Just off the CB Christmas week cruise

[cusyl]

Will post more later, but we were late leaving St Maarten because a daughter called her mother and told her she wasn't on the ship so the mother got off. As we were out in the channel the pilot boat came up and put a harness on them and they climbed the ladder. Never did find out why the girl didn't get on the ship in time.

At Princess Cay we were late leaving because there was an air ambulance on the way to Eluthera which took an hour, then the ambulance got to the pier and a CB tender came along side and after another delay they loaded the stretcher and family on the boat. Was never able to find out anything from the crew about the passenger.

We had a small group attend the CC meeting, Travelady did a great job organizing it.

Be sure and see the Bert Stratton show in Crooners Lounge and EULA in the Wheelhouse lounge. They are both really great.

The ship was decorated nicely for the holidays and they had Santa come and bring presents for the kids and decorated cookies and painted faces. They sang Christmas Carols. They also had several religious services for all and candle lighting for Chanuka.

[kcb]

Will post more later, but we were late leaving St Maarten because a daughter called her mother and told her she wasn't on the ship so the mother got off. As we were out in the channel the pilot boat came up and put a harness on them and they climbed the ladder. Never did find out why the girl didn't get on the ship in time.

 

We ran into the mother later in the evening. The daughter and friend (both in their 20's) were in a taxi with a driver that assured them the ship left at 5, and got stuck in afternoon traffic, as well. The mother said her daughter looks similar to Natalee Holloway, and became (obviously) concerned when the purser's desk started paging her and her friend at sailaway. Against crew advice, she left the ship to find the two. She had not received a call from her daughter, nor have any clue where the two were.

 

In a visit to the bridge (with Captain Binetti) the following day, he defended his actions, needing to leave when he did, stating that the run north to Princess Cays requires every minute that is scheduled for it. He stated the head office would prefer that the other 3100 passengers receive their time at PC, rather than endlessly wait for two passengers in unknown circumstances.

 

He also stated that since his wife was onboard, he waited as long as he could, knowing that her wrath could be worse than the head office. We had left as late as possible, and running full speed to make PC. In addition, he indicated the Pilot Boat "maneuver" was not going to be looked upon favorably by the office...

 

 

 

At Princess Cay we were late leaving because there was an air ambulance on the way to Eluthera which took an hour, then the ambulance got to the pier and a CB tender came along side and after another delay they loaded the stretcher and family on the boat. Was never able to find out anything from the crew about the passenger.

 

The young father was "critically ill" and had barely made it thru the day, thus necessitating the MedEvac. Apparently there was some negotiating and considerable planning required to get it to Eleuthera, and then by ambulance to Princess Cays. As the MedEvac had only one spare seat on it, his wife went with him back to Miami, and had to leave their two young (8 & 14/16) children onboard, under Princess shipboard supervision. The last report we heard before leaving the ship on Saturday morning was that the man was doing much better.

 

:) Our prayers and best wishes go out to him and his family.

 

I too shall post more later on the rest of the cruise. But feel free to email kcb1966@sbcglobal.net with any questions...

 

Happy New Year to all!

[Nicole721]

Welcome back! :)

 

Do you happen to have the Patters?

[kcb]

Welcome back! :)

 

Do you happen to have the Patters?

 

 

Yes, saved them all! Give me a few days to scan them and get them posted.

 

If you (and anyone else) will send an email to the address above, I'll send you a link when done...

[Nicole721]

Yes, saved them all! Give me a few days to scan them and get them posted.

 

If you (and anyone else) will send an email to the address above, I'll send you a link when done...

 

Ahhhh perfect! Thanks so much!

 

We leave Thursday and I've been putting together Patters, menus, etc and the most recent Patters I've found were from September and it was a W. Carib. itinerary!

[kcb]

Ahhhh perfect! Thanks so much!

 

We leave Thursday and I've been putting together Patters, menus, etc and the most recent Patters I've found were from September and it was a W. Carib. itinerary!

 

I'll do my best...Thursday *might* be pushing it...

 

Now that I'm back, the office takes precedence, but I will try!!!

 

:) Have a wonderful time!!! :)

[cusyl]

Always hate it when I don't hear the whole story..So there were 3 women on the pilot boat?

Didn't realize the sick passenger was young, he was all wrapped up in blankets and from deck 7 all I could see was his face. Do you know what was wrong with him? So happy to hear he was doing well. The mother must have been so upset having to leave her kids onboard.

[S.S.Oceanlover]

Welcome back! :)

 

Do you happen to have the Patters?

Nicole,

I have the Patters from the week of October 15th on my website for the Eastern itinerary if you are interested.

 

http://www.cruisingthecaribbeanprincess.com/pattersD.html

 

Bill

[kcb]

Always hate it when I don't hear the whole story..So there were 3 women on the pilot boat?

Didn't realize the sick passenger was young, he was all wrapped up in blankets and from deck 7 all I could see was his face. Do you know what was wrong with him? So happy to hear he was doing well. The mother must have been so upset having to leave her kids onboard.

 

In another post, BlacThorn1 had noted that the man had a heart attack. However, I question the validity of the info, as we had an "in" to certain info, and personnel were reluctant to release further info other than "critically ill." I don't want to guess at any more info than what we were given as rumor-mills can be crazy! In fact, most of the crew was not apprised of the full scope of the situation, nor that there were children left behind!

 

:confused: BlacThorn1 also noted, "one surprise was that there was never really a broadcast letting people know what was going on." I find it odd that he would state that, considering the Captain did an excellent job by making several announcements and keeping everyone informed with estimated time reports when he received updates. In fact, I think the Captain went a little "overboard" when he announced "everyone should go to the starboard side to watch the MedEvac procedure." I feel that this was the family's private time, and those passengers that were not already outside (and aware of the situation) did not need to be mustered to watch the family deal with their unfortunate crisis. There were actually passengers taking pictures!!!

 

I agree the mother had a difficult decision, but we all do what we need when necessary. I assume I would have made the same decision, having to put considerable trust in the crew. I think it's fortunate that things worked out for the best, as we had some discussion over dinner about the kids being left onboard while something terrible could have happened to their father overnight in a hospital in Miami.

[Coolmama_1]

Wow, sounds like an eventful cruise. Hope the man is okay. That would be tough to leave your kids onboard.

[Coolmama_1]

Wow, sounds like an eventful cruise. Hope the man is okay. That would be tough to leave your kids onboard.

[Colo Cruiser]

Is the Captain Binetti doing a vacation relief on the CB? He was on the Coral for quite a while. :)

[travellady]

We had a great cruise and as Cusyl said, the Cruisecritic gathering wasn't heavily attended but we did get about 30 so not too bad. I know several people who planned to attend got busy with other activities - always hard to plan ahead not knowing what else might be going on.

 

I didn't have all the details about what happened in St. Maarten or Princess Cays other than knowing some people were late to the ship in St. Martaan and someone had had a heart attack in Princess Cays. I did see them putting the stretcher on the tender from my 9th floor balcony and thought at the time it was an older man accompanied by a grown daughter. Didn't realize it was somebody much younger and with kids on board. I suspect Princess took good care of the kids but still, they must have been very worried about their dad.

 

We completely enjoyed this cruise and never found a moment of boredom. So many good things about it, so many nice well behaved people, great food (and my scale agreed with that this morning), mostly good to great entertainment, and most importantly, good quality time spent with my family as we had no worries to get in our way and all of our needs were well attended to.

 

My complaints are trivial - hard to get a soda with any carbonation all week (not sure what was up with that) and both the Diamond and Sapphire had onion rings as an option with the burgers but CB didn't and so am wondering if Princess has removed that menu item from all the ships??

 

The only other 2 trivial complaints I have is the "Beatles" (can't recall their actual name but they are a takeoff on the Beatles) entertainment was pretty bad. Off key, flat, and did no justice to wonderful Beatles songs. We got up and left half way through and typically we don't do this. Lastly, the slots were tight - the tightest I've experienced on any cruisline!! Or, was I simply having bad luck last week, punished by the fact that on my last cruise I had great slots/bingo success (on Celebrity) and I walked off the ship with more money than what I took on? Thankfully my husband got on a great Blackjack run the last evening and our losses were minimized ;) .

 

I will write a more complete review later but still working on the first day home tasks, of which there are many!!!

[The Dragon]

I too joined the adventures on the Caribbean Princess this last week and was also surprised when the Captain came over the tannoy suggesting passengers come up on deck to watch the evacuation; more than a little insensitive and bordering on crass in my opinion.

 

I am concerned the poor man's kids were still onboard as the only topic of conversation on the last nite seemed to concern his demise, whether this be concern for him or their own vacation. I truly hope they were not privvy to these discussions.

 

Will post a further review later, probably in the middle of the night UK time as I am still ravaged by jet lag. Thank god I haven't got to go to work tomorrow.

 

I hope everyone got home safely

 

Hannah

[The Dragon]

I too joined the adventures on the Caribbean Princess this last week and was also surprised when the Captain came over the tannoy suggesting passengers come up on deck to watch the evacuation; more than a little insensitive and bordering on crass in my opinion.

 

I am concerned the poor man's kids were still onboard as the only topic of conversation on the last nite seemed to concern his demise, whether this be concern for him or their own vacation. I truly hope they were not privvy to these discussions.

 

Will post a further review later, probably in the middle of the night UK time as I am still ravaged by jet lag. Thank god I haven't got to go to work tomorrow.

 

I hope everyone got home safely

 

Hannah

[kcb]

 

I hope everyone got home safely

 

Hannah

 

Got home safely...only after a 3-hour detour to DFW!!! We were on AA #2083 FLL-LAX. Midway thru the flight we hit some heavy turbulence, and then went into a very slight right hand turn. A few minutes later the captain announced we had "lost our center hydraulics" and although we still had two more functioning systems onboard, and it was perfectly safe to continue to Los Angeles, he was diverting to DFW, in the interest of safety.

 

Also announced that we should not be frightened by the fire equipment lining the runway as we landed, which also followed us all the way to the gate. The captain did a great job of keeping us informed, in flight and once we landed. Everyone remained calm, although there were some (idiotic!!!) complaints from passengers concerned that they would miss their New Year's Eve celebrations. FOOLS!!! While we assume the captain gave us the complete truth, it's incomprehensible that others would question his decisions erring on the side of safety.

 

Regardless, we spent a little time on the ground in DFW while AA reviewed the problem and decided what to do. Finally, they chose to take the plane out of service, had us change to another plane, and once the luggage had been transferred, we were on our way.

 

Although we arrived three hours later than expected, we were happy to arrive safe and sound. I applaud the decisions the captain and American Airlines had to make. Frankly, I thank him for doing so!!!

 

An exciting week all the way to the end! And, walked in the front door at 5 minutes to midnight!

[kcb]

I am concerned the poor man's kids were still onboard as the only topic of conversation on the last nite seemed to concern his demise, whether this be concern for him or their own vacation. I truly hope they were not privvy to these discussions.

 

The children were well insulated from the rest of the passengers.

 

Of course the concern was for the gentleman's well being. Who gives a s**t about vacation at that point? But, considering the day he had just had, we felt it a tough position for the children to be in. Obviously they knew what had occurred, and their father's condition.

 

If he had not made it thru the night, we were very concerned for the well being of his children. We wished they could be with their father. It became a topic of discussion at our table only because I lost my mother earlier in the year, and I would not have wanted to be on a cruise ship when it happened.

[Nicole721]

I'll do my best...Thursday *might* be pushing it...

 

Now that I'm back, the office takes precedence, but I will try!!!

 

:) Have a wonderful time!!! :)

 

Totally understandable :)

 

Thanks!

[kcb]

Totally understandable :)

 

Thanks!

 

Nicole,

 

:):):)Thanks for your understanding. I'm not going to make Thursday, BUT...

 

This board was very helpful while planning for my trip, and I'd like to help, plus, I see you're in a suite, as we were. I'd like to post my suite pix (as well as the Patters) for you, but time is an issue...

 

If there are any questions I can answer, I'd be happy to look thru the Patters and do so. Just email me: kcb1966@sbcglobal.net

[Elua]

Be sure and see the Bert Stratton show in Crooners Lounge and EULA in the Wheelhouse lounge. They are both really great.

 

Good Afternoon,

Thanks for the really kind words about us, but just one small correction. Our name is ELUA. I know sometimes I get a little mush mouth on stage when I pronounce it, so no worries. Falien and I are really pleased you enjoyed the cruise, and especially that in some small part, we helped ot make it more enjoyable.

Please visit our website: http://www.eluamusic.com as we frequently put up new pictures and diary entries, as well as videos of some behind the scenes things from life on the cruise ship.

By the by, a lot of people ask, and ELUA is the Hawaiian word for two. Faline is Hawaiian, and we thought it would be a very fitting name, as not only are we a duo that performs together, but we are a couple who have been together personally for eight years now.

Again, thanks for the good vibes...hope to see you on a Princess cruise again!!

 

Aloha and Mahalo,

Dave and Faline

Elua

[cusyl]

A bit of a typo there, sorry....sure am enjoying listening to your CD, but not quite like seeing you two in person. Lucy you, sailing the Caribbean Princess every week. Sorry we won't be on the Golden next summer while you are in the Med. If we see you from the Grand will give you a wave... LOL