Caribbean Princess

[smeck]

I have been on ten cruises on 4 different lines this will be my first on Princess. Lately I've been reading some pretty negative reviews concerning CB. We're going on a 14 day european cruise. The reports about stained carpets, dirty grout, and unvarnished rails don't bother me at all. What does bother me is reports of sewer and moldy smells. Being on a ship for 14 days (our longest cruise) with those type of issues make me nauseous thinking about it. Any recent CB cruises who would like to comment would be appreciated.

[pcsunlover]

I just got off the ship last Saturday after a 7 day cruise. I noticed a few areas that could use some TLC, but not much and absolutely nothing that impacted our cruise. We had a problem one night with flooding in our balcony cabin - it was fresh water, not sewage. The problem was resolved fairly quickly and we never noticed any moldy or musty smells afterwards or anywhere on the ship for that matter. If I could get back on the ship tomorrow, I would! :)

[whatcruiseisnext]

I have been on ten cruises on 4 different lines this will be my first on Princess. Lately I've been reading some pretty negative reviews concerning CB. We're going on a 14 day european cruise. The reports about stained carpets, dirty grout, and unvarnished rails don't bother me at all. What does bother me is reports of sewer and moldy smells. Being on a ship for 14 days (our longest cruise) with those type of issues make me nauseous thinking about it. Any recent CB cruises who would like to comment would be appreciated.

 

Just got off the ship today. Although we did have a great cruise, we commented more than once about the moldy, musty sewer smells. Public bathrooms were not cleaned as on other Princess ships with standing water in many areas in some of the bathrooms...especially around the pool areas. The bathrooms at the pools were downright filthy no matter when you went to them. Yes...many, many stains on the carpet. The ship is very, very tired and needs a MAJOR overhaul. The staff was fabulous and we did enjoy ourselves on this cruise.

Edited March 27, 2015 by whatcruiseisnext

[caribill]

JThe bathrooms at the pools were downright filthy no matter when you went to them.......The staff was fabulous and we did enjoy ourselves on this cruise.

 

If the staff was fabulous, then the bathrooms would not have been filthy.

 

Did you report the filthy bathrooms to Purser's Desk or management while on the ship?

[pcsunlover]

Just got off the ship today. Although we did have a great cruise, we commented more than once about the moldy, musty sewer smells. Public bathrooms were not cleaned as on other Princess ships with standing water in many areas in some of the bathrooms...especially around the pool areas. The bathrooms at the pools were downright filthy no matter when you went to them. Yes...many, many stains on the carpet. The ship is very, very tired and needs a MAJOR overhaul. The staff was fabulous and we did enjoy ourselves on this cruise.

 

I noticed the dirty bathrooms by the pools in the afternoon. They were pretty smelly. When I used them in the morning they were completely clean and smelled fine.

 

As far as the moldy, musty smell, we never noticed it, and we even had a water damage to our room. Maybe we were lucky where our cabin was located. The only bad smells we noticed was when we had to walk through the stinky, smokey casino to get to the Princess theater from deck 7.

 

I didn't notice stains on carpeting, but I also wasn't looking for them. I will say though, that one of the chairs on our balcony was fine but the other was worn and had enough stains on it that I used a towel whenever I sat on it.

 

Like you, we had a great time on our cruise. I think if we had been on the cruise strictly for the ship and not the itinerary, we might have felt differently because it is getting old.

[Lovetocruiseprincess]

If you look around you can find old & tired furniture just about anywhere on the ship in the Piazza, computer room, Lotus pool, main pool lounges, etc. The ship is definitely in need of a facelift before it goes to Europe this summer. I'm not sure if all the mattresses are bad or not but ours was in pretty poor shape, sagging badly.

As far as the sewerage smell goes we didn't experience it till our last week & then had to detour to the other side of the ship (Caribe deck) each time we walked forward due to a bad spill. It lasted 2-3 days & dissipated. I can tell you for sure that it wasn't fresh water. Other parts of the ship AFAIK smelled OK.

 

We made the best of it nevertheless but all those people who say it's not that bad must be a little blind to what a typical Princess ship should look like.

[324hourtour]

We were on the CP back in Feb., did notice the restrooms by the pools were dirty or out of order. It was reported, but it did continue to happen throughout the week.

We also experienced moldy smell in our bathroom. We had the room steward change the shower curtain, that took care of it.

[Lovetocruiseprincess]

Did anyone notice the showers next to the Lotus pool?

What a joke.....doors that didn't rotate, handles that didn't function, one came off in my hand. LOL :D

.....and oh yes, a wave machine that was permanently turned off or broken.

Edited March 27, 2015 by Lovetocruiseprincess

[schlot]

One bathroom was out of order by the pool for a day.

 

A VERY picky traveler may notice some of those issues AND let it become an issue. I saw the same complaints but really didn't see anything that amounted to much at all. No smells or mold what so ever. Overall an amazingly well kept ship, especially considering the age and constant use it undergoes.

[Griller]

I've been on CB a dozen times in the last year and its generally been OK, yes its not a shiny glitzy new ship but its about what you can expect from Princess these days.

The 4 day and 5 day cruises out of Fll take a heavy toll on the energy of the crew who then become tired and tend not to engage with the passengers.

 

Yes there have been sewage leaks, and floods of fresh water, I had both of those, and dirty balcony, I had that.

Poor service in Steakhouse, grubby carpet in buffet, seriously undercooked meat in buffet, poor bar service, grumpy barristas, yes all of those at times.

Atrocious don't care attitude at Passenger Services who wouldn't take ownership of problems, yes that happened.

 

However I didn't pay much, if anything at all, for any of those cruises and am consequently not too upset, still better than being at home. Looking forward to being back onboard.

 

And when on multiple back to backs the crew become much friendlier with you, just like it used to be, I blame Princess for scheduling too many of these short cruises for most of the problem. Its just frantic, so many turnaround days.

They are working the ship and the crew too hard. Longer cruises are so much more relaxing, fewer problems usually,

[pcsunlover]

One bathroom was out of order by the pool for a day.

 

A VERY picky traveler may notice some of those issues AND let it become an issue. I saw the same complaints but really didn't see anything that amounted to much at all. No smells or mold what so ever. Overall an amazingly well kept ship, especially considering the age and constant use it undergoes.

 

I have to say, that was my experience also. Not saying that others didn't smell mold, etc., just that if it was there, it wasn't significant enough for us to notice. Our cruise before this one was on the Royal Princess so we went from a new ship to one that is 11 years old. I enjoyed both cruises and ships for different reasons.

[birdiebill]

We did not notice any major issues on the Caribbean Princess during our recent February cruise. Sure there are some signs of regular wear and tear, but nothing that made the cruise less enjoyable. We had no issues with nasty smells anywhere except the smoke in the casino; there should be no smoking period. We never use public restrooms on any ship in order to minimize risk of NORO, so can not comment on public restrooms. Our room steward kept our stateroom in good shape. The bed was not a problem.

[pcsunlover]

I've been on CB a dozen times in the last year and its generally been OK, yes its not a shiny glitzy new ship but its about what you can expect from Princess these days.

The 4 day and 5 day cruises out of Fll take a heavy toll on the energy of the crew who then become tired and tend not to engage with the passengers.

 

Yes there have been sewage leaks, and floods of fresh water, I had both of those, and dirty balcony, I had that.

Poor service in Steakhouse, grubby carpet in buffet, seriously undercooked meat in buffet, poor bar service, grumpy barristas, yes all of those at times.

Atrocious don't care attitude at Passenger Services who wouldn't take ownership of problems, yes that happened.

 

However I didn't pay much, if anything at all, for any of those cruises and am consequently not too upset, still better than being at home. Looking forward to being back onboard.

 

And when on multiple back to backs the crew become much friendlier with you, just like it used to be, I blame Princess for scheduling too many of these short cruises for most of the problem. Its just frantic, so many turnaround days.

They are working the ship and the crew too hard. Longer cruises are so much more relaxing, fewer problems usually,

 

I agree! We were on the CB for a 4 day cruise in December. The cleanliness, service and entertainment were not anywhere near as good as they were on our cruise this month. But the whole weekend cost the two of us less than $500 and we thought it was a good deal for a quick getaway.

[ladyruby]

Just reading all the replies , surely if it's this bad crew would notice it and report it ?

[Loucat]

We booked this ship for a second time last August. After booking, I started finding all types of negative posts on elevators not working, bathrooms out of order, torn and stained furniture etc. I almost cancelled.

So, when I was on the ship I looked everywhere to find where these problems were. It became a habit throughout the cruise.

I did not find much. Yes, is the ship old; it is but I would sail on this ship again!

[ladyruby]

Think for people who are booked on this ship it is a little off putting to read it all , nice to read some positive points also [emoji6]

[TrulyBlonde]

Yes, it is upsetting to read all of this, considering I just booked a TA and British Isles for 30 days April 2016 :(( The itinerary was fabulous and we have a suite Aft on Caribe deck. A lot of $$ for a ship not up to par. :(

[lynwar]

We were on the ship in September 2014. We did not have any major issues with it. There were some warn lounge chairs, and standing water around the mid pool after a rain, and a bathroom wasn't its usual clean self near the pool, but overall. we had a great cruise. Normally, we don't pay much attention to most stuff on the ship, as we have our favorite places to go and they're usually OK for us. Thankfully, our cabin/bathroom have been fine.

 

This was a return cruise, as we were first on her in September 2004 and it felt like we were returning home. She's a very comfortable ship. (And, we slept fine on our bed).

 

Enjoy yourselves. :) Lynne

[shredie]

Yes, it is upsetting to read all of this, considering I just booked a TA and British Isles for 30 days April 2016 :(( The itinerary was fabulous and we have a suite Aft on Caribe deck. A lot of $$ for a ship not up to par. :(

 

If you expect to find problems, you probably will. No ship is perfect, and I choose to ignore the minor stuff. I can live with a little faded furniture. We did a TA on her in 2013, and the whole experience was wonderful.

[TrulyBlonde]

If you expect to find problems, you probably will. No ship is perfect, and I choose to ignore the minor stuff. I can live with a little faded furniture. We did a TA on her in 2013, and the whole experience was wonderful.

 

Thank you. We did a TA on the Emerald a few years back with a combined Baltic and it was a fabulous cruise. I usually cruise on smaller ships, such as Oceania, but the itinerary on this was perfect and I had been highly anticipating it coming out. Seriously, unless it sinks, how bad can it be ;-)

[pablo222]

We made the best of it nevertheless but all those people who say it's not that bad must be a little blind to what a typical Princess ship should look like.

 

I agree with you. One thing Mrs. Pablo and I noticed was a sewage

smell in various places around the ship. To me, that said it was time

to look for something newer.

 

And, to the original poster -- caribbean has been doing short cruises

from Ft. Lauderdale, that sold for practically nothing -- like $199 pp inside,

with a $199 ship board credit.

 

At that price, it's easier to overlook a few worn things.

 

If I were paying a real price for a european cruise, I wouldn't

be so forgiving.

[geoherb]

I didn't notice any major issues when we sailed Dec. 27-Jan. 3 on two short cruises on the CB. They were replacing the carpeting in part of a corridor one day, so I know they're working on repairing some things. I never went into the bathrooms by the pool. The spa bathroom was in fine shape. It's disappointing to hear that the spa pools current machine is still not working.

[whatcruiseisnext]

I agree with you. One thing Mrs. Pablo and I noticed was a sewage

smell in various places around the ship. To me, that said it was time

to look for something newer.

 

And, to the original poster -- caribbean has been doing short cruises

from Ft. Lauderdale, that sold for practically nothing -- like $199 pp inside,

with a $199 ship board credit.

 

At that price, it's easier to overlook a few worn things.

 

If I were paying a real price for a european cruise, I wouldn't

be so forgiving.

 

 

I agree with you 100%. We spent a couple days pre-cruise in Fort Lauderdale and then went on the 5 day cruise. We booked a balcony guarantee for $349pp and were upgraded to one of the large balconies on Caribe deck. We also had $350 in OBC so the cruise was a real deal for us. As stated previously we had a great time. The weather and seas were perfect. We were not complaining. I answered the OP questions regarding the condition of the ship and the moldy, musty, sewer smells. The smells are not atrocious but they are subtle and present and oftentimes when walking both inside and out you would catch a whiff. The ship is tired and needs an overhaul/update. Would I sail again on her.....yes if the price was right. Would I prefer to sail on her instead of another ship in the fleet...NO!

 

OP....Given you don't have a choice as far as sailing on the Caribbean Princess in 2016 for the British Isles if you want to sail on Princess, I'd say keep an open mind and know you will have a good time and see some amazing sights. I am SO thankful that we are booked on the British Isles itinerary this year when it isn't the Caribbean doing the itinerary. After just having disembarked her yesterday, I don't think I would spend the $$$ to sail the British Isles itinerary on the Caribbean Princess.

Edited March 27, 2015 by whatcruiseisnext

[TrulyBlonde]

Whatcruiseisnext...."Given you don't have a choice as far as sailing on the Caribbean Princess in 2016 for the British Isles if you want to sail on Princess, I'd say keep an open mind and know you will have a good time and see some amazing sights. I am SO thankful that we are booked on the British Isles itinerary this year when it isn't the Caribbean doing the itinerary. After just having disembarked her yesterday, I don't think I would spend the $$$ to sail the British Isles itinerary on the Caribbean Princess.

 

My 30 day TA and British Isles is a year away. If these reviews continue to be as bad, I will look into something else. I would have preferred a newer ship but this is all they have for my itinerary. This is upsetting.

[schlot]

If you expect to find problems, you probably will. No ship is perfect, and I choose to ignore the minor stuff. I can live with a little faded furniture. We did a TA on her in 2013, and the whole experience was wonderful.

 

 

Great point. I read some posts about the very cruise we took (late January 2015) how individuals were very upset that the butter pads at dinner were frozen. Ummmmm?

 

If I paid a LOT more I feel I could expect perfection. But on Princess, none....NONE of us pay for that kind of perfection in my opinion. I think we are getting what we have paid for.

 

I'm NOT saying things still need to be addressed and fixed, but most items that are discussed here or that I have read about are more trivial than problematic to this unsophisticated traveler.

Edited March 27, 2015 by schlot