Carribean Princess review for 11/12-19

[smk]

Embarcation went smothly about 30 minutes total. We flew in on the same day got to the port around 2:30 and was eating on the Lido by 3:00.

This was our first cruise with Princess and I must say from the beginning that it was overall a very good one. I had read on the boards where some people said the food was bad and the beds were bad etc. (on the Carribean Princess). I can just say I must have gotten on a differant ship because I did not find any of these problems. I have no idea how anyone could condem the crab legs and lobster claws on the Lido deck at 6PM. they were just great-wow! We ate in the Island dining room and an excellant waiter (Maximo and Larry) Max has been with Princess for 16 years and did an outstanding job. I like the way Princess divides up their dining into smaller dining rooms, not like Carnival with their huge dining rooms. I did miss the nightly show that the waiters etc. put on in the Carnival dining rooms. There was only one on the Princess and that was on the last night with the Baked Alaska ritual - it was nice. Food was good to excellant. None of it was bad, just some things did not match my palet - my fault not theirs. The buffet always had something for me to eat and it was well presented - one has to remember it is a buffet.

I thought the service - cleaning of tables etc. was far superior to what I have experienced on our last two Carnival cruises. I also thought the sanitacion machines and their placement were outstanding. Having fresh fruit at breakfast on the last day from my experince on Carnival is rare. We had fresh pineapple and papaya for breakfast sunday morning.

 

Cabin: We were in Caribe C317 with enlarged balcony. Zoltan from Hungry took care of things and the room was about the same size as the Carnival balconies (our balcony on the Princess was bigger) Not all of the balconies were as large as ours. One thing that was very nice was having Elite status which gave us some extras i.e. free initial bar (which Zoltan customised for us) free laundry (I took advantage of that twice - even the T-shirts were ironed and hung on hangers). We got little snacky things every afternoon which I do not know if that was regular or because we were Elite status.

 

The one show we went to was very funny - Fernandez the hynotist (sp).

 

Spent a lot of time in the Casino and the machines (video poker) refused to give up any of the money I put in them. :-) Did well on the dice table the last night and recovered my losses.

 

Internet - The really bad part of the cruise. It is just not worth the effort or time - it was free for us and even at free it was not worth it. I did not want to spent my cruise in there. Took me almost two hours to just clear my email account. I know satellite is faster than that. I did write this up on my comments card.

 

Drinks - I found the drinks reasonably priced and the selection of wine very nice. Most were reasonable. I think the 5 beers for $14.00 (2.80 ea) is fair.

there are few places where you can get them cheaper (in a club).

Prices for bottles were high compared to what you could get it for in ports.

i.e. Absolut $13.95 on board and $6.99 in St. Maartin. They did have a sign that said they would match any prices in the ports. Then why not put those prices to start with. I was not going to go out look around and then come back on the boat and argue with them about what it was in the port. They know what the prices are in the port. If they can sell it for that in the port and make a profit then they should be able to sell it on the boat for that price. Got six bottles all total, told the customs guy that I had six and he just "have a nice day". I found it is just better to fess up, pay extra if need be and don't try to be sneaky. These people do this everyday and they can smell ya a mile away if you are trying to put something past them. We have a good friend who is a custom agent. He told me a long time ago that they give respect to honesty.

 

Debarcation: Very smooth. Do pay your bill or make arrangements. They get ya when you put your card in the machine the last time - the look on some peoples face when they politely tell them they have to settle their bill first.

I guess some people just think they can walk off the boat :-).

 

Summary: Great cruise, food, etc. We did not take any tours - we stopped that years ago. More fun to just walk around. Princess Cay was a lot of fun.

Did hear some people complaining about the food that was prepared there.

I had a hamburger and Brat's that was very good. My wife had the ribs and thought they were good others said they were bad. Guess our taste buds just are not refined enough. :-). It really boils down to what you make of it.

We had a great time. Just sorry we are not still there.

 

1999 - Carnival Elation

2000 - Carnival Jubilee

2001 - Carnival Legend

2002 - Carnival Elation

2003 - Carnival Spirit

2004 -

2005 - Carnival Conquest

2006 - Carribean Princess

[FloridaLaura]

Thanks for the review Glad you enjoyed your cruise. Looking forward to my first cruise with Princess next April!!!

[two06acs]

Please advise how you are Elite with princess after only 8 prevoius cruises with Carnival?

 

If thier is a loophole I do not know about.

[cruisers04]

Please advise how you are Elite with princess after only 8 prevoius cruises with Carnival?

 

If thier is a loophole I do not know about.

 

 

Their cabin may have been a suite. We have only traveled with Princess twice but our second time was on the Caribbean Princess and we stayed in a suite and got the perks the poster talked about.

[smk]

We were in a group of 150 people and it was a one time special deal that Princess made to get the group. Works for me. :-)

[nosealegs]

We were on the CP on Nov 5-12. Our room on the caribe deck was great. Balcony was very large. Our room steward managed to bring us beautiful robes, a brand ew duvet, feather pillows etc. Of course we tipped him appropriotely.

 

My only real complaint about this ship was the dining room. We were scheduled for the late seating and the service was very good. We did opt to change to anytime dining because the 8:15 seating was too late for us. What a mistake. The service was terrible. Every waiter was rushed and we felt as though we were in some sort of meat market. The staff never even spoke to us. I would never reccommend this anytime dining to anybody unless you just want to eat and go. The food was cold most of the time and our dinners were served at different times etc. I did speak to the maitre d who basically didn't give a crap because he too was running around like a chicken.

 

Make sure you choose the traditional dining!!!

[Whimsy]

Thanks for the review. I sure miss being on the ship.

[Kerry&LuAnn]

I would never reccommend this anytime dining to anybody unless you just want to eat and go.

 

It's too bad you had this experience. Our experience (and that of many others who have posted on this board) was quite the opposite. We particularly appreciated Anytime Dining because we could go early or late, depending on our afternoon/evening activities or when we were hungry. Every time we had excellent waiters who were very attentive and took their time to be sure we were pleased.