LIVE on the Caribbean Princess, Western Caribbean, December 5-12, 2021: Geoherb goes solo again

[geoherb]

I was the first new passenger to board the beautiful Caribbean Princess this morning. It's great to be back. I flew down on a direct Southwest flight from Raleigh-Durham. It landed in Fort Lauderdale a little before 10. I was at the port around 10:30. The cab ride was $17.15 before tip. Checkin was a breeze. There was no line for security. Someone checked my vaccination card and passport, then another person scanned my carry-on luggage. He alerted the wine table that I had my one bottle of wine, and they asked to see it. (I guess to make sure it really was wine.)

 

Princess did not send me my medallion before the cruise. I received the message back in October that it was too close to the cruise to send it to me. But that was no problem. It was easy to pick it up at the desk. After picking it up, I made it to the Elite boarding lounge. One of the employees tried to get me to sit down in the boarding groups, but I found another one who directed me to the right place. They had coffee, teas, water, and pastries in the lounge. I had to wait about 20 minutes there before a supervisor told us it was time to board. I tried to let a couple of couples go ahead of me, but one of the women insisted I go first. The security person wasn't ready for us, and the supervisor had to come tell her it was OK to let us on. The supervisor also told her that they needed at least three security stations to scan in the new passengers instead of just one.

 

Several employees were there to greet us as we came on the ship with applause. I walked up the stairs to my Caribe Deck inside cabin. It's a standard inside cabin. My minibar setup was ready for me. My cabin steward introduced himself. I let him know I'd like to trade out my liquor for beer and soda for water. I had the regular assortment of liquors this time (unlike in Alaska when it was all vodka mini bottles). I did receive 1-liter bottles of tonic water and club soda instead of cans of tonic water and bottles of Perrier.

 

There were two noticed about the excursions I booked in Cozumel and Costa Maya. The one in Cozumel has changed times. I knew it probably would since the ship is scheduled to leave before it would have returned. But it's gone from a 1:00 afternoon to an 8:30 morning meeting time. I have time to make up my mind about going on it. The one in Costa Maya has been canceled.  

 

Almost time for lunch in the dining room. There's not a paper copy of the Patter in my cabin, just three notices about health and a couple of handouts about making specialty restaurant and spa reservations and another about watching the safety video.

Edited December 5, 2021 by geoherb

[rabin1]

Please keep posting. I am on a B2B beginning on the 19th.

Thank you and ENJOY

Kathy

[CruzinNoony]

Great to see you on another cruise.  I'll be following along.  I'm interested in what you think of the ship as we will be sailing on her in October.  Meredith

[TracieABD]

Yes!!!! I can’t wait to follow along, Neal!!! I hope you have the best time!

[voljeep]

42 minutes ago, geoherb said:

my Caribe Deck inside cabin. It's a standard inside cabin

have you, or will you inquire about an upgrade ( free ) or upsell ( paid ) to at least an obstructed balcony?  pre-'rona we had no problems with booking an inside, but now ... 

[geoherb]

28 minutes ago, voljeep said:

have you, or will you inquire about an upgrade ( free ) or upsell ( paid ) to at least an obstructed balcony?  pre-'rona we had no problems with booking an inside, but now ... 

 

No. I'm fine with an inside. When I was on this ship two years ago, I was quarantined for three days in an inside. It's really not that bad. It's easier going solo.

[geoherb]

37 minutes ago, TracieABD said:

Yes!!!! I can’t wait to follow along, Neal!!! I hope you have the best time!

 

I've been enjoying your posts. I made sure that I won't be tempted into book b2b cruises while on this one, though, by bringing just enough meds for the week and a couple of days in case of flight problems going home. 

[geoherb]

According to an announcement from the cruise director (Matt Barnard), there are around 200 passengers who are doing b2b cruises from last week. One of the couples boarded the ship ahead of me. They were letting on in-transit passengers but not us yet. They had a couple of gallons of water and a 2-liter Dr Pepper. 

 

Lunch in the dining room was very nice. I had a salad, an appetizer size portion of the ravioli (one of my favorites), and the beef tenderloin. I usually order the salmon instead of the beef, but people on previous cruises have written about the dearth of beef selections, so I thought I'd get it while it was available. It was very good. I skipped dessert in the dining room and ate a little lemon cheesecake at the International Cafe. I enjoyed a lot of those little cheesecakes on my Majestic Princess cruise in August.

 

I got help from the internet manager with my phone. Eventually I may learn how to get it to work correctly. I did manage to reconnect it to the Wi-Fi after taking it off airplane mode to call DH after lunch. 

 

And here is the menu for tonight.

 

 

[TracieABD]

27 minutes ago, geoherb said:

 

I've been enjoying your posts. I made sure that I won't be tempted into book b2b cruises while on this one, though, by bringing just enough meds for the week and a couple of days in case of flight problems going home. 

You know, you can always get extra meds at the Walgreens… just sayin’😉

[geoherb]

I just lost all that I had typed. I traded in my excursion ticket for the Fury Beach snorkeling for the champagne catamaran. It's more expensive but will be a boat with a lot fewer people. I was tempted to book it originally and chose the other excursion because of the better time. Now this one has the better time--later in the morning. I did not want to start an excursion before 9:00.

 

Here are the pages from the Patter and the info sheet about Captain's Circle benefits. I checked out of curiosity about upgrading my cabin when picking up the Patter from guest services. The purser told me that they are not currently making upgrades/upsells, but they are taking requests. I did not put my name down for one. 

 

I asked my cabin steward about the organza bag of bathroom amenities. He said they are now giving them out by request to Elite passengers. Of course I requested one. It contains a sisal mitt, emory board, lotion, linen spray, shampoo, shower gel, and shower cap. No conditioner. No lip balm. But I brought my own conditioner this cruise to be prepared. There was a small round bar of soap at the bathroom sink. Some people have reported that other ships no longer have any bars of soap but rather dispensers for liquid soap at the sinks. I brought along a bar of my preferred soap for the shower.

 

 

[geoherb]

And the answer is: no super Tuscan wine dinner at Sabatini's. She did not know when they'll be able to offer it again. The problem is that they don't have the wines necessary, according to the woman I spoke with.

 

The couple ahead of me in line were wondering why they had not heard back about the chef's table. I explained to them that the notice will come to their cabin in the next day or so. The guy working at Sabatini's confirmed by calling on the phone that they were already on the list. The husband said he had a great casino offer to come on this cruise: a free suite and $1,000 for the casino. He had received several great offers for other Princess cruises as well. 

[bigeagle12]

What is the mask policy?

[geoherb]

14 minutes ago, bigeagle12 said:

What is the mask policy?

 

"All guests must wear face masks covering your nose and mouth in elevators, retail shops, the casino, designated entertainment venues and prior to being seated in all dining areas. Masks are also required during embarkation, disembarkation and when going ashore, in keeping with local guidelines."

 

I've seen most people wearing masks while inside except while sitting down to eat or drink. Some are wearing them outside as well. I take mine off outside unless I'm uncomfortably close to other people. I haven't been that yet on this cruise even at the sailaway party. 

 

Here's a photo of a rainbow during sailaway along with photos some of the items in the buffet as they were setting up for dinner. It was not open yet. These are the ones made up to grab and go. They had not finished setting up the carving station and other items.

 

[Tak8]

I'll be on board in May and hope they have the Tuscan wines by then.  I haven't done this dinner, but have enjoyed the reviews.

[geoherb]

I attended a couple of the meetings in the Wheelhouse Bar. Ashleigh on the CD's staff led one and Bernardo led the other. I then went to trivia. It was a mix of easy and hard questions. Cole was the one presenting it. He said he would make sure to have all new trivias because of the number of repeat passengers from last week.

 

One of the women I met at the solo travelers meeting did not realize until she was on the ship that the 14-day cruise she booked was really just two 7-day cruises back to back. She found out when Matt Barnard was making his announcements about the muster. Another couple of the women at the meeting were on last week's cruise. One (from France) had booked it as a 14-day cruise. The other one decided to extend her cruise on Friday.

 

I won trivia with a score of 16 out of 20. I should have been able to dredge up one more answer from the back of my brain, but I could only think of a singer's first name and not his last. I also missed one that I remember hearing before. I'll probably miss it next year as well. 

 

A guy arguing about an answer after the trivia said to be careful with the bottle of "champagne" that was the prize. He had been on last week's cruise and said that the bottles have been on the ship for two years. I may need to get some orange juice one morning to try it in mimosas. 

[CPASam]

From the grab and go, what were they serving in the flower pots?  Also nice rainbow pic!  Folks on Facebook were posting rainbow pics with the CB in the shot.  Enjoy your cruise!

Edited December 6, 2021 by CPASam

[geoherb]

1 minute ago, CPASam said:

From the grab and go, what were they serving in the flower pots?

 

Some sort of prepared salad. I missed getting the label. It must have been on the other side. I did notice some with veggie sticks in another display.

 

The flourless chocolate cake was delicious. I resisted the temptation to get a few pieces from the buffet to save for tomorrow. I had a light dinner, other than dessert: just the shrimp appetizer and the minuscule vegetarian tart. It really was more of an appetizer size portion. But I decided it was enough to eat. I'll have to be sure to get more fruits and vegetables tomorrow. 

 

Tonight's featured entertainment in the theater was Caroline Miller doing "From Judy Garland to Julie Andrews." She is the guest soprano who will be performing later during the cruise on our last sea day in "Bravo." She was great. The Princess "Orchestra" accompanied her--along with a backing track in some of the numbers. The Julie Andrews numbers included "My Favorite Things" (with several lyrics changes in one part to accommodate being back on a cruise) and "I Have Confidence." The Judy Garland numbers included "The Trolley Song," "Somewhere Over the Rainbow," and "Get Happy." In between were "La Vie en Rose," Carly Rae Jepsen's "Call Me Maybe," and a song from "Into the Woods" in tribute to Stephen Sondheim. I'm sure there something I forgot at the moment. 

 

CD Matt said the ship has 1,420 passengers and 1,186 crew members on board. The vast majority of passengers are from the U.S.--more than 1,200. Canada came in second with 60-some and the U.K. was third with 40-some. He said there were 30 different nationalities for passengers and 50 for crew members.

[Justaguy33]

Following along now!  I’ll be on that ship for Christmas and New Years but we’re going to StKitts and St Thomas and their bahama island.

Edited December 6, 2021 by Justaguy33
Question had been answered.

[capriccio]

Friends are on the Nieuw Statendam that followed the Caribbean Princess out of Port Everglades this afternoon and texted me this picture:

 

 

We will be on it in early July and possibly in 4 weeks (talking to my TA tomorrow).

Edited December 6, 2021 by capriccio

[geoherb]

Here are the pages from today's Patter, along with a photo of the flourless chocolate cake from last night. I don't know why one of them is showig up sideways. I rotated it on my computer, and it shows up correctly when I look at the original file. 

 

 

[CruzinNoony]

Sounds like you are having a wonderful time.  I also love those cheesecakes from the IC!!

 

[JF - retired RRT]

1 hour ago, CruzinNoony said:

Sounds like you are having a wonderful time.  I also love those cheesecakes from the IC!!

 

I never even noticed them...I'll be looking on our next cruise. 💗cheesecake!!

[Gaynors]

Enjoy your cruise!!  We were on last week's cruise and it was wonderful!  The staff went above and beyond to take care of anything...  Had a few problems with drinks posting to our account when we had the Princess Plus over the first few day but several quick trips to guest services and they were all taken care of.   Didn't have this problem by the end of the cruise so I guess they worked that bug out.

[capriccio]

14 hours ago, capriccio said:

We will be on it in early July and possibly in 4 weeks (talking to my TA tomorrow).

 

Thank you @geoherbfor this live from.  While I usually read all the live from threads I'm particular attention to this one since we decided to book the January 2 Western Caribbean cruise today.  We've never had a Club Class mini-suite before because we usually sail with family.  On this cruise it is just us so we decided to splurge.' W e probably won't even get off the ship since we've been to all the ports before and because we feel safer staying in a fully vaccinated bubble.  I hope we can reserve space in the sanctuary for the entire week.  We're just excited to get back on a ship almost exactly 2 years after our last cruise.

[geoherb]

Today has been relaxing. I ate breakfast in the dining room with two couples. It was lovely until one woman insulted the other's religion. I don't think she even realized how insulting what she said was. I'm hoping the other woman did not either. English was not her first language. I ate fruit, a bran muffin, and mushroom and cheese omelet. The rye toast I ordered never showed up. I decided I did not need it. The waiter also messed up the order for one woman, serving her poached eggs over a bagel instead of an English muffin. One of the head waiters noticed she wasn't eating the bagel and asked her why. She soon had her English muffin.

 

I walked laps on the shady side of the Promenade--just back and forth, about 310 steps each direction. The morning's trivia was hard. I got 14 out of 21 possible points. The winners had 16. I went for a relaxing swim in the Terrace Pool. It was shaded by the walkway to Skywalkers at the time. I'm trying to avoid getting too much sun. The water was cool but refreshing after getting in. I had it to myself for about 15 minutes and then enjoyed the company of a group traveling from Illinois. 

 

Lunch in the dining was nice. I ate with a couple from Houston, another couple from Washington state, and a travel agent from Brooklyn. I had the vegetarian stuffed pepper. Here are the menus from lunch and tonight's dinner. It's our first formal night.