Currently on Caribbean Princess 8/28-9/1

[Posaune]

A great cruise so far with beautiful weather, great food and good service. Entertainment has been very good so far. Embarkation was smooth, once they found the missing BtoB folks and could get the rest of us on board! Nice mix of cruisers with a lot of blue cards. Pools and casino have been very busy. Dress to impress was tonight. No line for anytime dining until right after the Captain's presentation and then there was a huge line. I was told there were more than 500 BtoB from the last cruise and a similar amount for the next cruise. Wish we could stay!!

[Colo Cruiser]

Enjoy! :)

[geoherb]

Hope you have a great time. We did earlier this month on our 7-day eastern Caribbean cruise. I'm already looking at combining 3- and 4-day cruises back-to-back in December on the CB. It will come down to how the price compares to doing a real 7-day cruise.

[ggprincess2004]

Hope you have a great time. We did earlier this month on our 7-day eastern Caribbean cruise. I'm already looking at combining 3- and 4-day cruises back-to-back in December on the CB. It will come down to how the price compares to doing a real 7-day cruise.

 

Pricing was so sweet for the fall on the 4 and 5 day CB cruises we signed up for another two weeks. Neal and Sam, have another great time!!! Hoping to cruise with you two again in the future......Ginger

[Mapu]

A great cruise so far with beautiful weather, great food and good service. Entertainment has been very good so far. Embarkation was smooth, once they found the missing BtoB folks and could get the rest of us on board! Nice mix of cruisers with a lot of blue cards. Pools and casino have been very busy. Dress to impress was tonight. No line for anytime dining until right after the Captain's presentation and then there was a huge line. I was told there were more than 500 BtoB from the last cruise and a similar amount for the next cruise. Wish we could stay!!

 

We will be on a similar cruise on the Regal 11/6. Any info you can post about scheduled entertainment would be great. Thanks.

[Diav]

Can you explain Dress to Impress night? I thought there was no formal night on the 4 night cruises. Going on this cruise 9/25/14. thanks!

[caribill]

Can you explain Dress to Impress night? I thought there was no formal night on the 4 night cruises. Going on this cruise 9/25/14. thanks!

 

It means you can dress up if you want, but it is not expected as it would be on a formal evening.

 

Gives the photo department a chance to take pictures they could not take if all evenings were smart casual.

Edited August 30, 2014 by caribill

[PathfinderEss]

Thanks for your live report, hope you keep on having a good time.

[Posaune]

Since most of the questions were answered by others, I will just say it was a gorgeous day in Grand Turk. Two ships were in port, so if you did not have transport booked to get away from the port area, you had difficulty. We had the HOHO booked and enjoyed the tour. It was short and sweet since the museum was closed for August.

[counsdr]

Can you explain Dress to Impress night? I thought there was no formal night on the 4 night cruises. Going on this cruise 9/25/14. thanks!

 

Come over to our roll call and join us!

Cheryl

[counsdr]

Glad you're enjoying your cruise! I can't wait for mine!

Cheryl

[Woobstr112G]

Thanks for checking in. Enjoy the rest of your cruise.....:):):)

 

Bob

Edited August 31, 2014 by Woobstr112G

[Wehwalt]

Glad to hear many B2Bers as it will make for a less crowded muster drill when I board tomorrow!

[Posaune]

I just posted the review and have pasted it below.

 

My wife and I took a short 4 day getaway cruise on Caribbean Princess August 28- September 1. This was our 12th cruise on Princes and by far our shortest!

 

Embarkation-- We arrived at the Fort Lauderdale Airport early and took a cab to the terminal ($15 + tip) and arrived about 10:30 AM. We were 2nd in line in the preferred boarding outside in the heat and humidity until about 11. We went through security and got our cards quickly and ended up first in line in the platinum lounge. We were told there were 550 doing a back to back and they were having trouble getting them all off the ship. Platinum boarding started about noon. As I said before we were first in line and went straight to our cabin (R206), dropped our carry ons and headed for the Coral dining room for lunch. With that many back to back cruisers you can imagine the dining room was already quite active.

 

Food-- I was very impressed with the food on this cruise. There were many good choices and I thought it was amongst the best we have had on Princess. We had dinner in Island dinging room and we were Anytime Dining. Service was always very good in the dining rooms. We never had to wait for a table! (Those who headed directly to the dining room after the balloon drop and Captains greeting had a very long wait for tables) We had breakfasts and two lunches in Horizon and were pretty well pleased with the assortment. Service was only adequate there.

 

Entertainment- There were always more events going on than we could possibly go to. The shows were good to excellent, especially Piano Man and magician Landon Swank (absolutely amazing!). I had not cruised with Cruise Director Lee Childers before. He was pretty good, but he really stood out to me in his Interdenominational Church Service. His worship service was truly inspiring. It was well crafted and presented the bible reading as a very meaningful sermon. I was really impressed by the man!

 

Grand Turk-- We are not beach people nor are we shopaholics so we took the HOHO tour. The guide was excellent, but the museum was closed for renovations. We did enjoy a short visit to the lighthouse.

 

The ship-- The ship seemed to be in pretty dang good shape. Yes, you can find a bit of rust or a slightly frayed carpet here or there but work is always being done throughout the ship. Everyone was smiling and anxious to help.

 

Debarkation-- Self walk off and we arrived early and they said we could go ahead and exit 30 minutes before our scheduled time. Once again a $15 + tip taxi ride and PLENTY of cabs available.

 

In summary-- It was a very relaxing cruise (but too short) for two people who really needed a get-away from family health issues and job responsibilities.

[M4dC0w]

Do you have to show up for the 2nd muster drill if you are a b2b passenger?

Edited September 5, 2014 by M4dC0w

[Posaune]

We were not B2B (I wish we were)so I will let someone else answer this question!

[Colo Cruiser]

Thanks for the comments.

[Lovetocruiseprincess]

Do you know if there were there many Elites on the ship?

[WEGL81]

Do you have to show up for the 2nd muster drill if you are a b2b passenger?

 

No, B2B'ers are exempt from a 2nd muster drill. Basically, you are the last to leave the ship needing only your old cruise card, your new cruise card, your passport, and something to read for an hour. It only takes longer if a B2B'er thinks they don't have to get off of the ship. It does make for a relaxing afternoon, especially since the newbies have to go to muster and you don't.

[seacruise9]

Hi,

 

Thanks for posting your review. I was on this same cruise and had a wonderful time. Throughout the cruise, I was pleased with the food and service. Considering that the ship is 10 years old, I think that it is very well maintained. The cruise went very smoothly and I did not notice any problems. The only negative aspect of the cruise was that it was too short.

 

I always follow the dress code in the dining room. On the second night of the cruise, I witnessed a man being turned away from the dining room because he was wearing shorts. Thus, at least some effort was made to prevent people from wearing shorts to dinner.

 

Chuck

Edited September 5, 2014 by seacruise9

[Posaune]

I did not go to the Captain's talk, so I did not hear those figures this time.

[Posaune]

I did notice shorts in the dining room, VERY sheer coverups over bathing suits in the dining room, plates and drink glasses in elevators and on the floor throughout the ship. The crew was trying to keep up, but the lack of manners by some of the passengers did astound me. I did not let this ruin my cruise! Do not be afraid though, the majority of the passengers were very polite and treated both crew and fellow passengers quite well.

 

@Northerndynasty--we looked for you the rest of the cruise and never spotted you. Glad you had a good time! We bought our Future Cruise Credits, but have not booked a cruise yet. We will take short cruises again but we understand it will not quite be like the longer cruises.

[Wehwalt]

I did notice shorts in the dining room, VERY sheer coverups over bathing suits in the dining room, plates and drink glasses in elevators and on the floor throughout the ship. The crew was trying to keep up, but the lack of manners by some of the passengers did astound me. I did not let this ruin my cruise! Do not be afraid though, the majority of the passengers were very polite and treated both crew and fellow passengers quite well.

 

@Northerndynasty--we looked for you the rest of the cruise and never spotted you. Glad you had a good time! We bought our Future Cruise Credits, but have not booked a cruise yet. We will take short cruises again but we understand it will not quite be like the longer cruises.

 

I do not think it for me to take notice of what other passengers, who paid as good money as I did, are wearing.

Edited September 6, 2014 by Wehwalt

[northerndynasty]

I did notice shorts in the dining room, VERY sheer coverups over bathing suits in the dining room, plates and drink glasses in elevators and on the floor throughout the ship. The crew was trying to keep up, but the lack of manners by some of the passengers did astound me. I did not let this ruin my cruise! Do not be afraid though, the majority of the passengers were very polite and treated both crew and fellow passengers quite well.

 

@Northerndynasty--we looked for you the rest of the cruise and never spotted you. Glad you had a good time! We bought our Future Cruise Credits, but have not booked a cruise yet. We will take short cruises again but we understand it will not quite be like the longer cruises.

 

...on-board...sad to say, just look for the Casino Host, and I'm sure I'm not too far from her/him. Or, alternatively, you'll see me slamming-down a MONSTROUS slab of World Renown Princess Pizza - ANYTIME that they're open! ;)

[geoherb]

Although you get to skip the second muster drill when doing back-to-back cruises, you'll find that all passenger services--food and beverages--will be closed for it. Get any food and drinks about a half hour before it's scheduled. We enjoyed swimming in the spa pool during the muster drill last December. Several crew members stopped to tell us about it, but understood when we let them know we were back-to-back passengers.

 

I'm afraid that the cat is out of the bag when it comes to shorts in the dining room. In the overall scheme of things, it doesn't bother me as much as people wearing baseball caps there. At least with the shorts you don't see them while they're sitting down. Our tablemate (adult male around 50 years old) wore them on our last CB cruise. On the formal night, he wore a polo barong, which is semiformal wear in the Philippines. It looks similar to the Cuban guayabera.