Disappointment in Caribbean Princess 4/19-4/26

[Dudleydog73]

Can't believe the amount of complaints! Do you think you'll be happy with any other cruise line?

 

Maybe you should all consider luxury lines... I hope you are all willing to pay three or four times the fares Princess is offering. If you're not willing or able to do that, please remember that you are very lucky to be able to cruise. Things do change though ... Remember that.

 

My complaint with the CB was Princess' poor decision (IMHO) to move operations to the Houston terminal versus staying at Galveston. I had a good cruise even though we only made one of our scheduled ports and even then all excursions were cancelled that involved the water/beach/or anything close to the beach.

 

Would I sail on the CB again? Sure. Would I sail on the CB (or any other Princess ship for that matter) out of Houston? Absolutely not, unless they were getting desperate and were offering insane pricing. I am certainly not willing to pay a premium to MAYBE leave on time, get to the ports of call, and then get back to the port on time after the cruise.

[SeagoingMom]

Can't believe the amount of complaints! Do you think you'll be happy with any other cruise line?

 

Maybe you should all consider luxury lines... I hope you are all willing to pay three or four times the fares Princess is offering. If you're not willing or able to do that, please remember that you are very lucky to be able to cruise. Things do change though ... Remember that.

Though this question seems to be addressed to no one in particular, I, at least, am happy to respond...

 

You'll see from my other posts that I was not unhappy on my CB cruise. It was a great cruise. It just was not what I expected it to be, being that my expectations were, I found out, unrealistically high.

 

I have been reading reviews and comments and posts on CC for years, and across the board, the views of Princess cruisers have been the most positive and enthusiastic and loyal. But they have also often been the least specific -- most reviews I have read of Princess cruises and most postings I have read by Princess loyals simply say something along the lines of "I just love how Princess does things," or "in spite of everything, Princess is my preferred line," or "if you don't love Princess, there must be something wrong with you, so take a hike and find another cruise line...":rolleyes: Even your comment that "if one doesn't like Princess, one should try the luxury lines" echoes the familiar refrain that among the mass market cruise lines Princess is the best -- so far beyond the others that the only valid comparison to it is the luxury lines. It is this very enthusiasm and loyalty that motivated me to try Princess!

 

I simply found that my experience on Caribbean Princess was not stunningly superior to my experiences on, say, Celebrity or HAL. I went into the whole thing with the expectation that I would find, as you (and many expressing your opinion) suggest, that nothing but the luxury lines exceeds Princess. I just didn't find that to be the case. I had my expectations adjusted, is all. But I had a great cruise!

 

Am I disappointed to not have become a Princess "believer?" Actually, yes. I was hoping that Princess would be to me all that loyals say it is to them! It didn't happen on this particular cruise, but maybe it will on another. And if I sail with Princess enough, maybe I'll see the light.

[Warm Breezes]

Though this question seems to be addressed to no one in particular, I, at least, am happy to respond...

 

You'll see from my other posts that I was not unhappy on my CB cruise. It was a great cruise. It just was not what I expected it to be, being that my expectations were, I found out, unrealistically high.

 

I have been reading reviews and comments and posts on CC for years, and across the board, the views of Princess cruisers have been the most positive and enthusiastic and loyal. But they have also often been the least specific -- most reviews I have read of Princess cruises and most postings I have read by Princess loyals simply say something along the lines of "I just love how Princess does things," or "in spite of everything, Princess is my preferred line," or "if you don't love Princess, there must be something wrong with you, so take a hike and find another cruise line...":rolleyes: Even your comment that "if one doesn't like Princess, one should try the luxury lines" echoes the familiar refrain that among the mass market cruise lines Princess is the best -- so far beyond the others that the only valid comparison to it is the luxury lines. It is this very enthusiasm and loyalty that motivated me to try Princess!

 

I simply found that my experience on Caribbean Princess was not stunningly superior to my experiences on, say, Celebrity or HAL. I went into the whole thing with the expectation that I would find, as you (and many expressing your opinion) suggest, that nothing but the luxury lines exceeds Princess. I just didn't find that to be the case. I had my expectations adjusted, is all. But I had a great cruise!

 

Am I disappointed to not have become a Princess "believer?" Actually, yes. I was hoping that Princess would be to me all that loyals say it is to them! It didn't happen on this particular cruise, but maybe it will on another. And if I sail with Princess enough, maybe I'll see the light.

 

I so agree with you here. I think I had higher expectations of our Ruby Princess cruise than what our reality was...which made the cruise a disappointment to us. We have sailed CCL, NCL, and DCL and while each line has its positives and negatives, we have never come away from any of those cruises as disappointed as we did from that last Ruby cruise. It's not that I need luxury lines because I enjoyed CCL and NCL more than I did Princess and they are not luxury lines.

[SeagoingMom]

I so agree with you here. I think I had higher expectations of our Ruby Princess cruise than what our reality was...which made the cruise a disappointment to us. We have sailed CCL, NCL, and DCL and while each line has its positives and negatives, we have never come away from any of those cruises as disappointed as we did from that last Ruby cruise. It's not that I need luxury lines because I enjoyed CCL and NCL more than I did Princess and they are not luxury lines.

 

So are you saying you enjoyed NCL and CCL because you had realistic (or even low) expectations of them, and therefore there was less room for being let down? My expectations were low before my Carnival cruise in 2009, and I had a great time, because the ship exceeded those low expectations by quite a bit!

 

Cheerleaders for their cruise lines end up hurting their cause if their enthusiasm results in others being disappointed. It's ironic!

[Woobstr112G]

Though this question seems to be addressed to no one in particular, I, at least, am happy to respond...

 

You'll see from my other posts that I was not unhappy on my CB cruise. It was a great cruise. It just was not what I expected it to be, being that my expectations were, I found out, unrealistically high.

 

I have been reading reviews and comments and posts on CC for years, and across the board, the views of Princess cruisers have been the most positive and enthusiastic and loyal. But they have also often been the least specific -- most reviews I have read of Princess cruises and most postings I have read by Princess loyals simply say something along the lines of "I just love how Princess does things," or "in spite of everything, Princess is my preferred line," or "if you don't love Princess, there must be something wrong with you, so take a hike and find another cruise line...":rolleyes: Even your comment that "if one doesn't like Princess, one should try the luxury lines" echoes the familiar refrain that among the mass market cruise lines Princess is the best -- so far beyond the others that the only valid comparison to it is the luxury lines. It is this very enthusiasm and loyalty that motivated me to try Princess!

 

I simply found that my experience on Caribbean Princess was not stunningly superior to my experiences on, say, Celebrity or HAL. I went into the whole thing with the expectation that I would find, as you (and many expressing your opinion) suggest, that nothing but the luxury lines exceeds Princess. I just didn't find that to be the case. I had my expectations adjusted, is all. But I had a great cruise!

 

Am I disappointed to not have become a Princess "believer?" Actually, yes. I was hoping that Princess would be to me all that loyals say it is to them! It didn't happen on this particular cruise, but maybe it will on another. And if I sail with Princess enough, maybe I'll see the light.

 

 

Very well stated. I am a loyal Princess Cruiser who was somewhat severely castigated by several other Princess loyalists for posting my disappointment with the Royal on our T/A cruise last October. Just because I don't like the Royal doesn't mean I don't like Princess anymore. In fact my next scheduled cruise is in October on the CB.....:):):)

 

Bob

Edited May 9, 2014 by Woobstr112G

[Warm Breezes]

So are you saying you enjoyed NCL and CCL because you had realistic (or even low) expectations of them, and therefore there was less room for being let down? My expectations were low before my Carnival cruise in 2009, and I had a great time, because the ship exceeded those low expectations by quite a bit!

 

Cheerleaders for their cruise lines end up hurting their cause if their enthusiasm results in others being disappointed. It's ironic!

 

I would say that I had lower expectations for our NCL and CCL cruises than I had for our first 2 cruises that were on Disney....mainly because I paid a lot less for them. I wasn't disappointed and was pleasantly impressed with many of those cruises. I did have higher expectations of Princess mainly from reading cc and others perceptions of it. I wasn't expecting it to be better than my Disney cruises, but I was expecting something better than my CCL and NCL cruises. Not because I didn't have a great time on CCL and NCL because I did. It was because of what people said about Princess when comparing them to CCL and NCL. Most of them praised Princess over the other lines. IMHO it definately wasn't any better than the cruises I took on NCL & CCL. Like I said before, they all had positives and negatives but overall Princess definately wasn't better like I had expected, which did leave me disappointed.

Edited May 9, 2014 by Warm Breezes

[We're The Groupnors]

I'm sure there were several others that enjoyed the cruise...... I merely pointed out my opinion only to be blasted by almost everyone on this board. I agree prices have come down but I did not pay $299 for this cruise. Frankly I am tired of being flamed on this board so please refrain from posting and allow this thread to disappear.

 

Posting what is the equivalent of a bad review on the forum for the cruise line you sailed always runs the risk of becoming contentious with people loyal to the brand. Suggest you post your opinions/experiences in the review section in future, as people cannot respond to reviews.

[geoherb]

We did try the international restaurant..... the pastries were what was offered in the MDR the night before. [Ellipses in original]

I can't get past this statement from the OP. I don't recall ever seeing pastries in the main dining room at night. The International Cafe has always had great desserts. The tiramisu and panna cotta are my favorites.