Caribbean Princess-4/11/15-4/18-15: "The Last Cruise I'd Ever Take!"

[JimmyVWine]

Just in case this is not all due to your great sense of humor, please realize that the Crown Grill was not named after the British monarchy.

 

The first Princess ship with this steak restaurant was the Crown Princess, so the steakhouse was called the Crown Grill.

 

The name has been kept for all the subsequent implementations of this restaurants on other Princess ships.

So wouldn't that make the restaurant "Named after the British monarchy once removed"? After all, how did Crown Princess get its name? [emoji6]

[Matcodixon]

Hi Jimmy V,

Great review and excellent Photos. I been away from the board for some time, but I can see that you certainly have not lost your touch, in fact your reviews are better than ever.

Last year was consumed by our only daughter's wedding and since and her new husband and his large family live on the other coast (Long Island), our travel did not include any cruise.

As another bonus, I spotted some reviews from Norris as I was reading this one and he is another excellent (and extremely prolific) reviewer that brought back some great memories.

Enough of that stuff, Again Thanks for an excellent and entertaining review. (so far)

Dixon

[Bimmer09]

Hi Jimmy V,

Great review and excellent Photos.

As another bonus, I spotted some reviews from Norris as I was reading this one and he is another excellent (and extremely prolific) reviewer that brought back some great memories.

Enough of that stuff, Again Thanks for an excellent and entertaining review. (so far)

Dixon

 

Dixon- thanks for the kind words and for giving me an opportunity to hijack Jimmy's thread...if you read my Ocean Princess review you'll see that I gave a shout-out to Matcodixon for your review on Venice which showed Ristorante da Raffaele in which we had our first meal in Venice thanks to you . Great memories indeed.

 

As you can see Jimmy (end of hijack) I am following along and savoring your review and your humor!

 

Norris

[JimmyVWine]

Day Seven, April 17, 2015 (Nassau)

 

Way back at the beginning of this Journal/Review, I started out by saying that this was the “last cruise I would ever want to take.” One of the reasons was because it used up one of its ports of call in Nassau. I’ve been there. Twice. To me, it is like the Bronx, only hotter. And it’s not just me. Consider this lyric by the Beach Boys:

 

We come on the Sloop John B

My grandfather and me

Around Nassau town we did roam

Drinking all night

Got into a fight

Well I feel so broke up

I want to go home

………

 

Let me go home

Why don't they let me go home

This is the worst trip I've ever been on

 

 

The last time I was there, I vowed that it would be the last time I was there. But I bit the bullet and decided to give it a go, but would do my best to maximize our enjoyment by minimizing our exposure to the things that I like least about the port. Specifically, that meant spending as much time in the water and as little time as possible “Around Nassau town we did roam”. (I know that makes no sense grammatically, but I think you get the point.) There are vendors in just about every port hawking wares and trying to make sales. But in Nassau, it just seems more intrusive, obnoxious and seedy. So to the extent that we could avoid that, we would try. As part of my pre-cruise research, I looked to see if there were any private tours or excursions that might be of interest. If at all possible, I wanted to head out to a nearby reef to do some snorkeling. For as much as I might denigrate Nassau, the beauty of its surrounding waters and reefs is undeniable. I didn’t find anything that really sparked my interest, and then I remembered that I still had some On Board Credit to use up. So I checked the Princess website and found a “Snorkeling & Scenic Harbor Cruise” trip that fit the bill. The price was right, at only $39 per person. As much as I like to save money by booking with private companies, there didn’t seem to be too much room here for savings. So that is what we booked, and that is what we did.

 

We weren’t scheduled to arrive in Nassau until noon. That left the morning free, and we used it by doing some more packing and having a late breakfast/early lunch. I would say “brunch”, but that term often implies a certain style of food like Eggs Benedict and Mimosas. But up at the Horizon Court, around 11:00 or so, you can have either breakfast, or lunch. The steam trays are display cases are loaded for both. So if you want a full-on breakfast, you can have that. If you want a full-on lunch, you can have that too. And I suppose, if you want some of each, you can make your own “brunch”. We sat ourselves at a window-side table on the Lido Deck just outside of the doors that lead into the Horizon Court, next to the Calypso Bar. Service out toward the pool area is not as attentive as if you stay inside the HC itself, but that wasn’t really much of an issue for us. I stuck with mostly breakfast offerings mainly for the psychological reason that I didn’t want to preclude myself from having more “lunch items” later in the day if I so chose. If I ate lunch now, I would never be able to live with myself if I ate a second lunch later, right? The food was fine, and it served its purpose of fueling up before we headed out to burn off some calories snorkeling on the reef. We made our final approach into the harbor, and while out on our balcony, I captured these shots before locking my camera away for the day. It was not coming off the ship with me.

 

 

 

 

 

Our neighbor for the day would, again, be the Getaway.

 

 

 

Docked and tied up just before noon, we were supposed to meet our excursion tour operator at 12:30 outside of the ship on the pier. We headed down on time, found the person who was guiding folks to their respective meeting areas, and made our way under the tent that served as the holding tank for the humans who would soon pretend to be fish. Waivers and Liability Releases signed, we were on our way…on foot…for almost a mile. The catamaran that would transport us through the harbor and out to the reef was tied up just outside of Señor Frog’s along Woodes Rogers Walk. The excursion description reads in part like this: “It all begins at the pier where the friendly staff and crew escort you aboard a spacious, state-of-the-art, motorized catamaran.” This doesn’t really tell the tale of the sweaty mile-long death march, single file through a tangle of diesel fume spewing buses and taxis, or of the fragrant remnants of the horse and carriage buggies that share the sidewalk that we would be using. Not to mention the vendors hawking water and beer out of their Igloo Coolers. My daughter called the walk: “The Trail of Beers”. If that was the “Scenic Harbor Tour” portion of the excursion, it lived up to every memory of Nassau that I had tried so hard to repress lo these many years.

 

However, once we were aboard the catamaran, things improved considerably. The trip takes you out of the harbor, running parallel to Paradise Island and Athol Island, anchoring just off of Rose Island. The scenery is quite nice, and there are some impressive homes that you pass along the way. The snorkeling was very good. It is open water snorkeling, so that means entering the water from the side of the boat, and no swimming over to Rose Island for a rest. The tour operators are somewhat strict in limiting the area in which you are allowed to explore, but given the number of people on board, (over a hundred I am guessing), and the extreme disparity in snorkeling experience, it is better for them to herd the sheep fairly conservatively. Still, my family was able to snorkel the entirety of the permitted area, pushing the boundaries every now and then until we extracted a warning whistle from the guides. The water was warm and clear, and the reef was alive and fairly vibrant. I’ve taken many similar trips like this from Hawaii to Mexico to the Florida Keys, and I can fairly say that this was definitely worth the $39 that we paid for it. I have paid more and received less elsewhere. Once we got back on the boat and were on our way back to the dock, the tour operators broke out the large orange jugs of juice—one with fruit punch and one with rum punch. The hundred or so people on board drained both jugs while listening to island music played through a speaker. Our time on board the boat as well as in the water was quite enjoyable, and accomplished exactly what I had hoped for. Which is to say, it allowed us to experience the best of Nassau, which lies in its waters and not on its streets.

 

We got off the boat and were now on our own to return back to the ship at our leisure. There would be no organized single file march back to the pier. Wanting to pick up the obligatory Christmas ornament commemorating our travels, we popped our heads into a few of the souvenir stores that line the waterfront, including the Straw Market. Pretty soon, I started to get back the feeling of seediness that I had tried so hard to repel. So we made quick work of the shopping and walked back to the ship, returning around 4:00, ready for our daily espresso and eager to shower off the salt water from our bodies. We also needed to finish packing the bags that we would have to leave outside our cabin door at dinner time. We also spent a bit of time out on our balcony watching and listening to the “sailaway party” that was taking place down on the pier courtesy of NCL. They had a live band, an emcee, and many of the crew members from the galley and steward areas were down on the pier dancing and helping the returning passengers have a good time as they re-boarded their ship. It was all a lot of fun. We also enjoyed one of our other favorite pastimes, which is to watch for the last (or late) returning passengers make a mad dash for the soon-to-depart ship wishing as they ran that they had taken a pass on that last Margarita at Señor Frog’s. In the past (in Cozumel), we have seen people miss their ship, but everyone seemed to get back on board this time, though one group had to arrive by golf cart driven all that way to the gangway, just as it was about to be retracted. Soon it was time to dress for our final dinner, which, as is our tradition, takes place at Sabatini’s.

 

(To be continued…)

Edited May 8, 2015 by JimmyVWine

[Pia1913]

I need to comment:

 

1. Hate Nassau as much as you do.

2. Too bad we can't snorkle

3. We will be on the Getaway in 2 weeks

and......

4. Bronx? That's where I was born. :D

 

P.S. Love the photo of Atlantis

[JimmyVWine]

 

3. We will be on the Getaway in 2 weeks

and......

I actually like the look of that ship, as far as new build mega ships go. Disproves the notion that new lifeboat regulations make a Promenade impossible. There is quite a big Promenade on that ship, that I think they call the Waterfront. It may not be a true Promenade, but it does create an "outward focus" instead of an inward bent toward a giant indoor atrium. The ship does, however, suffer the same "small balcony" fate as Princess' new builds. Looks like you have to elevate up to the Haven to get a big balcony.

 

4. Bronx? That's where I was born. :D

...and you moved away, right? :D

[Pia1913]

I actually like the look of that ship, as far as new build mega ships go. Disproves the notion that new lifeboat regulations make a Promenade impossible. There is quite a big Promenade on that ship, that I think they call the Waterfront. It may not be a true Promenade, but it does create an "outward focus" instead of an inward bent toward a giant indoor atrium. The ship does, however, suffer the same "small balcony" fate as Princess' new builds. Looks like you have to elevate up to the Haven to get a big balcony.

 

We tried the Epic in March and balcony was fine. Not as small as the Royal/Regal.

 

...and you moved away, right? :D

 

You bet! :)

[bluesea321]

Day Two-April 12, 2015 (Princess Cays)

 

Truth be told, private cruise islands are not my thing, for all the reasons that I laid out in Post #1. I love a nice crescent beach on a tropical island. But what I love about that does not look like this:

 

 

 

 

Jimmy, thanks for the wonderful review... very enjoyable. I am with you on the private island... 3,000 people on a crowded beach is not my idea either. However if you walk about 1/2 mile from the Princess developed area past the bungalows (left side as you face P.C. from the tender) you will get to the area pictured below, a great crescent beach with no one on it but yourself, well maybe others in the future after this post :)

 

[caribill]

J However if you walk about 1/2 mile from the Princess developed area past the bungalows (left side as you face P.C. from the tender) you will get to the area pictured below, a great crescent beach with no one on it but yourself, well maybe others in the future after this post

 

 

How do you get past the people guarding the entrance to the Sanctuary Bungalow area?

[bluesea321]

How do you get past the people guarding the entrance to the Sanctuary Bungalow area?

 

In front by the rocks (not hard to do as it is not long but take shoes). There may be a way behind the bungalows also although I have not checked for a route. There is a fishing area past the bungalows that is reached by a road, likely another way. Also if you get there early enough no one will stop you. Once you clear the bungalows you can walk on a good easy path mostly in the trees. I should mention however that before one gets to the nice beach there are some junky areas like the dump where the trash gets disposed off, not at all ecologically minded as I could see motor oil containers and other environmental no-nos. Princess probably does not want anyone to see that. The reward is the beach of course which is not for everyone as there are no chairs, no service, etc. but a nice beach it is if that is your thing... :)

[JWJs]

 

Your review is VERY nice. Your pictures are wonderful.

 

What camera did you use? If you posted this info previously....I'm sorry I didn't catch it.

 

It has been awhile since we have taken a cruise...your review with wonderful pics was just what I needed to jump start my thinking to seriously book one, or two or three.

[Miss Pat]

In front by the rocks (not hard to do as it is not long but take shoes). There may be a way behind the bungalows also although I have not checked for a route. There is a fishing area past the bungalows that is reached by a road, likely another way. Also if you get there early enough no one will stop you. Once you clear the bungalows you can walk on a good easy path mostly in the trees. I should mention however that before one gets to the nice beach there are some junky areas like the dump where the trash gets disposed off, not at all ecologically minded as I could see motor oil containers and other environmental no-nos. Princess probably does not want anyone to see that. The reward is the beach of course which is not for everyone as there are no chairs, no service, etc. but a nice beach it is if that is your thing... :)

 

I actually never walked in that direction but it sounds interesting- at least to see how Princess disposes their garbage. How were the rocks in the water? Probably not much better than the rest of Princess Cays I'll bet. :D

[lovelearnteach]

Thank-you for taking the time to share your vacation experience :). Your pix are stunning, thank-you for sharing them, and bless your Saint of a wife :eek::p;):D!

[Tyskie]

Soooooooo, I'm waiting patiently for the "wrap up" of day 7

You said to be continued..............................

Wonderful review, wonderful writing style, thank you so much!:)

[JimmyVWine]

Soooooooo, I'm waiting patiently for the "wrap up" of day 7

You said to be continued..............................

Wonderful review, wonderful writing style, thank you so much!:)

Working on it now! Life got in the way. [emoji4]

[Woobstr112G]

Sunset pictures on post #73 were amazing.....:):):)

 

Bob

[JimmyVWine]

Day Seven (Continued)

We arrived at Sabatini’s on time, with our bottle of wine and our wine glasses. We were shown to a wonderful table where we proceeded to order most of the remainder of the menu that we did not order previously. As noted above, Sabatini’s is more or less a tradition for us on the last night both because we like to go out with a bang, and because the first Landfall menu we encountered looked like “Soup Kitchen Thanksgiving”. Now, I know that menus change over time and I shouldn’t be tarring the current menus with the same brush as our first cruise. But a tradition has to start somewhere, and for us, it started on that first cruise where we high-tailed it to Sabatini’s for our last meal, and we have done it ever since.

 

Although the style of dining at Sabatini’s has changed over time with a move toward a more standard method of everyone ordering their own dishes, there is no reason why one cannot revert back to the old system of “dishes for the table”, and that is what we did, more or less. We just ordered a whole bunch of stuff to pass around and share. There were grilled vegetables, calamari, shrimp and beans, another attempt at the spaghetti with seafood, (and this time, the langostine was just fine), and the manicotti. This was followed by the branzino, garlic infused shrimp, and another rack of veal, all split at the table so that we could share a bit of each. Tomorrow would be a travel day, and there was no telling where we would get our next meal! But this time, we skipped dessert. One can only take so much! Overall, this dinner at Sabatini’s surpassed the one before. Both were worth the price we paid, but only one can be your favorite.

 

After dinner, my daughter made her way up to Remix to catch up with her friends in what would no doubt be a bittersweet evening of hanging out, exchanging email addresses and lamenting the fact that newfound friends would soon part, and school would soon resume. My wife and I opted for a more sedate evening than the one before, both because our early schedule the next day required it and our livers demanded it. I went back to the cabin to pick up my “free” cans of Guinness while my wife secured seats at Crooners for our farewell concerts featuring Kieron Cox and Bert “with an e” Stratton. These two had kept us company for much of the trip, and we wanted a chance to say goodbye. Mid-way through Bert’s first set, my daughter surprised us with a quick visit. She, too wanted a chance to bid Bert a fond farewell, as the two of them struck up a bit of a friendship talking about the possible career opportunities of a budding singer/stage performer. She wanted to say one final thank you and farewell. As a parting gift, Bert dedicated his Broadway rendition of “Music of the Night” to my daughter in hopes of seeing her someday up on a stage. Wouldn’t that be great symmetry.

 

The evening ended with Bert with an “e” gleefully packing his things in preparation for his trip back to Tennessee the next day. He was downright giddy at the thought of going home, and who could blame him. After a final toast, we too packed up our things, only we were not nearly as giddy to be going home as he was.

 

And so ended the “cruise” portion of our trip.

[JimmyVWine]

Departure Day, April 18

 

I will include a bit of text here, if only to wrap up the “information” portion of the program. To the extent people want to know the ins and outs of getting “out” of the ship and “in” a cab, you read it here first. Well, maybe not first. But most recently. We were not scheduled to take a Princess transfer, and our departing flight out of FLL was not until 1:00 p.m.. Having informed Princess of these facts on the departure survey that you receive so soon after coming on board, we were “assigned” a departure time of 9:30 or 10:00. I can’t quite remember right now. Like good soldiers, we tried our best to be out of our cabin by 8:00. Like real world parents of a teenager, we made it out the door by 8:30. Irwin was fine with that, because at 7:50, when I realized that we were not going to be out by 8:00, I tracked him down and asked his permission to which he predictably responded: “No problem, sir”. So at 8:30 we dragged the remainder of our worldly possessions out of the cabin and we were officially homeless. With over an hour to kill, we opted to head down to the International Café and enjoy one last breakfast before walking the plank.

 

My wife took the largest of our bags and waited for an elevator that could accommodate her while my daughter and I took the rest of the bags down the stairs to the Plaza Deck. Once there, we found ample seating in Vines around a replica wine barrel. Soon after getting some food and finishing most of it (other than my wife’s hot coffee), a crew member approached us and asked us what “color” or “group” we were assigned for departure. We told him the exact shade of blue that we were assigned, and the time that we were given and he replied that the departure process was running way ahead of schedule and that our “group” had already been called to depart. I guess we missed this fact since we were in Vines and not the Island Dining Room which we would have gone to at 9:25 or so. But since it was not even 9:00 yet, we felt no need to crowd the already crowded dining room before it was our time. In any event, the crew member imparted this information on us as if he was delivering good news, and I suppose for the crew members on “turnaround day”, being ahead of schedule is a wonderful thing. But for people who are trying to eek out every last nanosecond of enjoyment from their cruise, leaving even so much as 30 minutes before we had programmed our brains to was sad news indeed. But we did not want to overstay our welcome. My wife was unsure if she would be allowed to bring her coffee off the ship, so we used that excuse to squeeze out five more minutes. But after that, we headed to the gangway to take the final walk off the ship. And for the record, my wife was able to bring off the last bit of her coffee as no one said anything to her about the cup in her hand that was not secreted in any way.

 

Once off the ship, we walked in to the terminal to play hide and seek, (with Princess being the “hiders” and us being the “seekers”) in our attempt to locate the luggage that we had left out in the hallway the night before. Don’t panic if you see one of your pieces of luggage, but not all of them in one place. I think we deposited 4 pieces of luggage in the hall, and each was found in the terminal in a different location. A bit unnerving at first, but it made the game of hide and seek last that much longer, and made it that much more challenging. So that was fun. After all of our luggage was accounted for, we waltzed through customs and headed for the exit. The taxi stand is easy to find, and for us, was to the far left as we exited the building. (Note that while we departed out of Terminal 2 in the North Port, we arrived at a different Terminal in Mid Port). Seeing that we had three people carrying luggage enough for six people, we were shown to the next taxi van in the line. The trip to the airport was quick and painless. It is easy to recommend taking a taxi over the Princess shuttle for such a simple trip. This brings us to the airport, and to the end of this Review and Journal.

[JimmyVWine]

Parting Thoughts

 

While the Review and Journal has ended, it is always worth reflecting back after the passage of some time to give some final thoughts. Impressions formed immediately after concluding a vacation can be overly colored by the good and the bad, and a less than objective conclusion can be drawn. So after letting some time go by, and revisiting this topic with the family this past weekend, this is what we came away with. None of it terribly surprising or earth shattering, but some life lessons that we too often take for granted.

 

A trip is what you make of it. None of us were overly excited by the itinerary, (which is how this thread got its name). But with some research, planning, a positive attitude, a sense of humor and the company of those who you love and who love you back, it is easy to make almost anything into a memorable adventure. Was this the “best” cruise we ever took in terms of what we did and what we saw? No. Was this just as good as any other cruise in terms of time spent with each other, the way we made each other laugh and smile, and the memories that we will share? Absolutely.

 

Don’t take reviews of the conditions of ships too seriously. If I relied on the reviews of the condition of Caribbean Princess that some have posted, I would have steered clear of this ship. In the end, it presented as a perfectly fine vessel that did not just push back from the shipyard. But it wasn’t a rusting hunk of junk either. There are thousands of cabins on each ship. Do some have leaky faucets and discolored grout and lumpy mattresses and stained carpets? I’m sure that they do. Did we encounter any of that? No. Our bed and pillows were among the very best we have had at sea. It is worth understanding that unlike any hotel you have ever stayed at, a cruise ship fills each and every cabin each and every day of each and every year with very little time for meaningful upgrades. A hotel can take “Floor 7” completely out of service for a month while they re-do the rooms and you would never know it as you sleep soundly on Floor 10. Cruise ships don’t do that. So yes, your accommodations may not look brand new, and may not measure up to a newly launched ship. But if that is where you set your expectations, then cruising may not be your best option. I have absolutely no complaints about the condition of the ship, given its age, and what I paid for the cruise. I’m not paying for a Four Seasons. I don’t expect a Four Seasons.

 

Cruise Directors do matter. While this may not have been our best cruise from a sightseeing standpoint, it was our best cruise in terms of fun on board. There have been cruises where I have looked at a Patter in the morning and seen very little of interest. On this cruise, we had trouble deciding what to choose and fitting in everything that we wanted to do and see. I can only attribute that to the staff. I suppose it didn’t hurt that we had several “Princess Entertainers of the Year” on board. But still, we were never board.

 

Did my daughter have her wish fulfilled for taking a vacation where she “just relaxed”? I suppose that depends on who you ask. To she and I, we consider her request fulfilled, as this was not a “go-go-go” vacation as is more typical for us. If you ask my wife, we still did a lot of “something.” But what she calls “something”, my daughter and I call “doing nothing.” I suppose in our own ways, both viewpoints are accurate.

 

Did I come back new? I don’t know. And I’m not sure that was ever the goal. The goal was for me to come back to a new yard. While the calendar said otherwise, it was still Winter when we left. While we were gone, the last of the ice melted, the last of the snow disappeared, and the first buds of Spring were able to pierce through the frosted ground. By pulling into a driveway of a house and yard that looked and smelled like Spring, then I suppose I came back new. So Princess, your mission was accomplished.

 

I leave you with one final thought and photograph. We never book aft cabins. While the wake view is mesmerizing to many, it is not to me. Philosophically, metaphorically and literally, I am one who prefers to gaze in anticipation at the uncertain waters that lay ahead of me rather than at the turgid and roiling wake that I leave behind. My disturbances lie in the past, and perhaps it is best that I keep them there. So we took this cruise with uncertainty of what lay ahead, and true to form, we were able to navigate the unknown deftly and turn it in to another life affirming adventure. Our daughter will be part of our household for only a few more years and this thought is not lost on me. She has assured us many times that she always intends to vacation with us. And I hope that for the most part, that is true. But we know it won’t always be. So sometime in the not too distant future, I will be doing more looking back than I typically do. There will be memories and wakes to recapture along with the uncertain waters that lay ahead. So to begin the process, I captured this wake on our last day, as a symbol of my need and desire to look backward as often as I look forward. Happy and healthy cruising to all!

 

[JeffandMelissa]

Thank you for sharing your journey with us. Fantastic review.

 

Best to your daughter and her upcoming opportunities!

 

Melissa

[cruisingpeople]

Thank you for the extremely entertaining review. Your style of writing made for some great reading. As you stated, a cruise is what you make of it and you knew how to make the best of every day. Thanks again.

[chamima]

Beautiful review with a really beautiful wrap up and photo at the end!

(We are some of those who are mesmerized by the wake and I can almost hear the water from your photo ) :D

 

Thank you.

[Walt fan]

Thank you again for your wonderful review; I loved the journey; you and your family are what make this world a better place; so glad you got to spend time with each other, share adventures and make memories; and that is what vacation is all about; well done

[Colo Cruiser]

Yes thoroughly enjoyable reading! :)

[DebbieMacG]

Great review, thankyou :)