Just curious....Carribean Princess out of Ft. Laud

[PatriotsHeat]

I was booked to go on the C.P. out of Ft. Lauderdale on May 31st. However, after seeing many poor reviews about the ship when it was in Texas, and the Norovirus outbreaks, we cancelled and went on NCL Getaway for the first time ever. It was going to the same ports and was the same week.

 

Our cruise was decent, but I liked our cruise two years ago on the Crown Princess best!

 

How was the ship? Was it as old as people were saying? Any sickness? The Getaway was nice, new, clean, and fun, but food was really bad, and just seemed way too crowded.

 

Just curious......next cruise I want to do is Panama Canal, on the Princess line.

[RickEk]

I was booked to go on the C.P. out of Ft. Lauderdale on May 31st. However, after seeing many poor reviews about the ship when it was in Texas, and the Norovirus outbreaks, we cancelled and went on NCL Getaway for the first time ever. It was going to the same ports and was the same week.

 

Our cruise was decent, but I liked our cruise two years ago on the Crown Princess best!

 

How was the ship? Was it as old as people were saying? Any sickness? The Getaway was nice, new, clean, and fun, but food was really bad, and just seemed way too crowded.

 

Just curious......next cruise I want to do is Panama Canal, on the Princess line.

 

I sailed on Caribbean Princess back in December from Houston. Had a great cruise. Food and entertainment were good. The ship was well maintained and I enjoyed our ports (two of which I'd never been to...).

[Cruzingal#9]

We were just on the CB two weeks ago. She went into dry dock for ten days after leaving Texas and before coming to Ft. Lauderdale. We loved it! It's the third time we've sailed her. The carpet in the common areas was all new. There was no Norovirus and the food was excellent! I guess they're having some sort of mechanical issues because they keep arriving back into Ft. Lauderdale at 1:00 am for maintenance work, but we didn't notice anything during the cruise.

[custompcsys]

The Getaway was nice, new, clean, and fun, but food was really bad, and just seemed way too crowded.

 

You basically just wrote a negative review about the Getaway. Did the ship have any redeeming qualities? Did you have a terrible cruise? Should people avoid it? Many of the movies I have enjoyed the most were movies that received lots of negative reviews from so called "experts". Cruises are just as subjective and no different. Go through the boards, read 2 reviews about the same cruise, and you may find it hard to believe they were on the same ship at the same time. Keep in mind that many of these reviews are written by people who have a huge sense of entitlement and are miserable if one minor thing goes wrong. Cruising, unfortunately, is replete with this type of passenger....if there aren't 3 different type of chocolate deserts to choose from at dinner the cruise was terrible, the cruise line is terrible, and they should receive compensation.

 

I always read these boards because there is a ton of good information and people willing to help. But I would rather see for myself what people are talking about, and I will be on the CB in August to do just that :)

[OCruisers]

:o Delete ... posted in the wrong place.

Edited June 21, 2014 by OCruisers

[OCruisers]

Just curious......next cruise I want to do is Panama Canal, on the Princess line.

 

Either Coral or Island Princess would be an excellent choice. Both of those ships were especially designed for going through the Panama Canal. :)

LuLu

[skynight]

Norovirus is hit and miss and not just present on a particular ship or cruise line. Every line has had to deal with it. It's carried on by passengers/crew and spreads quickly once on board. My friend was on the Caribbean Princess' May 31st cruise and he reported he had a great time, and the ship was in nice shape, ship-shape I guess is the expression. Of course the Getaway was new & clean & crowded. It was just launched in 2014 and carries over 4,000 passengers. The Caribbean Princess isn't really that old, it's 10 years old, and carries about 3,100 passengers. Like all ships it shows some rust, but the crew is always maintaining it. He also reported he loved the food, had fish every day, three meals a day. There are other selections for sure, but he liked the fish. We have been on 21 Princess cruises and never had an issue with food. There is always something we like form the casual paninis, salads desserts and snacks at the 24/7 international cafe, to the dinning rooms, the pizza, grill, soft ice cream, and the buffet. All included. There are just a few 'extra pay' venues on Princess ships.

[v33]

We just disembarked from the June 14 cruise on the Caribbean Princess and had a wonderful time. Just for context, I was traveling with my wife and two small children and have been on two previous Princess cruises plus one with Disney.

 

Before I boarded the ship, I was reading through the recent reviews and I remember seeing a string of negative or 'meh' reviews which had me worried. But I guess we were fortunate in that we didn't have any clogged plumbing in our room, I didn't notice the worn costumes or bored performers that one reviewer had noted, the decks were cleaned up after our ultimate deck party, and we were perfectly happy with the food at Coral.

 

Our steward was incredibly efficient in cleaning up the sand that the kids tracked in after the beach visits, our waiters were creative in coming up with new items - even dishes not on the menu we didn't even know to ask for - to keep the finicky kids eating, our kids would come back from Shockwave and Pelican activities with exciting stories and various handicrafts - t-shirts, backpacks, hats, bears - that they had made, all of which made it possible for my wife and I to really relax and spend quality time together alone.

 

Yes it was inconvenient that one mid-ship elevator was out the entire cruise, and there are a few places on the ship here and there that look a bit worn, but for us it didn't really take anything away from the experience.

[caribill]

Our steward was incredibly efficient in cleaning up the sand that the kids tracked in after the beach visits, our waiters were creative in coming up with new items - even dishes not on the menu we didn't even know to ask for - to keep the finicky kids eating.

 

All cruisers who question why they need to pay daily tips for their young children need to read what you have posted.

[Lovetocruiseprincess]

I doubt there's a Princess ship that doesn't have some bad reviews written up at one time or another. They all do. I haven been on the Caribbean Princess in a while but I'm still confident it's just a nice as it once was.

Check around for negative comments about the Getaway and you'll fine them as well.

We just got off the Coral P in the Panama canal & the ship was great. Clean, one of the most friendly crew, good food in both the Horizon & DR. The Coral was only doing a partial canal while the Island went all the way through, which we've also done. I'll also add that the Island was equally as great.

[onefine89]

Definitely plan a Panama Canal "Full Transit" Cruise............it's a great experience and an amazing operation to see first hand!

[geoherb]

We're going on the Caribbean Princess in August. I always take bad reviews with a grain of salt. Some of things that people complain about end up not being the same things we care about. Other things are random things that could happen on any ship--such as a broken toilet. I realize that some ships seem to have these things happen more than others, but the odds are still in our favor.

 

A friend we saw at the theater last night just got back from a Getaway cruise. She had a good time. She said it was nicer than her previous NCL cruise on one of their older ships. In spite of her good review, I don't think NCL is going to be in our future.

[brentlym]

I was on CB (for the 3rd time since March '12) in April out of Houston and although she was going to dry dock a week after we disembarked, we found the ship to be in good condition overall, the experience we had was awesome. So…we booked the 4-day on her Aug 28 over Labor Day weekend. Addicted? Maybe…. :D

[Lovetocruiseprincess]

Talking about bad experiences, we sailed in the Emerald last Nov and were assigned to a cabin with practically no AC. (guarantee cabin). They worked on it for 3 days finally changing us to a mirror image cabin on the other side of the ship with almost the exact problem. We finally got assigned a room with normal AC. Other than that 1 major problem the ship was fine and if the problem hadn't been corrected after 4 days I would be here bad mouthing the ship for anything I could possible think of.

 

To this day I don't think the AC problem has been solved because after talking to one or the techs about the situation there's a cooling duct for the engine room passing right by that cabin and there's not much they could do to solve it. That's the one & only time they couldn't solve a cooling problem on Princess. Maybe they could assign the cabin only to someone who doesn't require AC in the Caribbean. ;)

[Pam in CA]

I was booked to go on the C.P. out of Ft. Lauderdale on May 31st.

 

...The Getaway was nice, new, clean, and fun, but food was really bad, and just seemed way too crowded.

FYI, I assume you don't mean the "CP" which is the Sea Princess but rather "CB" Caribbean Princess. These are the 2-letter abbreviations Princess uses for these ships.

 

Food is very subjective. Saying the food is "bad" is not very clear because what you might not like, someone else does. I was on a cruise and a woman was complaining about the really weird food on the menu. When asked for clarification, she said, "Lamb." If the food wasn't hot, steak tough, I could understand your comment. Fortunately, Princess is wonderfully flexible and will prepare what you want the way you want it with enough notice. All you have to do is ask.

[azbirdmom]

We were on the CB in May, our second time in 5 months and it will be our last. We did have a wonderful trip, but had a series of issues with our cabin which was a full suite. We don't go looking for problems but there was no follow up on what we reported. The steward tried to help but he also hit brick walls, and passenger services wasn't particularly helpful either. We also were disappointed by a "bait and switch" tactic from the casino when they didn't deliver on a promised promotion.

 

It was bad enough that we wrote to customer relations, the first time we've had to do that after returning from a cruise, and we did finally get an apology + they offered OBC for our upcoming cruise. We love Princess and if we didn't know how things were on other ships, that might have been our last cruise with Princess. Everyone looks at things through different lenses, and no doubt there were others on our same cruise who experienced great service at every level (as we have on other cruises). But our experience was enough to sour us on any future cruises on the CB.

[USAF Retired]

Was on a B2B from May 26 to June 7 on the CB and it was fantastic. As stated before, new carpet in public areas, fresh paint, new paneling, etc. The food was great, crew was fantastic, in fact I can not think of anything bad that happened the entire cruise. Looking at booking another cruise on her before the end of the year. For those people that complain the ship looks old and worn, look in a mirror. You are not in the same shape you were in 10 years ago and you haven't traveled as many miles. Complaints happen. Just book your cruise and enjoy it and disregard the people on board who are complainers. Most are just looking for a way to get money from Princess. Your cruise will be exactly what you make of it and not what someone else thinks it should be.

[Ronnieslady]

Talking about bad experiences, we sailed in the Emerald last Nov and were assigned to a cabin with practically no AC. (guarantee cabin). They worked on it for 3 days finally changing us to a mirror image cabin on the other side of the ship with almost the exact problem. We finally got assigned a room with normal AC. Other than that 1 major problem the ship was fine and if the problem hadn't been corrected after 4 days I would be here bad mouthing the ship for anything I could possible think of.

 

To this day I don't think the AC problem has been solved because after talking to one or the techs about the situation there's a cooling duct for the engine room passing right by that cabin and there's not much they could do to solve it. That's the one & only time they couldn't solve a cooling problem on Princess. Maybe they could assign the cabin only to someone who doesn't require AC in the Caribbean. ;)

What cabin were you in?????

[caribill]

We were on the CB in May, our second time in 5 months and it will be our last. We did have a wonderful trip, but had a series of issues with our cabin which was a full suite. We don't go looking for problems but there was no follow up on what we reported. The steward tried to help but he also hit brick walls, and passenger services wasn't particularly helpful either.

 

In similar situations, others have reported that the Captain's Circle host/hostess has been able to get problems such as this resolved quickly.

[pusywillow]

We were on the CB in May, our second time in 5 months and it will be our last. We also were disappointed by a "bait and switch" tactic from the casino when they didn't deliver on a promised promotion.

 

Please expand on this. I am just off the Star and was given a letter offering me $1000 in Cash from the casino on my next cruise. Just making sure I will get it before I book. Thanks!

 

Sue

[Ronnieslady]

We were on the CB in May, our second time in 5 months and it will be our last. We did have a wonderful trip, but had a series of issues with our cabin which was a full suite. We don't go looking for problems but there was no follow up on what we reported. The steward tried to help but he also hit brick walls, and passenger services wasn't particularly helpful either. We also were disappointed by a "bait and switch" tactic from the casino when they didn't deliver on a promised promotion.

 

It was bad enough that we wrote to customer relations, the first time we've had to do that after returning from a cruise, and we did finally get an apology + they offered OBC for our upcoming cruise. We love Princess and if we didn't know how things were on other ships, that might have been our last cruise with Princess. Everyone looks at things through different lenses, and no doubt there were others on our same cruise who experienced great service at every level (as we have on other cruises). But our experience was enough to sour us on any future cruises on the CB.

 

What issues did you have with your full suite & where was it located?????

 

In 2006 were on that ship for a b/b cruise 14 days, in full suite A 751, under the aft terrace pool. There was a very loud booming or thud every 30 minutes or so, all day & all nite. My DH is a contractor & when he is concerned, then I go into a fret. The cabin steward said the last people conplained also. I asked both neighbors on either side, they said they were not having any issues. The CS on board said there was no complaints & there was no other cabin to switch to. Maintance claimed they were not able to do anything, because when they were in the cabin the loud thud did not happen.

We never got a good nites sleep. I tried to find the source myself, going up to the pool area. Was it banging doors? No. Might have been the pool or spa heater going on or off.

Also, most of the time we had no hot water, which I wasted so much water running all the taps trying to heat the water. Then to find out some of the ship was having a problem with this. We sure wish we had been told:eek:

 

Princess did give us a nice credit for our next cruise for all our trouble. We will never book any cabin under any pool again.

[azbirdmom]

What issues did you have with your full suite & where was it located?????

 

It was D737, ironically the exact same suite we booked on the Star which was our only other suite on Princess. And the experience wasn't even close between the two! We had a shower door that didn't close, that started it. We needed to cover the floor with towels when we showered, even when we tilted it toward the back wall. It was a nice new rain shower head and it was a shame we couldn't enjoy it.

 

Also, only one chaise lounger was usable as the other one was badly chipped and the chair pad was flat and ripped. Of course I claimed the good one so I could stretch out read and watch the wake between my toes! The deck table was also badly chipped as were the chairs with cushions stained an ripped.

 

The AC seemed like it was on full blast at times, even though we had it set below the middle position. Then toward the end of the trip it barely worked at all. Lots of other little things too like old, soiled carpeting (weird because the ship had just been in dry dock and carpeting had been replaced elsewhere on the ship), the fridge was barely cool, a drawer was missing a knob, a wire was hanging down on the balcony with something rusty hanging from it, temperamental toilet that sometimes wouldn't flush at all and sometimes it would do it on its own, etc. The safe battery also gave out and on the last morning of the cruise the hairdryer groaned to a stop and gave out. At that point I just laughed and said that the ship just wanted us to leave.

 

A lot of these things are just routine maintenance and stuff we probably wouldn't even notice on another cruise or even in other accommodations. As I mentioned before, we don't go looking for problems and we truly do not sweat the small stuff. But when we're paying more than double what those other accommodations cost, we expect to be able to use everything in the cabin and for it to be in good working order. And if it isn't, we expect some attention be paid to either fixing the problems or at least providing an update on resolution. Neither happened.

 

While the getting a token amount of OBC was nice, we would have preferred to have gotten what we paid for and not to have to complain about it.

[Ronnieslady]

It was D737, ironically the exact same suite we booked on the Star which was our only other suite on Princess. And the experience wasn't even close between the two! We had a shower door that didn't close, that started it. We needed to cover the floor with towels when we showered, even when we tilted it toward the back wall. It was a nice new rain shower head and it was a shame we couldn't enjoy it.

 

Also, only one chaise lounger was usable as the other one was badly chipped and the chair pad was flat and ripped. Of course I claimed the good one so I could stretch out read and watch the wake between my toes! The deck table was also badly chipped as were the chairs with cushions stained an ripped.

 

The AC seemed like it was on full blast at times, even though we had it set below the middle position. Then toward the end of the trip it barely worked at all. Lots of other little things too like old, soiled carpeting (weird because the ship had just been in dry dock and carpeting had been replaced elsewhere on the ship), the fridge was barely cool, a drawer was missing a knob, a wire was hanging down on the balcony with something rusty hanging from it, temperamental toilet that sometimes wouldn't flush at all and sometimes it would do it on its own, etc. The safe battery also gave out and on the last morning of the cruise the hairdryer groaned to a stop and gave out. At that point I just laughed and said that the ship just wanted us to leave.

 

A lot of these things are just routine maintenance and stuff we probably wouldn't even notice on another cruise or even in other accommodations. As I mentioned before, we don't go looking for problems and we truly do not sweat the small stuff. But when we're paying more than double what those other accommodations cost, we expect to be able to use everything in the cabin and for it to be in good working order. And if it isn't, we expect some attention be paid to either fixing the problems or at least providing an update on resolution. Neither happened.

 

While the getting a token amount of OBC was nice, we would have preferred to have gotten what we paid for and not to have to complain about it.

 

Thanks for the info,:)

I would have kept on conplaining to the head of customer service on board , even if it was 2 times a day. When the cost is twice as much as mini-suites, I expect these things to be fixed by maintance, right away..

[Lovetocruiseprincess]

What cabin were you in?????

 

The cabin with the major AC problem was E327. The next cabin they moved us to was E330 which was almost as bad and then finally cabin E718 which was just normal. IN E718 we could control the thermostat to mid range just like normal for any other Princess ship. The cabin temp of E327 and E330 could not be cooled with the max settings even after 5 attempt's from the tech & their boss. They told me that their is a cooling duct for the engine room which passes right close by & it wasn't properly insulated enough. It get bad when you wake up in the middle of the night & open the hallway door to get cool air. At one point I was considering sleeping in the atrium to get some rest. I also checked with people in all the adjacent rooms to find out if they had the same problem & theirs were fine with the thermostat set mid way.

This was a guarantee cabin assignment & something in the back of my mind tells me that they save these cabins for the last assignment & we got it. NEVER again for a guarantee. Maybe those rooms are OK for a cold weather cruise but not in the Caribbean for sure.

[Cruise Raider]

I was booked to go on the C.P. out of Ft. Lauderdale on May 31st. However, after seeing many poor reviews about the ship when it was in Texas, and the Norovirus outbreaks, we cancelled and went on NCL Getaway for the first time ever. It was going to the same ports and was the same week.

 

Our cruise was decent, but I liked our cruise two years ago on the Crown Princess best!

 

How was the ship? Was it as old as people were saying? Any sickness? The Getaway was nice, new, clean, and fun, but food was really bad, and just seemed way too crowded.

 

Just curious......next cruise I want to do is Panama Canal, on the Princess line.

 

You really cannot look back now...it will make you crazy.

But....if you want to torture yourself a little ... Of all the Princess ships on which we've sailed, I would have to say that the Caribbean Princess has been our all time favorite.