Just off the Caribbean Princess 6/30/18-7/7/18

[culvercitycruiser]

We are looking to celebrate a birthday on embarkation day. Did any of you just off the Caribbean, receive the coupon book in your room?

Thanks in advance for your replies

[floridalover5623]

On Lido deck, they had those line forming ropes up blocking entrance. I guess I could have gone under them, but didn't. They also had sign up stating that they would be ready at 1pm.

We were on a lower deck last cruise & just walked to our cabin. There were on signs that I saw but the guy cleaning the room did look at us a little strange.

We dropped our bags & ran to eat.

 

It could have been that we didn't follow the crowd when we first got on. We knew where our cabin was & just used the forward elevators.

[metairiegal]

Just off this cruise, too. They were letting people drop off their luggage in the one of the dining rooms (can't remember which one - I think on deck 5). We didn't do that, but we noticed they had given out tickets when people dropped off and then collected the tickets when they picked up their hand luggage.

 

I agree about what has already been stated about the buffet.

 

But, one additional thing I noticed is that they were not making people (except for possibly the 1st lunch) wash their hands before entering the buffet area. Dh and I washed every time before entering but most people just walked right by and entered the food area. There is no one handing out plates and insisting you use the hand sanitizer either. Even entering the dining room, most did not use the hand sanitizer.

[Magellan321]

I am perfectly fine dropping off bags in a set area and getting a ticket for pick up. I will take that option happily to have a clean room at 1pm. On Celebrity and Royal we have to eat while trying to keep our carry-ons out of the way.

[kywildcatfanone]

But, one additional thing I noticed is that they were not making people (except for possibly the 1st lunch) wash their hands before entering the buffet area. Dh and I washed every time before entering but most people just walked right by and entered the food area. There is no one handing out plates and insisting you use the hand sanitizer either. Even entering the dining room, most did not use the hand sanitizer.

 

Yes, we noticed that as well. Odd because on our Royal/Regal cruises they have folks pointing you to the wash stations, and hand sanitizers, but no on this ship, even though it had been updated to include washing stations upon entry to the buffet area from the pool.

[warthog2608]

Just off the Caribbean also. Didn’t receive a coupon book or a Princess bag. First time on this ship and while I prefer some other ships, anyday cruising is better than a day not cruising. I also thought it odd that there weren’t any clean hands monitors stationed at the buffet line.

 

 

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[kywildcatfanone]

Just off the Caribbean also. Didn’t receive a coupon book or a Princess bag.

 

 

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We did get the bag, but not a coupon book. Haven't gotten a coupon book for a long time now.

[1emerald1]

We just got off the CB and were not happy at all with the food on this ship. We have nearly 30 cruises with Princess and this is the first time I will write a letter to corporate about anything. The new "Marketplace" is awful! First of all, just walking in feels like an IKEA eatery. Yes, it was time to update the Horizon Court. But...it looks really cheap. The layout of the buffet stations are basically the same, however there is no wall separating the buffet from the public walkway so many people were walking past and reaching out for a snack while passing through. The quality of the food was terrible! A peanut butter and jelly station, two stations of pre-made sandwiches, inedible desserts, ramen noodles, tasteless pasta, mashed potatoes, broccoli casserole...the list goes on. Cheap, low quality cafeteria food. The salad station looked nothing like it used to and was very unappealing. The buffet was not maintained so it always looked sloppy and dirty and often the trays were not replenished. Also, the beverage area had an industrial looking beer and wine dispenser that used your cruise card. Tacky. The dining room food wasn't much better. Many, many complaints from regular Princess cruisers and too many complaints from first timers. We cruise several times a year with Princess, but sadly will not go on this ship again.

That's a perfect way to describe it. When I saw pics that had been posted it looked to me like a workplace lunchroom...

[floridalover5623]

Yes, we noticed that as well. Odd because on our Royal/Regal cruises they have folks pointing you to the wash stations, and hand sanitizers, but no on this ship, even though it had been updated to include washing stations upon entry to the buffet area from the pool.

Yes but it was never enforced on the Royal either.

Wash if you like, or don't.

Use sanitizer if you like, or don't.

No one got sick either.

[whitecap]

Wife and I just celebrated our 20th anniversary on the Caribbean Princess. It was the first ship we ever sailed on as well, and overall really enjoyed our week.

A review from me would be very boring. We don't go to the dining room anymore, nor do we do excursions or go to many shows. Just a few comments....

 

Embarkation was smooth... mostly... Got to the port at about 9:30am, was probably about 40 or so people already in line. Waited there till about 10am, then they opened the doors and let folks go inside to the next standing area. Then around 10:20 or so, they let us go get our cruise cards and go to the waiting area. No health form this time. We went to the waiting area and were able to board right at about 11am. Our room was on Lido 259, balcony cabin. We did our normal thing, went to the deck to drop our carry on bags, and there was a sign posted "rooms will not be available till 1pm". Why let people on the ship, if you can't drop you bags in your room?

Anyway, we went to the buffet and found a table and had lunch. About 12:45 we went back and were able to get to our cabin and drop our bags. We noticed our room was rather warm, but I assumed it was because all rooms doors were open, and once it had time to cool, it would be fine.

 

Anyway, went on about our day, explored the ship, refreshing ourselves on the layout, haven't been on a non Royal/Regal cruise for about 3 years. Ship seemed to be in great shape, and I was reminded that the pool deck has a type of wood on the floor, not the metal that is on the newest ships painted to look like wood. Doesn't burn your feet.

 

Anyway, finally went back to our room for the evening about 8pm. Our room was still very warm, I would guess high 70’s for a temp, so I called Passenger Services and asked if someone could look at this for us, as I can’t sleep at all in a warm environment. Waited till about 9pm and no one had come or call. Heard talking in the hallway and it was our room steward. Asked him to call and he said he would. Another hour or so went by and no one. I called back to passenger services and said that I needed to get this addressed or moved to another room. About 15 minutes later a maintenance man came. He plugged in and said the room temp was 78, but the air blowing was about 72, the lowest temp they do. He suggested we remove the vent from the ceiling, and see if that makes a difference, so he popped it off. There was good air flow all way down to the floor, and after about 30 minutes, you could tell the room temp was improving. We asked if we could leave it off for the night and he said yes, and would check with us the next day. It never got what I would consider really cool, but was cool enough after that. He came back the next night and checked in with us, and we left the vent off the rest of the week. I think my default now when I get in my room from now on will be to remove the vent.

 

Anyhow, the ship was in very good shape overall for her age. I was very pleased with its appearance. The only thing that I was surprised was that the new carpeting they are using in the buffet was white/grey/black squares, and the white/grey panels all looked dirty. Bad color choice.

 

Speaking of the buffet, we have been spoiled by the Royal class buffet options. The World Marketplace concept would probably be fine on the larger ships with the larger buffet, but doesn’t seem to work well on this ship. It was OK, but not great. Buffet food is buffet food. Didn’t consider steamers or planks, and as above, I could see that on the larger ships, but not one the size of the CB or smaller. Never saw many people on there at dinner, not sure how busy it was.

 

Service staff overall did a really good job, our room steward Smit was great, very pleasant to talk to and took great care of us. Chris, at the outrigger bar, learned my name the first day and was always smiling, and cleaning his area, and saw me coming and fixed my drinks for me. Wonderful experience with him.

Sometimes in the buffet the wait staff was standing around talking to each other, but I give them a break, they all work very hard overall. Minor issues there.

 

One of the bartender supervisors was telling us when a couple of more of the new ships come online, the CB will likely be sold to another line.

 

We spent most of our days in the terrace pool area. We miss the retreat pool area on the newer ships, it’s our hangout spot.

 

Ports were nice, have been to all of them before, so we didn’t do anything but shop a bit around the port area and get back on. Like to be on the ship when people are off on shore.

 

We traded in our mini bar for the 2 coffee packages, but didn’t understand why your shipboard account didn’t show how many of the 15 “punches” you had used, so I had to start asking on day 5 to make sure I didn’t run over. Not sure why it doesn’t record that for you to track.

 

Will also be glad when they update to the newer internet, so that you can have unlimited minutes like on the Royal class ships.

 

Had a medical evacuation on the last sea day, was amazing to watch the coast guard helicopter do its thing, and they were able to safely remove the person and a family member and we all got to watch it. Amazing to see the precision work between the crew and the coast guard. Never got a report on the condition of the person once they got to Miami, hope all turned out OK.

 

Disembarkation was smooth. Pulled back into FLL about 5:45am, I watched it from the balcony and got a few decent pics of sunrise. Did express walk off and was in Walk A scheduled for 7:30am. We went downstairs about 7am, and there were already 100 or so people sitting there. They started letting us off at about 7:25, we breezed through customs and were at the airport at 7:45. Thru security and at our gate before 8am, so no issues with our 9:45am flight.

Overall a good week. Looking forward to the currently unscheduled next cruise. :)

We were on the same cruise and the 7 days prior. We were pleased with the temp in our cabin, C726, as according to our clock which also displays the room temp, never went above 68 and one night was down to 64.5. We made sure to keep the curtains closed all the time and it made a significant difference.

[whitecap]

We just got off the CB and were not happy at all with the food on this ship. We have nearly 30 cruises with Princess and this is the first time I will write a letter to corporate about anything. The new "Marketplace" is awful! First of all, just walking in feels like an IKEA eatery. Yes, it was time to update the Horizon Court. But...it looks really cheap. The layout of the buffet stations are basically the same, however there is no wall separating the buffet from the public walkway so many people were walking past and reaching out for a snack while passing through. The quality of the food was terrible! A peanut butter and jelly station, two stations of pre-made sandwiches, inedible desserts, ramen noodles, tasteless pasta, mashed potatoes, broccoli casserole...the list goes on. Cheap, low quality cafeteria food. The salad station looked nothing like it used to and was very unappealing. The buffet was not maintained so it always looked sloppy and dirty and often the trays were not replenished. Also, the beverage area had an industrial looking beer and wine dispenser that used your cruise card. Tacky. The dining room food wasn't much better. Many, many complaints from regular Princess cruisers and too many complaints from first timers. We cruise several times a year with Princess, but sadly will not go on this ship again.

This was our 35th cruise with Princess and I could not agree with you more! First impression, first night, I told the DW; You can put lip stick on a pig, but it's still a pig! They changed the decor, changed the signs BUT it was the same ole Horizon Court with the same ole food. We have found that normally on the first day (embarkation) lunch and dinner are pretty good as is the last night but not on this ship. Last night for dinner in the "World Fresh Market" the Chef's special being carved and served was, MEAT LOAF! Yep, meat loaf. One night they had a pan marked "mini meat loaf" filled with burger patties. I actually couldn't help myself and stood there an laughed out loud. Another night was "meat balls on a stick". Seriously, you can't make this stuff up. I will give them credit for having the best eggs benedict I've ever had at sea.

[kywildcatfanone]

We were on the same cruise and the 7 days prior. We were pleased with the temp in our cabin, C726, as according to our clock which also displays the room temp, never went above 68 and one night was down to 64.5. We made sure to keep the curtains closed all the time and it made a significant difference.

 

That would be perfect for us. I might have to invest in a clock with thermometer reading. That's a good idea. We did keep the curtains closed whenever we weren't in the room. I really can't imagine it got below 70 degrees, but maybe.

[kywildcatfanone]

We ate either the buffet or pool area foods for all of our meals. The best Item I had all week was Mac and Cheese sloppy Joe. I wish the had it each night.

 

 

 

And you are right, meat loaf was the last served carved meat, and next to it they had meat balls. The food would be my reason for not sailing on the CB again, as the difference between it and the Royal/Regal is huge. And it doesn't have to be that way at all. Not sure why they decided to change it all.

 

 

 

Also, the decor looked like stuff they bought from a 70's mom and pop restaurant, green chairs, yellow chairs. They took a step backward with this "upgrade". I guess now we know why they haven't added it to other ships yet.

[Jmanly]

This was our 35th cruise with Princess and I could not agree with you more! First impression, first night, I told the DW; You can put lip stick on a pig, but it's still a pig! They changed the decor, changed the signs BUT it was the same ole Horizon Court with the same ole food. We have found that normally on the first day (embarkation) lunch and dinner are pretty good as is the last night but not on this ship. Last night for dinner in the "World Fresh Market" the Chef's special being carved and served was, MEAT LOAF! Yep, meat loaf. One night they had a pan marked "mini meat loaf" filled with burger patties. I actually couldn't help myself and stood there an laughed out loud. Another night was "meat balls on a stick". Seriously, you can't make this stuff up. I will give them credit for having the best eggs benedict I've ever had at sea.

Last year on the Caribbean, they served Curry Tortellini on Indian food night. Lol.

We also had Smit as our room steward and he is awesome.

 

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[FritzG]

This was our 35th cruise with Princess and I could not agree with you more! First impression, first night, I told the DW; You can put lip stick on a pig, but it's still a pig! They changed the decor, changed the signs BUT it was the same ole Horizon Court with the same ole food. We have found that normally on the first day (embarkation) lunch and dinner are pretty good as is the last night but not on this ship. Last night for dinner in the "World Fresh Market" the Chef's special being carved and served was, MEAT LOAF! Yep, meat loaf. One night they had a pan marked "mini meat loaf" filled with burger patties. I actually couldn't help myself and stood there an laughed out loud. Another night was "meat balls on a stick". Seriously, you can't make this stuff up. I will give them credit for having the best eggs benedict I've ever had at sea.

 

That was our experience on our 24th Princess cruise on the CB last fall. The food was consistently cheap and unappealing, and the peanut butter section was a joke.

 

 

Our cabin was very warm, and we were told that if they lower the temp in our cabin the cabins on either side of us would be too warm. They took off the vent cover and large chunks of dust fell on the bed. On the last 3 nights of the cruise the it was 76 at the coolest. We love Princess, but not the CB.

[kywildcatfanone]

 

Our cabin was very warm, and we were told that if they lower the temp in our cabin the cabins on either side of us would be too warm. They took off the vent cover and large chunks of dust fell on the bed. On the last 3 nights of the cruise the it was 76 at the coolest. We love Princess, but not the CB.

 

76 would cause me to abandon ship. On my last call to passenger services, I told them that I needed assistance or I would be looking for the Captains cabin and knocking on his door telling him he had to switch rooms with me. I was nice, but it did take me 3 calls to finally get someone to show up.

 

And like I said, once he removed the vent cover, the air flow was much better, and while it still didn't get as cold as I would like, it was livable. It's why we usually book inside cabins, to avoid any worry about heat from the balcony door/window keeping the room warmer than we wanted.

 

I'm sure the temp is regulated and only gets so cool anyway, since even when you have it on the coldest setting, it still blows the same air, so it only goes so low and that is it.

 

I might remove the cover on every ship now by default. Will have to see...:)

[metairiegal]

They totally changed the lobster dish in the MDR. It was not the usual lobster with melted butter that they come around with and spoon over the lobster. Instead it was 3 tiny lobsters with some sort of creamy sauce already all over the plate. Not the same at all. Very disappointing. I would not order that again.

 

And, no dark/white chocolate mousse in cups at the International Café. I looked for it every day. That is a favorite of mine that I was really looking forward to. Again, disappointing. I asked at the counter, and they said it had been taken "out of the rotation." It did appear once in the buffet for the chocolate breakfast.

[riclop]

Thanks for your thoughts.

[kendon]

Just off this cruise, too. They were letting people drop off their luggage in the one of the dining rooms (can't remember which one - I think on deck 5). We didn't do that, but we noticed they had given out tickets when people dropped off and then collected the tickets when they picked up their hand luggage.

 

I agree about what has already been stated about the buffet.

 

But, one additional thing I noticed is that they were not making people (except for possibly the 1st lunch) wash their hands before entering the buffet area. Dh and I washed every time before entering but most people just walked right by and entered the food area. There is no one handing out plates and insisting you use the hand sanitizer either. Even entering the dining room, most did not use the hand sanitizer.

 

The buffet was operating on it's own. No one handing out plates, no one managing what was going on like they usually have, the hand sanitizer was a distance from the entrance, and any one walking by can reach out and grab food with their hands as the buffet is all open.

[kendon]

They totally changed the lobster dish in the MDR. It was not the usual lobster with melted butter that they come around with and spoon over the lobster. Instead it was 3 tiny lobsters with some sort of creamy sauce already all over the plate. Not the same at all. Very disappointing. I would not order that again.

 

And, no dark/white chocolate mousse in cups at the International Café. I looked for it every day. That is a favorite of mine that I was really looking forward to. Again, disappointing. I asked at the counter, and they said it had been taken "out of the rotation." It did appear once in the buffet for the chocolate breakfast.

 

Our plate had one tiny lobster cut in half to look like two, with a side of rice. No vegetable, just a white on white dish...with a white sauce. blah...

[geoherb]

Thanks for posting your review. I enjoyed the revamped buffet when we sailed on the CB last summer. We ate there more than we have on other cruises due to the convenience to our Lido Deck cabin and the fact that we had a lot of early morning arrivals in port where we did not have time for breakfast in the dining room.

[caribill]

We did get the bag, but not a coupon book. Haven't gotten a coupon book for a long time now.

 

There are two types of coupon books.

 

One is provided (by Princess) through promotions with Travel Agents. You only get this one if you booked with a TA during one of those promotion periods. This should be in your cabin on embarkation day.

 

The other is provided to all passengers. Included in this booklet is the page for the embarkation day Treasure Hunt where you visit several areas to get stamped and then enter a drawing for prizes. Although this used to be in the cabin on embarkation day, the last time we were on Princess it was being handed out to passengers as they boarded the ship.

[floridalover5623]

That was our experience on our 24th Princess cruise on the CB last fall. The food was consistently cheap and unappealing, and the peanut butter section was a joke.

I suppose that was added for the kids which is a total waste of space most times.

 

 

Our cabin was very warm, and we were told that if they lower the temp in our cabin the cabins on either side of us would be too warm. They took off the vent cover and large chunks of dust fell on the bed. On the last 3 nights of the cruise the it was 76 at the coolest. We love Princess, but not the CB.

What cabin did you have??

I've found that certain Princess ships have cooling problems with sections of their ships that cannot be corrected no matter what they do.

Unfortunately you've found one. :mad:

 

The poor food is something that we experienced a previous time on the CB but I thought they would have improved it since the last dry dock.

If we find that on our next cruise it hasn't improved it'll be our last cruise on any older Princess ship. We'll be sticking to the Royal class ships where the AC problems are at a minimum and the food is always much better.

I'm beginning to think that there is no hope to fix problems with the older ships no matter how hard they try.

[kywildcatfanone]

What cabin did you have??

I've found that certain Princess ships have cooling problems with sections of their ships that cannot be corrected no matter what they do.

Unfortunately you've found one. :mad:

 

The poor food is something that we experienced a previous time on the CB but I thought they would have improved it since the last dry dock.

If we find that on our next cruise it hasn't improved it'll be our last cruise on any older Princess ship. We'll be sticking to the Royal class ships where the AC problems are at a minimum and the food is always much better.

I'm beginning to think that there is no hope to fix problems with the older ships no matter how hard they try.

 

I agree. I think this might be why they are starting to look to offload the older ships to P&O or other cruise lines. One of the bartenders said that the CB was going to be sold soon.

[cruiserdru]

Wonder what soon means? Some of us have bookings on her late summer/fall next year. Kind of makes you worry that suddenly you will have a missing cruise.