Caribbean Princess Review 4/16-4/23

[Linda2433]

Can't believe already back over a week from our cruise. Still checking out the boards trying to figure out next vacation.

 

Anyways, we flew in a day early to Ft. Lauderdale. Got in around 6pm, stayed at the Hampton Inn, Sterling Road. They picked us up at airport no problem.

Heard that their was a shopping plaza across the street to pick up soda, water and maybe beer/wine. Also places to eat. Nothing That i could see across the street but if you walked out of the hotel and took a left their was a street that lead to a shopping area. Plently of stores only no place to buy water, beer, soda. Home Depot. Office supply store, Pet Store. Their was a BJ's which had their own Liquor Store. Unfortunately noone mentioned the Hampton Inn being next to a BJ's and I left my card at home. We walked and walked looking for a restaurant (there was plenty of fast food next to hotel but that is not what we wanted) Finally turned around and husband went back to hotel to ask. Found out had we turned the corner past Home Depot, that was where all the restaurants were. Walked back and found a decent place to eat. Took a taxi back to hotel to drop teenage daught. and her friend off and asked them to take us to a liquor store for water, beer etc. They did but it ended up costing us $20.00 for the taxi. Next time would stay closer to Port Everglades where their seemed to be more of what we wanted.

 

Embarkation Day--No problem, shuttled us over around 11am. Got in line. Were in our cabin by like 12. Line was long but moved quickly. Only problem was trying to keep track of all the forms, id's, birth certificates etc. for everyone. Got into our room and gave $20.00 to Ronald the room steward. Asked for some cushions for the chairs on the balacony. He said he would see what he could do. Within an hour we had cushions. Tried to Call Sterling, Sabatini's for reservations. We were told we had to go down to make them.

Found Sterling's first but noone was around to take reservations. Found Sabatini's and found out you make them their for both places. No problem getting the times we wanted.

 

Did the buffet on Sat. Ok, great food but I like to be waited on, am not a big buffet fan. Went to Sterlings on Sun. It was great. Filet Mignon, had to send it back once to be cooked more but not a problem. Monday & Tuesday we tried the Dining Rooms. Palm one night, Coral the other. Preferred the Coral. No problem getting in at 6/6:30. Asked for a table for 4, asked if we wanted to share we said no and got right in anways. Sabatini's on Wed. night. Also great, too much food! Thur. night went back to the Coral as we also did on Fri. Fri. night they shuttled us to the Traditional Dining Room which I did not like. That was the only place I ran into a waitress with an attitude. Slamming drawers, very rushed atmosphere. Would not want to have ate in their all week. Had a lozy table, kind of a bad way to end a great cruise. But we survived.

 

Cabin Aloha 401 was great, had balcony. Didn't feel it was small. Bathroom was small but not a problem, lot's of storage area. Don't think I would have enjoyed the Lobster Dinner on the balcony though, just not big enough for that plus initially i had a hard time looking down, being so high up, not crazy about heights. Got use to it, but when the ship was moving more didn't really go out their alot. Did enjoy the balcony pulling into the different ports. That was really nice, great views!

 

Shows were good. Some were ok, some I thought My daughters recital was more professional and together but I wouldn't complain. It was entertainment and there was always something to do, someone to watch whether it be dancers, singers, comedy, hypnotist etc. Theater was always packed. As were the bars when their was someting going on, had to be their early to get a decent seat.

 

No problem getting chairs by the pools, Pools were crowded but the ship was full. Lot's of kids, but it was school vacation week in New England so we expected alot of kids. Not a problem. I am not crazy about crowds, but the size of the ship and the amount of people never really bothered me.

 

Ports were great. Did Sapphire Beach in St. Thomas, took a cab from the ship. Then went shopping. Orient Beach in St. Martin. Same thing took a cab from the dock. Only thing i would complain about as I wish I had more time in the ports. Not enough time to do the beach and shop alot which may be a good thing as I didn't buy as much as I probably would have had I had more time. Would like a cruise where they give you more time like maybe two days in a port. Princess Cays was ok, it was very nice but it was hard to get into the water with slippery rocks, you were better off to just rent a float. It was very crowded, we got over early and got chairs, but many people complained they couldn't get any. I think I would prefer another port over Princess Cays, but that is just my opinion. It was nice but not really what I expected.

 

Disembarkation was a pain but I expected it to be. Had to be out of our cabins by 7:30. Sat. in the Explorers Lounge until 10 when are color was called and we could get off. It wasn't that bad just a long process. Long day as our flight didn't leave until 4:45 so we rented a van and drove around Fr. Lauderdale. $50.00 for the Van. $70.00 for lunch on the beach for 4. Kind of an expensive last day but it was worth it.

 

First cruise for all of us and would definitely go again. Loved Princess, the personal Choice Dining is great. Everyone on the ship was friendly. Walked down the hall in the Morning and all the employees would greet you with Good Morning. Great Cruise, wish I was there now! I did notice alot of motion on the ship. Not sure if this is normal as it was more first cruise. Sometimes I felt nothing, but other times I definitely felt the ship moving, which i guess is to be expected. Never got sick, took Bonine and Ginger every day and had no problems.

 

Back to reality and now looking at our next cruise!

[LMCAT123]

Linda, for future reference the "other" Hampton Inn at Ft. L. airport has some stores across the street. We just stayed there, it's called Hampton Inn Airport North. No real restuarants tho, just McDonald's, Wendy's, etc. There is also a Holiday Inn Express across the street which looked nice too. As for the stores in the strip mall across the street - there was a Winn-Dixie supermarket which was handy if you had forgotten anything :-) As we did not want fast food we ended up getting a couple of sandwiches at deli at Winn-Dixie and bringing them back to hotel, which worked out OK since I wanted to watch Survivor :-) The hotel was fine, decent room, etc. and shuttle service to the pier/airport was good.

 

I'm sorry Princess Cays was not what you expected. We loved it !! We had no real crowds there, lots of empty chairs, cabana's etc. We were on the Sun Princess -- all I can think is that maybe alot of people stayed onboard (which was OK for us, we had a lovely uncrowded beach day!!)

[Linda2433]

Thanks, will have to try the other Hampton Inn next time. Or someplace near Port Everglades. Princess Cays was not bad don't get me wrong. We were fine, we had chairs, can you believe people put stuff on chairs to save them and never came back for them all day! The island was nice and it was a nice break just beach not much shopping. Just the beach part getting into the water was a pain. Almost fell a few times, not like going into Sapphire Beach in St. Thomas. Just not like i expected. I think I expected a larger version of Sapphire or smaller of Orient.