just off Caribbean Princess Canada and New England

[ddled]

This was our first post covid cruise on Princess. We have been on 31 total, Royal, Carnival and Holland post covid shutdown. It was interesting, well run and well worth the money. Princess is doing a good job. This cruise started in Quebec City and ended 14 days later in Ft. Lauderdale. 

 

The only real problem we had was not with Princess but American Airlines. They cancelled our flights from Brownsville, Texas and by their own admission failed to contact me. I know I should have monitored the flight but never dreamed that they had. lost my phone number and did not send me an email-their story, not mine. Any way we ended up flying Macallen,tx to DFW to Philly to Quebec. Started at 6 am.They left our bags in Philly and had them for 36 hours when they magically appeared on ship even though they said they were not coming. On the way home we had a 3 hour wait in FLL that was 1 hour late because they had to have their logbook signed. Then a  6 hour lay over in DFW. You can't make this up. They actually took 6 people off the plane in Philly because it was overweight. Last time we flew AA in March they spent 6 hours on the tarmac in FLL because of various reasons. I had points and they are all gone and I am glad.

 

Anyway to the cruise. Overall the food was good. Sabatinis and Crown Grill were great-ate too much. Main dining rooms were about as usual-seems fewer menu items than used to be by a couple but I always found several choices. My wife is pickier and she had something to choose from all the time. The buffet was very good for breakfast, just average at noon and dinner. The Salty Dog grill was fantastic and the International cafe was just down the hall and very good all the time. The wine list has gone away-they have one , but it is much reduced. Vines was not anything special, and the selection on the plus list was skimpy. Usually not even by winery, but only a pinot or riesling. Rather disappointing . Where the plus package is a deal is with mixed drinks. There must be hundreds to choose from, and about all are under 12.00 All seemed rather well mixed too. Tea was Twining and Bigelow, but you had to watch they didn't put in Lipton, as they considered it to be tea. The Chai Latte on 5 was very good, don't drink coffee but heard no complaints. All in all the food was very good.

 

Service all over was excellent and a real pleasure. The guest services were actually going to send a person to the airport to get my bags but we found out it had to be me due to customs..Every employee from officers down went out of their way to be helpful. After spending hours chatting with AA this was a great thing and well worth it. Kudos to Princes for their training program-way better than other lines.

 

Condition of the ship-this is our 3rd time on this ship and I really did not notice anything amiss. Previous cruises had a smell in front of the pictures-Explorers area. Not this time. No complaints.

 

Entertainment was very good which was good because they used each main theater act twice. Comedians, singers and everyone. The production crew were good, the first night was a lot of opera, but it was well received.The CD was Kristoffer-leaving in 2 weeks at the end of his contract. Very energetic, and funny. Young but very good. The music was good. The show band had 2 female singers and did a wide variety of music. The Crooners was as good or better than we have seen.A great duo doing classical, and a guitar player or 2 kept music going all night. Entertainment very good with several couples dancing. Well. done.

 

The ports were fascinating-especially the Canadian stops. We cancelled Bar Harbor due to high swell for the lifeboats.Took 3 hop on busses and that is really the way to go. We had room p 329 and it was noisy. Cabins above us, but sounds were not that. 

 

All in all an excellent cruise.The ship was well run and in good shape. Princess still puts forth a fine product. and  they will do well in this era.  The ship was only 2/3 full-1940/3100. Therefor lines even at elevator were very short. Embarkation/deembarkation went well with that ratio.If you have any questions ask them on this  format.  Had a very good time-14 days not enough.

 

 

 

[PacnGoNow]

11 minutes ago, ddled said:

This was our first post covid cruise on Princess. We have been on 31 total, Royal, Carnival and Holland post covid shutdown. It was interesting, well run and well worth the money. Princess is doing a good job. This cruise started in Quebec City and ended 14 days later in Ft. Lauderdale. 

 

The only real problem we had was not with Princess but American Airlines. They cancelled our flights from Brownsville, Texas and by their own admission failed to contact me. I know I should have monitored the flight but never dreamed that they had. lost my phone number and did not send me an email-their story, not mine. Any way we ended up flying Macallen,tx to DFW to Philly to Quebec. Started at 6 am.They left our bags in Philly and had them for 36 hours when they magically appeared on ship even though they said they were not coming. On the way home we had a 3 hour wait in FLL that was 1 hour late because they had to have their logbook signed. Then a  6 hour lay over in DFW. You can't make this up. They actually took 6 people off the plane in Philly because it was overweight. Last time we flew AA in March they spent 6 hours on the tarmac in FLL because of various reasons. I had points and they are all gone and I am glad.

 

Anyway to the cruise. Overall the food was good. Sabatinis and Crown Grill were great-ate too much. Main dining rooms were about as usual-seems fewer menu items than used to be by a couple but I always found several choices. My wife is pickier and she had something to choose from all the time. The buffet was very good for breakfast, just average at noon and dinner. The Salty Dog grill was fantastic and the International cafe was just down the hall and very good all the time. The wine list has gone away-they have one , but it is much reduced. Vines was not anything special, and the selection on the plus list was skimpy. Usually not even by winery, but only a pinot or riesling. Rather disappointing . Where the plus package is a deal is with mixed drinks. There must be hundreds to choose from, and about all are under 12.00 All seemed rather well mixed too. Tea was Twining and Bigelow, but you had to watch they didn't put in Lipton, as they considered it to be tea. The Chai Latte on 5 was very good, don't drink coffee but heard no complaints. All in all the food was very good.

 

Service all over was excellent and a real pleasure. The guest services were actually going to send a person to the airport to get my bags but we found out it had to be me due to customs..Every employee from officers down went out of their way to be helpful. After spending hours chatting with AA this was a great thing and well worth it. Kudos to Princes for their training program-way better than other lines.

 

Condition of the ship-this is our 3rd time on this ship and I really did not notice anything amiss. Previous cruises had a smell in front of the pictures-Explorers area. Not this time. No complaints.

 

Entertainment was very good which was good because they used each main theater act twice. Comedians, singers and everyone. The production crew were good, the first night was a lot of opera, but it was well received.The CD was Kristoffer-leaving in 2 weeks at the end of his contract. Very energetic, and funny. Young but very good. The music was good. The show band had 2 female singers and did a wide variety of music. The Crooners was as good or better than we have seen.A great duo doing classical, and a guitar player or 2 kept music going all night. Entertainment very good with several couples dancing. Well. done.

 

The ports were fascinating-especially the Canadian stops. We cancelled Bar Harbor due to high swell for the lifeboats.Took 3 hop on busses and that is really the way to go. We had room p 329 and it was noisy. Cabins above us, but sounds were not that. 

 

All in all an excellent cruise.The ship was well run and in good shape. Princess still puts forth a fine product. and  they will do well in this era.  The ship was only 2/3 full-1940/3100. Therefor lines even at elevator were very short. Embarkation/deembarkation went well with that ratio.If you have any questions ask them on this  format.  Had a very good time-14 days not enough.

 

 

 

Awesome report. Thank you. 

[Shelly97060]

Thank you for taking the time to report. Very sorry to hear about your airline mess, that added stress certainly takes some of the fun out of your trip. 

[hunt182644]

Also just finished this cruise have to agree with everything original poster reported. Although I did not go hungry in any way, I feel variety in Lido and Main dining were somewhat lacking. To many dishes that wre not in the least bit appealing. I realize that food  options differ among people I will say last Dec. on Holland food was better. Although I will certainly sail Princess again.

[MarcsSharon]

Also was on this cruise and agree, this was a wonderful cruise. Ship was in great shape, service excellent, entertainment great. After this cruise, my faith in Princess has been restored.

 

[PacnGoNow]

6 minutes ago, MarcsSharon said:

Also was on this cruise and agree, this was a wonderful cruise. Ship was in great shape, service excellent, entertainment great. After this cruise, my faith in Princess has been restored.

 

That’s great to hear. CB has such a great crew!  

[eclue]

WE did this cruise in August and it was also excellent at that time.

[bjkTX]

Our very first cruise was on the Golden Princess to Canada/New England.  We loved it even though we went into it thinking this would be a one time deal.  Since then we have done that cruise 5 times and the last one was the Quebec to FLL 14 day cruise like the one you just went on - which was truly fantastic.  We spent the first night at a B&B in Quebec and the second night on the ship.  Sorry you had some airline issues but I'm happy to hear you seemed to have enjoyed the cruise as much as we did!  We have said ever since we wanted to go back to Quebec - I'm just not sure it could be as magical as it was the last time 😉

[texasgirl29]

Thank you the report—going on this same trip next October.

 

[geoherb]

Thanks for posting. I sailed on the CB in August and am going again after Thanksgiving. I'm sad that Kristoff will be leaving before I get back. I'll see Bravo and Broadway Ballroom again. I'll skip Born to Be Wild. 

[ddled]

just an update on my original post.  I managed to get 200.00 from AA by filing a complaint. Said they gave it to me as a good will gesture. Better than nothing!

[suzyed]

On 11/5/2022 at 2:02 PM, ddled said:

This was our first post covid cruise on Princess. We have been on 31 total, Royal, Carnival and Holland post covid shutdown. It was interesting, well run and well worth the money. Princess is doing a good job. This cruise started in Quebec City and ended 14 days later in Ft. Lauderdale. 

 

The only real problem we had was not with Princess but American Airlines. They cancelled our flights from Brownsville, Texas and by their own admission failed to contact me. I know I should have monitored the flight but never dreamed that they had. lost my phone number and did not send me an email-their story, not mine. Any way we ended up flying Macallen,tx to DFW to Philly to Quebec. Started at 6 am.They left our bags in Philly and had them for 36 hours when they magically appeared on ship even though they said they were not coming. On the way home we had a 3 hour wait in FLL that was 1 hour late because they had to have their logbook signed. Then a  6 hour lay over in DFW. You can't make this up. They actually took 6 people off the plane in Philly because it was overweight. Last time we flew AA in March they spent 6 hours on the tarmac in FLL because of various reasons. I had points and they are all gone and I am glad.

 

Anyway to the cruise. Overall the food was good. Sabatinis and Crown Grill were great-ate too much. Main dining rooms were about as usual-seems fewer menu items than used to be by a couple but I always found several choices. My wife is pickier and she had something to choose from all the time. The buffet was very good for breakfast, just average at noon and dinner. The Salty Dog grill was fantastic and the International cafe was just down the hall and very good all the time. The wine list has gone away-they have one , but it is much reduced. Vines was not anything special, and the selection on the plus list was skimpy. Usually not even by winery, but only a pinot or riesling. Rather disappointing . Where the plus package is a deal is with mixed drinks. There must be hundreds to choose from, and about all are under 12.00 All seemed rather well mixed too. Tea was Twining and Bigelow, but you had to watch they didn't put in Lipton, as they considered it to be tea. The Chai Latte on 5 was very good, don't drink coffee but heard no complaints. All in all the food was very good.

 

Service all over was excellent and a real pleasure. The guest services were actually going to send a person to the airport to get my bags but we found out it had to be me due to customs..Every employee from officers down went out of their way to be helpful. After spending hours chatting with AA this was a great thing and well worth it. Kudos to Princes for their training program-way better than other lines.

 

Condition of the ship-this is our 3rd time on this ship and I really did not notice anything amiss. Previous cruises had a smell in front of the pictures-Explorers area. Not this time. No complaints.

 

Entertainment was very good which was good because they used each main theater act twice. Comedians, singers and everyone. The production crew were good, the first night was a lot of opera, but it was well received.The CD was Kristoffer-leaving in 2 weeks at the end of his contract. Very energetic, and funny. Young but very good. The music was good. The show band had 2 female singers and did a wide variety of music. The Crooners was as good or better than we have seen.A great duo doing classical, and a guitar player or 2 kept music going all night. Entertainment very good with several couples dancing. Well. done.

 

The ports were fascinating-especially the Canadian stops. We cancelled Bar Harbor due to high swell for the lifeboats.Took 3 hop on busses and that is really the way to go. We had room p 329 and it was noisy. Cabins above us, but sounds were not that. 

 

All in all an excellent cruise.The ship was well run and in good shape. Princess still puts forth a fine product. and  they will do well in this era.  The ship was only 2/3 full-1940/3100. Therefor lines even at elevator were very short. Embarkation/deembarkation went well with that ratio.If you have any questions ask them on this  format.  Had a very good time-14 days not enough.

 

 

 

You are second person to report that the wine list was non existent...that was not our experience.  In both the MDR and Vines they had wine lists.  Do you mean the $12 and under choices?  I ordered from that list a few times but mostly we just chose whatever glass we wanted and paid the difference...there were plenty of choices all listed on the Wine List.   And we went to Vines every evening before dinner and Kieran, the bar tender was wonderful.