Live TransAtlantic on Caribbean Princess. May 4, 2024 - May 19, 2024

[TenneSea]

This is our first TransAtlantic cruise.  We sailed from Ft. Lauderdale and will (hopefully) disembark on May 19, 2024 in Southampton, UK.

 

Itinerary:

 

May 4 - May 10 are SEA DAYS.  I won't post lengthy, painful details of what I (we) did every hour of every day.  These are sea days.  If there is any activity worth noting, I will certainly post.

 

Otherwise, I'll put up images I take throughout the ship with notations on them,  If you have any questions about the ship or the cruise, if I can, I will answer them.  I'm always pretty free with my opinions about everything and this report will be dotted with plenty of them.  If you disagree, just be respectful in your disagreement and we'll get along just fine !  

 

Here we go !

 

 

Edited May 7 by TenneSea

[TenneSea]

This is the piazza of the Caribbean Princess.  It is very small, I'd guess about 1/2 the size of the Sky Princess, for instance.  The dome at the top gives it a very dated feel.  You tell me, is it plastic, or is it stained glass ???  I aim to find out on this trip.

 

 

 

 

 

 

This is a panel that covers the panoramic elevators in the Piazza.  I like them.  Very ocean-y.

 

Edited May 7 by TenneSea

[TenneSea]

Food and Menu pictures from Days 1 - 3

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited May 7 by TenneSea

[CruzeQueen2]

@TenneSea Love it so far! Keep it coming, please. I'll be boarding this ship soon.

Thank you for taking the time to share with us. Love the food photos. Always.

[TenneSea]

 

 

This was the worst meal we have had so far.  We've found the dining room food to be quite good.  Not impressed, at all, with the Fresh Marketplace (buffet).  After 2 really unsatisfying lunches there, we won't go again, at least for lunches or dinners.  However, the breakfasts have been appetizing in the buffet.

[TenneSea]

Just a side note on "us".  This is our 5th Princess cruise.  Have cruised Celebrity and Windstar previously.  

 

We did not purchase the Plus or Premier packages.  We don't drink very much alcohol so it just didn't make sense for us.  We do like to get a good cup of coffee in the a.m., so that is pretty much our beverage expense.  Also, we purchased the wifi, one device at a time, for each of us and we bought it before the price went through the roof a few months ago.

 

Our room is in the very aft of the ship and we do love the aft balconies.  We went to Norway last year and lived in our first aft balcony.  We're hooked !

[TenneSea]

The room is S-M-A-L-L.  SSSSSooo small. Tiny.  Seems like they could do with a little less closet space to give a little more room space.

 

On the first day of the cruise, the toilet would not flush. It was so very, extremely annoying.  We weren't the only ones, seems quite a few rooms around us had the same issue.  I will say, they did fix that problem and the no hot water problem within about 4 hours.  I have to give them credit for a pretty prompt response.

 

We are in our 4th sea day and it was a pretty smooth ride until last night and today.  Getting pretty rocky.  It is a little eerie looking around you - no boats, no ships, no land just water, water, water.  

 

Our 1st stop is the Azores on May 11th.  

 

Here is the itinerary as I forgot to finish it above:

 

7 sea days

5/11/24 Azores

3 sea days

5/15/24 Cork, Ireland

5/16/24 Cornwall, England

5/17/24 Portland, England

5/18/24 LeHavre, France

5/19/24 Southampton, England - Disembark

 

We will continue our trip in England for 10 days after the cruise ends and I will post that portion of the itinerary later.

 

For now, heading out of the cabin for a while and will continue tomorrow.  Thanks for following.

[jeromep]

I noticed your comment about the Piazza on the Caribbean Princess.  Everything is relative, I guess.  Compared to the Royal class ships, the Piazza on the Grand class ships is quite small.  On the other hand, I still remember my first cruise on a Grand class ship and the Piazza seemed so large.  It helped that there were like 1000 fewer passengers on board.

[Nolafan]

@TenneSea - I want to thank you so much for your " Live " review of your TransAtlantic. 

 

We will be boarding the Caribbean Princess in July for our British Isles Iceland cruise. I am enjoying reading your thoughts of the ship and seeing your pics.

 

How has the entertainment been so far?

 

Also, we will be visiting 3 of your port stops - Cork, Cornwall, and Portland. I look forward to hearing what you did at those ports.

 

Happy Sails! 

[cr8tiv1]

At first, I thought your "Live" was started sooo early, until I realized we are already in MAY.  haha.  

 

Thanks for taking the time to do a live.  Best yet, thanks for adding white spaces between your photos.

 

Enjoy your tranAtlantic voyage.  I look forward to your updates.

[Mississippian]

5 hours ago, Nolafan said:

@TenneSea - I want to thank you so much for your " Live " review of your TransAtlantic. 

 

We will be boarding the Caribbean Princess in July for our British Isles Iceland cruise. I am enjoying reading your thoughts of the ship and seeing your pics.

 

How has the entertainment been so far?

 

Also, we will be visiting 3 of your port stops - Cork, Cornwall, and Portland. I look forward to hearing what you did at those ports.

 

Happy Sails! 

I'm right there with you. I lived in New Orleans for a couple of years not long ago, well, uh, 40 years ago.

[Nolafan]

Hi @Mississippian! I saw you on our Cruise Roll call. We will be going in your direction this weekend - going to spend the day in Bay St Louis.  

[TenneSea]

The entertainment to date has been quite good.  I am a musician so am very picky about performances. We skipped the first night (Shane Hampsheir).  Second night was a Celine Dion tribute (Crystal Cimaglia - married to Shane Hampsheir. I think). She was good, seemed like her voice was pretty tired towards the end.  It's a pretty high bar to duplicate some of Celine's vocal skills and Crystal gave it a good effort.

 

   

 

 

 

 

 

All in all, she gave us a nice evening.  I'm a little over some of Celine's music but it was fun to see a Tribute show.

[TenneSea]

It's always fun to see some of the ship's officers in contest with the guests.  We ran across them playing Cornhole.  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I believe it ended in a tie.  Sure sounded like everyone had a great time.

 

[tiger18]

We are on this cruise as well. Enjoying every minute!.  For being a sold out cruise it doesn't seem over crowded in any area.

We ate at Sabatinis last night and had a wonderful dinner. Our server was very attentive and the food came out hot and delicious.

[TenneSea]

 

 

[TenneSea]

Is it butter ???

 

 

 

The quiche was a little iffy for us.

 

 

Lamb was good.

 

 

 

 

 

[Nolafan]

Thanks @TenneSea for the pics and info on the entertainment. Sounds like there is lots to do. I am enjoying reading your posts and seeing your pics. 
 

Thanks @tiger18 for letting us know that the ship doesn’t feel crowded. That is always a fear of mine on sold out cruises. 

[TenneSea]

11 hours ago, cr8tiv1 said:

At first, I thought your "Live" was started sooo early, until I realized we are already in MAY.  haha.  

 

Thanks for taking the time to do a live.  Best yet, thanks for adding white spaces between your photos.

 

Enjoy your tranAtlantic voyage.  I look forward to your updates.

I know.  And when we get back home, it will be June !  YIKES.  Feels like June is right after February this year.

[TenneSea]

The awesome view from the aft balcony.

 

 

[umpire30]

Loving your Live review, TenneSea!  We'll be on the Carribean on her return crossing in November, so it's great to get a little feel for what the day-to-day activities are like.  Glad to hear it's been largely smooth seas until just recently.  We've been blessed on the other crossings we've done so fingers are crossed for our next one.  By the way, both my wife and I swear by candied ginger as a prophylactic treatment for choppy seas.

 

One question on the sea days--how often (and early) has the Promenade Deck been open on sea days?  Honestly that deck has been one of my favorite features on the Grand class (I think I'm identifying them correctly) ships.  Always figure that if I can get some regular walking in, along with basically avoiding the buffet, I stand at least a reasonable chance of returning home around the same size as I started,

 

Again, thanks for posting...great shots on the dinners have me looking all the more forward to November.

--Jim

[warthog2608]

Love your live review with great pictures!  We are boarding the Caribbean Princess in Southampton July 28 for an Iceland Greenland cruise. I really like the Grand class ships with the walkaround promenade. 

[cruising.mark.uk]

1 hour ago, umpire30 said:

 

 

One question on the sea days--how often (and early) has the Promenade Deck been open on sea days?  Honestly that deck has been one of my favorite features on the Grand class (I think I'm identifying them correctly) ships.  Always figure that if I can get some regular walking in, along with basically avoiding the buffet, I stand at least a reasonable chance of returning home around the same size as I started,

 

 

We're on this trip too.  Promenade Deck is open at 0700 hrs daily and there's quite a crowd out there for the first hour or so, getting their laps in.  And, on this ship you have the added advantage of getting some steps up and down on each lap too, which takes off a few more calories each time around.

[TenneSea]

Monday night in the Princess Theater, Bravo was the performance.  Excellent job overall.  Some moments were awesome, others were enjoyable, none fell below that mark.  The coloratura soprano, Kate Gordon, was mind-blowing.  The dancing was beautiful.  So many great moments that you should not miss if you're into watching wonderful musicians and artists perform.  Even if some of the opera songs aren't your cup of tea (not really mine either), you have to appreciate the talent !

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[TenneSea]

Kate Gordon singing.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This one's a little out of focus, but I love it anyway.