CARIBBEAN PRINCESS Jan 11 2014-Photo and video review

[Bimmer09]

I'm no offshore drilling expert, but I have spent some time offshore in Africa supervising work and have done design work for offshore operations around the world. I have designed work on some deep water wells in the Gulf of Mexico. Some of those wells have a water depth greater than 7,000' to the seabed. I don't know exactly where that drill ship was but it could have been working in very deep water.

 

I have not worked on a drill ship, but have been on ships that have flexible pipe/hoses connecting to completion/production platforms during operations. In those situations the captain used the DP (dynamic position) system to keep the ship on station. I think it is basically a GPS system that is tied into the thrusters/navigation system.

 

I'm sure there are others who could give a better and more technically correct explanation, but that is what I can add about the subject. :) It was always interesting working on the ships, but not near as fun as a pleasure cruise.

 

I see you are sailing on the CB in February but unlikely to be following the exact path we sailed as our itinerary was turned around. The drill ship photos were taken at 11.30 am- 14 hours after we sailed from Bayport and before we were directly off Cancun. Carol and I are both lovers of heavy industry and seeing drilling going on that far out to sea was very exciting to us. We drive past the many steel mills in Gary Indiana twice a week and always are excited by the massive plants there. We may be weird.

 

Thanks for the insights into drilling for oil. As a driving enthusiast (hence the Bimmer name) I use my share.

 

What made you pick the CB and this itinerary?

 

Norris

[Cozumel Parrot]

I wondered why the folks getting off while I was waiting to get on were lacking tans. Yes indeed my cruise was lucky-only rain that would stem the fun was in Belize and I didn't get wet, except when I was racing along on the jet boat (camcorder got a good splashing as the video will show).

 

I can imagine how you feel. Maybe like me you looked forward to it for 9 months

and when November came thought you might suffer fog or wind delays but we tend to think the Caribb weather will be nice and sunny, maybe a quick rain shower. Even though I had a suite I would have hated being stuck indoors because of constant rain. I had 5 days of rain (drizzle) on my first PCL cruise on the Coral but that was Alaska and it didn't seem to matter as I was dressed for the outdoors.

 

I have a lot of Roatan video waiting in the wings. Overcast but warm. Warm enough for me to go swimming in the sea. I have the next two days off so should be very active on the board. I would do this itinerary on the CB again, Bayport uncertainties or not.

 

Do you have another cruise booked? Always great to have something to look forward to.

 

Thanks for the kind words!

 

Norris

 

Can't wait to see your Roatan videos!

 

I do not have another cruise booked. But, we live close to New Orleans and I have been eyeing the Eastern Caribbean cruises by Carnival and Royal Princess that sail from there. Even though we had bad luck on the Princess cruise, I still had a good time and would love to cruise, even that same itinerary, again.

[whataboutport]

Loving the review! Looking forward to more.

[Bimmer09]

So it's Monday January 13th, the day we should have been in Cozumel but instead following the 5 hour boarding delay in Bayport we are sailing towards Roatan. Frigate Birds mysteriously appeared overhead and followed the ship for two hours, perhaps to warn us that there was a Men's Sexy Legs contest in our future.

 

As was my practice (and Practice makes perfect) I spent some quality time at the Tradewinds bar soaking in the fun of being in a warm climate, on a beautiful ship with good casual company stopping by. I became particularly friendly with a man who was never without a bucket of beer (6 beers for the price of 5) who was known already to many passengers. His name was Steve from Yuma AZ and his wife was Candice and two finer people would be hard to meet.

 

The sexy legs judges came up a deck to try and drag Steve down to the contest but he was strong enough to resist. He was one of those great guys who has a million stories and is always laughing and living in the moment. He is a veteran of Vietnam and the Gulf War and we got along well.

 

Even though I had a bag of cameras with me I never took photos of the great people I engaged with and I regret that now. I did take a long shot of Steve without him knowing and if I show it here maybe some of you on the voyage will recognize him.

 

 

I haven't talked to a cruiser onboard yet that I didn't like and get on well with. Maybe I am lucky. It's part of the cruising experience for me to talk to strangers, maybe because I am from Ireland and we are renowned for being open and quick to strike up conversation. I don't like sharing dinner tables so much as there the conversation is more forced. Two-tops are my favorite as Carol is a great conversationalist.

 

Lunch- the usual from Trident Grill. For me it's knackwurst and fries but they also do bratwurst (softer skin and texture than a knack which is more of a "snappy" bite like a hotdog). The burgers are good as is the chicken sandwich. It's very fast food as the team is cooking all day long and have a lot of customers. Carol often has the pizza which is renowned and rightly so. Thin crust and not over-cheesy where you need longer arms just to break the stretch of the goo.

 

Next up was a nap in one of the best nap spots onboard...

 

 

The Sanctuary staff are quick to offer drinks or snacks but I was there to just close my eyes and let the calm and the gentle warm breeze take me to nap land.

 

Tea on the balcony was another highlight and on a Princess cruise I go from highlight to highlight. Another short nap then dress for dinner. Casual night so black dockers and a fun shirt would do.

 

We used the Coral dining room after 8 pm with never a wait and tonight shared a 6 top with Cindy, Alice and Daniel. During dinner we were entertained by the singing of one of the head waiter's- Hector (video of Hector following later in the story)

 

After a great dinner (as always) we all headed up to Club Fusion at the stern for this evening's Karaoke contest heat.

 

Alice signed up for Karaoke and was scheduled to sing #8 out of 10. It was hosted tonight by the lovely and vibrant Simone from Australia who was wearing a blond wig and cowgirl clothes having hosted the Johnny Cash tribute show a couple of hours earlier, which Carol had attended and enjoyed. So much going

on to entertain us.

 

Alice came back to the table with her song choice "Hotel California" by the Eagles and I held my head in my hands. Not a good Karaoke song as it has no room to move for a vocalist and the melody is very repetitive and the song doesn't build to a climax (as New York, New York does). She was brave and gave it her best shot so has my admiration for that. She didn't progress to the next heat.

 

After the show it was bedtime and I was excited as in the morning we would make our first port of call, Roatan. We had booked a Dolphin adventure there so I charged up my cameras in anticipation of wonderful sights and sounds. I would not be disappointed....

[Bimmer09]

Well, after maybe 10 hours of work and much trial and error and with the help of Carol's computer expertise and 1 Terrabyte of memory I have a video to share on youtube.

 

As I am up on deck early in the morning there will be a lot of wind noise at times but once on land there wasn't puff of wind.

 

Click the link. There will be more to come later! Including Dolphins!

 

Norris, relieved

 

[Hoosier-Cruiser]

Very nice video. I can see why that is a port that gets skipped frequently.

[ar1950]

 

 

LOL: "There's one of the Carnival ships........."

Funny! :cool:

Edited January 27, 2014 by ar1950

[Bimmer09]

After breakfast at Sabatini's we were in our swim clothes for the Dolphin Excursion at Anthony's Key and on our way off the ship, through security and down the gangway onto the dock in Roatan's Mahogany Bay.

 

As usual there was the ship's photographer and some of the cruise staff there to take photos of the passengers. We don't mind posing for these as they are fun and we usually buy the photos afterwards so it is a good business move for Princess and I am all about helping them make a profit from me.

 

The girl was really cute and quick-witted.

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u8ZQyNKjUy

Edited January 27, 2014 by Bimmer09
spelling error

[Bimmer09]

Youtube issue. Getting my spanners and monkey wrench...

 

Norris

[CruiserToo]

Great video of us getting into Roatan! We were on the same cruise, Emerald deck, port side mini suite with an extended balcony in which we watched us back in. It was quite remarkable. Thanks for posting the video.

[Bimmer09]

Youtube issue. Getting my spanners and monkey wrench...

 

Norris

 

Well I have tried with 6 uploads to get the ship's photographer video onto youtube and it has taken 90 minutes with no success so I will move on and try something else.

 

Youtube is one of those monolithic organizations where, when things don't happen as they should they just say "sorry" and there is no phone number or e mail link with which to contact them.

 

Sigh

 

Norris

[txgood]

 

I too enjoyed your comment on the Carnival ship you passed while docking.

:)

[txgood]

I see you are sailing on the CB in February but unlikely to be following the exact path we sailed as our itinerary was turned around. The drill ship photos were taken at 11.30 am- 14 hours after we sailed from Bayport and before we were directly off Cancun. Carol and I are both lovers of heavy industry and seeing drilling going on that far out to sea was very exciting to us. We drive past the many steel mills in Gary Indiana twice a week and always are excited by the massive plants there. We may be weird.

 

Thanks for the insights into drilling for oil. As a driving enthusiast (hence the Bimmer name) I use my share.

 

Norris

 

I have seen some offshore operations before about the same distance out, based on time to get there. As I said before some of these wells are in more than 7,000' of water and then they may drill through more than 20,000' of rock. Hard to believe but some of those wells go more than 27,000' below the surface of the water. They use a lot of that steel from your mills up north, or often times from over sea sources.

 

And I don't find your interest in the big plants weird at all, but then again my wife says that some of the things I find interesting are a little weird. I am always fascinated by mills, industrial plants, drilling rigs and more. The engineer in me is always interested in how these things work. I'm a bit of a nerd and I'm okay with that.

[txgood]

What made you pick the CB and this itinerary?

Norris

 

There are actually several reasons that lead to us picking this ship and this itinerary. The easier question to answer is the itinerary. You can see from my signature line that while we (DW and I) are not new to cruising, we don't have an extremely large number of cruises to our credit either. So as we were looking at itineraries we did want to consider something that would have some new experiences for us and our kids. Therefore I was drawn to this one because none of us have been to Honduras or Belize. So we are really looking forward seeing some new places.

 

Picking CB came from a number of criteria. Being that we live in the greater Houston area we wanted to look at doing a cruise from one of the local ports. Since my wife is a travel agent we were interested in checking out the new cruise terminal and checking out a new cruise line for us. It is a great opportunity for us to experience something new that we can enjoy and provides my wife with some great experiences she can share with her clients.

 

I continue to enjoy your posts and look forward to seeing what is next in your trip!

[perfect match]

I am very happy to have you on board! I think you have made an appearance in all my reviews and so now I grant you Platinum Status! Have as many free internet minutes on your home computer as you wish!

 

Welcome.

 

Norris

 

Enjoying my platinum minutes on my home computer. Spending some of them to continue following along with your excellent review. :D

[Bimmer09]

Ok, after much struggle and gnashing of teeth my short video of my first few minutes on Roatan is on youtube.

 

 

Norris

[Bimmer09]

Carnival Corp has done a marvelous job in creating the Mahogany Bay village. It's a buffer between the ship and the real Roatan of poverty and tumbling down shacks that much of the population is living with. I ran the camcorder through the minibus window as we drove the 20 minutes or so to our excursion destination-Anthony's Key.

 

Many of the houses along the way either had no electricity or were saving their lightbulbs for when it really got dark. Everything that had been thrown away-old bed frames, pieces of broken furniture, was still in the gardens. A landfill and regular trash pickup would work wonders.

 

I'll put the video up on youtube later just to give you the flavor of the port area towns.

 

The landing village though is immaculate and a tribute to Carnival. There are the requisite souvenir shops and of course Diamonds International. Open-air bars too which appeal to me. Island music provided by locals hoping for tips wafts through the fresh sea air. Everything is clean and signposted so no getting lost.

 

There is a chair lift as an alternative to taking a walk to the beach and I'll have a video of that as well later as it was a nice ride. There is a nature trail too with great views of the ship.

 

Car rentals are available at the end of the village. All of the rental cars are white which may not be ideal as the locals will spot renters a mile away. Mostly Toyota Corollas, some small Chevys too. The buses are found out here too and soon we were in one (tight getting in, especially to the back rows so larger people may struggle or give up) I think there was 8 people in ours.

 

Outside the manicured village real Roatan begins. Where security offers wave you through there are camped local vendors of products or tours. We drive on past and head to Anthony's Key over hill and dale and through a small town. Some men push a small delivery truck to get it started. There are lots of people in the streets just standing around, maybe jobless. No traffic lights and I don't recall road markings or the things we take for granted when driving in the USA (like potholes!)

 

Carol was beyond excited as she was going to see Dolphins (!) up close and personal....

[SeaWolfe]

Norris,

 

Thank you so much for going thru the struggle and gnashing of teeth to post this very detailed report. Your photos and video are beautiful. Those of us waiting to board the CB really appreciate your trouble, although I fear you may need a trip to the dentist and another cruise to rest when you finish!;)

 

Anxiously awaiting your next post!

[Bimmer09]

The minibus pulled into Anthony's Key resort and a short walk led us to a jetty just in front of the museum.

 

In the museum (which had clean bathrooms) I checked a map just to get my bearings.

 

 



 

It was a small museum but very professionally done

 



 



 

There were some Outoffocus fish which I think are unique to the area...(LOL)

 

 

Back outside I went down to the jetty to wait for the boat. As I stood there I caught out of the corner of my eye a gentleman behind me miss the step down to the platform and he fell face down on the wooden deck. There was a faintly painted yellow line to caution one about the step-down but he was wearing dark sunglasses. I was first to reach him and called to the staff to get help as when I turned him over on his back he had 3 large gashes on his forehead. He was conscious but in pain from the cuts. Water and a cloth were brought to cool and stop the flow of blood. Via their walkie talkies the quick-acting guides at the Museum called for a boat that was only 150 yards away at the gift shops and they came and took the gentleman and his wife to a clinic. His wife was able to rejoin the excursion later and he was patched up and able to come and sit on a jetty to watch.

 

Here's a short video from Anthony's Key, prior to us meeting the Dolphins

 

 

It will be followed by the leaping Dolphins video in my next post...

[sminfiddle]

The girl was really cute and quick-witted.

 

That's Brin. I talked to her about a hundred times during our B2B, plus she did the photo duties on our Ship's Tour (that's when she gets to tell the Captain what to do).

Unless I'm mistaken, your photographer for that photo-op was Jesse, known to his coworkers as Woody (as in Woodpecker, for his hairstyle).

 

That is one of the hardest-working departments on board I believe, they are up all night retouching our shots and then have to wake up extra early to put on costumes when it's their turn to be Pirates or Mayans.

I'm convinced they don't eat either.

[Bimmer09]

That's Brin. I talked to her about a hundred times during our B2B, plus she did the photo duties on our Ship's Tour (that's when she gets to tell the Captain what to do).

Unless I'm mistaken, your photographer for that photo-op was Jesse, known to his coworkers as Woody (as in Woodpecker, for his hairstyle).

 

That is one of the hardest-working departments on board I believe, they are up all night retouching our shots and then have to wake up extra early to put on costumes when it's their turn to be Pirates or Mayans.

I'm convinced they don't eat either.

 

Thanks sminfiddle for identifying her. She was fun. As you see in the video most were ignoring her but I like those goofy photos with crew dressed up. It's a nice light-hearted touch so I made my way over to get in the act.

 

Interesting is the fact that on this ship there was no Videographer who records the cruise for the Reflections DVDs which they sell on board and which we always buy. Lost a sale there @ $60. We were told they would be having one join the ship in a week or so...

 

Norris

[MTdreaming]

I am so enjoying this review.. checking for updates frequently. We take this cruise on 2/8 and will be doing Anthony's Key, so love your videos and information. Thanks for taking the time to do this. Waiting with bated breath for the next episode!

[Bimmer09]

We were wearing swimsuits when we got off the boat and made our way down the jetty to the small beach where we would enter the water to meet the dolphins. There was a cabana there with a wooden deck and many lockers for our bags to be stowed while we were in the water.

 

I went down to the rocks by the beach to place my cameras for later but it began to drizzle softly so I took them back and put them in a locker. When I came back to the beach the drizzle had stopped.

 

In the water maybe 20 yards out was the trainer, Liam and his dolphin Tilly who was a couple of years old. We would be with them for maybe 20 minutes without cameras so we could focus on what he was saying (it was something about dolphins). We were in a group of 6 standing side by side with no gaps between for the dolphin to swim through. Nearby was another trainer with 6 passengers and another dolphin. Tilly's mother, Gracie, was also in the water and would occasionally come by suddenly to check up on her and startle us.

 

The dolphins are fenced in but do get to go out into open water each day for an hour or so and always return to the people who feed them.

 

They respond to high pitched whistles and hand and arm signals. They like fish so we have something in common. They are warm and smooth to the touch.

 

Here's the video portion when we were allowed to bring the cameras into the water. The girl with the black hair and orange swimsuit is Rosario Gonzales the ship's Employee of the Month that I mentioned earlier.

 

[MTdreaming]

OH MY, love that video! Now I am so super excited to see those dolphins.. a bucket list thing for me since watching Day of the Dolphins back in the (long ago) day. Fa and Bea...live free.

[Bimmer09]

We loved Tilly and it seemed Tilly loved us. She asked if she could kiss me on the cheek ( I speak dolphin) and I agreed but told her to keep her flippers to herself.

 

 



 



 

These photos are taken by staff and are for sale in the gift shop afterwards.

 

We washed the sand off our feet and took the boat ride back to the Museum jetty where we visited the gift shop and got the photos and our usual fridge magnet for our collection. Then it was back on the mini-bus to return to the port the way we came. Everyone was elated after the Dolphin encounter and when next in Roatan we will I am sure take it again. I think it was $100 each and money well spent!

 

Carol on the boat