Caribbean Princess-11/13/16-11/19-16: "Full Moon, Sunsets, Fine Wine and Relaxation!"

[jimcradd]

Long story short, our flight was changed no fewer than 5 times while we waited. Who can say if it had been changed for the better? But because we waited, it had been changed for good. (For those who have followed my previous adventures, you will know that they are usually peppered with esoteric references to movies, music and pop culture. That was your first one. Anyone get it?)

 

That's from my favorite play...."Wicked"!! and very cleverly used

[ar1950]

......................... I call it the “Group W Bench.

..............................….

 

So you must have gotten the waiver....?? ;)

 

Always liked "Alice's Restaurant".

Edited November 22, 2016 by ar1950

[JimmyVWine]

Hilarious. :)

 

What kind of wine carrier do you have, JVW?

Making an appearance in the next post!

[JimmyVWine]

That's from my favorite play...."Wicked"!! and very cleverly used

Winner...and thank you!

[JimmyVWine]

So you must have gotten the waiver....?? ;)

 

Always liked "Alice's Restaurant".

 

With Thanksgiving being two days away, what could be more appropriate!

[JimmyVWine]

To be continued….

 

Day 1 (continued) (Here is where the photos will start)

 

Nothing creates a greater contrast than going from the masses of Ellis Island/Group W Bench than a sparsely populated, serene dining room. We were greeted warmly and shown to a table close to the entrance. After greeting our server and being handed our menus, my wife and I, one at a time, excused ourselves from the table to visit the restroom to wash our hands. I have a “thing” about what I call “mass transportation hands”. Shuttle buses, subway cars, waiting areas. Doesn’t matter. I can’t do a thing until I wash the masses off of my hands. After we ordered, I remembered that my typical routine was to use our cabin phone to call the DINE line to make Specialty Dining reservations. Our routine/tradition/habit is to skip the Sailaway and Landfall menus in the MDR and dine at Sabatini’s on the first night of the cruise and the Crown Grill on the last. This isn’t so much a tradition as it is a maneuver to avoid the two MDR menus that we least enjoy. And that was still our plan. But I was a bit thrown by not being in my cabin. However, since we planned to dine at Sabatini’s that night, I figured I would walk up the single flight of stairs and make a personal appearance, expecting to find someone there who could take my reservation. I arrived at the entrance and…..crickets. Nobody home. A server eventually approached me and told me that they could not take reservations in person and that I should call the DINE line. So I did an about-face, found the nearest house phone and dialed. The phone was answered in two rings and in about 90 seconds I had secured reservations for both our first and last night’s dinners.

 

This brings me to an interlude to discuss another recurring topic here on the Board—that of reservations and the dining line. As noted above, upon boarding, I had no difficulty making two dinner reservations at Specialty Restaurants. On each of the other four days I was able to make a reservation for the Coral Dining Room at 7:30, the time stated in the Patters when this dining room became available to Anytime diners. On three of those days I placed my call between 8:00 and 8:30 and the phone was answered within 3 rings. On the other day I could not call until we returned from our excursion at 3:45 and it took about 4 rings, after which I was placed in the queue with the recorded message telling me that the reservationists were all busy at the moment. But even then the wait was about 45 seconds and on all 4 days my first choice of dining time (7:30) was available to me. I know that people complain about not being able to get through, but I simply never experienced it. Not on this cruise or any previous cruise. As for the ability to make reservations for the Anytime Dining Rooms, well, I don’t make the rules. I won’t opine on whether this should or should not be allowed. All I can tell you is that on this cruise (and our previous cruise on the same ship), reservations were taken and were easy to obtain. And from what I could tell, they in no way fouled up the Anytime dining process. I can’t tell you what the situation was at the Island Dining Room between 5:30-7:30. All I can tell you is that at the Coral Dining Room from 7:30 onward, there was no issue with reservations or getting a table. There is a box outside the dining room that holds all of the electronic buzzers that are ostensibly given out to passengers who have to wait. On the four days that we dined in the Coral Dining Room, not a single one of these buzzers was taken out of its holster. After the Traditional folks vacated the premises, the dining room was a “walk-in” for the rest of the evening. We did not experience any issues with ATD, nor did we witness anyone else who did. Again, I cannot speak to people who tried to dine earlier in the Island Dining Room.

 

Back to lunch. I ordered the Beef Medallions and my wife had a Princess burger with fries. I have to this point in my cruising life avoided ordering too much beef, fearful of the end result. But I thought I would give this a try and boy was I impressed. In fact, this became more or less a theme of the cruise. The beef dishes were, with one possible exception which I will discuss later, excellent by any measure. I have seen others report here that they thought that Princess did a good job with its meat dishes, so I mustered up the courage to go heavy on meat during this cruise and I was not disappointed. My wife’s burger was perfectly fine, and the fries were, as always, stellar. Crispy outside, pillowy inside. And yes, there were rolls presented before the meal and they were terrific. And yes, there was a pewter dish of butter! We decided to skip dessert as we knew that the International Café would have just what we needed later in the afternoon.

 

With lunch completed and dinner reservations secured, we had checked off our two most important items but it was still well before 2:00. My wife suggested that we take a peek at our cabin to see if it really would take until 2:00 for occupancy. We rode an elevator up to the Dolphin Deck to discover that our room was fully cleaned and ready for us. It was now about 1:20 or so. Our luggage had not yet arrived, so I decided to take some photos before we messed the place up. So here are some standard cabin photos of a Mini-Suite. The view from the entry hallway:

 

 

The wine glasses that you see on the countertop our ones that we brought with us. They were nothing special, as we picked them up at Publix during a previous land vacation in Florida. Still, they were much more appropriate for drinking wine than even the best glasses in the dining rooms. Vines has some decent stems, but they don’t let those travel.

 

A view from the sofa:

 

 

The black case that you see at the side of the bed is the ballistic carrying case that I use for transporting wine. It is similar to ones that photographers and videographers use to transport their equipment. It goes under the plane, is extremely well insulated, and keeps wine safe and cool for hours.

 

Here is a promotional photo:

 

 

A closer view of the desk area.

 

 

The hair dryer is above the phone (you can just see the cord). On the right side of the desk is a glass object that looks like a votive candle. It is, only it holds a flameless candle. We take one to use as a nightlight and another to use on our balcony at night.

 

A view of the tub/shower area:

 

 

And this is as good a time as any to discuss the condition of the ship. Nowhere does its age reveal itself more so than in the bathrooms. But honestly, that sea foam green tile (to me) was dated the moment it was installed. Still, the tile looks rough in places as does the grout as seen in the corner of the tub. Just beneath the shower controller you can see a beige square which is actually a missing tile. There were a couple. But other than an obviously dated bathroom, we found the ship to be in fine shape. There was scraping, painting and varnishing going on continuously and no area that we visited looked like anything that should make eyes roll. It’s obviously not a new ship, but it isn’t a rust bucket by any stretch of the imagination. We were perfectly happy with the ship and I’ll bet you will be too. Everything worked. The water got plenty hot. The shower pressure was better than what I have at home. The E-Vac-U-ator toilet system evacuated everything it was supposed to. But if you must find fault, you probably will do so with the bathrooms.

 

A view of the sink area:

 

 

…with easy to find and use toilet paper!

[JimmyVWine]

Continued...

 

Shelving and safe:

 



 

Closet.

 

 

Not shown are the abundant hangers. But they are there.

 

Almost time to board my flight home, so I will have to end here. To be continued.

[KYBOB]

I am waiting for the pictures of the scene of the crime with circles and arrows.

[mellon1]

Enjoying your review. We are going on in January. When I called Princess about the beds, they told me the Caribbean Princess has the new mattresses in the mini suites and full suites. Did you find that true? They said that was getting reading for the Club Class. Actually, she said all the ships have them in these rooms. Thanks. Can't wait to hear more!

 

Mary

[XBGuy]

That wine tote is very nice.

 

I have some responses to some of your comments. My experience with beef dishes on Princess is quite variable. On our most recent cruise on the Ruby Princess, the beef that I had at our UBD and the lamb (Yes, I know that lamb and beef are different. Just go along with me, here.) that I had in the Crown Grill were both excellent. Both were very flavorful and quite tender. On three previous cruises on the Crown Princess I found the beef dishes to be inconsistent and, usually, disappointing--generally, overly chewy and lacking in flavor. These experiences were in the Crown Grill, Sabatini's and the UBD. I have to say, though, that the beef tenderloin served at the Chef's Table on the Crown in April was superb. The fact that every one of these cruises departed from San Pedro would cause me to question my opinion that the different ships offered different dining experiences, because you would think that they were provisioned by the same purveyor. Go figure.

 

Also, I am of the opinion that the effectiveness of the DINE line also varies from ship to ship. I have not had a problem using it to make Sabatini's and Crown Grill reservations on embarkation day. I have also had the experience of walking into Sabatini's on embarkation day and being told, no, I can't make a reservation in person. Interestingly, enough, we changed our routine on the last cruise on the Ruby and did, in fact, make reservations in person at both Share and Crown Grill on embarkation day. The problem I was having was contacting Room Service to make final arrangements for our UBD which I had booked prior to sailing. I was unable to contact them until early evening, just before we left our cabin for dinner.

 

So, again, I'm sure that the seemingly conflicting reports that I have seen here on Cruise Critic regarding the quality of beef dishes and the ease/difficulty of making dining reservations are all accurate. I really think it depends on the ship, and, in reality, it depends on the staff.

 

I'm really enjoying your reports, JVW, and look forward to the next one.

[Bimmer09]

Jimmy , old chap-permission to come aboard?

 

I'm happy to see you back on the waves. Last time was the Sapphire to Alaska I think?

 

You know that the MDR has Riedel glasses. I understand your need for good glasses in your cabin but there's no need to carry them around the ship. You just have to ask. The Princess Bormioli glasses are sad indeed.

 

Thanks for the scintillating narrative. I like a good long detailed read and the crisp photos help too. If I recall correctly you are a Nikon user?

 

I'm looking forward to the review unfolding as you are sailing on one of my favorite ships.

 

I remain yours etc, glued to my monitor.

 

Norris

[G&Gcruisers]

Thanks for this review. Just in time for us. We will be on this ship for the same itinerary in a few weeks.

Margie

[JimmyVWine]

Jimmy , old chap-permission to come aboard?

 

I'm happy to see you back on the waves. Last time was the Sapphire to Alaska I think?

 

You know that the MDR has Riedel glasses. I understand your need for good glasses in your cabin but there's no need to carry them around the ship. You just have to ask. The Princess Bormioli glasses are sad indeed.

 

Thanks for the scintillating narrative. I like a good long detailed read and the crisp photos help too. If I recall correctly you are a Nikon user?

 

I'm looking forward to the review unfolding as you are sailing on one of my favorite ships.

 

I remain yours etc, glued to my monitor.

 

Norris

Thanks for riding along. I did a report last April of a Eastern Caribbean itinerary on CB as well.

 

I know about the Riedels but they are really Sauvignon Blanc glasses. To small for my rigorous swirling.

 

I am using the same camera as yours Canon t3i.

[JimmyVWine]

Day 1 continued…with lots of details to follow.

 

With our cabin accessible to us, but no luggage yet, we decided to take the card that had been placed in our mail slot confirming the purchase of our Coffee Card down to the International Café for redemption. Whereas I am beyond redemption, the card was not. For the curious, if you pre-purchase OBC to use on the ship, or a Coffee Card or a bottle of liquor, you will receive a card in your mail slot upon your arrival that confirms and thanks you for your purchase. For the OBC, there is nothing more to do. It will appear on your account statement. For the tangible items, the card will tell you how to redeem them. For the Coffee Card, we were to present the card at the International Café where it would be exchanged for a sparkling new punch card. So that is what we did.

 

We headed down to the Piazza for the first of our daily afternoon routines of Espresso and a sweet. The White and Dark Chocolate Mousse won us over most days, but we did try to mix things up a bit. Here are some shots of the Piazza area:

 

 



 

This look just screams: “Too many choices. I just can’t decide!”

 

 

The bar and Café seating area. We never saw anyone “hogging” these chairs playing Cards, Scrabble, Canasta, Risk, Candyland, Chutes and Ladders, or any other activity that some folks here think is cause for being let off at the next port.

 

 

Indeed, Vines doesn’t open until 4:00, so there was plenty of auxiliary seating there for anyone who couldn’t otherwise find a seat in the immediate vicinity of the IC.

 

 

 

 

Caffeinated and sugar sated, we headed back to the cabin to prepare for the muster drill. Yes, you have to go. Yes, you have to bring your life jacket in hand, and yes, they did ask us to try it on to get familiar with it. Our cabin was assigned to the Casino, so we spent about a half an hour there. It was to be the only half hour that I spent inside that venue. Not judging. Just saying.

 

However, I am jumping ahead. When we got to the cabin, our luggage was there to greet us. We had just enough time prior to the 3:30 muster drill to unpack. My wife usually takes care of 75% of that task so that she can find a proper home for everything. So after chipping in my 25%, I proceeded to pour over the day’s Princess Patter to get a lay of the land. Or, more appropriately, lay of the sea. So get ready for some details:

 

Captain: Giorgio Pomata

Hotel GM: Peter Hollinson

Entertainment Director: Marahscalh Stanton

Cruise Director: Michael (Micca) Reitano

Executive Chef: Thomas Ulrich

Maitre d’Hotel: Francesco Ciorfito

 

If you need more names, just ask. I am not one who feels that my cruise is either enhanced or diminished by whomever is aboard as the Environmental Officer, the Staff Engineer Officer or the Junior Officer of the Watch. But I have those names if you think you need them. And if you are too embarrassed to ask, just state in your post that a friend of yours at work would like to know…I’ll understand.

 

Digging deeper into the Patter, I will note that for the football (American) fans out there, there was plenty. The Falcons-Eagles game was on MUTS in the early afternoon, followed by the Steelers-Cowpokes and then at 8:30 the Patriots-Seahawks game. And the following night, the Monday Night Football game was aired. So you won’t go through withdrawl. (All of this live entertainment is “Reception permitting”).

 

To be continued...

[canadarocks]

Thanks so much! We're not onboard the CB until January 2018, but I'll be reading every detail of your great review. :cool:

[JimmyVWine]

Thanks so much! We're not onboard the CB until January 2018, but I'll be reading every detail of your great review. :cool:

Thanks. Lots more to come!

[minniem]

We are onboard in February with the same itinerary. I am anxious to heard about the ports since they are new to us. Thanks for taking the time to share.

[JimmyVWine]

Day 1 Continued…..with lots more details.

 

I can’t decide if it would best to relay the entertainment in order of appearance, or by venue. I thought I would give the latter a try, but if you find this confusing, just let me know:

 

I’ve given you most of the day’s MUTS entertainment, as it leaned heavily toward the NFL. During boarding, a Billy Joel concert was showing.

 

In the Piazza, we had:

4:15-The Elegy Duo

5:00-The Piano Favorites of Krzysztof Jankowski. (I am only going to spell that once. From now on he will be known as KJ)

6:00-The Elegy Duo

7:45-Acrobatics and Juggling with “Gravity”

8:00-The Elegy Duo

9:45-Gravity again.

 

At the Neptune Pool:

4:15-Sailaway Party with DJ A-Zap

 

In the Explorer’s Lounge:

7:00-Discovery At Sea Trivia sponsored by Animal Planet

7:30-Ballroom Dance Instruction (Merengue) with Assistant CD Monique

8:15-Ballroom Dancing with the Maridor Duo

9:00-Trivia

9:45 to closing-Dancing with the Maridor Duo

 

In the Wheelhouse:

7:30-Steel Drum music with Dennis Smith

8:00-LGBT Get Together

9:00- Steel Drum music with Dennis Smith

10:15-Night Grooves with Dennis Smith

 

In Club Fusion:

8:00-Rockin’ Welcome Party with Evolution

8:45-Rockin’ Karaoke

9:30- Rockin’ Welcome Party with Evolution (I suppose if you also saw the earlier show, this would be a “Welcome Back” Party.)

 

In Crooners:

9:00-Closing: Piano Lounge with Derek Floyd

 

In Skywalkers:

10:00-closing: Dance Party with DJ A-Zap (with a Buy One Get One For $1 Happy Hour at 11:00.

 

In the Princess Theater:

7:00: Welcome Aboard Variety Show

9:00:Welcome Aboard Variety Show

10:15: Late Night Movie-The Infiltrator

 

The remaining events were either shopping or gambling related taking place, respectively, in places like the boutiques or spa, and the casino.

 

Getting back to our day, where did I leave off. Oh yes. We (meaning my wife) were unpacking. Guess what was the last thing she pulled out of the last suitcase she emptied? Yep! The nail polish. She had packed it after all. Now she couldn’t decide which made her feel more foolish, forgetting it, or packing it and not being able to find it. In any event, this was a predictable end to that saga. With unpacking complete, it was time to head to the muster drill which I have already described in as much detail as I care to. Afterwards we took a vote as to where to head for Sail-Away. We both elected to go to the cabin, open a bottle of Pinot Noir and toast our departure from balcony, waving furiously at the video camera that records each and every departure. So that is where we headed, and while I was out there, I took some photos of our neighbors for the afternoon:

 

Royal Princess

 



 

Allure of the Seas

 



 

Konigsdam (shot directly into a low, blinding sun)

 



 

The Nieuw Amsterdam was also there, but I could only get a shot of it as it sailed away with us.

 

 

It became immediately apparent that the days were much, much shorter than what we were used to when sailing out of Port Everglades. By the time we set off, we were already losing light as you could tell from this picture of Royal as she veered off to our port side:

 

 

But this proved to be a good thing as we would soon be heading south, which meant that our port facing cabin would be facing east, and since the sun sets in the west most days, that means that the full moon would appear right outside out balcony. Given that this would occur before our 6:30 dinner reservation, I figured that I would have some great photo ops of the “Super Moon.” And so I did. But that will be covered in the next post.

 

To be continued…..

[molme]

I have a question that my DH wants me to ask you. Did you have the Bavarian Buffet one evening during your sailing and if so which night? This is his favorite dinner on board.

Thanks. Rally enjoying your review so far.

molme

[G&Gcruisers]

Can't wait for the Super Moon pics. We were supposed to meet friends at a local observatory near here but, it was too cloudy.

Margie

[cruiseintoheaven]

Great review.....we wound up renting a car in MIA a few years back when our flight was diverted. The name of the company was Sixt - they were new at the time - got a great deal and as you said, so convenient. Neither DH realized how close MIA is from FLL. Looking forward to the rest of your review! [emoji4]

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

[JimmyVWine]

I have a question that my DH wants me to ask you. Did you have the Bavarian Buffet one evening during your sailing and if so which night? This is his favorite dinner on board.

Thanks. Rally enjoying your review so far.

molme

 

We ate some lunches and breakfasts at Horizon Court, but never dinner. However there was a "theme" up top every night and one of them was Bavarian. I will try to remember to note what the theme was each night as they were clearly posted in the Patter each day.

[riclop]

Thanks for the review.

[JimmyVWine]

Day 1 (continued)…When the moon hits the sky like a big pizza pie, that’s amore!

 

So there we were on our balcony with a bottle of 2012 WesMar “Balletto Vineyard” Pinot Noir. For those who care about the wine details, this is a boutique Pinot producer in Sonoma’s Russian River Valley run by a husband (Wes) and wife (Mary) team who so pretty much everything. “Mary” is Mary Selyem. And if you are familiar with California Pinot Noir, you know that Williams-Selyem is Pinot royalty. Mary is the next generation and the winemaking talent didn’t skip a generation.

 

The weather app on my tablet has sunrise and moonrise information. A quick check revealed that moonrise would be at 5:30. And like clockwork, the big orange orb nudged its way over the horizon. As you can see from the photo below, there was some cloud cover around the horizon.

 

 

But in due time the Super Moon reigned above us. Now, to be fair, the “peak” of the Super Moon was to take place early in the morning of the 14th, and it was only the evening of the 13th. But by my calculation, the view of the moon against the dusk-lit sky would be easier to photograph than the moon against a dark sky at 5:00 a.m. the following morning. Plus, getting up for a 5:00 photo shoot is something that only Norris would do! All that said, I took close to 100 pictures of the moon from 5:30-6:15 at different settings and exposures. There were times when I pushed the exposure down 5 “stops” to get a good picture given how bright it was. So I sifted through the photos and came up with these:

 

 

 



 



 



 

 

 

There are still a few more...

[RocketMan275]

Thanks. Lots more to come!

 

Would you mind providing a listing of the wines you brought on board?

I'm looking forward to a cruise in March and considering bringing six bottles. I'm figuring two whites and four reds.