Too Many People on the Caribbean Princess ?

[ppmg2]

I was just wondering if the extra deck of staterooms (500 people) made this ship feel like it was too crowded as compared with others in it's class. I'm booked for the XMas 2005 sailing. Any suggestions for must do activities while on board?

 

Horizon 3/2003

Mercury 12/1999

Sky Princess 3/1990

[Dreamer333]

I've been on three of the Grand-class ships, and I personally didn't notice a difference aboard the Caribbean Princess.

[LARGIN]

You can watch MUTS and all of the screaming kids.. ;)

 

Seriously, lots to do.. Just read your Patters..

[chrysalis]

Must Do Activities.....

 

 

For some people it is- COMPLAIN,

 

but, besides EATING, I would suggest ENJOY

[ppmg2]

I will have my kids with me( ages 10,15) so I guess we will be part of the problem. Typical of most holiday cruises. Does anyone know if my 10 year old will be able to sign herself in/out of the kids program? She really wants to be as independent as possible. Eating as always is my favorite activity. Working out after all the eating is my least favorite.

[where next?]

My 9 (10 in 2 months) year old son was able to sign himself in and out of the childrens program IF I gave him permission to do so. I let him sign himself in and out because he is responsible and he didn't break our rules for signing himself in and out.

 

At night, we did sign him out on our way from the early show. That's about my bedtime anyway!!!

 

 

We knew where he was and he knew where to find us (we leave notes in the cabin to each other ...the infamous yellow post-it notes...leaving msgs on the cabin phone is handy too...make sure your kids know how to dial their cabin!).

 

This worked well for us because on previous cruises, I would usually leave my husband at the dinner table with my dessert order, run the kids up to the kids program, and then come down for a nice, quiet dessert. Now my son can go up by himself or his older sister would take him up.

[Toto2Kansas]

The only time we felt the extra passenger load was waiting for tenders and returning to the ship (even when docked). The lines were horrible. Other than that, while onboard, we couldn't tell any difference between the Caribbean Princess and other Grand Class ships.

[CruiseFever]

The only time we felt the extra passenger load was waiting for tenders and returning to the ship (even when docked). The lines were horrible. Other than that, while onboard, we couldn't tell any difference between the Caribbean Princess and other Grand Class ships.

 

That was our experience also, especially at Princess Cays, but we avoided that by leaving and coming back either before or after the crowd.

[sealegs9]

After being on RCI's Voyaget OTS and Serenade OTS, the CB was a ghost town! Seriously, we never encountered a "line". Princess handles crowd control very well- waiting for tenders while sitting in the theatre, watching CNN. Much better than queing up on stairwells, 5 or 6 decks full, sweating, people pushing... That's how they do it on RCI. On;y had to wait 5 min to get on tender on CB. We left Princess Cays at about 2PM. There was a line for the arriving tender, but we all got on within 10 minutes. Had to wait over half hour in a several hundred to thousand person line in HOT sun on Labadee to get back on the Voyager- it's all relative.

It was a challenge to get a chaise by the Neptune pool in the shade on sea days. I circled a few times and always found someone vacating a chair. It's all in the timing!

About signing in kids- our son is 10, soo to be 11. He loved the responsibility we gave him to sign in and out. We also used post-it notes and he always found us. He had a blast on the CB- best cruise he's taken- and there's no Video Arcade!

[spongerob]

I agree, you really don't notice the people except at the same times that you run into lots of people on any cruise. The ship feels larger than its PSR numbers might lead you to believe - all Grand-class ships are similar in that respect.

[Ming_Driver]

... the seafood buffet the first night in the Caribe Cafe - if you like seafood. (If not, more for me! ;) )

 

We're booked on the same sailing, so I hope it's not too crowded! ppmg2, come join our roll call at http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=119181!

[Aquarian]

We didn't notice any more people than on the Grand or the Golden Princesses.

[waterrats]

I was told by someone that they will never sail caribbean princess again because of the extra deck and people. He said the wait for the lifts was longer (we use the stairs)and also that they theatre filled up sooner. Other than that, he didn't mention anything. We didn't have long waits to get off in Cozumel or Ocho Rios. We never did tender since we were at sea 7 or 9 nights last year. Best cruise ever.

[ppmg2]

It sounds that the ambience of the ship more than makes up for the extra people on board. Since I have been to all of the ports except for Princess Cay, we can wait a little longer to get on the tender.My very 1st cruise was on the Sky Princess which was much smaller (45,000 tons). Has anyone played the putt-putt golf? My kids seem to love the idea.

 

Sky Princess 3/1990

Mercury 12/1999

Horizon 3/2003

[sealegs9]

I do agree the theater does not hold than many pax. It wouldn't fit everyone even if 500 pax less ;) . Personally, we skipped some shows, so it didn't matter to us. Those who cruise to enjoy the shows at night will find crowds in the theater - just plan ahead and get there early. You'll have a prime seat - if that's your priority.

[CathyCanada]

I did the Golden in Aug. and the Caribbean in Dec. and noticed a huge difference. Let me start by saying it was quite an older crowd on the Dec. sailing. We had PC dining but could never get in before 8:30 anyway. The theatres for the shows were packed more than 40 minutes before the show and there were a LOT of whiny complaining people around (no, I wasn't one of them! :D )

 

We just made the best of it and did other things, spent a lot of time in Skywalkers and still had fun, but I am not a believer that bigger is necessarily better. Just my 2 cents though.

Cathy

[KCSungirl]

My husband says NEVER again on the CB and he loved the Grand. I, however, am booked to go with girlfriends again this year. How can people honeymoon on these size ships? There is no public space on the ship you can go without being with other people. The shows are packed, the pools on sea days are downright scary. Sweaty bodies shoulder to shoulder. The water in the pools gets cloudy. Gross. MUTS during the day is the worst noise. In the evening it is an ok novelty, but the constant buzz from the speakers during the day is horrible. I was sitting in between the two main pools and one speaker was playing a movie and the other speaker had the pool band playing. I was going insane with all of the noise. The aft pool is nice, but shaded 80% of the time because of the Skywalker's overhang. I could go on and on about the crowds. I love the Princess product, but this was the least romantic and sophisticated cruise we have ever been on. Maybe it was our timing, but I felt like it was wall to wall people everywhere. The Cafe Caribe rules! MMMmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm

Sungirl

[mek]

It did seem that the elevators were much slower, but that is only difference I noticed.

[Totally Addicted]

We've cruised the Grand, thought it fabulous, then the Caribbean Princess 3 times. Can't imagine it could get any better than any of them!! Last fall they were trying to set the Caribe Cafe with table cloths much too early and there was a problem with enough seating for the Horizon Court, we had to break through the borders and sit in there anyway, but in April they had quit doing that and now it's much better. Maybe I just don't know any better... trying the Sun this fall. I think I'll love them all!!! :D

[cruzinchris]

If DH and I thought the Caribbean Princess was overly crowded, we would not be booked on her again in January, 2006.

 

I agree with those who found lines to get back on the ship after a day in port. The earlier you return to the ship the better.

 

We didn't wait long for a tender to or from Princess Cays. Timing is everything, in that case: We headed to the private island after 10:00 and returned before 2:00.

 

Areas of the CB that seemed somewhat crowded are the same as any other ship, especially on sea days: pools/decks, photo gallery, shops/bargain tables, etc. There are enough places on the big ship to escape crowds, though, so we never felt that there were too many passengers.

 

Bon Voyage!

Chris

[beckers]

I hate crowds and I did not find any crowds anywhere on the CB! in April it was fantastic. I kept saying where are all the people! The ship was sold out.:D Granted I stayed on the ship at Princess Cays but from what I hear that went smooth too. I would go on the CB again in a heartbeat.

[BrianandKaren]

We honeymooned on the Star (which I believe is about the same size maybe smaller than the Caribbean Princess) and we had a great time. We never felt invaded by others. We got alot of our alone time on our balcony at 10pm eating our deserts. We had such a great time on the Star that we are booked on the CP for our 1st anniversary in October. We can't wait.

 

Karen

[samtesla]

He said the wait for the lifts was longer (we use the stairs)and also that they theatre filled up sooner. Other than that, he didn't mention anything.

 

Right on the money there. The wait for the elevators was bad mostly because people would NOT use the stairs and because it looked like there were a lot of people who needed extra time (people on scooters). The theater filling up earlier was more a function of how good the shows were (Steve Moris in particular :-)).

 

If I were busy designing the next generation Princess ship, I'd be putting an escalator or two. Far more efficient in moving people.

 

(4/30/05 sailing)

[Firefighterhoop]

I agree(escalators), not only for princess, but for all cruiselines! There are alot of times people are using the elevators to go up from one common use deck to another (Ie Casino to theatre)