parrottfam

Our best deal was 15 day TA on Epic this past April. Inside room for $599 plus taxes. But we got UBP including gratuities on UBP, and free regular gratuities, so for 15 days free perks were worth over $3600. Our total with taxes for 15 days was under $1500.

We have been 37 cruises, and best tour I think we ever had was the tour of St. Kitts with Thenford Grey. Very professional. Highly recommend.

We just returned from a cruise and stayed and parked at the Hampton Inn in Ridgefield Park. Had no issues with hotel, location, or shuttle service. Think Hilton Garden Inn might have more structured shuttle service, but Hampton was cheaper and we were very satisfied.

We just got back from a 10 day cruise Tuesday and stayed at the Hampton Inn in Ridgefield Park. Had no issues whatsoever. Nice room, friendly staff. Was cheaper than the Hilton Garden Inn. Transfer to and from the port was I think dependent on how many people were staying there on the cruise. When we left for the port, they had 55 people coming back on a bus from the cruise terminal. We had arranged to go at 9:30am, and the Gen. Mgr. didn't want us to wait for the bus to get back, so took my wife and I herself to the port. A van picked us up from the port. We had requested 9am, which was early. There was traffic, and we were picked up at 9:30. Had no problems with the hotel or the area.

We just got back from a cruise out of Manhattan terminal Tuesday from a 10 day cruise. Stayed at the Hampton Inn in Ridgefield Park, NJ. Was very happy with the hotel, and the staff couldn't have been friendlier. Gen. Mgr even transported us to the port herself so we wouldn't have to wait for shuttle to come back since was a lot of traffic. Would definitely stay there again.

Sigh... I guess I'm just a crabby old man but I really wish people would not use ship abbreviations if they don't know the proper ones.

CP = Sea Princess - NOT Caribbean Princess

 

One can always go to the Princess site and click on the name of a ship. Included in the URL that shows up in the address field is the ship abbreviation:

http://www.princess.com/ships-and-experience/ships/cb-caribbean-princess/

 

CB - Caribbean Princess

CO - Coral Princess

KP - Crown Princess

DP - Dawn Princess

DI - Diamond Princess

EP - Emerald Princess

NP - Golden Princess

AP - Grand Princess

IP - Island Princess

GP - Regal Princess

RP - Royal Princess

RU - Ruby Princess

SA - Sapphire Princess

CP - Sea Princess

TP - Star Princess

SP - Sun Princess

MJ – Majestic

PA - Pacific Princess

Sorry I used the wrong abbreviation. Will know better in the future. But I don't study Princess ships, and cruise on many different lines. Sorry!

Could you still get to those outside tables or were they also reserved for Steamers/Planks?

 

Bob

We love to eat outside, and did so at these tables 1st few days, but after that it was much too cold on this cruise to utilize those tables. And never tried to access these tables during dinner time.

I'm presuming that only one side of the buffet is open for serving so if the seating is full can you take your food to sit in the other side.

Both sides were usually full.

Thanks so very very much for your time to give us a CB report. :D

Seems most of the changes are on Lido Deck (15).

Did you go to the Salty Dog Grill that was Trident Grill and if you tried the $5 burger?

NOTE: To get the sushi at Vines it's ANY drink ... does not have to be wine. ;)

Tried a couple burgers, but not the $5 one, and some chicken, and some of the fries. Was pretty good, but not quite as good as Guy's Burger Joint, similar to Dive In on HAL.

We were on the CP for the transatlantic after it came out of drydock. We have been on the CP twice before, and thought I'd post my opinion of some of the changes, good and bad.

Hits - New beds very comfortable, new layout for buffet area and it's much easier to get around, better wifi coverage on ship (although it's still not very fast), movie screen by pool much brighter and clearer picture,

Misses - main dining room menus I found disappointing many nights, steak is no longer available on everyday menu, and some nights no steak was available.

Planks and Steamers are two new restaurants that replaced Caribe Cafe. They have free breakfast and lunch, but charge $12 for dinner. Breakfast was good, lunch was very very disappointing, same couple items everyday. Did not try dinner, but never saw more than a handful of people there. But if you ate in the regular buffet for dinner, you could not eat in the Planks or Steamers portion of the area, so it limited available seating. I missed Cafe Caribe. I will also add that in February we were on a Carnival ship that had just put in a free BBQ restaurant that had great beef brisket and pulled pork. I do not see the need to spend $12 to eat BBQ. Steamers didn't appeal to us as they had no crab or lobster.

Sushi was available in Vines, but only if you bought wine. I'm not much of a wine drinker, but like sushi. It was available on the buffet everyday at lunch on HAL.

The Princess@Sea app worked pretty well, but there is no option to see what the dinner menus are. Disapponting.

As usual, they never get everything done during dry dock, so carpet was still being installed, etc. But more disappointing was the normal maintenance that didn't get resolved. When there are 3 toilets in the public restroom by the restaurant, but only 1 is working. Really? And there were several people who had no hot water the 1st day or two. But guess that is normal because they concentrated on the new restaurants, etc. getting finished.

We had a good time on the cruise, and still like the CP layout. Never felt really crowded, which we like. But found food many days disappointing. Entertainment was good. Last big production show was I think called Bravo or Brava, and was one of the best shows we have ever seen at sea on 35+ cruises. But I would like to see Cafe Caribe back, and a steak option back on the everyday menu.

Just ran across your posting. I witnessed I believe the same older "gentleman" arguing with security the 1st night of the cruise. I was on on the 3rd deck of the atrium, and they were arguing on the 1st floor next to the bottom of the steps. Was very easy to hear the arguing from 2 floors above. The guy was obviously drunk beyond belief, and about every 4th word started with F. He was talking with one of the security heads, with other security around, and was totally abusive to them. He asked the security guy where he was from, and he replied the Netherlands. The guy said, "Well F the Netherlands, and F you." It went on for about 10 minutes. They finally escorted him away. The next day I asked someone from security about it, and they really wouldn't say much. I apologized to them as an American that someone from our country would act that way. Been on 33 cruises and never witnessed anything like that.

We have had Wee Jimmy on two cruises, and he's been one of our favorites out of 25+ cruises.

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Our very 1st cruise was on the Mardi Gras, and while we were in port at Nassau so was Carnival's newest ship, the Holiday, which they invited everyone to tour if they wanted. Couldn't believe how big the Holiday was in comparison. We still have a trophy of the ship my daughter won in a talent show she performed in.