**Live on the CB** Mutiny?

[Crown Prince]

I too would like to know where the Mutiny angle fits in.

HI, KEITH,

I agree. As a journalist, you would think that he could have created a more descriptive title for this thread. ;)

[spongerob]

HI, KEITH,

I agree. As a journalist, you would think that he could have created a more descriptive title for this thread. ;)

He got a lot of people to read it. :) Kind of like using the ":mad: " as a message icon. Works every time it's tried.

[elisa456]

Thought I would put my 2 cents in!

 

First cruise was Sapphire - loved it - granted, we had a balcony room, on our honeymoon, ship just came out in june of that year, Alaska itinerary. met people of all age groups, the majority of passengers were retired - I'd say 60+.

 

Star - last 5 day cruise Princess did i think in November 2006 - flight late so we missed the ship in Ft Lauderdale, met the next morning in Nassau (4 day cruise!). ship was fine, people were about the same age groups, but maybe more around our age (mid to late 30's) since it was a Caribbean cruise.

 

Crown - NE/Canada 9/07 - DH and I personally thought the ship a bit too big, and there was definite wear showing (mini golf, upper decks). food was good, people were great, majority of passengers were of the retired age group, met a super funny guy in the casino from NJ and I called him New Jersey and he called me Nebraska. He was very nice! DH and I said we probably wouldn't book the Crown again, but what do I do????

 

10/19/2008 - NE/Canada - on the Caribbean Princess!! It was too good a price to pass up- I swear! So I'll have to wait and see.

 

One story about a rude passenger on Sapphire - she was probably in her 40's, so just a few yrs older than me. There was a line for the pizza and I overheard the crewmember say it would be a few more minutes for xx pizza. Well, i wanted Margherita pizza, which i could see, so I move up to ask for it. This "lady" said "i wish people understood what a line meant" and i looked at her and apologized and explained that i thought everyone was waiting for the xx pizza. she told me if i waited in line, i would have figured it out. so i get my pizza and go over to my husband and tell him about this person, and i admit, i called her a b**ch to my husband. Well, she was sitting near and said, i can hear you! I told her that i didn't think i was going to change my mind and left the area. Fortunately, it was the day before we dismebarked, but my, was she crabby!!!

 

I think going forward, we will stick to the Sapphire/Diamond size ships or may even try another line. We are definitely not into the party/drinking ships, so we may avoid Carnival - all the younger people. I would like to try Royal Caribbean, but time will tell!

 

The comments about "older" passengers?? I personally love cruising with the older folks - that would be anyone older than DH and I - but I love the 60's plus group. They have great stories and are very fun and funny! My dad is 75 and he has gotten alot less patient as he's gotten older, but it amuses me and I try to accommodate him if i can. Most of the passengers will still be up longer than my DH - he poops out at 10 or 11pm each night!

 

We are going to be on the BAJA deck - anyone know about the AC on that deck?? I was planning on bringing a small fan on board in case the room is warm (inside room - again, $$$). I'm leaving the fan and using the space to pack souveneirs on the way back. We also tend to eat later in the evening and have Anytime dining (scary), will it be that bad? Probably will eat around 8 - 9pm. I can always send my DH down for a beeper while i get ready!

 

Sorry for the long post - can't wait to meet my fellow passengers on the CB. Not so excited about the lines at the buffet, but I can deal with that! I love MUTS too - in the hottub - it will be chilly!!

 

Kim

 

Kim - we were on the Baja deck on the 8/24/08 cruise and the AC worked fine, sometimes a little too well that I turned in down a few times; but I get cold easily. We were in the middle of the ship so I don't know if that would make a difference. As far as going late to anytime dining, you should be fine. We sometimes made reservations at 8 to guarantee that we would walk right in but we occassionally got there 15 minutes earlier or so and there was never any wait. We usually ate later too.

[bubbadog]

I frequent these boards for up-to-date information before every cruise we take. I consider this a very valuable resource. As I write, we are on the Caribbean Princess en route from Boston to New York, having to skip Newport tomorrow due to tropical storm Hannah.

 

I wanted to write a review of our week now while I’m still onboard and while many of these things are fresh in my mind. Quite honestly, like many here I was concerned in the months leading up to the cruise about the condition of the CB and the number of negative reviews we have seen from those cruising on her.

 

We are, by nature, pretty easy cruisers. When we cruise we do it to relax. We like cruising because the destinations come to us and once aboard there is little in the way of detail we have to worry ourselves with. We consciously choose to avoid most typical cruise activities -- such as formal night, onboard entertainment and activities etc because we like things really unstructured. By nature we are patient consumers and tend to give people the benefit of the doubt. In fact, if I had to rightfully describe ourselves I’d say we’re just a poor couple from Utah with 7 kids who cruise every now and again to “escape completely”, which means NOT stressing whether or not things are perfect on our cruise. We roll with the punches pretty well.

 

That being said, be prepared for another critical review of the CB. We have had a good time overall and that’s just because we were going to have a good time regardless. Princess really could have contributed to that if they were on top of things. But things are, frankly, slightly off on the CB.

 

Embarkation: Smooth as silk. Princess has this down compared to other cruise lines. We breezed in within minutes and were by the pool by 1:15pm on departure day. The ship by all initial appearances looks great. Yes, there are areas where time and use are showing. Perhaps that is why dry docked is scheduled. But as you read below, there are clearly other issues with this vessel.

 

Accommodations: For the first time ever we spent a little money. We didn’t get a suite but we did get a Lido deck room with a balcony. On the whole, this has been well worth the money. We find the level of service we get here on top versus what we have had over the years down around the Plaza level to be much better and more attentive. We like the convenience of being near everything and the views have been spectacular. Our one complaint about the rooms are the worn beds. Yes, our steward -- Hedy, for those keeping track -- has met our every needed expeditiously and with a bright, cheerful countenance. We have shared many laughs with her and will reward her good attention. But despite the extra pillows, the egg crate mattress topper, etc she can’t make up for the fact that the beds cause scoliosis. C’mon Princess, replace the dang beds. Also, the much rumored issues with the air conditioning are very much real. We have been fine for the most part keeping our door open during extended stays in the room. But day and night we have endured ship maintenance personnel servicing rooms around us in the hallways and in other staterooms. We returned from dinner one night to find him in our room leaving a note explaining that our air was now “all fixed”. I told him that I hadn’t complained, that we were just living with it. He apologized when he realized that he had clearly serviced the wrong room. I did tell him that we had issues, so that his time wasn’t wasted but in a small fit of frustration he admitted that he was simply worn out from all these air conditioning issues. Our itinerary has kept us pretty cool -- but the air conditioning is definitely an issue here on the forward areas of the Lido deck.

 

Food: This is my largest area of complaint with this cruise. Overall, we feel compared to past Princess cruises we have taken this is by far the most disappointing experience we have ever had on a cruise ship. Part of the problem stems from the fact that this ship is sold out. There are approximately 3100 people, not counting the crew, aboard, we are told. And the sheer logistics of that are not being managed well by Princess. On Sunday I tried making reservations at various venues -- the only thing available then was Friday night (tonight!), which is a formal night. Since we’re conscientious objectors to formal night we tend to lay low on those nights and stay in our room anyway. But every other night we have tried to use either of the dining rooms we have had one option only -- eat after 9:30pm or wait an hour or more. In fact, we had to laugh on Monday during the first formal night as we headed dutifully to the buffet we found lots of gowns and tuxes ahead us in line. My wife nudged me nervously and suggested that we had missed something because we had never seen formal wear in the buffet before. But a lady overheard us and told us to relax -- that they gave up waiting to get into the dining rooms and headed upstairs to just eat at a reasonable time. They were sorely disappointed and we heard this from many that night.

 

The buffets, however, aren’t being managed at all. Only one area is open at any given time. For the life of me, with more than 3000 on board, why they would ever close down the Horizon Court completely is beyond me. But they do it all the time. Café Caribe is open when the Horizon is closed, but it gets so over run that you can’t get a table and most of the food selection is nil. I’ve never seen this on a Princess ship before and it happens every night.

 

I know you can’t count on service in the buffet areas but is it asking too much for the stewards there to simply look for when you need water? We have had to ask for it every time. There are glasses on the table and full pitchers sitting at stations everywhere. But they have to be asked. Is this something new?

 

Getting a table at various times in the buffet is an experience we have never had trouble with before. I am certain it is because the Horizon Court spends so much of it’s time “down”. Breakfast, lunch or dinner it is the same thing -- everyone wants to eat at the same time but only one buffet line is open. You can’t even go to Café Caribe when one of the Horizon sides is closed. It is one line and one line only ALL THE TIME. Why? That means everyone crowds into one area and fights for tables. They won’t even open the table space in Café Caribe or the other side of the Horizon Court. They block access to those tables off. What gives?

 

We’ve never seen that before.

 

Couple that with the collective shortcomings of the passengers on this cruise (see below), and you’ve got a fascinating study in human behavior. I keep looking for hidden cameras to see if someone is in fact doing research on us.

 

Between the screwed up pile ups in the regular dining rooms and the one-sided mentality of the buffets getting a timely meal on a ship this full is an issue -- at every meal.

 

Then there is the food itself. Much of it is good. But too much of it is the same. We haven’t seen a breakfast yet that was any different from one day to the next. The same runny eggs, the same dry toast, the same Banana Museli, the same pastries are there every day. I got so desperate for something different I ordered room service for breakfast. I got cereal (sugar free mini wheats) without millk. Yum.

 

We are on night #5 of the cruise and it is the third night this week of the seafood buffet. I love shrimp and chowder as much as the next guy but can’t we shake it up a little? (You know, if they had more of those buffets running this wouldn’t be an issue…).

 

I am not one to get all giddy about the food on a cruise like some are. But

Princess has really blown it here in my view.

 

As for the other food venues -- pizza (good), burgers (not-so-good) and ice cream (great) -- they have their place now and then but when you start looking to them more than you should just to get access to something to eat then that is symptomatic of bigger issues. And for me, the food service on this ship just isn’t being managed correctly. Pure and simple.

 

Other food issues: don’t buy the soda card. I did it for convenience sake. But you cannot get a coke that isn’t flat the second it is given to you. I’ve tried it all over the ship. If you get it out of can, you’re ok. Otherwise, getting ready for flat syrupy yuck. Oh, and the guys at the bars near the pool areas -- if they know you have that sticker on your card -- they serve you last. I have endured this all week to the point of complaint -- which is something I never do. But I could only take so much of it. I’d be there standing and waiting for acknowledgement but the “paying” customers always came first. I ended up going to the passenger services desk and having a conversation about it.

 

Ports of Call: We have longed to do the Canada/New England run for a long time and it is absolutely as advertised. We especially wanted to avoid the warmer weather of the Caribbean or Mexico this time of year and we appreciated English-speaking ports. We also wanted to avoid issues with hurricanes. Alas, as luck would have it, we’re missing Newport tomorrow and heading straight into New York due to tropical storm Hannah.

 

Whodathunkit. But we cannot complain about where we have been. Each port has been exciting and we’ve been busy every day of this cruise.

 

Shore Excursions: We booked plenty through Princess and cancelled most of them. Two reasons: the after tours we had didn’t allow much time. We found ourselves rushed through them because the ship had to get out of dodge by 4pm each day. Big bummer. Also, the tour company they hooked up with, at least in Halifax, was pretty lame. We looked forward to the Titanic Museum tour but found the guide lacking severely, the museum itself had maybe ten minutes of stuff to look at and most of the cited sources for the Titanic stories told at the cemetery seemed to come from other passengers. Lame. In St. John, we set out on our own and had a fabulous time. Great stop. Bar Harbor was beautiful but what a tourist trap. Avoid the town, unless you like that kind of thing, and head out to Acadia or the other sites. In Boston our time was swallowed up by a tour of the presidential libraries of John Adams and JFK. Like the earlier tour, the guide was a real poop. But the venues were awesome and it was a good four hours spent in each place. This is a great, great itinerary and we plan to take it again to hit all the places we just haven’t had time to see.

 

Passengers: I have to make note of this. This is the 2nd time we have sailed out of New York on Princess. On the whole, we find the east coast crowd a fun bunch -- as long as they are not too old or too rich. This cruise, for whatever reason, is really, really old. We’re 44 and I swear we are the youngest on the boat. I’ve never seen it this bad before. Normally, we mix just fine with older folks but these people are just downright mean on this cruise. Some of it is inflicted by Princess’ lack of control over the food. I’ve never seen a crowd like this that prefers early dining. But given their age, I understand it. It could be a combination of the itinerary, the New York start and return, the time of year or all of this and more -- but the relaxed atmosphere you look for on a cruise just isn’t here. These people are uptight. They complain about everything -- the food, the elevators, the weather (always too hot or too cold), the sound (too low), and especially EACH OTHER. I have never seen so many adults acting like children on a cruise before. I have to tell this story. Today on the bus at the JFK library, we were rushing to get back to the ship and this couple, who had to be in their late 60s or early 70s, held everyone up taking pictures of each other in front of the library. Fine, whatever. They were the last on the bus but when they got there the old dude was absolutely wetting his pants that someone else was sitting in the same seat he occupied on the way in. It was a tour bus, open seating as they like to say. There were two perfectly good seats waiting for them once they got on board. But this guy had kittens and to the astonishment of nearly everyone he actually went to the tour guide and said “That guy took our seats!”. It was the most embarrassing thing I have ever seen in my life.

 

And I have seen things like that all week. In the dining room one night I watched a man and his wife argue about a fork. Loudly, Archie Bunker style. I’ve never seen behavior like this on a cruise ship. It amuses me more than anything else. It hasn’t ruined the cruise for me. But I’m going to think hard about the next time we want to sail New England, who we sail it with and when.

 

Unfortunately today we had a fellow passenger pass away. As we returned breathlessly from our tour and headed to get some lunch we heard them announce a Code Alpha to Deck 12. I told my wife that couldn’t be good news. Sure enough, within an hour the captain shared the twin news that we weren’t going to Rhode Island tomorrow and that we were not leaving Boston on time because of a medical emergency.

 

We were back in the room and watching, with half the ship it seemed, the drama unfold below us on the dock. We finally got out of town around sunset after the captain announced that the passenger had indeed passed away. So sad. I just hope it wasn’t one of those fighting couples whose last words to each other were bitter on a cruise ship.

 

Miscellaneous: The cookies on the cruise are great. The photographers are the least intrusive and least pushy we have encountered on a cruise. Room service is slow but they do get the details right when you ask for something.

 

I know I’ve stretched for positives here. It is not like me to complain. I won’t stop cruising but I will think twice about taking Princess again. I will definitely go back to the smaller ships if we can, as it seems we have fewer issues and a better experience overall when we do.

 

We have still had a great time and for me just being alone with my wife without the kids or distraction of work is worth it even if we had to wash all the dishes on the boat. It has still been a great time and one we’ll never forget.

 

I just wanted to give a heads up here because for months ahead of this cruise I used this board for my own information in making plans for it to be as fun as it has been. If you sail the CB in the weeks and months ahead, have a plan and have plenty of patience.

 

 

i just got off of explorer of the seas, a new england/canada cruise,and we had exactly the same age group,same behavior,i felt like telling alot of them,that they needed to grow up,and send them back to their stateroom for the rest of the day,because they can't behave,and act like little children:rolleyes:

thanks for the review:));)

[KLLund]

We have cruised the Sapphire twice and are booked on it again next may .. and we cruised the Caribbean Princess once. We noticed immediately and continuously how much more crowded it was. We were cruising with a large group, none of whom had cruised on the similar ship without the 500 extra passengers and they did not feel crowded at all ... So it is all in perception and experience I think.

We enjoyed the Caribbean Princess but were very glad we had traditional dining .. so never an issue on dinner. I will say though that I MUCH prefer the Sapphire with the same public spaces and less passengers.

[DLern]

Just home from the 8/31 cruise - had a great time; was everything perfect - no , but nothing ever is;

 

Was the crowd old - depends on how you define old -- I think it is great to meet people of all ages from all backgrounds and from different parts of the country --

 

Yes there were some problems but no cruise ever pleases everyone --

 

To answer one post - the Commodore did announce the death of a passenger --

 

Yes we missed Newport - Cruise Staff managed to put together a full program in place of the port --

 

Still trying to figure out the "mutiny" part of the original post.

 

 

Deanna (who is not old but is from New York City)

[Clutterlady]

Just home from the 8/31 cruise - had a great time; was everything perfect - no , but nothing ever is;

 

Was the crowd old - depends on how you define old -- I think it is great to meet people of all ages from all backgrounds and from different parts of the country --

 

Yes there were some problems but no cruise ever pleases everyone --

 

To answer one post - the Commodore did announce the death of a passenger --

 

Yes we missed Newport - Cruise Staff managed to put together a full program in place of the port --

 

Still trying to figure out the "mutiny" part of the original post.

 

 

Deanna (who is not old but is from New York City)

 

Deanna, thanks for some clarifications:)

[pretenda]

For this well balanced review - at least you have been honest. I read it out loud to my DH and parts of it are hilariously funny, as I expect you intended it to be.

 

We are sorry to hear of the fatality, what a horrible thing to happen. Our thoughts of with family.

 

Glenda and Tony

[tequilasunrise]

We have been on the Emerald which is the same size as the CB and have not had any problems with food service or diversity or quality. It seems to be a curse that exists on the CB only - maybe instead of drydock they should scuttle the ship.

 

Ron

 

I agree. I haven't sailed CB and thus can't make a personal judgement. However, the reason I have avoided her is because the Grand seemed almost crowded to me, so I figured adding a deck of passengers WITHOUT changing the public room capacity or layout would be a problem. And, trips on CB seem to cost just as much as any other so why not choose something else? Emerald and her sisters have the same passenger numbers, but appear to have been better designed to hold and entertain them. It might be time to just cut their losses and sell her off.

 

And I've read so many reviews that support my thoughts...

 

BTW to the OP---I would expect that itinerary to appeal to older people. If you want younger folks to hang out with, on Princess, try school breaks, and go Caribbean or Mexican Riviera 7 day. That being said, one of my favorite memories is one of their old, small, now retired ships, with a total of 6 passengers less than 60 sailing (unless they were hiding, no kidding--I was in my 30's and one of the youngest). We partied with the young crew every night while the older folks slept. And some of our fellow passengers had great stories from when cruising was young. Very fun!

[Colo Cruiser]

HI, KEITH,

I agree. As a journalist, you would think that he could have created a more descriptive title for this thread. ;)

 

 

I hear ya. ;)

[JanMD]

I agree with the orginal poster. I am 45 and there were many old people on the cruise. We excepted this. It was the scooters that were so bad. We had a NY elderly man with his wife in a WC with her legs straight out. We were on the elevator and hit deck 7 aft heading to the palm dinning room. The elevator was full- he pushed her into the elevator and everyone started to yell- and he said 2 people have to get off now. I have been waiting. I finally said have you ever heard of elevator etiquette?

 

Another issue was the anytime dinning- palm- they refused to take reservations- have no clue- why- they had people sitting at a table of 8 where there was only 2 people.

 

Never had a problem using the soda card.

 

The engine didn't want to start up on Wed. night- St. John-- they said it was a engine issue.. We were sitting right above it and it didn't want to start up properly and after 40 minutes it finally started.

 

The weather in St. John- the rain started at 12:30. We had rain that afternoon and again in NY once we docked.

We had 2 tugs holding us against the pier- less gas. We did move at 5:00 this morning to the terminal.

 

It was very easy to get in/out of the city by parking in the lot beside the terminal.

 

To get the luggage-- as the management says on board- they hate coming in/out of NY- union workers- thus the delay on getting the luggage off after the walk offs. We are elite and was watching them in the terminal taking the luggage off- not 1 worker went to the bathroom but all 3 of them.. Union- had to take there 15 minute breaks.

 

The one issue was very disturbing was the circle party lady was very, very nasty. I am elite and only the top 20 got invited to the cocktail hour. She siad that there were 1,700 pass. pax. 4 parties. I said okay- this is just a cocktail hour- no longer the lunch. I said this is not nice pr. She said well- wirte a letter to the head office and make sure YOU spell my name correct. I said back to her-- YOU ARE A VERY RUDE PERSON. Needless to say the letter will be writen. I was very pleasent with her and there was NO reason for that type of behavoir. If I acted like that on my job- I would be written up asap.

 

For the people that are going- just remember the ship only has 5 engines. That was another reason to bring the ship back earlier.

 

happy sailing

Jan

[Colo Cruiser]

The engine didn't want to start up on Wed. night- St. John-- they said it was a engine issue.. We were sitting right above it and it didn't want to start up properly and after 40 minutes it finally started.happy sailing

Jan

 

 

Must be bad gas.

[spongerob]

Must be bad gas.

Try some Pepto.

[edzachary]

Just got home. Gotta say I'm amazed at the ongoing critique of the those who post their reviews here on this board. In the course of this thread I have been called a liar, accused of bigotry and have endured a critique of my professional skills.

 

Sheesh, people -- get over yourselves. This was one simple, friendly review of a week at sea -- a snapshot in time! Your milage may vary. I was merely confirming some of the things I had read in the weeks and months in advance of our cruise. I was giving back.

 

Quite honestly, I write for a lot of websites and I participate in a great many forums and online venues but this site is one I've only really trolled because of behavior like this here.

 

It was my opinion. It was our experience. Take it for what it is worth. It certainly didn't warrant a personal attack.

 

So, finally, to straighten some of you more uptight souls here, let's get these things straight:

 

1. The mutiny reference was the result of the non-stop whining we heard from ADULTS who were old enough to know better but too immature to care. People were surly on this cruise. Not my fault, just an observation.

 

2. I love old people. Always have. Get along with them great.

 

3. The air didn't work well on the CB -- as many others here have noted over the past several months.

 

4. Food service was an ongoing issue.

 

5. Anytime dining became set-dining because you really couldn't eat any time you wanted to because Princess closed many venues at peak periods.

 

6. The Commodore announced the passing of a passenger. I am not a liar. I have his announcement, coincidentally, on video tape. Sheesh.

 

7. For the record, I'm still a hiring manager, I have hundreds of people who work for me and I have an exemplary record working with people of all types. I teach interpersonal skills, work as a career counselor, am active with church, scouting and a world-wide organization of Santa Clauses. Why any of this should be up for review on a cruise board is lost on me just because I made note of the BEHAVIOR of a certain age demographic on THIS cruise. Good lord.

 

8. A note on the handicap, wheel chair and scooter access on and off the boat - yeah, that's an issue. We tendered in Bar Harbor and they had separate decks for those with mobility issues...and it worked out great. I would have thought they would have done that in getting off the ship today. But no -- for all their organization Princess made no accomodation for that mad-dash at the end of the cruise and I saw several folks struggling today -- with their aged compatriots complaining about them along the way and nothing was done within the system to help them. Sad and unnecessary. Again, this is the FIRST time we've seen this on a Princess ship.

 

Ok, so there we have it. Close the thread. I'll worry about coming back to this board when I get ready for our next cruise...and I'll remember not to share my experience next time. I thought it would benefit others but clearly there are elements here who get their jollies bashing those who try to helpfully participate.

[2good2b]

I enjoyed your review and found it to be very helpful because I will be on the same cruise Oct 5th. And you are sooooo right...so many people get their jollies bashing others on this site. I read a lot of the threads but post very little because of the way some people attack! Thanks for the time you spent on reporting...I appreciate you!!:)

[skellis]

The nasty Captain's Circle representative didn't happen to be a British woman named Pamela did she. I have had her on two cruises and she was unhelpful and snotty. In 25 cruises she was the only one I ever thought was less than fantastic.

[dcrow72]

thank you for your honest review. I enjoyed reading it and it certainly helps us prepare for our upcoming cruise. I didn't think you were bashing the elderly folks, just stating what you observed on board. I agree that posting anything negative in this forum results in the same folks bashing anyone with a negative comment. You see the same bashings by mostly the same names in many threads. This should be a sharing environment with understanding that people are entitled to their opinion without being personally chastised. I'm embarassed that humans feel the need to launch a personal assault on someone's character who relays a bit of negativity. Is this a place to share opinions, ask questions, etc or just a place to post commendations and sing the praises of Princess? I have no negative experiences but I enjoy reading those of others to help me prepare for problems. I don't like reading personal assaults on the character of the poster. I still anxiously await my sailing on the CB next month regardless of what anyone posts; I will never dread a vacation or cancel it because of one person's opinion, but we have to admit that there's been a common theme here all summer regarding the CB. I appreciate the heads up on the problems and just hope they are resolved. The other positive thing about posting the negatives is that management admits to reading these boards and maybe that helps them with fixing the problems. Thanks for the review and don't take it personally.

[spongerob]

Just got home. Gotta say I'm amazed at the ongoing critique of the those who post their reviews here on this board. In the course of this thread I have been called a liar, accused of bigotry and have endured a critique of my professional skills.

I thought your review was just fine. You used punctuation, real words, and paragraphs, a rare thing on the internet. You were honest without insulting anyone. Kudos!

[CMM]

Thank you for your review!

 

It has me a bit scared of what is ahead of me on my trip, but appreciate it all the same.

Parts of it made me chuckle the way people behave. Both on your sailing and on these boards. I think some really have issues in not being able to hear anything short of a glowing report. Childlike in a lot of ways.

[Clutterlady]

Gotta agree, the "mutiny" comment got a lot of people worked up!!! Anyway, thank you for your honest review. Although some may not agree with you about the CB, you called it as you saw it and that's ok:)

[Iamcruzin]

Thanks for your review. Sorry you had a bad experience. We sailed on CB in May of 2006 and had the time of our life. The ship was fully booked but we didn’t experience any of the problems you did. Like you we are pretty easy to please even though we are from Long Island NY. Being 47 and having lived here all of my life I have to agree with you on your assessment of New Yorkers. However it does not limit itself to the old folks. Unfortunately, it affects people of all ages. I think it is due to overcrowding. We fight for a seat on the bus, a parking spot, and God forbid anyone will allow you to merge in bottle neck traffic. It’s just a part of our life. I have thought about sailing out of New York just to save money on air fare but after reading so many bad experiences I think I will stick to Ft Lauderdale. We will be sailing on CB Nov 9th to the Southern Caribbean. My son was granted a wish from the Make a Wish Foundation so the trip is free. I guess I waived my right to complain and will have to leave my NY attitude at home. I am long overdue for an attitude adjustment any way. A November sailing is going to be a new experience for us. We usually like to sail in May. The weather is nice and there seems to be a good balance of people of all ages.

[Mom33]

"2. I love old people. Always have. Get along with them great.

"

 

Perhaps you could have reviewed the cruise and not made statements such as:

 

"On the whole, we find the east coast crowd a fun bunch -- as long as they are not too old or too rich. This cruise, for whatever reason, is really, really old. We’re 44 and I swear we are the youngest on the boat. I’ve never seen it this bad before. "

 

I would have appreciated you review without your age related bias.

[Minoushka]

WE were on CB in March and July of this year .I did not find the same problems the OP described although some similar problems did happen .AC worked when it wanted to and I noticed not most PM but we were out so it did not matter and cabin was a tad warm on our return.Opened balcony...problem solved .Our itinerary was altered due to engine problems ..DIASAPPOINTING...YES Catastrophic ...NO

We had late dining -great service ,great location as I requested near a window for just the 4 of us

Loved the food except sausage night in Puerto Rico .I basically did not eat that night -missed dinner in dining room went to buffet all kinds of sausages were offered .I do not care for pork...but I did not starve

Loved Caribe buffet,always ate outdoors in aft section

Loved Caribe deck balcony

Will return with Princess .Love MUTS

I love to cruise it beats working...staying home or winter blahhs

Sorry to OP for not liking it .Better luck next time

[CruisinChris]

Opened balcony...problem solved

 

Not really! You may not realize it - but open doors (balconies or even those used for embarking and disembarking) tax the AC and mess it up. Better for all to keep the door shut. (not to mention to potential hazard of drawing something into the room by the vacuum created by the open door and the ship's speed. Just imagine a wayward cigarette butt being drawn in through your open door and igniting your curtains or carpet. one only has to think about the Star incident to realize the danger. not to mention that if there were an exterior fire, your open door would draw the fire into the ship.) Nope. Keep it closed.

[sofi]

edzachary, I totally second everything you said about this cruise and understand why you feel attacked when not only are your opinions dismissed out of hand, but you are even accused of lying about the Captain's announcement of the death of a passenger. Says more about the mentality of the accuser. What on earth is wrong with an individual who wants to be a cheerleader for Princess whether or not they know what they're talking about and no matter what valid ground for complaint exists? Hello, take out a billboard ad, don't come here. This site is called CruiseCRITIC! I wish I had had the good fortune to read your well-founded review before I went on this cruise.