Pros & Cons of Caribbean Princess

Possibly looking @ booking CB...but heard a lot of bad reviews, such as mold and flooding in cabins. Looking @ doing 30 or more days and worried about being in a situation which we have no control over. Cruised many times with Princess and have been 150% happy. Realize it is a ship @ sea and things happen; however, flooding of the cabin would not be a "happy" moment.

We are cruisers who love the Emerald and after 2016 it will not be an option for the Caribbean.

Any thoughts...good or bad...would be welcome. Thanks so much.

The CB is just OK....some problems since it an older ship but it's still nice.

Why don't you take a look at the newer Royal since it will also be in the Caribbean? It has some feature we don't really love but it's still a much nicer ship.

The CB is just OK....some problems since it an older ship but it's still nice.

Why don't you take a look at the newer Royal since it will also be in the Caribbean? It has some feature we don't really love but it's still a much nicer ship.

Nice Guy,

Thanks for the response. We WISH the Royal had covered balconies on the back suites and no soot and the same deep depth of balconies, along with the promenade being able to walk around, we would book that ship if those items were covered and private. My brother in law booked a full suite and said that the lounge chairs had to face each other and could not be faced out to sea and could barely get around them...this is not acceptable to us. We love being at sea and looking out at the ocean. If those items were done on the Royal or Regal we would cruise her.

We don't understand that the Royal/Regal are having problems with these aft suites and giving substantial refunds...how is that a good business decision? I would think they would rethink this.

We are afraid that 2016 on the Emerald will be our last cruise due to our liking of the covered aft suites and the Grand class ships to the Caribbean.

the last time was due to the itinerary we wanted...last summer

...we had another great cruise on a beautiful ship...

of course there are newer ships. We've also been on Ruby & Royal....

If itinerary was the same, we would pick newer ships...but we almost wound up on CB AGAIN when we almost did a cruise out of Southampton...instead we are going to be on Golden...which was picked due to dates and itinerary...

Bernadette

CB has without a doubt the nicest crew that we have ever sailed with. I know that is not one of your concerns --but if there was a problem I could not think of any other ship that would probably handle it better.

the last time was due to the itinerary we wanted...last summer

 

...we had another great cruise on a beautiful ship...

 

of course there are newer ships. We've also been on Ruby & Royal....

 

If itinerary was the same, we would pick newer ships...but we almost wound up on CB AGAIN when we almost did a cruise out of Southampton...instead we are going to be on Golden...which was picked due to dates and itinerary...

 

Bernadette

Bernadette,

Thanks for your help. We aren't that picky, just looking for deep, covered aft balcony, promenade you can walk and not a history of flooding.

CB has without a doubt the nicest crew that we have ever sailed with. I know that is not one of your concerns --but if there was a problem I could not think of any other ship that would probably handle it better.

Alabaster Cruiser,

Thanks. We have always had good luck with Princess crew. They are the reason we return to Princess.

Mary

We found many among the Caribbean Princess crew on the short cruises we were on seemed as if they were phoning it in. Some appeared to be overly zealous in imagining that passengers were trying to cheat the system when they were not. In fact, among our Princess cruises, we'd put them only ahead of the crew we experienced on the Sun Princess years ago. However, crew changes frequently, more better or worse. I wouldn't let that stop me from booking another cruise on the ship. In fact, we really liked the shopping cart handle for the shade it provided for the Terrace Pool and the almost 360 degree views it allows in Skywalkers.

Last year we were on the Royal, then 6 months later the CB. I honestly couldn't find anything to complain about on the Caribbean Princess. I think you will enjoy it.

We cruised the Caribbean Princess in March. She has her "wrinkles" but is still a classy ship. There were plumbing problems that hopefully are being addressed. Her decor is typical Princess and although there were signs of wear and tear here and there..she is far from being in dire condition.

We did experience a flood in our cabin (one inch of water covered our cabin floor). This was the only time we experienced a mildew smell. A new carpet took care of that. The Passenger Service personnel took longer than needed to completely fix the situation, but eventually everything was taken care of. The entire staff on our 14 day cruise were so polite, helpful and friendly ( except the Passenger Service officer). If the itinerary were right, we would sail her again.

The Caribbean Princess has enough pools for warm weather sailing and more outside viewing areas, especially front and back of ship. The Carib deck has half covered larger balconies and there is an Explorers Lounge and Promenade deck, features missing on the new Royal class ships. We did sail the Royal almost two years ago and were disappointed in her design. Everyone has different expectations to enhance their cruise.

I love the Caribbean Princess for cruising in the Caribbean. Spent two weeks on her last year and could have stayed on for more. Does she show her age...no more than some of the other ships. We had no problems at all with our cabin, loved the crew...one of the best we have had, and really enjoyed the ship overall. Just my opinion but I look forward to sailing on her again. I personally think she should be kept in the Caribbean all year long.

In fact, we really liked the shopping cart handle for the shade it provided for the Terrace Pool and the almost 360 degree views it allows in Skywalkers.

Interesting, as I was going to mention this location too.

I actually don't prefer the position of Skywalkers looming over the Terrace pool. It makes the aft area seem too enclosed in comparison to the ships that have Skywalkers further forward. To me it has kind of a factory fishing trawler look and feel to it. That stated, the ramp entryway to the club and the unobstructed panoramic views provided by that configuration do make for a neat experience.

As for our experience with the ship. We were complimentarily upgraded to a Caribe balcony on our CB sailing, and since then have felt a little chintzed with every other standard balcony we've sailed in.

We did 16 nights on her this spring (March-April) and had probably our best Princess saiking to date. Including one saiking with friends, one saiking with family and a wedding and one on our own to recover.

Fantastic crew, by far the friendliest and happiest of any Princess sailing we've been on. (this was 12, 13 and 14 for me). Excellent CD and his staff, first time we've had a CD that really interacts with the guests outside of official activities. Great food, lovely cabins (switched for each sailing, so had three selections and all were clean, we'll maintained and plenty of storage). Sure, she's a little older ship, but we found her to be in great shape, didn't have any cabin problems in any of the three, we simply had a marvelous time.

We would sail her again in a heartbeat.

Bernadette,

 

Thanks for your help. We aren't that picky, just looking for deep, covered aft balcony, promenade you can walk and not a history of flooding.

Crown Princess will be back in the Caribbean in 2017...

 

We don't understand that the Royal/Regal are having problems with these aft suites and giving substantial refunds...how is that a good business decision? I would think they would rethink this.

 

Honest, Princess did not design the ships on purpose to spew ash onto the aft facing balconies.

The rethinking is going into figuring out how to eliminate the problem.

Possibly looking @ booking CB...but heard a lot of bad reviews, such as mold and flooding in cabins. Looking @ doing 30 or more days and worried about being in a situation which we have no control over. Cruised many times with Princess and have been 150% happy. Realize it is a ship @ sea and things happen; however, flooding of the cabin would not be a "happy" moment.

 

We are cruisers who love the Emerald and after 2016 it will not be an option for the Caribbean.

 

Any thoughts...good or bad...would be welcome. Thanks so much.

Here is a review of my recent experience on the Caribbean Princess: :D

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2179869

We've cruised on the Emerald Princess twice and the Caribbean Princess 3 times. We were on the Emerald this year and we both likes the Caribbean Princess better. Can't totally say why and we were not the only ones. Other couples I talked too also said of the two they preferred the Caribbean Princess. We do like the Skywalkers above the pool for the view and just as a cool place to go. Can't wait to go back on the Caribbean again this year. :)

Princess, PLEASE bring the Ruby back to FLL.!!!!

Despite being a bit older than some other Grand Class ships, we found nothing about the CB that would place her lower on the pecking order in terms of desirability. Yes, I prefer the upper placement of Sabatini's and Adagio on other ships, and yes, I prefer the multiple, smaller Anytime Dining Rooms on Sapphire and Diamond. But in terms of overall enjoyment, we didn't find anything onboard CB that made us wish that we were on a different ship. Service was fine, (but that is subject to scheduling changes and not worth worrying about). Food was fine. Pools were fine. MUTS was fine. Entertainment was excellent (but that, too, is subject to so much change that it isn't worth worrying about). Cabin condition was fine. Bathroom was fine. Dolphin balcony was nice and big. Based on many reviews, I was really expecting to get onboard and immediately find things to complain about, or to compare unfavorably to other ships. But I didn't. Not once. Now, when we were on CB in April, there was lots of painting and varnishing going on, round the clock. The crew members all but admitted that there were improvements being made in advance of the TA sailing and the European season. So perhaps many of the dents and bruises that others had reported on had been fixed by the time we got on. Either way, by the time we disembarked, there was no perceivable difference between CB and the last several (newer) ships that we had been on.

We have just got off the Caribbean Princess out of Southampton. In all our cruises with Princess this one rates well below par. This ship is really not designed for cool weather deployment. There are so many extra passengers (c.500) and no additional public space. This was the first of the super Grand class ships. I think they change things on the Ruby and Emerald which gives you more upper space Like Sabatinis on the upper deck with a separate bar.

I think in the caribbean and med she is fine. Just not for us going north out of the Southampton.

We also found the Crew seemed very distance no 'good mornings' or general banter. They just didn't have the time.

We have just got off the Caribbean Princess out of Southampton. In all our cruises with Princess this one rates well below par. This ship is really not designed for cool weather deployment. There are so many extra passengers (c.500) and no additional public space. This was the first of the super Grand class ships. I think they change things on the Ruby and Emerald which gives you more upper space Like Sabatinis on the upper deck with a separate bar.

 

The other "super Grand" ships are really the same. The additional people, no additional public space, no covered pool.

The Adagio & relocated Sabatini's displaced the kids clubs which were moved to occupy other public space.

Thanks to all for the comments. We are considering CB for January of 2017 because Emerald won't be doing Caribbean cruises in 2017 until March.

LuLu

We were on CB a few months ago. It is a very nice ship indeed. Some of the wear shows but nothing that made a difference to our overall enjoyment of the trip.

I think there are too many that make a small issue sound awful. I'm sure there have been problems that have come up but we experienced nothing like flooding or any mold issues.

My early morning routine was to walk the ship...and I probably covered almost all of the areas passengers could access.

Relax and have a great time!

I think the CB is a great choice. :)

We were on the CB a couple of weeks ago on a 2 week mediterean cruise. Loved the cruise, the staff and no sewage smells that I noticed. If a stain on a carpet or a small nick on woodwork or some balcony rails in need of varnish bothers you the CB is not for you. The only complaint is with the theater you have to get there early for seats and the air conditioning was awful. Very very warm.