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Just off the Caribbean Princess

mrkrpan

By mrkrpan,
in Princess Cruises

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dlbaqua

dlbaqua

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We, too, are boarding this Sunday (spring break for our DFW kids). Thank you for all the information. We are still debating what time to show up, our suggested boarding time is 2:30 but I want lunch!

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jpihota

jpihota

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We just got off 14 days on CB February 28th. To answer some questions:

 

- There is no gelato on the CB. Sad, but true. I was hoping for some to use coffee card punches on, but they only have frozen desserts at dinner and the soft serve bar on deck 15. They do serve some awesome "Chocolate Journeys" breakfast pastries in the International Café in the morning. And my favorite apricot jam filled donuts.

 

- Movies in the Princess Theater are my favorite viewing venue. They normally show the MUTS movies the next day in the Theater, if you miss them on deck. Don't miss The Martian, Bridge of Spies and Woman in Gold. Absolutely the best movies I've seen in awhile.

 

- CB is in pretty good shape. While we were on, they completely replaced many, if not all, of the heavy wooden doors (hard to push open) leading out to deck 7 promenade with new sliding doors. The old doors were incredibly worn and rotted... guess they hadn't been replaced since she was built over 12 years ago.

 

- Lee Childers, the CD, is the most invisible cruise director on the high seas. The crew says they never see him, either. You will only see him introducing the first night's show, on The Wake Show in your cabin, and possibly at the mid-afternoon game show on the last sea day. He's not my favorite, anyway.

 

- Deck 7 is officially named the "Poop Deck" after this last cruise. They had a bad leak from either the women's bathroom into the carpet between the Explorer's Lounge and the Photography area, or from the ceiling right above. It was drenched and started to mildew over the course of the two weeks we were on this time. They finally fixed something in the ceiling and put down deodorizer near the end of the two weeks. However, the way Deck 7 is situated on the ship somehow draws in a nasty bathroom smell almost constantly. They keep it very cold in that area, also, so whenever I had to go through that way, I walked fast and held my breath!

 

- CB has some of the best crew and service we have had on any Princess ship. Davide (head waiter in Anytime Dining) was awesome and treated us like family. Our waitstaff was always cheerful and fun and our cabin steward, a Ukrainian named Daniel, was commendable (and I filled out the form for him, along with an extra tip).

 

- You will probably meet Carla, Paul, Monique, Tomami and Theo (oooh lala). They are the assistant cruise directors and added so much to our enjoyment of the cruise.

 

- CB has awesome pizza on Deck 15, and the very best we had was the Cabrese pizza. It has a bit of kick to it and is possibly the best pizza I've ever had anywhere. Don't miss!

 

 

Enjoy your cruise and tell Tomami and Carla hello from Michael & Jana!

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jean s

jean s

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We were onboard for a week in February and had a wonderful cruise. I would have to agree that the crew is superb. The service was excellent and efficient in all venues the entire week. I would not hesitate to sail on this ship again.

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pkt1976 "Live from...." Rare

pkt1976

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We just got off 14 days on CB February 28th. To answer some questions:

 

- There is no gelato on the CB. Sad, but true. I was hoping for some to use coffee card punches on, but they only have frozen desserts at dinner and the soft serve bar on deck 15. They do serve some awesome "Chocolate Journeys" breakfast pastries in the International Café in the morning. And my favorite apricot jam filled donuts.

 

- Movies in the Princess Theater are my favorite viewing venue. They normally show the MUTS movies the next day in the Theater, if you miss them on deck. Don't miss The Martian, Bridge of Spies and Woman in Gold. Absolutely the best movies I've seen in awhile.

 

- CB is in pretty good shape. While we were on, they completely replaced many, if not all, of the heavy wooden doors (hard to push open) leading out to deck 7 promenade with new sliding doors. The old doors were incredibly worn and rotted... guess they hadn't been replaced since she was built over 12 years ago.

 

- Lee Childers, the CD, is the most invisible cruise director on the high seas. The crew says they never see him, either. You will only see him introducing the first night's show, on The Wake Show in your cabin, and possibly at the mid-afternoon game show on the last sea day. He's not my favorite, anyway.

 

- Deck 7 is officially named the "Poop Deck" after this last cruise. They had a bad leak from either the women's bathroom into the carpet between the Explorer's Lounge and the Photography area, or from the ceiling right above. It was drenched and started to mildew over the course of the two weeks we were on this time. They finally fixed something in the ceiling and put down deodorizer near the end of the two weeks. However, the way Deck 7 is situated on the ship somehow draws in a nasty bathroom smell almost constantly. They keep it very cold in that area, also, so whenever I had to go through that way, I walked fast and held my breath!

 

- CB has some of the best crew and service we have had on any Princess ship. Davide (head waiter in Anytime Dining) was awesome and treated us like family. Our waitstaff was always cheerful and fun and our cabin steward, a Ukrainian named Daniel, was commendable (and I filled out the form for him, along with an extra tip).

 

- You will probably meet Carla, Paul, Monique, Tomami and Theo (oooh lala). They are the assistant cruise directors and added so much to our enjoyment of the cruise.

 

- CB has awesome pizza on Deck 15, and the very best we had was the Cabrese pizza. It has a bit of kick to it and is possibly the best pizza I've ever had anywhere. Don't miss!

 

 

Enjoy your cruise and tell Tomami and Carla hello from Michael & Jana!

 

Tomomi is going home soon before I board on the 20th :( Theo will be there when I board though and I can't wait to see him. I started laughing at the ohh lala part.

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satxdiver

satxdiver

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So they only allowed 2 wine btls for the both of you for the B2B cruise? We sailed 5 yrs ago B2B and they allowed us to have a total of 4[1pp/wk].

 

I was not very clear in my posting. What I should have said was that we were allowed 2 bottles of wine EACH since we were on a B2B. Sorry for leaving out the "each" part.

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mycutename

mycutename

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I did have a question about Embarkation... Since we are new to Princess we do not have the early boarding privileges and etc... Are you platinum or gold or whatever on Princess? AND what time were you able to board the ship?

 

Thanks again for these tips and helpful information!

 

Here is the boarding schedule, Kellie as follows:

 

PROGRESSIVE CRUISE CHECK-IN INFORMATION

 

To help facilitate a smooth start to your voyage we have implemented a progressive cruise check-in schedule. Please arrive at the check-in time listed below. If you have purchased a Princess Cruise Plus Package/Transfer, your check-in time will be provided at your hotel or the airport. Guests travelling on shared transport or arriving as a group will be checked in together. Priority check-in will be available to guests with a Preferred Boarding Pass within the allocated check-in times. Boarding will commence shortly after check-in. Please do not arrive prior to the start of cruise check-in as your cabin will not be ready. All guests must be on board one hour prior to sailing.

12:30 PM - Aloha & Lido Decks - Cabins on these decks begin with A & L 1:00 PM - Dolphin & Emerald Decks - Cabin on these decks begin with D & E 1:30 PM - Caribe & Fiesta Decks - Cabins on these decks begin with C & F 2:00 PM - Plaza & Riviera Decks - Cabins on these decks begin with P & R 2:30 PM - Baja Deck - Cabins on this deck begin with B

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jpihota

jpihota

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Welcome home. Will all aft elevators take ne to the Skywalkers?

 

 

 

No, only the two outside aft elevators go all the way up to the 18th Deck, where Skywalkers is located. Sometimes it is a wait...

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eclue

eclue

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It's weird -how individual tastes vary.

We had Lee Childers on our cruise that ended Jan 3st and we love him - we had also been on a cruise last year that he was the cruise director - of course, we are all different...

whatever, just enjoy your cruise.

eclue:rolleyes:

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NavyVeteran

NavyVeteran

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No, only the two outside aft elevators go all the way up to the 18th Deck, where Skywalkers is located. Sometimes it is a wait...

 

Especially right before early or late seating traditional dinner, since the two outside aft elevators are also the only ones that go down to the traditional dining room on deck 6.

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cruiselvr1

cruiselvr1

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So they only allowed 2 wine btls for the both of you for the B2B cruise? We sailed 5 yrs ago B2B and they allowed us to have a total of 4[1pp/wk].

 

 

Five years ago they allowed all the wine you wanted. On our 15 day to Hawaii, we took 15 bottles. (Also it was the only time we brought back wine we didn't use).

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Forums mobile app

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satxdiver

satxdiver

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Five years ago they allowed all the wine you wanted. On our 15 day to Hawaii, we took 15 bottles. (Also it was the only time we brought back wine we didn't use).

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Forums mobile app

 

We used to bring a box of wine (12 bottles), hand them to the luggage people with out suitcases to be checked and have them all arrive in our stateroom untouched. Then Princess changed their policy allowing 1 750 ml of wine per pax, charging $15/bottle for anything over that and having us hand carry them on the ship. Ah the good ol' days.

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mrkrpan

mrkrpan

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We are Gold we members - with Blue members traveling with us - we got to the port at about 10:45am - with parking, checking in, etc. we were on the ship before Noon - about an hour from parking to being on the ship -very fast and efficient

 

each adult brought one bottle of wine with us - per the rules - no problems there

 

Will work on my review this weekend, but it looks like lots of other travelers have commented

 

One thing I will note is that we had very poor service in the dining room - that was the most disappointing part of the cruise for us - we had anytime dining and the service was spotty at best - 2+ hours for dinner - just seemed like they were very understaffed. We did chat up some crew members - many were near the end of contracts and very eager to be off the ship - and told us so - disappointing, but certainly did not ruin our vacation -

 

As a whole, 8 people traveling, we had a great time -

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satxdiver

satxdiver

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I know cigars may be smoked in the cigar bar but did you notice if there was an outdoor venue for cigars?

 

There is no outdoor location to smoke cigars on any Princess ship that I have sailed. Cigar and pipe smoking is only allowed in the cigar bar.

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