Our Caribbean Princess 10-16 Review

[JUST ADD WATER]

Hello all! Wanted to take a few minutes and review our CP cruise last week. We had a good time and hated coming back to work! Hope our review is helpful, but please remember it is only OUR opinion (we want you to make up your own minds on the ship). I will start with a little history and then list the good, the average, and the bad in our opinion!

 

History: This is our 13th cruise and our 4th with Princess. Our other sailings with Princess (Grand and Golden) had gone well. We feel Princess has better food and service overall than RCL, but not quite the level of Celebrity. Because we were sailing with our brother and sister-in-law who had never cruised, we went with Princess this time. We felt that Celebrity might be a little too quiet and "fancy" for their 1st cruise. Had read some of the conflicting posts about CP, but went to have a good time and with an open mind.

 

Getting on the ship: We flew in Friday PM and stayed at the Reniassance in Ft Lauderdale by the pier. Went to the pier at 11AM on Sat morning.

GOOD: Hotel was nice and a short walk to the Publix

Hotel had pier shuttle for $4.00 that was quick and easy

Line at pier was quick once it started moving

AVERAGE: Line at the pier was LONG even at 11AM

Opened doors at 12:30PM

On the ship by 1:10PM

BAD: Lines were not managed to well at first and was a bit confusing where

the line ended.

Lunch in Caribe Cafe was not too inspiring that first day, lots of cold

items and very few servers.

 

Leaving the ship: We had Aqua 5 tags (5th one called) and got off at around 9:30AM. We did not get started with disembarkation until almost 9AM.

GOOD: They let us off "on time" for the most part (we had estimated 9:15)

AVERAGE: Lots of names called to the front desk that AM as always!

BAD: If you had a early flight I bet you were sweating it!

 

The ship: Clean and pretty, but not much of a WOW factor as others have stated. BIL/SIL were amazed, but we did not think it was as neat as the newer RCL and Celebrity ships.

GOOD: Clean and tasteful decor

Movies Under the Stars was really neat

Movie screen even in daytime was cool

Lots of different bars and areas to relax

AVERAGE: Hard to find chairs on deck for tanning

Felt a little crowded at times in the Casino

BAD: The wait for elevators was UNREAL!

Getting a seat for the shows required 30-45 minutes of waiting in your

spot for the shows to start

Hard to "see" any event with crowds on board (like waterfall)

Difficult to navigate this one (dead ends in the middle)

 

The food: Overall we thought the food was good. What we expected on Princess. Sterlings was awesome and is a MUST do!

GOOD: Like the Caribe Cafe in the evenings. Theme buffets each night and

lots of variety.

Love Boat Dream-trust us you need one of these!!!

Hambugers in Dining Room for lunch were too good!

Lunch in general in the dining room was good.

AVERAGE: Coffee

Dinner in the Coral Dining Room (Palm was better)

Buffet lunches

BAD: Not really anything we found food wise

 

The Service: Needs help! The tipping automatic on your account may be to blame. We saw several instances of passingers being told "no" quite rudely. Example: lady who asked for a different lunch item because she did not like her first choice. She asked very politely and was told "No-it is too late. The kitchen closes at 2PM." She wanted a hamburger which is fixed all day long AND if you are seated before 2PM (we had seen them come in at 1:30) you should be served, period end of story. Lots of eye rolling and deep sighs by the crew, not to us, but to others around. General feeling of "let's just get this over with" by 70% of the servers we encountered.

GOOD: Claudia in Sterlings

Most all of the Bartenders

Most all of the Pursers desk

Most all the Shop Keepers

All the Casino Staff!!!

Captain walked around all of the time

AVERAGE: Cruise Director and Staff

Deck servers

Room steward

Asst Waiters in Palm Dining Room

BAD: Waiters in Dining Rooms (Palm and Coral)

Waiters (2!) who could not tell us about a menu item (What is this kind

of question)

Having Personnal Choice (IMO!!! I think it hurt service levels)

Having a 30 minute wait for dinner on 3 nights (8PM each time)

The lines to make a reservation for dinner (cannot do on phone to

"regular" restaurants)

 

The shows: We liked the 2 production shows and both comedians.

BUT did not like having to go so early to get a seat

 

Overall: For a first cruise you would be happy (BIL and SIL were) and would

not notice what a "seasoned" cruiser would

If you are a easy going "seasoned" cruiser (like us) you can have a

good time and not sweat the small stuff (BUT go traditional!)

Lots to do and interesting mix of people

Will NOT be like Grand/Golden experience

 

We do not want to be negative and we had a good time, but we felt being honest was the correct way to do our review. We will be going on Princess again, but not this ship. The extra deck of people really strains the crew and ship IMO.

 

PLEASE do not take this review as the one and only truth :( !!! We have our own set of ideas and expectations, so go and make your own impressions.

 

Any specific questions we will try to answer

[cruzindave]

Dito!

[pg.]

Sounds like a fair review( you did state the good and bad) and it tends to echo what I am thinking about the Caribbean Princess. It just doesn't sound like that one extra deck of cabins has added anything by extra work for staff.

 

I don't agree with Personal Choice dining though, we had it in April on the Golden and never waited more than 10 and we LOVED it, would NEVER go back to trad.

 

I do wonder about the staff being burnt out though, we had pretty decent service everynight, but I could see a tad of antipathy in the staff that I don't recall from before.

[eeniemeenie]

was on the ship with JUSTADDWATER...next door neighbors infact. her review is excellent. the only part that differed considerably for us was that we chose traditional dining and this turned out to be a big plus. if you read my review you will see that we were unsure of our choice and were thinking of changing it after giving it one shot. our waitress and waiter were just great. one night i said i am having a hard time choosing between the beef wellington and the lobster tails so lo and behold she brought me both. if someone ordered a dessert that she thought would go good with ice cream she would encourage them to add it.. they seemed genuinely happy to greet us each night and made us feel special. when we left we kissed them both goodbye, took lots of pictures and felt that we had made friends. i guess the convenience of dining whenever you want is certainly attractive but keep in mind you will probably dine in one or both of the alternate restaurants and go to the buffet on some of the those nights so it doesn't boil down to everynight anyway. we made our reservations for sterlings and sabatinis as soon as we boarded and made them for the port nights so we could choose a convenient time. like anything else in life a cruise is what you make it....attitude plays a big part. it's hard to have a bad time on a cruise. everyone will have certain preferences over others and will like one ship or cruiseline more than another. with all the competition out there all the cruise lines work hard to stand out from the crowd...each offering a little something different to enhance the experience. with princess it was the movies on deck and the english high tea. getting a chaise around the pool is nearly impossible unless you get there at the crack of dawn and put something on it to hold it. this is a problem on most cruiselines and they should find a way to curtail this. we found this particularly annoying to see a whole deck full of mostly empty chairs lined with towels. all cruiselines should pay attention to this problem. for those of yiou that about to leave on CP have no fear you will have a wonderful time.

[spongerob]

I think you've provided a fair and balanced review, well done. I agree with the sentiment that the Caribbean Princess provides an overall good cruise, but passengers with experience on other ships within the Princess fleet and/or on other lines might notice that some of the finer details are not as well executed and that the total package does not rise to the same standards.

 

Echoing the previous respondent, I also agree that traditional dining is by far the preferred choice if enjoying a well-served meal every evening is something you look forward to. The point that I do not agree with is that automatically adding tips to your account reduces service. I think the blame for any perception of service issues lies more with Anytime Dining itself, where the probability of additional tips is essentially eliminated, and the likelihood that auto-tips will be removed from many accounts "just because".

 

Thanks for your comments!

[bostonlass]

Renee - I couldn't have said all that better myself if I tried!!! I was trying to put into words before how I felt as a whole about the cruise and you nailed it when you said there were things that a seasoned cruiser would notice and that a newbee would not.

 

Also agree about the waitstaff in the PC dining rooms. Seemed like they couldn't wait to get it done but I kept wondering .... for what? Where are they gonna go after it's done??

 

Overall it really was a good time and I think the company (my sister) played a big part in that too. It's true too that you really have to look to have a bad time on a cruise so I also wouldn't say that I didn't have fun 'cause I did. Just wouldn't go back to that particular ship only for the fact that I didn't fall in love with it.

 

I'm looking forward to the Golden. :D

[bdette4]

I thought the review was pretty much up to par.

 

Loved the pool in the back on deck 17. Plenty of lounge chairs, a hottub and small pool and the Morgan bar.

 

Loved the Crooner's bar, especially our guy Simon.

 

The Captain was great. We got to talk with him every night. He loved us Boston ladies and he did get the satellite link working for Game 7 for us.

 

Adriana (the after dinner drinks) person was phenominal and Bryan at Guest Services was always helpful. Especially since my key got deactivated at least once a day.

 

All in all we (8 of us) had a great time. All I would just tell everyone to double, triple and even quadruple check your reservations for the two specialty restaurants. Our Sterling reservation was almost stolen by another group as they tried to use our cabin number, they got caught. And as for Sabatinis' I confirmed it myself twice and they screwed it up by saying it was for the day before and wouldn't have anything until 10 that night, but the moment we went down to services to file a complaint, a table opened up. The only other bad thing that happened was my friend's husband ordered flowers to be delivered on the day of their anniversary as a surprise since he was back home and they never appeared.

[DNCButler]

I totally agree with the review-well done! The first night we tried the Coral dining room and it was a bad experience. The second night we went to the Palm and had much better service but very stuffy. The third night they messed up our reservation big time and just as I was about to blow up, the Head Waiter got us a table that was accessible for my husband. This was the best thing that happened for us because we got the best waiter and assistant (Nicholas and Zuzana) and dinners for the rest of the week were fantastic! Adriana was our best friend for the week too! She would come in and say hello when we would sit down and as soon as we ordered dessert she was there, how many sets of glasses did you all get??!! (BIG GRIN!) Here is a hint for breakfast and lunch service in the dining room. If you are receiving poor service-pick up the comment card (on each table with the servers name on it) and ask the waiter for a pen. It was AMAZING how quickly he remembered that we actually ordered food and brought it to us!

 

My biggest frustration was with how often we would be told no we can't do that for you. One morning you could order eggs and the next you couldn't. Photo's that we needed more of couldn't be reprinted without taking my original that I already paid for and writing on the back of that one and making a copy from that. But if you went back and spoke to someone else all you had to do is look it up on their computer! Passenger services couldn't even provide me with a stamp for a postcard! Go figure that one. I asked for a .34 cent stamp and was told "this is the U.S." and she told the young man to give me a .23 cent stamp. I tried to explain that I WAS aware that St. Thomas was U.S. and that I really wanted the postcard to get back home and could she just sell me a .34 cent stamp anyway and...are you ready for this? SHE SAID NO!! My postcard still isn't here. There were a lot of other things like that but I also have to say that the ship holds 3110 passengers and we were told that we had over 3400 on board with us. I'm sure that had something to do with why service was so much worse than we expected. Lines for everything-Elevators were the worst as posted earlier. Still had a great time though. A cruise is what you make of it. Cold coffee 3 out of the first 4 mornings-we went to the dining room for breakfast after that.

 

I'm curious to see what you all thought of the beer chugging contest during the pool olympics. I was a bit shocked to see that and thought it was something I'd expect to see on another cruise line but not on Princess.

 

Still had a great time but would not do this ship again due to the size.

 

Carol

[DNCButler]

Go see Bert Stratton! This guy is so talented and funny-go early to get a good seat though. And the comedian was so funny-can't remember his name though-I think someone posted it earlier.

[cruzenmama]

Renee's review was exactly what I would have said. However, we took the traditional dining and were VERY pleased with our servers. We were in the Island dining room and they were very accomodating for our wheelchair friend. They even carried him to the table as it was up one step. I wasn't thrilled with the first show in the theatre. We didn't go to the second one because we didn't want to have to get there an hour early and wait.

 

All in all, it was a terrific cruise.

[bostonlass]

Jeanne Marie - tell your friend in the wheelchair that my sister and I said hi!!! He had the cutest dimples and we still talk about what a nice guy he is!

[DNCButler]

I think that for us we should have just done the traditional dining instead of personal choice. Not to say that it's bad just didn't work out for our small group. Glad to hear they took such good care of your friend!

 

Carol

[cruzenmama]

I would love to keep in touch with everyone...

 

my e-mail is cruzenmama@aol.com

[JUST ADD WATER]

Everyone:

 

Thanks for the nice comments about our review. To be truthful I was a little afraid of posting a less than glowing review, even if it was the truth. I have seen people get slammed and accused of being overly difficult passingers if they say something less than perfect. I tried to be fair and I am glad everyone was OK with that.

 

Interestingly MOST of the people who have replied to this post have been people on the ship with me. This is good as it means some (not all) of our experiences were "universal". Makes it easier when I see others had the same feelings as we did.

 

I forgot to mention a few things in my first post. Random thoughts, but may be helpful to others.

 

We had D735, an aft balcony cabin. The room was the same size as a regular room, but the balcony was HUGE! We had a table and 4 chairs plus 2 "sunning" chairs and a lounger all on the deck and still had room. This was a fantastic room and if we sail a Grand class ship (Grand/Golden/etc) we will try to get again. In-Laws had E617 and it was nice. The window is right between the 2 lifeboats so they had a pretty clear view out even though obstructed.

 

I agree the first production show was not as good as the second, but I thought both were worth seeing.

 

Casino not bad. We still lost overall, but hit a few small "jackpots" along the way to keep us going.

 

Gameroom (Deck 5) was nice and had several different games to choose from. We played Clue, Scrabble, and Monopoly in the late evenings and it was fun. Never have time to do those things at home it seems.

 

I also saw lots of folks being told "No" for stupid stuff. I agree with the "it depends on who was there" comments. After 3 days of ordering Caeser salad at lunch, my husband was told "No, not avalible until dinner" on Day 4. Even when he politely said, "But I had it the last 3 days in THIS dining room for lunch", no effort was made to get him a salad.

 

Never had a "Head Waiter" check on our table at any meal we ate in the dining rooms. Often saw the manager of Caribe Cafe and he kept a good eye on that area. We are used to Celebrity where you can hardly eat for the people checking to see if you are happy with the food and service!

 

Announcemets-MAKE THEM STOP!!! I can read so if I wanted to play Bingo I would be there...just IMO!

 

In-Laws had a wonderful Room Steward who treated them great.

 

Again if you have a specific question we'll try to answer it. happy cruising no matter what ship you choose!

[Julia’s Journey’s]

Thanks for the review, have been on the Grand twice and the CP sounds quiet crowded compared to that, would probably choose Golden before CP. Thanks for your insight.

[beachlovergirl]

We were also on the 10/16 cruise and agree with the review except for a few things.

 

I guess we were just lucky but we never had to wait for an elevator for more than a few minutes.

 

We really enjoyed the Palm Dining Room and our waiters, Teodur from Romania and his assistant, Joey. As soon as we got on the ship I called the Concierge and set up a 7:00 pm table for 2 for every evening. We were given table 62. The first night they were both very efficient but quiet. The second evening they recognized us and I told them I requested them for the remainer of the cruise. Well that did it! From then on they treated us like royalty every night and we had lots of laughs with them and with the people at nearby tables. The Concierge also made our reservations for Sterlings and the Movies Under the Stars. He had a printout of all of our ressies sent up to our cabin. Sterlings was excellent and a must do! We celebrated our anniversary here one night and then had a nice dinner with some of our Cruise Critic group on another night. Thought the filet mignon was excellent. Watching Shrek at the MUTS was a lot of fun. We got lounge chairs on one of the upper decks since it was sooo hot that night and enjoyed a little breeze up there. No need for the blankets that night!

 

We went to the Welcome Aboard show and thought it was painful ! I didn't think the singers nor the band were very good. We didn't go to any other production show after that. I've really noticed a decline in the quality of the shows. Not just Princess either. We were on the Adventure of the Seas in March and were disappointed in their shows as well. Nothing like they used to be!! We loved the comedian, Scott Wyler and went to all his shows, he was very funny. Loved Club Fusion, and enjoyed Princess Idol, watching karaoke and the horse races held there. Another favorite place for us was Explorers Lounge....the not so newlywed game was a hoot! Got to spend time talking to Devonish in the Explorers Lounge and he is the nicest guy! Apparently they rotate them from week to week because he was going to be in Churchills, the cigar bar, this week.

 

Spent a lot of evenings at the casino and it was very good to us!!! Roulette: made $250 for me, $150 for DH the first evening, then around $100+ each night. Only lost my initial $40 one night.

 

We liked the Spa pool the best and had no problem finding lounge chairs nor getting drinks! DH also bought the soda sticker and insulated Coke mug and we were surprised but we really got our money's worth and the mug really kept it cold!

 

We were in Cabin D416, a Category AA mini-suite....near elevators....great location and very quiet. Cabin stewart was Willy and he was very efficient and a good personality too. Always smiling....knew our names and always greeted us with a big smile, etc.

 

We had a nice time at our Cruise Critic party at Outriggers....thanks to Jeanne-Marie for the picture! It was so nice to run into everyone throughout the week.....Angela, Dawn, Bernadette, Diane, Jeanne-Marie, and of course, Bob (Bahamapapa)! Congrats to Angela on winning the free cruise....way to go girl!!!!

 

Overall, we had a great time and even made an open booking for a future cruise.

 

Dee

[S.S.Oceanlover]

JustAddWater,

I think your review was very balanced. There is no point in doing a review if you're not going to be honest which I felt you were.

 

Would you mind if I put your review on my website?

 

Bill

[JUST ADD WATER]

Bill: I am SO sorry I did not see anyone had replied after the last time I looked. It would be fine for you to put our review on your site. I have learn a lot from the many folks before me who took the time to post a review. Let the cycle continue! :)

[Rustynail]

I appreciate you honestly in providing us with both the good and bad aboard. I'm a little worried about the PC dining but I guess it's worth a try right?

 

Thanks again.

[S.S.Oceanlover]

Bill: I am SO sorry I did not see anyone had replied after the last time I looked. It would be fine for you to put our review on your site. I have learn a lot from the many folks before me who took the time to post a review. Let the cycle continue! :)

 

Justaddwater,

No problem. I'll add it asap.

 

Thank you

Bill