9/3 Caribbean Princess Review - Long!

[MizzouMary]

Caribbean Princess 9/1 Review

 

 

This was our fifth cruise: four with Carnival and our first with Princess. This is a long review since I tend to give more detail than I probably need to. I also tend to compare Princess to Carnival a great deal. Happy reading :)

 

 

We started our cruise vacation early by flying down to Ft. Lauderdale on Thursday afternoon, 9/1. We flew out of Kansas City International Airport on Southwest Airlines. We had a connecting flight in Orlando. We arrived in FLL around 9:30 p.m. and caught a taxi over to the Bahia Mar Resort. We were a little nervous about staying at this hotel since we read several bad reviews on the Trip Advisor website. I bid $42 for a 2* on Priceline.com for two nights hoping to get AmeriSuites but I was upgraded to a 3* as my bid was accepted by Bahia Mar. At check-in, we asked for a tower room with a view of the ocean. We were given a room on the 15th floor with a view of both the ocean and the harbor. We also had a small balcony we could stand on to get a better view. We were pleasantly surprised by how nice our room turned out to be and how friendly the hotel staff was. My husband said it was the best service he has ever had at a hotel. Everyone was extremely friendly and helpful. I took quite a few pictures of our room and our trip, which I will post a link to at the end of this review.

 

 

Friday, 9/2 – We got up around 8:30 a.m. and walked down to the 7-Eleven (which is only a few blocks away – we could see it from our room) to grab a few breakfast items. We found 18 packs of Bud-Light and Budweiser for $11.99 with a coupon attached for $5.00 off any food items or ice. So, we bought an 18-pack and a couple of breakfast sandwiches and drinks (which were free with the coupon). What a bargain! We walked back to our room and iced down the beer, ate our breakfast sandwiches (I would not recommend) and headed over to the water bus, or taxi which is right across the parking lot of the Bahia Mar. We could see it from our room. This was very convenient. We bought all day passes for $5.00 per person. We rode on the south route first which left at 10:00 a.m. The water taxi was very fun and informative. The two guys that operated the taxi gave us lots of info. on celebrity homes on the route, etc. They even took us over to a spot where an iguana lived, which I took a picture of. The taxi is partially air-conditioned. If you want to take photos, I would recommend going to the back, which is open-air. But, let me warn you, the air conditioner drains around the outside benches - especially the back, so be careful! We got off at the Las Olas restaurants and grabbed a soda at the Schlotzsky’s Deli. We walked around for a while and then ate lunch at Max’s Grille. We saw Rachel Ray’s “$40-a-Day” show on The Food Network where she ate at this restaurant. All lunch items are $3.99. I had the chicken chop and my husband had a burger. They were just O.K., nothing extraordinary, but for that price, you can’t complain. Almost every restaurant at Las Olas had a buy-one, get-one free entrée special that day. Apparently, they are really slow during the day. So for a cheap lunch, go there. We caught the water taxi back to the hotel and literally chilled out a bit. It was a very hot and humid day. We walked over to the beach. Bahia Mar has a walkway over the A1A Highway, so you don’t have to cross the traffic. We picked up some shells and headed up the street. By the way, according to a sign on the beach, no alcoholic drinks are allowed on the city streets or beaches in Ft. Lauderdale. We found a little German bar in an alleyway up the street. It was really neat. They had great dark ale and food specials. We then walked over to the 7-Eleven and picked up another 18-pack of Bud and used the $5 coupon for some breakfast items for the next morning. When we got back to our room, we ordered a pizza from Big Louie’s Pizzaria on the 17th St. Causeway. We got a buy-one, get-one-free pizza coupon from entertainment.com. We printed several free coupons for the FLL area before we left home. We ordered two small pizzas. They delivered it to our hotel free of charge. The pizza was very good. This would be a great deal for a family since you can order any size and the delivery is free.

 

 

Saturday, 9/3 – We got up really early since we could not sleep. My husband grabbed us an order of biscuits and gravy along with a sausage biscuit sandwich from the Bahia Mar deli. It was really good. I was surprised, since I didn’t know if they knew how to make biscuits and gravy down in Florida. We called Yellow Taxi and had them pick us up around 10:20 a.m. We checked out and headed over to the port. Unfortunately, our taxi driver dropped us off in the front. This was our first time sailing out of Ft. Lauderdale, so we didn’t know where to go. We sat for about 30 minutes and then we were told that we could get in line on the side of the building, but had to wait until all of the Princess employees were gone. I didn’t quite understand this. A long line had already formed around the other side of the building. We waited for approx. 1 hour while the ship was cleared by Customs. At least we were under the awning. Some were not so lucky. It was pretty hot that day and they had to stand in that scorching sun. I would highly recommend not arriving so early. There was a private vendor close by selling drinks and food. Once we got moving, it was easy. The Princess employees did not even check our birth certificates, which really surprised us. We were on the ship within 15 minutes. What a beautiful vessel. The colors are aquatic and soothing. It was a definite change compared to Carnival, whose ships are mostly over the top with vibrant colors and décor. As soon as we got on, we went to our cabin to see if it was ready. We had an inside guarantee and were given A320, a handicap room. It worked out well since I have neurapathy. It proved to be very beneficial during the latter part of the week (more on that later). We went up and grabbed some lunch. I had the pepperoni pizza at the Trident Grill. It was very good, although I was disappointed they did not have any parmesan cheese for the pizza. I asked for it and they said to check back later in the week but they didn’t have any later on either. They were not real friendly guys. Also, another slight disappointment was they only have three kinds of pizza; pepperoni, mushroom and cheese. We love pizza and Carnival has many different kinds and will make a special pie for you upon request. They would not, however. My husband even asked them, but they refused, so he had a burger and fries instead. He said they were really good. We went to the Sabatini’s Restaurant at 1:00 p.m. to make a reservation for dinner at one of the specialty restaurant’s, the Sterling Steakhouse for Monday evening. This is $15.00 per person and worth every penny. I do want to mention that if you plan to do this, make sure you go when they start taking reservations at 1:00 p.m. Reservations for Sabatini’s is $20.00 per person. Make sure you get in the correct line when you get there. We stood in the right-hand side line for at least 30 minutes before realizing we needed to be in the left-hand side line. The RH line was for dining changes only. They have little signs on the table, but since we were so far back, we could not see them. We thought both lines were for the specialty restaurant reservations.

 

 

We spent the rest of the afternoon exploring the ship (much easier to maneuver around than the Conquest class ships with Carnival). Later on, we spent some time unpacking since all but one of our bags were delivered by the time we went to the muster drill (which I usually dread, but ended up being great). I bet you never thought you would hear that! We are used to sailing with Carnival where they put you in a long, hot and overly crowded hallway. This time our place to gather was in the Internet café. While we were waiting to begin, we were told we could surf the Princess.com website. This is free, BTW. After the muster drill, we joined our Cruise Critic group at Blackbeard’s Bar for our get together. It was really fun and I am glad we were able to go! We met so many nice people. Thanks to Sprite for bringing the nametags so we were all able to identify each other. We later went to dinner at the Horizon Court Buffet around 8:00 p.m. with several fellow CC cruisers (The Philly Chicks, along with Carol and Judd from Pennsylvania). This was the seafood extravaganza night, but everyone was slightly disappointed. I don’t eat seafood, but those who do were not real happy with the selection. Apparently, we went to the wrong side of the buffet. There was a sign by our side of the Caribe Café, past the Horizon Court that said it was closed. If we would have just gone over to the other side to the Caribe Café, we would have had more choices and a totally different dining experience. I guess you live and learn. After dinner and lots of conversation, we ventured over to the casino after dinner and spent a few hard-earned dollars before heading to bed.

 

 

Sunday, 9/4 – A much needed sea day! We were really tired. It was so nice to just relax. Inside staterooms are excellent for sleeping. It is so dark – perfect for catching those afternoon zzzzz’s! Our cabin had two lamps with dimmers on the bases, so we didn’t need to take a nightlight for our room. When I needed to get up during the night, I just turned the dial up just enough to see where I was going. This worked great. We practiced our putting on the putting green, went to the shopping talk (this was very informative even though we had been to the Eastern Caribbean before), checked out the view from Skywalker’s (awesome!, and so quiet during the day), spent a few dollars in the casino, worked out in the health club which is nicer than the gym’s on the Carnival Conquest and Valor ships (BTW, the equipment is very nice and they have a lot of elliptical trainers and treadmills – see my photos). There are lockers, towels and robes for your use at the gym. We spent some time out by the pools. The calypso band by the Calypso Pool is very good. One other thing I noticed about the ship is that the public restrooms are very spacious and nice. Carnival’s are so tiny and plain. It is like they were an after thought when designing the ships.

 

 

That evening we went to a comedy show in the Explorer’s Lounge. The comedian was James Michael. We both thought he was hilarious! If you have a chance to see him, go! Make sure you get there early to get a seat at any of the shows. We went later in the week around 10 minutes early and it was standing room only.

 

 

 

DINING - We ate lunch in the buffet and dinner that night in the Caribe Café. We chose Personal Choice dining for the week. We did not plan this, but we actually ended up dining all week in the Caribe Café for dinner, with the exception of Monday evening when we went to the Sterling Steakhouse for dinner. We even brought along our formal wear for the formal evenings, but did not even need it (wish we would have known this before we packed!). Each day we checked the menus in the dining rooms and then compared them with the choices in the Caribe and realized most of the items were the same. This was a huge plus in our book. If you like having the same waiter and table each night, I would recommend traditional dining. We have always had traditional and PC was a really nice change. We were a little concerned with how we should dress for the Caribe, but we saw people wearing clothing from one end of the spectrum to the other. Some had shorts, t-shirts and tennis shoes on while others were dressed to the 9’s with their formal attire. It was a very diverse crowd in the Caribe Café. They offer several main entrée choices along with sides, a salad bar each evening, soups, lots of breads and rolls, various types of cheeses cubed, cold cuts, fresh fruits and of course, desserts. One thing you cannot get at the buffets or Caribe Café is the Princess Love Boat Dream dessert (see photo). On the last day, we realized we did not try this dessert, so we went down to the dining room and asked if we could order two to go. We were told we could not take them with us, but a waiter would deliver them to our cabin. Within a few minutes after arriving back at our cabin, the waiter delivered them to us (but forgot the silverware). We were too exhausted to go back up to the buffet to get silverware, so we ate them with our fingers. We felt like little kids again! This dessert is a chocoholic’s dream dessert! It is wonderful, but oh so rich. I could not finish mine. We highly recommend this dessert.

 

 

We ate breakfast in the dining room on Monday and it was excellent. I have to say the overall food quality is much better than Carnival’s. However, we were a little disappointed that Princess does not have complimentary soft-serve ice cream like Carnival. They do offer hard ice cream with various toppings in the buffet each afternoon from 3:30 to 4:30 p.m., I believe. I did not see it advertised in the Patters, so it is kind of a hit or miss thing. We did have some later in the week (very unusual flavors) and it was very good. It really tasted like homemade ice cream.

 

 

The buffet only offers tea, water and coffee. However, the breakfast buffet also has juice in small glasses and milk. You will find these items within the buffet itself. One item they do not have is chocolate milk. My husband noticed another guy getting chocolate syrup in a bowl from one of the kitchen staff members, so he asked for some too. He loves chocolate milk and Carnival has it in cartons along with the other types of milk. The next day, he asked a different person for chocolate syrup and he was told they did not offer that. The next day he asked another person for chocolate syrup and he said the same thing, but a manager heard him and said, yes, we do offer this if that is what he wants. You know it is the little things that keep people coming back.

 

 

We did not order room service, so we cannot comment on that.

 

 

Coffee – My husband drinks a ton of coffee and he said it is actually pretty good if you dilute it with half hot water that is next to the coffee dispenser.

 

 

Monday, 9/5 – We went to the adult swim-against-the-current pool next to the spa and fitness center. They have pool weights and it was a really nice change since there were no kids around. That night, we had reservations for the Sterling Steakhouse. I had the 10 oz. filet mignon and my husband had the 14 oz. ribeye steak. Both were prepared to our specifications. We each had two of the starters, baked potatoes with all of the trimmings, rolls and corn muffins, corn casserole and spinach. I would not recommend the corn casserole or spinach. The desserts were very good. My husband had the chocolate pecan pie (heavenly) and I had crème brulee (see our photos). That night, we caught a little bit of the MUTS (Sahara) which we had already seen. We spent a little time in the casino and then we were off to bed to get ready for our day in St. Thomas.

 

 

Tuesday, 9/6 – We arrived in St. Thomas around 5:45 a.m. My husband got up early to take pictures of the sunrise. A great place to take pictures is above the captain’s bridge (go to the 15th deck forward and you will find it.) Everyone started leaving the ship at 7. We ate breakfast and headed out to do some shopping. We had a reservation to go on the Kon Tiki Party Boat excursion which left at 1:00 p.m., so we decided to not go to Charlotte Amalie for the serious shopping and just pick up a few items from the Havensight shops. We bought a few postcards and mailed them at the U.S. Postal Service store also located at Havensight. The postal worker said they would be delivered in 2-3 days. NOTE: We recently went on the Carnival Valor and cruised to Nassau, St. Thomas and St. Maarten. We chose to wait until we got to St. Maarten to mail our postcards and it took almost 4 weeks for our families to receive them. The cost of stamps was also about 3 times as much. Of course, the stamps are neat looking. So, you might want to mail them in St. Thomas if you want the postcards to get there in a timely fashion. There is a small grocery store, Gourmet Gallery at Havensight, close to the port as well. They carry soda, beer, basically anything you would find in a grocery store. My husband bought several ice cold Dos Equis for 1.75 each. They will open the bottles for you. We bought a 12-pack of coke for our cabin and a 12-pack of Bud for 9.99. We also purchased some liquor at the Dynasty Dazzlers store at Havensight, Bldg. 5. They had a great price on Amaretto Di Saronno. I got a 1 liter bottle for 14.95, tax and duty free. We also bought some Caribanana, which is a rum-based banana cream liqueur for 9.95 and some Cruzan Rum Cream for 11.95. The banana and rum cream mixed together are heavenly! We were told the Cruzan Rum Cream is not sold in the U.S., so if you go down to the Caribbean, make sure you stock up on it. It is great over ice, with coffee, with Coke, with ice cream, on your cereal (just kidding). There is also some great recipes at cruzanrum.com. Make sure you refrigerate it after opening, though. When we walked back to the ship, there was no one collecting the liquor, so we just walked back up to our cabin to get ready for our excursion. At 1:00 p.m., the Kon Tiki Party Boat picked us up at the cruise port. It is a two-story open-air barge with unlimited rum punch and a few guys playing calypso music on the way to and from the beach. We rode to Water Island Before we got off the boat, they opened the hatches for the glass bottom part of the boat where you could see down into a coral reef. You really could not see much, just a few fish swimming around. We then went to Honeymoon Beach, which is very secluded and deserted. We were there for an hour. We relaxed and swam a bit. The water was pretty clear and warm. We saw an iguana on the beach. There are several palapas and picnic tables with palm trees. http://www.water-island.com/more/index.htm. They do have a couple of local vendors on the beach, and a really nice retired couple from Pennsylvania that relocated there, selling cold beer ($3 each), hotdogs, etc. The party boat also had beer for sale at $3 each, if you didn’t like the complimentary rum punch, which I thought left a lot to be desired. I love rum punch, but I drank water most of the day. On the way back, they had a limbo contest, dancing, etc. There was an older lady (who apparently had way too much rum punch) about my mom’s age that eerily reminded me of her, just having a great ole’ time. There were quite a few older people on the boat along with a few younger people, maybe in their 20’s. I really don’t know if I would recommend the Kon Tiki. It was O.K., but a little expensive ($36 PP through Princess) for what you get, IMHO. Later that afternoon, it rained really hard. We ate dinner in the Café Caribe and didn’t do much that evening since we were pretty tired.

 

 

Wednesday, 9/7 – We arrived at St. Maarten at 6:00 a.m. We ate breakfast in the buffet and headed out to meet our group at 8:00 a.m. for the 4-hour Golden Eagle Catamaran Out-Island excursion ($76 PP). There were about 40 people on this excursion. First, let me say this is THE BEST excursion I have ever been on. We had a wonderful time and it is definitely worth the money. We walked down a little bit from our ship to meet our group. We had to leave our shoes at the dock before getting on the catamaran. As soon as we boarded, they were offering drinks to everyone (rum punch, soda, canned beer - Miller Genuine Draft and Amsterdam, a Dutch brand.) The water was a little rough that day and a couple of passengers were not feeling so well. They do give you a plastic bag if you are not feeling well and you need to, well, you know. They also have a restroom down below, but you must go down a pretty steep latter. We sat in the back on the way to Tintamar, a secluded island on the French side, but they moved two ladies that were sick back to where we were sitting, so we decided to move up to the front for obvious reasons. The catamaran has a shaded area and two open areas. The front has the mesh netting, so it gets a bit wet up there. There were four employees taking care of the passengers during the excursion. They were constantly asking if we needed a drink and taking our empty glasses and cans. On the way to the island, even the captain driving the catamaran noticed I did not have a drink and asked what I wanted. I had it in no time. What service. They offered pretzels on our way to the island. I was also concerned about my new camera and they offered to lock it up for me while we were on the island, which I did. Once we got to our destination, they brought out the sails and floated up to the island. We got off of the catamaran by either jumping off or using the steps that went down into the water that was approx. 9 feet deep. They give you a float belt to put on if needed, along with those long noodle-looking floaties and snorkel gear. They also brought a cooler out with drinks and came around to check on us several times. We shared the island with another group on a different Golden Eagle catamaran. I snorkeled around the coral reef and saw a great deal of very colorful fish. The water was crystal clear. It was awesome! One of the guys who worked on the catamaran dove down to the bottom a few times and gave me some really neat shells. When he found out that I collected them, he dove down several more times. What a nice guy. I can’t say enough great things about the Golden Eagle crew and excursion. We sat up front on the way back to the ship. The staff served ham sandwiches on deli rolls. None of us wanted the excursion to end. It was so much fun riding along the gorgeous Caribbean water listening to Jimmy Buffet drinking really good rum punch! That is truly living! Again, I would definitely recommend this excursion. We will be going on this one again when we return to St. Maarten.

 

 

Once we got back to Philipsburg, we took the water taxi ($5 PP all day pass) over to the shopping area. There is a really nice beach right next to the port, so you really don’t need to go anywhere else if you don’t want to. There are restaurants close by. There is also a small yellow booth right around that corner that sells $1 cans of ice cold Budweiser. The guys loved this on our last trip to St. Maarten. We spent some time at our favorite liquor store, Cannegie. I included a photo of it in my pictures. They have the lowest prices (according to our taxi driver on our last trip). We did some of our own comparison shopping and they do have very low prices. They are the only locally owned liquor store left in that shopping area. We bought a few more bottles of our favorite Cruzan Rum Cream and headed across the street to the casino. We love penny machines and there are tons of them at this casino. We sat down at my favorite one (King of the Nile) and played only 1 credit per line (20 cents) and got the bonus on the first spin and hit $50.00. We cashed out and went back across the street and bought a few more bottles of liquor. We walked up the very busy street and saw a dog lying on the steps of a store. I think it had to be sick since it was not even interested in a piece of bread lying next to it. We walked up the street looking for Kay’s jewelry shop since we received a button at the cruise shopping talk to receive a free gem stone. Then, I realized I did not have my new $300 camera. I guess I drank too many rum punches on the Golden Eagle excursion. I was frantic. I was not so much worried about losing a fairly expensive camera as I was losing our vacation photos. Those cannot be replaced. We walked as fast as we could back down to the Cannegie’s Liquor Store and the casino. I went to the liquor store and my husband went to the casino. No luck at the liquor store so I walked across the street to the casino. My husband walked around the corner with my camera bag on his shoulder. I was so happy and thankful at the same time. An honest casino worker saw it after we had left our machine and turned it in to the cashier. We were really worried since there were a few shady looking characters hanging around inside the casino. My husband received six offers to buy drugs while we were walking around Philipsburg. By then, we were ready to head back to the ship. We were really tired and hungry. We took the water taxi back over and again, there was not anyone there to take our liquor so we just walked up to our cabin. I was not feeling well, so I did not go to dinner. I felt really bad because we were supposed to go on a pub crawl with our Cruise Critic group that evening. My husband went up to the Caribe Café and ate by himself. He brought me a plate of food and several dessert choices (what a guy!). We watched more of the Hurricane Katrina coverage on CNN for a little while and then drifted off to sleep. We were both fast asleep by 8:30 p.m. (boy we are exciting people!) Which brings me to one of the least favorite things I like about Princess; their television programming. Both my husband and I love sports and really missed being able to watch football (especially college) and baseball. Also, some nights we just like to chill out in the privacy of our own cabin. It is nice to have a selection of programming from which to choose from. Carnival has network programming, as well as ESPN in English and many other channels. When we were on the Valor in May, we were able to watch the New York local news as well as national network news. When we sailed from New Orleans on the Conquest last Nov., we had the Nashville news on a network. Princess has ESPN, but it is in Spanish and shows mostly soccer. Princess also has CNN Headlines in English, but the CNN news is in Spanish. I guess I really need to learn Spanish. In addition, Princess has newly released movies, TNT, Discovery, the Travel Channel sometimes (which I love), and a cartoon channel. One other T.V. related item, and then I promise I will move on, is that Carnival has a channel where you can check your shipboard account balance. This is very nice. It is updated every day. They also have the breakfast, lunch and dinner menus, as well as the specialty restaurant menu on a channel. We loved this on our last cruise since we traveled with a large group and we all didn’t have to run down to the dining room each day to check the menu. I really wish Princess would adopt some of the great things Carnival does since they are owned by the Carnival parent corp.

 

 

Thursday, 9/8 – My husband got up early and did the laundry for us.The self-serve laundry rooms are much nicer than on the Carnival ships (see my photos). We spent the day relaxing in the sun and swimming in the pool. The waves were high, so there were quite a few sick people. The pool looked as if it were a wave pool. It was really kind of fun. We ate lunch in the dining room. We had potato latkes with applesauce and sour cream, which were just o.k. I had a Greek salad and my husband had a pasta dish with mushrooms. Both were very good. We bought a few souvenirs on the ship. They had ports of call shirts for 9.99 each. We spent some time walking around the art gallery. There were several pieces by one of my favorite artist’s, Wyland. The water was very rough on that day. The handicap shower was really useful since I lose my balance so easily. We ate dinner in the Café Caribe and then tried to go to a show in the Explorer’s lounge, but it was too crowded. Make sure you get there early if you want a seat. The problem was there was entertainment before the show, so most people did not leave so there just weren’t many seats available. We walked around the ship and then went back to our cabin to relax.

 

 

Friday, 9/9 – What a surprise. Princess decorated our doorway with balloons for Clayton’s birthday on Sat. We took a picture with our cabin steward, Tawachai. He was excellent and always had a smile on his face. We grabbed breakfast in the buffet and made our way down to the Princess Theater to get in line for the Princess Cays tenders. It was a beautiful day, a little windy though. We didn’t have any excursions or activities planned for Princess Cays. We caught the first tender over and walked around. We did notice a great deal of seaweed on the beach, as well as some broken glass and bottle caps in the sand. We were not overly impressed with Princess Cays. It is a pretty place, but we were expecting more, I guess. We almost felt like we were at the mercy of Princess whereas when you visit an island such as St. Maarten, you have many vendors, drinks, excursions, etc. from which to choose from. We visited the native Eleuthera vendor’s located at the back of the property. You actually have to leave the property by going through a security gate (no biggie, just show your ship ID). They had several Kate Spade, Prada and Louis Vuitton purse knock off’s for $40-60. They also sold cold drinks for $1.25. We relaxed in the sun, walked around and took lots of photos from the lookout. We had lunch at 11:00 a.m. There were grilled hot dogs, hamburgers, ribs, baked beans, salad and desserts (brownies and cookies). I believe they had tea and water to drink. They also had lots of fresh fruit cut up, close to the covered picnic table area. They sold mixed and frozen drinks along with beer and soda. We made our way back over to the ship around 1:00 p.m. since we wanted to talk with the Princess rep. about booking another cruise. We were the first in line and paid our $200 deposit. We received a $50 PP shipboard credit for our next cruise. She also gave us a “share the wealth” certificate for a family member or friend that might be interested in going on the same cruise as us. They also receive the $100 pp deposit and $25 shipboard credit for an inside cabin or $50 shipboard credit for an outside cabin. The shipboard credit goes up for longer cruises. We booked a 7-day Mexican Riviera on the Sapphire Princess for 1/21/06 as soon as we got home. So far, we haven’t had much luck finding a couple that wants to go on the same cruise. It is no problem if you don’t use the certificate. We checked Princess’s price while on the ship and had a print out of our own personal agents price, and our agent ended up being quite a bit cheaper and offered additional shipboard credit so we booked it with our agent when we got home. This is not a problem at all with Princess. All you do is provide the booking # they give you on the ship to your agent when you get home. I am so happy we did this. The deposit is good for four years, so if we just wanted to wait for a while, we could have. Otherwise, it is completely refundable. What a deal!

 

 

The rest of the afternoon we actually spent some time packing so we could head out to the pool and relax. They requested everyone to have their bags out as early as possible beginning at 6:00 p.m. The pool was calm today since we were anchored. I heard a lady ask why they didn’t turn on the wave pool. The day before the water was coming out of the pool at least three feet on either end due to the rough seas. It was really fun! Most of the people were still over at Princess Cays so we had the pool pretty much to ourselves. We went to Café Caribe for dinner and then to the Farewell Showtime show at the Princess Theater. They brought back all of the comedians from earlier in the week. We got to see James Michael again. He was as funny as before. However, we really didn’t like Jonathan Stamp or Cary Long much. It may have been because we were so tired. They just didn’t seem that funny. We stopped by the casino to donate a few more dollars and then went back to our cabin. We didn’t do too well at the casino and didn’t see many others winning either. I think your best bet is blackjack. We read somewhere that the casino offered $3 blackjack, but we only saw $5 min. bet all week. They do have a few penny machines (four), and if you like to play them, get there early when they open. They were almost always busy. We went to the Purser’s desk to close out our shipboard account. It is a real plus if you can do this ahead of time. We gave them $150.00 cash each when we came aboard for our shipboard account, so it was very easy settling up with them. We got back to our cabin around 9:00 p.m. and decided to relax and watch a movie. However, our cabin was right next to the crew only area where they take the bags down the elevators. For at least 4 hours we had unbearable loud banging and knocking against our wall. Each time they threw a bag our wall and headboard shook. You could hear the workers talking in a foreign language (of course) and laughing. We came to the conclusion they had a competition to see who could throw the bags the hardest at our wall. I called down to the Purser’s desk three times asking if they could please do something about it. The last time I asked for a supervisor and he said he would come up personally to check on the situation. It continued to go on until around 1:15 a.m., so I just gave up. The moral of this story: If you have a cabin next to one of these areas, ours was handicapped A312, be prepared to spend some time away from your cabin on the last night.

 

 

Saturday, 9/10 – A sad day. We had to leave the beautiful Caribbean Princess. We were up and at breakfast by 7:00 a.m. There were quite a few people eating at this time. Most had their bags with them ready to get off of the ship. There was a HUGE line at the Purser’s desk. My advice is to take care of any business on Friday if you can. We were off of the ship by 9:30 a.m. Customs was a breeze. Those with passports were placed in a line that was very short. We found our bags with no problems. We placed bright metallic ribbon on our bag handles ahead of time. It really was very helpful. We caught a cab over to the FLL airport ($10 with a tip) to catch our flight on SWA home. What a wonderful trip. If anyone has any questions, please e-mail me at: mfinn@kc.rr.com . Please see my photos at: http://community.webshots.com/user/marypfinn

 

 

 

 

[bdjam]

Thanks for sharing the pictures and it’s good to hear that James Michael is still going strong!

[mii]

What a great and complete review. Thanks also for sharing photo's.

 

Marilyn

[Flintstone]

Thanks for the great review!

 

Glad to hear you like the Bahia Mar. We are booked there for post-cruise in Nov and have read some rather "rough" reviews. Your pics of Bahia Mar put my mind at ease!

 

All your pics were great and I thought your review was well balanced.

 

Thanks again!

 

Deb

[Crazsea]

That was such an interesting and refreshing review. I could not stop reading it. It just got better and better. Wish we were cruising with you!!!!:)

[christinelee]

Great Review....Thanks.....We will be on The CB in January. Can't Wait to return!:D

[cindyscruise]

Thanks for the detailed review. Loved your pictures.

[Kellie in Texas]

And your photos are some of the best I've seen. Love the sunrise behind the palm trees. We'll be on the CB on 10/22/05 and have the Golden Eagle reserved, so I was glad to hear you had a good time. Was it easy to get in and out of the water off the catamaran? And you had to leave your shoes?? I was planning on wearing water shoes - do they not allow shoes on board?

 

Thanks for all the great info; I'll be rereading it several times, I'm sure.

Kellie in Texas

[cruzinchris]

Mfinn,

Thanks for the detailed review and the fabulous photos.

 

DH and I will do an encore sailing on the CB on 1/28/06 - can't wait! We sailed the week of 1/21/05 and loved it!

Bon Voyage!

Chris

[leighj]

Awesome review! Thanks for taking the time to fill us in. We're on that Golden Eagle catamaran trip, too, during our cruise (10/1) and are so happy to hear all good things about it!

[MizzouMary]

And your photos are some of the best I've seen. Love the sunrise behind the palm trees. We'll be on the CB on 10/22/05 and have the Golden Eagle reserved, so I was glad to hear you had a good time. Was it easy to get in and out of the water off the catamaran? And you had to leave your shoes?? I was planning on wearing water shoes - do they not allow shoes on board?

 

Thanks for all the great info; I'll be rereading it several times, I'm sure.

Kellie in Texas

 

Thank you! Yes, it was really easy to get in and out since the steps have sort of a railing you can hang on to. I have sensory neurapathy in my feet and legs and can't feel anything and don't swim that well either. I had a swim belt on and I had no problems at all. Yes, we did have to leave our shoes at the pier. I am not sure if they will let you wear water shoes on board. The sand on Tintamarre Island is so soft no one even took any. Everyone on the catamaran was barefoot, even the staff. You could take your water shoes along in a bag for the island if they will not allow the shoes on the catamarran.

 

I hope this helps.

 

Mary

[massagegirl]

Great review and GREAt pics! Thanks for taking the time to be so thurough.(sp?)

[KSLori]

Mary-

 

You look quite familiar. And I happen to be from KC, also. So, I'm sitting here wondering how I know you (or the face anyway)......did you happen to attend CMSU? I'm from St. Louis originally, attended CMS then relocated from StL to Gladstone in '94. Since then I've defected to KS....I'm in Western Shawnee.........and I don't forget faces........

 

ANYWAY, looks like you really enjoyed your cruise. I am booked on the CB for Feb. 11th, a couple days after my 40th b-day.

 

Thanks for the review and pics....look forward to hearing from you.

 

Lori

[P&RC]

We were on CB Princess July 9,2005 and when we were on St.Marteen we saw so many dogs dying. I have e-mailed apriest in charge of tourism in St. Marteen about starting a Humane Society as the other Islands are doing but he ignores the e-mails. Maybe if enough cruisers would e-mail St.Marteen tourism they would do something about it. I am an animal lover and hate to get off at some of the Islands due to conditions. I stay on board and have the ship to myself.

[PescadoAmarillo]

I really enjoyed your photo albums. Thanks for taking the time to post a review AND pictures!

[MizzouMary]

Mary-

 

You look quite familiar. And I happen to be from KC, also. So, I'm sitting here wondering how I know you (or the face anyway)......did you happen to attend CMSU? I'm from St. Louis originally, attended CMS then relocated from StL to Gladstone in '94. Since then I've defected to KS....I'm in Western Shawnee.........and I don't forget faces........

 

ANYWAY, looks like you really enjoyed your cruise. I am booked on the CB for Feb. 11th, a couple days after my 40th b-day.

 

Thanks for the review and pics....look forward to hearing from you.

 

Lori

 

Hi! Yes, I did graduate from CMSU in '89. Do I know you?? I knew quite a few people there. I was on the track team. I threw the shotput, discus and javelin. I lived in Fitzgerald Hall. What a small world! I hope you have a great trip on the Caribbean Princess!

[MizzouMary]

We were on CB Princess July 9,2005 and when we were on St.Marteen we saw so many dogs dying. I have e-mailed apriest in charge of tourism in St. Marteen about starting a Humane Society as the other Islands are doing but he ignores the e-mails. Maybe if enough cruisers would e-mail St.Marteen tourism they would do something about it. I am an animal lover and hate to get off at some of the Islands due to conditions. I stay on board and have the ship to myself.

 

I was not aware of this problem. This was the only dog I saw and you could clearly see the animal was not in good health. I was shocked how it would just lie there while thousands of tourists walked by and over it without even really noticing it.

 

We love St. Maarten and plan to go back in the future for a longer stay. I will send an e-mail to the Dept. of Tourism to voice my concerns about this issue.

 

Thanks!

[MizzouMary]

I really enjoyed your photo albums. Thanks for taking the time to post a review AND pictures!

 

You are welcome! A review is actually a good way to let others know about a cruise experience while it also serves as a great keepsake to be enjoyed for years to come. It is hard to remember details from a cruise after months and years go by so I try to document them while on board or as soon as I get home.

 

I have received so much helpful information and wonderful tips on this website that I almost feel obligated to help other future cruises, but that is just me!

 

Thanks again for the kind words!

 

Mary

[ho]

Hi Mary,

 

Great review. Wish we could have hooked up more then just the sail away party. I guess that is one of the disadvantages of a big ship, you just don't see everyone as much as you would like. I did talk to the Philly chicks out by the pool every once in a while but that was about it, never saw anyone else. I wish we had done the Catamaran sail, it sounded like fun.

 

We thought the ship was great had no problem with P.C dinning, we were able to get a table for two without waiting more then 10 minutes on any of the three times we ate in the dinning room. We also ate upstairs and at the steak house. We found Burte Stratton the second night and went to both his shows every night except the night he only had one long one in the big lounge. He was the best entertainer we have seen on any of our previous cruises. The only real negative we had was Princess Cays but overall we had a great time. For the price, I think it was one of our better cruises. Thanks for the review and all the work you did on the roster.

 

Ho

[Coolcruise02]

Thanks for a great review! :)

[MizzouMary]

Hi Mary,

 

Great review. Wish we could have hooked up more then just the sail away party. I guess that is one of the disadvantages of a big ship, you just don't see everyone as much as you would like. I did talk to the Philly chicks out by the pool every once in a while but that was about it, never saw anyone else. I wish we had done the Catamaran sail, it sounded like fun.

 

We thought the ship was great had no problem with P.C dinning, we were able to get a table for two without waiting more then 10 minutes on any of the three times we ate in the dinning room. We also ate upstairs and at the steak house. We found Burte Stratton the second night and went to both his shows every night except the night he only had one long one in the big lounge. He was the best entertainer we have seen on any of our previous cruises. The only real negative we had was Princess Cays but overall we had a great time. For the price, I think it was one of our better cruises. Thanks for the review and all the work you did on the roster.

 

Ho

 

Hello Ho! Thanks! I had fun writing the review, although you always think of things you forgot after the fact. I noticed I accidentally put the wrong cabin # (A320 instead of A312). You would think you would know your own cabin # after a week! Although, we did drink quite a bit so I guess I can understand how I could forget!

 

We are glad we got to meet you and Cindi at the party after the muster drill. It was a lot of fun. We would have liked to spend more time with you throughout the cruise too. We kept running into the same people the whole week, it seemed. I only saw a few people from our CC party. Yes, you should have gone on the catamaran with us. You would have had a BLAST! It was a really good time. We are off to Vegas in two weeks (we'll be thinking about you!) and then we are on the Sapphire Princess in Jan. Maybe we'll run into each other or see each other around town sometime. I believe you and your wife just work at the bottom of the hill about 1/4 mile from our house? Small world!

 

Unfortunately, we did not catch Burte Stratton's show. Guess we should have. We have heard from quite a few people that he is great. We thought the same about Princess Cays, too.

 

Again, nice meeting you!

 

Take care,

 

Mary

[foreverr]

Mary-

 

You look quite familiar. And I happen to be from KC, also. So, I'm sitting here wondering how I know you (or the face anyway)......did you happen to attend CMSU? I'm from St. Louis originally, attended CMS then relocated from StL to Gladstone in '94. Since then I've defected to KS....I'm in Western Shawnee.........and I don't forget faces........

 

ANYWAY, looks like you really enjoyed your cruise. I am booked on the CB for Feb. 11th, a couple days after my 40th b-day.

 

Thanks for the review and pics....look forward to hearing from you.

 

Lori

Hi Lori, tried to get your e-mail but not lucky. My entire family will be on the same cruise as you. Maybe enough people can meet at a cruise critic reception. Let me know Arlene