Caribbean Princess Review - March 02-09

[DDofcruisemaniac]

Hello

 

Since I benefited from this site when planning the cruise, I thought I would now share my thoughts about the cruise I took last week! Here goes:

 

Us

4 of us. Myself (31), Hubby (33), daughter (5), mother (64). We go on cruises on a yearly basis. So far, we had cruised with Carnival, NCL, and RCCL. This was our first Princess cruise. On previous cruises, I had always booked cabins that connected, to give us the opportunity to have a little bit more space, given that travelling with a child requires space! However, because this was a though week to book the cruise because of the school break, I wasn't able to find outside or balcony side by side cabins...so we splurged and decided to book a suite. More on this later!

 

Day before

Because it's March and the weather tends to be crappy, I decided we should fly in a day sooner, and sleep in Ft Lauderdale the night before. Flight was supposed to leave Montreal at 1:30 pm to Boston. We left at about 4 pm....as there wasn't a pilot to fly the plane.....Missed the Boston connection to Ft Lauderdale (obviously)...Thankfully there was a later flight to Ft Lauderdale that night. Once arrived in Ft Lauderdale Arrived at the Marriott Ft Lauderdale at about midnight. Very nice hotel, very comfy beds. Not sure why Princess sends their passengers there though...it's location isn't the best, and is quite far from the airport and port.

 

March 02

Left the Marriott and used the transfer to the port. Check-in was a breeze! We were in our room about 30 minutes after arriving to port. And what a room! The suite (E733) was located at the very back of the ship, which meant that the balcony faced the rear of the ship. The balcony had 2 loungers, a big round table, 4 chairs, and a smaller table. 1 king sized bed, a sofa bed, plenty of room, stocked minibar, 2 tvs, room service from main dining room available, free internet, plush robes and slippers, leather wallet thingies, flowers, canapes daily,..etc. I could get used ot this. :-)

After settling in, we had lunch at the buffet. I can say that Princess has the best buffet food of all the lines we tried so far. Selection was impressive, and quality was quite high.

First impressions on demographics: The ship's median age was much higher than any other cruise we have taken.

Negative: I don't understand Princess when it comes to complimentary beverages....Juice is offered for free during breakfast.....but not for lunch? This makes no sense to me. Feels a bit like they are nickel and diming you if you ask me.

After that my daughter, husband any myself headed to the pool for the rest of the day. We usually hung out at the pool where MUTS were...as it seemed to be the one with the most kids that were my daughter's age.

Opinion about the kid's program: I have to say the package they gave us when we first got in the room impressed me. However, I feel that my daughter is away from us more than she should at home (we are both professionals who sometimes travel for work)...so I am not a big fan of those kids program. Maybe when she gets older and voices her interests in such things. I did see, however, a small tiny pool for kids...but it was right next to an adults only hot tub...not the most convenient (as kids like hot tubs too). :-)

I went to the spa and had an exfoliation, followed by a back massage. This was heaven. Yes, they do push for you to book additional appointments and sell you products. 1 strange thing happened. The lady who did my treatment told me the price would be x$. End of treatment comes, and she tells me she really wants me to moisturise my skin more...so, she offers to sell me this cream for about $60. I say it's too much, I have cream, thank you. Then she says: "Ok, I will reduce your treatment price, and you can have the cream for free. ". Now......I thought 2 things: 1) Can she play with the prices like that??? and 2) I planned on spending the money anyway...why not take the bloody moisturiser for the same price as what I thought the treatment would be anyways? So i left with a $60 bottle of moisturiser. :rolleyes:

 

Dinner

We decided to opt for the anytime dining option. I am not sure about this folks. At first, it surely seemed like a good fit for us.....you are ready to eat, and you go. Not that simple. See, we like to go to the shows....which were either at 7:30 or 10:30......now...7:30 is way to early, as this would mean having dinner at 5:30 or so....and 10:30 was really late for the little lady, but turned out to be the better option....so, we ended up having dinner at about 8 each night, whihc would have been the same thing as sticking with the 8:15 traditional dining. ALso, even if we requested the same table each night, the rapport we built with the service staff wasn't the same as the one we had previously in traditional dining venues....so, to my own surprise, I wouln't do anytime again (with the shows taking place on those times).

 

Impressions on the boat

Lovely ship...many little nooks and crannys...so no big ship feel at all. I will say, however, that I prefer RCCL's promenade areas to the traditional atriums found on ships like the CB.

 

Day 2 to be written later!

 

Thanks for reading!

[DDofcruisemaniac]

Day 2 and 3- Sea Days

Woke up to a lovely days. Had lovely breakfasts on the balcony. Of course, my daughter had to wake up with the weirdest rash i had ever seen on her 2 cheeks....so we took her to the dr...Turns out there is a virus called "the slapped cheek virus"....which gives children red cheeks....he gave us some benadryl and we were on our way...

Again, we spent the day at the MUTS pool.......altering between hot tubs and pool.....chit chatting with various people.....I must say that the Princess crowd is the "nicest" we have encountered so far. Lots of serice on deck...my daugher quickly became "the Shirley Temple girl".....it was quite interesting to see her walk up the the bar, sit down, pull out her card, and ask for her drinks herself...she is 5 for heaven's sake! lol Princess Patter had a few things listed for the day...to be honest none of them really appealed to us....art auctions...bingo....ceramics...etc. We really enjoyed spending time as a family around the pool and such...also catching up on gossip magazines and other important literature. :D

 

My husband went to the gym to hear about the detox thing they were offering...turned out it was a $1000 program....sorry.

 

We ordered room service for lunch, which included a pizza, which was quite tasty. I highly recommend it.

 

The Shows

Not sure about Princess entertainment folks....Production shows were ok...they even had rain pouring on the stage..but no male singer was outstanding...just ok in my opinion. Also, this Bert Stratton guy had the biggest crowd around him....people really seemed to like him (I am not sure why!?) lol maybe it's a age thing? I liked the band in the wheelhouse bar, they were alright.

 

I can't remember on which night we saw the comedian, Sarge, for the 1st time (as he had 2 shows)...but this was the higlight of the trip, entertainment wise. This man had us laughing so hard....I would pay to see him perform. His first performance was much, much better than the second one, on the last night.

 

About the theater: I have to admit the rumors are true.....this theatre isn't big enough....more later

[Chesneygirl]

Thank you for posting! :)

[kates70]

Thanks for the review! Agreed about your comment about Bert S. Although he is really loved on these boards, he wasn't really my taste in music. There was a Canadian band on the Crown that did old rock covers. I really enjoyed them!

[familycruisin]

We are booked in this cabin for one of the summer cruises. Pictures would be great if you have them! We were told that there was a bunk in addition to the sofa sleeper, was this the case? Did you feel that is was worth the additional $$$. We had also looked at getting 2 mini suites side by side. Our last cruise on the CB we had two rooms with adjoining balconies on the Caribe deck, which was nice. One of the rooms was large due to the fact that one of them was a handicapped accessible room. This was because it was a late booking, but obviously that was a fluke. So we really would like to stick with some extra room!! (Before any of the really mean posters on here yell at me...we did not choose this room, they did, and we also agreed that we would move if it was needed for someone that had a medical need!!)

 

Hope you had a great time. We loved this ship and the MUTS. Can't wait to sail again!!

[dankevork]

My wife and I are going on our 10th anniversary and are exactly your age. Are there many early 30's people or is it mostly an older crowd. (Not that it matters, just wondering about the clubs and music choices and things that are generational).

 

Please no one take me as being rude, just wondering. Thanks

[DDofcruisemaniac]

To Familycruisin - shame on you for booking a handicapped accessible room! hehehe just kidding. You know, yes, that room IS much more expensive than a regular room....but, just for the balcony itself, and its sheer size, is certainly worth something...also, this might sound silly, but sailing while looking towards the back (VS sideways, as you would normally with any other cabin), is better in my opinion!? nothing beats sitting on the lounger looking out at the ocean that way - it feels as though you are alone on a huge ship! We also did the ultimate balcony dinner one night....which was lovely. Plenty of space for the waiters to move around, etc. Also, I don't agree with the old adage "you are never in your room".....between the end of the afternoon, and getting ready for dinner, I personaly like to be in my cabin, and enjoy time doing absolutely nothing. :D About the bunk bed.......while sitting on the sofa bed one day, I looked up at the ceiling, and wondered why there seemed to be a rectangle thing....now that you ask, I now assume this is the bunk bed thingy. It is located directly above the sofa (which is a sofa bed).

 

dankevork - to be 100% honest, although a cruise or any holiday for that matter is what you make of it, I would say that I will probably not cruise with Princess again. I really feel as though they cater to an older audience...for example...there weren't that many aerobics classes given (more yoga, etc)...shows too. I was expecting an r rated comedian at some point in the cruise...but no. Nothing. Even the music in the Skywalker club tended to be on the 50 year old side. On the flip side, catering to a more mature/sophisticated crowd meant higher quality, food wise. This was, in my opinion, the strongest aspect of the cruise. To be fair, I personally think the best fit for us (age/quality/types of activities offered) is Royal Caribbean (skate rinks, shows offered, rock climbing walls, promenade with cafes and bars, nice kids area, people our age). But that's just me. :)

[Jayne117]

I've cruised on the Caribbean Princess and my entire experience was wonderful. From the boarding process, the food, the size of the ship, cleanliness, entertainment, the service, sea days, excursion days, the disembarkment process, EVERYTHING. I loved it and it completely exceeded all of my expectations. My only complaint was the fact that they closed the hot tubs at night.

[dforeigner]

Thank you for taking time to post a review.

[DDofcruisemaniac]

Day 3! St-Maarten!

I had been to St-Maarten before, and knew this would probably be the best port! I was correct!

We took one of those "shuttles" you can take, and, depending on the number of people that also want to go, the fare goes down. I think it came to $5 per person to go to Orient Beach. I love this beach! We rented chairs and umbrellas, and enjoyed the sun, played in the water, relaxed, took a walk on the beach, etc, until about 1 pm, because we also wanted to see Marigot (as we had been to Philipsburg in the past). Getting a cab was a lil more complicated, as you 1) need to look for one, and 2) they know you are "stuck there", hence they can charge more....very wise. Marigot turned out to be a lovely place! We decided to have lunch on a terrasse, which was another highlight of the trip. Food was really good (salad, onion soup, red wine). I would say that both Marigot and Philipsburg are truly special - I would like to spend a full week in St Maarten. Also, they had a ferry going to St Barth's..another place I wish to visit one day.

 

Back on boat, same story (shower, bath for the kiddo, get ready for dinner, etc).

 

Each night, we ordered chocolate dipped strawberries...and had those on the balcony...yummy!

[Crusin Karen]

We are booked on the repo cruise. It was a "last minute decision" so I am enjoying your review and anxious to hear about the rest of the week!

[DDofcruisemaniac]

St-Thomas!

 

Alright...St-Thomas....having been there on a few occasions in the past, I thought it would be a good idea to go to Magen's Bay, as I had never visited that beach before...so we hopped on one of those "taxis" and went. Now, there was chaos in order to get on said taxis....people tend to get agressive it seems! It's a holiday people....relax!

We got to Magen's bay at about 9:30 am I would say...the beach was almost empty...so I thought wow, the whole beach to ourselves! hehe so we rented chairs, a floater, etc. The water was very calm, and nice! (coki beach is clearer though)...I could see more and more people filling up the beach, as the taxis arrived....by 1 pm, the beach was filled up (spring break style almost). Time for lunch in town...so we took a taxi back, and ate in a restaurant on the main street (forget the name..it had green awnings). I think it took 45 mins to get our food (salads!). oh well. we walked and looked at the shops for a bit (they had lots of knock-off purses ladies) , then decided to head back to the ship.

 

Looking back, I reckon St-Thomas was the most expensive port...if you add up the taxi, entry to the beach, cost of chairs...it all seemed more expensive there (vs St-Maarten). I think that if I ever go back, I shall head to Coki beach instead (no entry fee, clearer water, ess people).

 

When we got back, we decided we wanted to do the ultimate balcony dinner that night (as the next night was formal night, and we had reservations at Sterlings the night after, which was the last night of the cruise). I open the book...it says you need to reserve 24 hours in advance....I call to try to do it regardles.....and am then given the "i am sorry, bla bla bla". I hand up. Then I think "i am on this cruise, we wanted to do it, and yes, it IS supposed to be done 24 hours in advance, but, it's 3 pm and there should be enough time to cook 2 lobsters, no? (as my mother and daughter were ordering fromt he regular dining room menu)". I call back and ask to speak to the supervisor. I am told he "is in a meeting and would call me back". I take a shower, etc. It's now 4 pm, and no one called back....I call again and am still given the runaround. Turns out we had previously ordered bubbly to be delivered for 5 pm that day...so the waiter comes and delivers the half bottle of champagne, and apologises for not being able to do the ultimate balcony thingy. I then told him that I thought it was unacceptable that no one was calling me back within now 1.5 hours and that time was being wasted into saying it was not possible, while, I think they should be looking into making it happen. 10 minutes later the supervisor called us to take our ultimate balcony order. Case resolved.

I have to say this was another cruise highlight...sitting on the balcony, enjoying great food with my family. The service provided was also amazing....your glass is never empty, and the waiters's presence is just right (and yes, it is a bit odd to have people coming into your cabin!). Then the photographer showed up, which turned out to be the best picture of the cruise. :) All in all, I think the 50$ per person charge is well worth it.....you get a drink, half bottle of champagne, meal (we picked the surf and turf) , dessert, coffee, amazing service, and 1 picture. Not the mention the lovely attentions...like the linen they use to set up the table, fresh flowers, etc. Lovely.

 

We tried Skywalkers later that night....it was absolutely empty..it's a shame this place isn't frequented more...it's really a neat and original place to set up a night club. More for us I guess!?

 

Thanks for reading! :)

[Coolcruise02]

We tried Skywalkers later that night....it was absolutely empty..it's a shame this place isn't frequented more...it's really a neat and original place to set up a night club. More for us I guess!?

 

That is one of the draw backs to a Princess Cruise. The place is DEAD after 9:00! It is like having your own private yacht at night. :)

[Colo Cruiser]

Great review thank you.

 

I hope you tipped them well for arranging your UBD in a matter of an hour or two. :)

[DDofcruisemaniac]

hehe, yes, we did tip them in addition of the $50 per person.

 

Sidenote on that: They looked surprised! I am not sure everyone tips on top of the $50 charge!? To me, it was a way to thank them for turning the situation around, and providing us with great service.

[Clutterlady]

That is one of the draw backs to a Princess Cruise. The place is DEAD after 9:00! It is like having your own private yacht at night. :)

 

Just wondering if it's demographics and port you're sailing from? My last cruise on Princess, Skywalkers was really packed, especially if the next day was a sea day!! All the other venues were also well attended, since it was so hard to find a seat!?!

[Coolcruise02]

Just wondering if it's demographics and port you're sailing from? My last cruise on Princess, Skywalkers was really packed, especially if the next day was a sea day!! All the other venues were also well attended, since it was so hard to find a seat!?!

 

We have been on 3 Princess cruises (Feb, Oct, Sept) and all night life was boring. We do try and sail when school is IN session. We are in our mid 50's but still like to dance and enjoy the evening. We find the same on Celebrity and HAL.

[tinatark]

Thanks for your info so far - we'll be there March 23-30... can't wait.

 

So, your daughter didn't participate in the kid's programs?

[djhsolara]

I"m sorry, I've enjoyed your review, but I find this attitude troubling.

 

24 hour notice is required so they can handle the logistics - there are 3000 people travelling, and that is more than reasonable.

 

You essentially bullied them into providing this perk. What kind of example did that set for the rest of your family? Will your kids see themselves as entitled to throw a hissy fit and have rules bent for them?

 

This is how the "ugly american" reputation can live on long after it should.

 

 

Each situation is how it is perceived by those involved in the situation. As it is, this cruiser was going to pay an additional $50 per person on top of what they had already paid for the sailing to enjoy this service. While often times there are lead-times that are "required", however there are always exceptions to the rule.

 

This is not by any means "bullying" them into providing this service. In fact, the fact that 1.5 hours had passed with no return call is unacceptable. If the person that needed to make that decision was in a meeting, then the second in command should have stepped in and handled the situation for this customer.

 

This cruiser was not setting a bad example for her family. She was setting the example that she was paying for a service and therefore that service should be delivered.

 

I don't mean to sound crass...but those of us on a cruise (or any vacation for that matter) expect to be pampered and expect that our needs are met...and justifiably so because we have all paid a nice price to use the service. This doesn't have anything to do with being American or an "Ugly American" as you so refer...for me it has to do with the fact that I work very hard all year long ensuring that my team and myself are providing exceptional service to my customers (as I am in the service industry as well...and in an industry that cannot be rewarded by tips, etc for good service)...and I expect nothing less than that type of service when I travel. If this makes me an "Ugly American" then so be it...but at least I'll be an "Ugly American" that gets what they are paying for and rewards those that provide exceptions to the norm.

[Guest arowe6]

This is not by any means "bullying" them into providing this service. In fact, the fact that 1.5 hours had passed with no return call is unacceptable. If the person that needed to make that decision was in a meeting, then the second in command should have stepped in and handled the situation for this customer.

 

I do agree that 1.5 hours passed with no call is unacceptable. However, the OP already spoke to someone else and then called again to speak to a supervisor. The second in command would not have been sufficient since the OP already asked to speak to the supervisor. Should someone (anyone) have called again to reassure the passanger that the message was passed along to the supervisor? Sure. Would an answer from anyone OTHER than the supervisor be acceptable? Probably not since the OP asked to speak to the supervisor directly after the first call.

 

-Andrew :)

[TrinaLC]

OK, ugly north american then.

 

The OP felt the rules didn't apply to him/her, and it wasn't just a hope that perhaps the rules could be bent, but rather an entitlement. If the OP had posted that he/she had really asked nicely, understood, if it couldn't happen, but hoped against all hope ... but that is not the 'tude exhibited.

 

I'm sorry, but not surprised that those who were being pressured to break the rules didn't know how to respond in such a short time frame. There are 3000 people plus on board!

 

Great example for the kids.

 

Next time, plan ahead.

 

Like the rest of us.

[btnilreb]

good for you--I think you were right and I am glad you got the dinner-we have bin on the cBprincess 2 times and we are going again on the 9 nighter from new york---next time book the marriott courtyard at fort lauderdale air[port and get free tranfers--it is better thanthe long ride to fort lauderdale north

[Host Caroline]

That is one of the draw backs to a Princess Cruise. The place is DEAD after 9:00! It is like having your own private yacht at night. :)

 

WOW.. I've been lucky then in 15 of my 19 or so cruises with them... we are late nighters and always find soemthing to do in Club Fusion, Explorers, Skywalkers.. not much into "shows" but some late night comedy has been very good... that being said the Caribbean and Alaska are a bit livelier than the longer cruises or ones that are very port intensive.. and people tend to be in bed a bit earlier in Alaska bec. there is sooo much to do.. but wow.. in the Caribbean.. I thought Carnival Liberty was 'dead' some nights in January compared to the Caribbean Princess..

 

 

Oh, and re the balcony dinner... it clearly states 24 hours in advance.

[blindrid]

And I think it was a bit brash that you considered their rules were unacceptable. Unfortuantely, I've been around cruisers that think they can order the staff around to get things their way regardless. I view it that if I screwed up, I'll know to order for tomorrow or not at all much less be rude to staff members and put them in an awkward position.

[andy and amanda]

I do agree that 1.5 hours passed with no call is unacceptable. However, the OP already spoke to someone else and then called again to speak to a supervisor. The second in command would not have been sufficient since the OP already asked to speak to the supervisor. Should someone (anyone) have called again to reassure the passanger that the message was passed along to the supervisor? Sure. Would an answer from anyone OTHER than the supervisor be acceptable? Probably not since the OP asked to speak to the supervisor directly after the first call.

 

-Andrew :)

 

Andrew -

LOVE your new picture in your profile!

:)

Amanda from Atlanta