On the Caribbean Princes......

[Eagle_and_hawk]

We are currently on the Caribbean Princess, sitting on the balcony, looking back at the island of Eleuthera. We watched many of the tenders depart this morning, heading to Princess Cay.  We had an excursion booked for the dune buggy ride and had a note in the cabin upon arrival, it had been cancelled due to minimum not being reached. We have not been to their cay, however have done several land trips to Eleuthera, and decided that since we will be back here in February, we would try and go then. 

 

The check-in went well as arrived around 12:30pm into Port Everglades. We also received the medallion and card. The only time we have used the card so far is in the bars. I wonder if at some point the servers will carry a device to take orders and read them. May have been discussed in other threads and not seen them. 

 

Overall, it is working well and we like them. The iPad sized devices at the door, are seeing us easily as we approach and by the time we get there, the door is unlocked and has a small picture of whoever’s medallion it read first. At the top of the display, it shows the names of all the occupants of the rooms to replace the old name cards. 

 

In walking around the ship, they have all these large screens at every staircase, and other places throughout the ship. As you approach, in a few seconds a small icon about the size of a quarter will appear at the bottom with you picture, and you can either ignore it, or it seems if you select you own picture, you can perform various things related to you. We have not tried that part, although it does appear to do this for everyone in the area as have walked up and seen 8-10 icons with people’s faces. 

 

You can use some of these touch screens to see the ships layout along with showing what is going on in a time line format around the ship,and if you pick an event, it shows you where its at, along where you are standing. For my old eyes, it is much easier to see these big screens than the little deck plans they had on the wall. Plus, having almost the same information about the happenings around the ship is nice without carrying the patter or iPad. 

 

First impressions of the ship since we sailed in February 2017 is everything looks updated and improved.  I see a lot of new carpet, chairs, pictures and other decor onboard.  Has a little more modern touch, yet still has a lot of the dark woods this series of ships was know for and we like the changes. 

 

The food in the World Fresh Market Place is better than what we have seen on the previous trip, realizing food is subjective. I typically find few things we want there for lunch, but this did look better with what we seen as more sandwiches and such, and just more appetizing hot foods. Also a small bar with limited wine and beers to get easily as you pass an not have to wait on staff. 

 

Service has been great the past 24 hours in the bars, Crown Grill, breakfast in Sabatini’s and WFMP. Tonight we will venture to Club Class to see how well it fares. 

 

We are trying to save the patters and have requested the menus from main dining room for each night, with the intentions of posting them after we return. 

 

Overall, our impressions have all been nothing but positive comparing to the trip last year. 

 

Also, internet is giving us about 50mb down and about 25mb up at the moment. 

 

Any my specific questions, I will try to answer if we have time onboard. 

 

David

 

 

 

 

 

 

[canadarocks]

Thanks so much for what looks like a great review! Have the traditional dining times already been changed? And if so, are they adhering to the specific 4:45pm, 5:00pm & 7:15pm times?

[Eagle_and_hawk]

Current traditional is 5:30pm and 7:45pm in the Palm dining room. The Island and Coral are showing anytime. 

[Working 2 Cruise]

Thank you!  We will be on the Caribbean Princess soon, in about 3 weeks.  My son and I are very excited!  I'm looking forward to trying the Medallion!

[floridalover5623]

Was your room ready as soon as you boarded?

I'm assuming you'll reach St Thomas in the afternoon. If so be prepared to have a large lineup waiting to get off the ship. 😲

[Eagle_and_hawk]

It was not available until 1:00pm, per what we were told when boarding. That being said, we hung out in a bar until that time, as only had our backpack and not an issue. We went a little after that time and it was ready. 

 

Heading at to the P/E/S party in a few minutes and it was good last night with four bartenders, at least four drink servers, and two servers standing at the food area full time. Most we have seen in a while, and hope is a new trend.  Service is continuing to be good everywhere so far. 

[Colo Cruiser]

Thanks for the updates.

 

Our cruise on CB last month the rooms were not ready until 1:00. 

Fire doors closed with an alarm if anyone attempted to open them.

[compozer]

Do you know if people are able to purchase an unlinmted internet package for the remainder of the cruise when they run out of their 250 elite minutes?  I am wondering if I should just purchase the unlimted plan precruise for $99 (2 weeks)   Thanks.   Enjoy your beautiful balcony.  Love the AFT.

 

[riclop]

Thanks for the update.

[NoWhiners]

Love the view from your balcony--what cabin are you in?

[Lucky TGO]

Thanks for the info. 

Tony

[OCruisers]

Many of us who will be cruising on CB a bit later appreciate your post.  👍

[Colo Cruiser]

32 minutes ago, NoWhiners said:

Love the view from your balcony--what cabin are you in?

Looks like an aft Vista Suite.

[NoWhiners]

1 minute ago, Colo Cruiser said:

Looks like an aft Vista Suite.

 

I was wondering if it was a suite or one of the deluxe balconies on the Caribe deck. I'm asking because we have C753 on our cruise.

 

[Colo Cruiser]

4 minutes ago, NoWhiners said:

 

I was wondering if it was a suite or one of the deluxe balconies on the Caribe deck. I'm asking because we have C753 on our cruise.

 

Teak furniture. We just had one on Dolphin deck last month.

[NoWhiners]

Very resourceful--thanks 

[Ep010835]

5 hours ago, compozer said:

 I am wondering if I should just purchase the unlimted plan precruise for $99 (2 weeks)

 

 

I bought this package some time back for the 11/25 sailing on the CB. Not being elite, I thought this represented an extremely good deal to meet my needs. 

Given the 50 mps downloads speeds I’m hearing about, I believe I made a good decision. Time will tell I suppose. 

[Eagle_and_hawk]

We are in D736 - St. Thomas Suite. 

 

Not it sure about buying the extra internet minutes yet. I may buy more after our loyalty minutes run out. 

[Eagle_and_hawk]

Just got back from the IC with a big cup of coffee for me and my bride.  

 

We we are enjoying our version of the wake show 😀💕

 

 

 

[Eagle_and_hawk]

I did determine after reading the front of the card the mattress topper and pillows are for full suites only, so for those who may not have seen it. 

 

David

[Eagle_and_hawk]

The P/E/S party is filling up Skywalkers in about 20 minutes. Even with the extra staff, the are still averaging 20-25 minutes to get drink orders filled. If we go on the nights we see something we want to snack on, we will just grab a drink on the way up. About half of them clear out after 45 minutes, and might just wait until after the rush. Last nights drink special was some margarita. The snacks this voyage. 

 

 

[meatloafsfan]

Thanks David for all of this wonderful information.

 

Have you tried the Club Class dining yet? Could you please find out who the head server is in Club Class? Last year we had Mirelle and she made the most wonderful additional dishes and was just the most accommodating staff member we've ever met. She really seemed to care about the people. 

 

We're on for 38 days starting November 25 and hoping we'll have a wonderful experience yet again. I've heard that for CC dining, it really is up to the head server as to what/how many extra dishes are offered.

 

thank you.

[Eagle_and_hawk]

Today is a sea and after a while, I am going to try and get to the bottom of the mattress issue. I thought by now, they were all suppose to be swapped out on the CB.  This mattress is really soft, and after looking at the mattress topper selection I posted earlier,   I wanted to see what we had as figured we had the soft version and wanted a firmer one. The first day we boarded, they had a cut away of a mattress sample with a topper somewhere on promenade. Didn’t pay much attention as figured it was a sales pitch.  Tried to find it a few minutes ago after breakfast and no joy. So, in the same fashion I did in other reviews, I started stripping down the bed, looking for tags. What we found, was on the end, was the Princess Luxury Bed label.  I decided to grab a corner and could easily fold it over in half, and was thinking, this can not have springs in it. Since the stitching was loose on the edge, I pulled it back to look at the inside, and it is nothing more than eight inches of solid foam rubber. Not memory foam, the basic light brown foam that flexes back as soon as you take the pressure off it. No wonder we are sinking into it, plus there is no real topper, just a half inch or so of a thicker mattress pad. Certainly don’t want to add the toppers from the selection in the card they left.  

 

We were on the second cruise, post dry dock of the Coral a couple of years ago, and I took that bed down, taking pictures of it as it was new.  If Cinegraphic is reading, I believe he book marked it.  It was nothing like this one and pretty firm. We liked it. 

 

In February 2017, we were here on the CB in a window suite, and also had a new mattress we thought was firm enough, although a little different from the one on the Coral, just based on labeling. 

 

So, I am going to catch the room steward and just ask him to see if knows, since he changes the beds, and also says to ask him about the toppers and pillows. If he is not sure, then will get with hotel manger and ask what’s going on..

 

Sorry if font is large. Typing in notes on iPad and copying/pasting here to keep from burning minutes. Can’t seem to adjust here and don’t want to spend time trying. 

[Eagle_and_hawk]

We did club class last night and it was good. I will try and find out head waiter later this week. Extra entree last night was spaghetti. Tonight is formal night and we did not bring formal wear, and our decision not to go. We will call room service and order from the MDR menu, and have our own balcony dining 😀

[compozer]

Sorry that your bed is not comfortable.    We have always had wonderful beds in the suites on the CB the past couple years.    We will be on here the 11th and hope to be getting some great night sleeps.       So how is breakfast at Sabitini's?   That was always one of our favorite perks the last time on the CB, they switched the staff around the first couple days so we switched to the club class for breakfast and had more fun with their staff there.    

 

Am curious if you purchase more internet minutes.   We normally are fine with our 250 minutes but I need to do some research for an upcoming board meeting.   Wondering if you can just purchase by the day.   

 

Great information.  Thanks for posting.