Is the Caribbean Princess really as "bad" as all the reviews make it out to be??

[marlinmike]

Watch all these people having a "bad" time. Click on one of the videos.

[CruiseFever]

Watch all these people having a "bad" time. Click on one of the videos.

 

They do look miserable

 

:rolleyes:

[CariBear]

Thanks again for all of the replies!!

 

Marlinmike...thanks for the link to the video! It does look great!

 

Earlier today I changed my reservation to the Caribbean Princess! We booked a balcony cabin on the Caribe deck. The grandparents are thrilled that we are going with them! We also chose Personal Choice dinning.

 

We are not sailing until December, so we have a while to go......but I really think we will have a great time!

[monk888]

CariBear,

 

We were on the Caribbean Princess June 26, 2004. We loved it. We loved it so much that we're sailing her again on her Western Itinerary June 4, 2005, Dolphin Deck Mini-Suite. Here's my review from way back when. As has been said many times before, it's all about attitude. Some people have a miserable time everywhere they go because they take their misery with them.:mad: Leave your cares and woes at home and head for the dock determined to have a blast, and you will!:D

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=49514

 

Here is a link to some photos from the voyage. Enjoy!

 

http://community.webshots.com/album/163544676IXfbis

 

The Monk

[CruiseFever]

CariBear,

 

We were on the Caribbean Princess June 26, 2004. We loved it. We loved it so much that we're sailing her again on her Western Itinerary June 4, 2005, Dolphin Deck Mini-Suite. Here's my review from way back when. As has been said many times before, it's all about attitude. Some people have a miserable time everywhere they go because they take their misery with them.:mad: Leave your cares and woes at home and head for the dock determined to have a blast, and you will!:D

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=49514

 

Here is a link to some photos from the voyage. Enjoy!

 

http://community.webshots.com/album/163544676IXfbis

 

The Monk

 

Still, one of the best, most complete reviews ever of this ship!

[Julia & David]

CariBear,

 

We had such a "bad time" along with our buddy marlinmike that we booked again for this July!

[KAJOKG]

Thanks again for all of the replies!!

 

Marlinmike...thanks for the link to the video! It does look great!

 

Earlier today I changed my reservation to the Caribbean Princess! We booked a balcony cabin on the Caribe deck. The grandparents are thrilled that we are going with them! We also chose Personal Choice dinning.

 

We are not sailing until December, so we have a while to go......but I really think we will have a great time!

 

We had a balcony cabin on the Caribe Deck...You will LOVE it. Balcony is large and half covered. We had 2 lounge chairs, a table and 2 side chairs and a foot stool. Glad you made your decision...you will have a great time.

[Annies Porch]

So glad you got booked on the CP!! We sailed the CP last October and had a wonderful time. We also had a balcony on the Caribe deck and loved it - you probably know this, but the Caribe balconies are bigger than the other decks.

As a grandmother of a 3 yr old girl, I must say that you definitely made the right decision. I would be THRILLED to be on a cruise with our grandkids and I suspect your parents will be extremely happy.

We are working on plans to sail on the CP again in September and this time our son & DIL may join us.

Have a wonderful cruise!

[tiggrbaby]

We are thinking of a MUTS cruise as a family when my oldest graduates HS next summer. Would this be a good cruise for teens? What kind of movies do they show? Is it hard to get seats for the movies? Do they serve popcorn, or do you have to buy it?

[Totally Addicted]

Hi!

We just got off the Caribbean Princess last Saturday. It was our 3rd cruise on her. She is wonderful!! What's not to love!!!!! A couple of our Princess favorites are the Anytime Dining and freshwater pools!!! My favorite spots on the Caribbean Princess is the deck on top of the Bridge (go all the way forward on the Lido deck through the doors) -- FABULOUS!!! The aft, of course!! And the Movies Under the Stars anytime, day or night!! Wonderful movies for children and adults!!!! We loved the comedy of Kimika (we've seen them 4 times) Same show, but we loved it! James the cruise director is really good. We like him better than Graham Seymore, (some might not understand that!) We enjoyed "Let's Rock" in the Princess Theater also. Call for your tickets for the evening shows of Movies Under the Stars as soon as you step foot on the ship. The information to do so is in the "Patter" newspaper in your stateroom. They will book up right away!

Have a wonderful sail, as I know you will!!! She's a fabulous ship!!! What great memories for your daughter and her grandparents! You're very thoughtful for going with them!! They are lucky parents!!

 

Barbara:D

[Totally Addicted]

Hi!

As you might have just read in the post below, we just returned from the Caribbean Princess last Saturday. The Movies Under the Stars are wonderful, day or night. During the day they are playing movies like, 'Grease', 'Back to the Future', 'Big', 'Shrek', to name a few. At night last week they played, 'The Incredibles', 'National Treasure', Tina Turner concert, Tom Jones concert, Beyonce concert. Some of the concerts and the day time movies were the same ones playing last fall, but we enjoyed them just the same! At night the popcorn is free. You can also grab some pizza (free) or ice cream (not free) or snacks from the Horizon Court as it is real close! Just a wonderful ship and a fabulous time!!!!!

 

Barbara :D

[Linda2433]

Oh my god, No just got back too tired to get into detail. But came back sat. the 23rd. Long day getting off ship and plane flights. Didn't get in until 1am . Trying to figure out a way to sleep so tired anyways will post more sun.

[c-ruisedaddy]

i think one person can have bad cruise, while another person on the same cruise can have a super cruise,and your grandparents wont be around forever,so take the time you have now to be with them:)))),and i think princess has a good childrens program too.so my choice would be to go with grandparents,besides like you said,maybe theyll watch your child, so you and your hubby can have a lil quality time together,hope you have a great cruise enjoy:))))

 

For years we took our son with us along with my mother. It was a great bonding experience for all of us. Our child really got to know his grandmother and the two were very close. Sadly, my mother is gone now and he has grown up; but the worldwide experiences are something he will never forget. When he has children we would love to cruise with them.

 

BTY, in the 10 or so cruises he went on, I can't remember him ever saying he was bored. He started cruising around age 6. On his first cruise there was a kids program. After that every ship he was on didn't have a kids' program.

[riekl]

Cari,

 

I haven't read this whole thread yet so I may edit this but I have yet to read a negative review of CP .. where are you getting this feeling ?

 

Don't get me wrong there are the usual "complaints" kids in the adult pool, kids in diapers in the pool, chair hogs etc .. but i saw ALL of this happen on RCCL also.

 

I sailed Mariner last year and I can say I prefer Princess by far. The rock climbing wall, ice rink etc are neat gizmo's to wow at for a few seconds but really didnt add anything to my cruise experience.

 

 

I am just wondering if anyone has any positive things to say about their experience on the Caribbean Princess? I read a couple of the reviews and most are pretty negative.

 

Here is my situation:

My husband and I are in our mid-30's and we have a soon to be 3 year old that will be cruising with us. We are currently booked on RCCL Mariner of the Seas. Grandma and Grandpa are booked on the Caribbean Princess. We are thinking of cancelling our cruise and joining Grandma and Grandpa on their cruise. They originally wanted us to cruise with them, but I thought RCCL's kids program would be better for the little one, plus we have sailed RCCL Adventure of the Seas and love the large ships...and I had read all the negative reviews of the Caribbean Princess....which kind of turned me off to this ship.

 

With all that being said, now we are thinking of switching to Princess. This way my husband and I are guaranteed at least 1 night to ourselves while the grandparents watch our little one, in addition to the quality time we can all spend together. If our 3 year old does not attend the kids program (because she might not be potty trained by then or she does not want to go), then at least we will have relatives on the ship to help us out. Like I stated earlier, the grandparents do want us to go with them and even stated we could have a night or two "out" during the cruise.

 

Just unsure what to think about all of the negative posts in regard to this ship. I know any cruise is what you make of it....so that really depends on the cruiser. I looked at some of the Patters and there doesn't seem to be that many activities on sea days. Not that we get very involved.....but knowing that the options are available is a plus.

 

Can anyone report some happy endings to their past Caribbean Princess cruises?? Any thoughts on my situation??

 

Thanks so much!

[Princessgal]

I did not like the main lounge on this ship. it was more like a lot of little areas with people sitting around tv monitors to watch the live performers on the stage because you can't see them unless you are in the front and middle section. I also had trouble booking the movie under the stars which was booked up unless i wanted to leave dinner early on a formal night and sit on a damp chair in my evening gown. I watched a Tom Jones concert on deck the last night because there were no reserved seats and there were alot of pits in the screen with broken bulbs and it was only the 3rd cruise. I would go back on her but then i would go back on almost any ship.

[CariBear]

Thanks again everyone for posting!! The grandparents are excited that we are going with them and so is my little girl. I showed her a picture of the ship and she said "Biiiiiiiiiig boat!" I am also getting excited and looking into child-friendly excursions.

riekl,
I guess I was looking at the Member Review area of the website and at one point there seemed to be a lot of reviews with 2-3 blue flags. I read most of them and there was a lot of negativity. I went back though and read through some of the postive reviews.

2 quick questions if anyone has a chance to respond:

1.How do you know what type of dinner is being served in the buffet dining rooms? Is it listed in the Patter each day? We signed up for PC dining, but my husband loves crab legs and lobster tails, so we don't want to miss the seafood nights.

2. My TA told me that I should go with a roll-away for my 3 year old because the pull-downs are very high off the floor. Is this true? I have a BA cabin on the Caribe deck, cabin 504. I was thinking maybe a twin aerobed would work better than the roll-away, but we have time to think about that.

Thanks so much!! :)