Caribbean Princess - a 30something’s perspective/review

[amandaepperson21]

I will begin by saying I didn’t know Princess caters mostly to an older crowd. I should’ve done my homework before booking. I have cruised with Carnival, MSC, Costa and now Princess. If you’re just going to pick apart my review in the comments, please stop reading now. This is my opinion and my experience that I am sharing for the benefit of others like me who may be considering Princess. This is not to dissuade loyal Princess cruisers or anything like that. If your experience was great, good for you!! This is my perspective only.

 

So. Let’s start with the GOOD!!

 

The service was fantastic! There was nowhere on board that the service wasn’t great. Every crew member I encountered was polite. The wait staff was great. Our cabins (one balcony for hubby and I, one inside for the kids) stayed clean. There’s lots of wait staff in the buffet and around the pools at all times. At first I didn’t like that there weren’t many beverage stations, but I quickly realized that the wait staff was more than happy to serve anything from water to included beverages to bar drinks.

 

I like that Princess isn’t ridiculous about what you can’t bring on board. I brougnt on 6 bottles of wine. I had them in my carry luggage. I wasn’t sure where to go or what to do to pay the extra $15/each corkage so I ended up just keeping them in my room. I brought two back though. We also brought three 12 packs of soda for the kids and a case of water for port days. I put luggage tags on them. They arrived fine. My water case could’ve used some tape though.

 

The food was decent. I read a lot of meh and bad reviews about the food. It wasn’t bad. Some of it was great. Some of it was meh. Nothing was just plain bad.

 

I liked that we kept local port time instead of “ship time” like other cruise lines. I liked that the pools were open late. Salty Dog food was good. Especially the hot dogs. Perfect since the lunch buffet is pretty sad. One day the lunch buffet only had vegetarian sandwiches left by the time I got there.

 

Disembark was a breeze.

 

The On Demand movie list was great!! I’ve never been one to watch movies on a cruise, but the entertainment wasn’t really our scene so between the 6 of us we watched quite a few movies.

 

Medical staff... my daughter fell out of the top bunk. We still aren’t sure if she fractured her arm. The physician on board didn’t think so, but it’s been 2.5 days and I’m not convinced otherwise. We will get her checked at home tonight. Anyhoo, I called 911 around midnight. A nurse came promptly. She was so kind, patient and knowledgeable. She took us down to medical quickly. The physician (I don’t think he was a doctor - the credentials on our invoice are foreign to me and he looked maybe 25) evaluated her and said he didn’t think it was broken. I was surprised to find that they had x-ray equipment and the ability to set her break if it had been broken. I’ve always wondered the extent of the care available in medical. I’m not sure why he didn’t x-ray her though. Either way, I’m happy with the speed and care received. $200 for a midnight trip.

 

Not sure if this is a Princess thing or what, but the two times we had to tender, the Princess line was much shorter and moved faster than the Carnival tender line. Also loved the cold towel and cold water. Oh and I enjoyed the dirty towel bin just inside the gangway. Perfect! Princess has lots of nice little touches that offer guests convenience and relaxation. That’s wonderful!

 

And the bad...

 

Room service menu is terribly small.

 

The only food open after 11:00 pm is the international cafe on deck 5, which is a small selection of sweets and honestly nothing too appetizing. No one wants shrimp pasta at midnight lol. We want pizza lol.

 

If Carnival is the Booze Cruise, this was the Snooze Cruise. I don’t remember how many nights the nightclub DJ played nothing but Michael Jackson from 10-11 pm. There was very little entertainment for people our age. Typical evening entertainment was very repetitive- one guy with an acoustic guitar (he couldn’t sing very well); a guy on the piano singing; steel drums in the piazza; a lady that sang slow, monotone songs; jazz jazz jazz everywhere; trivia (themes including Harry Potter, Disney, etc), family karaoke (which was actually fun)... for the most part, the entertainment was dull (in MY personal opinion). They kept playing the same music loop on the lido deck every day and most of the songs were several years old. I never want to hear that “this is gonna be the best day of my life” song again lol.

 

I get that Princess caters to an older crowd... but even my mom and mother in law would’ve been bored. Where’s the Tom Petty? Jimmy Buffet? Any rock music other than the sad guitarist??

 

Then on the one night we managed to stay awake past 11:00 pm, the music the DJ played in the nightclub was still disappointing, old and tired.

 

Our muster drill was a mess. There was a system problem with their card readers so everything had to be done by hand. I didn’t come prepared for an hour long muster drill. It would’ve been great if they could’ve passed out water or something.

 

Cabin gripes - the look of the cabin is reminiscent of a 1990s Holiday Inn. There were numerous scratches and dings in the wood. Spots where caulk had been peeled off in the bathroom. Raw edges of carpet were exposed and pulling at the balcony door frame. You can really tell the cabin is 14 years old and hasn’t been updated.

 

The top bunk fall could’ve been avoided if the railing were sufficient. There was a wide gap between the top rail and the bottom rail. There really needs to be a much longer rail. There were stickers on the bunk saying not recommended for children. We brought my cousin to help with the kids. She weighs about 250 lbs. None of us were comfortable with her sleeping on the top bunk with one of my elementary age children beneath her lol. I’ve never seen a cruise bunk say not recommended for children. Who else sleeps on them but children??

 

I’m not going to comment much about the ship decor, but I will say this is the most underwhelming ship I’ve ever been on. And the oak wood everywhere is dated. Oak hasn’t been on trend since the late 90s. The specialty restaurants and buffet were updated. Also Vines and the bar adjacent to it. The Fiesta Suites hall was much more appealing than the rest of the ship. I’m used to seeing nice little touches like that throughout the entire ship.

 

The shower must’ve been the smallest I’ve ever seen on a ship. I didn’t like that the shower head wasn’t detachable. Never been on a cruise where that wasn’t a thing.

 

The kids club doesn’t do dinnertime pickup. We either had to have our kids endure the whole shebang or one of us had to leave to run them upstairs between courses.

 

Conclusion....

 

Overall, we had a wonderful cruise. My husband and I spent a lot of time enjoying the peace on our balcony. We had a lot of quiet time together watching movies with the kids. So while we never really got to enjoy a party scene that we enjoy or found much of the entertainment very entertaining, we are certainly rested and have cleared our busy minds. We come back refreshed! And that’s what vacation is really about. We probably won’t cruise with Princess again (RCI is next!) but I have no regrets.

Edited August 4, 2018 by amandaepperson21
ETA

[bobby3334]

I would disagree with only one or two minor things you said and I am probably less than slightly twice your age

Each line does cater to a particular age Princess is not the oldest. There are a couple of other unnamed lines that cater to people about 10 years older than I am. I have been on a good number of different lines and I find there is a lot of difference too

between various ships in the line and date built and last refurbished. PS I don’t like bingo either – at least on a cruise ship. I have never been on RCL but friends say it is a bit like going to Disney World. Much also depends on the time of year, the length of the cruise, and expectations some people do go on a cruise to relax and rest and others go to have adventure and fun. Some go on certain lines because they go to exotic areas of the world for extended periods of time. These definitely tend to attract an older crowd due to money, length of time required, and interest in the various locales. Thanks for your observations. Mike

 

 

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Edited August 4, 2018 by bobby3334

[XBGuy]

Thank you for taking the time to give such a comprehensive report, Amanda.

 

To me, the fiasco at the muster drill was the worst aspect of your report. That was unacceptable.

 

The way I read your report, you did not pay the $15 corrkage fee prior to boarding. I have heard of this happening in the past, and do not think it is any big deal. It also seems like you did not drink two of the bottles on your cruise. So, you were able to take them back home with you. Do I have that correct? If so, that is great. You didn't pay corkage for those two bottles that you did not drink.

 

I'm glad that, overall, you found your cruise to be satisfactory.

 

I also think it is great that the various cruise lines do not have the same offerings. You can continue your research. :D

[JimmyVWine]

Thanks for taking the time to write a comprehensive report. Never say never. Fifteen years from now, you might find that Princess is the perfect fit for your family.

[NoWhiners]

Seems like a very fair review to me. I got a good chuckle out of your comment about the music up in the Lido--for us it was "House of the Rising Sun"--I'll never hear that song and not remember our recent cruise (on Royal) :D

 

I also agree about the "singers" Princess gets. They were all universally bad on our last cruise. I think Princess needs to pay them a little more!

 

I'm not sure Princess necessarily caters to an older crowd, but it does depend on where you go and time of year. We went to the Caribbean for 10 days one spring and there were tons of kids. This year we did a 27-day TA/BI cruise. Not as many kids but some, and lots of young families for the BI segment.

 

We haven't found the entertainment (shows) to be very good on any line (HAL, Princess, RCI and X), so I agree with that. We don't go to the clubs, so no opinion there.

 

I do think that CB is sort of coasting toward her drydock, when a lot will be addressed (propulsion system, general updating, etc), so you may have caught her at a low point. And those showers--yes, they are small. But we use one that is even smaller when we rent a cabin at a lake nearby every year, so the CB shower was great!

 

I wish you luck on RCI. We used them 2 years ago around New Zealand. It was a great cruise/ports but we found the staff indifferent, the buffet unusable and crowded, and the entertainment lacking (I still have nightmares about the Beatles act that was made up of 4 Chinese guys who couldn't sing :D). We did like the MDR food and their internet (which you could get at a 30% discount if you booked during a sale!) was blazing fast; we could even watch Netflix. Princess could learn something from RCI in this respect. This was on Radiance, maybe a newer ship would be different.

 

Some cruise lines don't work for families, but I do love doing the research to find the perfect one!

[jagsfan]

Your travel agent should have gone over the differences among cruise lines so that you would know that Princess wouldn’t be a good fit.

I enjoy different lines for different things. Princess is my favorite, because it gives me the feeling of being on a ship on the ocean. If I had children, I’d stick to Disney. My grandchildren loved those ships. Now they sail on RCI, because that’s the best fit now.

Thank goodness for choices.

 

 

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[tourismtessy]

Great review! Hubby and I are in our 50's and sail only on Princess. Well, he does-lol. I have sailed carnival and Norwegian too. He likes the sedentary, quiet "escape completely" feel of Princess. Their old marketing slogan used to be "escape completely" and you sure do. I did a Goldilocks review of three cruise lines (Carnival, Norwegian, and Princess). Carnival was too HARD (too loud and party for us). Princess was too SOFT (almost like being in a coma) and Norwegian was JUST RIGHT. I think you will like Royal Caribbean or Norwegian and your kids will have more to do onboard as well. I'm glad your family had a good cruise though.

 

 

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[kywildcatfanone]

There are cruise lines for all ages of people. I like that Princess mostly caters to older cruisers similar to Holland America. I'm much more into quiet and relaxing than loud and active, but everyone has their own thing, and there are cruise lines that meet everyone's needs.

 

 

Glad you overall enjoyed your cruise.

[Colo Cruiser]

I will begin by saying I didn’t know Princess caters mostly to an older crowd. I should’ve done my homework before booking. I have cruised with Carnival, MSC, Costa and now Princess. If you’re just going to pick apart my review in the comments, please stop reading now. This is my opinion and my experience that I am sharing for the benefit of others like me who may be considering Princess. This is not to dissuade loyal Princess cruisers or anything like that. If your experience was great, good for you!! This is my perspective only.

 

So. Let’s start with the GOOD!!

 

The service was fantastic! There was nowhere on board that the service wasn’t great. Every crew member I encountered was polite. The wait staff was great. Our cabins (one balcony for hubby and I, one inside for the kids) stayed clean. There’s lots of wait staff in the buffet and around the pools at all times. At first I didn’t like that there weren’t many beverage stations, but I quickly realized that the wait staff was more than happy to serve anything from water to included beverages to bar drinks.

 

I like that Princess isn’t ridiculous about what you can’t bring on board. I brougnt on 6 bottles of wine. I had them in my carry luggage. I wasn’t sure where to go or what to do to pay the extra $15/each corkage so I ended up just keeping them in my room. I brought two back though. We also brought three 12 packs of soda for the kids and a case of water for port days. I put luggage tags on them. They arrived fine. My water case could’ve used some tape though.

 

The food was decent. I read a lot of meh and bad reviews about the food. It wasn’t bad. Some of it was great. Some of it was meh. Nothing was just plain bad.

 

I liked that we kept local port time instead of “ship time” like other cruise lines. I liked that the pools were open late. Salty Dog food was good. Especially the hot dogs. Perfect since the lunch buffet is pretty sad. One day the lunch buffet only had vegetarian sandwiches left by the time I got there.

 

Disembark was a breeze.

 

The On Demand movie list was great!! I’ve never been one to watch movies on a cruise, but the entertainment wasn’t really our scene so between the 6 of us we watched quite a few movies.

 

Medical staff... my daughter fell out of the top bunk. We still aren’t sure if she fractured her arm. The physician on board didn’t think so, but it’s been 2.5 days and I’m not convinced otherwise. We will get her checked at home tonight. Anyhoo, I called 911 around midnight. A nurse came promptly. She was so kind, patient and knowledgeable. She took us down to medical quickly. The physician (I don’t think he was a doctor - the credentials on our invoice are foreign to me and he looked maybe 25) evaluated her and said he didn’t think it was broken. I was surprised to find that they had x-ray equipment and the ability to set her break if it had been broken. I’ve always wondered the extent of the care available in medical. I’m not sure why he didn’t x-ray her though. Either way, I’m happy with the speed and care received. $200 for a midnight trip.

 

Not sure if this is a Princess thing or what, but the two times we had to tender, the Princess line was much shorter and moved faster than the Carnival tender line. Also loved the cold towel and cold water. Oh and I enjoyed the dirty towel bin just inside the gangway. Perfect! Princess has lots of nice little touches that offer guests convenience and relaxation. That’s wonderful!

 

And the bad...

 

Room service menu is terribly small.

 

The only food open after 11:00 pm is the international cafe on deck 5, which is a small selection of sweets and honestly nothing too appetizing. No one wants shrimp pasta at midnight lol. We want pizza lol.

 

If Carnival is the Booze Cruise, this was the Snooze Cruise. I don’t remember how many nights the nightclub DJ played nothing but Michael Jackson from 10-11 pm. There was very little entertainment for people our age. Typical evening entertainment was very repetitive- one guy with an acoustic guitar (he couldn’t sing very well); a guy on the piano singing; steel drums in the piazza; a lady that sang slow, monotone songs; jazz jazz jazz everywhere; trivia (themes including Harry Potter, Disney, etc), family karaoke (which was actually fun)... for the most part, the entertainment was dull (in MY personal opinion). They kept playing the same music loop on the lido deck every day and most of the songs were several years old. I never want to hear that “this is gonna be the best day of my life” song again lol.

 

I get that Princess caters to an older crowd... but even my mom and mother in law would’ve been bored. Where’s the Tom Petty? Jimmy Buffet? Any rock music other than the sad guitarist??

 

Then on the one night we managed to stay awake past 11:00 pm, the music the DJ played in the nightclub was still disappointing, old and tired.

 

Our muster drill was a mess. There was a system problem with their card readers so everything had to be done by hand. I didn’t come prepared for an hour long muster drill. It would’ve been great if they could’ve passed out water or something.

 

Cabin gripes - the look of the cabin is reminiscent of a 1990s Holiday Inn. There were numerous scratches and dings in the wood. Spots where caulk had been peeled off in the bathroom. Raw edges of carpet were exposed and pulling at the balcony door frame. You can really tell the cabin is 14 years old and hasn’t been updated.

 

The top bunk fall could’ve been avoided if the railing were sufficient. There was a wide gap between the top rail and the bottom rail. There really needs to be a much longer rail. There were stickers on the bunk saying not recommended for children. We brought my cousin to help with the kids. She weighs about 250 lbs. None of us were comfortable with her sleeping on the top bunk with one of my elementary age children beneath her lol. I’ve never seen a cruise bunk say not recommended for children. Who else sleeps on them but children??

 

I’m not going to comment much about the ship decor, but I will say this is the most underwhelming ship I’ve ever been on. And the oak wood everywhere is dated. Oak hasn’t been on trend since the late 90s. The specialty restaurants and buffet were updated. Also Vines and the bar adjacent to it. The Fiesta Suites hall was much more appealing than the rest of the ship. I’m used to seeing nice little touches like that throughout the entire ship.

 

The shower must’ve been the smallest I’ve ever seen on a ship. I didn’t like that the shower head wasn’t detachable. Never been on a cruise where that wasn’t a thing.

 

The kids club doesn’t do dinnertime pickup. We either had to have our kids endure the whole shebang or one of us had to leave to run them upstairs between courses.

 

Conclusion....

 

Overall, we had a wonderful cruise. My husband and I spent a lot of time enjoying the peace on our balcony. We had a lot of quiet time together watching movies with the kids. So while we never really got to enjoy a party scene that we enjoy or found much of the entertainment very entertaining, we are certainly rested and have cleared our busy minds. We come back refreshed! And that’s what vacation is really about. We probably won’t cruise with Princess again (RCI is next!) but I have no regrets.

 

 

Thanks for your review. The most important part......what cruise did you take and when???

[Itchy&Scratchy]

I’ve never seen a cruise bunk say not recommended for children. Who else sleeps on them but children??

I had to sleep on one when my child wanted to sleep with me in my lower bed. However, I can't sleep when he is in the same bed, so I climbed into his bunk bed when he finally fell asleep. I am almost 200#. I didn't have a problem with it breaking under me or worry about it at all.

My kid started sleeping on a bunk bed at 5 on cruises and never fell down, but he sleeps like a log and the side rail is enough to hold him in.

But yes - the bunk beds say Not Recommended for Children exactly because young children tend to fall off these bunk beds and break their bones.

 

The shower must’ve been the smallest I’ve ever seen on a ship. I didn’t like that the shower head wasn’t detachable. Never been on a cruise where that wasn’t a thing.

we've been on Royal Caribbean and on Princess, and the showers on Caribbean were the same size as on RCI or Regal Princess.

[PoohUnderstands]

Now I was on the same cruise and now you will get the "older" view of the cruise.

 

The muster drill was done as best as possible as the computer system used had crashed. I was frustrated it took so long, sure, but I think they did the best job they could manually so that could get the ok to leave port. Technology makes one's life easier until it breaks!

 

Thought the ship was in better shape than I expected for its age. Only problem was when they used the thrusters and you were in the dining room you lost a few calories with all the shaking! Speed was no problem as they have now got the port times down.

 

Two new things that occured during our trip. Now you tap your key card on the ipad to open your cabin door. Works well. No glitches(at least to our room).

 

Also newly instituted at least for dinner, and the waiters are frustrated too just to let you know! Now initially you don't get your three balls of butter, you get a ball of butter per person at the table. So now a couple initially gets two balls of butter not three! That changed in the middle of our trip. Our waiter was so good that he just brought us more butter automatically.

 

The entertainment was not the best even I as an oldie have to agree. Much more active and better on our last cruise on the Royal. Do not determine all Princess' ships on this one sailing as it is not indicative of the entertainment. There still is no late night life on Princess but is fun times until 11PM! Grin. I did notice a lot more younger people (18-35) on this cruise than I am used to seeing on Princess.

 

The crew all around were great and attentive and did their jobs well. Food was out of 10 averaging around a 7 - decent. I liked the soups on this cruise. Also if a meal was to be hot it was served hot which was appreciated. For my taste the buffet offered many "different" type of main dishes that I would not try. Very into Mexican, Indian, Asian. Some American offerings but not that many. International Cafe was decent too.

 

We were in a mini-suite on deck 9 and our cabin was in very good shape. Even the bathtub area and sink were decent. Maybe we just lucked out. I am wondering when they designed the ship, though, why they put the minisuites on deck 9 where the balconies are completely exposed and uncovered. And since it was extremely hot this cruise, did not use it much.

 

Also the A/C is spotty depending on your cabin as has been reported. In our case it was barely cool enough during the day but at night for sleeping it was ok with just using a sheet - no way you could use the duvet cover as would have been too hot. The A/C in all the main common areas of the ship worked well though.

 

Enjoyed my time on the Caribbean Princess but think I will use other ships in the line for my future cruises.

 

Pooh

[JimmyVWine]

Pooh: Both you and the OP reported that it was crickets after 11:00. Was Sky Walkers shut down then? I've been on CB twice and both times Sky Walkers didn't even heat up until 11:00. That's when the BOGO Happy Hour started and the crew (officers and entertainers) started to show up.

[crawford]

Very fair assessment. My son, who is in his 30's and has cruised with us on Princess (3x), Carnival, Celebrity

and NCL would probably agree with you to a great extent. For his age group, married and with kids, I'm sure he would encourage you to go Royal Caribbean. His favorite at this point in his life.

[sunny2runner]

We were on the same sailing. We are early 40s with preteens and really appreciate the no party atmosphere on Princess ships. I love that mostly older crowd raps up early and the halls are quiet and peaceful. The pool is much more open for use than other cruise lines where you can harder even use the pools and hot tubs. This was our 21 and 22nd cruise (back to back on this sailing) and while at first we were taken back by some of the older touches in room decor and throughout the ship, we didn't give it much thought as so many of the areas are refurbished and the service was so stellar. We have been on 14 Disney cruises, 3 NCL and 1 MSC Seaside and 4 Princess. For the price we paid for 14 days of relaxation in comparison to what we have paid for our Disney cruises we were thanking our lucky stars for the Caribbean Princess.

[moki'smommy]

My only comment is about the staff not picking up kids in the dining room--called "Dine and Play" on Disney. That's the only line where I've seen this service. Parents did this for years before DCL instituted the service. Ask your servers to get out the kid food quickly. Between adult courses, excuse yourself and take the kids to the programming area. Then return and finish your dinner.

 

We've been on cruises where I don't think there were 30 kids on the ship. It wouldn't make sense for Princess to offer some of the kid programs that Disney does! They also don't charge the DCL prices.

[AF-1]

Thanks for a great review; I thought all the rooms were refurbished during drydock last year; oh well. I am glad you had a good time Thanks for sharing your review

[AF-1]

My only comment is about the staff not picking up kids in the dining room--called "Dine and Play" on Disney. That's the only line where I've seen this service. Parents did this for years before DCL instituted the service. Ask your servers to get out the kid food quickly. Between adult courses' date=' excuse yourself and take the kids to the programming area. Then return and finish your dinner.

 

We've been on cruises where I don't think there were 30 kids on the ship. It wouldn't make sense for Princess to offer some of the kid programs that Disney does! They also don't charge the DCL prices.[/quote']

 

Royal Caribbean picks up kids from dining room and takes them to the youth room for the night. When we sailed Freedom of the Seas with six kids; we hardly ever saw them. They met us for dinner; ate quickly and the youth staff took them away for the night.

[moki'smommy]

Royal Caribbean picks up kids from dining room and takes them to the youth room for the night. When we sailed Freedom of the Seas with six kids; we hardly ever saw them. They met us for dinner; ate quickly and the youth staff took them away for the night.

Thanks, I haven't sailed them with kids.

 

As to refurbishing the rooms during dry dock--we noticed lots of dings and gouges in the cabinetry of our room and places in the bathroom that had obviously been patched. I attributed this to the fact that we were in an HA room, thinking that there are many people who are "driving" various devices while on a ship that they don't normally use at home...hence dings. These obviously were not recently attended to. Looks like regular cabins had some of the same issues. They had changed to the new bedding, but the couch was obviously well used, the drapes were in good condition but not new, etc. So, I saw no evidence that there had been major work on cabins any time recently. This was an April 2018 cruise.

[amandaepperson21]

Thanks for your review. The most important part......what cruise did you take and when???

 

Oh oops! Caribbean Princess western Caribbean 7/28-8/4

[amandaepperson21]

Now I was on the same cruise and now you will get the "older" view of the cruise.

 

The muster drill was done as best as possible as the computer system used had crashed. I was frustrated it took so long, sure, but I think they did the best job they could manually so that could get the ok to leave port. Technology makes one's life easier until it breaks!

 

Thought the ship was in better shape than I expected for its age. Only problem was when they used the thrusters and you were in the dining room you lost a few calories with all the shaking! Speed was no problem as they have now got the port times down.

 

Two new things that occured during our trip. Now you tap your key card on the ipad to open your cabin door. Works well. No glitches(at least to our room).

 

Also newly instituted at least for dinner, and the waiters are frustrated too just to let you know! Now initially you don't get your three balls of butter, you get a ball of butter per person at the table. So now a couple initially gets two balls of butter not three! That changed in the middle of our trip. Our waiter was so good that he just brought us more butter automatically.

 

The entertainment was not the best even I as an oldie have to agree. Much more active and better on our last cruise on the Royal. Do not determine all Princess' ships on this one sailing as it is not indicative of the entertainment. There still is no late night life on Princess but is fun times until 11PM! Grin. I did notice a lot more younger people (18-35) on this cruise than I am used to seeing on Princess.

 

The crew all around were great and attentive and did their jobs well. Food was out of 10 averaging around a 7 - decent. I liked the soups on this cruise. Also if a meal was to be hot it was served hot which was appreciated. For my taste the buffet offered many "different" type of main dishes that I would not try. Very into Mexican, Indian, Asian. Some American offerings but not that many. International Cafe was decent too.

 

We were in a mini-suite on deck 9 and our cabin was in very good shape. Even the bathtub area and sink were decent. Maybe we just lucked out. I am wondering when they designed the ship, though, why they put the minisuites on deck 9 where the balconies are completely exposed and uncovered. And since it was extremely hot this cruise, did not use it much.

 

Also the A/C is spotty depending on your cabin as has been reported. In our case it was barely cool enough during the day but at night for sleeping it was ok with just using a sheet - no way you could use the duvet cover as would have been too hot. The A/C in all the main common areas of the ship worked well though.

 

Enjoyed my time on the Caribbean Princess but think I will use other ships in the line for my future cruises.

 

Pooh

 

Agreed on the AC.

 

We were on Deck 10 with an extended balcony. I figured the deck 9 balconies were extended and partially covered like ours, just farther out. Bummer!

 

The butter thing was crazy lol. There were 6 of us. 4 of which were kids ranging from 6-17. Every night was a race to the butter lol.

[amandaepperson21]

Pooh: Both you and the OP reported that it was crickets after 11:00. Was Sky Walkers shut down then? I've been on CB twice and both times Sky Walkers didn't even heat up until 11:00. That's when the BOGO Happy Hour started and the crew (officers and entertainers) started to show up.

I only made it past 11:00 once and it was slow. I live on the east coast, so most of the time 11 felt like 12 or 1 am to me. While I liked that we kept local time, it was a struggle at night lol.

[amandaepperson21]

My only comment is about the staff not picking up kids in the dining room--called "Dine and Play" on Disney. That's the only line where I've seen this service. Parents did this for years before DCL instituted the service. Ask your servers to get out the kid food quickly. Between adult courses' date=' excuse yourself and take the kids to the programming area. Then return and finish your dinner.

 

We've been on cruises where I don't think there were 30 kids on the ship. It wouldn't make sense for Princess to offer some of the kid programs that Disney does! They also don't charge the DCL prices.[/quote']

 

Carnival and MSC offer this service. Also RCI (based on my research, not firsthand experience).

 

I definitely think it isn’t suitable for every cruises. But for ones where there are plenty of kids (the one we were on), it isn’t hard to accommodate.

[amandaepperson21]

I have been avoiding coming back to this post because I thought there would be a lot of critical feedback lol. But much to my surprise, there’s not! Thanks you guys! Glad I could constructively contribute.

[Mom33]

We were on the June 30th cruise and found the ship to be a great mix of all ages. There were many families due to summer vacations. Princess hasn't cruised a summer in the Caribbean in many years. They have made some changes to the ship to attract families.

[floridalover5623]

I have been avoiding coming back to this post because I thought there would be a lot of critical feedback lol. But much to my surprise, there’s not! Thanks you guys! Glad I could constructively contribute.

Your finding are pretty much in line with others who have recently sailed.

Princess isn't noted for having the most lively late night entertainment so that wasn't anything unusual.

What about people wearing shorts in the DR on casual evenings?

Were their many?