Highlights & lowlights of Caribbean Princess, Dec 10-17

[spethstation]

Day 7: Grand Turk

 

I didn’t wake up to a dreaded announcement that we weren’t going to make it into Grand Turk this morning, so I was ecstatic. I had been to Turks & Caicos back in 2014, and it quickly became one of my favourite destinations I had ever been to. The sand & sea are just unmatched! Grand Turk would be a new port for me.

 

We weren’t scheduled to arrive until after lunch time, so we had a slow-paced morning. We worked out first thing to get it out of the way and then showered and relaxed in the cabin until lunch. We wanted to try lunch at the Palm again.

 

It was very empty when we got there, only a few people about. The ship was pulling in to the port and so it was very loud and vibrating pretty hard in the restaurant. I ordered an Asian style rice bowl - it was similar to a poke bowl - and my partner got a burger. Despite the small number of people there, our food took a very long time to come. My meal was tasty but my partner wasn’t too keen on the burger. We are not too sure why we had to wait so long.

 

It was time to go explore the port, so we donned our swimwear and headed out. The weather was perfect for a beach day. I had done a bit of research beforehand and I had decided I really wanted to see Jack’s Shack. When you come into the port there is a big shopping area, with popular chains, and a Margaritaville. We bypassed that whole area and just headed to the beach. It was at this point that I realized I had forgotten my water shoes, but I just trudged on.

 

Walking along the beach we met about 12 different people trying to sell beach chairs and umbrellas to us. They were friendly but obviously in competition with each other to get your business. Most offers were two chairs with an umbrella for $20. We politely declined each time and just walked as far down the beach as we could until we got to Jack’s.

 

The area here was very quiet and calm. There was hardly anybody down on this end of the beach, and the entry into the water was fabulous - no rocks or coral at all. So I hadn't needed my water shoes after all. The water, of course, was perfection!

 

Jack’s has the perfect atmosphere for a beach bar. They were playing some great SoCa music and every person working there was having a time. The names of the cocktails were lewd but also hilarious - ‘Panty Dropper’ is one I can recall. 😂 They were strong but had a great variety of cocktails, and even featured some local beer.

 

We ordered a few cocktails and just sat and enjoyed the vibe at the bar. I asked about beach chairs and they pointed us to a few people on the beach who would help us out. Beach chairs and an umbrella were $23. I probably could have bartered but felt it was still a fair price. Plus, it was worth it to pay a little more for a better atmosphere!

 

We spent most of the afternoon in and out of the water, switching from the sun and shade. I even laid on the beach flat out a few times because the sand was just so soft. A game of beach volleyball was happening around us and it was entertaining to watch. I ended up ordering one more cocktail and a local beer, which was very good, and some conch fritters due to a few recommendations from CC. They were amazing! 👌

 

At one point in the water I overheard a conversation between two people from our ship and realized one of them was in the same profession as me. I swam up to them (thank you, liquid courage) and we chatted for a while in the ocean. I also recognized and was introduced to one of the photographers who was hanging out with them. They were all so fun to chat with. 🙂 We ended up having a shot together at the bar and agreed to meet up for dinner later. 

 

The disembarkation time was approaching so we reluctantly started heading back to the ship. At this point I was maybe two, if not three sheets to the wind. 🤣 I started to get quite sad our day was ending on Grand Turk!

 

We got clean and dressed for our dinner at the Palm to meet our new friends for 6pm. Everyone was on time and we had a delightful dinner together! It was Italian night, but I can’t remember what I ordered. I don’t remember hating it, whatever it was! I forgot to take pictures of the meal. But it arrived quickly.

 

After dinner headed to the casino again, but we played terribly and were out money fairly quickly, so we called it a night. We ended up watching John Wick 4 back in the room to tie off the evening.

 

Some images of beautiful Turks:

 

 

 

 

 

 

[IndyKid]

My impressions about Grand Turk were a bit mixed when we went ashore that day. The areas immediately next to the pier were nice, beaches looked decent as in most Caribbean destinations. But a lot of the interior of the island looked pretty sad, lots of ruined and vacant structures, etc. Since nearly 100% of their economy is based on tourism I'm guessing they're still trying to recover from the pandemic and the recent hurricanes.

[spethstation]

On 1/12/2024 at 5:48 PM, IndyKid said:

My impressions about Grand Turk were a bit mixed when we went ashore that day. The areas immediately next to the pier were nice, beaches looked decent as in most Caribbean destinations. But a lot of the interior of the island looked pretty sad, lots of ruined and vacant structures, etc. Since nearly 100% of their economy is based on tourism I'm guessing they're still trying to recover from the pandemic and the recent hurricanes.

 

Absolutely, I knew this going in so for me it wasn't too unexpected to see, but it was certainly apparent that they were and are still struggling. Another reason I skipped the big box stores and went to a local place.

[spethstation]

Day 8: Not Amber Cove

 

We were awoken this morning to a loudspeaker announcement…oh no! You guessed it, our port stop to Amber Cove was cancelled. 😭 I know these things are for the safety of the guests, and I do not hold anyone accountable for these situations, but I was so sorely disappointed we were missing another stop. To me, it felt like I only got half a cruise. Dominican Republic was a country I hadn’t yet been to, and I was so looking forward to bopping around Puerto Plata. I was sour, to say the least.

 

We took our time getting ready for breakfast after ranting for a bit, then headed up to the buffet. I realized at this point we hadn’t eaten breakfast at all in the MDR yet, so I vowed to try it tomorrow. Breakfast was very lacklustre and was probably the worst meal we had at this point. It was not improving my mood, haha.

 

There was a beer pong competition down in the piazza so we decided to check that out for a bit. I will say that the piazza was not a very good location for a lot of the events that were scheduled there. People would clog up the staircases and if there was a long at the IC for coffee, it got messy. The competition was crew vs. guests – I was hoping they would swap out some people but they didn’t (I really wanted to play!) I can’t remember who won…

 

I decided I wanted to try and emulate a beach day as best as I could, so I took a book up to deck 16 to find a shady lounger to relax in. The weather was still very good despite the crazy waves. The lido deck was below so it was nice to be close to the action and people watch if I wanted to without being in the thick of things. I did find shaded lounger and cracked my book. This deck was covered in astroturf and I kept getting whiffs of a garbage/mold smell – I was guessing it was wet astroturf, and it was a little hard to ignore. I just ordered a dirty banana and made the best of it! 

 

My partner met up with me shortly after and we took a brief dip in the pool. It wasn’t too crowded, but there were a few kids running around. He left shortly after and I decided to move to a hot tub outside the spa, as the quiet area I was in was starting to get pretty loud. I had a ‘hot’ tub to myself for quite a while and really enjoyed sitting there with my book (The Glass Hotel by Emily St John Mandel – highly recommend!) After about an hour there I was starting to get hungry, so I decided to get a drink and try the Salty Dog Grill.

 

I ended up ordering a mango margarita from the Calypso bar, but unfortunately it was very watery and not worth the cost. I ended up only drinking half of it. I ended up ordering some tacos and fries from the Salty Dog. The tacos were very small, but tasty, and the fries weren’t too bad. Pretty much what I expected for a poolside eatery. I wish I had tried a burger here, but I never did.

 

After refreshing up in the room, my partner and I decided to visit the library to play a game. We forgot a deck of cards and they didn’t have any to borrow, so we got Trivial Pursuit and went to Vines to sit and play. We ordered some Doq Equis and played a round. This is my favourite game and I creamed him. 😂 We were getting sleepy so I ordered some espressos with milk from the International Café – they were 10/10!

 

It was getting close to dinner time so we decided to head back up to the room to get ready for our last formal night. I picked up a Sandia en Fuego from Great Spirits bar on the way back up. It is essentially a spicy watermelon margarita. Let me tell you…it was crazy spicy. 🥵 I love spice but it was even too much for me. It was perhaps the incorrect beverage choice.

 

When we were heading to our dinner reservation at the Island, there was an opportunity to take a photo outside of the restaurant, and the person taking photos was none other than the awesome photographer we had met yesterday. The backdrop was a Christmas tree, so we asked if we could get a photo on the right of the backdrop that didn’t feature the tree, because we collectively hate Christmas. 😅 He did an awesome job framing the image just so and the photo turned out beautifully! We were grateful.

 

Speaking of hating Christmas, I need to interrupt myself to mention something here. I have been on a few cruises in early December before (this was my third cruise in early December) and never have I been so inundated with Christmas music than I was on this sailing…it was constant, incessant, and annoying as hell. And it was the worst of the worst kind of Christmas music – those damn poppy covers with a limited repetitive playlist. The only place we discovered they weren’t playing Christmas music was the gym, or sometimes late at night at the buffet. It was so aggravating! Even if I liked Christmas I think I would hate it after this cruise. 😆 I am not one to deny anyone of their Christmas joy (and that is certainly a risk I take in taking a cruise in December) but a variety of music would have been so appreciated. (I did share this feedback in my survey.) I can’t be the only one, right?!

 

Moving on…

 

I loved seeing everyone all dressed up in the MDR. There was even a few ball gowns & tuxedos there. We just sat by ourselves tonight – weren’t feeling very social! For dinner I ordered the surf & turf minus the surf, which I just gave to my partner. The tenderloin was pretty good, but not as tasty as the one I had at the Crown. The highlight of the meal was the mandarin sorbet! I will say I wasn’t that thrilled with a lot of Princess desserts, but I did love the sorbets and free ice cream (extra sprinkles!!) from Coffee & Cones.

 

After dinner I convinced my partner to head to the Bravo show with me. For those who are interested in it, it is a mix of opera, movie, and broadway songs with orchestral accompaniment. They also had a feature guest soprano onboard for the show. Both the orchestra and soprano were really spectacular! The cast were the same people as the Born to be Wild show (for some reason I thought there would be a different cast for this show.) I will say that the male singers actually performed much better this time around, but they still fell a little flat. I don’t think they really had the range for most of these songs. The dancing and female signers were again really good. I greatly enjoyed the James Bond covers! But I can see how the show wouldn’t appeal to everyone (my partner thought it was very boring.) But this was targeted to a much older demographic, so I can’t really blame Princess for that.

 

The show pretty much tied off the evening for us. We did our usual and headed to bed to watch a movie to wrap up the night. Somehow we stayed out of the casino today!

 

I only took one photo today! 😆

 

Edited January 16 by spethstation

[IndyKid]

Maybe we were down in the bars & lounges at a different time than you, or maybe I just didn't notice a lot of Christmas music?

 

As for your drink, I like spicy things but not in a Margarita.... 

[spethstation]

15 hours ago, IndyKid said:

Maybe we were down in the bars & lounges at a different time than you, or maybe I just didn't notice a lot of Christmas music?

 

As for your drink, I like spicy things but not in a Margarita.... 

 

It was all I could notice - maybe because I have such an aversion to it 😆

The drink was a bit too much for me! @IndyKid did you have any favourite beverages on board?

[IndyKid]

9 minutes ago, spethstation said:

 

It was all I could notice - maybe because I have such an aversion to it 😆

The drink was a bit too much for me! @IndyKid did you have any favourite beverages on board?

Mimosas in the morning (I'm not much for bloody Marys). Pina coladas or daiquiris in the afternoon, whiskey sours or Manhattans in the evening. 

[spethstation]

Day 9: Last Day

 

Work has been busy, but I need to finish my trip review, I’ve only got one day left to report!

 

This morning I got up a little earlier to experience breakfast in the MDR by myself. I went to the Palm and enjoyed a small solo table. I was seated next to a lovely couple from the UK and we made some small chat. They had been on a B2B and had also missed a few ports on their first leg.

 

The coffee was really good today, and I decided to pair it with something I kept seeing mentioned on CC, the James Beard French toast, with a side of bacon. It is French toast coated in something similar to corn flakes (heck, I think it is corn flakes.) It actually wasn’t good at all, I was pretty disappointed. Plus, they forgot to give me my bacon, which was unforgiveable. 😂 So I didn’t really feel like I was missing out on the MDR breakfast experience all of those other days.

 

There was a retail sale happening, so I went to check it out but it wasn’t selling anything unique to Princess – same old scarves, wallets, port t-shirts, etc. you see at all those other cruise sidewalk sales. But I remembered there was a culinary demonstration in Princess Theatre that sounded interesting, so I headed there. The demonstration involved the head chef preparing a few of favourite recipes. A head guy from the dining staff was there was well providing some comic relief. I wanted to see the galley tour at the end, but I couldn’t get through the cringey scripted jokes, so I only stayed about 15 minutes. I also couldn’t picture doing the tour with 200 other people, it didn’t seem viable somehow.

 

Afterward, I met up with my partner so we could check out the sushi at the buffet. I remember that it wasn’t too bad, but it reminded me more of grocery store sushi. We then had to hit the casino one last time, but the gambling gods were not too kind this time around and we left empty handed. We felt like we had experienced enough gluttony for a day so we went to the gym. It was very empty, which is always my favourite time to be in the gym. We were there for a while just to waste some time. It was raining a lot this day and unfortunately we were stuck to what was offered inside the ship.

 

I hadn’t experienced afternoon tea yet, so I went to the Palm solo to try it out. A server comes around with tea, and they give you milk and sugar at your request. Other servers walks around with trays of small sized sweets and finger sandwiches. I really liked this! It was a different experience than a main dinner or the buffet, or even the International Café. I really enjoyed the food offered here and the tea was delicious. I wish I had thought to do it earlier in the cruise. For those who don’t know, Princess offers this every afternoon on their ships. It was classy. I, myself, was not classy as I rolled up in my gym clothes. 🤷‍♀️

 

My partner met me at the Palm and I took a quick shower before we went to Vines to play Trivial Pursuit again and partake in a couple of G&Ts. We were wasting time until the Brazilian food started at the buffet. (The theme of this cruise was the buffet 🤣). They did have some really delicious food choices. We even took some more down to the room to snack on while we packed our luggage for disembarkation. This moment is always so bittersweet! We spent the rest of the evening in the room watching Oppenheimer, although I did duck out to get one last 24K Gold Margarita – thought it would be a good bookend drink to the cruise! 

 

Day 10: Disembarkation

We weren’t in a hurry to disembark as we weren’t catching the Amtrak train until after noon – we were continuing our trip to meet my partner’s parents in Tampa for a few days. We were assigned as part of the gold group and had to meet up in the Explorer’s Lounge. We both woke up feeling quite ill with different ailments. My partner clearly had the flu, so I plied him with some meds I had with me, but I decided I needed to go see a doctor due to the symptoms that were presenting themselves. And I didn’t want to wait to get to Tampa, as it was quite a ways away and I didn’t think much would be open on the weekend, not to mention, I didn’t want to navigate having to find a clinic, etc. Not great timing, but the medical office was still open despite the chaos of everyone leaving the ship. I left my partner in the Explorer’s Lounge to go find it. I was quickly seen, even without an appointment. Everyone was so efficient and helpful, and they really did an exemplary job. I got meds and was in and out in about 15 minutes!

 

What took the longest was settling my medical bill. Because they had closed my onboard account at this point, I had to go pay for it at guest services, and the line was super long. I was worried I was going to miss my disembarkation window with my group, but as soon as I got back to the Explorer’s Lounge they called our group. Perfect timing!

 

They had facial recognition scanners at customs so it was a breeze going through once we claimed our luggage. We took a taxi to the Amtrak station and had to wait there a few hours before continuing our trip.

 

Our cruise was over! 😢 Next post I will follow with a few summarized thoughts about Princess and the cruise overall.

 

[Ivanmorrin]

Great write up and review!  We are going to be on the Caribbean Princess in late Apryl!  Thanks for the tip about the volcano ice cream.

where did you find the drink options you mentioned you had collected for on board?  I always like looking at what is available at the various ship locations before I cruise!

[spethstation]

Thanks, @Ivanmorrin! 

I had just searched a lot of the Princess boards for drink recommendations and complied a list of what looked good! 

[charliedalrymple]

On 12/28/2023 at 5:41 AM, spethstation said:

I have never (or yet) had a 'bad' cruise and believe a cruise experience is more about your mindset than anything else.

 

This is great, and I couldn't agree more.  If you go in expecting to have a good time, you probably will--but if you look for problems, you will definitely find them.

 

I thoroughly enjoyed your well-written review.  Thanks so much for sharing your experience!

[KKB]

Thx for the review @spethstation

Sailed the CP for 2 wks in 2022.

We too said Born to be Wild felt like a high school production (not for lack of talent). The 1st scene we could not believe they weren’t singing Loverboys Working for the Weekend!

 

U r a Trivial Pursuit fan— did u try any trivia?

 

U might reconsider PrincessPlus in the future

With $17/day tips plus $25/day internet …sharing u got it down to $12.50.

Even sharing, that’s $30/day each,

Princess Plus is only $60/day

Sounded like u got enough drinks each day to add up to that other $30.

Up there with NCL for best AI pricing!

 

Glad u had fun—too bad had to miss ports, but yeah, it happens

 

 

 

[spethstation]

17 hours ago, charliedalrymple said:

 

This is great, and I couldn't agree more.  If you go in expecting to have a good time, you probably will--but if you look for problems, you will definitely find them.

 

I thoroughly enjoyed your well-written review.  Thanks so much for sharing your experience!

 

Thank you so much, @charliedalrymple!

[spethstation]

13 hours ago, KKB said:

Thx for the review @spethstation

Sailed the CP for 2 wks in 2022.

We too said Born to be Wild felt like a high school production (not for lack of talent). The 1st scene we could not believe they weren’t singing Loverboys Working for the Weekend!

 

U r a Trivial Pursuit fan— did u try any trivia?

 

U might reconsider PrincessPlus in the future

With $17/day tips plus $25/day internet …sharing u got it down to $12.50.

Even sharing, that’s $30/day each,

Princess Plus is only $60/day

Sounded like u got enough drinks each day to add up to that other $30.

Up there with NCL for best AI pricing!

 

Glad u had fun—too bad had to miss ports, but yeah, it happens

 

 

 

 

Thanks for following along! That's funny you say that about Loverboy - I was thinking the same thing! Missed opportunity!
 

We did do the math and it didn't make sense for us re: Princess Plus. I actually got a discount on the wifi so it made it even cheaper. Also, the USD conversion isn't so great against my country's dollar 😅 But I do like the convenience of it and may do it in the future!

[spethstation]

Final Thoughts

 

I wanted to offer a short summary on topics just to sum up my overall opinion of this ship and my experience with Princess:

 

Food/Alcohol:

Food was generally very good, and there was only a few dishes that fell flat for me. There was a lot of variety, but I would have liked to have seen more desserts, like cake (that are outside of the 'premium desserts'). The buffet was a treat with a lot of authentic, delicious food, and we only had one instance in the MDR where service was slow. I definitely recommend the Crown Grill.

 

Drinks were mostly reasonably priced without the package. Quality was hit and miss but once I figured out where to get the best tasting drinks it was easy to find something good. I found the Wheelhouse Bar to be the best.

Entertainment/Activities:

They did not make good use of some of the entertainment on board. Many shows were in the piazza, which is not a great communal space. I would have liked to have seen more live events in the Wheelhouse or Explorer's Lounge - instead these were mostly reserved for things like trivia. There was not enough happening in Skywalkers, which seemed like a shame because the space was so cool! They only had a late night DJ there after 10pm.

 

Activities were all pretty repetitive and not Princess specific, like jewellery sales, art auctions, etc. Nothing stood out as being unique except maybe the talk on sharks or the star gazing event (which was cancelled.) 

 

I know I am not this cruise line's demographic audience but I would have liked to have seen more events for people in their 30s-40s. A silent disco would have been really fun.

 

The talent in the shows is mostly evident but the production value was a little lacklustre on some things. Cannot compare to RC here.

 

Casino:

I loved that they had a $6 min table for blackjack! I can't comment on the other games but there was a wide variety. There is no reason for there to be smoking allowed IMO, or at least there should be a closed off smoking section (like Carnival or NCL has on some of their ships.) I would say there are less smokers compared to people who don't smoke, so why are they catering to the minority? I think as the demographic of cruise clientele changes we will see a major change here.

 

Casino staff were awesome and friendly, although we did get a few staff members on their very first shift.

 

Would have liked to have seen more servers walking around taking drink orders, but the bar wasn't far.

 

Service:

Everyone I encountered personally was so happy, open, and just plain nice. I really liked the service I received all week. My room steward was so pleasant! 

 

Ship:

This ship is certainly older, but it is well maintained. I saw maintenance people on top of minor issues all week. I enjoyed the amount of hot tubs and pools onboard. I would have liked to have seen more activities available, but I knew going in there were no waterslides, dart boards, etc. and that it was not an Oasis class or Breakaway+ class ship. The mini golf area was laughable - this could easily be updated.

 

It's a good size and I never felt claustrophobic, but it was challenging to navigate around decks 5-7. Easy to lose your bearings.

 

The elevator doors close too fast. I don't know how people with mobility issues ever got one in time!

 

The gym was decent and felt very modern. Would like to see more strength based equipment and a much colder water fountain. 

 

The astroturf on the outer decks was funny smelling and just generally unappealing. It is downright ugly. I wonder if they would ever update that? 🤔

 

Despite the fact that you could walk around all of deck 7, there was nothing appealing about the trek, and walking through a smoking section was not that great. They didn't even have any chairs from what I could tell. 

 

Lots of bars to choose from, no huge line ups at any of them. Would have liked to have seen Good Spirits offer their specialty menu earlier than 5pm, I feel I would have tried more of them if that were the case.

 

I did not use the spa itself, but the area was very pleasant. I do like that access to the saunas was free, and the pool/hot tubs outside of the spa were adults only. Pricing for services was expensive but this is not unique to Princess, nor is it as expensive of some of the newer ships (looking at you, Viva.) I did enjoy the staff's knowledge of their products/services and their presentation I attended.

 

App:

(This is the old app I am talking about.) The app was clunky, and too hard to navigate. The user experience designers should have been fired. Nothing was categorized in sections that made sense. But I did love the feature that allowed you to find your shipmates, and switching users for the wifi plan was really seamless. My partner has Android and he was having more problems with it than I was being an iPhone user. Can't comment on the new app but hopefully they fixed some issues. I did not utilize the Ocean Now delivery feature so I can't comment on that specifically.

 

Ports:

What I did see, I loved. Definitely got unlucky missing 2 out of 4 ports, and I had chosen this ship for the itinerary specifically, so I was bummed. Next time I would probably make sure I have an interest in both the ship and itinerary rather than one or the other.

 

Overall:

I would sail Princess again, just not this ship nor this class. Nothing 'wowed' me, but to be honest, I didn't expect anything to. I would be more keen to sail on the Sun or Star - there is just more onboard that interests me, and I tend to lean towards a newer/bigger ship. But it's more likely I would sail on more NCL or RC ships before booking those. Sometimes it just comes down to the ports and the price, like in this case. But I did have a good time and don't regret it!

 

Thanks for following along on my (long-winded) review. Can't believe it's been two months already since I sailed. Looking forward to my next one this September! 🚢

Edited February 6 by spethstation

[KKB]

@spethstation Looking at the ships u have sailed, I recommend u try Cele rite Eclass (Apex, Edge, Beyond & Ascent)

The shows r more like NCL/RCCL level.

Food very good

Casino non-smoking.

Curiuos to see how u like Viva

We sailed Prima last month… lovely ship with rotten flow.

We much prefer Breakaway class on NCL

Edited February 7 by KKB

[spethstation]

14 hours ago, KKB said:

@spethstation Looking at the ships u have sailed, I recommend u try Cele rite Eclass (Apex, Edge, Beyond & Ascent)

The shows r more like NCL/RCCL level.

Food very good

Casino non-smoking.

Curiuos to see how u like Viva

We sailed Prima last month… lovely ship with rotten flow.

We much prefer Breakaway class on NCL

 

Yes, Celebrity is definitely on my list! Would love to sail on the Edge series.

[Thunderbird19]

Spethstation - enjoyed your fun, detailed review.  
Can you comment about fitness center amenities?  Was sauna or steam room available?  Did you ever use fitness center showers instead of going back to your cabi and it’s tiny shower?

When you were deciding if the basic drink package was worth it, how many drinks a day was your break even point?  Did you purchase a soda or coffee package?  Seems like paying out of pocket for 3 or 4 drinks a day would almost equal the basic drink package fee.