Caribbean Princess June 1st-13th 2016:we had a wonderful time

[kbklcamp]

Hope you'll tell us more. Wonderful trip

 

 

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[sagittarius]

Thanks to those people who are reading...just wish I could be more amusing just like some reviews I've read. Sadly while I can relate an amusing tale in person when I try to put it in writing the humour seems to disappear. And I'll have to learn how to post some photos from the trip too.

[Woobstr112G]

Thanks for posting your review. Reading it gets me more excited for September 5th.....:):):)

 

Bob

[sagittarius]

DAY SEVEN : AT SEA

 

Not sure anyone would be at all thrilled by a description of our day at sea. Only two on this trip and must admit I really like sea days. And to be honest I would like to be on this ship when we had more of them and maybe when it was slightly warmer. There was a lot of chatter on the forums that there isn't enough seating areas when there are several cool sea days in a row. I wonder if on this trip the hectic nature meant that when we had this sea day a lot of people slept in, sat on their balcony and generally weren't about!! We usually found somewhere to sit and on deck out the back of Caribe Cafe was very quiet but a great place to watch sea birds etc. I also like the area near the spa which was less crowded and had hot tubs!! The gym looks great but we didn't make it inside, normally we'd have used it every day. I'm sure there were all sorts of activities laid on which we completely missed so no help with info there either. The area around the IC is very popular but we did get to find seats on several occasions. There were times during this sea day when I did wonder where all the people were hiding.

 

We did try to watch a film on the outside screen despite the chill, even though it was still light it was quite cool. So with several blankets from the crew member who was in charge of handing them out...I had to sign for them!!! And trying to sit so the sun wasn't in our eyes, and still be away from ship's vent noise was interesting. However when the ship entered a fog bank and had to sound the fog horn every two minutes we gave up and went inside to watch a show instead.

 

Just remembered that at Greenock port there was a distillery handing out free samples of whisky..very civilised start to the day.

[sagittarius]

DAY EIGHT: ORKNEY

 

We were really looking forward to visiting Orkney, this is the port that is alternated with Liverpool and we used to live not far from Liverpool and have visited several times so for us to get to Orkney was very much a deciding factor in choosing this sailing. As another CC poster, Shogun often praises this place and mentioned Neolithic sites we read up on this. We even had The National Geographic with one of the sites featured on the front cover. We knew these would be our focus and felt that a small group tour would be the best way to do this. Thinking I was really ahead of the game made enquiries with a few tour operators only to discover they already had people booked and we had to decide fairly soon or we would miss out. We went on a 15 person tour with Orkney Aspects, run by a lady called Pat Stone. On other roll calls there was a lot of grumbling about the pay in full up front and no refund if ship doesn't dock. But this is their livelihood and they have a short season and if ship doesn't arrive they don't have lots of other tourists just waiting about. So it is what it is and it does appear that mostly the ship gets in.

 

Our tour was full with cruisers, some of whom we'd met at the meet and greet and with whom we were touring another day. We had a lovely guide, Ann who while not a local knew her stuff about the area. And a bus driver named Attila!! We visited the cathedral in Kirkwall, St Mungo's, which was quite impressive. (The weather was much cooler today and there seemed to rain about but it didn't spoil the day.) There are other little museums/places of interest in Kirkwall which we didn't have time to see, as we then set off to Skara Brae! This is the Neolithic village which was discovered in the late 1800s after a severe storm uncovered it. Older than the pyramids and everything made from stone as very few trees on Orkney. We also went into the nearby Skaill House which I think was the home of the people who owned the land on which Skara Brae was found.

 

Lunch was included and we travelled to Birsay village to Birsay Bay Tearoom for the most wonderful meal. Local produce, including but not limited to, mackerel, smoked salmon cheeses, salad with Scottish oatcakes, chutneys etc. Followed by scones with cream and jam, variety of cakes made by the owner of the tearooms. All complimented by tea/coffee served with a stunning view of the water. Feeling very full we went to Maes Howe an ancient burial chamber, how Neolithic man constructed it using huge blocks from miles away is a mystery not yet solved.The entrance tunnel lines up exactly with the Rays of the sun at midwinter. Impressive.

 

Finally we went to The Ring of Brogdar which is of early Stonehenge construction and if memory serves a larger circle. How the stones got there and set upright is anyone's guess. The Ness of Brogdar will continue to be excavated for a few short weeks this summer and it is looking to be an even larger site than Skara Brae.

 

There were other places of interest we didn't get to like The Italian Chapel built by POWs during WW2 and Scapa Flow nor did we have lots of time to watch the local wildlife or explore the countryside.

 

But this day despite being cool and a little grey was certainly a highlight. If you get chance I would urge you to visit. Yet another place to put on the list of places I would love to visit again. Lots more information on all the historic sites online so please check them out.

[sagittarius]

Was trying to upload photos of Guernsey just to see if I could!! And it's a bit small. So now to find how to make it bigger and upload more than one at a time.

Edited July 23, 2016 by sagittarius

[Shogun]

Hi sagittarius

 

Glad you enjoyed Kirkwall, pity you missed the chapel you must have driven past it,

 

did you try any local black pudding, or a dram of Highland Park,

 

so much in a tiny place, wish more folks would visit.

 

 

http://www.undiscoveredscotland.co.uk/eastmainland/italianchapel/

 

 

yours Shogun

[sagittarius]

Hi sagittarius

 

Glad you enjoyed Kirkwall, pity you missed the chapel you must have driven past it,

 

did you try any local black pudding, or a dram of Highland Park,

 

so much in a tiny place, wish more folks would visit.

 

 

http://www.undiscoveredscotland.co.uk/eastmainland/italianchapel/

 

 

yours Shogun

 

Would love to spend a week on the island to do some bird watching, visit the distilleries and sample the local whisky etc. will have to start doing the lottery and hope to win so that I can return. A spectacular place and lovely people.

[OCruisers]

Thanks so very much for posting this. :)

We'll be on Caribbean Princess for 22 days in January!

[sagittarius]

DAY NINE : INVERGORDON/INVERNESS

 

We were booked on a small group tour, organised by Tania via CC roll call. So many thanks to al her hard work in sourcing/researching the options and putting together the itinerary. We met at the IC and we're off the ship fairly quickly. We had little trouble finding our driver/ guide for the day and he was wearing a kilt as promised! John was an excellent guide who was very knowledgeable and having worked at several of the historic sites in the area knew a lot of the staff which proved useful. We headed off to Cawdor Castle, the furthest away place on our list and reputedly the castle in Macbeth. (Actually highly unlikely as not built till later). When we arrived it wasn't open and not due to open for at least an hour but fate was on our side...castle staff arriving as opening early because there was a cruise ship docked in nearby Invergordon. Score one to us, and as John knew a couple of them they let us into the gardens and opened up the toilets, then went to set up for the day. To be honest the gardens were magnificent and I could have spent longer there. But we wanted to be ahead of the first big tour group so got ourselves into the castle proper. It's still someone's home for at least part of the year.

 

John had discovered that 6 on this trip had either read/watched (or done both) Outlander which is set in The Highlands and he too had seen some of the TV show. We knew of the show but had not seen any of it nor read any of the books. Our next stop was Clava Cairns, standing stones and possible real location for start of the book. I hadn't realised how many standing stones locations there are in Scotland but it's a lot. This place is quite wonderful and during the Victorian era when the English became bit besotted with Scotland lots of trees were planted all around and the place did have quite a spiritual air to it.

 

We next went to Culloden battlefield which has an impressive looking exhibition centre, which we didn't have time to visit but John had worked there and was able to take us onto the battlefield and explain how the battle was won and lost. We learned a lot about the Highlanders fought normally and how incredibly fierce and fearless they could be. The Scots had won several battles in their quest to put Charles on the Scottish throne but the defeat at Culloden was an annihilation and afterwards the English slaughtered the population.

 

We ate at the cafe area here and of course we had to have haggis, and followed that with a locally made ice cream. We headed off to Loch Ness for a boat trip and visit to Urqhart Castle. We didn't see Nessie but the scenery on the way there was glorious and the sun was shining and it was warm. The only downside was the amount of people visiting the castle ruins which was very busy. The drive back to the ship was done along back roads to avoid the inevitable heavy traffic on the main roads as John was very conscious of the need to get us back by all aboard, which we did with time to spare.

 

So glad we did this small group tour and the itinerary was great. Trying to visit these places as part of a large bus group would not have been as pleasant and we had a great time with a wonderful guide, from Happy Tours.

 

Once more we were piped away as we left.

 

And as a footnote there were episodes of Outlander on the entertainment on our long flight home which we watched and I've already got the first two books.

[sagittarius]

DAY TEN: EDINBURGH

 

Not as cold as in Guernsey but not as pleasant as previous Scottish ports. This a tender port and then not to Edinburgh itself but to South Queensferry which is still a way from the city. From reading a blog by Delorean Girl and posts by Tartan Exile I was aware of a couple of ways to get to Edinburgh that were cheaper than Princess offered tour. A local bus company offered a shuttle and prices seemed quite reasonable. But we opted for the train, which is a short walk and Delorean Girl had posted photos of the route, it wasn't always well signed. As we got off the tender the welcome party also had a hand drawn sketch showing the route. Quick phone photo and we were set. Signage has improved and it wasn't too far, the station is unmanned but has a ticket machine that accepts cards. We were able to get day returns and then found some extra tickets with receipt in the drawer. Asked on the platform but no-one responded and a train had recently gone through. However while on the train spoke to lovely American couple and it turned out to be their tickets. They hadn't realised they needed two tickets each, one for each journey. How spooky was that.

 

In Edinburgh we did the HOHO bus, a complete circuit, and sat outside upstairs till the rain was too heavy. The dense traffic meant we moved quite slowly with plenty of stopping so we got some great photos. The live commentary was fun too. We had already decided that the we'd not go to the castle as it would be very busy and would require more time than we had really. We'd also discovered a place called Real Mary King's Close which sounded quite intriguing. Originally a "close" a sort of alley where people lived, it was built over in 1700s and only recently has it been opened up to the public once more although through a guided tour operation. However it is very well done and really interesting. The tour lasts about an hour and is done by time slots.

 

We found a good pub for lunch and then had a walk along the Royal Mile and hopped back on the HOHO to get us closer to the train station. Getting back to South Queensferry we went to the pub there and sat and a beer watching people lining up for the tender. It was quite a late all aboard so we didn't feel the need to rush back and as a local ferry was being used we didn't have to wait too long once we joined the line.

 

That evening the captain announced that we wouldn't be going to Le Havre due to strikes there and would go to Zeebrugge which is the port for Bruges. As we've been to Paris this wasn't too much of a disappointment for us unlike for some. But tomorrow is our only other sea day and I was was grateful for a rest.

[Keith1010]

Enjoyed your report.

 

Keith

[Shogun]

Hi Sagittarius

Did you see the Nessie sign,

 

For all cruise ship passengers guaranteed sightings the day after you board your ship, sounds like you enjoyed Scotland we might be small but have much to offer the visitor , so only the only question is when are coming back,

Yours Shogun

[sagittarius]

Hi Sagittarius

Did you see the Nessie sign,

 

For all cruise ship passengers guaranteed sightings the day after you board your ship, sounds like you enjoyed Scotland we might be small but have much to offer the visitor , so only the only question is when are coming back,

Yours Shogun

 

Had been to other parts of Scotland when still lived in England just not these parts. As child had father who was obsessed with Scotland, not drop of Scottish blood mind, so did Scottish country dancing etc usually took male part as we were short on boys so even worn a kilt, ate haggis on a regular basis, listened to lot of bagpipe music and admired men in kilts!!! As older person even involved in hogmany first footing. It's a bloody long way from sydney so may be a while before we make it but would love to revisit soon.

[Shogun]

Hi sagittarius

 

I know the feeling about the distance, have friends that keep inviting us to visit,

 

but just to go down under to spend 12 days there just does not add up,

 

want to see NZ as well so need to be away for a month,

 

yours Shogun

[tml1230]

Sagittarius....earlier in your cruise i thanked you for your posting about your cruise....a week or so later ,i know have about 3 extra pages of notes and research for our August cruise...thanks again so very much for all the tips and insights.

[sagittarius]

DAY ELEVEN SEA DAY

 

Not a lot to say really as we did very little other than got up, ate meals and rested. Looked at whether to head out to Bruges, which we had been to before and it's a Sunday, seems like a hassle to DYI it and it's a shortish day. Sadly the weather was cool so our hope of some time in The Sanctuary was soon dismissed. We bought some duty free alcohol. Gosh what boring people we are.

 

But the do nothing was what we needed to recharge the batteries as we were off to spend time with family in the UK and be part of our son's wedding.

 

I will try to post something about the shows, our view of the food and other general comments about the ship, which may or may not be of help to others.

[srpilo]

Great report !!

 

 

Thanks

Srpilo

[sagittarius]

Final thoughts

 

Bit of a delay in finishing this review as hubby went to have his knee replacement op and life got bit hectic. Our thoughts on Caribbean Princess, (and this is the biggest ship we'd sailed on as until recently we didn't get the bigger ships down in Australia.) and so we were unsure how we'd go. Plus all the negative comments meant we were careful not to set our expectations too high. It's such a port intensive cruise that we went with the mindset that as long as we had a bed and access to edible food we'd be fine.

 

Well we really liked this ship. Being bigger it had some extra spots that Dawn, Sun, Sea don't have like anytime dining, Sabatini's, more pools and hot tubs, International Cafe to name a few. We appreciated that there were more members of the entertainment group. And the shows were very enjoyable and we saw several we'd not seen previously. We particularly enjoyed Bravo which was music from opera etc with guest soloist who was very good. There was one show that didn't seem to gel and we felt that the special effects etc were driving the show rather than the music. Guest performers were good too. And again sailing from UK meant we saw different people than we've seen from Australia. We didn't experience any problem in finding seats in the theatre and didn't get there very early either. The place did fill up for some of the shows though.

 

We were planning on trying Anytime Dining but in the end never made it to the dining room. I know lots of people have reservations about the buffet with regards to hygiene but we really like Princess salad bar and there were evenings when we didn't feel we could face the wait at the dining room, either to get a table or being served etc. The long light nights meant that Horizon Court felt really spacious and we never had a problem finding a table with a view of the sea. We did eat at Sabatini's one evening which was very pleasant. But never made it to pizza lunch which was a shame as Princess pizza is usually very good. With regards to food, we never went hungry and though there were times when the offerings were ordinary there were also some really good meals too. It's not Michelin star quality menus but we knew that. Personally I often find the desserts look better than they taste which is great for the waist line. Although do like the fruit tartlets!! Liked lot of the offerings in International Cafe and had to be restrained with how often I visited. I wonder if being the port intensive itinerary helped but there wasn't an outbreak of the dreaded norovirus which was a bonus. Or maybe we had cruisers who were hygiene aware.

 

I'm starting to believe I'm one of the few people who has never found the beds onboard uncomfortable and always sleep well when sailing. On the other hand I find the pillows too soft and would prefer different types. And we cope well with the shower, don't find them too small. Although I wish they would provide larger bath towels as I have to take the deck ones for use in the cabin. There were plenty on deck rather than having them in the cabin. We were fortunate that we didn't encounter any issues with non functioning toilet, leaking showers or unpleasant smells.

 

The pools were very warm which was good as the weather wasn't but we did swim a few times. We didn't get to the gym and we normally use the gym every day while away. Looked good though. But the weather/itinerary meant not a lot of sun bathing went on so no problem with "chair hogs". We enjoyed sitting out at the back of ship on the two sea days we had.

 

We really enjoyed meeting plenty of people from America and Canada as well as lots of Brits too, and mostly everyone seemed to be enjoying their trip.

 

In conclusion we would be quite happy to sail on this ship again.

[easyboy]

Thanks for sharing.

[UT-Volsfan]

Thanks for the report. We've been on 2 cruises on the Caribbean Princess in the past 9 months and are boarding her again in 23 days for another trans-Atlantic. So it's nice to see some good reports. Your report makes us wish we were already aboard.

[Lucky TGO]

Very nice review thanks!! :)

Tony

[Colo Cruiser]

Thanks.

[sagittarius]

Thanks for reading along. We did have a wonderful time and thankfully didn't experience any of the negative issues that others have posted previously. Only irritant was Princess decision to not provide an in cabin TV guide but have the tedious scrolling guide on the TV. Glad to read lots of the rest of you hate it too. Let's hope Princess listen to us.

 

When we can afford would love to try one of the newer/bigger ships now based down under.

[satxdiver]

Thanks for reading along. We did have a wonderful time and thankfully didn't experience any of the negative issues that others have posted previously. Only irritant was Princess decision to not provide an in cabin TV guide but have the tedious scrolling guide on the TV. Glad to read lots of the rest of you hate it too. Let's hope Princess listen to us.

 

When we can afford would love to try one of the newer/bigger ships now based down under.

 

I don't recall Princess ever publishing a TV guide. There is one channel on the TV that lists current programs however. All I need is the channel for CNN and Love Boat reruns.