Just off Caribbean Princess, 4/23 Sailing!

[FlKittyKat]

Well, we are fully into our honeymoon "cruise hangover" and wondering why our cruise cards aren't working and where the buffet is. And after being away for week, the cupboards are bare.

 

We had a mini-suite, D405.

We dined during the second seating in the Island Dining Room.

 

We simply had a wonderful time! :D We are planning our next cruise already!

 

I will post a review tomorrow, but I wanted to send this out in case anyone has a question or two which I can answer in my review.

[Ziggy7]

Welcome Home! & Congrats on your Wedding!!!

Did you eat in the Cafe Caribe when they had unlimited Lobster ??? If so what nights was that served :)

Thanks, waiting for your review :)

[redjoan]

Congrats! It sounds like you enjoyed your cruise. We are sailing in July 2005 and any tips you could give us would be much appreciated.

[FlKittyKat]

Here we go... We have only been back a day now and things are already beginning to get a bit fuzzy. I will do my best.

 

Sat. April 23 - Embarkation

We arrived at the port around 2:00pm and were onboard within 20 minutes. There was a bit of a line, but it moved quickly enough. Once on board, we purchased our soda card ($27 per person + 18% Grat.), made a reservation at Sterling Steakhouse (go to Sabatini's to make the reservation, deck 7) and went to our stateroom. Our luggage was waiting for us! My hard-sided Samsonite fit under the bed, but my hubby's soft sided large roller bag did not. It fit in the closet very well. I didn't even notice it was there during the cruise. We were in D405 (deck 9), a mini-suite! :D The location was great - mid-ship. Also, the open balcony wasn't nearly as bad as I anticipated. Then we wandered around the ship a bit, but ended up back on our balcony watching the planes arrive at FLL and the draw bridge go up and down above the water way. For me, dinner was uneventful, but I did discover the Feteccini Alfredo (with chicken, just ask) which was wonderful. Since we didn't finish dinner until after 10:00pm, we went back to the stateroom and crashed.

 

Sun. April 24 & Mon. April 25 - At Sea

These two at sea days were simply perfect. The sun was shining and the water smooth. The balcony turned out to be great as we put our swimsuits on the "layed out" and played Scrabble. We ate most of our lunches in the buffet, Horizon Court. I learned quickly to get the cold items first and then the hot items. :) The hot items became cold by the time we found a table if I did it the other way around. Also, window tables seemed to be difficult to get, but we would wander back to the Caribe Cafe (another buffet with different items) and would find one quickly enough. Also, the Caribe Cafe closes at 3:00pm, I think, but the "left overs" were put out at the Horizon Court. Monday night we went to Sterling Steakhouse for dinner. I had the filet and DH had the 22oz. porter house! We both loved the meal and the service was great.

 

Tues. April 26 - St. Thomas

We arrived early in the morning, but we didn't even wake up until 10:00am. We got ready and headed down to visit the island. We first took the tram to the top of the mountain by the port. Great view, but IMHO, not worth the $16 per person. We then took a taxi ($3 per person each way) downtown to do some shopping. I had been to St. Thomas a couple times before, but never downtown. We walked up and down the street, looked at a lot of jewelry, bought some rum and a couple Hawaiian-style shirts, and headed back to the ship. The store where we bought the liquor offered to send our purchase to the ship at no charge. What a wonderful "gift" that was. On the last day of the cruise, the box was in our room ready to go. It was really nice not having to lug it back to the ship. Once we arrived back at the ship, we headed up to Horizon Court for a late lunch. They had a fried chicken that was really good.

 

Wed. April 27 - St. Maarten

Again, we arrived early in the morning, but we didn't get going until mid-morning. We took a taxi (again, $3 per person) to Front Street to do some serious shopping. The island has just completed a sort of renovation of the beach area and Front Street and it looks great. We took our time, looking in all the shops. I found many things I would like to buy and DH found a watch he really liked until he saw the price tag - $26,000! Needless to say, he didn't get the watch. But it sure was very pretty. Again, my DH supported the Hawaiian-style shirt industry and we headed back to the ship. We were at the closer end of Front Street and decided to take a stroll towards the ship and find a taxi when we got tired. Before we knew it, we were at the port! The walk seemed much longer from the ship than it really was, but I wouldn't recommend doing it both ways. We also discovered it is very helpful to spend time in the shops with air conditioning. We were able to cool off and then head out again. We "splurged" and spent $1.50 on a bottle of water which helped as well. That evening we saw the comedian after dinner. He was very funny. (I have never been fond of the production shows which are in the Princess Theater.)

 

Thurs. April 28 - At Sea

Again, we slept in and headed up to Horizon Court for breakfast. The omlete station was hard to find at first, but then it was my favorite thing each morning. After breakfast, we would just wander around the ship. They had movies showing during the day (Raiders of the Lost Ark; Finding Nemo; Harry Potter; etc) as well as the pool games. We did take the tour of the Princess Theater (on stage and back stage) which was interesting. There were about 35 passengers so it was still intimate enough we could ask the dancers questions. This was the second formal evening and we took advantage of some of the photography opportunities. We figured out the best time to go is right as it opens, 5:30pm. The lines were almost non-existant and the photographers were fresh and ready to take some great shots. This was also the night with the lobster in the Caribe Cafe. We had lobster and beef wellington in the dining room, but were tempted to head up to the "all you can eat lobster" in Caribe Cafe. We ended up going to see a different comedian that night, also very funny. I also discovered a "hidden" women's restroom! It is located just to the right (if exiting the lounge) of the Explorer's Lounge before the Wheelhouse Lounge. It is around a corner in the wall and there is only a small sign letting anyone know it is there. Also, we discovered the waiters "up-sell" all the drinks by asking if you want a medium or large. If you want a regular sized drink which matches what is on the menus, be sure to let them know. After the comedian, we went to the atrium to see the campgne waterfall. DH enjoyed watching the pouring of the champagne where I enjoyed watching the building fo the champagne glass tower. We positioned ourselves on deck 7 and the waterfall was on deck 5. We had a great view of the waterfall as well as to people watch.

 

Fri. April 29 - Princess Cays

Beach Day! Once again, our intentions of getting an early start did not come to fruition. We had a late breakfast in Horizon Court and headed off to the tenders. When the first serveral tenders begin shuttling passengers to and from the island, there is such a demad that they request all passengers wait in the Princess Theater for the tenders. However, we were so late that this was no longer the case. We headed down to the tender embarkation and got right on. We were also one of the last to board that particular tender that we didn't have to wait long before setting off. This was good as I get a bit queezy when in a small boat bobbing in the ocean, but I did take some dremamine and was just fine. Once we got to Princess Cays, we headed over the bridge to the right and walked and walked. All of the loungers were taken and we didn't want to pay for a cabana. We did see a yoga class which looked realy nice and peaceful on the beach. Since we didn't find any loungers, we headed back to the other side of the beach. Again, we walked and walked until the nice blue, padded loungers became hard, plastic white loungers. Here we found several vacant ones and found a couple under a palm tree for our beach bag and towels to sit on. We headed into the water for some snorkeling and swimming. :D We headed back to the ship about 2:00pm. I wanted to beat the rush for the tenders, which we did. Once on board, we dropped our towels off and headed to the Horizon Court for a late lunch. Dinner this night was feteccini alfredo for me, again. I think I had it three different nights. This was also the Baked Alaska night! Very good and a lot of fun! Since we only had the two suitcases, we packed most of our clothes before dinner and then changed into our PJs. We packed our dinner clothes (remembering to leave clothes out for the next day!) and put our suitcases outside our door. Our last night of being rocked to sleep by the waves of the ocean... :(

 

Sat. April 30 - Debarkation

We knew this day would come, but it came so quickly! We got up and packed all of our last minute items. We went to the Coral Dining Room for breakfast. At about 8:45am, we were cleared by customs and debarkation began. We had red luggage tags and were stuck on board for a couple hours still so we found chairs up on deck 15 and watched some of the maintenance crew cleaning and getting ready for the next cruise. Finally, our color was called :D and we headed down to get off. After getting off the ship, we had to take an escelator down to the where the luggage was. I was just about to step off at the bottom when there was a huge crash noise (like someone dropped their luggage) and the escelator stopped. Good thing everyone was holding the handrails as no one fell or was hurt. We then found our luggage and headed to the airport to get our rental car.

 

Well, there it is folks. If you have any particular questions, please ask. It will probably jog my memory and I will have an answer for you. If not, DH will surely remember. (Sorry for any spelling mistakes.)

[nrose6]

Wow! Seems like you guys had a great time! Now im realllllly looking forward to my June 4th voyage! Thanks for the great review! :D

[CKandJK]

We have also just returned from the 4/23 sailing of the Caribbean Princess. I will second what Kat said. What a Fantastic Cruise! I will be gather my thoughts into a review that I will post sometime this week, so if anyone has any questions, just ask!

 

Candi

[hurwitz5]

What time does the line start forming at the pier? We will be arriving very early at the airport on Saturday, May 21.

[CKandJK]

Hurwitz: I dont know what time the line starts forming. This was our second cruise aboard the Caribbean Princess. The first time we sailed, the doors opened around 11:30 am. This time it was around 12:15. I guess it all depends on how long you want to stand in line as to how early to get to the port. I do wish I could answer this better for you.

 

Candi

[OrangeAndBlue]

Good review. Less than 3 weeks to go for me...

 

Paul

[FlKittyKat]

We have remembered a couple things we want to let y'all know.

 

Balcony chairs - We had two types of chairs, two blue and white cushioned chairs and two standard plastic patio chairs. After sitting in a blue and white chair, DH's khaki shorts were covered in a blue fuzz and looked like some of the blue had actually transferred to his shorts. :eek: We were able to use a lint roller to get most of the fuzz off, but had to wash his shorts, first in the sink and then the washer with a load we did later in the week. Luckily the blue came out, but I really thought it was there for good. To solve this problem, the rest of the week, we just laid a beach towel on the chair before we sat on them. It worked great!

 

Laundry facilities - As mentioned above, we decided to do a single load of laundry during the week. This did take a bit of time out of one of our day (30 minutes total) but I think it was worth it. We brought our own detergent and dryer sheets and $2 in quarters (there is a change machine in the laundry room). The washer took about 30 min. and the dryer a full hour, but we didn't have to wait there the whole time. We ended up waiting for the washer about 10 min. We were able to save on packing and had fun thinking of crazy things to decorate the walls of this very bland room.

 

Over the door shoe holder - My sister tipped me onto this idea and it was wonderful. We purchased a simple over the door shoe holder, the one with the plastic pockets you can see through, and hung it over the bathroom door. This was great to put all our sunscreen, sunglasses, face products, etc. which would normally clutter up the bathroom counter or other counter tops in the room.

 

Cruise Card / Key Location - The very first thing we did when we entered our stateroom was decide on a location where our keys would be placed everytime we entered the room. Normally I am hunting around looking for my key as everyone else is walking out of the door, but not this time. It was always in the same place.

 

Hallway Carpet Colors - Our stateroom was on the starboard (right) side of the ship. Our first day we noticed the carpet was solid blue where the port (left) side had a red/peach border on the carpet. This made our decisions on which way to turn upon coming out of the elevator very easy. Not once did we walk down the wrong hallway like I have so many times before.

 

Hope this helps!

[Ziggy7]

We have remembered a couple things we want to let y'all know.

 

Balcony chairs - We had two types of chairs, two blue and white cushioned chairs and two standard plastic patio chairs. After sitting in a blue and white chair, DH's khaki shorts were covered in a blue fuzz and looked like some of the blue had actually transferred to his shorts. :eek: We were able to use a lint roller to get most of the fuzz off, but had to wash his shorts, first in the sink and then the washer with a load we did later in the week. Luckily the blue came out, but I really thought it was there for good. To solve this problem, the rest of the week, we just laid a beach towel on the chair before we sat on them. It worked great!

 

Laundry facilities - As mentioned above, we decided to do a single load of laundry during the week. This did take a bit of time out of one of our day (30 minutes total) but I think it was worth it. We brought our own detergent and dryer sheets and $2 in quarters (there is a change machine in the laundry room). The washer took about 30 min. and the dryer a full hour, but we didn't have to wait there the whole time. We ended up waiting for the washer about 10 min. We were able to save on packing and had fun thinking of crazy things to decorate the walls of this very bland room.

 

Over the door shoe holder - My sister tipped me onto this idea and it was wonderful. We purchased a simple over the door shoe holder, the one with the plastic pockets you can see through, and hung it over the bathroom door. This was great to put all our sunscreen, sunglasses, face products, etc. which would normally clutter up the bathroom counter or other counter tops in the room.

 

Cruise Card / Key Location - The very first thing we did when we entered our stateroom was decide on a location where our keys would be placed everytime we entered the room. Normally I am hunting around looking for my key as everyone else is walking out of the door, but not this time. It was always in the same place.

 

Hallway Carpet Colors - Our stateroom was on the starboard (right) side of the ship. Our first day we noticed the carpet was solid blue where the port (left) side had a red/peach border on the carpet. This made our decisions on which way to turn upon coming out of the elevator very easy. Not once did we walk down the wrong hallway like I have so many times before.

 

Hope this helps!

Great review and info! Thanks for sharing !!!!

[AliceJ]

What time does the line start forming at the pier? We will be arriving very early at the airport on Saturday, May 21.

 

We were also on the 4/23 cruise - great fun!!:D

 

We arrived at the port around 11:00, knowing we'd have to wait. There were maybe 200 people in front of us at that point (I know it sounds like a lot, but that's about 5% of passengers for the whole ship). We waited until the doors opened at 12:00 and zipped right along. We were onboard by 12:20 or so.

 

We wanted to be early in line as we needed to arrange an ultimate balcony dinner for my DH's parents (did that as soon as we reached the room), and also wanted to make reservations for Sabatini's. Got all that done by 1:30 and were set for the remainder of the cruise!

 

Enjoy - we certainly did!!

[FlKittyKat]

Does anyone have questions for us? We will gladly answer your questions.

[bags6490]

Did you go to MUTS and if so what movies were they playing?

[tbag124]

I think this may have been answered in another thread, but I'm not sure if the Carib. Princess was the boat in question - Sabatini's and Sterling Steakhouse - was there an extra charge for these resturants?

 

Can you describe your "open" balcony experience? Were there always people outside "with" you? Thanks for all of your info!! :)

[KurtMo]

We wanted to be early in line as we needed to arrange an ultimate balcony dinner for my DH's parents (did that as soon as we reached the room), and also wanted to make reservations for Sabatini's. Got all that done by 1:30 and were set for the remainder of the cruise!

 

AliceJ,

Did you have to pick a time for the UBD, or did they assign the time? If you picked the time, was it free-form or were there slots to choose from? Also, was it obvious whom you needed to call to schedule the UBD?

 

Leaving in a few weeks and want to surprise the DW with this...

 

Thanks,

 

Kurt

[btrojanoski]

Hi:

 

We would also like as much detail as you can give on the UBD as we want to celebrate our 30th weeddding anniversary with it on the October 1 CB cruise. Who did you call, can you specifiy night you want and time, etc.

 

Thanks for anything you have.

 

Barry

[cruzinchris]

FlKittyKat,

Congratulations on the nuptials and glad to hear that you enjoyed your cruise.

 

I especially like the part about the Scrabble. DH and I always pack our own travel version of the game, and we play whenever and wherever we can on the ship.

 

Thanks for taking the time to post a review. I can't wait to sail on this magnificent ship again next January.

Chris

[cruisencouple]

What time does the line start forming at the pier? We will be arriving very early at the airport on Saturday, May 21.

 

 

We left the airport at 10:30 and got to the ship a little before 11:00 and there was already a line. Thet were still disembarking the ship when we got there.

[L2J]

Hi:

 

We would also like as much detail as you can give on the UBD as we want to celebrate our 30th weeddding anniversary with it on the October 1 CB cruise. Who did you call, can you specifiy night you want and time, etc.

 

Thanks for anything you have.

 

Barry

 

Mine was scheduled through room service. I was able to pick the night but the only time they had available was 7pm. The best thing to do is start calling as soon as you board.

[2theship]

Hi,

 

Thanks for the info. Can you tell me who was the cruise director?

 

Thanks!

[FlKittyKat]

tbag124 - The speacailty dining restaraunts do cost more. Sterling was $15 per person and Sabatini's is $20 per person (I think). We both thought Sterling was a good deal. We were so full afterwards we could barely walk! I also overheard other passengers say you shouldn't eat anything all day prior to going to Sabatini's.

The "open" balcony was a concern of mine before we left. All of the balconies on Dolphin deck stick out from the main part of the ship so they are visible from any deck above and you have to lean out and look directly under you if you want to see where the water meet the ship. I am a fairly private person and would rather not have people watching me hanging out on my balcony. This turned out to not be a problem at all. The only time there were a lot of people "with us" was when we were leaving port. I found this rather amusing actually as there was someone on each and every balcony. There were a few families yelling back and forth (very annoying - talking about baseball!), but you can get that on any ship. The rest of the time, it was rare to see other passengers on their balconies or on the very top deck looking down.

 

pscheer - The cruise director was James... I will dig out the Patters and let you know his last name. He was all over ths ship, there must be two of him.

 

Hope all this helps.

[crusdiva]

Hi,

 

Thanks for the info. Can you tell me who was the cruise director?

 

Thanks!

 

Cruise Director is James Lay

[bjcanady]

We will be sailing on her in about 9 days........could u tell me what groups were playing in the Wheelhouse, Explorers and Club fusion...........thanks

[cwccmark]

Cruise Director is James Lay

 

In his words, everything was "Von-tastic" Fantastic with that English accent