Carribbean Princess - Rumors and Legends - 10/9

[Dave in Atlanta]

Rumors and legends about the Caribbean Princess – The 10/9 cruise experience

 

We’ve all read the many helpful, but often conflicting, reviews of the new Caribbean Princess on these boards. Now that I’m a veteran, I thought I’d toss my two cents worth in with a slightly different format.

 

My next assignment is to write a review comparing the 10/9 CP sailing with the 10/2003 Radiance of the Seas Panama Canal cruise, but that’s a bigger task for another day.

 

Rumors and legends I found to be true:

 

You really can clearly see the Movies Under The Stars screen during the daytime – Hard to imagine, but it is quite clear. At night it is even better.

 

The “Love Boat Dream” dessert is awesome – especially (or maybe only) if you love chocolate.

 

Lots of people like PC dining – So much so that our traditional dining room (Island) was never more than about 75% full.

 

It’s sure hard to find your way around – Yup. Since our cabin was D709, we typically used the aft or midship stairs or elevators. But it was a 50/50 proposition as to where those aft stairs would take you. If you wanted the Palm Dining Room, a good choice, but other areas were inaccessible.

 

The photographers are everywhere – I’ve never had my picture taken so many times. They actually ran out of places to display them all toward the end of the week. In another review, someone pronounced the 8x10 for just $14.99 to be a real bargain. I agree, since I was charged $19.99.

 

The Balcony Dinner is a special event – It was the highlight of our cruise. The food was magnificent, the service outstanding, even the price (for all you get) seemed fair, and I’m cheap. A word of advice: If you order the Filet you get a huge one. If you order the lobster, it’s very large. If you order Surf and Turf, you get both of them! Whew.

 

The uncovered Dolphin balconies aren’t that great – True, especially if you have any concern for privacy – not for “extracurricular” activities, which are pretty much out of the question – just for things like conversations, and going out on the balcony dressed any differently than on deck. The whole world (I would guestimate 40 cabins or so) looks right down on your balcony. The low point of the Balcony Dinner was when it began to rain slightly. Oh wait, that’s not rain, it’s the crew spraying off the deck 6 decks above us!!!!!

 

Rumors and legends I consider unfounded:

 

The coffee stinks – I’m not a coffee fanatic, but I drink it every day, and I thought it was generally just fine. It’s a little weird to get it out of a beer tap in the Horizon Court, but you get used to it. The iced tea, on the other hand, really stinks.

 

Bert Stratton is the greatest entertainer in the history of cruise lines – now this is clearly personal opinion, because Bert is much beloved on these boards, and he always drew a big crowd. I just don’t like “sing-alongs” that much, and that’s pretty much his whole schtick. We did hear him several times, but it was usually the same. Some of his original compositions were very good, and I would have liked to hear more, but it was time to sing “Sweet Caroline” again. Sigh…

 

There’s great free ice cream in the Horizon Court every afternoon – There is free Ice Cream, and the flavors are quite interesting, but it wasn’t great. It had a very strange rubbery consistency to it. One time my wife left a scoop of strawberry in a bowl for about an hour, and we noticed IT DIDN’T MELT! How weird is that? On the other hand, I thought the “for pay” ice cream, at a place called “Scoops” was pretty ironic, because it is soft serve. I’d like to see you scoop that…

 

There are too many people on this ship – It really didn’t seem that way. We were at capacity (3150?) and there weren’t too many lines. One of the reasons may be the design of the ship, which I didn’t particularly care for. It was so cut up that groups of people could seldom mass anywhere. And I would guess that about 10% were lost at any one time as well.

 

The Princess service is outstanding – More about this in my CP / RCCL comparison, but I must disagree. Our room steward never introduced himself to us (although he did a pretty good job), the table service in Traditional dining was quite disappointing, and we had a few weird experiences with the Purser’s desk. On the other hand, Alexander and David (who serve the Balcony Dinner) were exceptional. Just uneven, I guess.

[AmyinGA]

Dave-I wish more people would write reviews like this. Thanks.

[bcs819]

I think it depends on when the 8x10 was taken. We were told 19.99 for our embarkation photo, yet one in getting off in port was only 14.99... We thought this was um, not smart, since they digitally changed our embarkation photo making us a small part of an 8x10map of our itinerary...

[spongerob]

The only thing I disagree with is that finding your way around a Grand-class ship is difficult. I've never found that to be the case at all, except when searching for a restroom, that is. With an aft cabin, you just go down to Deck 7 and go forward from there, or go up to Deck 14 and go forward from there. You might put a couple extra miles on over the course of a cruise, but we could all benefit from that.

 

Otherwise, I appreciate the comments, and I'll have a big golf umbrella with me in December, just in case. :)

[ToplessPony]

Thanks Dave. Some great info here. Re: the ice cream. So Scoops is now only soft serve? No more Hagen Daz? Say it ain't so!!!!

 

Thanks;

 

Scott

[Cruises n Vegas]

Hi Dave,

 

I just got off of the 10/9 sailing too and I think I pretty much agree with everything you say. I didn't do the balcony dinner so I can't comment on that but I wouldn't have wanted an audience on my Dolphin deck balcony anyway.

 

I was also amazed at how clear the MUTS screen was in the middle of the day.

 

I didn't even know they had ice cream in the buffet but I prefer the hard scoop kind and was surprised that it was soft serve at Scoops.

 

The Love Boat Dream is so good it hurts your teeth.

 

As far as everything else, I agree with you. I also can relate to RCCL's Radiance as I was on it this past Feb and will be on it's sister Brilliance to Panama Canal this coming Feb. I look forward to your comparison.

[roohound]

but it was time to sing “Sweet Caroline” again. Sigh…

 

 

Did you at least get to chime in with the "This song sucks!" line during the chorus that we do down here at piano bars to make it a bit more palatable or no? LOL

[CruiseFever]

Dave-I wish more people would write reviews like this. Thanks.

Me too. Honest stuff clearly stated. Just what we need.

[Antash]

Rumor: the ice cream in Scoops is only soft serve - actually they have both soft serve and regular but at least the one time I tried it they only had vanilla, chocolate and strawberry. We had the ice cream in HC one day and they seemed to have more variety but that may have depended on the day.

 

I found the navigation of the ship to be quite easy once I figured out whether I was in the front of the ship or aft. I'm used to the HC being in the front of the ship from prior cruises so that threw me off for the first couple of days.

[lynwar]

The soft serve ice cream was $1.50. Extra toppings 25c each. The ice cream concoctions with fancy names and more toppings were $3.50 each. I never tried the ice cream in the Horizon Buffet,but never looked for any, either. I thought the coffee was fine.I also drink it everyday.After awhile, Hubby and I found that the fastest way to get from forward to aft and vice versa, was to go out on the Promenade Deck and walk the distance outside.Then we'd go in that end door. That also provided us with some fresh air!Once I figured out the layout and what stairs/elevators to take I had no problem. Even if I went up the aft elevator-by mistake, or closer, I enjoyed walking the halls. Our cabin was in the middle B-408, so we could get to it from aft and atrium elevators(the best) or forward.We saw the Ship in port a couple of times before we sailed so it was go great to be onboard. She IS beautiful! Lynne

[melissa_bel]

The only bad thing I observed in the layout of a Grand Class ship is the location of the Traditionnal Seating dining room, all the way aft with only one stairs to access it... That was weird. Otherwise, I can't figure out why anyone would be lost.

[reggielew]

Hi!

 

Thanks for your review. My husband and I are planning to be on the Caribbean Princess in February (our 7th Princess cruise and our 31st overall), and we chose this cruise specifically because Bert Stratton would be entertaining. We have seen him on 3 previous cruises and think he is the BEST!!! However, I can certainly understand that some people may not love sing alongs and some of his shticks (I love them.) If you just prefer listening to him perform, go to his second show each night, usually about 11pm. He sings a lot of show tunes and other familiar songs, and takes many requests. It is quite different from his earlier show each evening and would definitely appeal to those who like a more traditional piano bar. Bert is amazingly talented, and his original CD's are great.

 

Reggie

[Rjf91997]

Dave, my husband and I and our 7 year old were also on the 10/9 sailing and I agree with just about everything you said. Other than few isolated experiences at peak meal times, I seldom found long lines at the Horizon Court and I was totally excited about the love boat dream and the free ice cream. My only complaint was the pools...way too crowded...and too many people saving lounges and not using them. I had the worst time trying to find a chair most days if I did not get to the pool by 10 am. Used the spa quite a bit...loved the treatments! Experienced Sabatini's and Sterlings...ahhh, what a meal at both. I felt, and this is my opinion, that overall the crew was not as friendly as they were on the Grand Princess. Loved the cruise...loved the ship, love PRINCESS!

 

Anyone with questions...feel free to ask!

[Dickfey]

Hey Dave....

Its that OTHER Radiance Rowdy here... Agree with all your points, BUT... what this ship lacks is the WOW factor of other ships. (Radiance in particular) Dining rooms are all single story, Atrium 3 decks. Nothing wrong with any of this, but I think you have a different experience when your surroundings look like a Holiday Inn instead of the Ritz Carlton.

 

My other main complaint was with the Horizon Court... It was very difficult to navigate with people coming in from both ends, but food selections went from one end to the other.

 

We too did the balcony dinner... now there's a WOW factor.

 

Back to Royal Caribbean.

[roe2ship]

Holiday Inn? You really thought it was that bad? Hey, Ritz Carlton sounds nice to me. Looking forward to seeing the atrium on the Radiance.

[RobnBarb]

When can you sign up for the balcony dinner?

 

Do you have to wait till you are on board?

[fig414]

The first thing I did when i got to my cabin was to call to reserve the balcony dinner. You have to call room service and tell them what you want. Have fun.

[casino guy]

OK... Dave, First of all, I agree with you 100%. I too was on the 10/9/04 sailing of this ship.

 

I had the worst cruise ever and I have been on many, many times. I must say that this is the first (and now the LAST) time we will ever sailed on a Princess ship but the service is unbelievably BAD! First of all the air conditioning in my cabin was not working and after maybe 3 days and 20 or 30 attempts to get this resolved I could not. It was so hot that none of us... Me, my wife or my two small kids could sleep. By the third day, my wife collapsed due to her lack of sleep and I became irate. I was told by the onboard customer service (that’s an oxymoron) representative that I was being unreasonable. They told me that the ship was sailing full and we could not be moved to another cabin. He offered the infirery for all four of us if we "wanted to sleep". OUTRAGIOUS! This story is far worse then this... like I only saw my cabin steward (IONUT) 3 times during my cruise. The first time was as we got onboard and that was to introduce himself and tell us that he only worked from 9a to 1p then he was off and then again from 5p until 9p. If we needed him, he told us to BEEP him at his extension. The second was around dinner time one night when I caught a glimpse of him up the passageway and the last time was after we had returned to Fort Lauderdale and at 7am he knocked on the cabin door and said “Out, out, lets go, I have to make up this room”. Although I did this many times, he NEVER responded not even once. He NEVER put or replaced the toilet paper for all 7 days onboard, even though we asked many times and we were reduced to going to the public areas and getting it ourselves. Even when I called the concierge desk to complain they said I call my cabin steward if I needed toilet paper... I also had many condescending conversations at the purser's desk where I was made to feel that I shouldn't be complaining about all of this.

 

For all of my trouble, what did Princess do for me…. Noting…. I was told that I could have a 10% discount on my next Princess cruise. THANKS FOR NOTHING!

 

I could go on but why?

 

 

Although this ship is big and beautiful, that’s not enough to get me back on another Princess ship. There are too many other cruise lines, with legendary service that I can take. Although Carnival now owns a large number of these i.e.: Holland, Princess, P&O etc.

 

I have found better service, food and accommodations on other lines….

 

B.T.W… They never fixed the air……… we slept in the atrium lobby chairs most nights

 

Sorry if I went on too long.

 

 

C.G.

 

[Rjf91997]

Wow...doesn't sound like we were on the same ship or cruise. We NEVER had a problem with service or our cabin steward, John. Sorry to hear that you had a awful time of it but I think it would be unfair to say all of Princess is bad based on the experience you had with a few individuals. What about all the other service staff? Was ALL your contact with them negative? I am suprised by the experiences that you had. In my 2 cruises with Princess, I have found them to be beyond expectations with service.

[jimneycrkit]

We just got off the Jewel of the Seas RCCL newest ship. We can't wait to get back to Princess in Dec. Bad food, poor service, tiny cabins ,we always get a balcony cabin on any line,stewards who did not make up the room until 3 pm each day, 3 differant waiters last one came down with the chicken pox. The worst rack of lamb ever anywhere I have ever eaten, icecream that was grainy. Menues were lacking and the food was often cold. We were seated next to the kitchen. But it was a beautiful ship and we never saw the cruise director except at the overly crowded standing room only show each night.Employees just standing around all day talking to each in various parts of the ship. We have never had this bad of service anywhere on any line. The room was so small that that there was only 5 inches between the bed and the wall to walk by. And their closets , what were they thinking. Forget having another person in a room with you while getting dressed.Princess we will stay with or Crystal when we feel like treating ourselves.

[Dave in Atlanta]

So here we have a Princess veteran trying a Radiance class ship and complaining about cabin sizes??? Amazing.

 

The single biggest difference my wife and I saw on the Carribbean Princess vs. the Radiance was cabin size - the other direction...

 

Last year, we had a Mini-Suite on the Radiance (I think they call them Junior Suites this week) and it was excellent. Lots of room to move around, and a general feeling of spaciousness. We enjoyed it so much we specifically booked a Mini-Suite on the CP to have an equivalent experience - what a disappointment!

 

Our CP room was long and very narrow, with about 18 inches from the foot of the bed to the wall. We did have two TVs, but so close together that one remote did operate them both simultaneously. I would GUESS that our Radiance JS was nearly 50% larger than our CP Mini-suite. The Radiance room had three four foot windows, and the CP had two. It seemed to be the difference.

 

Don't get me started on the room decor, walk-in closet versus open hanging space, and the all-tile bathroom versus the marble on the Radiance. The differences were amazing, and really summed up our "feel" for the two ships.

 

Radiance: Elegant decor, spacious feeling in cabins and public areas (and it's a smaller ship)

 

Carribbean Princess: Utilitarian decor, lots more tile and little marble and wood, and a generally cramped feeling in cabin and public areas.

 

Maybe it's like GM vs. Ford folks - you like what you like, and no one will convince you otherwise.