Caribbean Princess Review 7/29-8/7 *WARNING - long, detailed and opinionated

[DonnaK]

Donna, thanks for your efforts in putting together your review. Be sure to piece it together and submit it as a full review to member's reviews. Your detailed descriptions will be very beneficial to folks planning a future cruise. We've been on Coral, Emerald, Ruby, Golden and Crown over the years but I don't think we've been on Caribbean Princess.

 

I would agree that Horizon Court is the weakest link in all the Princess ships, although I thought that the configuration on the Golden Princess was the best.

 

Don't worry about "opinionated" everyone has a right to their opinion!

 

Hello to Pam whom we met on the Coral Panama Canal cruise.

 

Thanks for your kind words.

 

I definitely plan to submit it to members reviews after it's finally finished. I like posting it in installments here, because it give me a chance to edit the final copy, and address anything else that might come up during the process.

 

I have a couple of reviews there already. lol

[RRFPresident]

Did you check out my review of that itinerary August 2008? There's a link in my signature.

 

Yes, I did. Very informative, thanks.

[ColoCruze]

Thanks from me as well. I'm really enjoying reading your review - it's so thorough and very fair. I agree with you about the dining experience - especially in Traditional Dining, I really appreciate all of the little extra touches. For me, they're what make dining on a cruise so different and special.:)

[Cruisin Kay D]

Donna: Thoroughly enjoying your review (in its parts)!!!!! Getting on Caribbean Prin 8/21!! Thanks for your efforts!!

 

RE: comments about children's programs -- took 4 of 6 grandkids on Radiance when they were 10-15, then took the 6 grandkids (then ages 9-16) on Carnival, which is reputed to have superb kids' programs -- only the 2 youngest wanted to participate but only very occasionally -- on both cruises all the kids wanted to do other than pools & sunning was hanging out with Gran & Gramps -- shows, late dining, etc.!!!! (Now planning another great grandkids cruise for the 6 before the oldest heads off to college!)

[DonnaK]

Donna: Thoroughly enjoying your review (in its parts)!!!!! Getting on Caribbean Prin 8/21!! Thanks for your efforts!!

 

RE: comments about children's programs -- took 4 of 6 grandkids on Radiance when they were 10-15, then took the 6 grandkids (then ages 9-16) on Carnival, which is reputed to have superb kids' programs -- only the 2 youngest wanted to participate but only very occasionally -- on both cruises all the kids wanted to do other than pools & sunning was hanging out with Gran & Gramps -- shows, late dining, etc.!!!! (Now planning another great grandkids cruise for the 6 before the oldest heads off to college!)

 

My children didn't care for the kids club on Carnival (they were 12 and 10 at the time), and it our experience, it did not live up to its reputation. But, that's a story for a different review! lol

 

My kids are like your grandkids. They like sticking close to eachother, and to the rest of the family. They love attending the shows with us each night. They share our opinion that dinner in the MDR can be the highlight of the day. They like reading on the balcony. They like lounging with us by the pool, and it's especially nice now that they are now young adults and old enough for the adult pools. It's their opinion that the larger RCI ships have the best kids/teen programs, and have the most enjoyable activities for all ages..

[mikechass]

Donna, this has been a great read and the instalments have been great for my morning coffee's.

We have yet to travel with Princess and I do feel like I am getting an "eyes wide open" opinion of how things work.

Thanks for taking your time and efforts to produce this review.

Happy travels to you and your family

Chass

[deniuh]

Donna,

Thank you for taking the time to provide this informative review on the Caribbean Princess. My hubby and I read it together and feel much better now about our upcoming cruise in September. We are now more excited because of you. Thanks so much!!

[DonnaK]

Donna, this has been a great read and the instalments have been great for my morning coffee's.

We have yet to travel with Princess and I do feel like I am getting an "eyes wide open" opinion of how things work.

Thanks for taking your time and efforts to produce this review.

Happy travels to you and your family

Chass

 

Donna,

Thank you for taking the time to provide this informative review on the Caribbean Princess. My hubby and I read it together and feel much better now about our upcoming cruise in September. We are now more excited because of you. Thanks so much!!

 

 

I'm glad you're enjoying my review!!! I'm sure you're going to have great cruises. Princess provides a wonderful cruising experience.

[DonnaK]

Before I move onto the rest of my review, here are some tidbits I've added to the parts I've already posted:

 

When we originally booked the cruise, there were residency and past passenger discounts being offered. In order to receive the discounted price, we had to make the reservations with one person who qualified for the discount in each cabin. We went to the purser’s desk immediately after dropping our luggage off and advised them that several people in our group were switching cabins. No questions asked. They simply wrote down the information and asked us to return the next afternoon to pick up new cruise cards. It was absolutely no problem; the accounts followed the individuals who moved, and they received the correct key to the room that they were sleeping in.

A don’t-miss activity is the Cooking Demonstration and Galley Tour! Executive Chef Antonio Cerada and Maitre d’Hotel Giorgio Pisano were hilarious as they prepared for us a 3-course meal in 20 minutes – Caesar Salad, Pesto Pasta and Tiramisu. Our only comment is that these dishes are ones that many people already know how to make, and recipes for them abound online. It would have been more interesting if they had showed us how to make more unique dishes from their cookbook, which they were selling and autographing afterwards.

 

***still writing up the ports and disembarkation, but I'm almost done!***

[nails62040]

Donna - I so appreciate your review and have enjoyed reading it! We are two couples sailing on the CB in October and have Anytime Dining reserved on our reservation. After reading several reviews about the dining experience onboard, I'm beginning to wonder if we need to change to traditional dining at 5:30 (princess has this time available). What are your opinions? We were on the Crown several years ago and enjoyed Anytime Dining - but we were also in the Caribbean where we noticed alot of people enjoying the outdoors while they ate.

 

I'm really confused as to what to do - any input you (or anyone else for that matter) have would be greatly appreciated!

 

Karen

[DonnaK]

Donna - I so appreciate your review and have enjoyed reading it! We are two couples sailing on the CB in October and have Anytime Dining reserved on our reservation. After reading several reviews about the dining experience onboard, I'm beginning to wonder if we need to change to traditional dining at 5:30 (princess has this time available). What are your opinions? We were on the Crown several years ago and enjoyed Anytime Dining - but we were also in the Caribbean where we noticed alot of people enjoying the outdoors while they ate.

 

I'm really confused as to what to do - any input you (or anyone else for that matter) have would be greatly appreciated!

 

Karen

 

 

I don't know what to suggest. Getting reservations was a huge problem on our Canada/NE cruise because the demographics were largely geriatrics, and they tend to eat early. Also, the all-aboard/sailaway times for all our ports was around 5pm. So, there was a huge demand in the early evening, and the maitre-d became very hardnosed - he refused to take reservations at all (except for the very few who were able to get through on the reservation line as soon as it opened). You couldn't request the same table, or the same wait team. Lines were over an hour long, and the older people were very upset about having to stand for so long and not being able to eat when they were hungry. You can only imagine the chaos outside the anytime dining rooms between 6:30 and about 8pm every night.

 

Someone on our roll call for our cruise last week reported that it was the same situation on our sailing, very difficult and frustrating for her.

 

We like to eat early, so we got around the issue by appearing at the anytime dining room when it opened (we sent my husband down about 10 minutes early to wait on the line), and then we were seated right away and had our choice of table/waiter.

 

I think a party of 4 might have an easier time than we did. We were 5 people on that cruise. The person from our roll call was also a larger group.

 

Maybe you should try it out and see what happens? Once onboard, you probably can switch into the 5:30 seating if you are unhappy with anytime?

[Colo Cruiser]

Great review!! Thanks Donna. :)

[smilenteach]

My friend and I just sailed on the CB on the 7/29 cruise with Anytime Dining. We never had to wait for a table between 6 - 7 pm. Usually, when we came out at around 7:45 there was always a short line. Sometimes we ate alone at a table for 2 and sometimes we chose to eat at a table for 6-8 people. No matter where we ate, the staff was always accommodating and pleasant. The food was always great (if not, they are always happy to bring you something else instead) and the service was terrific. We love Anytime dining.

[davy jones]

My friend and I just sailed on the CB on the 7/29 cruise with Anytime Dining. We never had to wait for a table between 6 - 7 pm. Usually, when we came out at around 7:45 there was always a short line. Sometimes we ate alone at a table for 2 and sometimes we chose to eat at a table for 6-8 people. No matter where we ate, the staff was always accommodating and pleasant. The food was always great (if not, they are always happy to bring you something else instead) and the service was terrific. We love Anytime dining.

 

We wer on the same sailing and had exactly the same scenario, except we got a table for 4. If you came at 8, there was a wait. I sometimes wondered why those folks just didn't choose traditional if they wanted to eat at 8, but that's their choice.

[hawaii6o]

We had anytime dining, we were waitlisted for 8 pm traditional dining and didnt get it, so we had to do anytime. We never had to wait for a table for 3, but we always went to dinner late, it was always around 8:30 or later.

[rdsqrl]

Donna, I've really enjoyed reading your review -- love all the details and love all the opinions, too! Thanks for taking the time to write so minutely about everything, which makes a review so much fun to read, in my opinion.

[Psychedout]

Awww...thanks so much! It's nice to know that people actually read my reviews and find them helpful. I'm using the NE/Canada review as a template for this one and I'm trying very hard not to be repetitive and to word my impressions differently! lol

 

Thanks Donna,

 

We will be on the CB Oct 16.

 

Hugh

[DonnaK]

Ports: An advantage of traveling with a large group is the ability to book private tours for just our party, without having strangers join us on the bus. This gave us the luxury of doing exactly what we wanted without considering the wishes of others. We made reservations in advance for all the ports except Bermuda. Note: my mother stayed on the ship at all ports and enjoyed having the Terrace Pool, and the rest of the ship, almost all to herself while we were ashore.

On the first night of the cruise, we were instructed to advance our clocks one hour forward so that we would be synchronized with the time in Bermuda (Atlantic Daylight Time). On the evening before we were scheduled to arrive in Puerto Rico, we reset our clocks back one hour, to synchronize with the local time there and in St. Thomas and Grand Turk (Atlantic Standard Time).

Bermuda 7/31/10: It was a mostly sunny morning when we docked at 8am, and we were off the ship at 9am, after eating a hearty breakfast. We had no set plans. We had wanted to reserve a Blue Flag (government regulated) taxi tour guide in advance, but I couldn’t find one online that would accommodate more than 6 people. We were thining of either buying a bus and ferry day-pass and making-up our own tour, or dividing ourselves up into two Blue Flag taxi tours at the pier.

As we stepped outside the terminal, the first thing we noticed was a long line Blue Flag taxis waiting curbside. Port Security had everything under control in the neatest and most organized fashion I’ve ever seen! We approached the security guard who was coordinating the taxis and inquired if there was a larger vehicle available to give our party of 9 a private tour. He consulted with the other guards, and within 2-3 minutes, a mini-bus pulled up. We were quoted the government regulated rate of $10 per person per hour, and off we went.

I wish I could remember our tour guide’s name because he was awesome and I'd like to recommend him to others. His two young daughters (ages 9 and 4) were on the bus with us. They were charming little girls, eager to share tidbits about their school and their life in Bermuda. We started the tour by stopping at a convenience shop to get coffee and beverages for the ride. It was non-touristy and we were able to buy nice local items at reasonable prices there. Then, he drove us through Somerset, over the smallest drawbridge in the world, to Gibbs Hill lighthouse, through various resort hotel grounds, to the perfume factory, and finally to the city of Hamilton. We opted not to get off the bus to walk around and shop in Hamilton, so he drove around and pointed out all the highlights.

Afterwards, we took a 20 minute break at Shelley Bay Park, on the north shore, which is a lovely calm beach that our guide said is popular with the locals. On the way to St. George, we could see a storm approaching quickly, even though it was very sunny where we were. We drove into the heavy rain, and by the time we arrived at St. George, the skies had cleared again. We saw St. Catherine’s Fort and St. David’s lighthouse, among other highlights, before stopping at King’s Square to walk around a bit. We attended a re-enactment of the Dunking of the Nag by locals dressed in period costumes. Then, we hopped back on the bus for a scenic drive to Horseshoe Bay beach, where we stopped for an hour to swim. The sand was truly pink, and the waves were coming in at a perfect roll. Despite a warning posted about riptides, we did not experience an undertow or dangerous currents. Back on the bus, it started to rain again. Our friends wanted to be dropped off at Snorkle Park, and we asked to be brought back to the ship to have a late lunch with my mom. For $50 per person for a 5 hour comprehensive and informative tour, we got way more than our money’s worth! The only thing I would do differently next time is an hour less of riding around and an hour more of beach time.

By the time our friends were back on the ship, the skies had opened up and windblown rain was pouring down. We had fun on the balcony watching all the people run towards the ship, including those on a late-returning ferry who nearly missed sailaway.

One striking observation about Bermuda: the abundance of tents and makeshift campsites sprouted up on undeveloped land. Our guide explained that because of the World Cup Cricket tournament, Friday and Monday were declared national holidays, so most of the locals were camping out for the long weekend. I have to be honest, if I were a local camping for the weekend in such torrential outbursts of rain and wind, I’d say “honey, forget this tent, we’re going home where it’s warm and dry”.

Leaving Bermuda was very picturesque, as we sailed along the north shore and around the east coast towards the Caribbean. It was raining very heavily, with thunder and lightning. For a couple of hours, movement on the ship was the strongest we felt throughout the cruise.

[DonnaK]

San Juan 8/2/10: We had pre-arranged a 2 hour van tour of Old and New San Juan with Victor Balbin of Countryside Tours, at the government regulated rate of $20 per person payable at the end of the tour in cash. Victor had an unexpected emergency at the last moment, so he sent another guide instead. I mention this substitution to commend Victor for handling the situation in a very professional and communicative manner, making for a seamless transition of service. Even though we didn’t tour with him personally, I can still highly recommend him!

Our new guide, Edwin Santos of AdvenTours of Puerto Rico (adventourspr@gmail.com, 787 223-2126), is also government certified and a member of the Puerto Rican Tour Guide Society. He met us at the terminal exit at 2pm. We agreed upon a little over an hour of sightseeing, followed by 45 minutes beach time. He gave us a comprehensive tour of Old San Juan, including the Government Building and the two forts. Edwin is well-versed in the history of the area, and provided very educational commentary about all the sites, the architecture, the education and government of the region, etc. The tour contained a lot of interesting, and off-the-beaten path, local flavor. For example, our van was halted at a crosswalk between the two forts to allow an elaborate funeral procession to pass in front of us on foot. In New San Juan, we stopped at Condado Plaza for outlet shopping and beach time. The beach was empty except for a handful of local families, and the sea was wonderful for swimming! At the end of the tour, our friends asked to be dropped off in Old San Juan with directions for on-their-own shopping. We returned to the ship in time for dinner with my mom. I cannot praise Edwin enough for showing us a wonderful time in Puerto Rico, and for sharing his vast knowledge with us! He was the perfect tour guide! (and extremely handsome, too!)

Sailaway was at 10:30pm, and we made our way atop the bridge to watch the city’s lights and the forts fade away from our sight.

[Colo Cruiser]

Thanks for the continued live.

[DonnaK]

Thanks for the continued live.

 

LOL - it's taking me forever! Now I know why people post live threads, because it's easier to write it as you go along, when things are still fresh in your mind and the excitement is present, than to try and recall everything and organize your thoughts a week later. :)

 

Anyway, I just have St Thomas and Grand Turk to write, which shouldn't take long. My conclusion is already written...I hope to have it all up tonight, so I can submit the whole thing to member's reviews before all the Canada/NE itineraries start appearing there.

[DonnaK]

St. Thomas 8/3/10: I was delighted to look out our cabin window to see that we were docked in Havensight instead of Crown Bay (Oasis of the Seas was docked there)!!! We had reserved a half-day private tour with Armitage Allembert (aka Papa Bear) of Air Force 1 Fun Tours (www.havefunwithus.com) for $285, payable one week in advance via PayPal. Papa Bear met us outside the cruise terminal at 9am, and away we went! We’ve been to St. Thomas numerous times, yet this tour took us to places we had never seen before. As we headed up Crown Mountain Road, we passed right in front of the Oasis. We stopped at the Crown Mountain overlook and our guide provided interesting historical info of Lindbergh Bay and the airport. Our next stop was overlooking of Dorothea Bay. It was a hazy morning, but that didn’t impede our view of the western side of St. Thomas and the little islands scattered across the sea. As we continued on the tour, Papa Bear pointed out native foliage growing wild on the side of the road, including herbs and fruits that are used as medicine. (As a pharmacist, I was fascinated!) We stopped at Pablo’s Farmhouse to see his medicinal herbal and fruit gardens, and to taste some freshly brewed herbal teas. We purchased a soursop smoothie, which was delicious! At the Solberg overlook, we had a birdseye view of Charlotte Amalie, Water Island and our ship. We spent about 45 minutes at St. Peter’s Great House and Botanical Gardens, with overlooks of Magan’s Bay, St. John and the British Virgin Islands. We wondered through its nature trails, passing by many waterfalls, gorgeous flowers and colorful parrots. The gift shop was awesome, and so were the Banana Daiquiris! Our next stop was Sapphire Beach, where the view was stunning and the sea was refreshing. After a 90 minute beach break, we took South Road back to Havensight Mall, where we did some shopping and sampled more rum, before reboarding the ship.

Once again, we had a wonderful day, seeing a large portion of the island, learning about its history and culture, and relaxing on a gorgeous beach. Papa Bear has our full endorsement as an informative guide, who is passionate about his island, and shows visitors a unique prospective of St. Thomas!!!

[Coral]

We wer on the same sailing and had exactly the same scenario, except we got a table for 4. If you came at 8, there was a wait. I sometimes wondered why those folks just didn't choose traditional if they wanted to eat at 8, but that's their choice.

 

Because it is often waitlisted.

[DonnaK]

Grand Turk 8/4/10: Well, this was the hottest day of our cruise, and the sun was beating down strongly. We docked at 1pm, and quickly walked through the Margaritaville complex to Nathan’s Golf Cart rental, located just outside the gate. We had pre-reserved 3 carts for $70 each. The kids really had a blast driving the carts (on the left side of the street)! Traffic was very light, and the cars/taxis/busses were very patient and courteous about sharing the road with us. We rode all the way up to the lighthouse and back, passing wild horses and donkeys grazing in the field and wild flamingos wading in the ponds. The views from the lighthouse cliffs were spectacular! Otherwise, there's not much else to see on the island. We passed groups of homes still recovering from hurricane damage suffered a few years ago surrounded by lots of new construction. We thought that it would be cool for our kids to return in 20-30 years when the island is all built up and its property costs a fortune, and be able to say that they experienced it back in 2010 when it was undeveloped and unspoiled natural beauty. Our only comment is that we wish we had a more detailed map of the area, which would have helped us navigate our way around more easily. In particular, we would have liked to find some of the more secluded beaches on the island.

We returned the golf carts after 2 hours. Although the kids wanted to keep them longer, we were hot and bothered, and ready for a swim. Because of the heat, we didn’t even take the time to browse through the shops in the cruise complex. We had no problems finding empty loungers in the shade. This was a great place for swimming! There was amazing buoyancy and I appreciated that we could stay afloat in water well over our heads exerting minimal effort or energy.

While golf carts were a fun way to explore the whole island, and we're glad we took advantage of this opportunity, if we visit Grand Turk again in the near future, we’d probably treat it like the cruiseline's private island. It would be very nice to spend the entire day at the beach and Margaritaville without venturing outside the complex's gate.

Disembarkation: We forgot to submit the forms specifying our disembarkation requirement by the Day 5 deadline. As luck would have it, we were given luggage tags that would be the very last ones called at 10:15am. The family traveling with us had a noontime wedding to attend on Long Island, so we pleaded with the Purser’s Desk for an earlier time, and after some hesitation, they found a way to accommodate us.

We vacated our cabin before 8am, had breakfast in the buffet, and waited in the assigned lounge until our new color was called promptly at 9am. Upon exiting the ship, an alarm sounded when I inserted my cruise card, and I was directed to customer service to “settle” my account. Now, we had been told by corporate office when the move-over offer was arranged that a check would be mailed to us for the unused portion of our OBC about 4-6 weeks after the cruise. When we checked our accounts onboard during the cruise, the pursers told us that the refund would be issued to our credit card and this was indicated on the final bill that was sent to our cabin. Well, neither of those were the case! We were not permitted to leave the ship until our account was zeroed out with a cash refund. The agent did not have enough cash on hand to give us, so a supervisor had to be called over, and money had to be retrieved from another location in “the back”. Then, the money was counted and recounted several times. The entire process was repeated for my mother’s account. It delayed our disembarkation by about a half-hour. I was a bit uneasy carrying so much money through the terminal and through customs, but it’s nice to have the cash in hand rather than await the refund check in the mail.

Our friends went through ahead of us, found our luggage and had it all loaded up onto a cart, with a porter standing by to breeze us through customs and immigration, and escort us to the parking lot. We were on our way home by 9:45am, and arrived at our house by 10:30am.

Interesting tidbit: Towards the end of our cruise, we overheard some of the crew discussing the impending visit of Princess CEO Alan Buckelew, who was scheduled to board the ship at the end of our cruise for the following sailing. This created a lot of nervous buzz and frantic preparations!

Summary: My observations are meant for informative purposes presented through detailed sharing our experience, and not as criticisms of Princess or of this ship. We truly enjoyed our cruise, and highly recommend it to everyone!!! We would absolutely love to cruise with Princess, and on this ship, again. However, we have already done both itineraries, and sadly, Princess has no other options for the Caribbean during the summer.

[Colo Cruiser]

Once again Donna thanks!! Loved it. ;)