1/2/11 Return from caribbean Princess

[blackfoot]

Just returned from the 7 day Cruise leaving San Juan PR.

 

A couple of thoughts- we were disappointed in the food in MDR w/ biggest disappointment in the main's ,both fish and meats. Beef/veal was either tough or over cooked.Our 1st cruise to Alaska was great and was the reason we booked again on Princess.

 

The ship was sold out so I think the gallery was maxed out and may have been cooking ahead and holding food under "the lights".

 

We really enjoyed San Juan and were very impressed w/ the city and the wonderful people! However, half the people on our cruise(this was communicated to all passengers) were from PR- ALL entertainment was slanted to a Spanish speaking audiance and there were MANY young children.We didn't know prior to booking that the 1st week of January was a holiday vacation week for the kids.

 

The Princess Caribbean when sold out is just too crowded and I feel the food and services suffer.Too many cabins for the public spaces.The good thing was $900 for a mini suite.

 

I would cruise out of San Juan again but on a different ship and time frame.

[lavender11]

I was on the same cruise and agree with most of your comments. Similar to you, I had a great Alaska cruise on Diamond Princess in July 2010 which was the main reason that I booked this cruise on Caribbean Princess.

 

My biggest disappointment was also the food. I was very impressed with the food on Diamond Princess but this time the food was mediocre at best. Some dishes are the same as what we had on the Alaska cruise. Quality of the buffet was especially disappointing.

 

Service and entertainment were not as good as Diamond Princess either. Some singing/dancing programs, just like the food, are even the same as the other ship. Too much Spanish speaking entertainment for me, especially the last night at sea there were no decent night programs. I also only realized that >1,000 of the passengers are from PR. Overall I didn't feel too crowded and the waiting for dining was ok (we had anytime dining)... of course it was loud on the ship with more Latin folks but in general it was ok.

 

Overall I had a good experience and loved the islands I visited (except that my fiancee and I bought caught the cold virus from our tour bus driver in Aruba and have been very sick since we came back). But I probably will not sail with Princess again in any near future.

 

Just returned from the 7 day Cruise leaving San Juan PR.

 

A couple of thoughts- we were disappointed in the food in MDR w/ biggest disappointment in the main's ,both fish and meats. Beef/veal was either tough or over cooked.Our 1st cruise to Alaska was great and was the reason we booked again on Princess.

 

The ship was sold out so I think the gallery was maxed out and may have been cooking ahead and holding food under "the lights".

 

We really enjoyed San Juan and were very impressed w/ the city and the wonderful people! However, half the people on our cruise(this was communicated to all passengers) were from PR- ALL entertainment was slanted to a Spanish speaking audiance and there were MANY young children.We didn't know prior to booking that the 1st week of January was a holiday vacation week for the kids.

 

The Princess Caribbean when sold out is just too crowded and I feel the food and services suffer.Too many cabins for the public spaces.The good thing was $900 for a mini suite.

 

I would cruise out of San Juan again but on a different ship and time frame.

[tigerlilly2358]

I was on the same cruise and had the opposite reaction. We loved all the islands, were very active. Loved the food. We did not see much of the entertainment because we ate late, but did not feel the ship was very crowded. When you leave from PR, you can expect Spanish speaking people. They were very nice, not loud and I had a great time on the ship.

[DaveandDiane]

We too were on this cruise, and had a wonderful time. Our last 3 cruises were on RCCL, NCL, and Carnival. After this cruise and seeing the difference we will definately cruise on Princess again next year. The staff was wonderful, we enjoyed the food, and the port days were great. We only ate breakfast at the buffet, and they did repeat much of the same foods each day, but how creative do you really need to be for breakfast? We were definately never hungry! We usually ate lunch around 3 or 4 after getting back onboard, and the pizza was wonderful!

We always keep very busy during the day, and had late dinning, so we didn't go to the shows, but did enjoy MUTS after dinner.

One dissappointment for us was the entertainment on the last night. I agree with lavender11 that there really wasn't much going on except for the Spanish speaking shows.

We really didn't feel overcrowded on this ship, and had no problem finding deck chairs where we wanted even on the sea day.

Overall we feel like Princess did an excellent job with this cruise.

[CruiseAdict218]

Just returned from the 7 day Cruise leaving San Juan PR.

 

A couple of thoughts- we were disappointed in the food in MDR w/ biggest disappointment in the main's ,both fish and meats. Beef/veal was either tough or over cooked.Our 1st cruise to Alaska was great and was the reason we booked again on Princess.

 

The ship was sold out so I think the gallery was maxed out and may have been cooking ahead and holding food under "the lights".

 

We really enjoyed San Juan and were very impressed w/ the city and the wonderful people! However, half the people on our cruise(this was communicated to all passengers) were from PR- ALL entertainment was slanted to a Spanish speaking audiance and there were MANY young children.We didn't know prior to booking that the 1st week of January was a holiday vacation week for the kids.

 

The Princess Caribbean when sold out is just too crowded and I feel the food and services suffer.Too many cabins for the public spaces.The good thing was $900 for a mini suite.

 

I would cruise out of San Juan again but on a different ship and time frame.

 

I didn't find it to be crowded on our cruise which was also sold out but I do agree too many cabins for public space, everything in my opinion was much more space on the Triumph but that was a semi-smaller ship and the service in anytime dinning was horrible but what a good price for a mini suite

[mina]

For those of you who just returned, did any of you arrive at the Pan am pier around noon -- and if so -- were you delayed in boarding till later in the afternoon? We are boarding next week and I just read a post by another who said they were being told that the terminal would not open till after 1ish. Thank you!

[oceanxbreeze89]

I was also on this sailing and had the opposite reaction to the OP (for the most part). I loved the food (except for one dish where my fish was overcooked but I'm young, I'll adjust), the ports were excellent, and I did not find it crowded. I do agree that on the sea day, there wasn't enough entertainment for everyone and that the night shows were all in Spanish so it was a disappointment. I did go and see the karaoke finale in Club Fusion the last night and that was great.

 

I went on the Carnival Victory this past summer and found that the people from PR were really unnoticeable and on this cruise, I found that some of the people from PR were rowdier (especially at the spanish music shows (in the Explorers Lounge and the Spanish Karaoke in Club Fusion)). I only had one night that I was awoken by spanish screaming people (I assumed that they were from PR) at 4am. But other than that, no problems.

 

My friend got really sick on the cruise and I had to take her to the "hospital" on the ship and she had almost a 105 degree fever. She had to get 2 IVs and was confined to her room for 3 days. I was really impressed with the service. The nurse who took care of her called every day after she got sick to see how she was doing.

 

On this cruise, the wait staff was amazing and very quick and efficient. I really enjoyed the 3 tours that I took with the ship (the islands were Dominica, Grenada, and Aruba). They cancelled one of my tours due to the lack of interest and I got a msg on my phone in the room saying that you will have a full refund and just come down to the shore excursion desk and they will put me on the tour of my choice (if it was opened). The one show (Piano Man) that we went to was amazing and I was disappointed that I didn't get a chance to go to the other shows (b/c I was taking care of my sick friend). One of the 2 comedians were amazing and very funny and his name was Miguel Washington. The other guy wasn't funny and needed new material.

 

I will cruise with Princess again and I would go back on this ship!

[lavender11]

The ship arrived at the Pan America pier pretty early in the morning. The full disembarkation schedule lasts from 8ish until about noon, if I remember correctly.

 

For those of you who just returned, did any of you arrive at the Pan am pier around noon -- and if so -- were you delayed in boarding till later in the afternoon? We are boarding next week and I just read a post by another who said they were being told that the terminal would not open till after 1ish. Thank you!

[happyholsssj]

Just returned from Grand Princess...this was our third Princess cruise and we too found the food had slipped a little. Not quite as good as previous trips.

[hightownCO]

 

On this cruise, the wait staff was amazing and very quick and efficient. I really enjoyed the 3 tours that I took with the ship (the islands were Dominica, Grenada, and Aruba). They cancelled one of my tours due to the lack of interest and I got a msg on my phone in the room saying that you will have a full refund and just come down to the shore excursion desk and they will put me on the tour of my choice (if it was opened). The one show (Piano Man) that we went to was amazing and I was disappointed that I didn't get a chance to go to the other shows (b/c I was taking care of my sick friend). One of the 2 comedians were amazing and very funny and his name was Miguel Washington. The other guy wasn't funny and needed new material.

 

 

Nice to hear some positive comments. Hope your friend is all better!

 

Just wondering what excursions you did in Dominica and Aruba? and how were they? I've booked the whale watching/Dominica and the tour w/ostritch farm in Aruba. Would love some feedback if you happened to do one of those.

 

Will try to see the comedian you mentioned!

Thanks

[oceanxbreeze89]

The ship arrived at the Pan America pier pretty early in the morning. The full disembarkation schedule lasts from 8ish until about noon, if I remember correctly.

 

We did arrive very early in the morning...I went up to go to the bathroom around 4am or so and my roommate loves to sleep with the curtain open (we had a balcony room) and before I went back to bed, I looked out the window and saw PR and to my surprise, the pilot boat just left dropping off their guy! We were probably docked by 5am and cleared customs by 6am. I think disembarkment started around 8am. We had a 930am meet time and by the time we got there, we were informed that our zone and color was already called. We went down to the gangway and was off the ship very fast. It was a breeze! We got our luggage and was at the airport in line to check in around 1015am or so. I think the last meet time on the ship was around 11/1130am.

 

Helen

[oceanxbreeze89]

Nice to hear some positive comments. Hope your friend is all better!

 

Just wondering what excursions you did in Dominica and Aruba? and how were they? I've booked the whale watching/Dominica and the tour w/ostritch farm in Aruba. Would love some feedback if you happened to do one of those.

 

Will try to see the comedian you mentioned!

Thanks

 

My friend was better the day after receiving 2 IVs but she was extremely weak. But she was all better and she is doing fine now.

 

This is my 2nd time going to Dominica and so the first time we went Whale Watching and had a blast! During the summer, we weren't expecting to see much (the rate of seeing whales drops from 95% to 80-85% (still a good percentage IMO) in the summertime) but we saw a pod of whales (3 adults and 3 calfs) and some dolphins which gave us a show. I would love to do it again!! In the wintertime, I spoke to someone who did it through the ship and they said that they saw 2 dozen whales and about 3-4 dozen dolphins!! This time around, I did the scenic drive and Jaco Falls. It was a great tour! I am a bigger girl so I cannot do some of the more advanced and physically active excursions that Dominica had to offer but this was just about right. I would go on it again.

 

I went on the Ostrich Farm tour that you are thinking about taking and I say it is worth it. I fed the ostriches (which were amazing!), climbed up a giant boulder formation (which I was very proud of myself on doing), saw a beautiful lighthouse, and saw the natural bridge/baby natural bridge. It was great and I would go again in a heartbeat.

 

I hope this helps on your decision making!

 

Helen

[hightownCO]

Helen, Thanks so much for the information! Some friends are doing these excursions with us so I'll share your comments with our roll call.

 

We're sailing mid march so hopefully we'll see lots of whales.

 

Any tips for Bonaire or Grenada?

[oceanxbreeze89]

Helen, Thanks so much for the information! Some friends are doing these excursions with us so I'll share your comments with our roll call.

 

We're sailing mid march so hopefully we'll see lots of whales.

 

Any tips for Bonaire or Grenada?

 

Bonaire is known for snorkeling so take an excursion with Woodwind. I HIGHLY recommend them! We saw about a dozen sea turtles. They take beginner snorkelers up to advanced snorkelers. They work with the cruise passengers because they know that the Caribbean Princess docks later. They even put an extra hour of snorkeling on the schedule for us.

 

Grenada I took a tour with the cruise ship and I was suppose to do the Island Sightseeing with Lunch and Beach tour but that got cancelled b/c of lack on interest. Instead, I picked the Spice Island tour. It was a great tour we went to a factory that produces different spices for jams, rum, etc (they gave us food to taste test), we went to a spice and herb garden which was great (I am a big baker so it was great seeing what nutmeg and cinnamon looks like before it is processed), and the last stop was a old fashioned rum factory (taste test included) which was really neat. I wish I would have seen more of the island (there are a couple of really nice forts) but this was just perfect for me.

 

I hope this helps!!

 

Helen

[Minoushka]

WE loved Bonaire Go to Klein Bonaire ask where to get water taxi .You need to swim over the reef along the drop to see ABSOLUTELY AWESOME Be advised no facilities on Bonaire but WELL worth it magnificent Coral formation and fish .Swim to the end of the island then just drift back Find an opening to get over the coral to shore .FOR me the HIGHLIGHT of our BTB ctuise!!!

Grenada we booked the Sculpture Underwater garden and other reef excursion .witth Princess SPECTACULAR

In Dominica go with Pepper for GREAT tour at GREAT price WE loved Champagne Reef ask for JT for private tour of reef LOVELY tickling bubbles Great looking fish Go to SCREWS SPS AWESOME experience ...wear DARK bathing suit Sulpgur affects colour of suits

Barbados ...GREAT Paynes Bay for turtles Carlysle bay for beach and Wrecks

 

ENJOY WE sure did

 

Michele

[mytime53]

Michele (we met in the taxi on St. John last week)...thanks for the bathing suit color tip--won't affect my old suit, but this week's traveling companions might be upset if their new suits changed color!

[Mary Ellen]

Thank you for sharing your experience with us.