Live from Caribbean Princess 9/4 - 9/11 NE/Canada

[AlaskaFan05]

Hello All,

 

Arrived in Brooklyn early yesterday and was on board by 11:30. Quick stop for some pizza, dropped off bags in cabin and spent some time exploring. Locked up 2 chairs for the week in the Sanctuary(where I am typing this now) and had a wonderful sail out of NY. woke up this morning in Newport and enjoying the ship today as we are from Boston and not getting off. It is a little chilly, but the sun is shining so thats all that matters. The ship is in good shape and the staff so far good. Had to wait about an hour lastnight to get into dinner(anytime) but was worth it in the end. Formal night tonight and we will see what else the day brings. Will try to update tomorrow as we are in Boston for the day and we are getting off to walk around.

 

Talk to you all soon,

 

Jeff

[RickEk]

Hello All,

 

Arrived in Brooklyn early yesterday and was on board by 11:30. Quick stop for some pizza, dropped off bags in cabin and spent some time exploring. Locked up 2 chairs for the week in the Sanctuary(where I am typing this now) and had a wonderful sail out of NY. woke up this morning in Newport and enjoying the ship today as we are from Boston and not getting off. It is a little chilly, but the sun is shining so thats all that matters. The ship is in good shape and the staff so far good. Had to wait about an hour lastnight to get into dinner(anytime) but was worth it in the end. Formal night tonight and we will see what else the day brings. Will try to update tomorrow as we are in Boston for the day and we are getting off to walk around.

 

Talk to you all soon,

 

Jeff

 

Thanks for the "Live"...

[Denise40]

Thanks for the live review!! We will be on this cruise 10/9. Can't wait to take a precruise with you.

[CruiseAdict218]

Hello All,

 

Arrived in Brooklyn early yesterday and was on board by 11:30. Quick stop for some pizza, dropped off bags in cabin and spent some time exploring. Locked up 2 chairs for the week in the Sanctuary(where I am typing this now) and had a wonderful sail out of NY. woke up this morning in Newport and enjoying the ship today as we are from Boston and not getting off. It is a little chilly, but the sun is shining so thats all that matters. The ship is in good shape and the staff so far good. Had to wait about an hour lastnight to get into dinner(anytime) but was worth it in the end. Formal night tonight and we will see what else the day brings. Will try to update tomorrow as we are in Boston for the day and we are getting off to walk around.

 

Talk to you all soon,

 

Jeff

 

Thanks for the "Live" review :)

[Shogun]

Hi There

 

Thanks for posting we did the Quebec to New Yoryk last fall

 

you will have a great cruise,

 

yours Shogun

[Coolmama_1]

Gotta love the live postings! Thanks for sharing.

[nctraveler54]

Thanks for the info, we are leaving in less than two weeks.

[Woobstr112G]

Thanks for taking the time to post your live from. I look forward to reading your future posts. Have a great cruise.....:):):)

 

Bob

[seaster1]

Thanks for the live Update. We are on next week's cruise so save some desserts for us...:D We did this same cruise last year and had such a wonderful time we decided to repeat it again this year. My DH took his Mom to Newport today to see the CB in port since my SIL and her friends are on this weeks cruise The weather should be nice after last weeks situation. I am counting down the hours till my cruise starts but unfortunatly this weeks cruise will end:(

[dtagirl]

Thanks for the update...

We loved the Sancutary in June! The CB is a nice ship!

[rianvi]

Thank you for taking the time to post live. Can't wait until the 18th.

:)

[atlasali]

Thanks for the information. We sail on Set. 11th, so you are helping me to pack.

 

If anyone else is embarking on Saturday, we are meeting other cruisecritic folks at 5:00 (post muster drill) at the Outrigger Bar - deck 15 AFT for sailaway. We have 54 people so far.

[AlaskaFan05]

Happy Labor Day Everyone,

 

Posting "LIVE" from the Caribbean Princess this lovely day. The weather here in Boston is about a nice and dry 80 degrees with a slight wind so it is beautiful!!! Walked around a little this morning and reboarded about an hour ago and the DW and I are back up in the Sanctuary. Love this place !!!

 

Well, here is a couple observations so far. You can tell that the extra deck added to these Grand Class ships makes a difference as far as crowding is concerned. This is our 4th sailing with Princess and have been on the Diamond twice and the Sapphire once and have not experienced the slight bottlenecks that happen. Last nights dinner was only about a 20 minute wait so better then the first. This morning you couldnt find a seat anywhere in the buffet area's as it was crammed full. We actually had to resort to bringing breakfast back to the cabin. We never experienced this issue on the Diamond or Sapphire. Food has been OK. Another wierd occurence was last night they had the Horizon Court shut down and only the Cafe Caribe open. Now that could be a common occurence but the Cafe Caribe has a way smaller selection of food so it cut down on your food choices. We did the dining room for dinner so I was just looking for some dessert and there was only like 4 choices. Usually in the HC, you have a couple of stations open to chose desserts from. So that was a little weird. The dining room staff is good but not great. Everyone else so far has been wonderful. Our cabin steward Leo is fantastic and the staff up here in the Sanctuary is great also.

 

Actually experienced MUTS for the first time last night and can say Im a HUGE FAN!!! Nothing like sailing under the stars and watching a good movie!!! The movie line-up in the cabin has been pretty good too. Always something to watch and love the fact that they put bigger widescreen flat TV's in the cabins. Hopefully the Diamond and Sapphire will get that upgrade when the go in for refurb.

 

It was very easy getting off the ship this morning to get to Boston. They had large buses running people to Quincy Market for $15 roundtrip, not a bad deal. Lots of people got off as the ship is pretty empty right now so we are enjoying our "Private Yacht" :)

 

We have nothing planned for tomorrow in Bar Harbor so will try to do another "LIVE" posting. I can say all in all, we are having a great cruise. We took this to relax and that is exactly what we are doing. We love Princess and even though there are little issues, we will not let it ruin our cruise. I just think we are better suited for the smaller ships in the fleet. I hope everyone has a great holiday and will talk to you all soon.

 

Thanks,

Jeff & Beth

[AlaskaFan05]

Hello Again Everyone,

 

Had a wonderful day in the Sanctuary. Left there around 5 to get ready for dinner. Headed down to the dining rooms around 6 and we got the dreaded 50 minute wait. Now mind you we are requesting a table for 2 not sharing so it takes longer for that to become available. As we were looking to keep on schedule tonight to attend shows, we decided to try the Crown Grill and pay the $50 surcharge for the 2 of us. Well, I am here to say it was really worth it. It was by far the best dinner I have ever had on a Princess ship. Very comfortable and they never rush you. Everything was great from the apps right to dessert. Would recommend to anyone looking for a special dinner. Hit the watch event after and got myself a new watch and now we are back in cabin and calling it night. Will see what we do in the morning and will try to update again. Have a goodnight everyone and hopefully talk to you all soon.

 

Jeff & Beth

[Woobstr112G]

Hello Again Everyone,

 

Had a wonderful day in the Sanctuary. Left there around 5 to get ready for dinner. Headed down to the dining rooms around 6 and we got the dreaded 50 minute wait. Now mind you we are requesting a table for 2 not sharing so it takes longer for that to become available. As we were looking to keep on schedule tonight to attend shows, we decided to try the Crown Grill and pay the $50 surcharge for the 2 of us. Well, I am here to say it was really worth it. It was by far the best dinner I have ever had on a Princess ship. Very comfortable and they never rush you. Everything was great from the apps right to dessert. Would recommend to anyone looking for a special dinner. Hit the watch event after and got myself a new watch and now we are back in cabin and calling it night. Will see what we do in the morning and will try to update again. Have a goodnight everyone and hopefully talk to you all soon.

 

Jeff & Beth

 

Glad you enjoyed the CG.....:):):)

 

Bob

[caribill]

Another wierd occurence was last night they had the Horizon Court shut down and only the Cafe Caribe open. Now that could be a common occurence but the Cafe Caribe has a way smaller selection of food so it cut down on your food choices.

 

That is usual Princess practice on the ships that have both Horizon Court and Cafe Caribe, only one is open for dinner.

[rianvi]

Jeff and Beth...Thank you so much for posting live on your cruise. Ten more days and we are there can't wait. Have been reading your posts about the sanctuary. Perhaps we will try this, haven't done so in the past.

Enjoy your day,

Anna:)

[dog]

Just wondering if there's a better time to go for anytime dining without a wait?

 

And could you call down to reserve a dinner time for anytime dining?

 

We noticed people by passing the line up and going right in when we were on the Crown last year. They had reservations for Anytime dining.

[Loonbeam]

You can make reservations via the Dine line but some ships limit them to offpeak hours before 5:30 or after 8 (some allow reservations at all times or a limited number of peak reservations). Those are also the times to avoid a wait.

 

Many threads on the topic for more info.

Just wondering if there's a better time to go for anytime dining without a wait?

 

And could you call down to reserve a dinner time for anytime dining?

 

We noticed people by passing the line up and going right in when we were on the Crown last year. They had reservations for Anytime dining.

[Colo Cruiser]

Thanks for the live.

[LollyMoz]

Just wondering if there's a better time to go for anytime dining without a wait?

 

And could you call down to reserve a dinner time for anytime dining?

 

We noticed people by passing the line up and going right in when we were on the Crown last year. They had reservations for Anytime dining.

 

DH and I sailed on the CB last year (and are sailing on her again in November) and we had anytime dining, preferring to be seated at a table for 2 as well. We found that the earlier we went, the better. We normally ate at 5:00 - 5:30ish and never once had to wait to get a table.

 

Thanks for your live update!

[Coral]

 

Well, here is a couple observations so far. You can tell that the extra deck added to these Grand Class ships makes a difference as far as crowding is concerned. This is our 4th sailing with Princess and have been on the Diamond twice and the Sapphire once and have not experienced the slight bottlenecks that happen. Last nights dinner was only about a 20 minute wait so better then the first. This morning you couldnt find a seat anywhere in the buffet area's as it was crammed full. We actually had to resort to bringing breakfast back to the cabin. We never experienced this issue on the Diamond or Sapphire. Food has been OK. Another wierd occurence was last night they had the Horizon Court shut down and only the Cafe Caribe open. Now that could be a common occurence but the Cafe Caribe has a way smaller selection of food so it cut down on your food choices. We did the dining room for dinner so I was just looking for some dessert and there was only like 4 choices. Usually in the HC, you have a couple of stations open to chose desserts from. So that was a little weird.

 

We encountered this on the Crown Canada NE also. Extreme crowding in the Horizon Court and bottle necks in certain areas (atrium in the evening), finding a place to sit near the International Cafe, etc.... We had a problem with the elevators also around dinner time.

 

I was also surprised that only Cafe Caribe was open for buffet for dinner. At first, I thought there wasn't a buffet at all as both sides were empty and eventually found where everyone was. I had some friends who had a tough time finding an empty/quiet place to play cards and often found them in the Horizon Court at night.

 

I am hesitant to sail on the newer ships because of this (crowding). We never experienced this on any of the other Princess ships.

 

Enjoy the rest of your cruise!

[AlaskaFan05]

Good Evening All,

 

Posting "LIVE" again here!! Well today was Bar Harbor day and we stayed on the ship. The DW has been fighting a cold all week and this morning it got the best of her so we decided to stay onboard. So we did what we have done all week and visited our chairs in the Sanctuary for the day. I will say again the staff up there is amazing!! They had our chairs already for us even before we arrived and before we sat down we had our nice glasses of ice cold water. Of course that is where some of that price goes is to the service. But, well worth it.

 

So after leaving there around 5 and heading back to cabin to get ready for dinner we decided to see what was going on the Cafe Caribe after we attended a 7 PM showing in the Theater. It was a ventriloquist named Brad Cummings and he had a dinosaur in a egg. He was pretty good. So after that the DW picked up some pizza and we headed to the Cafe Caribe. It was Bavarian Beirfest night and they had a good selection. Enjoyed dinner there and was going to catch the next showing of MUTS but we decided not to because it was chilly and damp and probably wouldnt help the DW's cold.

 

Got a full day tomorrow in Saint John's. We arrive for 7 AM and we are leaving earlier then scheduled because of the tides. Were originaly scheduled to leave around 5 PM but now leaving around 2:45 instead. We are renting a car to drive out to The Bay of Fundy and hit some of the coast. Formal Night tomorrow so I will see if I have time to update this posting and if not, will try again Thursday.

 

Thanks and have a great night,

Jeff & Beth

[rianvi]

Really enjoying reading your live post.

:)

[AlaskaFan05]

Good Evening All,

 

Well, the last "LIVE" post from this wonderful cruise. The past 2 days have been crazy busy and we are pooped! But, it was so worth it. I think I left off an Tuesday night so I will pick up from Wednesday which was a port day in Saint John's. We had reserved a car and drove out to St. Maartins, which was really quaint, saw some of the caves as the tide was low. That was cool. We then headed back to the reversing falls and they were roaring as the weather was not so nice that day. But we got alot of great pictures. We headed back to the ship early to spend some time up in the Sanctuary before dinner. This was the last formal night and the cocktail party. We decided to go to dinner after the party so we got ready for our 7:30 party time. The DW was excited because we have pics with all the Captains we have sailed with so she was excited about this one also. When the party started we were informed that the Captain would not be joining us as it was pea soup fog and the water was pretty rough so he had his hands full, The DW was dissapointed but she understood. Another great dinner in the CG and off to bed for the evening.

 

Thursday brought us to Halifax, which again was great. Took a tour out to Peggy's Cove which was incredible.It was a little foggy but again truly awesome. That took up our day so when back aboard we caught a movie with MUTS and then caught the show in the Princess Theater. Afterwards, we headed back to cabin to order room service as we were pooped.

 

Today was a total day of relaxation ie. The Sanctuary all day. Good times and lots of rest. Had the CG for dinner again tonight and we are officially packed and ready to disembark tomorrow morning.

 

Again, had a wonderful cruise with Princess and wouldnt hesitiate taking this cruise again although we prefer the smaller ships.

 

Thanks for reading my "LIVE" posts and will see you all on the high seas !!!

 

Take care,

Jeff & Beth