Just off/done with Caribbean Princess

[woohooTOO]

How was the disembarkation in Houston?

[whatcruiseisnext]

How was the disembarkation in Houston?

 

The disembarkation was seamless. I expected chaos since it was the first time into that port. Not so. They were very organized and all transportation options were available.....taxis, Super Shuttles and Princess transfers. We opted for the Princess transfer soley because we believed that there would be a delay because of being the first time there. We were to the airport quickly with more than enough time to spare.

Edited November 8, 2013 by whatcruiseisnext

[Mekamax]

I don't consider Cunard a luxury lines by any means, but I also don't place it in the mass-market arena. My sailings on Cunard have very little in common with those on Princess, NCL, Carnival, and Royal Caribbean. Night and day actually. QM2 happens to be one of my all-time favorite vessels and I've sailed on a lot. You have to appreciate her for what she is, a true "ocean liner" and not some production line cruise ship. I place Cunard clearly in the premium category, along with lines like Oceania and Azamara.

 

We can agree on DCL. I have no kids but I adore Disney Cruise Line. Beautiful ships (I've sailed a few times on DISNEY DREAM and DISNEY WONDER) and attention to detail that is second to none. Too bad about all the kids or I would probably cruise on them more often. I often say Disney Cruise Line is wasted on the children! LOL

 

Ernie

 

Just got off our second Disney cruise and have to agree that the service and attention to detail are above mass market and wasted on so many kids. ;) That said this one had so many kids that it will be awhile before we try them again.... :o

 

That said even Disney had hand sanitizer person giving them out before the buffet or dining room and although everyone was taking them they were not pushing them.

 

We have done Anytime on NCL, RCL and CCL and have to say the table for two are kind of a joke. They are 12 inches from the next table.. You might as well dine together as you are going to be hearing all the conversations anyway... Hoping Princess will have a little more space between them...

Edited November 8, 2013 by Mekamax

[jen2427]

Hey Renman22 - We just got off the same cruise as you and feel the same way. I'm glad I'm not the only one. The food in the MDR and buffets was basically inedible. For those who liked the food, I would never want to take their recommendation on food. Everything covered in some type of sauce and tasted the same. The Australian "premium" beef was gray. We walked out of the Crown Grill when they couldn't get the temperature correct on the steaks after the third re-fire and we couldn't cut through it and the sides were cold and undercooked. We ate pizza for basically the entire cruise. We even complained to the food and beverage director who agreed with us that the food was very poor quality. Will never do Princess again either. That was our first Princess cruise and last.

 

As for the shows.... ugh!

 

We did enjoy the ports, the pools and the pizza though and Sabatini's was pretty good.

[caribill]

The food in the MDR and buffets was basically inedible. For those who liked the food, I would never want to take their recommendation on food. Everything covered in some type of sauce and tasted the same. The Australian "premium" beef was gray. We walked out of the Crown Grill when they couldn't get the temperature correct on the steaks after the third re-fire and we couldn't cut through it and the sides were cold and undercooked. We ate pizza for basically the entire cruise. We even complained to the food and beverage director who agreed with us that the food was very poor quality.

 

 

I bet the food is better on the current 4 day cruise which has one of the head honchos on it.

[Thrak]

Sounds to me like the OP gave his honest opinion. I agree that a snazzier line might well be in order.

 

I guess my wife and I are lucky that we're noobs with only 2 cruises under our belts. We have no "good old days" to look back upon so we have totally loved both of our cruises so far. I'd guess we will probably continue on in our clueless fashion and love every cruise we go on without realizing how good things "used to be".

 

Did we find every single thing about our cruises to be "wonderful"? Nope. The HC food is on the bland side for us but, if it was fixed the way we want it, the majority of passengers would likely complain that it was too spicy. Is the pizza on Lido deck as fabulous as everybody else seems to think? No way. I was very disappointed in it. (The pizza at Cafe Corniche on Sea Princess was great!) I'm hoping Alfredo's is as good as advertised.

 

We didn't have a real problem with anything - including slightly bland food or mediocre pizza - on our cruises. We were sooooooooooooooo happy to be cruising and having such a great time being on the ship and in the ports that it would have to be something pretty major to cause us to complain or have issues with the cruise.

 

I'm not sure which cruise lines your two cruises have been on, but Princess has better pizza than other cruise lines. Of course, that's subjective and you may disagree, but in my experience, other cruise lines have really disappointing pizza. So, when we talk about how great the Princess pizza is....we're comparing it to other cruise ship pizza. At least I am. It's definitely not as good as the good pizza shops I have at home. For me, I was really disappointed in Alfredo's, but I love the Lido deck pizza....as far as cruise ship pizza goes, that is. I don't expect 5 star food on a cruise ship. Maybe that's why I'm not that disappointed. I cruise for other reasons. I never go hungry, though!

 

We have only cruised on Princess. Perhaps I'm a pizza snob or maybe Star Princess had a poor supply of pepperoni when we sailed her. I found the pepperoni to be very bland on that cruise. I gave it multiple tries. My son agreed with me. The specialty pizzas of the day were better but pepperoni is a pretty basic pizza ingredient. If you can't do a good pepperoni pizza you are doing something wrong.

[capriccio]

Hey Renman22 - We just got off the same cruise as you and feel the same way. I'm glad I'm not the only one. The food in the MDR and buffets was basically inedible. For those who liked the food, I would never want to take their recommendation on food. Everything covered in some type of sauce and tasted the same. The Australian "premium" beef was gray. We walked out of the Crown Grill when they couldn't get the temperature correct on the steaks after the third re-fire and we couldn't cut through it and the sides were cold and undercooked. We ate pizza for basically the entire cruise. We even complained to the food and beverage director who agreed with us that the food was very poor quality. Will never do Princess again either. That was our first Princess cruise and last.

 

As for the shows.... ugh!

 

We did enjoy the ports, the pools and the pizza though and Sabatini's was pretty good.

 

What a difference 3 months makes (change in chef, maybe?) because we had some of the best food we've had on our 9 Princess cruises on the Caribbean Princess in August. My husband raved about the fish dishes in the MDR and I had London Broil and tenderloin that was mouth watering. He liked his steak (I can't remember what cut) and I loved my lamb chops in the Crown Grill. We don't eat in the Horizon Court so I can't speak to that. I can't imagine writing off an entire line because the food on a single cruise wasn't up to snuff.

[phantomII]

Hey Renman22 - We just got off the same cruise as you and feel the same way. I'm glad I'm not the only one. The food in the MDR and buffets was basically inedible. For those who liked the food, I would never want to take their recommendation on food. Everything covered in some type of sauce and tasted the same. The Australian "premium" beef was gray. We walked out of the Crown Grill when they couldn't get the temperature correct on the steaks after the third re-fire and we couldn't cut through it and the sides were cold and undercooked. We ate pizza for basically the entire cruise. We even complained to the food and beverage director who agreed with us that the food was very poor quality. Will never do Princess again either. That was our first Princess cruise and last.

 

As for the shows.... ugh!

 

We did enjoy the ports, the pools and the pizza though and Sabatini's was pretty good.

If the food was so awful I'll bet everybody lost weight on this cruise. I kind of doubt it though. Inedible??

[whatcruiseisnext]

I just don't understand. We were most pleased with this cruise. Go to the roll call for this cruise. Everyone had a wonderful time and enjoyed it tremendously. To those who were unhappy..I do hope you find a cruise line that is to your liking.

[Times Prince]

We were on the same cruise and had a somewhat different experience, more closely related to jrzebird's. We thoroughly enjoyed the cruise.

• We ate in the MDR, traditional, early seating (5:45 instead of the advertised 6 PM) and found the service to be the best we've ever experienced and the food to be excellent, including steaks. I only had one dish the entire 10 day cruise where I was disappointed in the sauce (orange/lemon on fried scallops). We had great table mates (hi, Peggy and Geoff!)
  
• We did not eat in the Crown Grill except for English Pub lunch (Scottish egg, in particular, was really good)
  
• We ate occasionally in Horizon Court for lunch and Caribe Café late night and didn't have any issue. Food tasted good and was warmer than most buffets we've experienced.
  
• We did NOT find the ship to be crowded at any time.
  
• The pianist in the Deck 7 Lounge had a huge following so must have been good, but did not block the aisles, even with folding chairs along one side. We only listened to one song but he seemed pretty good.
  
• Dance floors were virtually empty, and we had opportunities for recorded ballroom dancing in Club Fusion, live show band in Explorer's, and duo in Wheelhouse.
  
• We found all the live music on this cruise to be excellent.
  
• Those who booked the cruise early may have found the port times short and many in our Roll Call were upset about these changes. A full day in Grand Turk became a half day because of ship scheduling issues (all Carnival Corp.), and the original stop in Aruba became a shortened stop in Curacao. We booked after the changes in schedule, and had a good time in both ports, even with the shorter stay.
  
• We had no problem finding seats at either the 8:15 or 10:00 PM shows. We never use the deck 7 entrance and could see that if one looked only in the upper center section it may have seemed crowded. The singers were excellent, and the production shows were really good. Steve Moris was featured 2 of the last 3 nights - his comedy show was outrageously funny but his musical show was not very good in our opinion.
  
• Pizza was fine!
  
• We found there was way too much football on MUTS, and commented on this in the survey. Only saw one movie - Man of Steel.
  
• Halloween party was fun!
  
• The Caribbean Princess was clean, well run.
  
• We never saw the Captain's Circle rep - he was only in his office two hours a day (rough job...)
  

We realize that individual's experiences are different, and also note the OP's last sentence was that they enjoyed the cruise, despite the issues. We did too.

[DebJ14]

Interesting - we will be on the CB in a few weeks and will be able to see who was right. We found the cure for no seats at the pool or in the theater was to sail RCCL in a Grand Suite or above. They give full suite passengers reserved seats at the pool, theater and ice shows. It doesn't cost them a thing (other than the ropes and signs). I wish Princess and other lines would consider it. If we find it is too crowded and seating is a problem, then we will be back to RCCL in a flash.

[CHELSEADOG]

We were also on this cruise. It is funny how opinions about the same thing can vary so much. We didn't find that we waited for anything. We were on anytime dining and needed a table for 3 and never had to wait more than 5 minutes.

I agree with the length of the time in port there wasn't time to do much more than go look at the dumb shops right at the port area. A waste!

They weren't bad with the hand sanitizer. Other cruise lines had it at all the dining rooms too. If anything can help prevent me from getting the dreaded novo virus I'm for it.

As for the food it was far superior than NCCL on the Epic. On the Epic we even had to pay extra for the shows.

I too am confused. What nightly buffet? The buffet is in the Horizon Court or the Caribe Café. We had a very nice dinner there one night. It was very quiet and relaxing.

[kgdmom]

We were also on the 10 day repo cruise and agree with Times Prince review with everything. We were pleasantly surprised with the # of lounge chairs available at the pool, even in the afternoon. We had not experienced this on the 5 previous cruises we have been on with RCCL and Princess.

 

The only thing we were not happy about was with Anytime dining if requesting a table for 2. We completely understand having to wait, but after waiting for 15 minutes and being given a table for 2 in the Anytime dining room and looking around to see numerous tables for 4 and more than 4 that sat empty the entire time we had our meal did not make us happy. That was the first night. On the other nights we requested a table for two we waited 20 minutes and then 40 minutes and in the end were escorted to the main dining rooms with groups of about 4-8 other couples who had requested tables for 2. Was there a need to wait this long or could we have gone up to those dining rooms as individual couples when tables initially became available. No need to be escorted, they could have just given the main dining rooms our name and send us up. Even when arriving at the Anytime dining room at 5:30 when they opened (I even checked the sign posted at the door for opening times) - there was no waiting line at the door and still no tables for two? I guess I just didn't understand why only those requesting tables for 2 were waiting when empty tables seemed to be available.

 

The Anytime dining issue was just a minor inconvenience but felt it was worth mentioning. I will also let Princess know our thoughts. I think it would be difficult to have a cruise experience that is absolutely perfect in every way and don't ever expect to.

 

We had a wonderful time, loved the cruise director's staff and the ship was beautiful. Can't wait to cruise again in February!

 

 

 

[tequilasunrise]

OP: Thanks for braving to give your opinion, knowing that negative opinions are often flamed on this board.

 

I think some of those issues may be different from cruise to cruise; such as waits for anytime dining. We have found that to vary a great deal. Crowding also; a more homogenous passenger base creates crowding in certain areas at certain times. A really good cruise director, who schedules activities in various venues, goes a long ways towards making that better.

 

But I think more to the point, the OP wisely identified that he and his spouse prefer a slightly more upscale experience (Azamara, Paul Gaughin, etc). These have more space per passenger, and more amenities---and are priced accordingly. Princess is at this time a mass market cruise line and the experience (and price) reflects this. This is probably the fundamental issue here--if you have luxury expectations, but book mass market, you are probably setting yourself up for disappointment. I believe Princess does a great job of delivering what is promised--affordable and good, not perfect and expensive.

[TracieABD]

Thank you for your review. I have sailed on the CB once to New England and Canada. We had a charming cruise with very few hiccups. To be honest, I was very nervous about it, as folks have been complaining for years about overcrowding on the CB. I am just not a fan of crowds. The upshot is I never felt the crowds when I was on the ship. Of course, I am not a swimming pool, bar, show, casino person, but I did not feel encumbered.

 

I hope you find a perfect cruise home for you and your spouse. Happy hunting!

[eandj]

but I am a little worried about anytime dining on Princess. . We've had Celebrity's version of Anytime and it was great ... .

 

Yes this is a BIG check in the minus column for us when comparing the two lines and dining routines. We prefer tradtional on Princess. Altho we have never done Princess' anytime dining, we have observed the routine( note that's crowds of perturbed cruisers waiting impatiently at dining room entrances) and talked to people during our lunches re the infamous system. The fact that people can go back and forth, leaving trad tables open and adding more people to service in anytime is a big screw up. Agreed that Celebrity, by forcing a choice and sticking to it after the first night, the numbers aren't overwhelming for either choice. Some might not like the strictness, but at least you know what's going on nightly. And you aren't waiting while others from trad. have taken the seats meant for the anytimers.

[msmarvel]

Yes this is a BIG check in the minus column for us when comparing the two lines and dining routines. We prefer tradtional on Princess. Altho we have never done Princess' anytime dining, we have observed the routine( note that's crowds of perturbed cruisers waiting impatiently at dining room entrances) and talked to people during our lunches re the infamous system. The fact that people can go back and forth, leaving trad tables open and adding more people to service in anytime is a big screw up. Agreed that Celebrity, by forcing a choice and sticking to it after the first night, the numbers aren't overwhelming for either choice. Some might not like the strictness, but at least you know what's going on nightly. And you aren't waiting while others from trad. have taken the seats meant for the anytimers.

 

Interesting, since I was required to pick either late, early or anytime dining when I booked. I doubt they let you go back and forth, but since I committed to anytime, that's what I plan to do.

[mcarbone2001]

My dh and I were on the Caribbean in Oct. This was our second time on the CB.. I was so annoyed with the main dining room. They have cut down the number of tables for two. We had anytime dining. No matter what time we went ( 5:00, 7:00 , 7:30 & 8pm) we had to wait. One night we waited 1hr 10 min. We waited no less than 45 min. I looked around the dining room and notice many empty tables that seated for or more. The constantly asked if we would share. Some nights we wanted to eat alone. I was totally disappointed. I did express my concern to the matre' d . They did try to seat us on empty tables for four. I have been on many cruises, we never have assigned seating. I have never had to wait for more than a few min. I Am going on another Princess cruise in Jan. If I have the same experience. It will be my last princess cruise. Thanks for letting me vent..

My Spousal Unit (SU) are elite level on four lines and cruise several times a year which makes everything said here I hope a well informed opinion; but still in the end it is just one person's opinion. We just completed a 10 day repositioning from New York to Houston. I have never posted a review of a cruise but because of our experience this time I thought I might give it a try. Last year we gave up some 30+ years with Royal Caribbean. I am realistic about the economics of the leisure industry and have no sentimentality about the good old days or how things used to be. Times change and some things get better and some get worse. It is simply a personal qualitative judgement. RCCL seems to have moved toward a Carnival experience in which I choose not to participate. Now I have never been on Carnival ship but after my SU went on a girls cruise she came back and asked that Carnival never contact her again. Once again it is only personal preference and I know folks who really enjoy Carnival.

Now to the cruise at hand......Caribbean Princess

The Good: The staff for the most part really knocked themselves out to give great service. The room steward was super, the MDR waiters were great, and the young man who runs the Captains Circle (or whatever it is called) was first class. The ship was in ship shape. I had read some reviews that called this into question, but to me the CP is in terrific condition and well cared for. The food in the Crown Grill bordered on great. We ate there twice and thought it was worth every penny; great food and service. The nightly buffet was pretty good and at least showed some effort.

The Bad: Where do I start? The ship was not quite full (2700) and it seemed crowded at all times. This ship just should not accommodate this many passengers. The space is to my liking very strange. There is the Piazza which is simply too small. Also the shops are quite small and not especially well stocked while there seemed to be a large amount of lounge space that was seldom in use. Also what public space there was contained zero over sized or comfortable chairs. I am a most average sized guy and never found a chair that was good for more than 30 minutes. The theater was always crowded (do you see a trend here?) and with the exception of Steve Moris, the shows were all several years old and have not aged especially well. We had two of the shortest stops (half a day each) I have ever had on a cruise. I have been on a dozen or so repostionings of all types (10 to 23 days) and have never experienced this.

The Ugly: The food in the MDR was simply OK at best with limited menus. On the other hand the fare in the horizon court was close to inedible (which is a comment I have never made about any other eating establishment). To make matters worse, the layout of the HC could comfortably serve less than half the number of passengers. Seating in anytime dining was a disaster for those who wanted to have a table for two. I was told by the Maitre d that there were only 15 tables for two and that the only time without a wait was 5:00. After trying twice we gave up. The large ships need to give their preoccupation with hand sanitizer! Having borderline OCD (and also a graduate of the 3rd grade) I can assure you that my hands are always well washed before meals. Also without going into great detail, a recent Yale/Emory Medical School study found that sanitizers only kill bacteria and are essentially useless in fighting a virus. The study further stated that hand washing with soap and water was infinitely more effective, but that the spread of Norovirus etc. had little to do with hand contact by diners. I got very weary of being TOLD to sanitize my hands. It was a good thing the Horizon Court food was so bad since I quit going after a couple of days. Lunch became a hotdog which was pretty good.

I could go on and on, but enough is enough. Remembering this is just one person's opinion, I appreciate that there are lots of folks who really like the product that Princess offers. I guess I simply am no longer a part of this group. That is why it is so great that we have so many cruising choices. We really, really, like Aqua Class on Celebrity with its BLU dining offering. This year we have gone on our 3rd Paul Gauguin cruise and are about to do Southeast Asia on the Azamara Journey. We like this genre for many reasons including the smart casual dress code.

Princess was once our favorite line. This however, may say more about us than it does about Princess. The reality of life is simply that we usually get what we pay for. Given the tenor of this review, it might then surprise some that we actually had a pretty good time on our Caribbean Princess cruise. With the exception of some of the food, we got what we paid for and therefore have no real complaints. I just thought I would share some of my/our very personal observations.

[CruisewhenWecan]

I had great value for the price I paid on this repo cruise (and I paid double as a solo traveler). Just Saying! Total opposite experience than OP on same cruise, great food, service and met lots of folks. You just cannot please some folks... And to complain about a buffet "REALLY".... lol...

 

We are just off this cruise as well and have a totally different opinion

 

Many times over the course of the 10 day cruise we commented on how UNCROWDED the ship was. The cruise as stated was not full sailing with 600 less passengers than capacity. There was always somewhere to sit and lounge chairs at the pool were easy to come by. I have never been on a cruise before that you could go out to the pool at 9 or 10 and still find a lounge chair. Most days there were some vacant chairs all day. Food is very subjective but we had no issue with the food in the MDR, The Horizon Court or the Caribe Cafe. There is no way that I would describe the food as inedible!

 

The hand sanitizers that cruise lines use contain benzalkonium chloride and benzethonium chloride which is effective against Norovirus in concentrations of at least .013%.

 

We never had a problem getting a seat for the shows and most shows still had vacant seats after they started.

 

Tables for 2 in the main dining room is an issue. The longest that we had to wait was about 15 minutes or less on the nights we chose to dine at a table for 2. This is much less than the time we have to wait at restaurants here at home. We didn't view it as a problem.

 

This ship had been in Europe and then did Canada/New England. This repo was the first time that many staff were in the Caribbean. So if they said that "this is our first time"....the were probably telling the truth.

 

We talked to many people on the cruise and almost all had favorable comments. I am sorry that some of you had a poor experience. We are fortuante that our experince was great and although we have been home less than 24 hours we are already looking forward to our next cruise.

 

 

 

 

(Not sure why part of this post is in blue and part in black????)

Edited November 11, 2013 by CruisewhenWecan

[silvercruiser]

One of my best cruises ever was on Caribbean Princess. We booked a balcony cabin, but a couple of days before we boarded were offered a trade. If we'd give up our balcony cabin for an inside on Lido Deck they'd refund ALL OUR MONEY. I was told to come down to the pursers desk on the last day and they'd give me a check. Well, when I got there the woman started peeling off $100 bills....30 of them! I don't remember one single thing about that cruise except for the fact that we smiled the whole time.:)

 

748 days at sea....38 ships.....7 continents

[phantomII]

One of my best cruises ever was on Caribbean Princess. We booked a balcony cabin, but a couple of days before we boarded were offered a trade. If we'd give up our balcony cabin for an inside on Lido Deck they'd refund ALL OUR MONEY. I was told to come down to the pursers desk on the last day and they'd give me a check. Well, when I got there the woman started peeling off $100 bills....30 of them! I don't remember one single thing about that cruise except for the fact that we smiled the whole time.:)

 

748 days at sea....38 ships.....7 continents

After reading this I guess I would consider an inside for the 1st time!

[Musky Ike]

I just don't understand. We were most pleased with this cruise. Go to the roll call for this cruise. Everyone had a wonderful time and enjoyed it tremendously. To those who were unhappy..I do hope you find a cruise line that is to your liking.

 

Ditto, in fact we look forward booking passage on the CB again very soon.

[eandj]

Interesting, since I was required to pick either late, early or anytime dining when I booked. I doubt they let you go back and forth, but since I committed to anytime, that's what I plan to do.

 

 

Sorry, that IS the situation on Princess. :rolleyes: You will see MANY traditional diners switch over to anytime dining at will. There are many who aren't as "commited" as you. X is stricter with the "commitment". And the number allowed to book anytime has a cap. Princess runs into problems by trying to please everyone...even if it means longer lines for those that "commited" to anytime. You'll see what we saw once onboard if you don't go at the very early or very late times. There are many past posts that will repeat the complaint. Especially irritating if you are interested in a smaller size table...

Edited November 11, 2013 by eandj

[Boyshockeymommy]

What is the point of "anytime dining" if you have to make a reservation? Somewhere in my "high school only" education, this does not make sense.......It certainly is not 'anytime' dining. We prefer to go the traditional dining route. At least there is no wait. Dinner is at a set time, and our table is ALWAYS ready. We eat early in order to catch all the shows we want to see, as well as sufficient digestion before bed......

 

I never could fathom, the "anytime" dining option, if you can't go anytime....LOL Sometimes you are waiting for over an hour........this is hardly, ANYTIME. Just saying..................

[msmarvel]

Sorry, that IS the situation on Princess. :rolleyes: You will see MANY traditional diners switch over to anytime dining at will. There are many who aren't as "commited" as you. X is stricter with the "commitment". And the number allowed to book anytime has a cap. Princess runs into problems by trying to please everyone...even if it means longer lines for those that "commited" to anytime. You'll see what we saw once onboard if you don't go at the very early or very late times. There are many past posts that will repeat the complaint. Especially irritating if you are interested in a smaller size table...

 

When we were on the Crown 2 years ago, I don't recall really waiting too long. We were looking for a table for 6 though, and it seems there is a long wait for a table for 2. At any rate, we would all just get another pre-dinner cocktail and hang out while waiting.

 

Plus, I picked the option I want - our group tends to prefer anytime dining, especially on port days or if you want to see a show. I don't think I could skip my assigned dining and just jump on anytime if I selected early or late seating. There's a reason you pick what you pick, or at least one assumes so.

Edited November 11, 2013 by msmarvel