Caribbean Princess Review (and the controversy) 12/5-12

[Talisker92]

I remember a post from some years ago, when Princess did the same thing in Mexico, and kids were free!!

It got so bad that many passengers actually left the ship early and some were getting together to sue the cruise line.

[cdamion]

I wonder what a good solution for Princess is. If they really only had around 700 cabins sold 2 weeks before, they were looking at a pretty significant loss on the sailing.

[CrusinAgain]

Speaking of kids and Mexico, I took my daughter on a mother daughter cruise while she was in college and we went on her Spring break in March on the Diamond Princess and I must say we had the time of our life and the ship was full of college aged adults and they were very well behaved and it was a pleasure to be with them. They really made those games that are held in Club Fusion a blast and I wouldn't mind at all going on a cruise with college age adults again. I fully expected them to be rude and partiers but they were not. Very polite and more well mannered than the cruise we just took that left from Quebec to Lauderdale on Princess. I will take the college age adults over that passenger makeup from Quebec any day of the week.

[CrusinAgain]

I wonder what a good solution for Princess is. If they really only had around 700 cabins sold 2 weeks before, they were looking at a pretty significant loss on the sailing.

 

C - I have been speaking with through posts on here with a person who lives in Puerto Rico and we compared notes of costs. He gave twice what the newspaper was running for those last minutes cruises and what was so different was the port fees and government fees were another $200 and something whereas when I looked up the same date and ships the initial cost was higher but the fees were in the $50-60 range therefore actually making the trip a few dollars less for us over those in Puerto Rico. It appeared that the travel agencies in the area down there were leaving out all the fees and taxes to appear to look cheap. Did anyone say what their total was or just the $200 a person statement.

 

Here is the link to the thread:

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1317124&page=2

 

and here is what was posted about the pricing on Dec. 5th for the following:

 

"OK, here they are: today´s rates in PR´s newspapers, for an interior stateroom, guaranty, which is the least expensive stateroom. Cheaper than this, will be cruising in the cargo hold. LOL

 

December 11, Serenade of the Seas, double only - $590 plus $208.09 taxes and port fees.

 

December 12, Caribbean Princess, double only - $174 plus $233.43 taxes and port fees.

 

December 18, Celebrity Summitt - double $450, triple $430 and quad. $420.

 

December 19, Carnival Victory - $470 plus $227.74 taxes and port fees."

 

and here is what I found I could get same ships for:

 

Here's a comparison to the best prices I found at the same time frame:

 

Adventure of the Seas, Dec. 12 (one day sale - today): Inside $399 plus government fees $46.54; Promenade inside $729 plus fees $46.54; outside $449 plus fees $46.54; balcony $679 plus fees $46.54.

 

Caribbean Princess, Dec. 12 Inside $355 plus fees $58.25; Outside 405, Balcony plus fees $58.25, $535 plus fees 58.25(with onboard credit of $75)

 

Carnival Victory, Dec. 12: Inside $499 plus taxes and port fees; Outside $539 and Balcony $599.

[u2cruiser]

Your review nicely rounds up your 2 other threads cdamion. Thanks for all the time you have devoted to telling us about your cruise. Something in it for everyone.

 

Isn't it strange how nationalities en masse have a personality all of their own? I noticed on my Southampton sailing how Brits en masse like to set up camp on the sun decks and keep those camps for the entire cruise. They can also moan non stop about anything and everything.

[Shogun]

Hi All

 

We did a b2b a few years ago on the Golden first week many folks from US next week ship almost full of folks from Puerto Rico, ship put out notices in Spanish, menu changed, on board feeling total different.

 

yours Shogun

[Woobstr112G]

Thanks for taking the time to post your review. I enjoyed reading it.....:):):)

 

Bob

[Esk]

Isn't it strange how nationalities en masse have a personality all of their own? I noticed on my Southampton sailing how Brits en masse like to set up camp on the sun decks and keep those camps for the entire cruise. They can also moan non stop about anything and everything.

 

I remember a cruise round the Caribbean on the Sea Princess, one group of 40ish Americans were obviously on their own 'Spring Break' and one lady in particular was so loud that you could of stuck her on top of the ship in place of the fog horn...... I guess in all nationalities there are bad apples:)

[sammiedawg]

6 years ago, May 2004, we did the Golden Princess out of San juan. At least half of the passengers were from PR. Lots of kids on board. We were told the locals got better rates than those of us from the mainland US. We did not get a particularly good deal on our cruise fare and we were working with the now deceased, well known discounting agent from Ohio. She checked rates carefully when final payment was due and there was no price drop. We heard lots of Latin music poolside and saw lots of kids congregating on staircases and poolside. At the airport, I heard a few comments from fellow passengers that they would not sail out of PR again. I'm not sure if I would go out of my way to do it again, especially paying the extra flight costs.

[Chesie]

We'll be on the CB Feb 6th for a week. Free flight only reason we are doing this plus getting out of the winter weather. While I know the Caribbean is a more "lively" group of pax, hopefully it won't be too bad. I'm just glad to get out of the snow and be with DH for a week!:D

[cdamion]

 

Did anyone say what their total was or just the $200 a person statement.

 

 

No, I did not speak in detail about it with them. Both said that they saw insides advertised for $200 per person, but both were in either outside or balcony cabins. I can not say for certain what the total was. I do recall recall seeing some low fares in the weeks before. I believe what I saw online was 449 inside, 549 outside, and 649 balcony about two weeks before sailing.

[Mer123]

Depending on the time of year, depends on how many locals and/or children are on board. In the month of November to New Years, around easter and the summer time, you get more.

 

Also -- sailing out of San Juan and doing a southern caribbean itinerary gives you better weather. sailing from FL in Dec and Jan and doing the eastern or western caribbean, you run the risk of not the greatest weather. it's a hit or miss.

[Tapi]

Let me start by saying that I'm from Puerto Rico. What you are describing is not because the ship was full of Puertoricans, but because you were sailing on a low season sailing with rock bottom prices. That, no matter where you sail from, will attract a lot of people who, under different circumstances, would not travel and may not know what proper behavior in this type of environment should be.

 

We live in Georgia. Our drive to ports attract a lot of people from nearby states. Our last cruise on the Fascination out of Jacksonville was filled with many rude, trashy, inconsiderate guests. But we paid less than $250 to sail on an ocean view cabin so it wasn't that surprising to find the quality of fellow passengers that we encountered.

 

To generalize about Puertoricans on your sailing is like me generalizing about my sailing and saying that our cruise last week was overrun with rude people because they were Georgians (the largest group aboard)

 

With that said, I highly recommend that you also brush up on Puertorican culture. Even the most sophisticated Puertorican enjoys a good time. Something that may be considered "rude" by someone from Iowa might be completely OK in the Puertorican culture.

 

You are sailing from SAN JUAN. Yes, you'll see many activities that cater to Puertoricans. It's their closest port of embarkation after all! It would be like me complaining because the music played on a cruise out of Mobile, Alabama caters mostly to people from the south! :rolleyes:

 

[Mom33]

Let me start by saying that I'm from Puerto Rico. What you are describing is not because the ship was full of Puertoricans, but because you were sailing on a low season sailing with rock bottom prices. That, no matter where you sail from, will attract a lot of people who, under different circumstances, would not travel and may not know what proper behavior in this type of environment should be.

 

We live in Georgia. Our drive to ports attract a lot of people from nearby states. Our last cruise on the Fascination out of Jacksonville was filled with many rude, trashy, inconsiderate guests. But we paid less than $250 to sail on an ocean view cabin so it wasn't that surprising to find the quality of fellow passengers that we encountered.

 

To generalize about Puertoricans on your sailing is like me generalizing about my sailing and saying that our cruise last week was overrun with rude people because they were Georgians (the largest group aboard)

 

With that said, I highly recommend that you also brush up on Puertorican culture. Even the most sophisticated Puertorican enjoys a good time. Something that may be considered "rude" by someone from Iowa might be completely OK in the Puertorican culture.

 

You are sailing from SAN JUAN. Yes, you'll see many activities that cater to Puertoricans. It's their closest port of embarkation after all! It would be like me complaining because the music played on a cruise out of Mobile, Alabama caters mostly to people from the south! :rolleyes:

 

 

Well said.:D

[Jacqueline]

first, thank you for your balanced review. as others have noted this is the shoulder and the prices are at rock bottom. So take the good (the prices) with the maybe not so good(other people traveling at very low rates). No matter what the departure port, in any part of the world when the rates for locals is low, there is always a backlash on the boards,

I have to check my cruise history but my guess is that I have done about 5 cruises out of SJ and will only sail the Caribbean out of SJ in the future. Prefer the ports and the fine weather. I have sailed X twice and Princess the majority of the times... Including this coming spring.

[mytime53]

Let me start by saying that I'm from Puerto Rico. What you are describing is not because the ship was full of Puertoricans, but because you were sailing on a low season sailing with rock bottom prices. That, no matter where you sail from, will attract a lot of people who, under different circumstances, would not travel and may not know what proper behavior in this type of environment should be.

 

We live in Georgia. Our drive to ports attract a lot of people from nearby states. Our last cruise on the Fascination out of Jacksonville was filled with many rude, trashy, inconsiderate guests. But we paid less than $250 to sail on an ocean view cabin so it wasn't that surprising to find the quality of fellow passengers that we encountered.

 

To generalize about Puertoricans on your sailing is like me generalizing about my sailing and saying that our cruise last week was overrun with rude people because they were Georgians (the largest group aboard)

 

With that said, I highly recommend that you also brush up on Puertorican culture. Even the most sophisticated Puertorican enjoys a good time. Something that may be considered "rude" by someone from Iowa might be completely OK in the Puertorican culture.

 

You are sailing from SAN JUAN. Yes, you'll see many activities that cater to Puertoricans. It's their closest port of embarkation after all! It would be like me complaining because the music played on a cruise out of Mobile, Alabama caters mostly to people from the south! :rolleyes:

 

 

Thank you for your post. I've been trying to figure out how to make the same point...you did it much more politely than I would have. I labor under the false impression that travel makes people more open to other cultures. But on this forum, everyday I'm reminded that many hope to find their exact culture replicated throughout the world.

[Hopperhop]

I am all for cultural diversity on the cruises. That is what makes them so much fun, meeting people from around the world and getting to know something about them and their culture.:)

 

I have sailed out of San Juan and have no problem that activities were catered toward the large number of Puertoricans that were on board. I think that is great and had no problem with that at all.

 

However, being rude, not observing the pool age limits, and being loud and obnoxious and ruining the experience of the other passengers is unacceptable no matter what country you come from and should not be tolerated!! This applies no matter if you are from Puerto Rico, Canada, England or the U.S. Inconsiderate is inconsiderate for the most part.

[Tapi]

However, being rude, not observing the pool age limits, and being loud and obnoxious and ruining the experience of the other passengers is unacceptable no matter what country you come from and should not be tolerated!! This applies no matter if you are from Puerto Rico, Canada, England or the U.S. Inconsiderate is inconsiderate for the most part.

 

I agree with you...to a certain extent. I think there are two issues here. BAD behavior, and CULTURAL behavior.

 

• Pushing, ignoring rules etc: BAD behavior
  
• Being loud and (what might be perceived as) rude: CULTURAL behavior
  

What in the US might be considered "rude, loud and obnoxious" might be proper behavior in other cultures.

 

Let me give you an example that is very close to home for me. My wife is from a small town in western North Carolina. I'm from Puerto Rico. When we started dating and my wife started spending time with my family in Puerto Rico, one of her first questions was "Why is everybody being SO loud and obnoxious??".

 

It took my wife some time to realize that the "perceived" loud and obnoxious behavior was part of the culture, and perfectly appropriate. Gatherings with my Puertorican family involved being loud, yelling over each other, and getting used to what seems like organized chaos and incesant partying.

 

Over the years my wife has learned to adjust and she gets right into the loudness and chaos. Now that we have a son, even he realizes that there's a cultural difference. When he's with his family from North Carolina, he is much quieter and mellow. When he's with his family from Puerto Rico, he gets loud and crazy along with all of his little cousins.

 

I am fully aware that it's appropriate to leave behind the loud behavior when I'm going to different places and will be mingling with other cultures. However, as the OP stated, SHE/HE was the one the one who traveled to Puerto Rico, the one who cruised with 1600 Puertoricans, and the one who needed to adjust her expectations.

 

Once again, I don't approve of BAD behavior. I'm sure that there were some poorly behaved passengers on this sailing, but to place a big "Puertorican" label on all of them just shows cultural intolerance and ignorance.

[HelloHelloHola]

quotes removed

[leavingohio]

my wife and i were on this cruise and my biggest problem is, the cruise ind. uses the secert pricing system on all there cruises. we paid a fair price for a Princess cruise,being a upscale line and having been on them 7 times, last time in alaska this may,But we did not receive a Princess cruise. I did not get what I was promised. IF any cruise line wants to have a bargin basement cruise,this is fine, BUT LET EVERYONE KNOW WHAT THEY ARE GETTING, before they take your money. We have a lot of different ethic friends, and I have alot of pr business friends. No problem,I thought most of the people had a great time, i thing Princess was not set to handle the children as would other cruise lines and just let some things get out of hand.

[TysonsTraveler8]

Hi--

 

My husband and I will be on the CB out of San Juan on Sunday 12/26 for one week; it is the same cruise (slightly different itinerary) that we did last year (only one week before--included X-mas, instead of New Years). In any case, we have taken a few cruises out of FL previously, and now one cruise out of San Juan--and we liked last year's cruise SO MUCH that we signed up for this same cruise (again, slightly different itinerary). We liked the fact that leaving from San Juan, especially this time of year, it's already warm (whereas Florida can be chilly), and there are no sea days to get to any ports. Maybe because it's the holidays (both cruises) but while I remember last year there were SOME locals on the cruise, I don't remember at all there being ANY problem. As others have said, this itinerary is very port intensive. In the end, if you are having active beach days, there really isn't much time to be on the boat, in any case. And the time we had on the boat was great.

Thanks again for this interesting thread!

[Minoushka]

I for one am not ALLOWING negative comments to predispose me to negativity towards our cruise .I AM SO looking forward to it I just hope weather WILL cooperate and we will have a series of GORGEOUS beach Days ...that is my priority

Sun,,,,,,, Sea ..Snorkeling...... Shade ..all those GREAT words with S

 

SOON SOON SOON GOD WILLING

 

Michele

[cmsauer]

Love the photo of your dog, cute.

[amcdonnell]

Perhaps someone has already said this, but what exactly are people proposing that Princess do? Ban Puerto Ricans from going on their cruises? Because I can guarantee you that neither myself, nor anyone who I associate with would patronize Princess again.

 

This was my first cruise - I had mixed feelings about it, but not because of the Puerto Ricans on board. I do speak Spanish and really enjoyed the opportunity to use it as well as hear music that I like. If you can't deal with having an uncontrolled environment, why travel? If you can't roll with cultural differences, why travel? I have been to 26 countries and while the attitude towards lines does vary from location to location, as annoyed as I can feel when the "line" is not next to God in order of cultural importance, I am also well aware that my anal retentive need to cling to the cultural icon of the "line" is equally obnoxious to my international counterparts.

 

I was actually a bit surprised at Princess's sake that so few of the staff did speak Spanish and that there were rarely Spanish translations on the menu. You are using the San Juan port and don't have the courtesy to accommodate clientele who, understandably, don't speak English? Half the patrons, or guests as we call them in my line of work, speak another language and you don't value them enough to provide some options? That is, in my opinion, where Princess fell short. I can tell you what I paid for my balcony was not much more than what many of the Puerto Ricans paid for their inside room. The value of a room and of a vacation is all relative to the average salary of the area in which people live. Don't assume that just because someone paid less than you that they value it less.

 

My take on this is that some people came on board with a premeditated attitude towards how this was going to go, and what a cruise departing from San Juan would be like. I am glad that so many people on this particular thread are appearing to be a bit more open-minded, because many of the comments of people from the States and their attitudes are actually what makes me NOT want to cruise again, rather than some Victor Manuel in Skywalkers.

[amapola]

I was going to stay out of this but... oh well, here goes. DH and I are Puerto Rican, born and bred (I lived in the US for 5 years in the 80's -- I worked in visitor information at a major museum in DC, where I was the token Hispanic in my division :rolleyes:).

 

DH and I are not and have never been loud and boisterous. I detest salsa (the music -- I love salsa the condiment ;)) and couldn't name a Victor Manuel song if my life depended on it. Our family gatherings are not loud. We don't really fit the "locals" stereotype, but that doesn't make us less Puerto Rican. Most of my friends and co-workers are just like us!

 

Stereotypes are wrong, and they're just as damaging for the people subjected to them as they are for those who express them. One problem with stereotypes is that one becomes so fixated in observing the behavior that fits with the stereotype, that reinforces what one already thinks/believes about a certain group, that one doesn't see variations. On cruises DH and I can be found quietly reading our books, not hogging tables near the windows to play dominoes all day, not splashing and cannonballing in the pool, not yelling across the deck, not interrupting the comedy show. Therefore, we go unnoticed, right? And there will be any number of "locals" who are the same, and they go unnoticed too. Only the loud, obnoxious, rude people get noticed and the people who observe those behaviors generalize them to a whole group. A few years ago on the AOS there were several loud, obnoxious Spanish-speaking groups. To non-Hispanics, they would probably all be lumped into "Puerto Ricans" since that's where the cruise originated. But I can tell you that at least half the groups were NOT from PR, but from other countries in Latin America. And on other cruises I've seen rude people from (fill in the blank with any nationality ;)).

 

Sigh. Off my soapbox and off to finish writing a paper on medical library collection development. That's about as obnoxious as I get :D