Caribbean Princess Review (and the controversy) 12/5-12

[amcdonnell]

Excellent point, Amapola - and really my point is just that it seems like the incidents were isolated to a few people who were either a. teenagers or b. drunk - and in my experience, teenagers and drunks can be universally rude. My boyfriend is loud, and I mixed up the entrance and exit of the Horizons Court on more than one occasion, so maybe he and I were actually the source of all of this angst. Maybe I was on a different boat, but I just don't see what all this FUSS was about. Letters to Princess? Come on now...

[hcat]

We were on this cruise and were only a few doors down from 'cdamion' (A302). The first night at 1:30am a drunken Puerto Rican tried to kick and body slam our door in thinking that his wife was inside, cussing at the top of his lungs. It took security until 4:00am to get the gentleman contained and in his own cabin (deck 5) and he was off the ship the same morning. Our cabin attendant was very upset as our door was all dented and we missed our 8:00am shore excursion as we were up all night. Princess did reimburse us for the missed excursion. I have had many Hispanic friends and do speak some Spanish, have never found myself to be upset with a specific group of people, but I found the majority to be very rude, disrespectful, and loud, and demanding to both the princess staff and other passengers. We will never sail out of Puerto Rico again. I thought that the Princess staff were second to none, especially with the situation, the ports were awsome, and the entertainment good, and the food was 'Princess',(which we happen to like). We will continue to sail Princess, as she is our favorite line, but I do think that alot of the full paying passengers on this cruise were very upset with the way that some behaved, both the children and adults. I hope that Princess takes notes.

 

we had a bad experience of a similar nature cruising from Miami (once) during a spring break period on Royal C... unruly & unsupervised children & very rude & pushy adults !! depends on marketing issues.. .... it made for an unpleasant journey for many...

[sun~]

I for one am not ALLOWING negative comments to predispose me to negativity towards our cruise .I AM SO looking forward to it I just hope weather WILL cooperate and we will have a series of GORGEOUS beach Days ...that is my priority

Sun,,,,,,, Sea ..Snorkeling...... Shade ..all those GREAT words with S

 

SOON SOON SOON GOD WILLING

 

Michele

 

You should have a great time! We were on the CB last year during March break, so lots of kids - mainly from Ontario for March break, and lots of locals from PR. There was a bit more entertainment in Spanish, but it was fine.

 

Living in Ottawa we are tuned to listening to English, French, Arabic and Cantonese, just as you in Montreal hear French and English and many, many other languages. So things happening in Spanish is no biggie for us who are used to living in a multicultural environment.

 

No worries about people being loud and boisterous, hey it's no different than Montreal on any day of the week!

 

The only negatives are the hard beds on Princess and their terrible policy on foreign currency exchange. Tip: try to pay with cash, otherwise they charge you and extra 3% (even if you are using a Canadian USD credit card, they will convert it to Canadian money and ding you with the charge - total rip off).

 

Have a great cruise! The weather should be great :)

[Mer123]

I am all for cultural diversity on the cruises. That is what makes them so much fun, meeting people from around the world and getting to know something about them and their culture.:)

 

I have sailed out of San Juan and have no problem that activities were catered toward the large number of Puertoricans that were on board. I think that is great and had no problem with that at all.

 

However, being rude, not observing the pool age limits, and being loud and obnoxious and ruining the experience of the other passengers is unacceptable no matter what country you come from and should not be tolerated!! This applies no matter if you are from Puerto Rico, Canada, England or the U.S. Inconsiderate is inconsiderate for the most part.

 

Cultural diversity on vacation is great. You get to meet and make friends with others from different parts of the world. I have never had a problem sailing out of San Juan and as a child I spent about 5 Christmas and New Years in PR. The locals and the culture are great.

 

However, I do agree about people being respectful and kind. No need for rude or unruly behavior regardless of where you are from.

[amapola]

I saw this video about a PR Christmas tradition as seen through the eyes of an American and immediately thought of this thread. I think it illustrates a lot of what has been discussed here. Hope you enjoy it and happy holidays :D

[Socref124]

Thank you so much for this review. We will be on the CB in 20 days and can't wait. It's good to know that the crowds disperse quickly and there aren't many lines. We are still waitlisted for 2nd seating, so it looks as though we may be doing anytime dinning this trip.

So sorry your finace couldn't make it this trip. Your next trip, with her, will be that much better.:D

[agpotter]

It's interesting to find this post on CC. Thanks cdamion for the review. Actually, I am friends with the woman from Pennsylvania who was assaulted at the pool for complaining about the kids rowdy behavior. There was also a couple from Ohio that was involved, too. Both couples were told to stay in their stateroom after the near riot at the pool as Princess security (and I quote) "could not guarantee their safety". I want to know what you all think about that? The couples were also told they have requested more security members onboard these cruises due to similar instances. It's sad to hear this about Princess.

[CrusinAgain]

It's interesting to find this post on CC. Thanks cdamion for the review. Actually, I am friends with the woman from Pennsylvania who was assaulted at the pool for complaining about the kids rowdy behavior. There was also a couple from Ohio that was involved, too. Both couples were told to stay in their stateroom after the near riot at the pool as Princess security (and I quote) "could not guarantee their safety". I want to know what you all think about that? The couples were also told they have requested more security members onboard these cruises due to similar instances. It's sad to hear this about Princess.

 

I'm so sorry to have read about your friend and the other couple whose cruise was less than enjoyable after experiencing this. It sounds like it got to the point where this group was beyond Princess security and actually these rowdy kids and their parents should have been thrown off at the next port and banned from cruising Princess again, so others could enjoy their cruise. I have seen a number thrown off Carnival ships who have gotten too rowdy and start endangering others. It doesn't matter where they came from, it just happened on this cruise it was the Puerto Ricans.

 

Princess is aware of the problem as Carnival was aware with all the problems on the Destiny and we saw the problems on the Adventure of the Seas last year. I think if Princess started gaining control and holding those accountable for their actions then it could be enjoyable once again. Not all Puerto Ricans are like this but when alot of folks of one culture acts poorly, it sure can misrepresent the culture as a whole which is a shame. I would hate to be characterized by acts of others. This is a Princess problem which they need to sort out as others have already stated they avoid leaving from there.

 

On a positive note, we also saw on our cruise proud Dads of daughters celebrating something where they would get all dressed up on non formal nights and wear tiaras and get their photos taken with their Dad. Never saw a problem with these folks.

[Katie333]

Thanks very much for your review.

 

We have been on the CB twice, when it was new and when it was 'old' and I've come to the conclusion that the comments about it (or any Princess ship) being old and tired must be a reference to the decor, which is indeed rather outdated. I've never seen anything but minor issues with cleanliness or interior fixtures, especially given how much hard usage cruise ships have over the course of a year.

 

We've cruised out of San Juan twice and it's one of our favourite places in the Caribbean. My latest bottle of Barilito (spelled horribly wrong) rum is almost gone, I wish I was going back.

 

I suspect that bargain basement pricing is going to drive a non-typical clientele from any country, and perhaps those who - as others have said - are not on their best behaviour. Cultural differences aside, there are many other postings about last minute sales driving a different type of passenger on board.

[gingera]

:)

.

 

Isn't it strange how nationalities en masse have a personality all of their own? I noticed on my Southampton sailing how Brits en masse like to set up camp on the sun decks and keep those camps for the entire cruise. They can also moan non stop about anything and everything.

 

 

And, I would imagine that we Americans have an 'en masse personality', too!;)

[u2cruiser]

:)

 

 

And, I would imagine that we Americans have an 'en masse personality', too!;)

 

Well, the strange this is, if so, I didn't notice it :eek: :D.

On my cruises all I noticed was the way Americans spoke to us in a friendly manner when we weren't really expecting it. It was kind of nice once we got used to it. At first, we were all 'is he/she speaking to me?' lol!

[mph045]

We sailed on the Caribbean B2B Dec 5-17,2010.

We love the crew and its officers very much. This was our third time with the Caribbean and third time B2B.

 

We witnessed the following the first week:

Bonaire-someone on 5th foolr flew a Puerto Rican flag on the balcony next to the life boats-I called security! this took place after the Cpt told everyone at the Muster drill it is not allowed have anything out there,

Witnessed the Comedy show interrupted by unsupervised children, as well as the Piazza entertainment interrupted by local PR'S playing and singing drums.

We saw a piece of art work ruined with a hole in it by the kids, security running around getting kids out of the spa pool, yelling and screaming in the main dining rooms by the locals and long lines at the passenger service desk with locals canceling there cabin tips!!!

I know for a fact the crew lost out big time and the Caribbean lost money by the locals not paying for anything. We saw alcohol smuggeled in locals pockets from the Islands and yes we witnessed a fist fight.

 

fares paid went as low as $150-300/week-I know this as a fact from the locals[i speak Spanish].

I love the PR islands and its people but unfortuneately with Princess trying fill up the ship it lowered prices to where those locals from outlining areas came and litterally took over the ship by staying from 6am-11pm on the Piazza and Horizon Courts and decks without moving-bringing chairs/tables together to where no one else could take there food outside to eat-they had to stay in the Horizon. We witnessed elevators held up, kids roaming the Decks Dolphin and Caribe at Midnight and kids trying get into ones Cabin by climbing over balconies and checking to see if your patio door was locked!!-we heard this from Security! We know someone who's camera was stolen.

We also had been yelled out when we boarded Sunday at 11:15am when Princess allowed Elite/Plat members to form another line and the riff raft booed-yelled-screamed at the Americanos because we were allowed to Board first!

Princess needs to reconsider the low fares-they did not make any money from the locals-they need to offer incentives to those passengers who are willing pay more for things on board-offer more OBC, discounts on spas/tours/free balcony brkfst/upgrades-more of them/etc

 

Also FYI-alot of the locals all got on Board without a credit card on file and paid everything in cash when Passenger Service called them down to pay for there cabin tips and alcohol.

 

I wrote to Pass Src officer and spoke to the Maitre D-Cpt-others about what happened and submitted 15 pts for Princess to consider down the road.

When disembarktation occurred alot of Elite and Plat members in the Wheelhse stated they would never go out of SanJuan because of alot of bad instances by those who were rude-obnoxious-knew nothing of etiquette and could/would not control there children.

 

I will continue to sail with Princess but will not sail out of SanJuan from the week before Thanksgiving to week before Christmas.

[CrusinAgain]

We sailed on the Caribbean B2B Dec 5-17,2010.

We love the crew and its officers very much. This was our third time with the Caribbean and third time B2B.

 

We witnessed the following the first week:

Bonaire-someone on 5th foolr flew a Puerto Rican flag on the balcony next to the life boats-I called security! this took place after the Cpt told everyone at the Muster drill it is not allowed have anything out there,

Witnessed the Comedy show interrupted by unsupervised children, as well as the Piazza entertainment interrupted by local PR'S playing and singing drums.

We saw a piece of art work ruined with a hole in it by the kids, security running around getting kids out of the spa pool, yelling and screaming in the main dining rooms by the locals and long lines at the passenger service desk with locals canceling there cabin tips!!!

I know for a fact the crew lost out big time and the Caribbean lost money by the locals not paying for anything. We saw alcohol smuggeled in locals pockets from the Islands and yes we witnessed a fist fight.

 

fares paid went as low as $150-300/week-I know this as a fact from the locals[i speak Spanish].

I love the PR islands and its people but unfortuneately with Princess trying fill up the ship it lowered prices to where those locals from outlining areas came and litterally took over the ship by staying from 6am-11pm on the Piazza and Horizon Courts and decks without moving-bringing chairs/tables together to where no one else could take there food outside to eat-they had to stay in the Horizon. We witnessed elevators held up, kids roaming the Decks Dolphin and Caribe at Midnight and kids trying get into ones Cabin by climbing over balconies and checking to see if your patio door was locked!!-we heard this from Security! We know someone who's camera was stolen.

We also had been yelled out when we boarded Sunday at 11:15am when Princess allowed Elite/Plat members to form another line and the riff raft booed-yelled-screamed at the Americanos because we were allowed to Board first!

Princess needs to reconsider the low fares-they did not make any money from the locals-they need to offer incentives to those passengers who are willing pay more for things on board-offer more OBC, discounts on spas/tours/free balcony brkfst/upgrades-more of them/etc

 

Also FYI-alot of the locals all got on Board without a credit card on file and paid everything in cash when Passenger Service called them down to pay for there cabin tips and alcohol.

 

I wrote to Pass Src officer and spoke to the Maitre D-Cpt-others about what happened and submitted 15 pts for Princess to consider down the road.

When disembarktation occurred alot of Elite and Plat members in the Wheelhse stated they would never go out of SanJuan because of alot of bad instances by those who were rude-obnoxious-knew nothing of etiquette and could/would not control there children.

 

I will continue to sail with Princess but will not sail out of SanJuan from the week before Thanksgiving to week before Christmas.

.

 

Thank you for your posting about your recent experience. Maybe it is time for Princess to pull out of San Juan since the prices offered get ridiculously low for the locals and more and more non locals are pulling back from leaving from San Juan. I am disgusted to read about the tips. If Princess continues offering low rates to the locals perhaps the tips should be something that cannot be removed. It was my understanding that was the whole reasoning in the first place for the low prices was to keep the money flowing for the crew so it would have been better for the cabins to sail empty than for the room steward to work in a cabin for no tip as well as the dining room servers.

[StormShadow]

I was actually a bit surprised at Princess's sake that so few of the staff did speak Spanish and that there were rarely Spanish translations on the menu. .

Princess personell are prohibited from even speaking spanish on board the ship. Has to do with some passengers being bothered by it.

[nabby]

I saw this video about a PR Christmas tradition as seen through the eyes of an American and immediately thought of this thread. I think it illustrates a lot of what has been discussed here. Hope you enjoy it and happy holidays :D

 

That video is :D:D:D

[Minoushka]

I am REALLY sorry to hear how bad this cruise was .We were on Celebrity Millenium during Thanksgiving and it was fine.Yes there were many PRicans on board but I do not believe there were any problems. True they occupied areas to play dominoes but I did not notice anything bad ..they seem to be enjoying themselves...

Please do NOT ask Princess to remove cruises from SJU.I really think Southern Carib cruises are the best .I think those islands are wonderful

Perhaps you are right about the lowering of price and perhaps not attracting the most well- behaved customers ....Yes Princess should rethink that

We will be on CB as of Sunday ...WOW THIS SUNDAY ..YEAH....... I really hope we have good times and NO PROBLEMS

Wish me luck!!!

 

Michele

[amcdonnell]

A quote from "The Ugly American" (1958), by Eugene Burdick and William Lederer:

 

"For some reason, the [American] people I meet in my country are not the same as the ones I knew in the United States. A mysterious change seems to come over Americans when they go to a foreign land. They isolate themselves socially. They live pretentiously. They're loud and ostentatious."

 

Interestingly enough, I witnessed several people from the cruise ship demonstrating behavior that was quite similar to that described above in port. As I travel quite frequently, and work near a cruise stop, I have witnessed it elsewhere as well outside of the context of BEING on a cruise.

 

I work in international education and in my own travels as well as preparing my students to travel, I recognize the danger of falling into stereotypes as the result of a couple of kids who can't conduct themselves appropriately. That is, we can fall into the group that is actually stereotyped and resented.

 

It is particularly ironic to me considering the mixed feelings I heard many locals express in the ports about the descending of the cruise ships onto their shores - sure, it helps the economy, but boy you are talking about people who can be a HANDFUL (to put it diplomatically).

 

Maybe it was ruined for some of you, but I will go to Puerto Rico again before I go on another cruise. Remove the log from your own eye before you attempt to remove the speck from someone else's...

[mph045]

To the former crewmember-it has nothing to do with prejudice or living along with "the locals"-it has to do with how one conducts oneselves with others-being courteous-aware of one's surroundings-being polite-not yelling in the Dining Room across 4 tables to your friends-holding the elevators for others-watching your children-not displaying another countries flag-dressing in proper attire for dinner-paying not canceling your cabin tips, not ruining art work, not disrupting entertainment, etc.

 

As I said, I love SanJuan PR and the majority of its people-unfortuneately by Princess lowering its prices it also allowed lower class citizens to Board-it was the conduct of PR people which affected the cruise and its crew.

As to the crew speaking Spanish-it is allowed for interpretation of rules and regs and safety-we saw alot of crew members speaking in Spanish.

 

My recommendationssubmited to the Staff were to make it mandatory-no exceptions- to cancel room tips, hold a valid credit card, enforce dineing room attire-hold parents accountable for there childrens behavior, escourt off the ship the persons involved in displaying the PR Flag, hold the pople accountable for the distruction of art, enforce no kids allowed in adult polls, etc.

[Eddie and Park]

I know that one is not supposed to hang things off the balconies but I don't understand about the Puerto Rican flag being offensive. Is it more offensive than a state flag?:confused:

[CrusinAgain]

I know that one is not supposed to hang things off the balconies but I don't understand about the Puerto Rican flag being offensive. Is it more offensive than a state flag?:confused:

 

The design of the Commonwealth flag reflects the close ties that bound the Cuban and Puerto Rico patriots in the 19th century for the flag which waves over the Capital of San Juan is the Cuban flag color reversed.

The flag is not flown except in company of the U.S. flag. Adopted in July 25, 1952.

[Liz54]

Would a Canadian Flag be offesive? Some posters seem to think that the world ends at the US boarders. They need to travel more and broaden their horizons!

[moniquet]

Matters not which countries flag is draped over the balconies it is just in the worst possible taste. I am not politically correct and I think I would have hated that cruise. Having lived in Spain for 15 years I am aware that in some cultures it is a case of ne'er the twain shall meet. People who pay for cruises and only have a few weeks holiday per year shouldn't have to tolerate this kind of behaviour. It is good that some cruisers are raising awareness of these cruises, I wouldn't go on one however cheap the price may be.

[CrusinAgain]

Would a Canadian Flag be offesive? Some posters seem to think that the world ends at the US boarders. They need to travel more and broaden their horizons!

 

I think the poster was talking about a flag is not to be flown on the ship and the Puerto Rico flag was against the rules of the ship and the rules of the country since a U.S. flag must fly with it. I did not see the poster think the world ends at the U.S. border as if you didn't know San Juan is a territory of the U.S. therefore it is part of the U.S.

[iheartbda]

Would a Canadian Flag be offesive? Some posters seem to think that the world ends at the US boarders. They need to travel more and broaden their horizons!

I don't think the poster indicated that it was offensive. It was being pointed out that people were told nothing was to be put out on balconies and this was just another example of some of the things that went on. Has nothing to do with borders, travelling or horizons.;)

[Loonbeam]

Under maritime law, a foreign flagged ship is generally NOT allowed to display the flag of any country other than the country of registry when asea for identification purposes (there are some exceptions). This requirement only applies to international waters, in territorial waters the rules vary by country but most have a similar clause.

 

Flying the PR flag asea could expose the ship to significant fines and is NOT allowed, not sure about at Bonaire (also as a safety measure nothing should be hung near the lifeboats.

 

As far as the behavior, given the insanely low rates offered in an area not populated by frequent cruisers, its not necessarily the fact that it was in PR that was the problem. This could have happened anywhere the same rates were offered. Unsupervised children are unsupervised children regardless of origin. Blaming the Puerto Ricans as a blanket statement is unfair. With that said, if this becomes a repeated happening because San Juan departures are not filling up, Princess should consider relocating.

 

Also bear in mind while a $300 cruise to most US folks sounds cheap as heck, for a poor family in PR that's a big investment. And when people spend what is considered a lot of money, all too often they feel entitled (again, this is NOT limited to the folks from PR).

 

If princess is going to offer such low fees out of normal market, they need to have policies in place to handle the consequences, not the least of which is if a passenger (adult or child) breaks the rules (severely or repeatedly), they are off the ship and good luck getting home. It sounds like that on this cruise, if a few of the biggest offenders were stuck in a foreign country that might have quieted the rest down..

 

 

 

I think the poster was talking about a flag is not to be flown on the ship and the Puerto Rico flag was against the rules of the ship and the rules of the country since a U.S. flag must fly with it. I did not see the poster think the world ends at the U.S. border as if you didn't know San Juan is a territory of the U.S. therefore it is part of the U.S.