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PRINCESS CAYS DAY 2

FORGOT TO MENTION:

Once I arrived on board we purchased a soda card only and a coffee card. A note for you coffee card E-Bay hopefuls, Princess now puts the name of the ship and sailing date on the card. Also, TIP as soon as you are able, call the dining reservation line on your cabin phone a make your specialty dining reservations, you can also make your MDR dining reservations for anytime dining, but NOT on the first night. It is recommended however, because the anytime wait line is long.

DAY2:

We woke up in the morning and immediately went to the IC for cappuccino and pastries, we had the Princess breakfast sandwich, excellent! The Cronut, Almond Croissant , excellent! And a cream doughnut . We then went to the MDR to pick up our tender tickets and waited about 15 minutes, we boarded quickly and the tender trip was short. Princess Cays was beautiful, the day was sunny, but the water was Freezing! We stayed about 2 hours and decided to return to the ship to go into the Jacuzzi and took advantage of the retreat area. After a day on deck, we returned to our cabin a prepared for dinner, they Post that day's menu outside of the dining room, after reviewing the menu, we decided to try the buffet at the Horizon court.

The Buffet is well laid out and has plenty of seating, all the areas are dedicated to action station, like Rotisserie , carving station, taco station, cheese station, multiple salad stations and a Stir fry station, made to order. The service was attentive and prompt and the tables are set with linen napkins and glassware.

There was a comedian that night we did not attent , and instead saw a movie in Cabin. Oh, I forgot to mention the Pastry Shop in the Buffet, which had every dessert imaginable including brownies and cookies.

Day 3 sea day First Formal Night

We woke up later, and the night before, I filled out the room service card for coffee and pastries, left it out on the door with my Do Not Disturb sign, room service came promptly at the designated time and HOT! TIP: Make sure you have singles to tip the room service attendant.

We then walked around the Ship and had lunch at the Ocean Terrace Seafood bar, we each had a Crab Cocktail and ($6) and a lobster (9). I don't believe the crab was worth it. The lobster was. A quick change and to the Retreat Jacuzzis. It was sunny but very, very, windy, it was hard to remain outdoors, the ship was moving as well even though the seas were calm. We returned to the cabin to change and shower for the first formal night

Demographics

Definitely older on this ship, there was a good mix, very few kids, but 55-70 crowd. The Piazza is definitely the heart of the ship, the venue is used for dancing, misic, shopping, arts and crafts, cha cha lessons, champagne waterfall, or just plain people watching.

The MDR menu for the first formal night was the special 50th anniversary taking special dishes representing the 5 decades of Princess, we had shrimp cocktail, Caesar salad and the Filet Mignon which was excellent, we had the Grand Marniere soufflé and the Norman Love signature dessert which was a Rasberry dome filled with chocolate mousse which was excellent.

The show that evening was there musical review Spectacular, show were at 6:30,8:30 and 10:30. We went to the 6:30 show and went to dinner at 7:30 with reservations. After dinner, we went to deck 16 and watched the water fountain show set to Michael Jackson music, was fun but again, too windy!! Went to bed and watched Jersey Boys, very good. Sorry for the delay in the posting, but I have wasted 150 minutes of Internet time with the lost connections, I am presently posting at a bar in St Thomas with free wi-fi so be patient. To be continued........

Embarkation DAY 1

Sorry for the delay, but after I spent over 1 hour writing the post, I lost internet connection. Well, as soon as we arrived in Fort Lauderdale we found out that it began to snow in NJ, over 8 inches, talking about getting out of town in time, arrived to a sunny Florida and about 74 degrees. Remember I was booked at the Best Western Plus. They provided free shuttle service from the airport to the hotel. Prompt and seamless, Check-in was a breeze, room was fine, free internet. The hotel also offered shuttle service from the hotel to the port at a charge of $10.00pp, so I signed up for a 10:00 am pick up. The shuttle was prompt, we arrived at the terminal at 10:30 am. The regular line was much loner than the preferred line, Since I was a Platinium member, we went through quickly, they do scan the carry ons and ask you how many bottles of wine you have, so remember not to put more than 2 bottles in each carry on. We were number 1 to board. we started to board about 11:45 am, no more Kiosks for photos for your card, they are all done by hand held scanners. As soon as we boarded, we went to Alfredos for a wonderful lunch of antipasto and the Princess Pizza with proscutto and tomatoes. After lunch, we went directly to the room at 12:30 which was ready. TIP as soon as you get to your room ,call the dinner reservation line and make your specialty dining reservations. We booked the Crown grill for the day of St Thomas, at $25.00pp

The Ship

Our first impressions were that the Piazza is stunning with all the gold accents and warm tones and bright marble floors, Very elegant.

MUSTER:the muster drill was at 3:15pm WITH life jackets.

ELEVATORS: small and slow

We wanted to have dinner at 7:30pm, when we arrived at the dining room, the line was into the Piazza, we were in anytime dining, the MDR are the Symphony and Concerto located on decks 5 and 6 midship. Service was painfully slow, DW had Kinglip fish, I had the Prime Rib, there was French onion soup

, and garlic shrimp for appetizers, we did not stay foe dessert. Princess would not take dinner reservations for the first night, but indicated they would the next day.

CABIN A210

is a sideways inside cabin, EXCELLENT, plenty of storage, luggage fits under the bed, lots of closet space and a large SAMSUNG flat

screen with plenty of free on Demand movies, I watched John Wick last night. we did not attend any shows went to bed early. To be continued, Next stop Princess Cays

Thanks, Alfredo's is in our plans for embarkation day, looking forward to it.

Backround:

Hello Fellow CC members, my name is Leslie, I am 58 years old and will be traveling with my wife on this cruise. We both have been on over 40 cruises on Celebrity,Princess,RCL,NCL, Carnival, HAL and Disney. Our last cruise was on the Carnival Dream in August/2014. We are currently Platinum members on Princess and Elite members on Celebrity. Our last Princess cruise was on the Caribbean Princess during hurricane Sandy, we were supposed to go to Bermuda, but we ended up being diverted to Boston. Our 4 day cruise turned into 6 days because New York had closed their ports. But we still had a great time. We are currently booked in cabin A210 which is a " sideways" inside cabin. As is our usual practice, we are flying in to Fort Lauderdale on Saturday, a day before sailing. We are currently booked at the Best Western Plus Fort Lauderdale Airport. We found this 3 star hotel on Hotwire for $118.00, just checked and the cheapest room now is $338.00, so it pays to reserve early. This hotel does provide a free shuttle service from the Airport. We live in New Jersey and this winter has been BRUTAL so we are looking forward to this Cruise. I would like to thank all the people who have posted their reviews and experiences and hope to give back in a small way. I received an e-mail from Princess indicating that the Unexpected Boys will be on this cruise and that the movies that will be Shown on MUTS will be The Judge and the Hunger Games part1. We will be flying Delta to Fort Lauderdale, well that is all for now, to be continued................

Thank You for a great review, we are booked for the Regal 2/21/15 sailing and cannot wait.

They say there is nothing free in life, BUT getting on the ship as early as possible IS Free! Free to explore the ship, free to have a nice lunch, free to relax in the pool or jacquizzi, free to buy your coffee card or soda card, free to make your specialty dining reservations or MDR reservations, free to unpack early,free to take photos of empty public spaces, free to start your much deserved vacation early. Ignore the e-mail get to the ship early and ENJOY........ It's free!

Hello, how do you post a photo on this thread as part of a review? Thanks for any help.

Thanks for your reply. We will certainly look out for her.

Thanks, but I am on the Roatan, Belize, Cozumel itinerary starting with 2 sea days after embarkation.Thanks

Hello folks,I am currently booked on the 8/24/14 sailing on the Dream out of NOLA.Does anybody know which are the two elegant nights of the seven?And which of the two elegant will they serve lobsters?Thanks for any info.Leslie

Hi,I am currently booked on a 15 day Panama Canal Eastbound on the Infinity. Are they still serving entire lobster tails on the last formal night? Or, has this now given way to the "Seafood Medley" which just includes part of a lobster tail? Thank you in advance for your reply, Leslie

Hello, I am currently booked on the Infinity eastbound from San Diego departing 4-14-14. Does anyone know which days are the 3 formal nights? Thanks for any help. Leslie