Another 10/8 - 10/15 CB Review...

[EricInCa]

Sorry for the late review….

 

Despite the crappy weather, overall, this was another great cruise!!! Instead of writing a detailed review and repeating what others have reported, we thought it would be better to share some specific experiences that you might find helpful.

 

Flight/Embarkation Day:

Took a red eye flight from San Francisco and arrived Miami at 5 am on the day of the cruise. Rented a car and drove up to Ft. Lauderdale. We had a nice breakfast on Los Olas Blvd and stopped at a few stores to pick up some last minute items. Tried to drop off my wife and luggage at the pier around 10:15 and although they let us past the main gates, we were turned away at the Princess terminal and told come back at 11:30. We then drove to the FLL airport to drop off the rental car. When we returned the car, they asked us for our flight info. We said we were actually going on a cruise and they offered to take us to the port in the car we just returned. Extra points for Hertz!!

 

We arrived back at the terminal at about 10:50 and this time they let us in the terminal area. They opened the doors to the terminal a little after 11:30. Check-in was a breeze and we were on the ship around 12:15 or so.

 

Stateroom:

We were in mini-suite D612 on the port side. No complaints at all! Regarding the new perks, I wasn’t expecting them to be fully implemented and they weren’t. We did get the champagne and the new sheets (I think), but that’s about it. Our stateroom attendant, Nolly, was great throughout the entire cruise!

 

Ports:

In St. Thomas, we had a great view of the harbor from the port side. In St. Maarten, the ship turned around and backed up to dock. As a result, our view from the port side was facing a dock with a bunch of shipping containers. The people on the starboard side had a view of the Navigator of the Seas. We spent most of our time shopping on St. Thomas and St. Maarten. St. Thomas definitely had a better selection but we found things less expensive on St. Maarten. For example, a bottle of Johnnie Walker blue cost $99 on St. Maarten vs. $132 on St. Thomas and $124 on the ship. Depending on the model, I found Rolex watches a little cheaper on St. Maarten.

 

Anytime Dining:

We enjoyed eating on our own schedule. The only problem was trying to get a table for two without a long wait. We were successful on two nights and the other nights we wound up sitting with others, which by the way, wasn’t a bad thing at all. We met some really great people!!

 

Sterlings: Definitely try it!!!!

Captain’s Circle Party:

This was our first one and we were quite impressed. Captain Romano was first in line to greet everyone as they walked in! By the way, the person who had the most cruises with Princess was on her 99th cruise with close to 1,000 days at sea. Incredible!!!

 

Cruise Highlight!!!!!

During the last art auction on Thursday, we bid and won the auction for the nautical map for the cruise and the bridge tour. In summary, the bridge tour was, as James (CD) would say....FANTASTIC! Captain Romano was there throughout the tour and he even personalized and signed the nautical map for us. Although no video cameras were allowed, they did allow us to take still pictures. Got some really cool pictures including one with Captain Romano and us...he had my wife wear his Captain's hat! It was definitely the highlight of our cruise!

 

Disembarkment/Airport Transfer:

Disembarkement started around 8:50. It was pretty uneventful with the exception of finding one of our suitcases, which we eventually found one in a different colored section. Regarding the airport transfer, we decided to purchase transportation since we had to go back to MIA and catch our 12-noon flight. By the time we got to the buses, after finding our luggage and clearing customers, it was about 9:30. The bus driver said we may not get to the airport in time since it could be 45 minutes before the bus filled up and another 45 minutes to get to MIA. He recommended we take a taxi, which we did throwing away our $30 we paid for the transfer. Oh well, lesson learned. We knew it would be tight but since we were using frequent flyer miles our flight options were limited. We made it to MIA by 10:30.

 

Hope this helps!

 

[teflonjeff]

Thanks for rubbing in the Bridge Tour. Otherwise, very nice review.

Jeff

[mozfoz]

Would you mind sharing your winning bid price for the nautical map? I would like to bid for one during our next sailing.

[dbmiller1956]

Congrats on winning the chart. Sounds like a perfect thing to end your cruise. loved the review!

[EricInCa]

The winning bid was $150. I was really surprised that it ended that low considering that I had a friend on a previous cruise who said it went for $850. At $150, it was definitely a bargain! The only thing is that I went to have it framed over the weekend which wound up costing an additional $300!! Oh well, still worth it for such a memorable experience!

 

Deena - Sorry to hear about your husband. I'm glad you still had great time!!