Some observations from the Caribbean Princess

[Australia08]

I am currently on the Caribbean Princess on Day 3 of the Canada/New England cruise starting in Quebec City.  I’m not sure that I will actually call this a live thread since I may not post every day, but I thought it might be of interest to others who will be completing this cruise later this season.  My husband and I are elite on Princess and have sailed this line off and on since 1991.  We are avid travelers, and while we enjoy cruising, we also enjoy taking off on worldwide vacations that I book for us.  We love train travel throughout Europe and have visited most of the European countries.  Last January, we finally made it to our 7th continent, Antarctica, on an expedition cruise.  This is our first cruise on Princess since before the pandemic.  We were on a Princess 28 day Hawaii/South Pacific cruise in February 2020.  Since the pandemic eased, we have taken several independent trips and 3 Viking Ocean cruises.  We even tried our first Rick Steves tour last September and have another booked for next month.  To be honest, we had sort of decided to stop taking Princess cruises since we prefer smaller ships.  Four of our previous Princess cruises were on the small ships that they sold back around 2020.  We loved those small ships.  Caribbean Princess is actually too big for us, but manageable.  So why are we back on Princess?  We discovered that we had several hundred dollars in FCC that had been extended throughout the pandemic.  Earlier in the spring, my husband got an email saying we had to use the credit before December 31 or it would be turned over to our state and we would have to recover the funds from them.  This sounded strange, but figured we might just pick up a close Drop and Go fare and use it up.  That’s why we booked this cruise.  I knew I wasn’t a fan of this ship since we traveled on her to Greenland in 2019. The ship always seemed crowded to me then.  But the itinerary Quebec to NYC meant that we could arrange flights using Delta miles, so we decided to give it a try.  We flew to Montreal from Cleveland, stayed in Montréal for 2 nights, then took the train to Quebec City for 1 night prior to boarding the Caribbean Princess.  We had an overnight in Quebec City and sailed out last evening.  We have visited Quebec City before - such a beautiful city!  We arranged a food tour on our own and also had a lovely 6 course tasting menu paired with wines on our first evening in town.  Last night, we had a lovely sail on the St. Lawrence and arrived in Saguenay this morning.  All the Princess tours here were booked when we bought our passage, so I arranged for a local bus tour of the area.  It was very nice.  We are about to sail out right now so I am going to close and enjoy it, but will start giving my observations on our impressions of the ship, crew, the new Princess protocols, etc. in my next post.  Please feel free to ask questions and I’ll try to find the answers.

Edited August 6, 2023 by Australia08

[Ken the cruiser]

Thanks for doing your Live thread! We’ll be going on the CB in mid October from Quebec to Ft Lauderdale.

 

Have a great cruise!!

[Ellipooh]

I’m hoping to sail on Caribbean Princess again next year, after she relocates to Port Canaveral. I have tempered my expectations based on recent reviews, but I’ll be interested if you’d choose her again based on this experience. 

[Australia08]

I would love to take a nap right now, but decided I better provide some of my observations before the cruise is over!  Let me begin with something positive.  We are very pleased with our room.  We always book mini-suites because we like to have somewhere to relax away from the fray.  Usually, we book on Dolphin Deck with the open balcony because it has staterooms below and above so more quiet.  This time, there were only guarantee cabins available, so we took our chances.  We were given E726.  I was a bit afraid that Club Fusion below would be a problem, but we haven’t heard a sound from below.  We are near the end of the ship so there are only a couple of cabins beyond us so it is exceptionally quiet on this end.  I love the location - easy to head up or down.  And we have a wonderful covered balcony.  It’s always shady and inviting.  Our air conditioning is working well and we have a wonderful cabin attendant who is at our beck and call.  Although the ship in general appears a bit frayed at the edges, I think they must have just replaced our sofa because it looks brand new and is very comfortable.  Ok, now for a few things we don’t care for.  We have never liked the sales mentality of Princess!  This cruise is reminding us that we still don’t like it.  The “sidewalk sales” filling the walkways on Deck 7 in particular is super irritating.  I am amazed that they still do the Art Auction.  Who buys this stuff????  I was really surprised that at the Tuscan Lunch that we paid extra for today, they had a “special gift” for us - an envelope with a $100 discount coupon for the Art Auction - tacky, tacky, tacky!  Now the rest of the Tuscan luncheon was great (served in Crown Grill) but giving us more sales brochures at a function we were already “sold” was awful.

 

The other really awful occurrence was yesterday at lunch.  We just returned from our tour and decided to hit the buffet for a spot of lunch.  I ordered a glass of Sauvignon Blanc from our nice server.  She returned with my wine in the plastic glass tumbler.  I asked about a wine glass and she said they did not stock them in the buffet anymore.  She would have to go to the dining room to get one for me, which she was happy to do.  I asked if she couldn’t get one from one of the bars on Deck 15 and she said they were not allowed to.  I didnt want this lovely Ukrainian girl to go down 9 floors to run this errant for me so I said thats ok.  But it wasn’t OK.  I mean really - how tacky!  So I found a supervisor and made him go get it.  He  got one from one of the bars.  It was plastic since that is what they use at Deck 15 bars.  I understand plastic glasses for the pool areas.  No problem.  But I was not near the pool.  I was inside the buffet.  Oh well, plastic was certainly better than the glass tumbler I don’t even like drinking water out of.  Chalk one up for Viking.  They use glass wine glasses and water glasses in the buffet, and plastic for service at the pool.  

 

Another thing we learned, it is important to tell staff when you’re not happy.  The first 2 evenings in the dining room, we were seated at tables for 2 (we had a reservation).  But the seating always had one of us directly facing a service station.  The dining staff works hard and there is definitely a fair amount of banging and clanking of dishes and silverware.  It’s not conducive to a quiet dining experience.  Finally, last night we asked to see the head waiter and asked to be seated in a quiet area.  He said that we can have that table for the rest of the cruise.  Fingers crossed that it is there for us tonight.  I guess thats another thing I like about Viking’s dining room, the service stations are behind partitions so they are part of the dining room experience.

 

Naptime. I’ll add more comments later.

[Oceansaway17]

21 hours ago, Ellipooh said:

I’m hoping to sail on Caribbean Princess again next year, after she relocates to Port Canaveral. I have tempered my expectations based on recent reviews, but I’ll be interested if you’d choose her again based on this experience. 

I sailed her in 2009 and I liked the whole back of the ship layout with pool and ramp up to a bar.  Was nice.  The new ships have more rooms up the back and sides. The older ships seem to be better for outside viewing areas

[cr8tiv1]

Thank you @Australia08.  My biggest dining room issue was the LOUD mayhem coming from the Piazza during the dinner hour.  Party band was relocated to the Piazza as the Explorers Lounge was used for other events.  All the way up to 10:30 PM.  No one could carry on a decent conversation in the MDR. 

[cr8tiv1]

How's your weather?  It's all over the news that the East Coast is experiencing flight delays, ground stops, nasty weather, and tornado watches.  I feel bad for those trying to get to the ship.  Do you port on 8/8 in Brooklyn/NYC?

[newfiegirl4]

Looking forward to hearing all about your observations and your review! 
 

I'm booked for Nov and wondering about a specific cabin I’ve heard has a nasty smell on the balcony. Its cabin #C752, an aft balcony. Apparently there’s a fan that gives the smell. I’m not sure if you can find out anything on it. I’d hate to go on her and not be able to use the balcony! She a lovely larger area too! Love to watch the wake of the ship!

Thanks 🤗. 

[Australia08]

Newfiegirl4, I’ll see if I can find anything out about the room. 
 

cre8tiv1, yes the band has been in the atrium several times, but we are eating in the Palm Dining room aft so no blasting music. We had our new table again last night and it is perfect. We are not right next to the window but just at a perfect distance and angled so we both look out. The best part is that the serving station is on the other side of of a table of six.

 

Weather has been good. The day we boarded had off and on showers. The full ship day in Quebec City was beautiful. Showers in the morning in Saguenay but clear in the afternoon. Gorgeous at sail away down the fjord. Yesterday was a sea day. I walked around 8 am. Clear and breezy. I don’t think it ever got over 65 degrees but it was just light clouds. We are approaching Charlottetown right now and it is light overcast skies 61 degrees at 7:30 am. I’ve heard about East Coast conditions but it hasn’t affected us yet. 
 

One thing we noticed is that anywhere there is something that doesn’t work (public area clocks, public restroom faucets, buffet wash stations, etc) Princess puts a sticker on it that says “We’re on it.”  The stickers we’ve seen haven’t changed in 3 days. Wonder if they’ll remain there until the next dry dock. 
 

We’re missing nuts or some type of munchie while having a drink. I know COVID brought an end to the communal bowls, but Viking provides small individual glass containers with munchies. We have the availability of the Platinum/Elite lounge in the evening so we just go there. We used to love to go to Vines but we went there the second night and the bartender was so busy stocking?? Or something? He barely gave us or drink much less conversed with us. Of course there was no tapas plate like the pre-COVID days so the experience was lacking. Our servers at the P/E lounge on the other hand are very engaging. So that is working out well for us. I’m not sure how the 3 course prix-fixe at Vines will work (begins next cruise). You certainly couldn’t sit at the small tables to eat a meal. And they will certainly need to up the staffing. I wish they’d just return to a simple tapas plate there. 
 

Heading off for our tour on PEI. I’ll report on that later. 

Edited August 8, 2023 by Australia08

[pantherlady]

On The cruise with you. Have some observation as well. Disappointed with the lack of items in the shops. Talked to one of the staff and was told that it was a stocking problem and they would not have any extra items coming on board. Sad, when you have a lot of folks with a bunch of money to spend. You can only have so many massages! Had dinner last night on formal night at the crown grill and the staff seemed very disorganized. Another friend had dinner there a couple of nights ago and was pleased with the service. So I see that service is spotty. What we do miss is having an assigned seat at dining so that we can enjoy the same company each evening, especially getting to know our dining staff. We would prefer to have the same server each night in the dining room. We are enjoying the bar on 15 aft. Hasn't been very crowded there.

[cr8tiv1]

@pantherlady I was also disappointed in the shops.  Calypso Cove was in a much smaller location on Deck 7.  The main shop was 3 rooms large with high end merchandise.  Do you get the feeling that Princess doesn't want you to spend your non-refundable OBC?

[pantherlady]

Had not thought about it that way, but you may be right. 

[memoak]

The use of plastic glasses in the buffet is that people drink a half glass with a meal and then walk straight out to the pool deck with the glass 

[startedwithamouse]

1 hour ago, cr8tiv1 said:

@pantherlady I was also disappointed in the shops.  Calypso Cove was in a much smaller location on Deck 7.  The main shop was 3 rooms large with high end merchandise.  Do you get the feeling that Princess doesn't want you to spend your non-refundable OBC?

They want you to use it towards the Gucci, not pay for the entire thing. Similar to the coupons for Effy and the Art Auction.

[startedwithamouse]

17 hours ago, newfiegirl4 said:

Looking forward to hearing all about your observations and your review! 
 

I'm booked for Nov and wondering about a specific cabin I’ve heard has a nasty smell on the balcony. Its cabin #C752, an aft balcony. Apparently there’s a fan that gives the smell. I’m not sure if you can find out anything on it. I’d hate to go on her and not be able to use the balcony! She a lovely larger area too! Love to watch the wake of the ship!

Thanks 🤗. 

But that was a review which you said was at least TEN YEARS AGO.

 

Advice is it could happen anywhere!  Our toilet broke one morning - no review of our cabin or floor could have foreseen this. Our room steward said a person down the hall decided to bring their own flushable wipes instead of using ship provided bathroom tissue while using the toilet.

[startedwithamouse]

23 hours ago, Australia08 said:

I would love to take a nap right now, but decided I better provide some of my observations before the cruise is over!  Let me begin with something positive.  We are very pleased with our room.  We always book mini-suites because we like to have somewhere to relax away from the fray.  Usually, we book on Dolphin Deck with the open balcony because it has staterooms below and above so more quiet.  This time, there were only guarantee cabins available, so we took our chances.  We were given E726.  I was a bit afraid that Club Fusion below would be a problem, but we haven’t heard a sound from below.  We are near the end of the ship so there are only a couple of cabins beyond us so it is exceptionally quiet on this end.  I love the location - easy to head up or down.  And we have a wonderful covered balcony.  It’s always shady and inviting.  Our air conditioning is working well and we have a wonderful cabin attendant who is at our beck and call.  Although the ship in general appears a bit frayed at the edges, I think they must have just replaced our sofa because it looks brand new and is very comfortable.  Ok, now for a few things we don’t care for.  We have never liked the sales mentality of Princess!  This cruise is reminding us that we still don’t like it.  The “sidewalk sales” filling the walkways on Deck 7 in particular is super irritating.  I am amazed that they still do the Art Auction.  Who buys this stuff????  I was really surprised that at the Tuscan Lunch that we paid extra for today, they had a “special gift” for us - an envelope with a $100 discount coupon for the Art Auction - tacky, tacky, tacky!  Now the rest of the Tuscan luncheon was great (served in Crown Grill) but giving us more sales brochures at a function we were already “sold” was awful.

 

The other really awful occurrence was yesterday at lunch.  We just returned from our tour and decided to hit the buffet for a spot of lunch.  I ordered a glass of Sauvignon Blanc from our nice server.  She returned with my wine in the plastic glass tumbler.  I asked about a wine glass and she said they did not stock them in the buffet anymore.  She would have to go to the dining room to get one for me, which she was happy to do.  I asked if she couldn’t get one from one of the bars on Deck 15 and she said they were not allowed to.  I didnt want this lovely Ukrainian girl to go down 9 floors to run this errant for me so I said thats ok.  But it wasn’t OK.  I mean really - how tacky!  So I found a supervisor and made him go get it.  He  got one from one of the bars.  It was plastic since that is what they use at Deck 15 bars.  I understand plastic glasses for the pool areas.  No problem.  But I was not near the pool.  I was inside the buffet.  Oh well, plastic was certainly better than the glass tumbler I don’t even like drinking water out of.  Chalk one up for Viking.  They use glass wine glasses and water glasses in the buffet, and plastic for service at the pool.  

 

Another thing we learned, it is important to tell staff when you’re not happy.  The first 2 evenings in the dining room, we were seated at tables for 2 (we had a reservation).  But the seating always had one of us directly facing a service station.  The dining staff works hard and there is definitely a fair amount of banging and clanking of dishes and silverware.  It’s not conducive to a quiet dining experience.  Finally, last night we asked to see the head waiter and asked to be seated in a quiet area.  He said that we can have that table for the rest of the cruise.  Fingers crossed that it is there for us tonight.  I guess thats another thing I like about Viking’s dining room, the service stations are behind partitions so they are part of the dining room experience.

 

Naptime. I’ll add more comments later.

Lido deck is always plastic glasses, regardless of bar. The buffet is near the pool.  Many people eat buffet food outside near Outriggers. 

[Australia08]

49 minutes ago, startedwithamouse said:

Lido deck is always plastic glasses, regardless of bar. The buffet is near the pool.  Many people eat buffet food outside near Outriggers. 

I understand that’s how Princess handles it. I just prefer the way Viking does it. Pool is right outside the buffet on zViking Ocean ships. People seem to understand that one uses plastic if eating outside by the pool. They have glass inside the buffet. It’s not rocket science. Like I said, I’d be happy with plastic on the entire deck 15, but please make it a plastic wine glass, not a plastic water tumbler. 

[Australia08]

We went on the Anne of Green Gables and Lobster lunch tour today. We really enjoyed it. Our guide was informative and even entertained us with harmonica music on our return to ship. My lobster was delicious and the pier for dessert was tart and great with the coffee served. 
 

I had an aperol spritz when we returned to the ship.  Very disappointed since they used little aperol and too much club soda. I immediately stopped at Crooners on the way back to the room and ordered a shot of aperol. I drank a bit of the original drink, topped it off with my extra shot of aperol and it was fine. I told the first bartender to go heavy on the aperol but I guess he didn’t understand that I was willing to be charged for a double aperol. Oh well, I know how to fix it myself. I will never.come close to 15 alcoholic drinks a day so getting a drink made the way I like counting as 2 drinks is ok by me. 
 

We’re now out on the comfortable covered balcony enjoying our drinks. Again, I’ll repeat I really like our room. The day that started out overcast is now warm with beautiful blue skies. 

[Australia08]

4 hours ago, pantherlady said:

On The cruise with you. Have some observation as well. Disappointed with the lack of items in the shops. Talked to one of the staff and was told that it was a stocking problem and they would not have any extra items coming on board. Sad, when you have a lot of folks with a bunch of money to spend. You can only have so many massages! Had dinner last night on formal night at the crown grill and the staff seemed very disorganized. Another friend had dinner there a couple of nights ago and was pleased with the service. So I see that service is spotty. What we do miss is having an assigned seat at dining so that we can enjoy the same company each evening, especially getting to know our dining staff. We would prefer to have the same server each night in the dining room. We are enjoying the bar on 15 aft. Hasn't been very crowded there.

In the main dining room we asked for the quiet table and that we have it each night. It was ready for us as soon as we arrived last night. I’m so happy we told the head waiter what we wanted. He really delivered. 

[Australia08]

For anyone on a future Caribbean Princess cruise, here are shots from the Tuscan Luncheon served in the Crown Grill on the first sea day. The wine served with each course was super!

 

 Carpaccio d’Agnello served with Col d’Orcia BrunelloDi Montalcino

 

La Zuppa Bordarino served with Feudidi San Gregorio Greco di tufo

 

 

Spaghetti Ubriachi a fatti in casa served with Luce fella Vite, Frescobaldi

 

Branzini e pollo ala griglia served with Sella & Mosca La Cala Vermentino

 

 Bistecca allá Fiorentina served with Tenuta dell’ Ornellaia, Bolgheri Superiore

 

 

Torta Della Nonna served with Limoncello 

 

 

It was a fun lunch. The head waiters who introduced the wines were very entertaining!

 

Edited August 8, 2023 by Australia08

[startedwithamouse]

3 minutes ago, Australia08 said:

For anyone on a future Caribbean Princess cruise, here are shots from the Tuscan Luncheon served in the Crown Grill on the first sea day. The wine served with each course was super!

 

 Carpaccio d’Agnello served with Col d’Orcia BrunelloDi Montalcino

 

La Zuppa Bordarino served with Feudidi San Gregorio Greco di tufo

 

 

Spaghetti Ubriachi a fatti in casa served with Luce fella Vite, Frescobaldi

 

Branzini e pollo ala griglia served with Sella & Mosca La Cala Vermentino

 

 Bistecca allá Fiorentina served with Tenuta dell’ Ornellaia, Bolgheri Superiore

 

 

Torta Della Nonna served with Limoncello 

 

 

It was a fun lunch. The head waiters who introduced the wines were very entertaining!

 

Ahhh...how did we miss this??  What is the price pp?

[Australia08]

14 minutes ago, startedwithamouse said:

Ahhh...how did we miss this??  What is the price pp?

Not cheap at $150 a person but our dining room waiter told us about it and we had OBC so why not. 

[Australia08]

 

 

Lobster lunch on today’s tour

[startedwithamouse]

16 minutes ago, Australia08 said:

Not cheap at $150 a person but our dining room waiter told us about it and we had OBC so why not. 

Thank you!  

 

We've been to 360, but have yet to do a chef's table type experience

[newfiegirl4]

2 hours ago, startedwithamouse said:

But that was a review which you said was at least TEN YEARS AGO.

 

Advice is it could happen anywhere!  Our toilet broke one morning - no review of our cabin or floor could have foreseen this. Our room steward said a person down the hall decided to bring their own flushable wipes instead of using ship provided bathroom tissue while using the toilet.

Which was  why I asked! There were several people who experienced the smell/fumes even out in the hallway! I just wanted to be able to enjoy the balcony, not be forced to stay inside and not be able to breathe (a little lung issue).