Caribbean princess

[planb]

Just got home from our cruise last night from Houston and lots of things to give information on. From waiting to embark and a bit of a late sailing to some good thing to know. I'll take some tine here a bit later and post my good, bad and oh well list. Most of all I can saw it was Fantastic and this is our 15th cruise and one of our favorites. More later.

[douglinc@msn.com]

Since we are doing this cruise 3-29. I'm interested in what you have to say.

 

Thanks,

Doug

[TracieABD]

I will look forward to reading your thoughts on the CB.

[Colo Cruiser]

Welcome back.

[Mythros]

Looking forward to your review. I will be on the April 12th sailing.

[bellebaby]

Just got home from our cruise last night from Houston and lots of things to give information on. From waiting to embark and a bit of a late sailing to some good thing to know. I'll take some tine here a bit later and post my good, bad and oh well list. Most of all I can saw it was Fantastic and this is our 15th cruise and one of our favorites. More later.

 

Would like to read your thoughts on embarkation recommendations. Did you drive to the port or fly-in?

 

Welcome home! Glad to hear you enjoyed the sailing.

 

B

Edited March 9, 2014 by bellebaby

[jcw0313]

Just got home from our cruise last night from Houston and lots of things to give information on. From waiting to embark and a bit of a late sailing to some good thing to know. I'll take some tine here a bit later and post my good, bad and oh well list. Most of all I can saw it was Fantastic and this is our 15th cruise and one of our favorites. More later.

 

We are also on the March 29th sailing. You have put out quite the tease and it sounds like there are a number of us eager to read your review. Also, glad to hear you had a great time. Welcome back!!

[wineforhealth]

We are also on the March 29th sailing. You have put out quite the tease and it sounds like there are a number of us eager to read your review. Also, glad to hear you had a great time. Welcome back!!

 

I agree on the tease, I'm on the 22nd this month looking forward to the good the bad and the ugly.

[planb]

OK so here I go if I think of other things later I'll add to this. We flew in and took a car too Comfort Inn Seabrook. Came to about 93.00 Hotel 55.00 for a car ride from Hobby. They have a great breakfast extremely helpful and a shuttle to the ship in the morning for free. Ordered pizza delivery that night was just fine. Lots of people stayed there some parked their car there because they drove it was free. At the port others parked for 70.00 - 80.00 depending in pre pay.

Embarkment- They are in the middle of nowhere. SOOO it is a small terminal and they were delayed due to ??? They had a large tent for overflow people because they boarded late. You were through to get your key card and usually that is when you head onto the ship, no they than give you a # and you wait. It was hot in the tent and it was a 1-1/2 hour wait till they started call elite (we were at the terminal at 12:30ish.You could go right to your room got there about 2:45.

Cabin- Mini-suite on Emerald deck with complete coverage. Recommend this as it was very private and nice have had the dolphin deck and prefer it covered. We asked in advance for a top sheet and egg crate and the bed was heaven.

Steward saw us everyday had ice bucket everyday and night ready and anything wanted was done.

Buffett- For the 1st 4 days Everything was served by the staff salt/ pepper in packets Food was nice you can get omelets for breakfast and ask for lemonade and ice tea is served. Ice cream is good as is pizza and burger

Coral Dining- This is great for breakfast and dinner excellent food and nice to meet new people(we ate here for those 2 meals the most

International Cafe is a must !!

Trad. Dining- Palm dining was excellent! We had a great table and service was great the food had enough variety, Fish was good and beef was good. You can always order another entrée to try something else too. My husband and I would split something we wanted to try along with our main meal sometimes.

We have tried both anytime and traditional we now lean toward traditional as we have decided we are on a cruise and enjoy having great talks with table mates and being taken care of by our servers. My husband said waiting till called is like being at home waiting for a dinner out and this gives us a change. 1 couple from out table tried it a night and came back saying it was nice but liked doing something more cruise like for them.

Formal Night- It was formal we saw the most tuxes than any other cruise we have been on. Lots of dark suites too. We saw some with white shirts and ties and no really dress down unless it was after dinner. Women were in long dresses, beaded dresses, nice cocktail dresses and pants with beaded tops. This was not just in the formal dining but all about the ship. (Nice to get dressed up for one another)

 

We did not sail till after 6 pm waiting for some late comers and allowing the people who drove to get parked and board. It was a long line of cars later in the day and they accommodated for those people which is really great not anyones fault that there is time needed to get them all parked.

Muster was easy and indoors and set so those who may have special needs

found it easy and cared for.

 

Ports:

Cozumel we shopped at the pier since we have been here many times

Rotan _ It was clean and the people were very welcoming we went to the Monkey reserve had a great guide and had fun. Time enough to do some shopping . It does have stairs and walking and some of the people had to say they didn't feel they could do the tour/ they had no problem with that and offered a golf cart tour. This may be helpful to know for some

Belize- They tender out further than they had before so it is a good 25 min to get to the pier. We went on the Lamiani tour and it was excellent. Ride out on a bus, than speed boat to the ruins. (Note" the bathrooms are very nice compared to what we have seen elsewhere ) Beware that this is a lot of walking and rough walkways. It is not for anyone with concerns. We saw a woman with heat stroke and it does get very hot a humid, they give you lots of water be sure take it. Lots of wild life to see too Boat ride back and they had a small buffet that had rice beans, chicken, coleslaw, and fired sweetened plantains. They had bottled fruit drinks and beer if you wanted to buy it 2 for 5.00. We would recommend this tour.

 

Weather- nice with floating clouds everyday the 2nd to last day we hit a bit of a storm so rain but great on board activities. Movie in the princess theater in the afternoon.

Entertainment_ It was good The illusionist was very good and the rest of the shows were nice. People loved the piano guy and bands all seemed good.

 

Lobster night is the last formal night with baked Alaska was wonderful.

They do charge you corking fees.

 

Disembarkment- Easiest we ever had they do not yell out huber or colors so the mooring is relaxing, you can have breakfast served to you in the Palm doing until 9am and the buffet is open too. This is nice for a good start for those who are driving too.

 

Some bad:

The tent you have to wait in. The location of the port,crossing your fingers about fog

Some good:

The ship looked very clean, No Noro, good food and port tours,they had broke a wheel off our new hard side Jeep luggage, they fixed it for us and it got us home and we have the form for paying for its replacement .

 

Sorry this is long but I will also add some of the tips I found to help make the cruise nice. Ask any questions. Forgive any spelling. I have to make dinner darn someone did that all last week for me !

Edited March 9, 2014 by planb

[sueandkent]

Thanks for your review, we sail on her this weekend. I'm curious how you got such a deal on the Comfort Inn? Did you book direct with them or use an internet site? We're staying there too but we're paying WAY more than that.

[cruiserw/kids]

Thanks for the review. Glad to hear that you had an enjoyable cruise! We sail the same intinerary in a little over a month from now (April 12). Happy to hear that you had no issues with the fog. Did anyone from Princess give any indication if the chances of having fog is less as we move out of the winter months into Spring? Did you happen to use the Sanctuary area at all? I'm curious to learn if it is crowded everyday with this intinerary.

[Mekamax]

enjoying your review - any tips welcome :)

[RunnerGirl26.2]

Thanks PlanB. We board on the 29th. You said the "monkey tour"? Was that a Bodden tour? We have reserved the Zip and Dip with him. Any thoughts if it was Bodden tour?

[azbirdmom]

Thanks PlanB. We board on the 29th. You said the "monkey tour"? Was that a Bodden tour? We have reserved the Zip and Dip with him. Any thoughts if it was Bodden tour?

 

The monkey tour is likely at Gumbalimba Park. We did that tour in early January and had a great time. They do have a zip line there too, and although we took the Princess tour, there were some independent tour operators doing that combo.

[bellebaby]

Was the line for parking a car quite extensive? Any estimate of how long the wait was?

 

Thanks.

 

B

[A1A]

Glad to hear she is clean and looking good, we have sailed her 3 times and she is a fine ship! Thanks for the review!

 

Ken

[planb]

There are 32 Comfort Inns in Seabrook we stayed at the one on Bayport and did so through the web, the one on Nasa highway was higher in price.

So Husband reminded me of good and bad TIP's

 

Adult pool had family with kids in diapers in it. Signs all over for adults only Staff said they could not ask them to leave we suggested the health issue with a diaper. Than one couple told them straight out it was for adults let alone the diaper issue. One day it was as hot as a hot tub so wonder if they were killing germs???

Not too many kids yet on the cruise.

Fog , we talked to locals and they said as it get's more and more to spring less likely.

Be sure to aced for ice in from the tap and all water is luke warm

Bed if you have had knee or shoulder surgery ask for a egg cart top

Wear good sturdy shoes to any ruins

Room service was very good and always advise time frame

Glad I had a small travel steamer

Shower has a shampoo/conditioner and soap/gel ok for husband I liked my own stuff

There was no Hair/make-up mirror in bathrooms like other ships

Shops have lots of stuff if you see anything in fine jewelry I'd recommend getting it many are only one on the ship/BUT on shore has great variety

There are taxis all waiting at 10:45 when we got off the ship

Southwest will only take your bags 4 hours before your flight

Recommend a flight keeping in mind any delays

Group at our table drove and really like being able to park so close

said once they got close they had about 30 min to get to a space and such so they liked it

Sanctuary cost more now from what we heard it was 20.00 prior did not hear it was crowded

but our table mate said she was glad she did it for 1/2 days since found she did other things

Have a fantastic time and enjoy !

Edited March 10, 2014 by planb

[wineforhealth]

Thank you for the review, glad you had a great time.

[AZPam]

Thanks PlanB. We board on the 29th. You said the "monkey tour"? Was that a Bodden tour? We have reserved the Zip and Dip with him. Any thoughts if it was Bodden tour?

 

We were also on this cruise last week and did the Zip and Dip. William was our driver and he was very good. We were the first ones to the zip lines and that made it so easy. No waiting! Others that arrived after us had to wait until we were done. Tons of fun. You go about half way and then they ask if you want to go to the really high lines or continue on the lower lines. I stuck to the lower ones since I hate heights, but that's another story. The rest of the group went to the high lines and had a blast.

 

After the zip, we got to tour the monkey's and hold them too. Very interesting. We did a little shopping in their store and then headed to the beach. They take you to Bananarama, which was nice. We got there after noon and it was pretty crowded but they got us chairs all set up. Ask about getting food away from there. Wish I had walked to where we parked and eaten at one of those places, much cheaper.

 

Make sure you get a Monkey LaLa while in this port! OMGoodness, that was yummy. Still don't know what was in it, but who cares? I really was surprised and impressed with Roaton. Beautiful island, green and lush, and pretty clean. Saw plenty of poor areas, but at least they weren't dirty and trashy. You could tell they still took a lot of pride.

 

Didn't care for Belize as much as far as the island goes. Wasn't as pretty and seemed very poor and dirty. Had the best snorkeling experience of my life though, so would go back only for that.

 

We were told there were only 20 kids signed up for the kids program but 700 for this week getting on. :eek: So happy we don't have to cruise during spring break anymore.

 

Last sea day they had a egg drop contest in the Plaza area. We took a prize for best failure ;) And our "contestant" ended up staying with our cabin steward, so I am sure she will have many happy cruises in her future. :D

 

Doubt we will ever cruise from Texas again. Just not an area we enjoy and missed the beauty of Ft Lauderdale. Still had a good time though.

[Rancher Dave]

Nice review

[satxdiver]

We were on the same cruise and drove to the port. We arrived at noon, dropped off our checked luggage and proceded to park which took maybe 10 minutes. We had prepayed and gave the attendant a copy of the printout so he let us proceed immediately to our parking spot.

 

Check in for preferred was very quick and took maybe 15 minutes from entering the building to getting our cruise card. Bad news was we had to go to the tent outside which was not air conditioned. At just a few minutes past 1:00 they started calling pax with elite being first. We were called about 15 mintues later as platinum and were on the ship by 1:45.

 

We stayed at the Quality Inn Seabrook which was quite nice and convenient to the port as well as restaurants in the NASA/Clear Lake area but then we had our car. It is located next to the other Comfort Suites in Seabrook.

 

We liked the comedian on Monday night. We went to the two production shows and enjoyed both. The cooking show on Friday was actually a comedy and was really funny with the antics of the two. The navigation show was one of the best I have seen on Princess and very informative.

 

First formal night (Sunday) we went to Sabatini's and the food was excellent as we remembered. Of course I had the usual lobster. The second formal night (Thursday) we went to the MDR ATD. I had more lobster of course. We had gone eartly (5:30) as we wanted to see several events that night. We walked right in and were seated. On leaving though the line was very long to get in. I saw all forms of "formal" attire all the way to short dress/pants on women to pants/dress shirt on men.

 

I spent most of my evenings listening to the band East Coast Connection. We did listen to the piano player in Crooners the first night.

 

We went to Club Fusion at 7:45 and had a seat. We were to be there by 8:20. Just before 8 our color/number was called and we walked off the ship, claimed our luggage, went through the immigration line and were out the door of the terminal by 8:15! Our only wait was in the immigration line with one couple in front of us. We were in the car and headed out the gate by 8:30. This has to be the fastest and easiest we have ever left a ship.

[caribill]

We were on the same cruise and drove to the port. We arrived at noon, Bad news was we had to go to the tent outside which was not air conditioned. At just a few minutes past 1:00 they started calling pax with elite being first. We were called about 15 mintues later as platinum and were on the ship by 1:45.

 

Were any people allowed to wait in the terminal or was everyone forced outside to the tent? When we boarded 2/15, we could wait inside the terminal until boarding started.

[bellebaby]

We were on the same cruise and drove to the port. We arrived at noon, dropped off our checked luggage and proceded to park which took maybe 10 minutes. We had prepayed and gave the attendant a copy of the printout so he let us proceed immediately to our parking spot.

 

Check in for preferred was very quick and took maybe 15 minutes from entering the building to getting our cruise card. Bad news was we had to go to the tent outside which was not air conditioned. At just a few minutes past 1:00 they started calling pax with elite being first. We were called about 15 mintues later as platinum and were on the ship by 1:45.

 

This was exactly what I wanted to know. Thanks for the information.

 

B

[Debe7ing]

Drove to port as well, DH dropped me and luggage off as he made the mandatory "parking loop" into the parking lot, we were 8 cars from the building arriving at 2pm, and walked directly in, thru security screening and received our room cards in less than 15 minutes total.(In Princess defense, the delayed boarding for that particular cruise was emailed to all that sailed, so we elected to leave the house and make the 3 hour drive later than normal to accommodate). Platinum/Elite boarding had no delays at 2pm, walked right up to counter with only one couple ahead of us, and aboard the ship by 2:22pm. We did see those waiting, and were handed an "arrived at time" cards as you went in, so it appears they were doing everything they could to try and keep things fair for those that arrived early and did not have priority check in status.

 

Off the ship walk off at 0705, in the car and on our way home by 0730. We have cruised out of Galveston and now Bayport several times, and I personally MUCH prefer the check-in and debarking at Bayport to Galveston...much quicker, and closer parking, eliminating the required bus shuttle from parking area to terminal that we have experience at Galveston.

 

If you are a Disabled Vet, parking is free at Bayport. Hope this helps.

[ggprincess2004]

We just booked this cruise out of Bayport for April, pricing was very good. Was Princess offering E-Z check for luggage for those that were flying out of Hobby or Bush?

 

Thanks for the reviews, very helpful!