Would love to hear from anyone recently or currently on Caribbean Princess!!

[1island2go]

This was posted today on another thread about the status of the Caribbean Princess.

 

 

 

Thanks for the clarification. I am sailing the Caribbean Princess in Late May and they have cancelled one port and switched two others so that we have less time. So now only 3 ports one of which is Princess Cays and 4 days at sea...I am not happy about it but what are you gonna do. I have never sailed on Princess before. Hoping for the best and going with the flow!

[Julia_Jackal]

Heading out on CPs eastern itinerary in July. Would love to hear about the eastern ports, ships entertainment or food. Your thoughts and recommendations would be awesome my cruise critic experts. Is anyone aware of CP Patters posted anywhere?

 

Thanks for your help!

[skynight]

Heading out on CPs eastern itinerary in July. Would love to hear about the eastern ports, ships entertainment or food. Your thoughts and recommendations would be awesome my cruise critic experts. Is anyone aware of CP Patters posted anywhere?

 

Thanks for your help!

Have Fun

Princess Cays is a beach. Get to the tender ticket area early if you want to be at the beach early.

St. Thomas and St. Maarten had not recovered from the hurricanes when we were there in January, but still plenty to do.

Thought the new layout and selections in the buffet were really nice. DR food was as it has been. International Cafe is nice. New selections at the pizza and grill by the Lido pool

You will have some production shows and some guest entertainers, such as singers and comics. For the 8pm hour shows you have to arrive very early, up to 1 hour for production shows.

[suzyed]

Thanks for the clarification. I am sailing the Caribbean Princess in Late May and they have cancelled one port and switched two others so that we have less time. So now only 3 ports one of which is Princess Cays and 4 days at sea...I am not happy about it but what are you gonna do. I have never sailed on Princess before. Hoping for the best and going with the flow!

What were the changes in ports and why?

[suzyed]

If shopping in Cartagena watch out for bogus "deals" on emeralds. Mr. Emerald is a reputable dealer but some of the others sell poop emeralds for inflated prices. Of course no place will be cheap. I love the "the tag says $900 but for you I will mark it down to only $600 this one time" people. Yeah, right. Lots of that sort of "deal" available. I was also amazed by the number of highly aggressive street vendors. Sheesh... I thought Mexico had a lot but, compared to Cartagena there were almost none in Mexico. We were glad we were with Dora's tours as they recognized her and "mostly" left us alone although we did have one guy actually try to climb into the van at one spot to try to sell tee shirts. Don't get me wrong though. We thoroughly enjoyed our stop in Cartagena. :D

The street vendors are relentless!! I finally bought a hat that says Columbia on it for $5 and they pretty much left me alone....at least they stopped trying to sell me hats!!

You really do need a hat there...the sun is intense, so might be a good idea to buy a hat there and dodge the vendors! LOL!

[Crzn-Life]

Thanks for the clarification. I am sailing the Caribbean Princess in Late May and they have cancelled one port and switched two others so that we have less time. So now only 3 ports one of which is Princess Cays and 4 days at sea...I am not happy about it but what are you gonna do. I have never sailed on Princess before. Hoping for the best and going with the flow!

 

I'm really curious since we too are booked on cruises in May and have received no notices of any itinerary changes. I just checked the itinerary and it is the same as when we booked. What changes are you referring to?

[caribill]

I'm really curious since we too are booked on cruises in May and have received no notices of any itinerary changes. I just checked the itinerary and it is the same as when we booked. What changes are you referring to?

 

Your itinerary is probably not going to change. It is what others were changed to because of the continuing propulsion problem which does not allow the ship to go as fast as needed for the original itinerary.

 

 

The changes were some reduced time in ports as well as a port change.

[chisoxfan]

After our Jan Panama Canal cruise on CB we were turned off to Princess entirely. We have never had a truly terrible cruise but this last one was as close as we hope to get.

 

Anyway just wanted to post regarding the Cartagena peddlers. They are incessant but generally polite.

I wanted to add warning about the psuedo Cuban Cigars that were offered and being purchased by many unknowing passengers that we saw. These were definitely knock offs.

 

Princess probably did save me a bundle in retrospect. We would have definitely done some homework in advance and looked to purchase a loose emerald but the restricted port time due to propulsion issues definitely nixed this.

 

Also if not mentioned I would recommend bringing water shoes to Princess Cays. The beaches near the pier were very rocky as you walked into the water.

 

Happy Cruising to all.

[tip]

The street vendors are relentless!! I finally bought a hat that says Columbia on it for $5 and they pretty much left me alone....at least they stopped trying to sell me hats!!

You really do need a hat there...the sun is intense, so might be a good idea to buy a hat there and dodge the vendors! LOL!

 

You bought a bogus hat since the correct spelling of the country is Colombia.;)

[ED49404]

After our Jan Panama Canal cruise on CB we were turned off to Princess entirely. We have never had a truly terrible cruise but this last one was as close as we hope to get.

 

Anyway just wanted to post regarding the Cartagena peddlers. They are incessant but generally polite.

I wanted to add warning about the psuedo Cuban Cigars that were offered and being purchased by many unknowing passengers that we saw. These were definitely knock offs.

 

Princess probably did save me a bundle in retrospect. We would have definitely done some homework in advance and looked to purchase a loose emerald but the restricted port time due to propulsion issues definitely nixed this.

 

Also if not mentioned I would recommend bringing water shoes to Princess Cays. The beaches near the pier were very rocky as you walked into the water.

 

Happy Cruising to all.

 

 

Sorry to see you are "turned off" with Princess. We did the same cruise in Feb with another couple, we all had a great time and do it again.

 

I agree with you with Cartagena and their peddlers, they were way too much for us. By the way you did not miss much about buying a loose emerald. DW bought one four years ago and paid about $400, she tried to buy another one and it was $1,600. We did enjoy going through the Old Town and looking at the current one, but not being hit on by all the peddlers. By the way we asked our guide about the peddlers and she stated they are having problems with people coming in from Venezuela.

[suzyed]

You bought a bogus hat since the correct spelling of the country is Colombia.;)

Oh the spelling police!! ;p

 

Obviously a typo...but even if it wasn't...the hat cost $5 and kept the sun off my face. :cool:

[catsdinner]

Just got off he Caribbean princes this morning after spending 24 Days on her. Had a fabulous trip. Fantastic service. No problems with vibration. Speed no problem. Even made up time whe n we had to head back to Aruba with a medical emergency.

[schlot]

I see she is still at Port Everglades even though she was scheduled to leave over an hour ago....any idea as too why?

 

 

Edit....just heard on Vhf she will still be another 20 to 30 minutes.

 

???

[toeloop]

coast guard is on board. Guessing they were doing an inspection and they aren't finished

[schlot]

Thanks.

[toeloop]

Your welcome. I heard it on VHF when the coast guard on the patrol boat was asking when they were setting sail. LOL.

[Lucky TGO]

We were on the two week circle Caribbean in January. We had a great cruise. Ship was in good shape and we didn’t notice any issues with speed. In fact we were surprised that some days we were going around 20 knots. I didn’t think that was possible according to all the info out there. It was nice to have a ship with a promenade deck to sit outside away from the pool deck noise. Food was good and typical for Princess. Staff was friendly and helpful. I wouldn’t hesitate to cruise on her again.

 

 

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Ditto. We had a great time also.

Tony

[lola2013]

Just off Caribbean Princess yesterday...had a wonderful time...I was on Caribe deck, just a few cabins from the rear...smooth sailing all the time. One disappointment was entertainment...seems like the sidewalks rolled up about 9pm. All three comedians were great (especially Steve Moris), but besides that, they need to step up their game. It's also tough to catch an 8:15 show if you want to have dinner any time after 7pm. I will admit though that we were worried about getting seats in the theatre, but we never had a problem the few times we went to a show. Planks is great as is Crown Grille. We split up the other nights between the Coral Dining Room and the buffet (love to have a meal outside).

We were last on Caribbean Princess in 2009...I really didn't notice any drastic changes...all good!

[Grego]

Just got off he Caribbean princes this morning after spending 24 Days on her. Had a fabulous trip. Fantastic service. No problems with vibration. Speed no problem. Even made up time whe n we had to head back to Aruba with a medical emergency.

 

Good to hear a good report. We never had an issue while we were aboard for 29 days last September/October. We are booked for a 10 day the first of May and do look forward to being on her again.

[kendon]

Any photos of the new buffet area?

[CanadianBurger]

Any photos of the new buffet area?

 

 

Lots of photos on my LIVE From...

 

LIVE From the Caribbean Princess - New Panama Canal - Dec 10, 2017

https://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2572524

 

 

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