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Caribbean P Jan 9 to Mar 13 live review/updates

Waynetor

By Waynetor,
in Princess Cruises

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philv Great Review Rare

philv

Posted
Posted
2 hours ago, Waynetor said:

I believe we are currently at 840 passengers. Bookings for Jan 23 are 1,132 passengers and for Jan 30 is 945 passengers. Those are subject to minor changes.

 

Thank you for your live reviews. We are on February 6 and I'd love to see those low numbers. I'd enjoy a quite cruise. 😴

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capriccio

capriccio

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1 hour ago, cltnccruisers said:

Any truth that Princess is providing masks in the cabins?

They were on our CB cruise that began on January 2nd and there are plenty of confirming comments since that time about masks on other ships.

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phabric

phabric

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Hello from Toronto.  You missed a MAJOR snow fall on Jan 17.  Toronto had 35-50cm of snow (10cm a hour they said) all in one day, a record snow fall.

 

I have enjoyed reading your posts.  I am  looking for more.

 

Hyatt Place hotel -

 

I will be staying at the Hyatt Place later in the year.

Last time, I stayed there they had a free continental breakfast.

Are they still offering breakfast?

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PescadoAmarillo "Live from...." Rare

PescadoAmarillo

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Waynetor, my husband and I (who have done a few B2B cruises like these and enjoyed them immensely) just sat together and read your report to date, and we look forward to your future posts. Thank you so much for taking the time to do a Live From. We are home this winter, and appreciate reports like yours so much more because they bring back wonderful memories. 
 

Stay positive!  Test negative! Love that!
 

Healthy and happy travels to you both!

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CruzeQueen2

CruzeQueen2

Posted
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2 hours ago, rick160158 said:

Thank you for the informative updates. They are Very Much Appreciated. We'll be on this ship n March going from Fort Lauderdale to Vancouver Canada. 

@rick160158 Be sure to check on your booking on the Caribbean P to Vancouver. As far as I can tell, the sailings forward on this ship from March  2022 through May are impacted by a drydock.  I was also interested in this sailing, as a Vancouverite. Check the canceled and impacted cruise list on the Princess website. Good Luck to you!

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PacnGoNow Holiday Sharing Rare

PacnGoNow

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On 1/18/2022 at 9:49 PM, Waynetor said:

Life on board

 

The patter is only a front and back page, so is quite concise mainly giving activities and times places are open.  There is no listing of Senior staff and there was no welcome aboard event with officers. 

 

At double occupancy the ship carries 3,140 passengers.  The numbers I heard for Jan 9 was 890 passengers and for Jan 16 it is lower, now just over 800.  150 passengers stayed from Jan 9 to 16 sailing.

 

One thing we really enjoy about this ship is Skywalkers – during the day we find it usually to be a very quiet place with great views.  Often we are the only people there and have never seen more than 10 people.  There does seem to be some shaking in that area but no big issue.  Another great hang out place for us is the small area around the aft Terrace Pool.

 

Previous live threads have shown menus so I won’t repeat here.  The menus will be the same each week.  One change from pre-covid is that now onion soup is available daily and another is the removal of the great variety of ice cream each night – they were available on lunch menu on sea days.  Friday had the lobster tails – they are small so best to ask for an extra.  Saturday had Surf and Turf – a small filet and 3 large shrimp (not jumbo) I asked for 6 shrimp and got that.  There is no longer a Baked Alaska parade on the last night – told it was due to covid but I don’t see how that could be a real reason.

 

Even though 1 of the main dining rooms is closed, the dining rooms were never close to busy – generally less than half full so no issue getting a table.  I saw a couple tables being used for sharing but it was not very common.  This is the first cruise where we have not shared.  There were a few tables that had larger numbers at them but I believe they were prearranged groups.   

 

We have been bouncing back and forth between the 2 open dining rooms.  Mostly we have been given a table for 4.  If you want the same table each night, that can be reserved. 

 

For the Eastern Caribbean voyages the formal nights are Tuesday and Friday except the Mar 6 voyage when 2nd will be Thursday, and for the Western Caribbean voyages the formal nights are Tuesday and Thursday.

 

We have eaten breakfast in the dining room a few times – nice to avoid the buffet on port days when most people are in a hurry.  Generally, not impressed.  The pancakes were not warm enough to melt butter.  There is not a lot of options for omelettes like there is in the buffet.

 

Overall meal quality is similar to pre covid. 

 

Planks / Steamers dinning has not been available.

 

We ate in Sabatini’s once last week.  Very tasty and very filling meal.  Only downside was the waitress completely forgot our pasta course.  We both had the Veal Marsela.  Couple nights later that was served in the main dining room.  While the Sabatini’s was a bit better, I not sure it was worth the $25 extra but we will try again.  

 

The staff in the dining room used to have special outfits for nights such as Italian night but now wear the same outfit each night except formal nights.

 

The dining room/bar service have close to regular crew and with low number of passengers paying gratuities into the pool I would think the staff are taking a big hit on take home pay.

 

Paper straws are available on request – by the end of most drinks they are starting to show their age and definitely could not be used again.  Many tables have a QR code to be used to scan for a list of cocktails but you can ask to see a hard copy of the list of cocktails.  With the package last week, the bars were using cans of soda instead of the soda gun.  Not sure if this will continue.

 

Last week the main show entertainment were – Sunday – Vocalist -Caroline Miller (did not go, Monday – Comedian Tom Drake – very funny (his wife is a cruise director on Oceania and he does a lot of shows there but has been on many ships over 20years and most of his material is ship/travel related), Tuesday – Production show – Born to be Wild.  Did not go but it will be repeated weekly so will go sometime, Wednesday – “it’s 5’oclock some where” – a due that played a wide variety of music – started very good but we felt they spent way too much time explaining and showing some gizmo that would ply back their music and singing giving the effect of a much large group playing. Thursday – Piano Vocal Entertainer Liam Stewart – he must have been a fill in as he is in one of the lounges every night, Friday – Production show Bravo – we will go some other week.  Saturday –“it’s 5’oclock some where” did a second show but we did not go

 

They don’t give a list at the start of the week so we just have to wait to see what is upcoming in the daily Patter.  

 

There is no bar service in the theatre so if you want a drink you need to bring one.  Of the shows we went to last week, none were full at 50% capacity or higher.

 

Everyone staying on for a next voyage was given a scheduled time to go to Skywalkers between 9:30 and 11:30 Saturday morning and were given a nasal swap covid test.  We did not get our negative result until around 9pm but knew that if positive, we would have known within a half hour.  We were given a document outlining the procedure to follow for Sunday morning.  We met at 9 am on Sunday and waited to be escorted off the ship – we needed to take our passport.  We had a welcome back plate of fancy chocolate items in our cabin when we got back – have not had that before.  

 

2nd week - Sunday the show was Vocalist Paul Hughes – did not go (It really ticks me off that there is no info on the artist – I hate going to a show, wait for it to start and then find out it is not the kind of music I like).  Monday comedian Carlos Oscar, a prior Princess entertainer of the year.  Great show.  The theatre was close to half full which would be close to half the guest on board.  Tuesday was the Production show

Born to be Wild.

----

Enchanted Princess was in port with us when we left on the 9th along with 4 others cruise line ships.  6 ships again on the 16th but just us from Princess.

 

Last week there were a few children pre teen – I guess around 8 to 10 of them.  Overall, the average age was lower than pre-coved – for a Princess cruise, there were lots of passengers between 18 and 25.  As standard now on Princess everyone is vaccinated and had to be tested within 2 days of boarding.  Only have only seen 1 child so far this second week.

 

The Elite+ lounge is held in Skywalkers.  We don’t eat there very much as it is too close to dinner time.  In our cabin when we boarded there was a 1 page summary of events for elites – It just gave time and location for the lounge.  We were up in Skywalkers one time as they were setting up and I asked what night they served shrimp and that is no longer offered.  There was only a single platinum/elite welcome party.  It was Friday at 7:30 in Club Fusion and was only about half full.  The captain (Marco Fortezze) did not show up.  There was 1 officer there, but I have no idea who it was.  For Jan 9 there were 183 elite and 193 platinum, so well over half the passengers had less than 5 Princess cruises.  Two single ladies had 1,168 and 1,610 days while a couple had 1,900 for the top 3 most travelled.  There was nothing in the way of ‘News’ mentioned at the event.  As expected, they say how much they appreciate our loyalty but with the changes to elite benefits that were made last year we don’t think the bean counters at head office have the same feeling.  The change cost us the loss of $200 OBC per voyage and on a 7-night voyage we would have had enough free internet to last the week but now have to pay $35 each.

 

Elite were invited to a wine tasing on Friday at 2.  We did not go.  There was another tasting event earlier in the week for $25 /person.

 

We were fortunate to be invited to the Most Travelled Passenger luncheon last Saturday – great meal as usual.  There were 3 choices for main coarse.  We both had rack of lamb (5 of 6 at table had that).  The Captain did not show up.  I was told the cut-off for the top 40 was around 360 days.  There were also several late cancellations so some people received late invites.  This is organized by the lady that used to be titled Captain Circle Host but is now Loyalty and Event Manager as she helps with private events such as weddings.  Today was the same event for this week.  I did get a cut off number but would expect it to be similar to last week.  I had a very nice bacon wrapped beef medallion and Freda had salmon.  This time the captain and 5 other senior officers were there to great us.  

 

On both Sundays there was NFL games on MUTS as well as last Saturday.  In the past this would be interrupted by the muster drill but with the new muster process this shutdown is not needed but the game did get interrupted for the sailaway party.  For our Jan 16 voyage our departure was pushed back 2 hours for some operational reasons but as Nassau is not too far away there was no impact on our arrival at 7am there.

 

The live T shows in cabin have had a lot of problem with the picture frequently freezing.  Fortunately, this has not affected the football while in Ft. Lauderdale but all channels while at sea.  This does seem to be better this week compared to last week.

 

General trivia was held daily at 10:30 and 4:30. There was also a range of special themed trivia.

 

Other activities in the Explorers lounge and Club Fusion included nightly karaoke, Yes/No game, Marriage Match game, Fill in the blank game, on 2 nights Mentalist/Magician and Trickster Jeff Newman did 2 shows in Explorers.  Good, but I could easily figure out what he was doing in about half the things he did so not so magic or mind reading. Jan 17 had 60 second frenzy – First time I’ve seen this.  Only 5 people there but they did 4 challenges and I won 2 – moving coffee beans from 1 plate to another with chop sticks within 60 seconds and building a pyramid up and down with cups.  Tonight a magician did shows at 6 and 8pm.

 

In St. Thomas a lady came on and put on a show with Parrots that she brought.  This was in Club Fushion.  I’ve seen her on prior cruises do it in the atrium.  Now with covid the Club is a better space.  I assume she will be back each time we are there.

 

We don’t use the Medallion except for cabin access.  The patter is delivered to the cabin nightly.  There were no ads for Effy or art auctions delivered to cabins.  Usually in the past we would receive a form for buying future Cruise Credits but did not receive that – it was mentioned at the Captain Circle party but otherwise I heard no mention of it.  Also, when we boarded there were no flyers outlining all the excursion available. 

 

Princess no longer provides any bar snacks.  No peanuts, no mixed nuts, no pretzels, no nothing.  Same for Captain Circle event.  As has been mentioned in other reports, there is no longer chocolates in your cabin at night. 

 

I had heard a new company was taking over the operation of the boutiques.  We have not checked them out yet.  If you like champagne where the liquid cost about the same as the glass bottle, then going to any of the half dozen or so daily Effy Jewelry events is the place to go.

 

Elite members get a bathroom gift bag.  All we got was a tube of lotion.  We asked for more and got a luffa pad and some other items.

 

Elite members also get free laundry service.  We did it twice the first week and had next day evening return.  Our steward accidentally left forms for crew to send out their laundry.  All work related items are free.  The cost for non work items is substantially cheaper than what passengers pay – eg. socks 25 cents vs $1.75 and pants $1.50 vs $5.00.

 

There are no photographers doing pics in dining room but they have had special photo sites set up around the ship several nights plus they have gone around the ship occasionally offering random shots – they seem over staffed.

 

The big $10 sale event held in one of the dining rooms each week has gone for now- due to crowding. 

 

The casino was a ghost town last week.  We walked through a few times and there were just a few people on the slots.  I only ever saw 1 person at a table. 

 

Popcorn has been available at night next to the bar by the MUTS screen.  I had seen a prior report that the soft ice cream on deck 15 was just mush but it was normal last week.

 

I also saw on 1 review that when the person approached the buffet on embarkation day the line was out into the pool area, so the reviewer went somewhere else.  To go into the buffet, you need to wash your hands.  The sinks are just inside the sliding doors so if the line has 3 or more people waiting and people are properly spaced apart they will start to be out past the sliding doors.

 

Employee comment card and employee of the month nomination are no longer done but comments can be added to post cruise survey.

 

Announcements – The Cruise director (Matt) usually just makes 1 announcement per day and the ‘Officer of the watch’ makes a noon update on sea days.  Great to not have constant promos that we have had on other voyages.

 

Overall, it is great to be back at sea.  I don’t see anything that is “new” to be excited about.  We’re trying to Stay Positive!  Test Negative!

 

I learned crew are currently not allowed to go off the ship and they no longer have a common area where they can socially gather and have drinks.

 

The weather last week was mostly good.  A mix of sun and cloud with a few showers/downpours thrown in.  On our first sea day the Captain managed to squeeze the ship in between two very large, menacing storms off to both sides of the ship.  Saturday was very sunny but bit cooler (75F) with glass like seas.  We took 2 sea days to go from St Kitts to Ft. L.  Problem is it takes more than a day but much less than 2 days, so on Saturday we were moving so slow it felt like we just had the oars out. 

 

This second voyage started with a rainy afternoon in Ft. Lauderdale.  We were 3 hours late leaving port.  Apparently, we made a large trade of crew members with Holland America and it took time to complete the movements.  We got a new steward.

 

We will not be using the spa, gym or sanctuary so won’t be able to help with any questions on those but feel free to ask about anything else.

Waynetor, Did you say there were no appetizers at the Captains circle party for

Elites/platinums? Usually, there are

apps and drinks.

 

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cltnccruisers

cltnccruisers

Posted
Posted
15 minutes ago, CruzeQueen2 said:

@rick160158 Be sure to check on your booking on the Caribbean P to Vancouver. As far as I can tell, the sailings forward on this ship from March  2022 through May are impacted by a drydock.  I was also interested in this sailing, as a Vancouverite. Check the canceled and impacted cruise list on the Princess website. Good Luck to you!

I believe that is the sailing to move Caribbean to drydock in Vancouver.  We were originally booked for a Eastern Caribbean cruise that week and were given the option to switch to the March 6 sailing as a replacement.

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Waynetor "Live from...." Rare

Waynetor

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A cloudy day at sea as we headed back to Ft. L.  Our accounts were created with $13.95 refundable OBC port fee for missing Belize.

 

We had another covid test this morning for our next leg of our journey – passed

 

Front desk told us 185 current passengers will be on for next week.

 

Overall service and food had been quite good.  As normal, bananas become rare at the end of the week.  There has been a shortage of Splenda for much of the cruise.  Most of the time it has not been available at the self serve areas and has to be specially asked for and even then, sometimes told it was not available.

 

The N95 mask are free.  They are in the cabin when your board.  More are available from steward or front desk no charge.

 

I would say around 50% of passengers are wearing the Princess mask with others using their own special mask or the common cloth mask.

 

I find the Princess mask string irritates my ears and am switching back and forth with the cloth mask.

 

Pescado, thanks for the comments – I have enjoyed your blogs.

 

Re Hyatt Place.  There was a free breakfast – quite basic but certainly fine if you are shortly going to be on a ship for a week.  One warning – while we were checking out, a couple that had just got off a ship arrived by taxi and asked if they could get an early check-in.  They were told it would be $30 to which they agree but the hotel could not fine their reservation.  When the man showed it on his phone it was noted his reservation was for Hyatt Place in Diana Beach which is just south of Ft. Lauderdale so if using this hotel make sure your driver has the correct address.  If arriving the night before there is an Outback and another restaurant next door.

 

 

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Red Rock Feaver

Red Rock Feaver

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Posted

Thanks for all the “live” info from your CP cruise.

We will be doing B2B Feb 6. We are curious about each port to just get off the ship and walk the towns/ villages on our own, do a little shopping.

We we’re going to a few Princess Excursions but not sure about the social distancing if you have to travel 30-40 min. in a van with 7 other people shoulder to shoulder. The train in St Kitts sounds fun but looks like it is crowded.

Would love to hear more about the excursions any of you have been on that felt safe. More open air type stuff.

Thanks!

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cltnccruisers

cltnccruisers

Posted
Posted
10 minutes ago, IJustWantToGo36 said:

Thank you for posting

Are SIP and COVER signs outside all clubs?

Is there ballroom dancing in Fusion Lounge about 5p most nights

HMMMM....drink package, wi-fi and gratuities built into the fare.  If I were the  suspicious type I might think Sip & Cover was a way for Princess to save on booze.  😄

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PacnGoNow Holiday Sharing Rare

PacnGoNow

Posted
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1 hour ago, cltnccruisers said:

HMMMM....drink package, wi-fi and gratuities built into the fare.  If I were the  suspicious type I might think Sip & Cover was a way for Princess to save on booze.  😄

You are funny!  And yes, I think you are the suspicious type!!! 😂 

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jwattle Holiday Sharing Rare

jwattle

Posted
Posted
2 hours ago, cltnccruisers said:

HMMMM....drink package, wi-fi and gratuities built into the fare.  If I were the  suspicious type I might think Sip & Cover was a way for Princess to save on booze.  😄

Easy enough to stay covered and slide your straw under your mask 😁

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