Just back from the Caribbean Princess

[Loucat]

We are booked on CB for August 2nd. I have read so many reviews that I am concerned about our cruise. I would cancel but we are past that.

 

We have been on this ship before and loved it. Not sure what is going on but the weekly reports of early arrival into port due to needed repairs, late sailings out of port,

lack of entertainment of any quality, crew (especially the cruise director staff??), condition of the ship, food etc. are making me worry.

 

Princess-are you reading your passenger reviews? They are pretty consistent and with hope you will fix these issues. Just read the last 5-6 completed reviews on the Review Board.

[shredie]

We are booked on CB for August 2nd. I have read so many reviews that I am concerned about our cruise. I would cancel but we are past that.

 

 

I'm sure it isn't all bad. Besides, a bad day cruising is better than a good day at work. ;)

[JF - retired RRT]

I have a question. I will be aboard this ship Dec. 27th for a 3 night cruise from Ft. Lauderdale. I am traveling solo. I have never been on a Princess ship, but have cruised before.

 

One of the days is at Princess Cays, and the other is at sea. What can you tell me about this private beach area? I am traveling solo and am considering renting one of the beach bungalows for the day there. What can you tell me about the bungalows as well as other options there for the day? What's included with a bungalow?

 

I have Anytime Dining. What can you tell me about the specialty restaurants on board? Any favorites?

 

Thank you!

Princess Cays has a fairly large beach (i.e. long) room for all. The bungalows are very expensive. It would be more affordable, if you could find someone to share. Not sure what is included, but someone here will chime in OR research the Princess website.

There are 2 specialty restaurants: Sabatini's - Italian cuisine, $25 and Crown Grill - fancy steak house also $25. You can see sample menus on the Princess website. Just Google Princess Specialty Restaurant.

There are also a couple of "for fee" offerings: Vines - wine and sushi (the wine costs $, the sushi is free), also the International Cafe - specialty coffee for a fee (price varies or get a coffee card) and FREE food. Open 24 hours. The selections vary with the time of day. Very nice.

[Hoosier-Cruiser]

We are booked on CB for August 2nd. I have read so many reviews that I am concerned about our cruise. I would cancel but we are past that.

 

We have been on this ship before and loved it. Not sure what is going on but the weekly reports of early arrival into port due to needed repairs, late sailings out of port,

lack of entertainment of any quality, crew (especially the cruise director staff??), condition of the ship, food etc. are making me worry.

 

Princess-are you reading your passenger reviews? They are pretty consistent and with hope you will fix these issues. Just read the last 5-6 completed reviews on the Review Board.

 

Loucat,

We just sailed on her from June 14 through 21 and found her in wonderful shape. If you go searching for issues, you will find them, but I didn't go searching.

 

The entertainment was ok, but nothing special. The CD was apparently onboard, but we never saw him except at the International Crew Show (must see) and on the morning Wake Show. His staff was excellent though. Bianca and Ian were terrific and the others were great was well.

 

Today, she arrived on time and left on time. Hopefully, whatever the issues were have been corrected, but it never had any effect on our voyage.

 

The food was terrific, no issues that I found.

 

If you go into it worrying and looking for problems, you will find them, but you'll also ruin your trip. We went in looking to escape completely, and were so successful that we are booked again on the CB in March.

[kendon]

I'm sure it isn't all bad. Besides, a bad day cruising is better than a good day at work. ;)

 

To a point...we are spending a lot of money for a good experience. I'll be on the CB in two weeks and I'm concerned.

[shredie]

I spent 17 days on the CB last fall, and I had a great time. Don't let some iffy reviews ruin your vacation. Make up your own mind about things after you experience them. Remember that most people who were on those cruises didn't write reviews. I think sometimes it's only the people with complaints who take the time to do a review.

[jrzebird]

I spent 17 days on the CB last fall, and I had a great time. Don't let some iffy reviews ruin your vacation. Make up your own mind about things after you experience them. Remember that most people who were on those cruises didn't write reviews. I think sometimes it's only the people with complaints who take the time to do a review.

 

I spent 14 days on the CB last fall, and also had a wonderful time. The entertainment choices were many and good, the food, the staff, cabins, venues ... all wonderful. I've had the same CD on all of my CB cruises, Neil Roberts. Many complain that he is invisible, which is partially true (although I always seem to run into him and he never fails to stop for a short chat when I say hi). However, his cruise staff is fantastic, and his program wonderful.

 

It's difficult to be ever present and prepare a program for a cruise. A number of my cruises (for instance, the Sandy and Irene cruises) had a lot of changes in sea days and missed ports, but the entertainment staff never missed a beat.

 

I know you'll love the CB. Stuff happens on cruises that can be annoying (fellow passengers, norovirus, bad comedian, etc.) but you can either let it ruin your trip or decide just how important it is. I've never had anything that ruined my cruise experience, so far. Not even Sandy and all of the changes to the 2 cruises and worries.

 

Maureen

[NoVa Mimi]

Goodness, just to clarify...we did not have a "bad" cruise. We had a wonderful time on our B2B! Each ship and each cruise will vary with pros and cons and each of us will walk away from our cruises with different opinions, but we all still have the love of cruising in common, at the end of the day. :) Just because we didn't care for the cruise director's staff doesn't mean we didn't enjoy our cruise. We have already booked the 15 day to Hawaii on the Ruby Princess for 10/2015 :)

[DavidTravels]

We are booked on CB for August 2nd. I have read so many reviews that I am concerned about our cruise. I would cancel but we are past that.

 

We have been on this ship before and loved it. Not sure what is going on but the weekly reports of early arrival into port due to needed repairs, late sailings out of port,

lack of entertainment of any quality, crew (especially the cruise director staff??), condition of the ship, food etc. are making me worry.

 

Princess-are you reading your passenger reviews? They are pretty consistent and with hope you will fix these issues. Just read the last 5-6 completed reviews on the Review Board.

 

Hi:

We were on the CB for the June 14th sailing and didn't have any complaints. Not our favorite cruise (we've been on 28) and not our least favorite cruise. The singer/pianist in Crooners was fantastic. I agree that the female singer of the duo in the various lounges was a bit "pitchy". We were advised on June 20th that we would be back in Fort Lauderdale at 1:00 am. It didn't make any difference to us.

 

We found the CD to be personable enough...not sure what people are expecting. The CD doesn't make or break my cruise. We tend to keep ourselves busy and not rely on lots of different activities led by the CD staff.

 

Keep in mind (and I'm sure you did) that Cruise Critic is a small subset of the cruising population. Princess sends out surveys via email to all the passengers who sail with them and I'm sure that the majority are more positive. I didn't hear any major complaining during the week of June 14th.

 

Have fun on the cruise.

DavidTravels

[I object 2]

SteelMagnolia9: We were on the Caribbean Princess June 7th sailing and booked a bungalow on Princess Cays. It is pricey, but well worth it in our situation. We cruised with young ones so we made good use of the bungalow's air conditioning and shade throughout our day and at meal time. The weather on Princess Cays was hot and humid. If you can find 2 or 3 others willing to share the cost, go for it!

 

The inside of the bungalow has a table and 4 chairs and several small wall shelves to store "stuff". Outside are 4 loungers with towels and a private, open air shower attached to the side of the bungalow. The shower sure came in handy for washing the sand off. I don't know how we did it, but we sure collected a lot of sand in our water shoes! :eek:

 

Rental of the bungalow allowed us priority tendering from the ship to Princess Cays, which was very nice. There was no priority tendering for us on the trip back to the ship.

[SteelMagnolia9]

Princess Cays has a fairly large beach (i.e. long) room for all. The bungalows are very expensive. It would be more affordable, if you could find someone to share. Not sure what is included, but someone here will chime in OR research the Princess website.

There are 2 specialty restaurants: Sabatini's - Italian cuisine, $25 and Crown Grill - fancy steak house also $25. You can see sample menus on the Princess website. Just Google Princess Specialty Restaurant.

There are also a couple of "for fee" offerings: Vines - wine and sushi (the wine costs $, the sushi is free), also the International Cafe - specialty coffee for a fee (price varies or get a coffee card) and FREE food. Open 24 hours. The selections vary with the time of day. Very nice.

 

Thank You!

[SteelMagnolia9]

SteelMagnolia9: We were on the Caribbean Princess June 7th sailing and booked a bungalow on Princess Cays. It is pricey, but well worth it in our situation. We cruised with young ones so we made good use of the bungalow's air conditioning and shade throughout our day and at meal time. The weather on Princess Cays was hot and humid. If you can find 2 or 3 others willing to share the cost, go for it!

 

The inside of the bungalow has a table and 4 chairs and several small wall shelves to store "stuff". Outside are 4 loungers with towels and a private, open air shower attached to the side of the bungalow. The shower sure came in handy for washing the sand off. I don't know how we did it, but we sure collected a lot of sand in our water shoes! :eek:

 

Rental of the bungalow allowed us priority tendering from the ship to Princess Cays, which was very nice. There was no priority tendering for us on the trip back to the ship.

 

Thank you!

[Loucat]

Loucat,

We just sailed on her from June 14 through 21 and found her in wonderful shape. If you go searching for issues, you will find them, but I didn't go searching.

 

The entertainment was ok, but nothing special. The CD was apparently onboard, but we never saw him except at the International Crew Show (must see) and on the morning Wake Show. His staff was excellent though. Bianca and Ian were terrific and the others were great was well.

 

Today, she arrived on time and left on time. Hopefully, whatever the issues were have been corrected, but it never had any effect on our voyage.

 

The food was terrific, no issues that I found.

 

If you go into it worrying and looking for problems, you will find them, but you'll also ruin your trip. We went in looking to escape completely, and were so successful that we are booked again on the CB in March.

 

Glad to hear your postitive news. I did not go looking for the negativity; it presented itself. I always read posts about upcoming sailings. I expect a few less than happy campers; when they become the majority that is something to consider.

Thanks for your post and glad you enjoyed the CB. We did when we sailed from Puerto Rico on the ship. That is why we booked again.

Glad the food was good!

[lovesusu]

Hi - what kind of music do they have by the pools?

[lovesusu]

What kind of music do they have by the pools?

[tteettimes]

What kind of music do they have by the pools?

 

 

Pool Music :rolleyes:

[lovesusu]

thanks - I guess the more detailed question is "Is there always music by the pool?" We are new to Princess and always enjoy music (most any type ) while by the pool.