Waynetor

There is no special food for those doing B2B.  The waiting area to get off only has coffee/tea/water.  The Coral dining room is open for lunch from noon to 1:30 for anyone on the ship.  

Yesterday was a perfect weather sea day. Today was more cloudy, cool breeze, bit rocky and a high of about 75F.

 

At yesterday's Cap. Circle party it was announced that there are currently 216 Elite and 225 Platinum members so the sting of those members being under 50% continues.  Last weeks #2 and 3 most travelled are still on but a new #1 replace the prier #1 - New high total days is 2,017.  That couple were the longest married couple at the Married Match game.  I'm sure they have seen/heard the questions a good number of times.

 

We had another covid test today and again passed.  I asked the person that was registering those that showed up about numbers - he said there are 199 guest being tested - most are staying on but some are transferring to another ship.

 

For today's Most travelled passenger party the cut-off was 431 days.  While not many officials came to last nights party, there were quite a few at the lunch including the Captain.  

 

Overall passengers seem to be having a good time 

 

 

We got a notice in our cabin today that for next week Grand Cayman is cancelled and we will arrive in Cozumel 2 hours early.  The rest of next week is still scheduled as planned.

Nice day in St. Kitts.  We were joined by a mega RCI ship and a Viking ship/.  I did an 2 hour hike around the coast and town. 

 

I asked a passenger on the RCI ship how many they had on board - he said the ship hold 6,400 passengers and there were 1,600 on so about 25%.

 

The odd thing that happened was while we sitting at the aft pool area another RCI ship sailed in from the north.  This was just after 1pm when it appeared and I'm thinking it is going to take at least an hour to finish its approach and dock which makes an odd time to arrive.  It ended up anchor several hundred yards behind us and the other RCI ship. The new ship did about 5 tender boats trips and then left heading back north again.  It seems to be a case of transferring crew. 

 

I have not heard and don't expect to hear anything about Covid cases onboard unless there is a major outbreak.  Freda and I were in the doc's office last week (will go into that later) and while there we could hear calls being made to 3 people that their test was negative, and they were no free to leave their cabins.  No idea why they were tested in the first place.

 

At dinner tonight crew were selling tomorrows wine testing.  I asked if table of 2 were available and they are. We don't go since they stopped the dessert wine with the free glass several years ago. 

 

Got notice today that our stop in Grand Cayman next week has been changed to a sea day. 

The number I have for this week is 1,132 passengers and for Jan 30 is 945 passengers. 

 

Great day in St. Thomas - hottest day yet and mostly sunny.  

 

 

The swimming pools were quite warm.  Some people were complaining they are too deep.  In the two main pools the shallow end is 5 ft. 2in and drops off to 7 ft. 1 in.

 

 

Last nights theater show was comedian Carlos Oscer.  His show was close to the same as last week but still very funny.  Close to show time, the room was getting close to full.  Once the show started the room was dark so those coming in late stood at the back.  To avoid overcrowding, effective today, for the rest of this cruise there will be 2 shows per night.  This was a late decision as it was not in the Patter.  It was mentioned at trivia games, but it was not mentioned in the Cruise Director announcements until about 15 minutes before the first show. 

 

I had brief conversation with shore excursion agent.  She said for most tours in the Caribbean, open air vehicles are used so no limit capacity.  For any other vehicles the vendor says how many passengers they can handle, and Princess sells to that point so sounds like it is up to vendor (possibly based on local rules) to determine spacing of passengers on excursions.  I forgot to ask about mask wearing. 

 

Zumba class is right before the line dancing 9:00 - 9:45 on sea days.

 

Today was to be Princess Cay.  We went and a trail tender was done. It was determined to be too rough conditions so off we went for an extra sea day.

 

It was a mostly sunny day, so deck 15 pool areas were near capacity.  More lounge chairs available on deck 16.

 

With the increase in passengers this week, we are noticing most areas are noticeably busier but still not to point of being crowded.

 

 

As part of the info you get when doing a B2B is a pass that reads In Transit.  If you want to leave the port you need to take the pass and your passport.  If you do this, you will not be allowed back on until the first new passengers start boarding.  In the terminal you show your intransit pass and then by-pass all the checkin process.

 

Indoor areas of the ship have signs reminding passengers that mask are required.  In lounges the host will normally mention the sip and cover requirement but most people with a drink are unmasking and not covering between sips.  With the low number of passengers the last 2 weeks people have mostly been well spaced but with this weeks increase in passenger count lounge will often have higher attendance at events.

 

There is pre-recorded ballroom and latin dance in club Fushion from 5 - 7 most nights.  There is also line dancing most morning at 9:45 in Fushion but that is more an exercise program. 

 

With my wife in a wheelchair we do not do any tours.  We eat just as a couple so have not talked to many others about their experiences so hard to comment on tour and bus capacity limits.  Will post if I get any info.

 

The last call today for disembarking passengers was at 8:50am.  It still takes time to get everyone off so it took an hour for those doing B2B to gather, wait, do the quick immigration (a simple facial recognition based on passport an embarkation) and then back on.

 

Ft, L was mostly cloudy and only had a high of 21C/70F.

 

The oddest thing about today was when we went up to Skywalkers after boarding, around noon a man came up looking for the covid test location.  For Saturday's test that B2B passengers had to do, a notice was sent to each passenger with a time - the notice that was sent had Sunday's date but a corrected notice was also sent with Saturday's date and time.  this person said he did not receive the corrected notice.  Obviously by the time we met him new passengers were already on the ship and he was too late. The odd (worrying) thing is not only did no one contact him about missing doing a test on Saturday, he received a notice on Sat. night saying his test was negative, 

 

  

 

 

A cloudy day at sea as we headed back to Ft. L.  Our accounts were created with $13.95 refundable OBC port fee for missing Belize.

 

We had another covid test this morning for our next leg of our journey – passed

 

Front desk told us 185 current passengers will be on for next week.

 

Overall service and food had been quite good.  As normal, bananas become rare at the end of the week.  There has been a shortage of Splenda for much of the cruise.  Most of the time it has not been available at the self serve areas and has to be specially asked for and even then, sometimes told it was not available.

 

The N95 mask are free.  They are in the cabin when your board.  More are available from steward or front desk no charge.

 

I would say around 50% of passengers are wearing the Princess mask with others using their own special mask or the common cloth mask.

 

I find the Princess mask string irritates my ears and am switching back and forth with the cloth mask.

 

Pescado, thanks for the comments – I have enjoyed your blogs.

 

Re Hyatt Place.  There was a free breakfast – quite basic but certainly fine if you are shortly going to be on a ship for a week.  One warning – while we were checking out, a couple that had just got off a ship arrived by taxi and asked if they could get an early check-in.  They were told it would be $30 to which they agree but the hotel could not fine their reservation.  When the man showed it on his phone it was noted his reservation was for Hyatt Place in Diana Beach which is just south of Ft. Lauderdale so if using this hotel make sure your driver has the correct address.  If arriving the night before there is an Outback and another restaurant next door.

 

 

 

There is at least 1 oval table set up as a 10 top in the Corol dining room as weel as some tables for 8 in both rooms.

 

A couple more changes we have noticed.  Have not seen any offering of beer buckets (5 for price of 4).  I recall previously you could only get a single drink at a time.  Now as long as you are under the daily 15 drink limit, I have had no issue getting double size drinks or 2 drinks at a time.

 

Thursday evening was Captain circle party.  The top 3 most travelled from last week are all still on board but the 3^rd place passenger has been replaced by a new higher number passenger.  The captain did not show up.  Currently have 224 elite and 177 platinum, so just under half invited to party.  The cruise director noted he joined the ship Oc 10 (first cruise was Nv 28).  When he joined there were 126 crew on the ship.  The only news at the event was that anyone on the ship can extend their voyage for half price – for voyages to end of Caribbean season.  I understand this is the bare bones with no OBC or other extras.  Not sure what they use as base price.

 

I believe we are currently at 840 passengers. Bookings for Jan 23 are 1,132 passengers and for Jan 30 is 945 passengers. Those are subject to minor changes.

 

We had a mostly cloudy day in Cozumel.  We were joined only by a single Carnival ship.

 

We got a call from room service asking us what we would like in our next elite mini bar set-up.  This saves us having to exchange items later so much appreciated.

 

We had a brand new junior waiter for dinner tonight.  Seemed like a very odd time for someone to start training but turned out he was transferring from room service.

 

They had a Rhythm of the Caribbean deck party tonight – when I walked by there were about 10 people on the deck area. It's the second week in a row with mainly just a loud band playing to the wind.

In all the cruises we have done, we had a day like today.  We changed time an hour forward this morning, had a sea day, and will change time back tonight.

 

The reason is we never got out of Costa Maya until around 6am so our trip down to Belize was cancelled and replaced by a sea day.  Tomorow we will be back in Mexico again and on the same time we started the voyage.

 

One clarification - We still have not left Costa Maya (11.30 local time).  Cruise director team still says it is a wind situation although wind on the open deck is not bad.  We are supposed to still get to Belize on time.

Yes, it's the Island and Coral dining rooms that are open. Staff have the same # of tables.  I have not seen either at more than 50% capacity.  There are not a lot of tables designed to be for 2, but couples are being seated at 4-tops.  

 

Only preference for deck 6 (Coral) is it is closer to cabins if walking down and access to theatre if going there after diner is from deck 6 or 7 (shows are at 9pm).  Deck 5 (Island) has the atrium activities just outside.

 

If passenger numbers do increase greatly like over the Christmas/New Years period, they will go back to having 2 shows nightly.

Today we arrived in Costa Maya at noon.  A short distance before the pier the ship slowed right down and took 49 minutes to do a 180 degree turn and then about a half hour to back into the pier.  We were joined by Celebrity Edge and Sky Princess.  I asked a Sky passenger how many passengers they had – he said around 1,400 (capacity around 3,650) but about 500 were from a 60’s rock and roll group so could have been much worse.. 

 

I stayed in the port area.  There is a lot packed into a small area including a huge variety of shops and bars.  There are pools, a dolphin exhibit where guest can get in the water and interact with them.  There is a small aviary with 5 flamingos plus several Macaw.  Access to the shore on either side of the port complex is blocked off.  Private tours were available and taxis were also available to go anywhere including a nearby town.

 

We were to leave at 7pm but strong winds came up and that delayed our departure an hour. Another nice dinner at Sabatini tonight.  We will 5 of these dinners provided comp. by our travel agent.  I knew we could change the assigned date/time but checked if we could also change the restaurant – answer yes so next time we will go to Crown Grill.

 

The layout of the Island and Coral dining rooms are the same so no real difference which you use.  Deck 5 offers a larger area to relax and have a predinner beverage if desired.

 

There was escargot 1 night – I think it was the 2^nd formal night.

 

I don’t know who could provide accurate future numbers.  My guess the rest of Jan and Feb will not change significantly.  A lot depends on how news reports go re covid numbers and news about cruising.  It is a real concern doing several B2B when you need to be tested each week.  They allow 6 passengers per elevator but we have found if there are 4 on, others will decline getting on as another elevator will be along soon.  I have not seen any real issue with guest wearing mask – sometimes people will forget when moving inside from outside but staff will remind them.  The only problem area I see is in Explorers Lounge – guest are often reminded that you should sip and cover, but many will keep their mask down as long as they have a beverage.  For most events in there we sit off to the side and don’t have anyone sitting next to us.

 

I talked to the only female on the Cruise Director team – she said despite the issues they have, she and others are very glad to be back at sea.  She had a job on land for awhile but longed to get back on a ship.

Ports

 

Princess Cay – I did not go ashore so not sure if can you leave property.  I will cheek on another voyage – we should be back there 6 more times.

 

In St. Thomas I walked to town and back.  The side-walk along the route has been greatly improved since the last time I walked to town.  We were the only ship in port.  The shops in town and around the port were mostly deserted with just a couple staff standing around.  Princess now has an arrangement with a few stores that you get 7% of your purchase back in OBC – not sure if refundable OBC or non refundable.

 

I did not get off in St. Kitts.  Passengers were free to leave the port area independently which is a recent change.  I’ll get off on one of our upcoming return there.

 

Nassau – we had a short stay there (4.5 hours).  I did a 1.5 hour walk around town including checking out the Margaritaville hotel.  I had to show my covid test and do a temp test to go into hotel.  I have read a lot of bad reviews about this port but I don’t mind it.  There were 4 large ships plus a Silversea luxury yacht.  They have started a major project to create a new complex in the port area plus an additional berth for a large ship.  Windy conditions made for a cool afternoon at sea.

Life on board

 

The patter is only a front and back page, so is quite concise mainly giving activities and times places are open.  There is no listing of Senior staff and there was no welcome aboard event with officers. 

 

At double occupancy the ship carries 3,140 passengers.  The numbers I heard for Jan 9 was 890 passengers and for Jan 16 it is lower, now just over 800.  150 passengers stayed from Jan 9 to 16 sailing.

 

One thing we really enjoy about this ship is Skywalkers – during the day we find it usually to be a very quiet place with great views.  Often we are the only people there and have never seen more than 10 people.  There does seem to be some shaking in that area but no big issue.  Another great hang out place for us is the small area around the aft Terrace Pool.

 

Previous live threads have shown menus so I won’t repeat here.  The menus will be the same each week.  One change from pre-covid is that now onion soup is available daily and another is the removal of the great variety of ice cream each night – they were available on lunch menu on sea days.  Friday had the lobster tails – they are small so best to ask for an extra.  Saturday had Surf and Turf – a small filet and 3 large shrimp (not jumbo) I asked for 6 shrimp and got that.  There is no longer a Baked Alaska parade on the last night – told it was due to covid but I don’t see how that could be a real reason.

 

Even though 1 of the main dining rooms is closed, the dining rooms were never close to busy – generally less than half full so no issue getting a table.  I saw a couple tables being used for sharing but it was not very common.  This is the first cruise where we have not shared.  There were a few tables that had larger numbers at them but I believe they were prearranged groups.   

 

We have been bouncing back and forth between the 2 open dining rooms.  Mostly we have been given a table for 4.  If you want the same table each night, that can be reserved. 

 

For the Eastern Caribbean voyages the formal nights are Tuesday and Friday except the Mar 6 voyage when 2^nd will be Thursday, and for the Western Caribbean voyages the formal nights are Tuesday and Thursday.

 

We have eaten breakfast in the dining room a few times – nice to avoid the buffet on port days when most people are in a hurry.  Generally, not impressed.  The pancakes were not warm enough to melt butter.  There is not a lot of options for omelettes like there is in the buffet.

 

Overall meal quality is similar to pre covid. 

 

Planks / Steamers dinning has not been available.

 

We ate in Sabatini’s once last week.  Very tasty and very filling meal.  Only downside was the waitress completely forgot our pasta course.  We both had the Veal Marsela.  Couple nights later that was served in the main dining room.  While the Sabatini’s was a bit better, I not sure it was worth the $25 extra but we will try again.  

 

The staff in the dining room used to have special outfits for nights such as Italian night but now wear the same outfit each night except formal nights.

 

The dining room/bar service have close to regular crew and with low number of passengers paying gratuities into the pool I would think the staff are taking a big hit on take home pay.

 

Paper straws are available on request – by the end of most drinks they are starting to show their age and definitely could not be used again.  Many tables have a QR code to be used to scan for a list of cocktails but you can ask to see a hard copy of the list of cocktails.  With the package last week, the bars were using cans of soda instead of the soda gun.  Not sure if this will continue.

 

Last week the main show entertainment were – Sunday – Vocalist -Caroline Miller (did not go, Monday – Comedian Tom Drake – very funny (his wife is a cruise director on Oceania and he does a lot of shows there but has been on many ships over 20years and most of his material is ship/travel related), Tuesday – Production show – Born to be Wild.  Did not go but it will be repeated weekly so will go sometime, Wednesday – “it’s 5’oclock some where” – a due that played a wide variety of music – started very good but we felt they spent way too much time explaining and showing some gizmo that would ply back their music and singing giving the effect of a much large group playing. Thursday – Piano Vocal Entertainer Liam Stewart – he must have been a fill in as he is in one of the lounges every night, Friday – Production show Bravo – we will go some other week.  Saturday –“it’s 5’oclock some where” did a second show but we did not go

 

They don’t give a list at the start of the week so we just have to wait to see what is upcoming in the daily Patter.  

 

There is no bar service in the theatre so if you want a drink you need to bring one.  Of the shows we went to last week, none were full at 50% capacity or higher.

 

Everyone staying on for a next voyage was given a scheduled time to go to Skywalkers between 9:30 and 11:30 Saturday morning and were given a nasal swap covid test.  We did not get our negative result until around 9pm but knew that if positive, we would have known within a half hour.  We were given a document outlining the procedure to follow for Sunday morning.  We met at 9 am on Sunday and waited to be escorted off the ship – we needed to take our passport.  We had a welcome back plate of fancy chocolate items in our cabin when we got back – have not had that before.  

 

2^nd week - Sunday the show was Vocalist Paul Hughes – did not go (It really ticks me off that there is no info on the artist – I hate going to a show, wait for it to start and then find out it is not the kind of music I like).  Monday comedian Carlos Oscar, a prior Princess entertainer of the year.  Great show.  The theatre was close to half full which would be close to half the guest on board.  Tuesday was the Production show

Born to be Wild.

----

Enchanted Princess was in port with us when we left on the 9th along with 4 others cruise line ships.  6 ships again on the 16th but just us from Princess.

 

Last week there were a few children pre teen – I guess around 8 to 10 of them.  Overall, the average age was lower than pre-coved – for a Princess cruise, there were lots of passengers between 18 and 25.  As standard now on Princess everyone is vaccinated and had to be tested within 2 days of boarding.  Only have only seen 1 child so far this second week.

 

The Elite+ lounge is held in Skywalkers.  We don’t eat there very much as it is too close to dinner time.  In our cabin when we boarded there was a 1 page summary of events for elites – It just gave time and location for the lounge.  We were up in Skywalkers one time as they were setting up and I asked what night they served shrimp and that is no longer offered.  There was only a single platinum/elite welcome party.  It was Friday at 7:30 in Club Fusion and was only about half full.  The captain (Marco Fortezze) did not show up.  There was 1 officer there, but I have no idea who it was.  For Jan 9 there were 183 elite and 193 platinum, so well over half the passengers had less than 5 Princess cruises.  Two single ladies had 1,168 and 1,610 days while a couple had 1,900 for the top 3 most travelled.  There was nothing in the way of ‘News’ mentioned at the event.  As expected, they say how much they appreciate our loyalty but with the changes to elite benefits that were made last year we don’t think the bean counters at head office have the same feeling.  The change cost us the loss of $200 OBC per voyage and on a 7-night voyage we would have had enough free internet to last the week but now have to pay $35 each.

 

Elite were invited to a wine tasing on Friday at 2.  We did not go.  There was another tasting event earlier in the week for $25 /person.

 

We were fortunate to be invited to the Most Travelled Passenger luncheon last Saturday – great meal as usual.  There were 3 choices for main coarse.  We both had rack of lamb (5 of 6 at table had that).  The Captain did not show up.  I was told the cut-off for the top 40 was around 360 days.  There were also several late cancellations so some people received late invites.  This is organized by the lady that used to be titled Captain Circle Host but is now Loyalty and Event Manager as she helps with private events such as weddings.  Today was the same event for this week.  I did get a cut off number but would expect it to be similar to last week.  I had a very nice bacon wrapped beef medallion and Freda had salmon.  This time the captain and 5 other senior officers were there to great us.  

 

On both Sundays there was NFL games on MUTS as well as last Saturday.  In the past this would be interrupted by the muster drill but with the new muster process this shutdown is not needed but the game did get interrupted for the sailaway party.  For our Jan 16 voyage our departure was pushed back 2 hours for some operational reasons but as Nassau is not too far away there was no impact on our arrival at 7am there.

 

The live T shows in cabin have had a lot of problem with the picture frequently freezing.  Fortunately, this has not affected the football while in Ft. Lauderdale but all channels while at sea.  This does seem to be better this week compared to last week.

 

General trivia was held daily at 10:30 and 4:30. There was also a range of special themed trivia.

 

Other activities in the Explorers lounge and Club Fusion included nightly karaoke, Yes/No game, Marriage Match game, Fill in the blank game, on 2 nights Mentalist/Magician and Trickster Jeff Newman did 2 shows in Explorers.  Good, but I could easily figure out what he was doing in about half the things he did so not so magic or mind reading. Jan 17 had 60 second frenzy – First time I’ve seen this.  Only 5 people there but they did 4 challenges and I won 2 – moving coffee beans from 1 plate to another with chop sticks within 60 seconds and building a pyramid up and down with cups.  Tonight a magician did shows at 6 and 8pm.

 

In St. Thomas a lady came on and put on a show with Parrots that she brought.  This was in Club Fushion.  I’ve seen her on prior cruises do it in the atrium.  Now with covid the Club is a better space.  I assume she will be back each time we are there.

 

We don’t use the Medallion except for cabin access.  The patter is delivered to the cabin nightly.  There were no ads for Effy or art auctions delivered to cabins.  Usually in the past we would receive a form for buying future Cruise Credits but did not receive that – it was mentioned at the Captain Circle party but otherwise I heard no mention of it.  Also, when we boarded there were no flyers outlining all the excursion available. 

 

Princess no longer provides any bar snacks.  No peanuts, no mixed nuts, no pretzels, no nothing.  Same for Captain Circle event.  As has been mentioned in other reports, there is no longer chocolates in your cabin at night. 

 

I had heard a new company was taking over the operation of the boutiques.  We have not checked them out yet.  If you like champagne where the liquid cost about the same as the glass bottle, then going to any of the half dozen or so daily Effy Jewelry events is the place to go.

 

Elite members get a bathroom gift bag.  All we got was a tube of lotion.  We asked for more and got a luffa pad and some other items.

 

Elite members also get free laundry service.  We did it twice the first week and had next day evening return.  Our steward accidentally left forms for crew to send out their laundry.  All work related items are free.  The cost for non work items is substantially cheaper than what passengers pay – eg. socks 25 cents vs $1.75 and pants $1.50 vs $5.00.

 

There are no photographers doing pics in dining room but they have had special photo sites set up around the ship several nights plus they have gone around the ship occasionally offering random shots – they seem over staffed.

 

The big $10 sale event held in one of the dining rooms each week has gone for now- due to crowding. 

 

The casino was a ghost town last week.  We walked through a few times and there were just a few people on the slots.  I only ever saw 1 person at a table. 

 

Popcorn has been available at night next to the bar by the MUTS screen.  I had seen a prior report that the soft ice cream on deck 15 was just mush but it was normal last week.

 

I also saw on 1 review that when the person approached the buffet on embarkation day the line was out into the pool area, so the reviewer went somewhere else.  To go into the buffet, you need to wash your hands.  The sinks are just inside the sliding doors so if the line has 3 or more people waiting and people are properly spaced apart they will start to be out past the sliding doors.

 

Employee comment card and employee of the month nomination are no longer done but comments can be added to post cruise survey.

 

Announcements – The Cruise director (Matt) usually just makes 1 announcement per day and the ‘Officer of the watch’ makes a noon update on sea days.  Great to not have constant promos that we have had on other voyages.

 

Overall, it is great to be back at sea.  I don’t see anything that is “new” to be excited about.  We’re trying to Stay Positive!  Test Negative!

 

I learned crew are currently not allowed to go off the ship and they no longer have a common area where they can socially gather and have drinks.

 

The weather last week was mostly good.  A mix of sun and cloud with a few showers/downpours thrown in.  On our first sea day the Captain managed to squeeze the ship in between two very large, menacing storms off to both sides of the ship.  Saturday was very sunny but bit cooler (75F) with glass like seas.  We took 2 sea days to go from St Kitts to Ft. L.  Problem is it takes more than a day but much less than 2 days, so on Saturday we were moving so slow it felt like we just had the oars out. 

 

This second voyage started with a rainy afternoon in Ft. Lauderdale.  We were 3 hours late leaving port.  Apparently, we made a large trade of crew members with Holland America and it took time to complete the movements.  We got a new steward.

 

We will not be using the spa, gym or sanctuary so won’t be able to help with any questions on those but feel free to ask about anything else.

Intro/ getting on board

My wife and I are currently on the Caribbean Princess enjoying a long-awaited winter get-away. 

We boarded on Jan. 9 and will leave Mar. 13 – that makes 9 7-night voyages bouncing around the Caribbean Sea and Gulf of Mexico.

The Jan 9, Jan 23, Feb 6, Feb 20 voyages include stops at Princess Cays, St. Thomas and St. Kitts.

The Jan 16 was updated on Nov 11 to include Nassau (only 7 am to 1pm), Costa Maya, Belize and Cozumel.

Jan 30, Feb 13, Feb 27 voyages include stops at Princess Cays, Ocho Rios, Grand Cayman and Cozumel.

The Mar 6 voyage includes St. Kitts, St. Thomas (short day) and Grand Turk (late arrival). 

Our original plan was a week on the Caribbean P., followed by 24 days in the Caribbean and Panama Cannel on the Island P and then the world cruise on the Island P.  With the cancellation of the Island P voyages, I was lucky to be able to string together a new set of voyages.  That was to be 3 x 7-night on the Caribbean P followed by a day in Ft. L and then 40 nights on the Regal.  After a bit, I checked the Caribbean P bookings and some cabins opened up, so I was able to change to the current 9 straight voyages.  Once I had the Caribbean voyages lined up, 8 were in the same cabin and around the time of final payment for the last one that cabin became available, so we are now in the same cabin for the full time.  We are in an accessible cabin on Lido deck which really helps big time as it reduces the number of times that we need to get my wife’s wheelchair in and out of an elevator.  With the current low number of passengers, elevator access and crowding has not been an issue.  We have noticed more movement of the ship with a cabin in this area. 

 

My wife (Freda) will rarely get off the ship and I will only do a few hours here and there – no excursions.  I will not be doing a daily report but will post what I see as key points and open this up for any questions.  For us just to be able to be on a ship is the goal, not the ports.  After all these months of canceled bookings, and changing rules and regulations, it's the “being on a ship” that we are keenest to return to.

 

We were both covid tested at home on Jan 7, flew down to Ft. L on the 8^th.  We stayed at the Hyatt Place for the night.

 

From our hotel it was a bit over a mile to the port.  We had a wheelchair accessible taxi booked for 10am with a confirmation # but Yellow Taxi cancelled it w/o informing us and the hotel had great difficulty helping to get another taxi with an expected pick-up time, so we decided to walk to the port.  I had to push her about 100ft and then move the luggage and keep repeating.  After going about half way, two young men out for a walk saw us and offered to help.  They each took one suitcase and helped right up to the luggage drop off which was a great help.  We arrived for check in on the 9^th bit before noon.  The clerk doing our check-in had an issue and took us to a special agent that handled bookings with an issue, but this new clerk had no issue so not sure what happened to start.  (We had not done anything with the App). 

 

At embarkation there were no tables set up promoting soda packages like there has been in the past.  

 

Once on the ship I went to the front desk and arranged to have my name linked to my medallion changed from my first name to my second name which is the name I use.  After that we had lunch in the Coral dining room (deck 6) which was not busy. 

 

I've had a very large Super Bowl group - they took over the theatre for the game but that was it.

Also had a dance group that took over the aft lounge each evening after 9pm but that was all

Also had a rock and roll group that used the theater each afternoon.

 

 

 

We had dinner in Sabatinas tonight - it was about half full.

 

Sundy and Monday nights we ate in the Coral.  The two of us had table for 4.  There are not many 2 tops there.  We got there both nights around 5:45 and both nights we were the first table the waiter had.  The dinning room never was a third full.  The explores Loung had 2 shows by a mentalist / magician.  The early show (6pm) was only about a quarter full but the later 8pm was full - first time seen a crowd anywhere. 

We just got our negative test also.

 

The Enchanted will also be in port on Sunday. Anyone know which pier the Caribbean P will be at?

I recall from the back pool you can avoid the buffet and the need to wash just to pass through by taking the steps next to the pool and go down a deck and then head along the hallway.

We always got a tumbler with a soda package but not an alcohol package .   

We are in countdown for next Sunday,  Wondering - do they have Princess Logo mask for sale in the shops.  

It used to be that a muster drill only needed to be attended monthly when doing B2Bs.  With the new process of just watching a video and getting medallion scanned on first day - does this need to be repeated for each new voyage?

Yesterday (Dec 27) I tried to book at local Walmart and Rexall and there were no openings until around the 4th day of my cruise.  I was able to pick anytime I wanted at SDM for the needed Jan 7.  Looks like lots of people know about the cheaper options.