Caribbean Princess Dec 14-21

[Mekamax]

First time on Princess! (been on 4 other lines) We just got off yesterday and had a WONDERFUL cruise!! It rained each day at some point but had sun some of the day in Cozumel (water was rough) and then from 2pm on in Roatan and then all day in Belize was sunny till that night so they rearranged the deck party indoors which ended up to be so much fun!!! Also the first sea day coming back was hot and sunny and the pool was crowded. :) Weather for the Caribbean is rainy and rough this time of year and the Houston Port is so new they are still getting used to it and the weather has been very unusual for November in Houston. This was our first time on Princess and it couldn't have been better. The Passion band on board is awesome! The food was great especially in the buffet. Couldn't stop eating! There was fog that day they closed the channel.. We were sitting off Galveston (the Captain really tried to bring us in early and the casino was closed at 4:30pm so they lost money) but we just didn't make it. We were on the bow with cell service at 4:30pm and the fog closed in around the ship and the fog horn was going off every 2 minutes. For those of us that love ship horns that was so fun to stand there and listen. :) There were other horns in the distance answering. The ship was gorgeous and the crew very nice. As far as Princess it couldn't have been a better cruise. Very glad it was a cruise we drove to although we sat in line in a parking lot area to teh right side of the road when pulling in for 1 1/2 hours. They did not let us out to go to parking the port till 3:20pm. Started letting cars out about 3pm. So if driving to the port don't bother to come in till at least 3pm. They let shuttles and taxis and buses drop off and boarding actually started at 2:20pm. No Bon Voyage Experience.

[Mekamax]

Thankfully I read reviews before we left so I knew to look for an email from Princess around 10am and not to get to the port till later but couldn't hold hubby back anymore and got to the port at 2pm and sat in 20 lines to the right side of the road till 3:30pm...

[txgood]

Would love to hear more about what shows and activities they have going on in the ship right. Or even see some of the Patters. What were some of your favorite activities on the ship?

[bjtomko]

Thanks for the review! What activities did you do in each of the ports?

[lovevacadays]

Thank you for your review. It's nice to see that you enjoyed Princess.:)

[DebJ14]

We were on the same sailing and had a bit different experience. As for embarkation, we got the e-mail at 9:30 so we didn't leave home until around 1:15pm. We arrived at the pier at 2:30, dropped our luggage and proceeded to park right away. We were in our cabin by 2:45pm. We had preferred boarding and there was no line.

Since we had lunch at home we were not hungry until around 5pm. DH wanted something to eat so we headed up to Horizon Court. He filled a plate and then we started the hunt for seats. That buffet had the worst layout we have ever seen on any ship. We made the decision from that moment that we would NEVER eat up there again, and we didn't.

Our luggage arrived at 5:30pm. Our steward, Anil, happened to come by just as I was going to bring it in and he brought the luggage into the cabin for me. He also said he would be back with some Champagne. He returned quickly with Champagne and a bowl of almonds. He asked if we had any specific requests. We asked him to change out the VSOP and Dewars on the bar set up to vodka and to keep the ice bucket full. After he left I unpacked since the boat drill was postponed to 6:45pm. After the boat drill we showered and changed for dinner in the Crown Grill. We had a nice complimentary dinner and went back to the cabin afterward.

We had a deck 12 aft suite and the seas were really rough the first night and then again on the sea day. Our balcony was mostly covered, so we were able to sit out regardless of the weather.

The first sea day we went to our first breakfast in Sabatini's and immediately realized it is the best suite perk of all. We had our "Happy Juice" (mimosas), cappucinos and our entrees. Our waiter all week in Sabatinis at breakfast was Laurentio, who had been our waiter first night in the Crown Grill. The rest of the breakfast staff in Sabatini's worked like a well oiled machine. By the 2nd meal there they knew our preferences. We enjoyed Carlos, Lucien and Florin. They were wonderful. For lunch on that sea day we decided to eat in the Coral dining room. We must have waited in line for a half hour. We shared the table with 2 other couples, one of whom lived very close to us and we had a great visit since we knew many of the same people and our kids had gone to the same schools.

 

We had late dinner in the Palm Dining room and had a wonderful window table for 2. Our servers Jeffrey and Oliver (both from the Phillipines) were great. We also saw alot of Hector, the head waiter, as he handled our gluten free orders. FYI - best gluten free bread on any ship we have sailed on! And Hector has a wonderful voice and sang in the dining room several nights.

 

In Cozumel we went to Mr. Sanchos. It was windy and a little bit cool, but we didn't have rain. We had our favorite waiter, Francisco. Since it was not busy due to the weather our service was super and we spent lots of time talking to Francisco. In fact, we plan to visit with him and his family when we return to Mexico for a week in May.

 

We had planned on a beach day in Roatan. After breakfast we decided to stay on board until the rain let up. We ended up ordering room service for lunch and then getting off around 2pm just for a bit of shopping on the pier. It rained off and on. Good thing I brought folding umbrellas! We skipped the beach so we were out $39.00 for the ticket.

 

We did not plan to get off in Belize, but around 11am decided to take the tender and to just do some shopping on the pier. We went back to the ship around 1pm and ordered room service for lunch. That night was our dinner in Sabatini's. Hector, the head waiter told us that it would be a good night to dine there because the menu wasn't so hot. We met one of the dinner waiters, David, when he was selling bottled water and he told us to ask to be seated in his station. He took great care of us, made sure we had gluten free pasta and bread and that our meal was GF. We had a very nice evening, although it took about 2 1/2 hours for dinner.

 

The sea day was really nice so after breakfast we went back to our cabin and got lots of sun on our balcony. We had room service lunch again. The last sea day it was really sunny in the morning, but by early afternoon the fog started rolling in. Once again we had room service lunch. The nice thing about being in a suite is that you can order off the dining room menu whenever the dining room is open, so you are not limited by the room service menu. That being said the room service menu is better than most other cruise lines with a decent selection and some hot entrees.

 

We put our luggage outside of our cabin before going to dinner the last night. After the show we were out on the Promenade Deck when they made the announcement about not being able to get off until Sunday morning. We went back to our cabin to find that Anil had already put our luggage inside the cabin for us. It was nice to have the luggage right up until the end of the cruise.

 

The mess with the fog actually gave us an extra breakfast in Sabatini's. It was at breakfast that we started moving and they announced that we would dock around 11:30am. None of the staff knew if we would be allowed off at that time. We were back in our cabin when they made the announcement to put the luggage out and that debarkation would begin shortly after docking. We put our luggage out again and then packed our carry-ons. I called guest services and the lady told me to vacate the cabin and go to the originally assigned lounge. We went down to Club Fusion to wait. It was fine as there was a bathroom nearby and they provided coffee, tea, ice water and juices along with pastries. Later they added trays of sandwiches for us. After we had been there about 30 minutes they announced that everyone should stay in their cabins. Mixed messages to say the least! Those who were taking off all their stuff and were in the lounge were told to go pretty close to noon. We waited a couple more hours, but with the free internet and Houston cell service the time passed quickly. They told us to go midway through the departure of those dragging off luggage. We quickly found a porter, got our luggage and got in the Disney World style line for Customs. The line moved quickly, but we had a very slow guy who asked a lot of questions. The lady in the next lane cleared 3 families to each one cleared by our guy. We got outside just as a horrible storm was approaching. They told everyone to get under cover if their car was not coming quickly. Just then my husband arrived, the porter loaded the car and we were off. The rain was so bad we could barely see to drive. We were home by about 3:30pm.

 

I have sailed multiple times on Princess, NCL, HAL, RCCL (Emerald), Carnival (Diamond), Celebrity and several other lines that are now defunct. This cruise had the worst entertainment of any of them. The production shows were short, singers not that great and the sets and costumes were nothing to write home about (especially compared to RCCL). The best entertainer on the ship was Seth Gibson and they had him at the piano in Crooners, probably the smallest venue. He had an overflow SRO crowd while the band in the Explorers lounge had very small crowds. Scheduling was an issue. We saw the Johnny Cash show and wanted to see their other show, but it was only shown once at 8pm, when we were always at dinner, which was disappointing. The comedian Mike Marino was funny.

I was disappointed in the rudeness of some passengers. We met one couple constantly complaining about their "Cabin boy" (their term, not ours), sat next to people who talked through the shows and some woman poured her drink down my back the second formal night as she was trying to get into the row behind us in the theater. I was soaked through to the skin. She never apologized. We had to move up a row because the seat was soaked too. I saw her coming out of the ladies room after the show and again no apology and saw her at dinner the next night as she was only 2 tables away and still no apology. I was so soaked that I had to change clothes between the show and dinner. It was a good thing I brought an extra formal night outfit because I couldn't decide what to bring when I was packing. I also got my heel cut by a maniac on a scooter who ran right into the back of my leg. Unfortunately, you find people like this wherever you go.

 

We did come to the conclusion that we would not have liked the cruise near as well if we had to put up with the lines at the buffet, lines for sea day lunches and had to battle the crowds around the pool. We thoroughly enjoyed our suite and the perks like the flowers, appetizers, fruit, free bar set up, breakfast at Sabatinis and free first night dinner at Crown Grille and free laundry and dry cleaning. I came home with nearly all clean clothes since we sent laundry and dry cleaning out several times.

 

We will sail Princess again, but only in a suite.

Edited December 23, 2013 by DebJ14

[HUNKY]

Deb - thanks for the review! You said the buffet set up was bad. Is it the old single line style? Or was it different action stations and pods?

 

Seems some people do not understand that with the stations you don't line up , you just pop in and out.

[sminfiddle]

We enjoyed Hector's singing a lot, and looked forward to seeing everyone's reactions on the following cruise. :)

 

 

~sent using Cruise Critic app~

[big_schots]

Deb - thanks for the review! You said the buffet set up was bad. Is it the old single line style? Or was it different action stations and pods?

 

Seems some people do not understand that with the stations you don't line up , you just pop in and out.

 

 

Just off the same cruise. The Horizon Court buffet has staitions, but there is a tendency for people to mill around, thus a bit of crowding. There are 2 sides to the Horizon Court, with the exact same layout and food. The Caribe Cafe is a single file type of buffet line, but that "buffet" venue was only open a handful of times. I know DebJ14 had issues with seating, but we found that if you went into the Caribe Cafe section to sit, there was never much of a seating problem. They always had plenty of waiters there fulfilling drink orders. Now, if you had your mind set on eating 50 feet from the Horizon Court buffet exit, then you may have had a diifficult time finding seating. I needed all the exercise I could get from the tremendous desserts on the ship.

 

I also agree that the entertainment was extremely disappointing. Seth Gibson excluded. That guy is very talented.

 

Eric

Edited December 23, 2013 by big_schots

[erinmore]

My review is similar to DebJ14. Normally we book a suite, as it cuts down on processing time, but we were traveling with a couple that could not afford the suite.

 

This was our ninth cruise in our 25 years of cruising. This was our third Princess Cruise, the previous cruise on Princess was in 1998 in Europe on the original 'Love Boat'.

 

Unfortunately, my husband an I were expecting the superb logistical coordination that Princess exhibited on the previous two cruises. This is no longer the case.

 

We arrived at the port at the 3 pm check-in time as requested by the Harbor/Princess emails because of the incoming ship's delay due to fog. We waited in the car queue for an hour and half, and then waited in line outside the terminal in a very cold wind for another hour and half. We were supposed to be the first let on board, but ended be the last. I guess everyone else wasn't paying attention to the rescheduled check-in time, and Princess was not enforcing it.

 

According to my husband's research the delay because of fog is not uncommon for Houston or Galveston. It would seem that Princess could have a better plan for delays other than having the various age groups wait outside in the elements and their cars.

 

But that was not the most frustrating experience by far. We pre-ordered some wine to be delivered to our stateroom. When we got on board, the vouchers were in our cabin, with a note on them to call room service to have them delivered. I called an waited on hold for 40 minutes and was told that room service could not deliver on departure date due to Texas Laws (this was Saturday, please), the attendant assured me that the items would be delivered first thing in the morning. Around noon on Sunday I called room service again, waited on hold for 40 minutes and asked again about my items. They were then delivered with an hour.

 

Room service did improve as the voyage continue, hold times was only about 5 minutes. My suggestion is not to pre-order your alcoholic beverages, as they are available from room service at $2 less per item, but of course you then have to pay the 15% corkage fee.

 

As far as the fog when we returned to Houston. We had been sailing at faster pace than the previous days because the ship was making a dash for the port to get there before the fog got too thick. Princess decided to keep the Casino open until 4:30 pm. About 2:30 pm the ship slowed considerably (maybe to keep us in international waters?). We arrived at the Galveston Bay entrance and spent the night anchored near the other tankers and liners that didn't make the port before it closed. Draw your own conclusions.

[caribill]

I called and waited on hold for 40 minutes and was told that room service could not deliver on departure date due to Texas Laws (this was Saturday, please)....

 

This has nothing to do with the day of the week. Texas laws say that only alocohol purchased from a licensed Texas wholesale distributer can be provided while in Texas boundaries. However Texas law does not affect the amount of wait time for room service to answer.

 

 

My suggestion is not to pre-order your alcoholic beverages, as they are available from room service at $2 less per item, but of course you then have to pay the 15% corkage fee.

 

No corkage fee if you buy wine from room service when you bring it to the dining room.

Are you sure the cost is less from room service? Be sure to add the 15% gratuity to listed room service prices. The gratuity is already included in the pre-ordered pricing.

 

See above in red

Edited December 23, 2013 by caribill

[erinmore]

See above in red

 

We we in International Waters by 10 pm on Saturday, December 14th. So the wine could have been delivered after that time. But instead I waited on hold twice for 40 minutes each and then for another hour for room service to show up on December 15th.

 

The ship was booked to capacity, and I think that Room Service was stretched too thin, especially considering the delayed embarkation.

 

The cost of the beverages purchased ahead of time has a flat $2.00 fee in lieu of the 15% gratuity. So, yes in most cases it is cheaper to purchase ahead of time. However when you pre-order your credit card gets charged immediately, instead added to your ship board account, and charged at the end of the cruise.

[Mekamax]

The fact that they serve you drinks in the buffet as soon as you sit down was very nice. We didn't ever have a hard time finding seats as we would also head to the back and look out over the back pool or just sit with new people. There were servers there showing you empty tables or those that would share. :) Ended up with another couple to sit with the first morning that we had stood in line with outside the terminal. LOL Small world. We talked to so many couples and families this cruise and they were all real nice. A few passengers seemed grumpy so just didn't talk to those as there were plenty of us that were happy to be on a cruise. Found the service in the buffet and the dining room better than the other cruise lines we have been on including Disney. The food at the buffet was great as was the dining room. As for the stops we got off in Cozumel and walked around the area outside the pier for some shopping and then ended up back on the pier area and as it started to sprinkle we headed back to the ship. Roatan we got off at 2pm after the rain and walked around the pier area which was very pretty and then over to the beach which had a very lush walkway over there. Very beautifully done. The beach was very nice but could feel bites so the sand fleas were out. Just bring bug spray. Had a few beers and talked to some very nice couples and got in the water a bit before heading back. The beach was deserted so was very nice. And got some great pics of the ship. In Belize we took the tender in and walked around the pier shops and had some Beliken Beer at the bars that stick out over the water met some more fun people who had just gone outside the gates to Brodeys which was kind of like a Walmart to them. We asked around for what we were shopping for and it wasn't at the pier and a security guy at the pier mentioned Brodeys too so we headed out for the first time past the gates since we have been going to Belize over the years. Two girls had gone out and gotten harassed and asked if they could go with us as they wanted to see more and we said yes and as we were going over the bridge there was another girl alone with a nice Canon camera that we picked up as well. Not a place to be walking alone as a young pretty girl. Brodeys was interesting and even had a lot of Disney stuff. We got what we wanted no problem and cheap and the girls got chocolate that was local. We all headed back. As we got in the pier area we separated and we headed back to our ship and ran into the fun guys from the bar and their wives on the tender. The sea day toward the end was sunny and hot and the Passion band was great. They had ice carving the last day and pool games both days. There was the champagne tower in the piazza toward the beginning of the cruise which was such fun and I even poured some on it. :) Also had the balloon drop party in the Piazza the next to last night and more dancing with the Passion Band. I danced so much this cruise! :) Skywalkers was fun and we were up there a few nights. We did catch most of the Magic show and enjoyed it. We did not see any other shows. The cooking show in the front theatre was packed and seemed nice but it was the last day at sea and I wanted more water time. :) Figured I'd leave stuff for next cruise. :) There were tiny little things but not worth mentioning. A cruise is what you make it and Princess has done better than the other lines we have been on in the last few years. Nothing is like it was 20 years ago cruising unless maybe if you want to cruise the high end ones like Seaborne..

Edited December 24, 2013 by Mekamax

[txgood]

Thanks for the continued updates Mekamax! We are looking forward to our cruise on the Caribbean Princess in Feb and have enjoyed reading about the things you enjoyed.

 

Did you see anything in Belize or Rotan that you wished you had time to do, but didn't? Can I assume you would recommend Brodeys as a place to go shopping? Anything besides Disney stuff to go to Brodeys to buy?

[Mekamax]

Thanks for the continued updates Mekamax! We are looking forward to our cruise on the Caribbean Princess in Feb and have enjoyed reading about the things you enjoyed.

 

Did you see anything in Belize or Rotan that you wished you had time to do, but didn't? Can I assume you would recommend Brodeys as a place to go shopping? Anything besides Disney stuff to go to Brodeys to buy?

 

 

We have been to Belize a few times over the years and really enjoyed excursions out to the Cays. Also love just getting some local Belikin Beer - if you like beer at the bars out on the piers and listen to some music. Past the gates going to Brodeys is not pretty for the most part and the locals will harass you some. Not really safe and don't recommend but would probably do it again to get what we wanted. Brodeys had all kids of things from liquor to toys to chocolate kind of like an old walmart - I didn't see groceries. Met some guys at the bar that bought cigars there for a great deal.

 

Roatan hasn't ever been our favorite as it is crack ridden and the locals (not all) treat you a lot like Jamaica as in you must have money we want it. :cool: :o We have been to West Bay Beach on our own with some other couples and a few other places and really think we would have liked it better if we had done ship excursions. I really like the new $75 million pier that Carnival put in that Princess (owned by Carnival) docks at. One place I haven't done yet and want to is Fantasy Island just because i loved the show as a kid. :) :)

[DebJ14]

We had pre-ordered wine too. We presented the voucher in the MDR and were told that they didn't have any of the wines onboard. Very disappointing. We picked alternative wines, but noticed that the onboard price was higher than what they were if we had ordered them ahead of time. They gave us a credit for each of the wines that were pre-ordered, then charged the new wines plus the 15% gratuity. It cost us more than it would have if they had the wines we ordered.

[mkazmer]

We had a deck 12 aft suite DebJ14

 

Since you had an aft suite and it would have been under the aft pool deck, did you have any problem with noise early in the am??? Thanks

Edited January 13, 2014 by mkazmer
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