Caribbean Princess - Southern Caribbean 2/28 to 3/7 review

[Embracedbylife]

Another wonderful time with Princess!San Juan - flew in a day early and stayed at the Caribe Hilton. Booked through priceline and got a great deal. Had a villa room with a view of the bridge that goes over to condado. Nice clean newly renovated room set off from the main corridor so it was nice and quiet! Beautiful grounds and lovely hotel. Drinks and food a little pricey, and not a lot of places within walking distance, but we enjoyed time laying on the hammocks and sitting by the pool! On the day of Embarkation we stayed at the hotel until 2pm - checked our luggage for a few hours and enjoyed the hammocks and a drink before catching a taxi to the pier. Embarkation - very smooth. Arrived close to 3pm. No lines, very simple. Stopped at the duty free shop to buy some rum, but the line was taking forever and we heard that you can not bring rum on-board only wine and champagne, so we just skipped it. Although I hear some people did get by with bringing rum and other hard liquors on-board it wasn't worth the bother for us. Our room was ready for us when we boarded and we have just carryons so no need to worry about luggage. Pre ordered flowers that were already in the room and a voucher for preordered champagne. Called room service and had sandwiches and champagne delivered within 15 mins! Egg crate was not on the bed as requested ahead but the room steward provided it immediately even though we told him to take his time. I also noticed the shower curtain was sour so he also changed it for a fresh one without any hesitation.

 

 

 

Day 1 at sea - had a great day at sea. Slept in, watched a movie and relaxed!

Day 2 Aruba - we pre arranged a private fishing charter with Teaser Charters. It was oustanding. They are a 10 minute walk from the pier and we found them with no problems. After catching 2 nice tuna and having a blast we walked around downtown a bit before returning to the ship. I hear the beaches in Aruba are beautiful - next time we hope to see them also!

Day 3 Bonaire - walked around town and then took the second water taxi to Klein Bonaire via the princess tour. It was excellent! Worth every penny in my opinion. We rented snorkel equipment on the boat and had a blast! Quiet beach with little to no other people around! Great day!

Day 4 Grendada - wished we had of done a ship's tour this day. We opted to do our own thing and didn't really enjoy it as much as if we had of taken a ship's tour. We found lots of hagglers that were anoying us, so we bought a few spice necklaces and a cigar and went back to the ship for lunch, drinks and relaxation - awsome!

Day 5 Dominica - booked the ship's tour Wacky Rollers 4wd to Titou Gorge. We ordered sandwiches from room service before the tour started at 12:30 and as we were on the pier waiting for the tour to begin my husband got terrible pains in his stomach. Fearfull as there were no bathrooms on the tour, and on sure what was up with his stomach, we spoke to the guide who directed us to the cruise tour agent. After explaining my concerns to her she graciously accommodated us and we unfortunately missed the tour - but i was glad we were able to go back to the ship and he was feeling better within an hour. We both felt terrible about missing the tour, but better safe than sorry. No fun was lost after that and we went swimming and enjoyed the ship. Hope to get back to see this tour next time as I hear it's amazing! Bought a nice watch onboard to wear swimming in St. John.

Day 6 St. Thomas / St. John. - up early and off the ship by 8:15 am. We had a pre-arranged SNUBA tour scheduled for St. John at Trunk Bay. We should have left at 8am, but now we know for next time. We got a cab and made it just in time for the 9am ferry to St. John. It was a Saturday so luckily no traffic. We should have given ourselves more time, but we made it! We also should have called ahead to find out the weather, but oh well. We got the ferry over to St. John and grabbed a cab to Trunk Bay. When we got there we found out the winds were too high for swimming or snorkeling or SNUBA so we just sat on the beach for an hour and took a cab back to the pier. the St. John pier was awesome. Had a drink and walked around the shops. A little expensive getting there and back ($46 per person round trip total) but it was nice to see the island anyway. Headed back to the ship and had a great lunch. We planned to head back out to see a nearby beach but it began to rain so we stayed onboard and had a great time.

Day 7 - San Juan. Embarkation was a breeze as we had our carryons. Customs fast and easy. Took a cab back to the Caribe Hilton where we had 2 more nights reserved via priceline. Received a complimentary upgrade to an ocean view in the Honors Tower - great room! It rained but we had fun anyway! Overall Ship Review: The Caribbean was remodeled, but still shows it's an older ship. That said it's still very nice, but not my favorite. I preferred the Emerald and the Diamond's stern set up. I find skywalker's to be a bit of a waste of space, although neat to see once, we didn't go back there. We loved the piano room in the back of the Emerald. Enjoyed the buffet and MUTS a lot. We didn't take in much of the entertainment, but enjoyed the drinks and speciality coffees. Overall great time!

[grape farmer]

Thanks for the review-we'll be in San Juan next weekend and also got the Caribe Hilton villa room through Priceline. Wondered if they charged you a resort fee or any fees in addition to the priceline charge? Thanks for the info-can't wait to be on the CB:)

[themerle]

Thanks for sharing your review! Glad you enjoyed your cruise. Were you able to get a refund from Princess on the tour in Dominica? Sorry you had to miss it.

[Embracedbylife]

Grape farmer - yes, we did pay the resort fee of either 12% or 14% of our room price. Came out to $14.00 or so for us for the room. They don't charge per person, just per room. Not bad at all :)

 

themerle - yes, I was actually quite suprised. We were literally in line to get on the wacky rollers truck and we made the decision to turn around and cancel as we didn't want to take that chance with him not feeling well. We expected to just eat up the cost - but the tour guide told me to go speak to the princess rep on the pier and when I told her the situation she said if he goes to the ship doctor he could get a note and get reimbursed. Hubby didn't want to go to the dr. unless it was actually something more than just stomach pains, so i said to her that he didn't want to go but if it got worse he'd go - she quietly said "don't worry, i'll credit you" - i gave her back the tickets and low and behold she did credit us even though she didn't have to. This gesture goes a long way. We will be cruising with them again and booking their excursions again without hesitation!! :)