Princess Cays

[CaribbeanJen]

Hi

I'm not new to Princess.  In 2004 we took our first cruise and we loved Princess Cays.  Fast forward to our last cruise, 2016, and Princess Cays was simply awful.  We were on the Regal and another ship was also there.  Everything was crowded.  The thatch umbrellas were gone and replaced by millions of blue clamshells.  You could not sit near or even view the water.  They ran out of food in one area.  Then we had to wait over an hour in line for a tender.  

 

For our upcoming cruise we are scheduled to be in Princess Cays on my 50th birthday.  I'm thinking we should just stay on the ship.  I'd like feedback from people who have been there lately.  

 

thanks

[neverbeenhere]

Did you check the port schedule for your cruise prior to booking?  

 

We find it okay and usually leave the ship every other cruise. But we also travel to Hawaii for a month every year, so beach time is not important. 

 

Never had a problem with lack of food. 

[CaribbeanJen]

My husband booked this cruise as s surprise so I had nothing to do with the selection.  

[wheezedr]

Never had the issues that you did, but have never been there with more than our ship in port.  Check out if other ships will be there with you.  At the last moment you can always make your own decision.  If you do go ashore do not wait until the last moment to return and you will not hit the massive  group for the tenders.

[CaribbeanJen]

I think having two ships is what created the problem.  We purposely didn't wait until last minute to return to ship but it made no difference.  

[voljeep]

8 minutes ago, CaribbeanJen said:

I think having two ships is what created the problem.  We purposely didn't wait until last minute to return to ship but it made no difference.  

which other ship?

[skynight]

We've been there a number of times and never had another ship. This is news to us. I checked ships.cruisett.com through April 2019 and did not see any other ships scheduled at Princess Cays when the Regal was there. Agree, the addition of clam shells has made the beach area less enjoyable then in the past, but there are still plenty of areas to lounge. Suggest you get to the tender ticket area early to be on the beach early for the best locations. For lunch the pavilion to the right over the bridge is less crowded. There are also street wagons there for extra & different selections.

Last season we were at Princess Cays three times. We went ashore once, the other two times we remained on board. The ship is quieter, but lots of passengers do stay on board.

 

[CaribbeanJen]

I stand corrected.  There was not another ship!  My husband just reminded me of what created the problem.  They didn't open one of the food pavilions at all.  The food was late and the open food areas were overrun.  The entire day ran like a backlog.  They were not running enough tenders that day.  That lead to long tender lines that remained through the entire afternoon.  

 

Perhaps this was simply an off day.  It was hardly our first trip to Princess Cays.  

 

[geoherb]

Now that we're Elite, we like to go to Princess Cays early in the morning and leave around lunch time (and eat back on the ship at Alfredo's). We have never had a long wait for a tender if we left by 1.

[Husky61]

We stopped getting off of the ship at Princess Cay.  Too crowded and the last time we were there the food was at best mediocre.(I know food is very subjective.)  So now if we want a good view of the water we look at it from our balcony.

[miss prairie girl]

We have stopped at Princess Cays. We had a wonderful time! We were able to do some snorkeling together and see some fishes. We went through the gate farther inland and shopped/browsed at some craft stalls.  We were able to visit with some of the people selling their wares as well. We also did some hiking. There was a raised vantage point....you could walk up several sets of wooden stairs to a large viewing platform and have a 360 view of the island and ocean. We also enjoyed doing some bird watching from that elevated vantage point. For lunch, we enjoyed the buffet set up to the left of where you enter the island. The food was served hot and tasty.  We especially enjoyed the salads as it was a warm day. Later in the afternoon, there was a small bar and some talented Princess cruisers who loved dancing.....we were treated to some classic music of the 60's with some talented jive dancers....Then we went for a last swim before we boarded the cruise ship.  All in all, we had a wonderful day!  There were no other cruise ships there that day. The island is owned by the Princess cruise line.  We had a photographer come by while we were getting our gear on to go snorkeling and she asked us if we wanted a picture. She took several. Later on we found her pictures which were quite good (with our cruise ship in the background). We did select one of her pictures as a remembrance of our cruise! So, for us, many happy memories of a day at Princess Cays!

[Nonnie1975]

We just went to Princess Cays in October.  We got to the dining room early to get a tender ticket. They didn't use any tenders but large ferry like boats.  We went to the left when we got there and had our choice of lounge chairs under large pavilion  like coverings.  There were several lines at the food building and went very quickly.  We swam with the sting rays and was lots of fun and will be one of our favorite memories and booked this before we left. There was only 8 in our group, snorkeled first, then  fed them and sat on the beach while they swam around us.  Way to cool. 

[Colo Cruiser]

They don’t have 2 ships at PC at the same time.

 

IMO it’s a nice relaxing day.

 

Sure you are not confusing it with another place?

Turks and Caicos perhaps?

[Guest arowe6]

I've always enjoyed Princess Cays. There have been crowds, but never awful. We try and get up early and be one of the first tenders over there, and after we've had enough sun we'll leave and head back early before the crowds. The most annoying part of Princess Cays (IMO) is waiting for a tender back to the ship. There never seems to be more than one running at a time.

 

Enjoy your birthday cruise!

-Andrew 🙂

[Colo Cruiser]

11 minutes ago, arowe6 said:

I've always enjoyed Princess Cays. There have been crowds, but never awful. We try and get up early and be one of the first tenders over there, and after we've had enough sun we'll leave and head back early before the crowds. The most annoying part of Princess Cays (IMO) is waiting for a tender back to the ship. There never seems to be more than one running at a time.

 

Enjoy your birthday cruise!

-Andrew 🙂

Hey Andrew!    Glad they put in that nice covered walkway in the tender boarding  waiting area with fans and misters. 😊

[Guest arowe6]

Just now, Colo Cruiser said:

Hey Andrew!    Glad they put in that nice covered walkway in the tender boarding  waiting area with fans and misters. 😊

HI Friend!!!!!

 

How long are you on board for? We board 12/2.

[voljeep]

while we somewhat enjoy Princess Cay, we will not be getting off the SKY when it visits there on the 3 day inaugural starting 12/4/19 - the next time we are currently scheduled to visit PC

[Colo Cruiser]

21 minutes ago, arowe6 said:

HI Friend!!!!!

 

How long are you on board for? We board 12/2.

Disembarked yesterday.  🙁

[Guest arowe6]

15 minutes ago, Colo Cruiser said:

Disembarked yesterday.  🙁

Boooo! One day our paths will cross.

[Colo Cruiser]

1 minute ago, arowe6 said:

Boooo! One day our paths will cross.

For sure!!  👍

[Itchy&Scratchy]

13 hours ago, Husky61 said:

We stopped getting off of the ship at Princess Cay.  Too crowded and the last time we were there the food was at best mediocre.(I know food is very subjective.)  So now if we want a good view of the water we look at it from our balcony.

We've been on Princess Cays 3 times already, and the food has always been the same. Mediocre. I'd even call it below average, but we don't want to go back to the ship for better food. 

 

We always find a place in the shade (trees) and try to enjoy ourselves. Never had a problem with the clam shells obstructing the views. What we did have a problem with was the sharp rocks hidden by the sand on the beach and in the water. I had multiple small cuts, and my then 4 yo sliced his foot on a sharp rock very badly. So, we now wear water shoes on Princess Cays.

 

Oh, and last year we had a problem with the grill smoke blowing directly towards the beach and enveloping the whole area. It was difficult to breathe and I got a huge headache.

But Princess Cays is still better than Falmouth or Cozumel for us.

 

Never had a problem with the tenders in either direction. There were always multiple boats going back and forth, and our total wait time has never been more than 15-20 minutes max.

Edited November 12, 2018 by Itchy&Scratchy