Review of 10/8-15 cruise

[WOOFIE]

Well here it comes. My review. Ok, here goes.

 

Embarkation went really smooth. We stayed at the Hampton Inn North on Friday and had the shuttle take us to the Port at 11:30 am. We were on board before 12:45. The lines moved rather quickly.

 

MUTS is OK. Nothing to write home about. I thought that during the day the volumn was rather loud. We were sitting at a couple of tables playing dominoes and couldn't hear each other talk. Although when we went up to watch the Monday night Steeler game the volumn was turned way down. Those of us there watching the game had to keep hollering for the sound to be turned up! Finally it was. Then it started to rain. We ended up watching the rest of the game in our room.

 

Food was nothing to rave about either, except the hamburger served at the pool. We had traditional seating..late, and were supposed to eat at the Island dining room. In order for all of us to eat together they changed us to the Palm. What a disaster!. We ended up only eating in that room 3 times. The first time was on Sailaway night to meet the staff that would be waiting on us, but we were put at a different table and the waiter was exceptionally rude. Most of the dinners were eaten in the Caribe cafe. But here I have some gripes. There seems to be no rhyme or reason to the setup in there. Put the butter with the rolls, not the cheese! You did have to look for things. And don't get me started on the Horizon. Again, what's with people coming in both ways. You had to cut in line and I felt uncomfortable with that. The coffee was the worst! The only great meal we ate was at Sterlings. That was definitely worth the extra money.

 

Room..I was totally shocked when I opened our stateroom door. First thing was the smell of cigarettes. We are non smokers and our room reeked. I asked our steward if there was anything he could do about it and he did come in and spray, but the smell was there. We even had cigarette burns in the bed spread!. Then there was the issue of the shower curtain smelling sour. I had ask for a clean one. Again our steward complied. He was great. Always smiling and anything we asked for he did. Next was the size of the room. We had a balcony on Aloha deck and the room was way smaller than the one we had on Voyager. There really wasn't a place to lay things. You either had the desk or the pain in the butt chair that either was in front of the fridge or in front of the desk???. The bed was fine. Once we hit the sack we were out like a light.

 

Entertainment was good. We just loved Bert..Bert with an E!. Saw him every chance we got. Bought both his CD and DVD. The comedian Carl Strong was quite funny. The hypnotist Alexander was good too. We ended up having one of our party hypnotized. Laughed...a lot. Kamika was good too...but again a little loud on the volumn in the theater.

 

Casino was ...Ehh. We didn't venture in there all that much because of the cigarette smell. We played a little and watched our family members play, but that was it.

 

Layout of the ship was for sure confusing. It took us most of the trip just to find our way around. And this ship did rock and roll....the whole trip.

 

Passenger Service desk left a lot to be desired. The girl who waited on my sister and on me was rather short and curt with us. That shouldn't be. They're there to help you, not act as if you're an inconvience to them.

 

Disembarkation was a breeze. We were one of the first ones off the ship and had no problems at all. Found our luggage and went right out to our shuttle.

 

All in all I was very disappointed in this cruise ship. Being only on one other cruise and on a different cruise line I can't help but compare the two. It's the little things that make a cruise a great one. On our first cruise we had the little towel critters every night on our bed. It was great to come into the room and see what little animal was left there. And the grand buffet that had all the carvings of ice and fruit and bread and butter and chocolate was another treat. And eating in a dining room where you are treated like a special person. We didn't have that with this cruise.

And that's a shame. All in all we did have a great time. Would I cruise on this line again....no. Maybe not all the ships in the Princess fleet are like this one, I don't know. But I do know I won't be doing this one again.

[senior lady]

What ship where you on???:confused:

[WOOFIE]

I'm so sorry about that. It was the Caribbean Princess.

[laurashelby]

Wow, sounds like you didn't enjoy much of your cruise...sorry to hear that. What cabin on the Aloha were you in?

[cynbar]

Sorry to hear that your cruise didn't meet your expectations. I haven't cruised on the Caribbean Princess, but it sounds to me as if the extra deck of passengers isn't helping her at all!! There's also no excuse for poor service in the DR, I agree that is part of a great cruise --- but in fairness, it's sort of luck of the draw, I've had less than excellent waiters on both RCCL and Celebrity. But I do have to mention that two of the things you missed --- the towell animals and the gala midnight buffets ---- are not part of the Princess line and, frankly, aren't missed at all by a lot of us. Doing your homework and reading these CC boards can go a long way in helping you pick the cruise that is right for you. The major cruise lines all seem to have different strengths and they all seem to have their devoted fans -- and thank goodness this is true, so we can happily spread ourselves around!!

[WOOFIE]

laurashelby,

 

We were in A334. Don't get me wrong. We all had a great time. A cruise is what you make it. My nephew arranged this cruise. He had previously sailed on Princess as did my sister-in-law and they all raved about the line. But that was in the 90's. Times change as do cruise lines. They both won't be doing this line again. I know that I expected more and I did know that the towel critters weren't going to be there, but I still say that for a first time cruiser, these little things make a big difference. I'm not a first time cruiser but my sister and her husband were and she kept asking about the different things she had seen on commercials. All I could say was, " They don't do that on this ship." Oh well. But all in all we had a wonderful time and all of us are looking forward to our next cruise.

[bdjam]

It’s unfortunate that the original poster’s experience didn’t live up to that of their cruise on RCI, but different people like different cruise lines for different reasons. If you take a look at the number of “live from” threads on this board, you’ll see that for the most part the Princess experience is a favorable one. Unfortunately it seems that it’s more difficult to carry off that experience on the mega-liner ships. All the more reason to stay away from them in my opinion.

 

Interesting comments in regard to the movement of the ship and the towel animals...what was mentioned as negatives - ships moving and no towel animals - would be positives in my view.

[ralphandalisa]

We were on the Caribbean Princess last summer and we thought almost everything was great. BTW, our room steward DID make towel animals for our eight year old daughter every nite of the trip, even the two extra days we got due to Jeanne and Frances keeping us out of port.

[DesrtDrmr]

I think that one's first cruise is ALWAYS special, and when one cruises on a different line for that second cruise, it NEVER meets your expectations. Our first cruise was on HAL, and we LOVED it, and our second cruise was on RCCL, and we walked around the whole time saying "THIS wouldn't be so on HAL", "HAL had better food", etc, etc. :) By our third cruise, on Princess, we kind of evened out. Now, we just appreciate each line for what it is.........BUT due to our own preferences, will never cruise out of San Juan again, even though we like to spend land vacations there.

I do hope you find your niche, Woofie, and enjoy the heck out of your next 75 cruises!

[yarlenna]

I guess WOOFIE wanted to have the "ranch steak" on RCCL.

[imsulin2]

I think that one's first cruise is ALWAYS special, and when one cruises on a different line for that second cruise, it NEVER meets your expectations. Our first cruise was on HAL, and we LOVED it, and our second cruise was on RCCL, and we walked around the whole time saying "THIS wouldn't be so on HAL", "HAL had better food", etc, etc. :) By our third cruise, on Princess, we kind of evened out. Now, we just appreciate each line for what it is.........BUT due to our own preferences, will never cruise out of San Juan again, even though we like to spend land vacations there.

I do hope you find your niche, Woofie, and enjoy the heck out of your next 75 cruises!

 

Good post, DesrtDrmr! I like each line for what it is and for what it offers. I have my favorites, but a good deal and destinations are important to me, too. I was on the CB last month, and noticed some of the same things as the OP (mainly the difficulty in navigating the ship. I thought I was the only one who had a problem with the butter being with the cheeses! Man...I tried to spread Feta cheese on my roll thinking it was butter!) Anyway, I've been on enough cruises and lines to have an idea of what to expect, and then just go with the flow!

[Shifra]

So sorry your Caribbean Princess experience was not to your liking. Princess may not be a good line for you, but you should also realize that Royal Caribbean ships are not all the same. You enjoyed the one you were on which doesn't mean you would enjoy them all.

 

My suggestion to you is try a few different lines & ships before really comparing and remember even different cruises on the same ship bring different experiences. Mostly though I have to agree with bdjam. I personally am not interested in the mega ships. I have not been on Caribbean Princess yet and probably won't be. I am sure it is a great ship but I prefer a quieter more relaxing atmosphere and the Grand class ship without MUTS is about as big as I want to go.

 

I hope your third & fourth cruise will be more satisfying.:)

[jennew]

We were also disappointed in our second cruise. Not badly...we just felt that it did not live up to the first one. I do understand the feeling.

[roe2ship]

We were on the Caribbean Princess last summer and we thought almost everything was great. BTW, our room steward DID make towel animals for our eight year old daughter every nite of the trip,

Same here. My kids were in another cabin and their room steward made towel animals for them too.

 

To the OP, I agree with your comment on the passenger service desk. Some of them really need to take a "friendly" class or two.