CARIBBEAN PRINCESS Jan 11 2014-Photo and video review

[Bimmer09]

Here's a 4 minute clip from the beginning of the Culinary Show on the last sea day. I didn't stay for the entire show which was over an hour long.

 

[whataboutport]

Do you need reservations for the culinary show and is it an extra fee? Or you just show up. I missed this. This would be something I would have enjoyed, esp the galley tour. :( Oh well there's always next time.

[JF - retired RRT]

Do you need reservations for the culinary show and is it an extra fee? Or you just show up. I missed this. This would be something I would have enjoyed, esp the galley tour. :( Oh well there's always next time.

Just show up:D

[Bimmer09]

Another couple of pictures before I head up on deck. These are of the Island Dining Room

 



 



 



 

Lido deck (midship elevators)

 



 

Manatee

 

 

[Bimmer09]

 

The four selfish people whom the rules don't apply to

 



 



 



 

 



 

[Bimmer09]

 



 



 



 

Nice calm sea on the way back to Houston. Sunny day.

[Bimmer09]

Pub Lunch was in the Crown Grill. No steak and kidney pie today. I ordered the fish and chips with mushy peas.

 



 

Carol opted for the Chicken Curry. Mildly spiced to suit all palates. Tasty.

 

 

We ate at 1 p.m so had 4 hours of relaxing ahead of us before Pop Choir and in-between would have Afternoon Tea for the last time (sigh). A nap in the Sanctuary seemed appropriate.

[ar1950]

Pub Lunch was in the Crown Grill...................

 

Carol opted for the Chicken Curry. Mildly spiced to suit all palates. Tasty.

 

 

 

Showed this to my wife and now she is craving for the chicken curry. She loved it when we were on the Star in November. :cool:

[Bimmer09]

Showed this to my wife and now she is craving for the chicken curry. She loved it when we were on the Star in November. :cool:

 

Indian food is my favorite and has been since I lived in London from 1974 to 86.

It is the most popular ethnic food in Britain, surpassing Chinese and I imagine fish and chips.

 

It's nice to get an option (albeit mild for my personal "Vindaloo" taste) like this on the Pub Lunch.

 

Thank you Princess!

 

Norris

[mammajamma2013]

... first port of call, Roatan.

 

My husband and I were on the Norwegian Spirit in October 2011. We were able to dock in Roatan, but Tropical Storm Rina prevented us from doing the ship's excursion. We wandered around for a while and while my husband is adventurous and would have taken a "native excursion", I'm too chicken to do that. He deferred to me. I still enjoyed being there.

[whataboutport]

Indian food is my favorite and has been since I lived in London from 1974 to 86.

It is the most popular ethnic food in Britain, surpassing Chinese and I imagine fish and chips.

 

It's nice to get an option (albeit mild for my personal "Vindaloo" taste) like this on the Pub Lunch.

 

Thank you Princess!

 

Norris

 

I too love Indian food and get so tired of hearing people say it's nasty when they haven't even tried it! Too bad they didn't have the curry on our second Pub Lunch. They had fried prawns and scotch egg which were no good and the fish and chips again, but second time they were soggy. :( The first Pub Lunch was fantastic!

[Bimmer09]

The Princess ships are certainly decorated to my taste. Lots of wood, restful colors and fabrics. Even the stairwells get their own art...

 



 



 



 

My favorite, aft elevator deck 8, Emerald

 

[Bimmer09]

Although I didn't ever stop in Crooners I passed it many times and saw people enjoying themselves. Each ship I have been on has had distinctive Crooners artwork, no two ships the same.

 

 



 

 



 

 

[Bimmer09]

I've put up Pop Choir videos before. They may have limited appeal but in this one there are some new PC songs (to me). Some BeeGees and Roy Orbison. The Cruise staffer is pretty energetic too, conducting the singers.

 

The assembled passengers being entertained by their fellows seem to like it a lot and that is what matters. It's a Princess staple I'd hate to see wither and die.

Carol has sung on the Crown and the Diamond.

 

 

Enjoy!

 

Norris

[Bimmer09]

Earlier in the week-maybe Tuesday-we had received in our door-mail a Disembarkation form (thanks for reminding us!!) and elected to get off the ship as late as possible as we weren't rushing to the airport. We chose 10.15 a.m.

 

On Friday morning after the room had been made up my Miguel the dreaded luggage mat was placed on the bed. I usually pack at the end of the day with a goal of finishing by midnight. Then the bags go in the hallway and are carried away by Elves.

 

After the Pop Choir we decided, as we were close, to visit Vines wine bar for the first time ever and got a seat by the window. There was one man serving there and a group at the bar was occupying him. I went up to the bar and got his attention and ordered a glass of Pinot Grigio and tapas. Carol didn't drink.

 

It was a nice place to sit and stare out at the sea while sipping the wine. One of our favorite restaurants in Chicago is within sight of our apartment (an old loft) and is owned by one of TV's Iron Chefs-Jose Garces. Mercat a la Planxa is it's name if anyone is familiar. It is tapas heaven so I won't wax lyrical about the tapas on the ship, especially as it was complimentary with a wine purchase. They can offer you sushi too but that sounded a little fishy to me.

 

The Vines snippet will be tacked on to the front of the Hector Sings video which is uploading to Youtube as we speak (type/read).

 

So that will be next...

 

Norris

[themerle]

Well, I have returned to hear more of your memories regarding your cruise. I've caught up with your postings and have enjoyed every one of the posts, videos and pictures! You spent so much time videoing and taking pictures, it's hard to believe that you had time for your self to just enjoy the cruise. From your reports, you definitely did enjoy yourself! Thanks again for taking the time to do this so others can enjoy the ports, excursions, crew, and ship!:)

[SLCfirsttimer]

Excellent review, very enjoyable and informative.

[Bimmer09]

On the last day I broke away from my buddies up by Tradewinds to go to The Princess Theater where Bingo fever was about to break out. Prior to the Bingo they made the drawing for the winner of the Clean Sweeps Bar Bill contest,whereby if your name is pulled your bar bill for the week is forgiven.

 

I took back to my group the sad tidings that none of us won, so all of that beer drinking was for naught. How we suffered drinking it!

 

Here's the video of Vines/Hector that I had mentioned before clearing up the Clean Sweeps business I had mentioned 10 pages or so ago (I like plots that resolve themselves in the end )

 

Once again Hector caught me by surprise so I missed the beginning of the song Con te Partiro, made famous by Andrea Bocelli and Sarah Brightman (and the fountains of Bellagio Hotel in Las Vegas)

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RYA9lh7VNBM

Edited February 10, 2014 by Bimmer09

[Bimmer09]

Even though that is the correct URL for the video it doesn't show- so search on either Norris Adair OR Hector sings on Caribbean Princess again.

 

Thank you

 

Norris

[Bimmer09]

We only saw Hector sing in the Coral Dining Room again as when I went to Crown Grill around 7 to see if there were any cancellations I left disappointed. We had a back-up Sabatini's reservation but after a little debate and a remembrance of the decent menu that had been delivered by Miguel we decided to switch gears and spend our last night in the MDR. I cancelled our Sabatini reservation in person and we made our way to the 7pm show by Rootberry a funny and skillful juggling duo in the Princess Theater.

 

Last night in the Coral Dining Room

 

We had no wait for a two top, on one of the little raised areas to one side of the room and were surprised to see Cindy and family sharing a 6 top by the window with some folks they were meeting for the first time. We had waiters we hadn't seen before serve us in their stars and stripes vests as the menu was a celebration of America including tom turkey with all the trimmings. A beef tenderloin caught my eye however as we'd just had superb turkey at home a couple of weeks previously followed by left-overs for days and giant vats of home-made turkey soup. Carol ordered Fettucini Alfredo (always available)

 

I dispatched the busboy to fetch my two bottles of almost drained wine to the table. White for my soup and salad course (pepper pot and Caesar) and the red Malbec for the beef.

 

Sadly one half of our waitstaff was all at sea and twice he brought me the wrong dishes which I sent back in favor of what I ordered. One was a New York Strip steak but having eaten at the Crown Grill I wasn't going to miss my beef medallions for a steak which would have been inferior to the Crown where the best beef resides so I stuck to my guns.

 

To end the meal I had the offered Baked Alaska which was not preceded by a parade of waiters holding battery operated Alaskas aloft as I had seen before.

 

Not a huge loss as I don't go in for napkin waving much.

 

Keeping to schedule on a day of "packing it all in -before packing" we moved on to Club Fusion for the Karaoke Finals. We got there separately as I went on Prom Deck for a cigarette and Carol stopped to talk to Cindy at Crooners.

 

Club Fusion was fast filling up when I got there so I couldn't get the table where we usually sat and had to squeeze in amongst other people. The lights went down even further for the show and Carol entered and didn't see me so we sat apart.

 

It was good home-spun amateur entertainment and the singers we had seen several times over the course of the week. Rowdy the country singer from Las Vegas was the winner. I found this out afterwards as mindful of the time I left early to pack and pack I did. I hit my target of Midnight on the nose and then after a congratulatory beer from the free mini-bar I hit the pillow for a 7 a.m room service breakfast delivery.

[Bimmer09]

A light breakfast (some 60 watt bulbs and a bowl of feathers) was delivered right on time at 7 a.m. We were docked by this time.

 

I was already up on deck by 5.30 to watch us come back to Houston....

 

 

No hindrance by fog. Hooray! The late leaving of Bayport was long forgotten and now we were arriving early and would be tied up by 6.15.

 

 



 

The scene as we ate breakfast

 



 

A refueling ship came alongside to fill our tanks for the next cruise

 

[Bimmer09]

As I sat up by Tradewinds in the dark as we approached the dock, one by one out of the shadows came my drinking buddies, the early morning smokers so we got to say our farewells. Everyone of them had enjoyed their cruise and were now facing the trip home to the real world. One had a 1300 mile drive to the Southwest. One to Louisiana. Some were catching flights to the corners of the Continent .

 

Luckily and through planning we were staying in Houston for the day. A rental car was waiting somewhere and a top notch hotel was booked. We also had tickets to the Houston Opera that evening. All these things lessened the blow of our time on the CB having run it's course.

 

I got some You Made a Difference comment cards from passenger services to commend some of the staff that had made my cruise even more enjoyable.

For Miguel our room steward we left a handsome tip in cash in an envelope in the room.

 

Back where we came from

 



 



 



 



 

[Bimmer09]

 

 

Turnaround day and another scrub-down day for the crew. More e mails to those joining the ship today, boarding postponed again, but thankfully no fog delay to add to the disruption in people's schedules. A week ago it was us.

 

Cindy and her family left early to catch a flight back to snowy Chicago. We were in no rush and sat in Club Fusion for a while. We were actually called an hour earlier than planned and there were only a handful of people left after us.

 

Meanwhile ships at sea set off on courses unknown

 



 

One last look from the ship

 



 

and the unhappy feet walked the gangway for the last time...

[iamlin]

I've put up Pop Choir videos before. They may have limited appeal but in this one there are some new PC songs (to me). Some BeeGees and Roy Orbison. The Cruise staffer is pretty energetic too, conducting the singers.

 

The assembled passengers being entertained by their fellows seem to like it a lot and that is what matters. It's a Princess staple I'd hate to see wither and die.

Carol has sung on the Crown and the Diamond.

 

 

Enjoy!

 

Norris

 

 

Norris,

Thank you for posting the video from the Pop Choir. I was in the Choir on this cruise.......the one wearing black and white......ha ha! It was such a fun group, and we had a blast. BTW, I really think we sang better than the video portrayed. I have very much enjoyed reading your blog about "our" cruise.

iamlin

[Bimmer09]

Norris,

Thank you for posting the video from the Pop Choir. I was in the Choir on this cruise.......the one wearing black and white......ha ha! It was such a fun group, and we had a blast. BTW, I really think we sang better than the video portrayed. I have very much enjoyed reading your blog about "our" cruise.

iamlin

 

 

Hi, Iamlin...I see three ladies wearing black and white and I know the one in the center is Barbara from Bulverde TX. Which one are you? Extreme right?

 

Norris, happy to have captured you in good voice.