Princess Cays...why?

[Lovetocruiseprincess]

I don't much care where they stop as long as it's not with a Carnival ship with a thousand screaming kids at the beach. I've done it once and that's enough for me.

[jagsfan]

Never been to the Disney island, but you make a very good point.

 

 

It's amazing!! Disney's expensive, but still great value for the money. Their island is way beyond any of the others, with or without kids. The kids camp goes on on the island, so just like on the ship, you don't have pint sized marauders running around.

[thinfool]

Originally Posted by wnt2loveuforever View Post

Princess Cays is more of a private beach considering you can walk up to the main part of Eleuthera

 

Governors Harbor appears to be close to 50 miles from Princess Cay....pretty good walk to get there and back before the ship sails.

 

Wiki says Eleuthera is 110 miles long.

[Steven_&_Daniel]

If you haven't taken the Eluthera Tour excursion, you really should. You can learn about the 'real' island and its residents. It'll give you a greater appreciation for the place. Once you've done that, if you return, you can kick back in the Princess compound or go out and explore on your own.

[Lovetocruiseprincess]

Tours on Eluthera are totally boring- not worth half what they charge. Your better off staying at Princess Cays for the day & relax.

[metairiegal]

It's amazing!! Disney's expensive, but still great value for the money. Their island is way beyond any of the others, with or without kids. The kids camp goes on on the island, so just like on the ship, you don't have pint sized marauders running around.

 

And, if you want, there is a tram that takes you to a totally separate adult beach with its own buffet area.

[lx200gps]

What's the distance and have you done it before?

 

I'm not sure the person who said "...you can walk up to the main part of Eleuthera" has even been there. Eleuthera is a very skinny island 150 km long, and the Princess Key compound is at the extreme southern end of the island. There is virtually nothing remotely resembling the "main part" within any one's walking distance. Google Maps shows the nearest collections of buildings resembling a town to be around 20km north. The nearest named settlement is Bannerman Town a few kms north of PC, but there's not much there to see or do. Taxis would definitely be required to get to anywhere "main".

[lake5298]

Having gone on Princess several times, I'd like to say that I think Princess Cays is lovely.

[kendon]

I like Princess Cays myself. It's just a relaxing day of just beach and so-so food...and NO jewelry stores! Beats the beach by my home. No complaints here.

[AKman2495]

If you haven't taken the Eluthera Tour excursion, you really should. You can learn about the 'real' island and its residents. It'll give you a greater appreciation for the place. Once you've done that, if you return, you can kick back in the Princess compound or go out and explore on your own.

 

 

If you return????:eek:

[OCruisers]

If you return????:eek:

 

Double EEK :eek::eek:

 

Does bring up a serious question: Wonder if anyone has gone on a tour to Eluthera and not returned. Is it a safe thing to do? :confused:

 

LuLu

[golfb4cruzing]

We enjoy PC for what it is. Private, beach, sand, water and lunch. It's a decompress day for us.

[Wehwalt]

Private islands are very profitable. In Princess's case you can leave but there's not much to do within reach that involves spending money (leaving aside the Princess-run tours and the straw market outside the gates.) They have a captive audience in a way they do not have at, say, Nassau. You drink, you are paying Princess for it. Probably Princess gets a piece of anything a passenger is able to do. I'm not sure what the port fee is, but it's probably minimal compared to Nassau.

Edited March 14, 2015 by Wehwalt

[OCruisers]

If you have the All Inclusive Beverage Sticker, it's good at Princess Cays. :)

(Note: The "Coke" sticker is not.)

LuLu

[kendon]

We enjoy PC for what it is. Private, beach, sand, water and lunch. It's a decompress day for us.

 

Yes, in a nutshell.

[Elkhorn20fan]

We have always loved Princess Cays. Great beach day!!!!! Really good snorkeling, but the water is a bit cool in January, but did not stop me.

Try walking down the beach away from people, great tidal pools with fish.

[PescadoAmarillo]

We like Princess Cays. We like Half Moon Cay more, because it has a natural beach that is [U]much[/U] better, but I think the land portion of Princess Cays is prettier than Half Moon Cay. It is a 'no-brainer', no pressure kind of day that is a perfect way to start or end a cruise.

Princess Cays is the highest bar revenue day of any cruise. Add to that the excursions (limited as they are, Princess themselves is operating most of them, including bungalow and cabana rentals) and shopping and it's easy to see why a ship missing Princess Cays has a huge impact on the profitability of a Caribbean cruise and is not a decision made lightly.

[richstowe]

[quote name='Wehwalt']Private islands are very profitable. In Princess's case you can leave but there's not much to do within reach that involves spending money (leaving aside the Princess-run tours and the straw market outside the gates.) They have a captive audience in a way they do not have at, say, Nassau. You drink, you are paying Princess for it. Probably Princess gets a piece of anything a passenger is able to do. I'm not sure what the port fee is, but it's probably minimal compared to Nassau.[/QUOTE]We just did our first private island at Princess Cays . We had a good time and after a brutal
winter, needed a serious beach day. We spent [B][SIZE="3"]0[/SIZE][/B] $'s the entire day, unlike the other ports.
I'm sure the ships make good money but given the limited ship excursions here, I
don't think its such a goldmine . We brought some of the vodka we bought from Princess
in a thermos. This is something that can be done on a private port but less so at a regular port stop.

Only issue for us was the pain of tendering but that's also an issue with HMB . Edited March 15, 2015 by richstowe

[Steven_&_Daniel]

[quote name='OCruisers'][FONT="Comic Sans MS"][SIZE="3"]Double EEK :eek::eek:

Does bring up a serious question: Wonder if anyone has gone on a tour to Eluthera and not returned. Is it a safe thing to do? :confused:

LuLu [/SIZE][/FONT][/QUOTE]

Guess I should have worded that differently, LOL. I meant if/when you return to Princess Cays on future cruises, you'll have a greater appreciation for the place.

[Colo Cruiser]

PC is very nice, we love it. Leave it alone.

I agree I don't see PC as very profitable either.

[Cruisecrazy25]

While I think Princess Cay gets the job done and is nice, hands down Disney has the BEST private island!! There isn't a private island that can beat Castaway Cay!!!

[caribill]

[quote name='PescadoAmarillo']We like Princess Cays. We like Half Moon Cay more.[/quote]

[quote name='alreadypacked']Having been to both, I feel that Half Moon Cay is far superior to Princess Cay.[/quote]

Princess Cays has a number of places where the lounges can be in full or partial shade from trees.

Does HMC also have shady spots for lounges?

[Iamcruzin]

I hate PC only because it's a tender port. It's just not worth the aggravation for a lousy BBQ and an over crowded beach. It's a sea day for me.

[AKman2495]

[quote name='OCruisers'][FONT="Comic Sans MS"][SIZE="3"]Double EEK :eek::eek:

Does bring up a serious question: Wonder if anyone has gone on a tour to Eluthera and not returned. Is it a safe thing to do? :confused:

LuLu [/SIZE][/FONT][/QUOTE]

We were on a B2B with 2 stops at P.C. The first week we did take a tour. We actually got about 40 miles from the beach. They have a couple of nice coves and a few natural attractions. The rest is a bunch of old buildings, a bar when we got some lunch and some old relic resorts from the 50-60's.

It was pretty tame....

[AKman2495]

[quote name='Iamcruzin']I hate PC only because it's a tender port. It's just not worth the aggravation for a lousy BBQ and an over crowded beach. It's a sea day for me.[/QUOTE]

I can respect that...as for me a tender ride is no big deal...and growing up on Long Island in new York, I have seen crowded beach days...You could empty the ship and it would not be crowded compared to Jones Beach on a sunny summer day.;)