Just back from CB - 9/9 cruising

[StonePara]

I sailed on the Caribbean Princess Western itinerary with my good friend, Robin - just got back last Saturday. We sailed on our first cruise ever, the Grandeur of the Seas to Bermuda, last year - so that's the only cruise we have to compare it to. We flew down from Baltimore the morning of the cruise and got to the port at about 12:30. There was a long line, but it moved quickly. A word of advice: fill out the Bahamas Custom form that Princess sends you AHEAD of time and have it ready to hand to them in the terminal. They will also hand out to you a short form asking if you've had any stomach problems in the last 48 hours - a small attempt to head off the spread of "cruise flu." Fill that out while you are on line (it'll take you less than a minute). I can't tell you how many people were sent off the line to go fill out these two forms. At any rate, we were in our cabin by 1:15pm - not too bad. We had a mini-suite on the Dolphin Deck (D-309) and it was SO much bigger than the outside cabin we had on the Grandeur. We loved it! Lots of room in the closet and the drawers - and the tub was a dramatic improvement over the tiny showers in the regular cabins. The best part of the cabin, though, was the balcony. I had been really worried ahead of time about the uncovered "exposed" balconies on the Dolphin deck, but it ended up not being a problem at all. I just found that I never really looked up or behind me - I loved to sit and look at the ocean going by. We saw Dolphins, flying fish and, once, a tiny little bird. We thought that it had probably stowed away on the ship while we were in Ocho Rios - he was much too small to have flown all the way to the middle of the ocean! Anyway, the balcony was great - no worries there. We had anytime dining and ate in the dining rooms only three nights. We were in Sterling Steakhouse once (SO worth the money - it was fantastic.) But the rest of the times we had dinner in Cafe Caribe. It was just nice being able to choose from so much - we could both always find something (most days MANY things) that we enjoyed.

 

We loved MUTS - they had great movies and we really loved lounging with our rum drinks while doing one of our favorite things - I think all movie theatres should install padded lounge chairs -and provide rum drinks ;) !! The entertainment on the ship was generally good. The production shows were enjoyable - especially the singing. After becoming a fan of "So You Think You Can Dance" this past season, I've come to recognize good choreography and great dancing and these productions had neither. But, if you take it all with a grain of salt, it's fun to watch. The comedians were good most nights. The one thing I didn't understand was the appeal of Bert Stratton. Seriously. He is this goofy, spastic odd-ball who prompts the audience to yell out random words: "I had watermelon for lunch today. Everybody say 'Watermelon.' WATERMELON!!!" He sings the same songs every night. (I thought if I heard "Sweet Caroline" one more time I might scream - and I used to LIKE that song!) I tried to like him - we both did. We could see that he was very popular. Why? Please explain this to me. It remains a mystery...

 

The secret to all shows on the ship (including MUTS) was to get there a half hour ahead of time. We witnessed this in the Princess Theater most nights: We'd get there a half hour ahead of time, order a drink and talk about -and to - everyone around us (our real favorite thing to do). About 2 minutes before the show was about to start, certain people would breeze in and be angry that there weren't any seats! Or complain because they had to sit in the back. Trust me - if you get to any of the venues early - even 20 minutes early if you don't need the prime seats - you'll be fine.

 

Princess Cays was a little too crowded for my taste. I reserved a cabana and I was glad I did. Robin didn't feel like going ashore, so I went alone and the place was packed!! They really jam those cabanas in together, there was no way to walk between them. If you wanted to leave and go get lunch or use the bathroom, you had to walk all the way to the end of the beach, practically, before you could head up to the buildings. Being inside the cabana (however small) gave me some sense of having my own space. Sort of like that illusion you get when carrying an umbrella. "This is MY little piece of the world." I didn't stay long.

 

Neither of us likes Jamaica - too many people bothering you all the time -so we stayed on the boat at Ocho Rios. Great time to hang out at the pool! Our day in Grand Cayman was great. We did the Native Way tour and loved it. And Cozemel was wonderful as well. We went shopping and then took a cab to Playa Corona. What a great afternoon. There is no beach there - just a restaurant/bar with a large patio right on the water. You just walked right down the steps into the water for some of the best snorkling around! It's right on the reef. I snorkled for a long time and saw lots of beautiful coral and many kinds of fish. Then walked right out to my table and ordered the best Margarita I ever had - bar none! Perfect day.

Sea days were fun as well, lots to do (or not do).

 

The only problem we had on the ship was a service issue that we had with a certain group of the wait staff. The one difference I noticed right away between the Grandeur of the Seas and the CB was the country of origin of the staff. Most of the staff on the Grandeur were from the islands: Jamaica, Barbados, etc. On the CB everyone seemed to either be from the Philippines or from an Eastern European country, particulary Poland, Romania and Estonia. It was this last group that we kept running into problems with. For example, on Friday - our last sea day - room service offers a champagne breakfast with hot entre for $25. We thought, why not? So, we selected a time of 8:00 - 8:30am for delivery and I set a wake up call for 8:00 so that we would be awake and ready when the breakfast got there. (I was hoping it would come between 8:15 and 8:30). Well, the knocking started at 7:45 - woke us both up. After I dragged on my robe and opened the door, the waiter (from Poland) hustles in brusquely and starts to set everything up. When I commented that he was 15 minutes early he said: "Well, next time maybe you should order it for later." I swear to God. I had the same problem when I tried to save a bottle of wine to drink the next day. It was actually a waiter in the Palm restaurant who suggested this to me. I ordered a glass of wine and he suggested I get a whole bottle and just save it for the next day if I didn't finish it. So, after 2 glasses I gave the bottle back to him, he wrote my cabin number on it and told me to just ask for it any where I went and it could be retrieved. Well, the next night in Sterling's, when I told our waiter I had a bottle being stored for me, he acted like he had never heard of such a thing. He made me repeat everything 3 times - I had to explain the whole system to him. He was huffing and puffing and very put out that I would be doing this. He was from Poland. And then, I foolishly ordered another bottle from Cafe Caribe the next night - gave it to a waiter to store for me after drinking only a glass from it (he was from Italy) and the following night (back in Cafe Caribe again) the new waiter (from Poland) had no clue how to find a bottle that was being held for me. He said it was impossible to find the bottle from the night before - I had to be mistaken. What did the person look like that I had given it to? And on and on like that. It took 2 waiters and a manager and me explaining the ship's system to one and all before the bottle was located. Now, if it was just a matter of staff not being in the know - I could understand that - if they were kind and apologetic about it. It's the snippy, unapologetic, passive-agressive attitude that I have a problem with. We never ran into this on the Grandeur - every member of the staff there was warm and accomodating. Not so much on the CB. I think it's a cultural thing - not a deliberate attempt to provide bad service. But, it felt like bad service, non the less.

 

But, besides that, we had a great time. I never let stuff like that ruin a vacation - you just have to laugh at it. I'd be happy to answer anyone's questions. I really appreciated all the info I got from these boards ahead of time and I can't wait to book my next cruise! (Any suggestions???)

[spongerob]

Thanks for your review. With regards to the "attitude" from servers, we have occasionally experienced a similar lack of desire to do certain things that other waiters take care of cheefully. Interestingly, my observation about nationality has been the opposite when we've run into similar cases. We've had great eastern European waiters, and have gotten the so-so response occasionally from those coming from regions south of the US. That's not a hard and fast rule though, and my comment is made simply to illustrate that the generalization isn't consistent from one person to the next. We had a real dud of a cabin steward from Romania, and the most accomplished waiter we've ever had was from Mexico.

 

Thanks for your comments. I hope you noted the service inconsistencies in your appraisal form. It won't improve if nobody knows about it.

[dandoosha]

Hi and thank you for your review. What was the name of the ship that you went on? We are going on a caribbean cruise via the golden princess for New Years. Is that the same ship and route?

 

Thank You!

[AerynSun_JohnCrighton]

Thanks for your review on the Caribbean Princess.

 

We will be on her doing the Western in a little less than a month!

 

Did you talk to anyone that did the Dolphin Swim via the ship in Cozumel?

[rjack22]

They were on the CB (Caribbean Princess). It said so in the Title of the message.

 

Great review by the way. I can't wait for my turn on the CB!

[StonePara]

AerynSun - I didn't talk to anyone who had done the Princess' Dolphin Swim - sorry. I only did one excursion and it was through an independent company (NativeWay Tours) in Grand Cayman. Part of that tour is going to Stingray City and when we got there I was SO glad I had picked NativeWay (I heard about them on this board!). We saw huge groups that had come on a cruise tour - they had maybe 50 or 60 people in each group. We only had 11 people on our tour and it was incredible! I drove the boat most of the way back to the pier while our captain and "mate" sang reggae/rap songs to us. It was lots of fun! I know that doesn't help with your question, but I just had to share!

Try the ports board for Cozumel and pose your question there.

[camperhawk]

Thanks for the review! We will be boarding the CB soon. Did you go to either of the specialty restaurants? If so..which one? or both? and what is the best night as far as dining room menus to book them? Thanks again!

[camperhawk]

Sorry, just realized you did go to Sterlings! Obviously you enjoyed it..any suggestions on which night to reserve?

[StonePara]

Camperhawk - There were a couple of nights that we didn't like what was offered in the main dining rooms. Each night has a theme - I think it was Italian night that we really didn't like any of the offerings (surprisingly). Those nights we just ate at Cafe Caribe, but it would have been a good night to eat at Sterlings - had I thought of it at the time. So, you can take advantage of my too-late lesson: the first night on the ship you should call the concierge and ask what themes are each night and then make reservations for the night that sounds the least appetizing. And, by the way, we heard great things about Sabatinni's - it's just that they give you SO much food (18 courses!!) that we didn't feel we could handle it. Have fun!!

[AerynSun_JohnCrighton]

Do you remember which night was Italian?

[prettypixie]

I had my wine stored and had no problem with them when they retreived it several nights later for me. Sorry you had any trouble. I do agree that the wait staff wasn't really up to par. I was more annoyed at how it took them forever to come fill up my water glass. I almost wanted a pitcher at my table, but that would look tacky.

 

I always showed up 20-30 minutes ahead for all shows as well and always chose the same seats when seated in the theatre.