My (long-winded) review of the Caribbean Princess - April 19-26 2014

[marjosagb]

PRE-CRUISE

We’re from Vancouver so we booked a flight into Houston (IAH) the day before the cruise. We stayed at the La Quinta IAH South for a very reasonable rate, which included breakfast and free shuttle from the airport. Rooms were clean but the beds were pretty average. We arrived to the hotel at around 430pm, relaxed for a bit, and then walked a few blocks to Good Eats Grill for what ended up being a very tasty dinner. Our waiter asked which hotel we were from, and took 15% off our bill, which was a nice surprise.

EMBARKING

We booked a 7-passenger suburban (through Houston Yellowcab) to pick us up at our hotel and take us to the Bayport Terminal. I called about an hour before our pick up time just to confirm our reservation and had a bit of a scare when I was told there were no vehicles that could accommodate 7 passengers, but thankfully they sorted it out and a black 7-passenger suburban picked us up at our hotel as originally scheduled. Cost for 7 of us ended up being $120, which included the gratuity. For $17 each, this private ride was a great option for us. We arrived to the port at around 11:30am and were on the ship in about an hour. It seemed like there may have been a bit of a longer delay than usual but the process was very straight forward and well organized.

CABIN

On a cruise like this we are perfectly happy in an interior cabin. We are rarely in our cabins except for sleeping and a short afternoon nap before dinner. We booked an aft on Aloha deck 12 and were happy with it. Montano was our steward and did a great job. We NEVER returned to our cabin without it being made for us, which we really appreciated. We requested a mattress topper on day 1 and it was installed for us that afternoon. It made a big difference and I would highly recommend that you request one before they are all gone. I liked the pillows. Yes the bathroom is small, but it’s an interior room on a ship, what do you expect? The shower was actually a bit roomier than I expected, and there was very ample storage for clothes etc. The safe just barely fit our iPad, so if you are travelling with a laptop do not expect it to fit. We moved the awkward round glass side table into the closet and it made for more walking space around the bed area.

DINING

We ate breakfast in the buffet every morning. Lunch was either buffet or poolside or port. Dinner was MDR 5 nights and buffet 2 nights. I am definitely, for lack of a better term, a “foodie” and live in a city that takes food very seriously. Overall I was quite pleased with the food on Princess…

Buffet - Breakfast in the buffet was good but pretty much the same offering every day. Decent, but repetitive. Over easy eggs with fresh tomato salsa and fried rice always found their way onto my plate. The fruit was always ripe. Lunch in the buffet offered more of a daily variety and was pretty good. Aside from lunch on day 1, there was never a line of any significance to get into the buffet at any time, which was nice. Tables were generally easy to find, and the service was very good. I like that Princess (promptly) brings you your drinks in the buffet.

MDR - We did the anytime dining and generally ate at around 6pm. Because we were a group of 7 I was a little concerned when I called the dine line on day 1 and was told that there would be no reservations for anytime diners for the week. But in the end, it worked out very well. We never had to wait for a table, and did not have to worry about having to make a reservation. As far as service goes I was a little disappointed. For the first 3 nights I found it to be robotic and hurried. Our waiters were not very personable and were just going through the motions to get us in, fed, and out. The MD’s and photographers were a little over the top with sales pitches. The 4th dinner we had in the MDR we were seated at Oxana’s table and she and her assistant were fabulous. She was efficient but took the time to engage in conversation – something that was completely missing in our first 3 experiences at other tables. On our last night we made a point of requesting her table, and wished that we had her for our first 3 dinners in the MDR. As for the food, I thought it was solid here. I enjoyed everything that I ordered. Proteins were executed nicely on all occasions. The desserts were quite good, and the homemade ice creams and sorbets were delicious. A few times we skipped dessert after our meals in order to catch the early evening show, and returned to the MDR later in the evening for tea and desserts. Bread and butter was always very fresh, and if you think the crusty exteriors of the buns mean they are stale, think again ;)

Other - Pizza and burgers by the pool were better than expected and actually quite good. There were always 3 types of pizza available (pepperoni, cheese, and a daily feature) and you never had to wait for a slice. Soft serve ice cream was not really that great, but hard ice cream (chocolate, vanilla, and strawberry) was always available, fee free, as well. I found the IC to be just okay, but it was definitely a nice 24-hour option. Did not order room service or visit the specialty restaurants. Was planning on trying the afternoon tea and/or British Pub lunch, but never got around to either.

Drinks - The “syrup” coffee that is included is not all that good IMO. It’s drinkable, but I only ended up having it a few times and did not finish my cup on either occasion. I found myself drinking hot tea instead of coffee and found the quality and selection to be good. I actually liked the lemonade quite a bit…it’s a little on the sweet side, but if you cut it with a bit of water it is very refreshing. Did not try the iced tea. The water on the ship is okay but not nearly as good as the tap water that we are used to at home so that was a bit of getting used to. Someone from our group had a coffee card and said the drinks were decent. On multiple occasions the person did not even bother to punch the card for a specialty drink. Alcoholic drinks that I purchased were all made quite well and prices were in line with regular restaurants. I also brought a bottle of wine on board with me, and had no troubles getting glasses in my cabin and taking a glass of wine with me into the MDR for dinner on a few occasions.

SERVICE

Overall the service was good. There were a few stand outs that made our cruise that much more enjoyable. On the other hand, there was more than one instance where service was robotic, rushed, and borderline rude – particularly in the MDR, and drink service around the pools and lounges. Most workers that you see around the ship would greet you with a smile and hello if you walked by. Entertainment staff were friendly when you saw them.

ENTERTAINMENT

Evening Headliner Shows - A bit disappointed with the lack of variety in the nightly headliner shows. We went to all 7 of the evening shows. 3 out of 7 nights it was the Princess singers and dancers. They were not very good and the shows were quite repetitive. A few of the singers were good, but others not so much. The dancing was often pretty raunchy and not in sync. I would be happy to see them for 1 night….but 3 nights was very excessive. I guess it’s my fault for going to all 3 shows. I don’t mean to be rude, but in a lot of the scenes the women were dressed/danced like strippers. To me, these song and dance shows were not all that entertaining, and did not mesh with the overall classy vibe found on the rest of the ship. The Born to be Wild performance was the best of the 3. That said, the other evening shows were pretty good. The comedian (Phil Tag) was one of the best I have ever heard and had the entire audience consistently laughing. Would have loved to see him on another night. There was a young musician (Zack I believe) that was extremely good as well. He played a lot of tunes from the 60’s and showed his talent on several instruments. Impressive. The magician filled out the other 2 nights. He was quite talented as well, and I’d say his overall show quality was pretty good but seeing him 1 night instead of 2 would have been plenty for me. In the end, 2 shows were excellent, 2 shows were good, and 3 shows were not that great.

Other – The patters were pretty packed with activities during the day, which we really liked. There were a few arts/crafts things, lots of trivia, a few pool games and sports events. The egg drop competition was fun. I wished that the sports court was a more prominent feature on the ship and offered more than just half court basketball. Most of the activities/entertainment only took you until about 11pm. After that, Skywalkers was pretty much your only option. MUTS was really cool. I have never been on a ship with an outdoor screen before, and the outdoor movies in the evening with popcorn and blankets was really fun. There were only 2 ping pong tables, and both were used frequently. Would be nice to see another 1 or 2 more tables elsewhere on the ship because the demand seemed high. The game/trivia shows were okay but kind of repetitive. The marriage game show was really funny and probably the best “show” we saw outside of the theatre. The wooden horse races were a blast, and everyone really got into them. The snowball jackpot bingo got my attention towards the end of the cruise. Did not gamble because the casino was too smoky for me, but the casino had a good vibe at night and I appreciated the fact that they had poker tournaments and a craps table. The cooking show and galley tour was fun, and I was pleased to see such a clean kitchen. CD was Neil Roberts. He was fine, but I never saw him once outside of his pre/post show joke and announcement in the theatre. He made a good host, and was good on the wake show, but overall he was very forgettable.

Pool - We were able to find a lounger in the sun, or shade, or half/half on pretty much every occasion, which was really nice. The unlimited pool towels are nice, but because there was no incentive to return the towels I think a lot of people just left their used towels sitting on the loungers with no intent of returning, which made it hard to distinguish a taken lounger from an empty lounger with a towel still on it. If there were no actual belongings I felt fine removing a dirty looking towel and taking the lounger and I was never once confronted. I never saw any pool staff removing towels etc, but I don’t think chair hogs were a huge issue during our sailing. We spent most of our pool time at the Neptune pool, and found the pool with the big screen playing movies/concerts during the day to be kind of annoying. The pool water was a perfect temperature to me. Didn’t use the hot tubs.

SHIP

The ship was clean and had a nice, classy décor. It was a big ship but still felt very intimate without feeling too crowded. The thing that I wasn’t a huge fan of was the layout. The ship seemed to be laid out into a lot of segregated rooms/pockets of space instead of more free flowing grand open spaces. The piazza was neat, and even though it was 3 floors the overall footprint was pretty small. I prefer the open concept of the promenade common area on some of the RCI ships, but that's just me. A huge plus was the fact that there were multiple pools, which helped spread all the sun worshipers out. The Sanctuary looked nice, but seemed too big for how many people we saw using it.

PORTS OF CALL

Cozumel – I surprised my wife for her birthday with a dolphin swim at Chankanaab, which she really enjoyed. Booked through Dolphin Discovery directly, which is a short 5 minute $11 cab ride away.

Roatan – Private tour with Big Al via Victor Bodden Tours. Great day. Got to experience a lot of areas around the island that we never would have ventured to on our own. Very informative as well. Also went to see and hold the monkeys, and to West Bay beach for lunch and a bit of snorkelling. Great day and very good value. This was our favorite port of the cruise.

Belize – Decided last minute to check out the Altun Ha ruins. Negotiated a good rate with a tour operator at the port. The ruins were neat, and the driver gave a bit of an informative tour about the areas we were passing through as we went. It’s about an hour drive each way, and the AC in the van we were in was not exactly the best. Temperature got up to 105F (according to the vehicle gauge), but fortunately there was a nice breeze. If in Belize again I will definitely venture out to the cayes.

DISEMBARKING

This was worse than expected. Our group was in 3 separate cabins. 2 cabins had the same disembarking time, and the other cabin was an hour later. Would be nice if the bookings could be somehow linked, but at least I was able to arrange this at the Passenger Services desk (which obviously had a huge line on the last few days of the trip). Our meeting time was 9:10am but it took close to an hour before we were even called to get off the ship (they were admittedly running behind on this). Once we did get to the baggage/customs area, it was another 45 minute line and a challenge to get our luggage and weave through people to even get in the line. My guess is that this was just a bit of a bad day.

OVERALL IMPRESSION

I’d rate this cruise a 7.5 out of 10. We definitely had a good cruise, but I wouldn’t call it a GREAT cruise. That is about the best way I can sum it up. There were certain things that I really liked, and certain things that I though fell a bit short. I travel a lot, but only cruise about once every 3 years, and to be honest I think I will try RCI again next time. This is not a knock against Princess, but based on our personal pros and cons RCI may be a bit of a better overall fit for our family and vacation style. It was really nice to be able to have a resource like CC that answered a lot of questions I had before our trip. Because of this I definitely felt prepared and knowledgeable about the ship and processes once on board J.

Edited April 30, 2014 by marjosagb

[Colo Cruiser]

Thanks for your great review! :)

 

Such tiny type though. :(

[Cruisin' Along]

Thanks for sharing your review. I am still trying to decide between Princess and RCI for our next cruise, and reviews like this are very helfpul!

[Mom33]

Thanks for your comprehensive review. The towel and lounger problem is a problem on all ships. I agree with your handling of the situation. If no personal items are with used towels, take the lounger.:D

[geoherb]

Thanks for posting your review. This ship is one of the possibilities we're looking at for August.

[jean s]

Thanks for your review. We did this cruise in February and did enjoy it for the most part.

[rgmacm]

We were on this cruise too and I agreed with much of what you said (In fact, I've posted a review too -ha) I am glad to hear that someone else thought the entertainment was 'raunchy"....We didn't go to the comedian thinking it would be just as bad. I guess we made a 'wrong' decision though we went to MUTS and enjoyed our evening. :)

We too, were a little disappointed in the service for Anytime Dining. I still think that's the best choice for us but did find it to be lacking....

I"m shocked to find out that they didn't take reservations for large groups. It was just the two of us for this cruise and we knew they wouldn't make reservations for 2, but in thinking of planning a family cruise out of Houston (it's a driving port for us) assumed they WOULD reserve a table for our group of 10. I guess I'll need to modify my expectations.

It was nice to read your review.

[Lanwood]

Thanks for the review marjosagb. Enjoyed reading your thoughts of CB.

Interesting read. We're heading up your way for 2015 cruising, so good to get some recent feedback.

[caribill]

ENTERTAINMENT

 

Evening Headliner Shows - There was a young musician (Zack I believe) that was extremely good as well.

 

Zach Winningham was recently named the Princess Entertainer of the Year.

[marjosagb]

Thanks for your comprehensive review. The towel and lounger problem is a problem on all ships. I agree with your handling of the situation. If no personal items are with used towels, take the lounger.:D

I thought some lines required you to sign out only 1 towel at a time with your cruise card (which would at least cut down on people leaving towels on loungers with NO intent on returning), but I could be wrong.

 

 

We were on this cruise too and I agreed with much of what you said (In fact, I've posted a review too -ha) I am glad to hear that someone else thought the entertainment was 'raunchy"....We didn't go to the comedian thinking it would be just as bad. I guess we made a 'wrong' decision though we went to MUTS and enjoyed our evening. :)

We too, were a little disappointed in the service for Anytime Dining. I still think that's the best choice for us but did find it to be lacking....

I"m shocked to find out that they didn't take reservations for large groups. It was just the two of us for this cruise and we knew they wouldn't make reservations for 2, but in thinking of planning a family cruise out of Houston (it's a driving port for us) assumed they WOULD reserve a table for our group of 10. I guess I'll need to modify my expectations.

It was nice to read your review.

Sorry to say but you did miss out on the comedian - he was really good :(

 

We watched a movie outside on another night and that experience was a lot of fun.

 

Fortunately we had ZERO issues getting a table for 7 all week long (technically they gave us a table for 8 and cleared 1 setting). It seemed like smaller tables were what people were at times waiting for. On the 1st formal night there was a line of about 8 groups ahead of us, but the MD was going down the line asking if people would be willing to sit at a shared table or not. If they were willing to share they got in right away. If not, they waited. Because we were a large group they let us in right away at a large table. So hopefully you do not have issues getting a table for 10 :)

 

 

Zach Winningham was recently named the Princess Entertainer of the Year.

I noticed that in the Patter. Not surprised, he was very good!

[marjosagb]

One other thing that I forgot to mention...

 

I read on here somewhere about the different carpet colors for port & starboard - this was a really easy way to know which side your room was on as soon as you got off an elevator. Not that's it's all that hard to figure out, but one less thing to have to think about none the less!

[Pam in CA]

I thought some lines required you to sign out only 1 towel at a time with your cruise card (which would at least cut down on people leaving towels on loungers with NO intent on returning), but I could be wrong.

Not on Princess. You can ask for extra towels from your steward or ask on deck for a towel or two.

[marjosagb]

Not on Princess. You can ask for extra towels from your steward or ask on deck for a towel or two.

Correct, which is why I posted this ;)

[caribill]

Fortunately we had ZERO issues getting a table for 7 all week long (technically they gave us a table for 8 and cleared 1 setting).....Because we were a large group they let us in right away at a large table. So hopefully you do not have issues getting a table for 10 :)

 

 

There are many tables for 8 in the dining room, but few tables for 10. So without a reservation (if allowed), there could be ba wait.

 

Sometimes seating might be quicker for a table for six near a table for four. (Besides, at a table for 10 it is hard to converse with everyone else at the table due to the table's size.)