review of Caribbean Princess 2-22-3-1-14

[fatbird]

Let me begin by saying we had a wonderful trip. We enjoyed the beautiful ship, friendly staff, delicious food, sunny weather and fun ports. That doesn't mean everything was or ever is perfect, but we always enjoy a cruise.

We drove over from San Antonio on Friday afternoon and stayed at the Marriot Westchase. It's easy to get to, affordable and has lots of shops and restaurants around. Saturday we drove to Bayport hitting the usual Houston traffic jams. Even so we had time to stop for breakfast and still made our check in time of1:30 with no problem.

Embarkation- 1 hour from the time we entered the parking area, dropped off our bags, parked our car and were processed. If you have priority boarding it will be even faster.

Cabin- D616- mini-suite. Pro- large closets, lots of storage space, full bathtub, quiet area, bigger room than a regular balcony- con- balcony is not covered, pillows are not comfortable, showerhead can not be held, and only one remote for two tvs.- more to come

[Colo Cruiser]

Glad you had a great cruise, thanks for the comments.

[cruzrbachoua]

Glad your time was good and love the positive attitude as little things to tend to come up, but make lemonade out of lemons. In reference to the pillows I notice that they use feather pillows, I alwasy ask our steward if they have regular pillows and each time has come back with at least 1 or 2 and leaves them the entire trip. I know feather is supposed to be high end......but to me I feel I may as well just lay on the mattress..lol. As long as they keep having options and I can get the normal ones I am good.

 

Can't wait to hear more.

[fatbird]

Food- The fish tasted better than the beef and I would have liked more exciting desserts but I could always find something I wanted. They also had homecooked style entrees some people loved like fried chicken. I never lacked for something I liked and of course ate too much but that's part of the fun.

Drinks- the mixed drinks were inconsistent. Two were good, 1 was Ok and 1 was terrible. The wine was good though.

Dining room- We ate in the Island dining room which is an anytime DR. We like eating early and not having to wait so were there everyday at 5:20. The first night we saw a huge line waiting when we left. The two formal nights were also crowded. FYI- the first night they came around taking pictures. We wanted a table for 2 but they don't have many so we only had 1 on Tuesday; the rest of the time we shared a table and stayed with two waiters we liked. They also have a fantastic waiter from Mexico who sings in Italian. He made dinner special for all of us.

Service- Our cabin steward was wonderful as were the waiters. more to come

[fatbird]

Thanks for the information about the pillows. Next time I'll ask about getting something different. I was even thinking about taking my own and stuffing it into a bag, but that would take up loads of room.

[chrysalis]

Just to be sure, the "cp" is the Sea Princess...and the "CB" is the Caribbean Princess.

 

Were you on the Sea or the Caribbean?

[JF - retired RRT]

Thanks for the information about the pillows. Next time I'll ask about getting something different. I was even thinking about taking my own and stuffing it into a bag, but that would take up loads of room.

If you have a pillow that you love or have some kind of special pillow that you just HAVE to take with you...you could get one of those "vacuum" bags. Put the item in, seal it, squish it - and a one way valve keeps the air out. ;)

[fatbird]

Noro- We were Ok for 2 days then after coming back from Cozumel they stopped the self serve in the buffet and they never went back even though the Noro cases became fewer. Still, it wasn't a huge problem.

Meet & Greet- We had a small but friendly group that had fun talking and exchanging gifts. No Princess rep was there, but maybe they were busy.

The Past Passenger party was the usual-but I did like that instead of handing everyone a drink when they arrived they gave us a ticket for free drink as we left.

Ports- We made all the ports-yeah! We'd been to them before so we just went shopping. FYI- Belize only had 1 liquor store and it was going out of business.

Cooking demonstration- Friday- get there early or you won't get a seat

Fog- Friday about 6:45 p.m.the captain announced fog was predicted the next morning and we were heading back early so- the casino closed at 7 p.m.

Disembarkation- was the fastest we've ever had- 30 minutes from our cabin door to our car! We had a great time and will go out of Houston again.

[fatbird]

Thanks, that's a great idea.

[cruzrbachoua]

Yup I use those on the way home for the cruise to make room for the souveniers. Just make sure to get the ones that squish out and don't need the vacuum itself. As usually the ones that need the vacuum need a vacuum with the removal hose and on my past several cruises I noticed that princess uses older vacuums without the hose attachment......

 

I bring a satin pillowcase for my hair and when I encounter a hotel or if ever the ship doesnt have normal pillows I try to stuff 2 of the feather ones into my pillow case to make it fuller. I have found most places do have the other pillow options as some people are alergic to down/feather. ;)

[Andy]

Hi Everyone,

 

I've merged the 3 threads.

[fatbird]

Thanks for merging the threads. I would have had I known how. I was on the Caribbean Princess- sorry for the mistake.

[figmentdj]

The Past Passenger party was the usual-but I did like that instead of handing everyone a drink when they arrived they gave us a ticket for free drink as we left.

 

What?! No drinks while you were listening to the Captain, Circle Host, etc? Please tell me this isn't so. Cal that a party?

[fatbird]

sorry, we had no drinks at the past passenger party. We did have a nice video of new ships.