Review Caribbean Princess 5 day 1/26-1/31

[cruise2relax]

Background: this was our 19th cruise with Princess. We always enjoy ourselves and have learned that each ship, crew, and passenger group present a different experience. This was no exception. We have sailed multiple times on the Caribbean Princess and despite many recent reports to the contrary, we found the ship to be in good shape especially given her age. There is the odd fray to carpet or stain here or there but that is to be expected. They even were replacing tiles in our bathroom during the cruise. Constant maintenance cannot be easy around the ever changing set of passengers. From our point of view they are doing a good job.

 

Ports: We have been to both Costa Maya and Cozumel before and find the first to be a boring made up point with little to do and the second to be a fun port with a lot of options. In Cozumel, we took the Mexican Cooking class excursion through the ship at Playa Mia. What a great time. It was well organized and well executed. The instructor, Luis, was very charming and funny, the food was delicious and it was a well priced tour. I would highly recommend this excursion (as have many before me, thank you Cruise Critic for the tips!).

 

Service: best to describe as spotty. The bar service was great at the Wheelhouse and awful at Crooners. Twice we waited over 10 minutes without anyone acknowledging us for service at Crooners. Our response was to move to Wheelhouse. All better. Odd in our experience but there appears to be a cut back across the board on bar servers throughout the ship, especially on deck. Not a huge issue just noticeable. Dining room service was fine, we are anytime diners. The ongoing line issues continue ever since they took one anytime dining room for early traditional dining (a huge mistake in my view). Service tended to be a bit rushed but always solid even with special requests.

 

Food: Some of the best, love the new 50th anniversary menu and the Normal Love desserts. One terrible meal at dinner, oh well, probably what I ordered (stay away from the mahi mahi). All good in my book. One note to Princess - for god sakes renovate the dining room breakfast menu, it has been the same since we started cruising in 2002. Everything else has been updated, its time, trust me.

 

We usually plan far in advance for our cruises but this one was such a deal and fell into our work schedules easily, we only booked it about 6 weeks ago and am glad we did. Everything was lovely. We were on a ten day on the Royal this past October and returning to the Caribbean Princess was interesting. We recognize that that Royal is controversial among passengers, although we thought it was magnificent, returning really brought home the concept of how Princess has evolved their ships. It was interesting and noticeable. We would sail the Royal class in a heartbeat, followed by the Gem class and then Grand class. Interestingly, despite having sailed her many times, the Caribbean is probably our least favorite ship as it is the bridge between Grand and Gem class (and not in a good way).

 

One new thing I had not read about before: The photo package. They claimed it was brand new on the ship and it may have been as it was news to me. It is $50 and you can get all your pictures from the cruise (some fine print suggested that it was one photo per event...embarkation, ports of call, dinner, formal etc) and it was slightly vague about whether or not you also got a thumb drive with digital pictures on it included, some said yes, some said no. We did not take advantage of the offer but thought it was a great deal for families and about time. I think it is a smart move.

 

On to the next cruise!

[Colo Cruiser]

Thanks for your review.

[Mom33]

Background: this was our 19th cruise with Princess. We always enjoy ourselves and have learned that each ship, crew, and passenger group present a different experience. This was no exception. We have sailed multiple times on the Caribbean Princess and despite many recent reports to the contrary, we found the ship to be in good shape especially given her age. There is the odd fray to carpet or stain here or there but that is to be expected. They even were replacing tiles in our bathroom during the cruise. Constant maintenance cannot be easy around the ever changing set of passengers. From our point of view they are doing a good job.

 

Ports: We have been to both Costa Maya and Cozumel before and find the first to be a boring made up point with little to do and the second to be a fun port with a lot of options. In Cozumel, we took the Mexican Cooking class excursion through the ship at Playa Mia. What a great time. It was well organized and well executed. The instructor, Luis, was very charming and funny, the food was delicious and it was a well priced tour. I would highly recommend this excursion (as have many before me, thank you Cruise Critic for the tips!).

 

Service: best to describe as spotty. The bar service was great at the Wheelhouse and awful at Crooners. Twice we waited over 10 minutes without anyone acknowledging us for service at Crooners. Our response was to move to Wheelhouse. All better. Odd in our experience but there appears to be a cut back across the board on bar servers throughout the ship, especially on deck. Not a huge issue just noticeable. Dining room service was fine, we are anytime diners. The ongoing line issues continue ever since they took one anytime dining room for early traditional dining (a huge mistake in my view). Service tended to be a bit rushed but always solid even with special requests.

 

Food: Some of the best, love the new 50th anniversary menu and the Normal Love desserts. One terrible meal at dinner, oh well, probably what I ordered (stay away from the mahi mahi). All good in my book. One note to Princess - for god sakes renovate the dining room breakfast menu, it has been the same since we started cruising in 2002. Everything else has been updated, its time, trust me.

 

We usually plan far in advance for our cruises but this one was such a deal and fell into our work schedules easily, we only booked it about 6 weeks ago and am glad we did. Everything was lovely. We were on a ten day on the Royal this past October and returning to the Caribbean Princess was interesting. We recognize that that Royal is controversial among passengers, although we thought it was magnificent, returning really brought home the concept of how Princess has evolved their ships. It was interesting and noticeable. We would sail the Royal class in a heartbeat, followed by the Gem class and then Grand class. Interestingly, despite having sailed her many times, the Caribbean is probably our least favorite ship as it is the bridge between Grand and Gem class (and not in a good way).

 

One new thing I had not read about before: The photo package. They claimed it was brand new on the ship and it may have been as it was news to me. It is $50 and you can get all your pictures from the cruise (some fine print suggested that it was one photo per event...embarkation, ports of call, dinner, formal etc) and it was slightly vague about whether or not you also got a thumb drive with digital pictures on it included, some said yes, some said no. We did not take advantage of the offer but thought it was a great deal for families and about time. I think it is a smart move.

 

On to the next cruise!

 

Thank you for your review! :) I found your thoughts about returning to another class of Princess ship after being on the Royal to be interesting. We also were enticed by great sale prices and booked the Caribbean Princess 2 weeks ago.We too usually plan way ahead, but this year we kept our cruises short for family matters and have enjoyed booking cruises on a whim. :D

I look forward to returning to the Caribbean Princess and wonder how it will compare to being on the Royal and the Regal. Thanks for your perspective.

[caribill]

Dining room service was fine, we are anytime diners. The ongoing line issues continue ever since they took one anytime dining room for early traditional dining (a huge mistake in my view).

 

If they did not set up that second early traditional dining time, then all of those passengers who wanted early traditional but could not get it would be lined up to eat when the dining room opens.

 

Net effect is zero.

[kimlovesfl]

We just got off this cruise as well, our first with Princess, really enjoyed it, already thinking about the next cruise(s).

[Pam in CA]

I found your thoughts about returning to another class of Princess ship after being on the Royal to be interesting.

I, too, found that I missed some of the features I loved on the Royal while on the Crown last week. It was hard to go "back."

[sunsetbeachgal]

Thanks for the review...we have done 18 Princess cruises but have not sailed on the Caribbean Princess.

 

We are Royal class lovers too. We had such a great cruise on the Royal in July, 2013, and after two HAL cruises and a RC cruise in between (chosen for itinerary and by family) we cruised on the Regal three weeks ago. We couldn't wait to see if the cruise on the Royal was great because the fantastic family members we were traveling with, the wonderful ports visited in the Med., or whether the ship really was as wondeful as we remembered. Well, we have decided that we both just love the Royal class ships and its many features. Not for Everyone, but definitely for us! ;)

Edited February 1, 2015 by sunsetbeachgal

[whatcruiseisnext]

Background: this was our 19th cruise with Princess. We always enjoy ourselves and have learned that each ship, crew, and passenger group present a different experience. This was no exception. We have sailed multiple times on the Caribbean Princess and despite many recent reports to the contrary, we found the ship to be in good shape especially given her age. There is the odd fray to carpet or stain here or there but that is to be expected. They even were replacing tiles in our bathroom during the cruise. Constant maintenance cannot be easy around the ever changing set of passengers. From our point of view they are doing a good job.

 

Ports: We have been to both Costa Maya and Cozumel before and find the first to be a boring made up point with little to do and the second to be a fun port with a lot of options. In Cozumel, we took the Mexican Cooking class excursion through the ship at Playa Mia. What a great time. It was well organized and well executed. The instructor, Luis, was very charming and funny, the food was delicious and it was a well priced tour. I would highly recommend this excursion (as have many before me, thank you Cruise Critic for the tips!).

 

Service: best to describe as spotty. The bar service was great at the Wheelhouse and awful at Crooners. Twice we waited over 10 minutes without anyone acknowledging us for service at Crooners. Our response was to move to Wheelhouse. All better. Odd in our experience but there appears to be a cut back across the board on bar servers throughout the ship, especially on deck. Not a huge issue just noticeable. Dining room service was fine, we are anytime diners. The ongoing line issues continue ever since they took one anytime dining room for early traditional dining (a huge mistake in my view). Service tended to be a bit rushed but always solid even with special requests.

 

Food: Some of the best, love the new 50th anniversary menu and the Normal Love desserts. One terrible meal at dinner, oh well, probably what I ordered (stay away from the mahi mahi). All good in my book. One note to Princess - for god sakes renovate the dining room breakfast menu, it has been the same since we started cruising in 2002. Everything else has been updated, its time, trust me.

 

We usually plan far in advance for our cruises but this one was such a deal and fell into our work schedules easily, we only booked it about 6 weeks ago and am glad we did. Everything was lovely. We were on a ten day on the Royal this past October and returning to the Caribbean Princess was interesting. We recognize that that Royal is controversial among passengers, although we thought it was magnificent, returning really brought home the concept of how Princess has evolved their ships. It was interesting and noticeable. We would sail the Royal class in a heartbeat, followed by the Gem class and then Grand class. Interestingly, despite having sailed her many times, the Caribbean is probably our least favorite ship as it is the bridge between Grand and Gem class (and not in a good way).

 

One new thing I had not read about before: The photo package. They claimed it was brand new on the ship and it may have been as it was news to me. It is $50 and you can get all your pictures from the cruise (some fine print suggested that it was one photo per event...embarkation, ports of call, dinner, formal etc) and it was slightly vague about whether or not you also got a thumb drive with digital pictures on it included, some said yes, some said no. We did not take advantage of the offer but thought it was a great deal for families and about time. I think it is a smart move.

 

On to the next cruise!

 

Thanks for your comments. We have sailed the Royal twice and just got off BtoB's on the Regal 1 week ago. Our next cruise is on the Caribbean in March and we are questioning some of the same things since we LOVED the Regal/Royal.

 

Question for you.....Does the Caribbean have the movies on demand on the cabin TV's? Hubby really enjoyed watching those late at night on the Royal/Regal.

[schlot]

Background: this was our 19th cruise with Princess. We always enjoy ourselves and have learned that each ship, crew, and passenger group present a different experience. This was no exception. We have sailed multiple times on the Caribbean Princess and despite many recent reports to the contrary, we found the ship to be in good shape especially given her age. There is the odd fray to carpet or stain here or there but that is to be expected. They even were replacing tiles in our bathroom during the cruise. Constant maintenance cannot be easy around the ever changing set of passengers. From our point of view they are doing a good job.

 

Ports: We have been to both Costa Maya and Cozumel before and find the first to be a boring made up point with little to do and the second to be a fun port with a lot of options. In Cozumel, we took the Mexican Cooking class excursion through the ship at Playa Mia. What a great time. It was well organized and well executed. The instructor, Luis, was very charming and funny, the food was delicious and it was a well priced tour. I would highly recommend this excursion (as have many before me, thank you Cruise Critic for the tips!).

 

Service: best to describe as spotty. The bar service was great at the Wheelhouse and awful at Crooners. Twice we waited over 10 minutes without anyone acknowledging us for service at Crooners. Our response was to move to Wheelhouse. All better. Odd in our experience but there appears to be a cut back across the board on bar servers throughout the ship, especially on deck. Not a huge issue just noticeable. Dining room service was fine, we are anytime diners. The ongoing line issues continue ever since they took one anytime dining room for early traditional dining (a huge mistake in my view). Service tended to be a bit rushed but always solid even with special requests.

 

Food: Some of the best, love the new 50th anniversary menu and the Normal Love desserts. One terrible meal at dinner, oh well, probably what I ordered (stay away from the mahi mahi). All good in my book. One note to Princess - for god sakes renovate the dining room breakfast menu, it has been the same since we started cruising in 2002. Everything else has been updated, its time, trust me.

 

We usually plan far in advance for our cruises but this one was such a deal and fell into our work schedules easily, we only booked it about 6 weeks ago and am glad we did. Everything was lovely. We were on a ten day on the Royal this past October and returning to the Caribbean Princess was interesting. We recognize that that Royal is controversial among passengers, although we thought it was magnificent, returning really brought home the concept of how Princess has evolved their ships. It was interesting and noticeable. We would sail the Royal class in a heartbeat, followed by the Gem class and then Grand class. Interestingly, despite having sailed her many times, the Caribbean is probably our least favorite ship as it is the bridge between Grand and Gem class (and not in a good way).

 

One new thing I had not read about before: The photo package. They claimed it was brand new on the ship and it may have been as it was news to me. It is $50 and you can get all your pictures from the cruise (some fine print suggested that it was one photo per event...embarkation, ports of call, dinner, formal etc) and it was slightly vague about whether or not you also got a thumb drive with digital pictures on it included, some said yes, some said no. We did not take advantage of the offer but thought it was a great deal for families and about time. I think it is a smart move.

 

On to the next cruise!

 

 

 

Some very good points.

 

I was on the same cruise and would like to add my two cents worth.

 

We are in no way seasoned cruisers with one cruise on the Ruby and another on a HAL ship. I will try to answer some questions that I and others have asked as less experienced cruisers.

 

1) The average age on the typical cruiser on this trip was much older than our trip on the Ruby in late December of 2012. No big surprise really. This cruise in fact reminded me of the HAL cruise I was on.

The ship is kept in absolutely great shape. No it's not the youngest ship on the block, but to use an anology, so neither is Christie Brinkley, but both are very nice to look at! My habit on the ship included getting up at very early hours. Usually I was walking the deck around 3:30 am. The crew was constantly working, cleaning, painting to keep this ship looking very good.

 

It needs a good freshening up in certain areas, but it is not for the lack of maintenance, and it certainly didn't detract from the fun we had.

 

 

2) The crew was overall very good, friendly and attentive. Our cabin steward, Wilford was great! I did notice that when dining in the Horizon Court or Cafe Caribe that getting water/juice served took longer than I remembered on the Ruby. Nothing bad mind you, just a little less than I was hoping to find.

 

 

3) We had the "anytime dining" option and went to the main dining room (Island Dining room which was meant specifically for anytime diners) twice. The food was great, staff was great and very accommodating.

 

We ate around 5:30 to 6:15. We asked for a table for two (we were on our honeymoon afterall :) ) each night. We had a wait of less than 5 minutes each time.

 

I would definitely sign up for anytime dining again.

 

 

 

4) Costa Maya was my least favorite port also. I do not like the "canned native" port that the cruise companies have created here. I felt as if the cruise companies (it's not just Princess who is responsible) were trying way too hard to contain within their little village of shops.

 

It reminds me of Turks and Caicos. Another place with a whole shopping village made up of purely cruise company sponsored shops that I could care less to visit again.

 

We took the Native Tours tour of the Maya (not Mayan...as Mayan is the language the the Mayas speak) Ruins in Chaccoben. It was a great tour given by some great local Maya tour guides.

 

Ivan was our tour guide who took as much time as we needed to answer our questions, to break from the standard tour, even stop for pineapple at a local village when we as a group said we would like too. A great tour indeed and locally owned.

 

 

5) Embarking and disembarking was incredibly good this time. We arrived at the port around 12:30. Not sure if we just got lucky, but we went directly into the building, with no lining up outside of the building as we had on the Ruby. The lines were well managed and it took little time whatsoever.

 

We tried something different and disembarked by carrying off our on luggage. This allowed us to leave the ship earlier and get to the airport that much sooner. I know this isn't for everyone but you might consider it because the lines were much more manageable and getting a taxi much less challenging.

 

 

6) I do have a very large complaint about the our trip which I haven't touched on yet, but it has nothing to do with Princess at all. It was with some of the other guests, and mainly revolved around when we ate.

 

I found people who should know better acting incredibly inconsiderate and childish. I heard minor complaints blown way out of proportion and acting as if they had some special right to be rude to other cruisers and the help.

 

I hope this gives a little insight for others.

Edited February 1, 2015 by schlot

[kimlovesfl]

Some very good points.

 

 

We took the Native Tours tour of the Maya (not Mayan...as Mayan is the language the the Mayas speak) Ruins in Chaccoben. It was a great tour given by some great local Maya tour guides.

 

Ivan was our tour guide who took as much time as we needed to answer our questions, to break from the standard tour, even stop for pineapple at a local village when we as a group said we would like too. A great tour indeed and locally owned.

 

 

 

We were on the same tour! Ivan was great, and I absolutely loved this tour, but Costa Maya? My husband said it would be like stopping at a turnpike rest stop, except the turnpike has more to offer.

[schlot]

We were on the same tour! Ivan was great, and I absolutely loved this tour, but Costa Maya? My husband said it would be like stopping at a turnpike rest stop, except the turnpike has more to offer.

 

Oh that's hilarious...orange band group also? I know Hobbsey was on the bus with us also.

[kimlovesfl]

Yep, I was sitting up front with my husband, right behind the driver.

[schlot]

Yep, I was sitting up front with my husband, right behind the driver.

 

:) I really appreciated how up front Ivan was. Clearly telling us how to haggle on the prices with the vendors. The little extra things he added made it a lot more fun, I thought.

Edited February 1, 2015 by schlot

[cruise2relax]

Unfortunately the Caribbean Princess does not have the on-demand TV that the Royal class ships Have. One of the things we missed as well.

 

I would also agree with the other poster that this was a considerable older crowd that any of our past cruises. That made no difference to us.

 

I will state I too noticed a rather large and loud number of passengers who clearly felt significantly entitled and blew many simple things out of proportion. Still amazing to me when I witness such childish behavior from adults who should not better. Sadly, it comes from all ages and all walks of life and that element will always exist. I simply laugh it off or walk away. No one is going to mess up my vacation time!

[seamanfs]

Thanks for the great review. We board on Feb 7th and this will be our first time on that ship. Probably will do the Royal for 20 days next year as we like the itinerary of the 2 ten day routes.

[Hoosier-Cruiser]

Thnaks for the review! We were on the CB back in June and will be on her again on March 30. I'll have to look into the photo package deal. Sounds better than paying $20 per 8x10.

[eskiemom]

Thanks for your review. I personally love the Caribbean and will have on that ship again in a few weeks.

 

Sorry about Crooners. That is a bummer. Usually they are on top of you there with service.

[RetiredNTraveling]

Thnaks for the review! We were on the CB back in June and will be on her again on March 30. I'll have to look into the photo package deal. Sounds better than paying $20 per 8x10.

 

We are booked on the Star in April to Hawaii. Does anyone know if this photo package is available on the Star?

Just Mike

[Susie51]

Thank you for sharing. I enjoy Cozumel, also. We had a fantastic time at Playa Mia last year.

[Star24K]

Thanks for your review.

[Paula_MacFan]

This thread is a year old -- it was posted January 2015.

[KirkNC]

Thanks for the report.

[crochetcruise]

Background: this was our 19th cruise with Princess. We always enjoy ourselves and have learned that each ship, crew, and passenger group present a different experience. This was no exception. We have sailed multiple times on the Caribbean Princess and despite many recent reports to the contrary, we found the ship to be in good shape especially given her age. There is the odd fray to carpet or stain here or there but that is to be expected. They even were replacing tiles in our bathroom during the cruise. Constant maintenance cannot be easy around the ever changing set of passengers. From our point of view they are doing a good job.

 

Ports: We have been to both Costa Maya and Cozumel before and find the first to be a boring made up point with little to do and the second to be a fun port with a lot of options. In Cozumel, we took the Mexican Cooking class excursion through the ship at Playa Mia. What a great time. It was well organized and well executed. The instructor, Luis, was very charming and funny, the food was delicious and it was a well priced tour. I would highly recommend this excursion (as have many before me, thank you Cruise Critic for the tips!).

 

Service: best to describe as spotty. The bar service was great at the Wheelhouse and awful at Crooners. Twice we waited over 10 minutes without anyone acknowledging us for service at Crooners. Our response was to move to Wheelhouse. All better. Odd in our experience but there appears to be a cut back across the board on bar servers throughout the ship, especially on deck. Not a huge issue just noticeable. Dining room service was fine, we are anytime diners. The ongoing line issues continue ever since they took one anytime dining room for early traditional dining (a huge mistake in my view). Service tended to be a bit rushed but always solid even with special requests.

 

Food: Some of the best, love the new 50th anniversary menu and the Normal Love desserts. One terrible meal at dinner, oh well, probably what I ordered (stay away from the mahi mahi). All good in my book. One note to Princess - for god sakes renovate the dining room breakfast menu, it has been the same since we started cruising in 2002. Everything else has been updated, its time, trust me.

 

We usually plan far in advance for our cruises but this one was such a deal and fell into our work schedules easily, we only booked it about 6 weeks ago and am glad we did. Everything was lovely. We were on a ten day on the Royal this past October and returning to the Caribbean Princess was interesting. We recognize that that Royal is controversial among passengers, although we thought it was magnificent, returning really brought home the concept of how Princess has evolved their ships. It was interesting and noticeable. We would sail the Royal class in a heartbeat, followed by the Gem class and then Grand class. Interestingly, despite having sailed her many times, the Caribbean is probably our least favorite ship as it is the bridge between Grand and Gem class (and not in a good way).

 

One new thing I had not read about before: The photo package. They claimed it was brand new on the ship and it may have been as it was news to me. It is $50 and you can get all your pictures from the cruise (some fine print suggested that it was one photo per event...embarkation, ports of call, dinner, formal etc) and it was slightly vague about whether or not you also got a thumb drive with digital pictures on it included, some said yes, some said no. We did not take advantage of the offer but thought it was a great deal for families and about time. I think it is a smart move.

 

On to the next cruise!

 

THANK YOU! Especially for the information about the Photo Package and the pricing. I am sailing on the Golden in November, and was looking at it as a memento of my 1st cruise.

[Keith1010]

Thank you for our review.

 

Keith

[Paula_MacFan]

Again.....this thread is a YEAR OLD. It was posted in January 2015.