Caribbean Princess Review

[david d]

Just got back and I thought I would give a short review. Over all--very very good. It is a huge ship. While there are a lot of passengers, it generally did not seem cramped. No problem with space at the pool. Only issue is dinner. With that many on Board, you do need to make reservations if you are doing any time dining. We had 3400 sailing. If you went down at 7 with no reservation you are waiting.

 

Staff is very friendly and helpful. Excellent entertainment. Amazing amount of it. Food was great. Love the fact that food is available all of the time. Ex. lunch doesn't end at 1:30 and the grills and pizza are almost always open.

 

Love the frsh water pools--this alone is reason to sail Princess. Reasonable drinks--compared to Celebrity--ex. martini is 4.95 v. 6.95 on Celeb.

 

Fun Zone was average. Poor programs but nice baby sitting. Internet Cafe was awful. Hard time getting on the internet and if you did took a long time--and at .35 a minute.

 

Over all we were very happy and would sail Princess again. Anyone sailing on this ship will have an excellent time.

 

Feel free to ask me questions. I will respond for all to see.

[cruzenmama]

David...thanks for the review. I am assuming that the dinner problem was with PC and not traditional. What was the buffet lines like at breakfast? This seemed to be a problem with last weeks cruise.

 

Jeanne-Marie

 

Caribbean Princess 10/16/2004

Triumph 4/26/2003

Triumph 4/13/2002

Sensation 96-01

Destiny 97

Costa Victoria 99

Horizon 95

Noordam 89

 

[Lisaanne]

Thanks for your review so quickly. I have a few questions for the Eastern itinerary--When are the formal nights? Is there any entertainment NOT to be missed?We would like to experience Movies under the Stars, but I don/t want to miss great entertainment on that evening. Are there any special nooks and crannies we should know about? Thanks!!

Glad you had a great time--only 34 more days for us!!!

 

Lisaanne

 

Crown Monarch 1992

Sensation 5/01

Imagination 5/02

Horizon 12/02

Paradise 5/03

Carribean Princess 5/04

Holland Oosterdam 12/04

 

[LovingFL]

I understand that PC dinning has been an issue with the Caribbean Princess since its first sailing. I am only to assume it's because of the additional passengers with no additional dining space. However, I don't understand why they wouldn't open the Horizon Court buffet to give an additional option along with Cafe Carib...

By any chance was the Balcony Dinner an option on your sailing? If so, did you try it? From what I've read, this option was added to help with the over-crowding of the dining rooms. But was not available on the 4/3 sailing.

I'm glad to hear you had a great cruise.

 

Mark

 

 

Caribbean Princess 9/04 (Labor Day Cruise)

Grand Princess 10/03 (Halloween Cruise)

[CruiseFever]

Thanks for sharing your highlights with us, we've been starving for any and all info since the CP was launched!

 

Happy Cruising

 

Chris

 

www.LifeIsCruising.com

 

Next up:

Caribbean Princess 06/26/04

Star Princess 10/24/04

Carnival Victory 12/19/04

Carnival Miracle 03/13/05

 

[SWEETSEA]

Thanks for the review, david. Please tell us what nights were formal nights on the Eastern cruise. Also, where were you docked in St. Thomas (Havensight?) Did you think the Movie sound was very loud on the lido deck? Any tips for those of us who will be cruising on the CP in the next few weeks?

[minnjudy]

Thanks David! Glad you had a nice time.

Were there wild teens on your cruise, too? I hope not. That is a lot of people!

Tell us about your cabin. Where was it and were you pleased.

You were Western itinery, right?

Thanks for any and all info!

 

RC Nordic Empress 1/92 Bahamas

 

RC Enchantment W Carib 1/01

 

Legend to Hawaii 3/03

 

Next:

Carib Princess E Carib 6/04

[nick1234]

Please tell me if my husband is in a sports jacket and dress pants will he be allowed in for formal night. He REALLY doesnt want to wear a suit. I will be dressed in a long black skirt and a fancy top.

 

Ali

[Bucky3]

Thanks for your review. Was the Horizon Court open for buffet dinner or just the Caribe Cafe? There seemed to be some confusion about this from those on the first cruise.

[Scarlet Knight]

nick1234,

 

Many gentlemen were wearing sport jackets on formal nights. No problem. I saw some wearing ties and no jackets (in the minority). Very few wearing dinner jackets (tuxedos). Your outfit sounds very appropriate.

 

From the looks of it, it appeared to me that the purpose of formal night was to get you to dress up, take many pictures of you and then sell you the pitures. The atrium was filled with so many photographers and backdrops you could barely walk through it ;-)

[david d]

I have no idea when the formal nights will be on the eastern. We sailed the western and they were Mon. and Wed. Magician was great and so were all of the comedians. I have a feeling they will not be the same as they were coming and going on our cruise. The only nook and cranny that I can think of is kind of personal to my body so I'd rather not say.

 

Horizon was not open for formal dinners. Not sure if the balcony dinner was available since I didn't inquire. I don't think it was as no one talked about it.

 

Some wild teens. Sport coat on formal night is fine.

[nancyrg]

David:

Can you please tell me who the art director was on the ship?

thanks

Nancy

[jillita]

We just got back from the Caribbean Princess, also! It was great! The Movies Under the Stars was a lot of fun. We watched a 10:30pm movie and the sound was great. It was a moderately windy night, but the wool blankets they passed out kept you nice and warm (the popcorn was good, too!)

 

Our room was on the Lido deck. There was no problem with noise either from the pool area or the movies. It was really nice to be so close to everything.

 

As far as formal nights, we dressed up just because we don't at home and we find it fun to do something different! But you see people wearing everything although it would be nice if most people would at least make an attempt to look nice. We didn't do the portraits this year, but they don't make you feel like you are being sold during formal night. You can take it or leave it. The teenages that were with us made it a point to go to many of the photographers and take some serious portraits and some that were quite funny. They bought a few, but had fun getting them taken. We were on the Golden last year for the Eastern Caribbean and the formal nights were, I believe, Sunday night and Thursday. They were both at sea days.

 

I also didn't feel like the ship was overrun with teenagers. It was crowded and lots of them onboard, but ours were some of the good ones, I guess, but we didn't really notice others acting wild. We also didn't do Skywalkers since we spent too much time in the sun to stay out too late!

 

Many people were very worried about the ship feeling very crowded. Just wanted to let you know that there were plenty of deck chairs and all that to go around. Some people didn't like the fact that the best spots were taken early, but if you don't get out there early, you don't get the good seats! We got up around 7:30 - 8:00 and the best spots to sit were taken up at about that time. If you don't care how far you are from pool, you can always find a chair.

 

We thought the ship was great. Had a great time. CD wasn't as good as Graham Seymour, but hard to compare to someone that good. The only criticism I really had is that the Vista Show Lounge is much better then the new Club Fusion. A lot of the shows that were done in the Vista are now done in the Explorers Lounge which doesn't have enough seating. And the way Club Fusion is layed out, the sight lines are terrible if you want to see the "stage" area. They put up a lot of TV monitors everywhere, but if I wanted to watch TV, I would have stayed in my room!

 

Enjoy!!!

 

Grand Princess-Grand Mediterrenean July 1, 2005!

Caribbean Princess-Western Caribbean April 10, 2004

Golden Princess-Eastern Caribbean February 22, 2003

 

[Guest]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR> Please tell me if my husband is in a sports jacket and dress pants will he be allowed in for formal night. He REALLY doesnt want to wear a suit. I will be dressed in a long black skirt and a fancy top. <HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR> Many gentlemen were wearing sport jackets on formal nights. No problem. I saw some wearing ties and no jackets (in the minority). Very few wearing dinner jackets (tuxedos). Your outfit sounds very appropriate.

 

From the looks of it, it appeared to me that the purpose of formal night was to get you to dress up, take many pictures of you and then sell you the pitures. The atrium was filled with so many photographers and backdrops you could barely walk through it ;-) <HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

 

Tells me all I need to know about Caribbean Princess...

 

-------------------------

Sun Princess, 03/2004; Pacific Princess, 07/2003; Star Princess, 05/2003; Grand Princess, 10/2002; Grand Princess, 10/2002; Sun Princess, 05/2001; Sun Princess, 04/2001; Sun Princess, 09/2000; Sun Princess, 09/2000; Regal Princess, 10/1999; Sun Princess, 08/1998; Holiday, 05/1998; Westerdam, 09/1997; Regal Princess, 11/1996; Royal Odyssey, 09/1995; Starward, 11/1993

 

 

[david d]

Which is what? You say the quotes tell you all you need to know about Caribbean Princesss and I am curious as to what that is.

[demisod]

Not the proper respect for formal nights, I take it.

[spongerob]

Surprisingly enough, people who travelled with their children and teens seemed more enthused with the dress-up thing on formal night than the older passengers. The proportion of those who dressed for formal night and those who didn't was about the same as what you see everywhere else. There always seems to be plenty of older gentlemen who refuse to dress according to guidelines.

 

Coming up:

Caribbean Princess Apr 3/04

Golden Princess Apr 10/04

Tahitian Princess Oct 14/04

[Guest]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR> Surprisingly enough, people who travelled with their children and teens seemed more enthused with the dress-up thing on formal night than the older passengers. The proportion of those who dressed for formal night and those who didn't was about the same as what you see everywhere else. There always seems to be plenty of older gentlemen who refuse to dress according to guidelines.

<HR></BLOCKQUOTE> 'rob...glad to see you're back and posting. Have been waiting for you to weigh in on Caribbean Princess...for a while there I thought maybe you just didn't get off the ship!

 

-------------------------

Sun Princess, 03/2004; Pacific Princess, 07/2003; Star Princess, 05/2003; Grand Princess, 10/2002; Grand Princess, 10/2002; Sun Princess, 05/2001; Sun Princess, 04/2001; Sun Princess, 09/2000; Sun Princess, 09/2000; Regal Princess, 10/1999; Sun Princess, 08/1998; Holiday, 05/1998; Westerdam, 09/1997; Regal Princess, 11/1996; Royal Odyssey, 09/1995; Starward, 11/1993

 

 

[spongerob]

Thanks for the welcome back! We snuck in a week on the Golden Princess following the CP's inaugural. I'm glad we did - it was the best cruise yet for us. I'll post some comments about the Caribbean Princess soon.

 

Just completed:

Caribbean Princess Apr 3/04

Golden Princess Apr 10/04

Coming up:

Tahitian Princess Oct 14/04