My Impressions of Caribbean Princess as first time cruiser....

[kendon]

Princess may have turned a corner with the Royal. I'll know for sure next week!

[eclue]

Guess I will jump in on this.....we are platinum Princess cruisers and my sister is Diamond on Royal Caribbean. We did the 15 nite Panama Canal cruise on Celebrity Millennium in October in an extended aft family cabin. The cabin itself was nice but the entire ship experience was awful...we thought we were in a nursing home....the poolside is quiet with music for one hour a day, most folks sleeping with open mouths and books on their chest, there is no piazza with constant entertainment and definitely no International Cafe....they had a tiny place where they served a choice of three different offerings....entertainment was awful ( had a 95 year xylophone player for two nights,,yuk) Our cabin had toe nail clippings ( really ) on the floor and a bloodied mosquito on the counter ( not kidding )....the shower could not produce hot water and the sink did not drain...the sink was fixed but not the shower. The entire ship was warm, even our cabin......calling passenger services was a joke.....my travel agent told me we would love Celebrity but it really was awful.....some say the M class ships are like that....I don't care, we will stick with Princess and my sister will keep RC...you can have Celebrity....and this is just a tip of the issues we had including the food which was awful.:rolleyes:

[rollingstone]

Panama Canal cruises are known to have the biggest percentage of elderly people. It was the itinerary not the ship or the cruise line

 

 

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[eclue]

Panama Canal cruises are known to have the biggest percentage of elderly people. It was the itinerary not the ship or the cruise line

 

 

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The itinerary had absolutely nothing to do with the unclean cabin, lack of hot water, blocked drain, poor entertainment, dismal atmosphere on the ship, poor dining service and food choices, etc.:rolleyes:

[sminfiddle]

The "trick" to getting Iced Tea in a Princess bar is to order hot tea (you will have choices as to flavor) and a glass of ice.

Had to "invent" this at the Pub-style Lunch in Wheelhouse Bar our first time. DW insists on iced tea, waiter says sorry, it's a Bar.

I had to do the same "alchemy" when in New England in winter.

Ice + Tea. :confused:

 

 

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[RLBlack]

We were on the same cruise, and in a balcony stateroom. I think the unfortunately the premise of the review, started with the fact that cost of the cruise was comparable to Celebrity's Aqua Class service, not taking into consideration that the cost paid included the "extra entertainment" of the concerts.

 

We were not members of the group- Concerts of the Sea- when we were deciding on the cruise I researched joining the group, and decided against it, because the cost of the cruise would have been 4 times what we paid and made our personal decision that the entertainers offered were not worth the additional costs.

 

Unfortunately, due to the large group on the ship, and the use of some of the physical venues at night for "private events"- the our overall enjoyment of the entertainment was not up to par with some of our other cruises. And at times appeared to be a bit disorganized and the venues were not a good fit for the entertainment. We will still travel Princess- enjoy it overall, just will be more careful in choosing the dates and take in consideration of there is a large group or groups that we are not participating.

[kendon]

Sadly you occasionally get a bomb of a cruise experience, even on a line you are loyal too. It happens, but I'm not sure why. Our fifth Princess cruise on the Dawn was absolutely awful. For starters, there was minimal entertainment...movies in the Princess theater, the pianos were vacant. Thank goodness for some creative and talented passengers who took over and entertained the rest of us. Never gave up on Princess and I'll be taking my 22nd next week on the Royal.

[KruzPrincess]

Sadly you occasionally get a bomb of a cruise experience, even on a line you are loyal too. It happens, but I'm not sure why. Our fifth Princess cruise on the Dawn was absolutely awful. For starters, there was minimal entertainment...movies in the Princess theater, the pianos were vacant. Thank goodness for some creative and talented passengers who took over and entertained the rest of us. Never gave up on Princess and I'll be taking my 22nd next week on the Royal.

 

It's true. Some cruise directors do a better job than others at planning activities. Sometimes you just have a string of bad luck on a specific cruise. My only cruise on HAL had one bad thing happen after another. In retrospect, I'm sure it was just bad luck, but I've never booked another HAL cruise.

[vfangue]

Thanks to everyone for your comments. Hubby and I are planning a cruise in Oct. 2014 and am trying to decide which to take. He wants a short cruise, so I'm leaning towards the Caribbean Princess. We just need a long weekend to veg in the sun and enjoy some good music in the evening. Any comments on the bands in the clubs/lounges?

 

 

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[HMSDingy]

We're sailing on the CB the end of this month. All cruises even the ones on the higher end lines, will have a bad cruise. Does that mean you have to "jump" ship & sail on another line? No. DW and I won't let another traveler's opinion change our minds. I appreciate your review and comparison but as stated by others on this thread, you seem to be comparing apples with oranges. BTW I do not know which watering holes, you frequent but the liquor prices on all of the lines we've cruised on are very similar to bars on land. :D