Live from the Caribbean Princess, Dec. 27-Jan. 3

[bhopal21]

we will be on CB shortly as well -- we have a full suite, DO WE GET ACCESS TO THE PRIORITY EMBARKATION ROOM?

How often do they offer the chefs table-? where do we sign up for it?--do you know if they abide by dress code -so if it is formal night do we need to be dressed formally for the chefs table?

 

Yes your boarding pass will state priority embarkation at the top.

 

You will need to check at the Passenger Services Desk immediately after boarding for the Chef's Table.

 

Mike:)

[geoherb]

I was surprised to see the Chef's Table offered on the 3-day cruise. If we did not have traditional dining, it might have tempted us. I did ask about the Ultimate Ship's Tour today at passenger services. The next one will be January 7. That's during the 5-day cruise that starts the day we disembark. They did not know if we will be able to book the Ultimate Balcony Dinner on our next leg. I also checked at Sabatini's this evening. He said to call the Dine Line on our last day to see if they've opened up reservations for the next cruise.

 

The afternoon trivia was tough. The winning team had 13 out of 20 right. We were a close third with 11. We played with a couple from Indiana.

 

One thing fun about taking cruises is meeting people we’ve met before. Tonight it was a couple from Canada. I enjoyed eating at the Chef’s Table with them four years ago on the Island when we took our cruise to the Panama Canal. They’re on the CB for just the 3-day cruise. They tied it in with visiting friends and relatives in Florida over Christmas.

 

Our tablemates did not show up for dinner, so we had a table for eight to ourselves. Two of our waiter’s other tables were totally empty, so it ended up being one of the quickest dinners we’ve ever had on a cruise—just about an hour.

 

Farrell Dillon, the comedy magician, performed three shows tonight. We went to the one before dinner. The theater was packed by the time the show started. We got there about 10 minutes beforehand, however, and did not have any problems finding two good seats together. He was good. I tried my luck in the casino after dinner. I sat beside the machine I wanted to play that was lucky for me in August. I lost my allotted amount in about 15 minutes.

 

Tomorrow will be a relaxing day at sea. The Patter lists lots of activities that we won’t be doing, starting off with Zumba at 9. They also have line dancing and salsa classes. We will make it to the morning and afternoon trivias. Some of the other ones we’ll skip include the fruit and veggie carving demo, ping pong tournament, bible study, slot tournament, hairy chest competition, steel drum class, and bingo. We’ll try to make it to the wine tasting. MUTS is showing Dirty Dancing in the morning, Mrs. Doubtfire in the afternoon, and Guardians of the Galaxy twice in the evening. The production show is Piano Man.

They had a happy hour this afternoon from 3 until 4 in the Wheelhouse Bar with buy one drink/get one free. The offer is the same from 11 p.m. until midnight in Skywalkers.

 

Tonight was the Ultimate Deck Party. We did not go.

[JustinPlusLauren]

Thanks for the continuing updates! Really enjoying this! :)

[geoherb]

I found out this morning that the gym opens at 6 a.m. I walked on one of the treadmills for a mile and a half. They have the first four treadmills on each side closed off since they’re above passenger cabins. The other equipment was fair game (except, of course, for the bikes they use exclusively in the spin classes). Just a few of our fellow passengers made it up there before 6:30. It may get busier later, but maybe not with such a short cruise.

 

The new computer networking is great. I like being able to check our stateroom balance without wasting paper at the print-out kiosks. I haven’t used the online version of the Patter other than to check it out. I think we’ll stick to the printer version, but it’s nice to have an alternative. I noticed that the Explorers Lounge had a copy posted at it with the events taking place there highlighted. I haven’t seen this in other locations, but they may be there.

 

The ship is still decorated for Christmas with lots of trees throughout. I haven’t seen many passenger cabins with door decorations. We did not bring any for this cruise but may get something for New Year’s. The piazza has a huge holiday display with gingerbread houses and other creations. It will be interesting to see what they do on turnaround day to change the decorations to get ready for New Year’s Eve.

[nfox211]

Any photos of the gingerbread display? We sailed the CB in early December and no decorations were up except poinsettias began to appear.

[sunsetbeachgal]

Enjoying your Live posting! Hope you are having lots of fun. Wishing you both a happy and healthy New Year!

 

Carole

[erber]

We are getting on the ship tomorrow for the New Year's leg. Are the holiday decorations still up ? Just hoping there will still be some festive decorations. We are checking our cruise personalizer (and now today, just looking at the boarding pass since the personalizer is closed) all the time because we have not been assigned our room yet! I have never waited this long for the room to be assigned!:eek:

[Lovetocruiseprincess]

According to the Captain's Circle hostess, there isn't going to be a function for the most-traveled passengers on this cruise. She said they won't have one for the 4-day cruise either. The most-traveled passenger on the ship has 1,352 days. There are 55 Elite passengers.

Only 55 ! We might stand a chance of making the MTP party after all (if they have one)....Can you post the number of days the 2nd & 3rd most traveled passenger had after the Capt repeater party?

Thanks.

[Barbie075]

Will be boarding on January 3rd. Two quick questions: Where do they hold the platinum/elite/suite cocktail parties? Have not been to a Chef's Table for a couple of years -- what is the current price per person??

 

Good updates, keep them coming.

[geoherb]

Only 55 ! We might stand a chance of making the MTP party after all (if they have one)....Can you post the number of days the 2nd & 3rd most traveled passenger had after the Capt repeater party?

Thanks.

The Captain's Circle hostess said there wouldn't be an event for the most-travelled passengers. We got vouchers for a free drink instead. They do that on the 3- and 4-day cruises. I don't know what they did for the top three. Perhaps they gave them a free dinner at one of the specialty restaurants. In the Patter, it listed the top couple having 1,362 days. Either she told me wrong, I heard her wrong, or the Patter is wrong. But I guess the 1,352 I reported earlier is pretty close.

[geoherb]

Will be boarding on January 3rd. Two quick questions: Where do they hold the platinum/elite/suite cocktail parties? Have not been to a Chef's Table for a couple of years -- what is the current price per person??

 

Good updates, keep them coming.

It is in Skywalker's from 5 until 7. I'm looking forward to mojitos tonight. The Chef's Table is $95 with wine and $80 if you don't drink.

[geoherb]

We ate breakfast and lunch in the dining room. In between, we participated in the morning trivia. The winning team had 18 out of 20. Once again, we were third place, this time with 14. We could have had 16 points if we had gone with some of the answers thought of by our team members. I need to learn a mnemonic for the planets. A question about them stumped us.

 

Right now we are watching a small boat from our balcony. The captain stopped our ship and sent a small rescue boat to check it out. There was a team of three crew members. One boarded the small boat. Apparently there wasn’t anyone on the abandoned boat. The rescue boat is coming back to the ship and we’re starting to move again. Someone started a post about this.

 

I enjoyed a swim in the brisk water of the spa pool. DH thought it was too chilly. He enjoyed the lukewarm hot tub instead. I also enjoyed the sauna in the changing room. It felt good after the chilly water.

 

We went to the art auction with another couple we met last night in the Wheelhouse Bar. They were telling us funny stories about their dining experience at Sabatini’s. It turned out they saw our tablemates from dinner. Fortunately, they were not the funny part of what happened in Sabatini’s.

 

 

There is only one art auction on this cruise. They’ve gotten cheap. They instructed the waiters not to pass out the champagne to anyone who did not have a bid card. They have the usual collection of artists we’ve seen on previous cruises. Nothing caught my fancy. Out of our 17 cruises, we’ve only made one purchase at the art auction.

 

Now it’s time to get ready for the afternoon wine tasting.

 

We ran into the cruise director on the way to trivia. She said that comedian Phil Tag was on for just this cruise and the next one. Farrell Collins will be on through the end of January. She said the production shows will be different on our 4-day cruise. I’m looking forward to seeing Piano Man tonight. I hope the cast is good.

[Colo Cruiser]

[Dudleydog73]

Thank you for the info on Phil Tag. My In-Laws keep telling me about him and will be bummed that we missed him by a couple of weeks, but c'est la vie.

 

As for the planet mnemonic we always learned, My(Mercury) Very(Venus) Educated(Earth) Mother(Mars) Just(Jupiter) Served(Saturn) Us(Uranus) Nine(Neptune) Pizzas(pluto). Happy Trivia Time!

[geoherb]

Any photos of the gingerbread display? We sailed the CB in early December and no decorations were up except poinsettias began to appear.

 

The gingerbread display in the piazza is impressive. I haven't taken any photos of it yet. I guess I should do so tonight just in case they start taking any decorations down tomorrow. As I said before, there are lots of Christmas trees throughout the ship. The piazza is also decorated with lighted garland and poinsettias.

 

We have been going in circles today. It was great when we first went to the spa pool--in the shade. Eventually the captain turned the ship so that we were in the sun. That's when I went in to the sauna. The ship appears to be moving faster now. I haven't checked the TV to see if it's giving the speed and direction. A few minutes ago, as I was walking laps on the Promenade Deck, we were heading east again.

 

And another third place finish for us in trivia. The winning team had 21 out of 24 possible points--tied with another team. We had 19. We did not know the sexiest man alive as ordained by People magazine in 2008. We also missed the color of yak's milk, one of the things for gremlins to avoid, and one of the country's with the most saints, and the name of the stick used in shuffleboard. One of the men who joined us for trivia is staying on for 26 days. I'm jealous.

 

The wine tasting was nice since we had a fun table of people. We have two more glasses for our collection.

[scubacruiserx2]

Thanks for this thread and your updates . And enjoy your cruise ! :) :D

[JustinPlusLauren]

I love the spa pool, too. And I'd love to see that gingerbread display, it sounds awesome!

[geoherb]

Piano Man was enjoyable. The cast is very good. I also got to see the Push Duo, a strength act, before dinner after waiting in line to check on our in-transit package. Passenger services said to wait—that the packages were being delivered. We got ours after dinner. Originally, we were waitlisted for traditional second seating dining. When we got our new cruise cards, we found out that we were reassigned to our same table. I’m going to give up the fixed seating. The Crown Grill and Sabatini’s allowed me to make reservations for tomorrow night and Wednesday night. I’d feel funny showing up at our table halfway through the cruise. If our wait team were better, I might consider canceling our reservations. But I think the meals in the specialty restaurants will be much better. We have a lot of OBCs to cover the cost.

 

We are supposed to have our bags packed and safe emptied by 9 in the morning. We can leave our hanging clothes in the closet. They will move our things to our new cabin for us. We have an hour and 45 minutes to kill before we are supposed to meet if we decide to go with the group of in-transit passengers. We might decide to go to Fort Lauderdale earlier.

 

Overall, we’ve had a great three days on the Caribbean Princess. It’s too short a cruise for us to ever consider without doing it as part of a back to back. Some things were different. For instance, they did not have the baked Alaska parade tonight at dinner, there was not a cooking demo and galley tour, and there wasn’t a back stage tour either.

 

I got back my laundry this evening. I sent it out yesterday morning. I would not have bothered except I got something on my white shorts. I sent them, a couple of pairs of socks, two polo shirts, and a pair of dark brown pants. The charge is showing up on my onboard account currently. I’ll double check to make sure the credit appears on the statement tomorrow.

[Lovetocruiseprincess]

Are there a lot of people doing a B2B?

[geoherb]

The laundry credit appeared as it should have this morning. The cost for laundering the pair of shorts, two pairs of socks, two shirts, and a pair of pants would have been $17.75 if we were not getting the credit for being Elite. It makes me glad that I used the self-service laundry on the cruises we did when we were still Platinum. Most of the time, I did not bother. The only times I did were on our last cruise to Alaska after our five nights on the land tour portion and on our 10- and 11-day cruises. Most of the time, though, we've taken week-long cruises and have been able to pack enough not to have to worry about doing laundry or having it done.

 

It's time to start packing our things so they can move them for us. I have not found out yet whether we'll be able to do the Crab Shack or the Ultimate Balcony Dinner on the upcoming 4-day cruise. I'm tickled that we got the New Year's Eve reservations for the Crown Grill. It will be interesting to see the change in passenger mix. I never saw any out of control behavior on this cruise, although some of our friends saw a couple of women who had been cut off. They were dining in Sabatini's and overheard one of the waiters telling them that they could not buy any more drinks that day.

[geoherb]

Are there a lot of people doing a B2B?

We have met a few. If we go to the group meeting for b2b passengers, I'll get a better idea of how many. There were several people we met who had done the Christmas cruise and tied it in to this one.

[geoherb]

Are there a lot of people doing a B2B?

146.

 

We are now waiting to join them for the immigration procedure. It is about an hour before we are supposed to meet. We decided to go with the group and will get off the ship after lunch to walk to Total Wine and Publix. It was better last year when we kept the same cabin on our b2b cruises on the Ruby. But we really lucked out with the Upgrade Fairy in these two cabin assignments. I'd rather have to endure this bit of waiting and keep the great cabins than have both cruises in the same cabin in the worst location we could have received.

[hllwdcruiser]

Thank you for bringing us along with you - I'm enjoying every post.

I've been looking at these short cruises and keep hoping Princess will send me a last minute deal now that we are back in Hollywood - no such luck yet! On our last 5 day we noticed the service in the MDR was somewhat lacking as compared to the 7 and 10 day cruises we had been on previously. Do you think this is the norm on the shorter cruises - especially with so few people showing up?

[geoherb]

I think service depends on your waiter and assistant. Our wait team wasn't great for the three nights, but the waiter we had on a previous cruise was at the tables near ours. He seemed to be doing a great job for his passengers. We had some excellent waiters at breakfast and lunch and some who were so-so. We're planning on asking for our favorite when we go back to lunch in the dining room today.

 

The in-transit process was fairly quick today. They originally scheduled us to meet at 10:45. They made an announcement at 10:15 that they were ready for us. We waited in the dining room about 10 minutes before they took us off the ship and downstairs. We had to wait in line for Immigration to look at our passports. That took about 10 minutes. Then they had us sit for another 10-15 minutes before letting us back on the ship. We were on by 11. All of our things were in our new cabin.

 

The Elite bathroom amenities included the conditioner and linen spray this time. I guess it depends on the luck of the draw with your cabin steward. I now know to ask for something if we don't receive it. But we had enough conditioner from our hotel stay for the 3-day cruise.

 

My Internet minutes from the first cruise are still working. I'm wondering what time they will cut off and I'll be forced to sign up for the new package. On our last back-to-back cruises, the people who changed cabins reported that their minutes did not carry over. Since we did not change cabins that time, our minutes did carry over. That was on the Ruby.

[geoherb]

Our new cabin seems small after the handicapped accessible one on the last cruise. But I'm loving the large balcony we have with this one. We're on the Caribe Deck just a few cabins below and back from where we were. I'm hoping we don't get mixed up and try to go to the old cabin. If one of us does, I'm betting it is DH instead of me.

 

I think the thing I'll miss the most about the first cabin is the size of the bathroom. It's back to the tiny shower. I have to remember to step up into the bathroom again. But there's no metal plate to worry about. It clanged when you stepped on it in the middle of the night. (At other times, too, but I did not worry about the noise then.) The nightstands are also smaller and have less drawer space. But I like that the desk is a normal height. The desk in the other cabin was designed to fit a wheelchair user.