) to check.

Theater...yeah, crowded, but we always got a seat if we wanted...plan ahead. If you really care, get there early. This was only our 9th cruise, but we've been on 5 different cruiselines, all sizes of ships. The theater is always too small for the number of people that want to see a show.

[IKE]

We are Ellite Members and sailed over 20 times on Princess. We were also on the New England/Cruise last Sept. and had no problem with Anytime Dining as We eat around 8PM. Never had to wait more than 10 minutes for a Table for 2. Ship is beautiful. Never felt like it was over crowded. Sailed Her 4 times so far and 5th coming up on May 9th to the Caribbean out of NYC. Enjoy your Cruise! IKE

[janetz]

We've done the NE cruise 4X and 3X on the CB. We like to eat early and only once got TD on the CB. Last year we got ATD so here my take. We show up as the doors opened and always got seated right away. We never had a wait. The 1st night we clicked with this waiter and every night we requested the same waiter as we walked in. There was never a problem. In fact every one at our table requested this waiter so most nights we were seated together. By the 3rd night they were giving us a window table. Which the 1st one of our group in the door would request and the rest of us followed. The maître-d would not give us any reservations for this waiter or table but did accommodate us because we were always there as the door opened and there was plenty of space.

 

Best time to take this cruise is after the kids are back in school. After 10 you own the ship as 80% of the folks are in bed.

 

If you eat early and party hard you can eat again at 11PM:D.

 

framer

 

 

I see you are from RI. We are in Western Ma. Being from the Northeast, besides the ship, what attracts you to this itinerary? I have thought about doing this. Being from the area we have already been to Boston and Newport, many times, what are the highlights that keep you doing it?

[Feelin' Nauti']

I am about to book a 7 day New England/Canada cruise on the Caribbean Princess. I have been reading reviews and I am concerned about long waiting times on the Anytime Dining and crowding on the ship. Could someone who has been on the CB let me know about their experiences. I read many not so great reviews and not sure if I should book the trip for August.

I am sure you read more good than bad reviews.

Been on the CB 3 times already. Going on her for the fourth time in July.

You won't hear a complaint from me.

Love this ship.

Anytime Dining waiting ~ well that's a hit or miss. Just like any land base restaurant. Just have to go with the flow. ;)

And enjoy yourself.

So book it! You won't regret it. :D

[JulesNJ]

We sailed the CB last August for our honeymoon - we had SUCH a great time we just re-booked last week again for our 1 year anniversary!

 

We are doing the exact same cruise. Last year we had to detour for a hurricane so we missed 2 ports. Hopefully we will get to see them this time:)

 

We also had anytime dining and honestly, we never waited more than 10 mins for a table. I love this ship!

PS: I see you are from RI! My hubby is from Providence RI:)

[Kasupe]

We booked our trip today. Thank you everyone for all your responses. We are really excited about this different cruise trip, since we have been to the Caribbean Area on 3 different cruises. Now the countdown begins - 5 months from today.

[janetz]

We booked our trip today. Thank you everyone for all your responses. We are really excited about this different cruise trip, since we have been to the Caribbean Area on 3 different cruises. Now the countdown begins - 5 months from today.

 

 

You will love the ship. This is the adults only pool. One thing tho, that lounger in the front row at the end on the right, that is my spot. :D Be sure not to move my towel.

 

http://travel.webshots.com/photo/1153489611050366242aCgOmG

[NYGirl1002]

Janet I love your pics of the CB. Is there a charge to use the Lotus Spa pool?

[janetz]

Janet I love your pics of the CB. Is there a charge to use the Lotus Spa pool?

 

 

Oh I just found that Pic....Spa pool is free. :D

 

Spa Pool

 

http://travel.webshots.com/photo/1153492246050366242qBMRmR

 

Another Terrace Pool

 

http://www.travelpod.com/travel-photo/loolie/2/1229309100/terrace-pool-on-caribbean-princess.jpg/tpod.html